Michelle and the minister I: the case is presented
8th June 2016
A translation of an inquest conducted over several months in 1593 by the Colloque, or Assembly, of Bailiwick Churches. The Puritan ministers and elders had here to deal with a dreadful scandal. This piece had a genuine villain: Pierre Le Roy, known as du Bouillon, a church minister who had escaped the massacres of 1572. Formerly minister of the parish of Baron, in Calvados, he was now a refugee, in charge of the parishes of St Pierre-du-Bois and Torteval. The inquiry is full of the detail of the life of ordinary Guernsey people, who gave evidence to the assembly. Michelle Palot, a maidservant to Madame du Bouillon, the minister's wife, was the subject of continued harassment by du Bouillon. Having a baby out of wedlock was highly frowned upon, the mother usually having to do public penance and the father, once ascertained, jailed for a couple of weeks, and forced to marry the mother or at least support the child; but when Michelle was questioned by the authorities as to who had fathered her baby, she gave them a most unexpected answer.
Du Bouillon tries to head off trouble
Colloque of the Guernsey Churches, St Pierre Port, 6 April 1593. Present: Monsieur the Lieutenant, and the following ministers and elders. For Town, a minister and two elders. St Andrew & the Castel, a minister and two elders. St Pierre-du-Bois & Torteval, a minister. St Saviour, a minister. St Martin, a minister and an elder. The Vale & St Sampson, a minister and two elders. The Forest, a minister and an elder. Sark and Alderney absent. Monsieur du Gravier, minister of the Town, conducted the meeting, as it was his place to do.
Monsieur Bouillon:¹ ─ ‘I have a grievance to put to the assembly. Let me explain. A certain servant girl of mine, called La Palote, who worked for me for two or three years, asked her mistress’ permission one evening to go and watch over the linen while it was being laundered in the field, which Madame refused; but as soon as the family were asleep, La Palote went out and took a jacket [casaque] of mine to keep herself warm. The jacket was taken off her by a man called Le Manquais, whether or not she willingly gave it to him being moot. I became aware of this and asked Le Manquais for its return. As Le Manquais was reluctant to give it back, I called him before the Consistory, where he promised to return it; but he has not yet done so. For this reason I dismissed the servant girl. She went to live with her father, and became a day-girl, sometimes working at home and at other times at different houses, where she would stay for work two or three days at a time. Consequently, when her father died she was at a certain Brehaut’s house, where she had been working the previous few days, and she had no idea that her father had died, and when they told her that he was being buried she fell into such a faint that they came to find me, telling me that La Palote was dead. As soon as we were told this I and my wife went to her and gave her every assistance, so much so that, when La Palote wanted to go to England, my wife went with her to Town, because she had always found her to be a good and loyal girl, and a very good and loyal servant, if it wasn’t for her promiscuity. Now that she is back from England (several letters being sent back and forth on the subject) and [as] I have heard that she is pregnant and that some people are even accusing my eldest son of being responsible, when he left the island more than ten months ago, I beg Monsieur the Lieutenant and the assembled company, as La Palote is now back, to make careful enquires into the affair. Whether the inquiry is undertaken by the magistrature, or by this assembly or its deputies, please take care to safeguard the honour of those innocent people who may be involved and, indeed, the honour of the holy ministry.
Monsieur du Gravier, presiding: ─ Were you and your wife not aware that La Palote was pregnant well before she went to England?
Du Bouillon: ─ Make your inquiries and when the time comes for judgment I will answer that. It is true to say, however, that as La Palote was staying in Town because her boat was delayed, I came here [to see her] and her landlady Jeanne Esseline told me that she thought La Palote was expecting. So I got my wife to take a look at her, and the wicked girl deceived my wife by showing her some indication or other; my wife saw no milk in her breasts. I myself had no other reason to believe her to be pregnant.
Du Gravier: ─Did you and your wife not take her to the boat and recommend her to its master Brehaut, asking him to make sure she wanted for nothing? Du Bouillon: ─ To be honest, it was because we had always found her to be a good and loyal servant that we recommended her to Brehaut and told him that she had some money on her to cover her voyage.
