The stables of the parpaillots
The history of the stables of the parpaillots
The manor house in La Haye dates from the 16th century. It was raised on the site of a castle built by Charlemagne in order to protect itself from Norman incursions.
In 1858 arrive in The Hague Claude GENEAU de LAMARLIERE and Rosalie LEFEBVRE
Leaving branch III of the family, Claude was the 3rd son of Augustin GENEAU de LAMARLIERE and Elisabeth MAILLARD.
On August 30, 1981, 170 of their descendants met in these places for a family meeting. Everyone has fond memories of it.
End of the 16th century at the end of the 17th century century
While the Reformation movement gradually died out in Artois at the end of the century, the region of Calais, from which the English had been driven out in 1558, was gradually repopulated. The persecuted Huguenots of Artois and Flanders found there refuge , joined around 1600 by Dutch emigrants.
The signing of the Edict of Nantes in 1598 allowed the opening of 2 temples: at Marck and at Guines. A community of about 3000 members, with very diverse social origins: Flemish farmers and craftsmen, rich Dutch merchants, helped each other and came to the aid of the poorest.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, preceded since 1660, by infamous measures, with its share of arrests, closures of places of worship and discrimination of all kinds caused the bulk of the population to flee.
In the region of Boulogne, a few families of nobles and notables who had remained faithful to Protestantism, animated until the end of the 17th century a small community of around 350 faithful who met in La Haye, a large fortified farm located in Nesles (Pas -de-Calais) where the reformed cult was proclaimed, as authorized by article VII of the edict of Nantes of 1598.
Several Protestants chose to be buried in a nearby meadow, which for a long time kept the name of "parpaillots cemetery".
But from 1672, authorizations for sermons and burials were gradually withdrawn.
In 1685, the few remaining families around abjured and at the end of the century there remained in the northern region only about 300 Protestant families.
The manor of the Hague in Nesles at the heart of the war of religions in the Boulonnais
On this day of October 13, 1561, the manor of the Hague, on the edge of the forest of Hardelot, was in full effervescence.
Many followers of the new religion were gathered in this place for a cultural ceremony under the direction of a Protestant pastor. It was because they felt safe in this brick fortress mansion, because the king, worried about the progress of the reformed religion, had ordered "to oppose the damned enterprises of heretics against faith and religion". ". This injunction had further added to the troubles reigning in the country, exacerbated passions and stirred up hatred between Catholics and Protestants.
General Chinot wants the skin of the Hugenots.
Those who had come to Nesles that day to listen to the sermon had gathered in what they called "the temple", this vast room in the manor. An austere room no doubt, but warmed by a good wood fire in the fireplace where the flames danced on the moldings of the sculptures of the ceiling favoring an atmosphere of meditation and discussion.
However, in Boulogne, we had heard of this meeting of the Huguenots, nickname given to the Calvinists, and the lieutenant general of the Seneschal Antoine Chinot, decided on the spot to raise a contingent of a hundred heavily armed men to invest the manor. The governor of the place, the sieur de Sénarpont, sympathizer of the reformed religion, tried well to dissuade him from it but was unsuccessful. Chinot wanted the skin of the Hugenots and he would have it at all costs. Hastily, at the head of this troop he went to the manor of The Hague where all was calm. The guard was also limited so the soldiers had no trouble crossing the drawbridge and investing the place.
Forty people massacred
“Everything is quickly overcome, says Yvette Charles, in the Dossiers de l'histoire Boulogne, the panes of the mullioned windows are shattered; a sword pierces the body of the preacher who was - in boots, covered with a hat and in a short coat - Forty people from the audience are wounded and then massacred; the rest, taking advantage of the general tumult, disperses, some taking the spiral staircase of the south-west turret, others taking advantage of an opening overlooking the nearby forest. After attacking the men, the lieutenant orders the destruction of the building but the manor resists the assaults, only the pulpit was knocked down, the doors knocked down, the drawbridge broken and the ditch filled in.
A few months later, when it was a question of burying on March 25, 1562, a man named Pierre Lucyen, follower of the new religion, the clergy of the city of Boulogne refused to let this burial take place in the cemetery assigned to the burial of Catholics. . The Alderman was forced to intervene and tried to calm things down by deciding to give, outside the city walls, a square of land to receive the mortal remains of the Huguenots.
The new governor of Boulogne, Morvilliers, protected the Reformed who, strengthened by this support, were not long in resuming their vexations towards the Catholics, especially since the latter were not left out and they had organised, on the public square, a burning of all the heretical books they had been able to seize.
The creation of a brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament was the signal, on March 22, 1567 of new exactions and on October 12 following, the inhabitants of Boulogne discovered with amazement the disappearance of the miraculous statue of the nautical Virgin. All searches to find her were in vain. This disappearance did not bring calm to the city where the event was commented on with passion and the brawls multiplied.
On November 2, the tension went up a notch when, during the office of the dead at Notre Dame, a rain of stones was thrown against the stained glass windows, interrupting the service while the Huguenots entered the church, smashed the statues, the objects of worship, the furniture and set them on fire, desecrated the tombs of the crypt whose lead coffins were melted down to make bullets.
The ransacked mansion and the filled ditches
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre occurred on August 24, 1572. Three days later, in reaction to this tragedy, the Sieur Gaillac, then governor of Boulogne, at the head of one hundred and fifty soldiers, joined by the inhabitants of Saint-Étienne- au-Mont and Pont-de-Briques, invested the manor of the Hague surprising "twelve masters who held their supper there in the midst of a populace of two hundred men, women and children differently armed ".
There was then real carnage. “All, relates Y. Charles, were massacred, shot, knocked unconscious. Four ministers, fifteen private individuals, seventeen women were hanged at the doors, at the windows and at the neighboring trees of the meadow which was then called the cemetery of the parpaillots”.
And once again, the mansion was ransacked and the ditches filled in. This residence, however, remained an important center of the reformed religion until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1698. This law resulted in the confiscation of the domain of Nesles for the benefit of the hospital of Boulogne but shortly after, the family Patras de Campaigno acquired it. During the Revolution, the manor was sold as national property to Baron de la Fresnoye.
Over time the fortress lost its importance and was gradually abandoned and then reduced to a state of ruin. Today, the fratricidal struggles have given way to a sweet peace of mind.
