The
Ranums'
Panat Times
Volume 1, redone Dec. 2014
Élisabeth Charpentier and Jean Édouard
Readers of the Bulletin Charpentier ("Marc-Antoine Charpentier et les siens," January 1990, no. 2, pp. 3-15; reprinted as "1662: Marc-Antoine Charpentier et les siens, in C. Cessac, ed., Marc-Antoine Charpentier, un musicien retrouvé, pp. 26-38) had the pleasure of attending the marriage of Élisabeth Charpentier, Marc-Antoine's sister, on August 24, 1662, some six months after their father's death.
The wedding contract was signed by 14 "relatives and friends" of the groom (4 of them — Élisabeth Malier-Bailleul and her grandaughter, Marie de Bailleul; Élisabeth Grimaudet-Lhuillier and her husband — came from families who "belonged" to Gaston d'Orléans, the father of the royal princess who would soon wed the Duke of Guise). Although I have learned a bit about the groom, Jean Édouard, a maître joueur d'instruments living on the Ile Saint-Louis, I am unable to explain why these protégés of the House of Orléans honored the couple with their presence. But more anon about Jean Édouard .....
There were only 5 witnesses for the bride that day: her two younger brothers, Marc-Antoine and Armand-Jean; two family "friends" called Chevallier (one an avocat in the Parlement of Paris and the other the wife of a procureur in the Parlement); and Marie Talon-Voisin, daughter of the late avocat général Omer Talon and wife of a descendent of one of the Guises' most devoted servants during the League).
Since writing that article for the Bulletin, I have often asked myself: "Why were there so few Charpentier witnesses? Were "my" Charpentiers not on speaking terms with their Parisian cousin, Gilles Charpentier? Had they only recently come to Paris? I still can't answer the first two questions. But a negative reply seems appropriate for the third question, for there is strong evidence that, well before 1662, the Charpentiers had settled in Paris and had gained access to two very powerful circles: the Talon-Voisin circle, and the circle around the Ferrands, who for several generations had been one of the two lieutenant particuliers at the Châtelet (I will be writing about the Ferrands soon, in my article on Étiennette Charpentier.)
Jean Édouard
Jean Édouard was the son of Jean Édouard, a Parisian wine merchant whose first wife had died circa 1635. Some members of the family had acquired a tincture of nobility, for the wine merchant was the nephew of Marie Triboullet/Triboullé, widow of Alexandre Moreau, écuyer, sieur de la Borde Chalons (BN, factum, 4o Fm 988, #22522). In 1637 Édouard remarried Marie Morlot, the daughter of a huissier, sergent à verge in the Châtelet (AN, MC, XXIII, 275, September 23, 1637). Although her father had purchased this position that opened the way to eventual nobility, like husband-to-be Marie had links to the Parisian wine trade. Her godfather was Nicolas Chaillou, wine merchant of the rue and parish of Saint-Sauveur. (For more on Chaillou, see his marriage, Archives nationales, Minutier Central, XXXV, 57, Jan. 6, 1608).
Twenty-five years later, when the couple's son Jean married Élisabeth Charpentier (who was major, that is, had celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday), several Morlots signed the wedding contract. First of all, there was Marie Morlot, the groom's mother, whose late husband was at the time of his death no longer a wine merchant but an elu at Rozay-en-Brie. And there were Marie Morlot's three sisters: Françoise, wife of Louis Le Vasseur, bourgeois de Paris; Catherine, wife of Jean Combastes, bourgeois de Paris; and Louise, wife of sieur Flamant, an archer of the prévôté of Paris. Also present were the groom's two sisters, Magdaleine Édouard, wife of Pierre Chaurenault, bourgeois de Paris; and Marie Édouard, major but not yet married.
At some point in their married life, Jean and Élisabeth Édouard settled on the rue Saint- André-des-Arts. I haven't been able to learn whether Élisabeth conducted a trade: true, in the 1680s she would form a société with her shopkeeper daughter Marie-Anne, but that appears to have been more a gesture of solidarity than an indication that Élisabeth was a lingère, like her older sister Étiennette and her daughter.
At least six children were born to the couple: Jean, born circa 1663; Marie- Anne, born circa 1664; Anne-Françoise, born in September 1667; Élisabeth, who died in February 1668; Jacques, probably born during the summer of 1674; and Adrien, born in July 1675, when his mother was in her early forties (his godmother was his eleven-year-old sister Marie-Anne, his godfather was Adrien de Roanne, organist of Saint-Hilaire and of Saint-Étienne-des-Grés). By 1685, Anne-Françoise, Élisabeth and Adrien had died. (Musiciens de Paris... d'après le Fichier Laborde, ed. Y. de Brossard, Paris, 1965, p. 116)
We have seen that Jean Édouard was a close friend of Adrien de Roanne, an organist. He was also a good friend of a Parisian dancing master, Jacques Le Febvre, whose wedding he attended in 1672 (MC, LXIV, 148, Nov. 7, 1672). Although Édouard is described in his wedding contract as a maître joueur d'instruments, the inventory taken after his death calls him a maître de danse et joueur d'instruments, and other documents compiled for his widow sometimes call him the one, and sometimes the other, but rarely both. In 1709 his children would state that their father had been one of the vingt-quatre violons du Roy ! (MC, XXIII, 399, inventory, April 5, 1709). Were they telling the truth? Or was this a myth, a desire to appear illustrious, now that the last Charpentier had died?
