Photography by J Scott Brisson
Saint Pierre-le-Marché
Located squarely in the middle of France on the Yèvre river,
Bourges is the capital of the département of Cher, the former province of Berry.
Saint Pierre-le-Marché was a parish in the town.
Outside the city's Gallo-Roman walls, a little monastery was constructed in 1157 by the canons of Saint Ambroix Abby. They called it Saint Pierre Saint Paul, after two saints. The church's construction continued little by little over the next three centuries, while the town built its medieval walls to encircle and protect its larger land mass.
By 1458, Bourges had grown into a large town with about 15,000 habitants. Three ancient streets intercepted near the church; Rue Mirebeau, Rue des Toiles, and Rue des Pourceaux (roughly translated as Street of Reflected Beauty, Fabric Street, and Pig Street). The names of these streets reflected the town's principle Middle Age economy, and along them merchants' shops lined up as craftsmen and artisans grouped together around the little church. The artisans built half-timber homes that accommodated their shops on the street level and living quarters on the upper levels. The locals experienced many outbreaks of plague and scarcity as they struggled to make ends meet.
The concept of a middle class was foreign to French countrymen and women of the Middle Ages. Either you were rich or you were poor. The aristocrats, clergy, and artists built homes of stone on the upper part of the town. Connecting this wealthy neighborhood to the working class lower town were several casse-cous, passages that crossed the gallo-roman rampart at a steep incline, where one might break his neck or have it broken for him by the local riffraff admiring his wallet. They were only blocks apart.
On 22 July 1487, the violent "Fire of la Madeleine" broke out. It destroyed more than a third of the city, mostly around the lower town where the half-timbered homes could not resist the flames. The little church was not spared. Though the fire caused further economic decline, restoration quickly began around the fire-damaged stone columns. Additions to one side of the church accommodated the curve of Rue Mirebeau by the 1600s. A pork market had developed at the intersection of the three ancient streets, marked by a stone cross, which inspired a new name for the little church: Saint Pierre-le-Marché. A parish of the same name formed around it, indicated on the copper etching below by a red balloon.
Here in basse-ville, (lower town), Bourge's working class neighborhood was populated by manœuvres, retailers, cutlers, shoemakers, cooks and boulangers. The Yévrette, a canal that powered its mills and also served as drainage to the public sewage network, flowed from its source near the church through the parish and beyond to other parishes. As the town's tanneries and fisheries started businesses here, the neighborhood smelled pretty foul, illustrating the modest origin of a little family named Brisson who were among its parishioners.
The parish church is today known as Notre Dame de Bourges. Only 4 blocks away in the upper town, however, was a larger church called St Pierre-le-Guillard; the most populous parish in Bourges. This was the childhood parish of the notable Henri Brisson. His ancestors, however, came from the parish of St Pierre-le-Marché.
According to the parish records of Saint Jean-Baptiste of Le Moule, Guadeloupe,
Bourges was the birthplace of Anthony D. Brisson's great-grandmother
Jeanne Vallée.
They are less specific about the birthplace of her husband, Anthony's great-grandfather
Louis Brisson.
It didn't take long to uncover his Bourges baptism record as well.
Braun and F. Hogenberg: Orleans and Bourges, an engraving from Georg Hoefnagel's "Civitates Orbis Terrarum" in 1582.
Click image for more information.
Recently digitized archives in Guadeloupe (see Le Moule tab) provide stunning, long-awaited proof of the direct paternal line of Huldah Russ's mysterious French husband, who bequeathed his legacy to Bladen County, North Carolina. Etienne's father, grandfather, and countless ancestors came from staunchly Catholic France. Tradition there dictated they be named not for their own parents, but for their godparents. Huldah's son Anthony was no exception.
Guadeloupe archives indicate that Anthony's great-grandfather Louis Brisson was a surgeon from the Burgundy town of Saulieu, and that his great-grandmother Jeanne Vallée is from the town of Bourges. Further research shows however that both Louis and Jeanne's baptism and marriage record are located in the parish church called St Pierre-le-Marché.
The Brisson family in fact has a very long history in this church. Louis' father Pierre Brisson and grandfather Claude Brisson were both master cutlers; both baptized and married in St Pierre-le-Marché. Records therefore specifically account for 4 generations of Brissons who stood at the alter of this church. Before the early 1600s, the records are illegible, therefore we can only imagine how many generations of Brissons stood at this alter with their parish priests.