Du Gravier: ─ Did you not send her to England to serve your daughters, or for other reasons? Du Bouillon: ─ No, she told me she was going to see an aunt of hers who lived there, but when she got there she told a different tale. She told my daughters she was pregnant, but that she had not dared admit it here because she feared the anger of their father, something they knew all about.
[Du Gravier:] ─ We have been informed that your daughters put her up at different addresses in Hemptonne and its neighbourhood. Du Bouillon: ─ I have no doubt my daughters helped her in any way they could out of their love for me, because she had been my servant.
[Du Gravier:] ─ Did your son not accompany her? Du Bouillon: ─ My son went there on other business which he will make clear at the appropriate juncture. It is, though, true to say that he went to find out about what was happening, because of the letters. Moreover, he wanted reassurance that such an act had not been committed in his house.
The assembly acceded to Bouillon’s request, and in his presence tasked Monsieur Marchant, the minster of Vale and St Sampson, to take two of his elders, viz. Guillaume Halouvris and Thomas du Pré, to get the girl’s side of the story, and to establish whether she was pregnant, where she committed the crime, and when, and any other facts that might serve as evidence in discovering the truth of the matter. They should report as soon as possible, so that the assembly might make a reasonable decision as to how to proceed; it should then notify Monsieur the Lieutenant so that he might arrange an extraordinary Colloque as soon as possible. This was done and made clear to Bouillon.
Michelle testifies
Extraordinary meeting of the Colloque called by order of Monsieur le Lieutenant and held in St Pierre Port on the 25 April 1593.
Present: For Town, a minister and two elders. Vale & St Sampson, a minister and two elders. St André & the Castel, a minister and two elders. St Saviour, a minister and an elder. St Pierre-du-Bois & Torteval, six elders and no minister. The Forest, a minister and an elder. St Martin, a minister and an elder.
Monsieur du Gravier (Minister of the Town Church) leading the inquiry on account of his rank and by the wish of the whole assembly.
Mons. Le Lieutenant: ─ I have called this meeting of the assembly to clear up the scandalous rumour, now current, concerning a girl who was previously a servant of Monsieur Bouillon and who is said to be pregnant. At Bouillon’s own request the Colloque has arranged for inquiries to be made of the girl as to how she came to be pregnant, and this meeting had been called to hear their findings, so that we can establish the truth in God’s name and thus conclude how we may remove this evil and scandal from amongst us.
Monsieur Marchant, together with Guillaume Halouvriz and Thomas du Pré, minister and elders of St Samson, have given us a signed report in writing of what occurred between them and Michele Palote while executing those duties with which they were charged. Based on the proceedings of their inquiry, which are given in detail later, the assembly decided that Michelle Palot should be brought here so that her version of events may be heard, and to find out whether she is sticking to her story, or if she says something different to that she has maintained before.
She was sent for and questioned; it was explained to her several times that she should tell the truth, since God and his angels were listening, and that she should take great care to ensure she name the true father of her baby, and not another man. Knowing full well that she had already committed one sin, she should make sure she did not commit another by accusing an honest and honourable man of something he did not do. She swore she would tell the truth, and that she would speak up if she heard anything in the report of the inquiry that was not true. The report was therefore read to her, and this is what it contained:
Monday 9 April 1593, we, Jean Marchant, Thomas du Pré and Guillaume Halouvriz, Minister and elders of the parish of St Samson, in accordance with the task that was allotted to us last Friday 6 April by the Colloque of this island ( which was attended by the Monsieur the Governor’s Lieutenant), we visited the house of Collete Palote, who lives in St Samson. There we found her niece, Michele Palot, former servant of Monsieur Bouillon, the minister of St Pierre-du-Bois. She had come back from England just a few days previously, and we asked her if she was pregnant. She confessed that she was.