Beyond these scattered details, we know little of Jean Édouard's professional activities. We can, however, guess at his general appearance. He doubtlessly was well-shaped, attractive in body and face, polite, well-spoken, for "les danseurs ... doivent estre bienfaits du corps, & l'on sçait qu'une formation heureuse & agreable est quasi toûjours une marque de la bonté de l'ame. Ils doivent estre naturellement adroits & debarrassez, ils doivent avoir le corps & l'esprit souples, & ils ne sçauroient s'introduire chez les personnes de condition, sans avoir ou sans contracter des teintures d'onnesteté & de courtoisie, qui supposent presque toûjours une honneste naissance, ou du moins une bonne education." (BN, ms. fr. 21732, fol. 278v, lettres patentes du Roy pour l'établissement de l'Académie Royale de Danse, Paris, 1663)
Jean Édouard died in the mid-1680s, leaving three minor children: Jean, Marie-Anne and Jacques. If the Fichier Laborde (#10949) is accurate, he was buried at Saint-André-des-Arts on May 19, 1683, in the presence of his brother-in-law, "Jean Charpentier, ingénieur du Roy." (Learn more about him by reading about Armand-Jean Charpentier) Is this because the eldest male of the family, Marc-Antoine, was ill at the time? (He had withdrawn from the competition for master of the royal chapel a few weeks earlier and apparently would not resume his artistic endeavors until September of that year.) Probably not: we shall see that it was Armand-Jean, not Marc-Antoine, who was selected to be a guardian of the young Édouards.
Despite the fact that Jean Édouard had left minor children, his widow
was in no hurry to settle the estate. Not until February 20, 1685 — a
full twenty-one months later — were guardians selected:
Tuition
Edouard:
"L'an six cens quatre vints cinq, le vingtiesme febvrier ... pardevant nous Jean le Camus ... est comparue Élisabeth Charpnetier, veuve de deffunt Jean Edouard, vivant bourgeois de Paris et maître joueur d'instruments, qui a dit qu'estant necessaire d'eslire un tuteur et subrogé tuteur à Jean, Jacques et Marie-Anne Edouard, enfans mineurs dudit deffunt et d'elle, pour doresnavant regir et gouverner en leurs personnes, de biens, elle auroit requise leur parenté et amys de s'assembler pardevant nous pour donner leurs advis sur lesdites elections desquelles elle se rapporte à son esgard à justice, lesquels sont à cette fin comparu, sçavoir Me Estienne Combastes, commis au greffe du parquet des consignations du Palais, cousin paternel; Marc Anthoine Charpentier, bourgeois de Paris; Me Pierre Cheron, prestre et chanoine de Saint Pierre du Louvre; Geneviefve Le Vasseur, femme de [blank] Hedoyne, tailleur d'habits; Pierre Bessonneau, bourgeois de Paris; Christophle Charmaton; Nicolas Besnard; amys, ... "
They selected Élisabeth Charpentier to be the tutrice of her children, "et pour leur subrogé tuteur Me Jean Charpentier, bourgeois de Paris, leur oncle maternel, ... les cognoissant capables d'exercer lesdites charges."
That is the final report of the meeting. But there is a related document (I found both documents in AN, Y 4003A but requested them to be removed and placed in the "Reserve"), and it rounds out the picture thusly:
Aujourd'huy sont comparus pardevant les conseillers du Roy, notaires au Chatelet de Paris sousignez, Me Estienne Combastes, commis au greffe du parquet et des requestes du Palais, cousin paternel des mineurs sous-nommez, Sieur Marc Antoine Charpentier, bourgeois de Paris demeurant au grand hostel de Guise, et ledit Combastes Isle Nostre Dame, paroisse Saint Louis, Me Pierre Hedon, prestre et chanoine de Saint Pierre du Louvre, demeurant rue Mascon, paroisse Saint André des Artz, Genevieve Le Vasseur, femme de Jean Hedon, maistre tailleur d'habits Paris, demeurante ditte rue Mascon, Pierre Bessonneau, bourgeois de Paris, Christophle Charmaton, demeurant rue et paroisse Saint André, et Nicolas Besnard, marchand, demeurant rue de Bussy, tous amis desdits mineurs sous-nommez, tous parens et amis de Jean, Jacques et Marie-Anne Edouard, enfans mineurs de deffunt Jean Edouard, vivant bourgeois de Paris et maistre joueur d'instruments et de Elisabeth Charpentier, à present sa veuve, leurs pere et mere...
Before the lieutenant civil of the Chatelet, "en l'assemblée qui s'y doibt faire des parens et amis desdits mineurs," they have selected as guardians "ladite Veuve Edouard, demeurante rue et paroisse Saint André des Arts, et Sieur Charpentier, rue de la Vieille Bouclerie" ...