Why would Guadeloupe's records include incorrect information regarding Louis Brisson's profession and birthplace? While we may never know specifics, history tells us that Bourges' economy in the 1700's was devastated by fires and religious wars. The Sun King Louis XIV had spent the country's tax revenues on his lavish new palace in Versailles, leaving little capital to benefit his subjects. Bourges' agricultural markets began to dwindle, its walls to crumble in disrepair, and outside trade to falter. Town administrators tried to revive their economy by introducing cloth, cotton and cutlery manufactures, but they met with little success. The enterprising spirit of its citizens was slowly snuffed out, and poverty became widespread. France was no place for a commoner.
Anthony's great-grandfather Louis was perhaps the first of this long line of Brissons to seek his fortune outside the parish of St Pierre-le-Marché. Evidence indicates he went to the region of Burgundy, but his adventure did not last. His marriage record below tells us he returned 5 years later and married Jeanne Vallée, the daughter of a master pastry chef. Henceforth, as of the year 1723, the Brisson family profession of master cutler shifted to cuisine.
A family tree compiled on the French ancestry site of Geneanet.org that reports that Louis and Jeanne Brisson had three sons: Etienne, Philibert, and Louis the younger. This evidence triangulates and appears solid, but it loses track of their eldest son Etienne. Now, thanks to the recently digitized Guadeloupe archives, the Brissons of Bladen County now know that Etienne departed for London, where he would meet Mary Dale, who would remain his wife for the rest of their lives. Their family of four emigrated to the French colony of Guadeloupe, and their eldest son would sail up the Atlantic coast just as American colonists revolted against the tyranny of England, and where he would fall in love with a beautiful young woman named Huldah Russ.
Young Etienne's uncles Philibert and Louis the younger remained in Bourges, working as pastry chefs or domestics in the homes of the bourgeoisie. The French economy continued to be devastated not only by the Seven Years War but by the French Révolution, during which the church of St-Pierre-le-Marché would be used as a warehouse for saltpeter. Happily for us, the church survived the destruction of war and remains to this day. In time the town's aristocrats became its rich ruling class, clustered in the upper-town parish of St Pierre-le-Guillard.
A century later, a young man born in Bourges' upper town parish of St Pierre-le-Guillard would move to Paris and became President of the French Chamber of Deputies, and later Prime Minister of France. His name was Henri Brisson. Henri's cousin Eugene Brisson became mayor of Bourges.
Although Henri Brisson was born in the aristocratic upper town, his direct ancestors, like those of Anthony Brisson, can be found in the parish records of St Pierre-le-Marché.
The Parish Records
Click image for actual document,
located on page 13
Click image for actual document,
located on page
1688
Baptism of Louis Brisson
Le quinzieme novembre mil six cent quatre vingt huit a este baptizé Louice né le jour precedent fils de Pierre Brisson mre. coutelier et de Jeanne Germain sa femme. Le parrein a este venerable et . . . personne Louis Rongent son diocese Chanoin de l'eglise de St. Pierre-le-Puellier et la marraine honnête dame Marie Roy aieulle paternelle dudit baptizé laquelle a declaré ne savoir signer
L Rongent, Moret
Translation:
November fifteenth sixteen hundred eighty-eight was baptized Louis born the previous day son of Pierre Brisson master cutler and of Jeanne Germain his wife. The godfather was venerable and ... person Louice Rongent his Chanoin diocese of the church of St Pierre-le-Puellier and the godmother honest woman Marie Roy paternal grandmother of the said baptized who declared not knowing how to sign.
L Rongent, Moret
(Antoine Moret was the priest/curé of St Pierre-le-Marche)
Research opportunities presented:
The spelling of Louis looks more like Lonice or Louice, and therefore troubling. However, the aggregate of St Pierre-le-Marché's November 1688 baptisms was recorded in the early 1700s and affirms the modernized spelling.
Translation of the upper right record: Baptisms, 15th, Louis Brisson, son of Pierre, cutler.
Click image for actual document, located on page 374
1702
Pierre Brisson
“Opinion of parents concerning apprenticeship of young Nicolas Germain, minor orphan, whose poverty does not permit him to embrace the state of pastry chef because of the times and money he would have to devote. The family agrees that it is appropriate rather that he apprentice as a cutler with his guardian Pierre Brisson, paying 100 livres, and that he accomplish his three years of apprenticeship.”
Research opportunities presented:
When Louis was 14 years old, his father Pierre took on an apprentice for his cutler business.
