my-server
← Wiki

Cornulier family

The Cornulier family is an originating in Brittany. It was recognized in 1668 as a family of ancient nobility on the basis of a documented lineage dating back to 1487. Some authors have suggested an earlier origin, tracing it to 1380 and linking it to the House of Cornillé, although this connection has not been conclusively demonstrated.

The Cornulier family was notably established in the County of Nantes, particularly in Nozay, Anetz, and Saint-Herblon. It produced several mayors of Nantes and was primarily oriented toward judicial careers rather than military service, providing several presidents à mortier to the Parliament of Brittany.

History

A hypothetical origin: the House of Cornillé

According to a tradition reported by Haillan, historiographer of France and genealogist of the Order of the Holy Spirit, the Cornulier family originally bore the name Cornillé and was said to descend from the former lords of the parish of Cornillé in the diocese of Rennes.

Grégoire de Cornillé (around 1380)

According to tradition, the family is said to descend from a figure named Grégoire de Cornillé, who around 1380 was allegedly authorized by Duke John IV of Brittany to modify his coat of arms and to adopt the name Cornulier in place of Cornillé.

Descendants of Grégoire de Cornillé

According to genealogical tradition, Grégoire de Cornillé had a son, Guillaume, residing in the parish of Mécé, who appears under the name Cornillé in the inquiry of 1427 and under that of Cornulier in 1429.

Guillaume's son, Guillaume II de Cornillé, who died before 1498, had three sons: Yves de Cornillé, a man-at-arms in the royal ordinances in 1501; René de Cornillé, secretary to François de Laval, Baron of Châteaubriant, and churchwarden of Saint-Jean-de-Béré in 1546; and Pierre, generally identified with Pierre Cornulier, regarded as the ancestor of the extant Cornulier family.

Controversies over the Cornillé–Cornulier lineage

noted that, in the Généalogie de la maison Cornulier published in 1863, Ernest de Cornulier sought to establish a direct descent of the family from the Mécé branch of the Cornillé family, based on a change of name and coat of arms, presenting this hypothesis as probable in the absence of conclusive evidence.

observed that the hypothesis of a common origin between the Cornulier and Cornillé families has been accepted with reservations by several historians of Breton nobility. He also noted that seventeenth-century judgments confirming nobility, together with the works of Lainé and Potier de Courcy, trace the Cornulier lineage to Pierre Cornullier, sieur de la Haudelinière, active in the late fifteenth century. According to Ernest de Cornulier-Lucinière, this individual may correspond to Pierre, the third son of Guillaume II de Cornillé, though this identification remains debated.

The Cornulier family in the early modern period

Reliable records of the Cornulier family exist from the late fifteenth century onward.

The family developed into two main branches, whose members were confirmed in the nobility of ancient extraction on 17 November 1668, based on a documented lineage dating to 1487.

According to in Catalogue de la noblesse française subsistante (2007), the Cornulier family is recognized as belonging to the , without any associated noble title for the surviving branch.

Contemporary period

The Cornulier family joined the (ANF) in 1946.

Possessions

Lordships and noble possessions

In the early modern period, members of the House of Cornulier were:

  • Lords of (Nozay), , La Haye, Les Croix, Les Gravelles, Boismaqueau, Le Meix, Vernay, , La Parochère, La Sionnière, La Rivaudière, Lorière, Le Pesle, Montreuil;
  • Barons of Montrelais and Quintin in Vannes;
  • Barons and later Counts of La Roche-en-Nort, among others;
  • Viscounts of Rezé;
  • Counts of Largouët and Vair;
  • Marquises of Châteaufromont (from 1683 to 1738).

Castles and properties

Arms

The family arms are blazoned: D'azur, au rencontre de cerf d'or, surmonté entre son bois d'une moucheture d'hermine d'argent (Azure, a stag's head caboshed Or, surmounted between its antlers by an ermine spot Argent).

Titles

  • The family held the title of Marquis of Châteaufromont, granted by letters patent in September 1683; the title became extinct in 1738.