In short, although Marc-Antoine was the older of the minor's uncles, he either was passed over that day, or else he declined to accept the guardianship of three minor children. We should also note that their sister Étiennette was absent, just as she seems to have been on the day the Édouards signed their wedding contract. Had she disapproved of the match? Did she hesitate to risk her business by becoming involved in the dowry and, subsequently, in the education and training of her niece and nephews? Whatever the reasons, she ended up lending money to Élisabeth, to Marc-Antoine, to Marie-Anne, to Jacques — and surely was not so deluded as to consider the "loan" anything other than a gift.
The signatures of the assembled relatives and friends appear at the bottom of this document. Among these signatures is Marc-Antoine's calligraphed name, written in an rather archaic script and with a flourish, a paraphe, that is just as complex than that of his maître écrivain-engraver brother (whose signature reappears on the inventory of the Édouards' possessions taken later that day, AN, MC, VI, 582, Feb. 20, 1685). The signatures are laid out as follows:
Élisabeth Charpentier
[Armand-Jean] Charpentier
C. Charmetton
Bessonneau
Combaste
[Marc-Antoine] Charpentier
Genevieve Le Vasseur
Hesdon
Besnard
De Troyes [notary]
DeClersin [notary]
The two guardians, joined by Notary De Clersin, immediately went to the Édouard fourth-floor lodging and began enumerating the contents. Near the fireplace were the usual iron cooking implements, plus a bellows and a wooden saltbox. The mantlepiece was decorated with a garniture de faience. At hand stood a copper fountain big enough to hold three pails of water. Élisabeth doubtlessly had taken a certain pride in her high-quality pewter, which weighed forty pounds in all. The walls of the room were hung with tapisserie de Bergame, and one table (doubtlessly a "small walnut table") was covered with a cloth in brocatelle. White linen curtains hung at the windows. Several mirrors of Venitian glass brightened the room — one in a black wooden frame, two in gilded copper frames, and a small miror de toilette in a walnut frame. (Did the toilet mirror stand on the small table with gilded and twisted columns for legs?) On the walls were two religious images: a gold-framed engraving of the Holy Sacrament, and a Christ on a gilded wooden background trimmed with black velvet. Along the walls stood ten walnut chairs with green linen seats. Near the tables were a matching armchair (like the side chairs equipped with its green serge slipcover) and two small chairs with "tapestry" seats. The couple had slept in a columned bed with green serge hangings with silk trim; "camp bed" provided sleeping space for some of the children. Personal items were stored away in the lower part of an armoire and in a black leather trunk on a stand, plus two smaller leather chests, one on a little folding table — but the only items listed were two pairs of heavy linen sheets, a dozen towels, ten tablecloths, and six women's chemises. In this musician's home, no musical instrument is cited, nor any published or manuscript music. The only document inventoried was the couple's wedding contract, which suggests that the Édouards had not been able to accumulate sufficient money to purchase a rente.
Are we to conclude up to seven Édouards had lived in this single room during the 1660s, '70s and '80s? And that the couple's total possessions were worth just short of 165 livres? Or, almost two years after her husband's death, had Élisabeth singled out specific items that had been part of her dowry in 1662 — one-third of which she was entitled to keep? This seems possible: for her dowry had consisted of "sept cens livres en meubles, linges, vaisselle d'argent et autres hardes"; and in 1685 the items inventoried — but with no mention of silver — were estimated as worth just under 165 livres, that is, some fifty livres short of the 233 livres to which she was entitled. The fact that inventories tended to underestimate the actual sale value of the items, suggests that it was Élisabeth's third of the goods she had brought as a dowry that was being inventoried, so that she would be free to use these items as collateral when it came time to provide a dowry for Marie-Anne or set up the different children in their chosen livelihood. That would explain the rather low estimates. (Take for example, her poster bed with all its bedding and hangings: it was estimated as worth only 36 livres; but her father's similar bed and bedding had been valued at 50 livres in 1662, and the musician Loulié's similar bed and bedding were judged to be worth 60 livres in 1702) In other words, the lower the value of each individual item, the more items to which she could lay claim without exceeding the 233 livres' total; the higher the value, the fewer items she could claim.
Over the years that followed, Élisabeth Charpentier clearly did not have an easy time of it. We shall see that, in 1688, Marie-Anne agreed to take care of her physically, in return for the money that Élisabeth was investing in her shop. It is not clear whether she moved in with her daughter or lived independently (Marie-Anne's whereabouts during these years are at best confusing!); but 1697 found her on the rue du Jardinet, a few streets from the church of Saint-André-des-Arts (MC, LXXIII, 564, June 25, 1697). We also know that Élisabeth borrowed money from her sister Étiennette — as did her children — for Étiennette's inventory (titre 6) refers to a "liasse de douze pieces qui sont reconnoissances et billets de sommes données et pretées par ladite deffunte Estiennette Charpentier, tant à deffunte Elizabeth Charpentier sa soeur, qu'audit sieur Jacques Edouart, Mathas et sa femme." Élisabeth appears to have pre-deceased her sister, for no mention of her is made in Étiennette's will of 1709.