Was this Jeanne Germain’s little brother or nephew? Locate Nicolas in archives
Click image for actual document, located on page 279
1723
Marriage of Louis Brisson and Jeanne Vallée
Ce trentieme septembre mil sept cents vingt trois apres la ceremonie des fiancialles et la publication des trois bans tant dans cette eglise que dans celle de St Bonnet de cette ville. [...] [...] et [...] [...] prieur de St Bonnet [en daller?] du vingt neuf du present mois signe Monicault nous soussigne prieur de cette eglise [avons?] recu a la benediction nuptiale Louis Brisson traitteur fils des deffunts Pierre Brisson mre coutelier et de Jeanne Germain natif de cette parroisse ayant suivi pendant quatre ou cinq ans son capitaine qui n'avait aucun domicile fixe et demeurant depuis un mois ou environ dans ladite paroisse de St Bonnet et honnête fille Jeanne Therese Vallee fille de Pierre Vallee mre. patissier et de Francoise Jean sa femme de cette parroisse apres avoir recu leur mutuel consentement en presence de leurs parents et amis qui ont signe comme temoins lesdits Louis Brisson et Jeanne Therese Vallee ont declare ne savoir signer Pierre Vallee ayant PV pour [...]
Renoir
Jaque Paingnet
Perroubles?
PV
LP
Francois Meillard
Pierre Vallee
Baudon
Jean Baptiste
Pinardeau
Denieur
Translation:
This 30th September seventeen hundred twenty-three after the engagement ceremony and the publication of three bans made in this church and at St. Bonnet of this town of the 11 April and with ___certification of father-prior of St Bonnet on the 29th of this month decreed Monicault we the undersigned priors of this church saw the nuptial benediction of Louis Brisson, caterer, son of the late Pierre Brisson, master cutler, and of Jeanne Germain native of this parish, having followed for four or five years his captain who had no fixed domicile and living for about one month in the parish of St. Bonnet and honest girl Jeanne Therese Vallée daughter of Pierre Vallée master patissier and of Francoise Jean his wife of this parish after having seen their mutual contentments in the presence of their parents and friends who signed as witness the aforementioned Louis Brisson and Jeanne Therese Vallée declared not knowing how to sign.
Research opportunities presented:
Louis Monicault became cure of St Bonnet in 1719.
Pierre Vallée signed PV, as he did in other documents (which ones?)
Who is Baudon? He also signed their son Etienne's birth record.
Etienne Vallée signed as witness. He also signed their son Etienne Brisson's birth records as godfather.
Both Francoise Jean and Jeanne Germain were native of St Pierre le Marché.
What is written is the margin?
Click image for actual document, located on page 327
1728
Baptism of
Etienne Brisson
the elder
Ce huitieme fevier mil sept cents vingt huit a . . . apprové par l’eglise un enfant né le jour precedent fils de Louis Brisson domestique et de Jeanne Vallée sa femme et le parrain et en nomme Étienne par Étienne Realle un tailleur . . . et le sa marraine . . . Marie Francoise Frevard épouse de (Jean?) Chanaud domestique.
Marie Francoise
Étienne Baudon
A.Moret, curé
This 8th day of February seventeen hundred twenty-eight was approved at the church a child born yesterday son of Louis Brisson domestic and of Jeanne Vallée his wife. Named Etienne by Etienne Vallee (Realle?), master caterer, his godfather, and by Marie Francoise Brevard (?) wife of Jean Chanaud, domestic.
Research opportunities presented:
Both Louis and his son's godfather are domestics.
Who is Etienne Vallee?
Whi is Marie Francoise Brevard (?)
Who is Jean Chanaud?
Who Baudon? He also signed Louis and Jeanne's marriage record
What is written in the margin? No other entries on the page have anything written in the margin.
Inventaire sommaire des archives départementales antérieures à 1790
Séries B (fin) C,D,E (1re partie)
Archives départementales du Cher
January 1, 1885, page 14
1494-1774
Procedures against the widow Brisson
" - Town of Bourges - Parish of Saint-Pierre-le-Marché. - Acts of acquisition made by Jesuit priests of several homes on Mirebeau street. - Procedures against the widow Brisson, for repetition of a house ceded to the late master Brisson, cutler, for emphyteutic lease, for inobservation of the clauses of the contract. - Lease of the house called du Cadron, on the said Mirebeau street. - Census map of Toiles and du Chat streets, made by Charpentier, in 1755"
This is a summary of acts that took place between the years listed. No specific date is given, but the street name Rue Mirebeau, still there today, is repeated. Locating this original record may give us the couple's first names and address, perhaps Jeanne Germain, wife of Pierre Brisson, master cutler.