Pierre d'Hozier facts for kids
Pierre d'Hozier (born July 10, 1592 – died December 1, 1660) was a famous French genealogist. A genealogist is like a history detective who studies family trees and finds out about people's ancestors and relatives.
Contents
His Life and Work
Early Years and Skills
Pierre d'Hozier was born in Marseille, a city in France. When he was younger, he worked for a important person called Marshal de Créqui. He helped the Marshal with his own family history research.
Pierre d'Hozier had an amazing memory. He could remember lots of dates, names, and how families were connected. He also knew a lot about heraldry. Heraldry is the study of coats of arms and symbols that families use. These skills helped him a lot in his work.
Becoming a Royal Expert
In 1616, Pierre started a big project. He began researching the family histories of many noble families in France. Because of his great work, he received important jobs from the king.
In 1634, he became the official historiographer and genealogist of France. A historiographer is someone who writes history. In 1641, he was named the juge d'armes of France. This job was similar to a Garter King-of-Arms in England, who manages coats of arms and noble titles.
One of his important tasks was to check if people really belonged to noble families. For example, in 1643, he had to check the claims of the king's pages and equerries. These were young people who served in the king's household.
His Writings
Pierre d'Hozier collected many old documents. Even though he gathered a huge amount of information, he published only a few books. Some of his main works include:
- Recueil armorial des anciennes maisons de Bretagne (1638): This book was about the coats of arms of old families from a region called Brittany.
- Les noms, surnoms, qualitez, armes et blasons des chevaliers ct officiers de l'ordre du Saint-Esprit (1634): This book listed the names and symbols of knights and officers of a special French order called the Order of the Holy Spirit.
- He also wrote detailed family histories for important families like La Rochefoucauld (1654), Bournonville (1657), and Amanze (1659).
His Death and Legacy
Pierre d'Hozier passed away in Paris on December 1, 1660. When he died, he left behind a huge collection of over 150 volumes. These books and papers contained lots of information about the family histories of France's most important families.
He had six sons, but only two of them lived longer than him. His oldest son, Louis Roger d'Hozier (1634–1708), took over his job as juge d'armes. However, Louis Roger became blind in 1675. Because of this, he had to give his job to his brother, Charles René d'Hozier.
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