Notable individuals

Under the Ancien Régime (before 1789)

  • , lord of (d. 1588), served as general of finances in Brittany and as mayor of Nantes from 1569 to 1570.
  • (1568–1645), lord of Les Croix, La Haye, Gravelle, and La Touche, held the same office of general of finances in Brittany and was mayor of Nantes from 1605 to 1606.
  • (1575–1639) was abbot of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Blanche-Couronne in 1612, from 1617 to 1619, and from 1619 until his death in 1639.
  • served as councillor to the Grand Conseil in 1655, later became president à mortier at the Parliament of Brittany, and was created marquis of Châteaufromont by letters patent in September 1683.
  • Toussaint Charles François de Cornulier (1740–1779) served as president at the Parliament of Brittany.
  • Toussaint François Joseph de Cornulier (1771–1794), his son, joined the constitutional guard of Louis XVI (1791–1792), later emigrated, and was executed by guillotine on 19 July 1794 at the age of 23.
  • Charles-René de Cornulier also held the position of president at the Parliament of Brittany.

Nineteenth century and early twentieth century

  • (1789–1862), son of Toussaint François Joseph, soldier, politician, and industrialist.
  • Jean Baptiste Théodore Benjamin de Cornulier-Lucinière (1773–1824), officer and mayor of Nort-sur-Erdre.
  • Louis-Auguste de Cornulier (1778–1843), leader of the Vendéan insurgents, colonel and Knight of Saint Louis.
  • Ernest de Cornulier-Lucinière (1804–1893), naval officer, director of the naval observatory at the port of Lorient, and writer.
  • (1809–1886), soldier and politician.
  • René de Cornulier-Lucinière (1811–1886), admiral and monarchist-oriented politician, mayor of Nantes in 1874.
  • (1812–1886), mayor of Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay, general councillor, senator of Vendée from 1876 to 1886, sitting on the monarchist benches.
  • Alfred de Cornulier-Lucinière (1822–1855), soldier, served in Algeria under the orders of Louis Juchault de Lamoricière, before taking part in the Crimean War under the command of Patrice de Mac Mahon. He was killed during this conflict at the Battle of Malakoff in September 1855, while serving as a . in Nantes was named in his honor.
  • (1825–1898), deputy for Calvados. He participated in the founding in 1864 of the , of which he became the first director.
  • Raoul de Cornulier-Lucinière (1838–1898), divisional general.
  • Gustave de Cornulier-Lucinière (1855–1929), divisional general. In September 1914, he commanded the 5th Division of the Cavalry Corps attached to the Sixth Army under General Maunoury. He distinguished himself during the Battle of the Ourcq, carrying out on 9 September a raid as far as the Ourcq between German lines, described as “one of the finest feats of arms in the record of the cavalry.”

Gallery

Alliances

The principal marriage alliances of the Cornulier family are with: (1594), de la Noue (1604), (1620), du Bois de la Ferronnière (1627), de Charette (1635), (1663 and 1766), de Trémereuc (1702), de Boislève (1719), de Montmorency (1718), du Dresnay (1740), de Saint-Pern (1787, 1788, 1815), du Merdy de Catuélan (1756, 1765), de Monti (1817), de (1824), de Mauléon (1844), Le Doulcet de Méré (1847), d’Oilliamson (1802, 1898), Daniel de Boisdenemets (1877), de Cussy (1869), de , Desfriches-Doria (1799), de Lespinay (1810, 1833), de (1903), Boux de Casson (1707, 1870), de Becdelièvre (1735), de Kerméno (1628), du Bourblanc (1767), du Bahuno du Liscoët (1793), de Vélard (1866), de Couétus (1835, 1860), de (1838), du Couédic (1871), de (1863), (1846), du (1908), among others.

Tributes

  • , in Rennes.
  • , in Nantes.
  • , created in honor of Gontran de Cornulier (1825–1898).

See also

References

Bibliography

  • }