Descartes Family

Philosophers are like the saints of God’s Church.

Descartes’ Family

Descartes came from a house considered until then one of the most noble, the most ancient, and the best established in Touraine.

It had even spread widely into the province of Poitou, and had extended branches into Berry, Anjou, and Brittany by means of advantageous alliances contracted there.

He was the son of Messire Joachim Descartes, whose father was Pierre Descartes and mother Claude Ferrand, sister of Antoine Ferrand, first lieutenant at the Châtelet of Paris, and of Michel Ferrand, who was father of Monsieur Ferrand, dean of the Parliament of Paris.

Pierre Descartes had no other child than Joachim. He was a gentleman of comfortable means, who had retired early from service and office in order to enjoy more fully the fruits of the repose he had procured for himself. Yet he never hesitated to interrupt it when the service of his prince and his country required. He distinguished himself on various occasions, notably in 1569, when he entered the town of Poitiers with the Comte du Lude to defend it against the siege of the Huguenots, contributing much to strengthening the royal party, raising the siege, and maintaining both the people and the troops in obedience to the legitimate prince.

This Pierre was the son of Jean Descartes and Jeanne du Puy, daughter and heiress of a younger son of the house of De Vatan in Berry. This great-grandmother of our philosopher died rather young, and her husband remarried, though without augmenting his family by that new marriage.

Jean’s father was Gilles (or Gillet) Descartes, and his mother Marie Madeleine Desmons, of a very noble and ancient family of Upper Poitou. Gilles was the son of another Pierre Descartes and Madeleine Taveau, of the house of De Mortemer. He had a brother raised to the archbishopric of Tours, who bore, like their father, the name of Pierre. If Robert and the brothers Sainte-Marthe have not included him in their list of the archbishops of Tours, this omission may be attributed to the brevity of that pontificate and the premature death of the new archbishop. Indeed, one has reason to doubt whether he had the leisure to be consecrated and to take possession of his see in due form.

Pierre Descartes, father of Gilles and of the archbishop Pierre, was the son of another Gilles and Marthe Gillier, of the house of De Puy-Garreau. This Gilles was the younger of the family, but became its head after his elder brother, Pierre Descartes, Seigneur de Mauny in Touraine near Ligueil, left only a daughter, who carried the estate outside the family by marrying into the house of De Lillette in Touraine, later absorbed into the house of De Maillé.

Those who wish to consult the family records of the Descartes, kept by Monsieur de Kerleau and Monsieur de Chavagnes (who are now the senior members of the family in Brittany, and nephews of our philosopher), may trace the genealogy even further back. But whatever advantage might be derived from it for the family’s reputation, one may say that, were it not for the merit of the living who sustain it with honor, today scarcely anything but the memory of our philosopher could revive those ancestors in posterity and render their name immortal. It suffices to remark, for its nobility, that no mis-alliances are to be found in it; and for its antiquity, that no date of ennoblement has ever been found to show its origin.

There existed also in Touraine another branch of the ancient house of Descartes, or Des Quartes, which, by alliances in the time of Henry II, became merged into foreign families. That branch had divided under the reign of Charles VII into elder sons who maintained nobility until the end, appearing regularly at the musters without derogating from their status; and younger sons who fell into poverty and were obliged to enter trade to subsist. From these latter came a physician of Châtellerault in Poitou, named Pierre Descartes, who, in the time of Francis I, defended a lawsuit at the Court of Aids in Paris against the officials of that town, who sought to subject him to taxation. The court reinstated him in all the rights of his nobility, after he had faithfully represented his genealogy without interruption as far back as King Charles V. But as both these branches had separated from that of Monsieur Descartes the philosopher since the time of Philip of Valois, I have judged them too remote from him and too irrelevant to our subject to recount their names and qualities here.

