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Notes for Jacques* (James) de La Fontaine

JACQUES DE LA FONTAINE (1549-1633), the second son of Jean de la Fontaine, was about fourteen years old, Abraham was about twelve and the youngest was nine years old at the time their parents were murdered.They were filled with horror and consternation and fled from the bloody scene.Without any guide save the providence of God and no aim but to get as far as possible from the barbarians who had murdered their parents, they found their way to Rochelle.Rochelle was then a safe place and, indeed, for many rears a stronghold of Protestantism in France.It contained within its walls many devout and faithful servants of the living God.These poor boys were at one blow deprived of parents and property and from ease and affluence, were plunged into poverty.They were actually begging for their food when they reached Rochelle and had no recommendations but their affliction and their prepossessing appearance.
They were fair and handsome and had evident marks of belonging to a good family, having been well brought up.Some of the inhabitants took compassion upon them and gave them food and shelter in return for little services they were capable of performing.A shoemaker, who was a charitable man, fearing God and in easy circumstances, received Jacques into his home, treating him with much kindness and affection, and taught him his own trade, but without binding him to it as an apprentice.This was no time for pride of birth or titles of nobility to be thought of, but rather to be thankful to God for putting it in his power to earn his daily bread by honest labor.It was not long before Jacques was in receipt of sufficient wages to enable him to support his younger brothers, but in a very moderate way, for they all three lived poorly enough until Jacques reached manhood.He then engaged in commerce, and his later career was comparatively prosperous.
Jacques married and had several children, but only three lived to be marriageable: two daughters and one son, also named Jacques.After the death of the first wife, Jacques married again but had no additional children.It would have been much better for him to have remained a widower, for his second wife was a wicked woman who became tired of him and tried to poison him.Though she did not succeed, for medical aid was promptly obtained, the offense became too notorious to be hushed up.She was taken to prison, tried, and condemned to death.
Henry IV was at Rochelle at this time, and application was made to him for a pardon.He replied that before making a decision, he should like to see the husband whose wife was so anxious to get rid of him, to judge for himself whether there was any excuse for her.When Jacques appeared before him he called out, "Let her be hanged!He is the handsomest man in my Kingdom."Jacques was pictured as very handsome, with a full face, pure white and red complexion, and a long flaxen beard reaching to his waist, with a few white hairs intermixed with it.He was also of a good height and well proportioned.Jacques died in 1633 at the age of eighty-three.He left property to his family amounting to 9,000 livres.This was a period of peace and prosperity in France.
Henry IV, known as Henry of Navarre (1553-1610), was educated by his mother in the Calvinistic faith and early joined the Protestant army of France.In 1572 he married Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX, and after the Massacre of St. Bartholemew, which took place during the festivities in connection with his marriage, adopted the Roman Catholic creed.For the next four years he was compelled to live in Paris but on February 3, 1576, succeeded in making his escape.After retracting, at Tours, the abjuration of Calvinism which he had made at Paris, he put himself at the head of the Huguenots and took a leading part in all the subsequent religious wars.He became King in 1589 through the assassination of Henry III but was resisted in his claim by the Catholics.Convinced that he could never enjoy quiet possession of the French throne without professing the Catholic faith, Henry yielded to his friends and became a Catholic in 1593.He quickly brought peace to France.
On October 18, 1598, Henry IV granted the Edict of Nantes.He restored internal prosperity to his kingdom.He became known as the Regenerator of France.
The Edict of Nantes granted a large measure of religious freedom to the French Protestants, the Huguenots.According to the edict, freedom of conscience was guaranteed to the Huguenots throughout the kingdom, and public worship was permitted in all places where it had been granted by earlier edicts, as well as in a large number of other places, including the estates of all Protestant noblemen.Protestant worship could not be held, however, in places where there were royal residences within five leagues of the city of Paris.The Huguenots were granted all civil rights, includingthe right to hold any public office, and were admitted to the universities.In addition, they were allowed to maintain four universities of their own, at Montauban, Montpellier, Sedan and Saumur.To adjudicate disputes, a special chamber with Catholic and Protestant representatives was set up in the Parliament at Paris, and similar bodies were established at Bordeaux, Grenoble and Castres.The Huguenots were also allowed to maintain a large number of fortified places, including such strongholds as La Rochelle for eight years after the promulgation of the edict.
The desire of the Huguenot cities to retain their semi-independent status brought them into conflict with Louis XIII, after he assumed the reins of power in 1617, and five years later civil war began again in France.With the fall of La Rochelle in 1628, Huguenot power was broken, and the crown started on a protracted course of whittling away the privileges granted by the Edict of Nantes.This process was accelerated after Louis XIV began to govern in his own right in 1661.Finally, on October 18, 1685, Louis announced the formal revocation of the Edict of Nantes, abrogating all the civil and religious rights of the Huguenots.
Place of birth is given in book on the Fontaine's as "While At Court" meaning Jacques was born while his father was at court - - whether the family was living at court and thus Jacques was born where the court was at this time, I am not sure.
Jacques (James) De La Fontaine, born 1549 in Maine Prov., France; died 1633 in Rochelle, Poitou Prov., France. He was the son of Jean (John) De La Fontaine and Guyonne Le Royer.
Children of Jacques (James) De La Fontaine are:
i.(1st Daughter of Jacques) De La Fontaine, married Bouquet.
ii.(2nd Daughter of Jacques) De La Fontaine, married Reaud.
iii.James (Jacques) Fontaine, born 1603 in Rochelle, Poitou Prov., France; died 1666 in Jenouille, an estate near the borough of Veaux, France; married (1) Elizabeth Thompson 1628 in London, Middlesex, England; married (2) Marie Chaillon 1641 in Saintonge, France.

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