Let us now consider the state of Monsieur Descartes’ family at the time of his birth. His father Joachim, only son of Pierre, having completed his studies, showed no inclination to adopt the profession of arms—whether because he recognized that the French nobility was wearied, exhausted, and half ruined by civil and foreign wars, or because his father’s example taught him that tranquility of life is the surest way to preserve one’s estate. But his aversion for idleness, joined to the obligation of determining upon an honorable way of life, led him to the robe. He turned his eyes toward the Parliament of Brittany and obtained there a councillor’s seat on 14 February 1586 by the resignation of Emery Regnault. Since the offices of this parliament required only six months of residence and service, he did not establish his ordinary dwelling at Rennes, but contented himself with passing there his semester. Soon afterwards, by contract of 15 January 1589, he married Jeanne Brochard, daughter of the lieutenant-general of Poitiers and Jeanne Sain (or Seign), who bore him three children during the few years she lived with him.

The eldest, named Pierre Descartes, Seigneur de La Bretaillière, de Kerleau, de Tremondée, de Kerbourdin, etc., died councillor at the Parliament of Brittany, where he had been admitted on 10 April 1618 through the care of his father, who had at last settled in that province.

De La Bretaillière had married, by contract of 17 September 1624, Dame Marguerite Chohan de Cockander, of the Breton nobility, by whom he had two sons and four daughters. One of the sons, Pierre Descartes, Seigneur de Montdidier, married a wealthy widow of rank in the province, but died without children and without office.

The other, Messire Joachim Descartes, Seigneur de Kerleau, is today regarded as the head of the name and arms of the whole house, which he sustains with much honor and reputation. He was admitted councillor at the Parliament of Brittany on 30 May 1648, and by contract of 1 January 1656 married Dame Marie Porrée du Parcq, daughter of Messire Nicolas Porrée du Parcq, councillor at the same parliament, and Dame Julienne du Guesclin, of the family of the famous Bertrand, Constable of France.

From this marriage came 2 sons and 3 daughters.

The elder, of much merit, is named François Joachim; he has just been provided with a councillor’s office at the parliament, where he is expected to fulfill advantageously what is hoped for him. The second, named René after his great-uncle, entered a year ago the Jesuit novitiate at Paris.

His superiors hold him in great esteem and expect that he will not render himself unworthy of bearing the name of the great philosopher. The eldest daughter, Marie, married Messire Charles Bidé de La Grand-Ville, councillor at parliament, son of a president à mortier and grandson of a maître des requêtes.

But she lost her husband in 1689 and remains with four young children. The two other daughters are not yet married. Of the four daughters of Monsieur de La Bretaillière, elder brother of our philosopher, the two eldest embraced the religious life: the first, Anne Descartes, among the Carmelites of Vannes; the second, Françoise, among the Ursulines of Ploërmel in the diocese of Saint-Malo. Both were women of much wit and great piety.

The third, Marie Madeleine Descartes, married Messire François du Pereno, Seigneur de Penvern and de Persequen, a gentleman of great quality in the province.

They had several children, the daughters of whom are either religious or still unmarried. Of the sons, the eldest, Joachim, is a captain in the regiment of Jarzé; the second is at college.

The fourth is Mademoiselle Catherine Descartes, who judged it not proper to engage in marriage. If, on one hand, she sustains worthily the memory of her uncle by her intellect and learning, one may say on the other that she serves as a model for her sex by her virtue. It is to her glory that some have said the spirit of the great René fell to the distaff.

The second child of Joachim Descartes, father of our philosopher, was a daughter named Jeanne, who married Messire Pierre Rogier, knight, Seigneur du Crevis, and who died shortly after her father.

Their marriage produced two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Messire François Rogier, died councillor at the provincial parliament, leaving a son of his name, now the Comte de Villeneuve. The daughter, Susanne, married a Breton gentleman, Monsieur de Lambely, Baron de Kergeois.

The third child of Joachim, and the last by Jeanne Brochard his first wife, was René Descartes, our philosopher, who found himself obliged to bear the title of Seigneur du Perron, despite the constancy with which he always refused every sort of title.

Upon the accuracy of this detail one may correct the opinion of those who have written otherwise and have published that he was the only child of a second marriage.