When we asked her whether she was expecting, she started to cry and did not want to answer us, even when we pressed her on it. When we asked her when the baby was due, she said she thought it would be around the beginning of May.
How do you know that? Michelle: ─ I am basing it on the time I was made pregnant. It happened when, out of fear of the Spanish who had come to Brittany and were threatening the islands, my mistress, Madame de Bouillon, moved out to the town of St Peter Port with her children and I was left alone in the house alone with my master; there was another little maidservant there called La Gelée, who used to sleep at night with Susanne, Monsieur Bouillon’s daughter, as she did not like to sleep alone when her husband was on watch duty. And so it was that I remained alone with my master. I had never been with a man before my master, Monsieur Bouillon ─ he had been propositioning me for a long time ─ and neither have I been with any man since.
Why did you before accuse Thomas Giot of being the father? Michelle: ─ My master and his people had made me say it.
Where did you get the silver ring you wear? Michelle: ─ Thomas Giot’s mother sold it to me, and I paid her for it properly. While my master was chasing me and continually propositioning me, before he took advantage of me, I had told Jacquette Ferron, another of Bouillon’s maidservants about it, and when Bouillon got to hear that I had spoken of it he dragged me into the rectory living room and beat me dreadfully. He did not stop hitting me until his wife pleaded with him to his face and Judith his daughter went down on her knees and begged and all the children ran up to help get me away from him. I have twice been employed as a maidservant at Monsieur Bouillon’s house, for a period of five years and four months in total. The first time I spent three years there, then I went to live at Collas Brehaut’s house. From there I returned to the rectory and stayed for another two years and four months. But I was unable to attend Monsieur Bouillon from mid-August, despite the fact I lived at his house, until after Michaelmas because I was sick and had gone back to live with my father. I went back to Bouillon’s house and stayed there until Christmas, when I moved to Town in order to travel to England on Monsr Bouillon’s advice; I only went to England to hide my pregnancy and my giving birth.
Thus, signed: J Marchant, G Halouvriz, Thomas du Prey
After that had been read out aloud, Michelle was asked if it was a true representation of what she said, and if it contained the truth? And she answered, yes.
Du Gravier: — When did you first realise you were pregnant? Michelle: — I noticed pretty soon afterwards, but my master worked it out and knew as soon as I did.
Du Gravier: — Did you not hide in your master’s house for some time before you moved to Town to travel to England? Michelle: ─ Absolutely I did, but the family did not want me to come downstairs when people visited.
Du Gravier: — Who took you to Town to leave for England? Michelle: ─ It was my mistress, and they both entrusted me to Brehaut, the ship’s master, asking him to ensure I wanted for nothing.
Du Gravier: — After you arrived in Town to depart for England, did you not return to St Pierre-du-Bois? Who took you back? Michelle: ─ I waited some time in Town to catch a boat, but as the wind wasn’t favourable, Monsieur Bouillon came into Town one Friday and told me that I should go back to St Peter’s. He told me I should wait until night-time to avoid being seen, and that his wife would bring me back again when the wind was in the right direction. That same night I went back to St Peter's with La Gelée. The next day the wind turned and was favourable for England, and Madame de Bouillon took me to ship’s master Brehaut’s lodging, and put me on the boat.
Du Gravier: — How long did you wait in Town to catch the boat? Michelle: — I don't know, but the first time I was there it was for quite a while. Du Gravier: — On whose advice did you travel to England? Michelle: ─ My master’s. Du Gravier: — Did he write to his daughters? Michelle: He did. What was in the letters? Michelle: ─ I don’t really know, but when I was at Hey [Hythe?], near Hemptonne [Hampton], a man read one to me of the letters my master wrote to his daughters, and in it he told them to treat me like a sister.
Du Gravier: — Did anyone ask you in England if you were expecting, and who the father was? Michelle: ─ Three men came to see me in Hey, and asked me if I was pregnant and who the father was; I did not tell them the truth. I told them that the father was the son of Giot the miller.
Du Gravier: — Why did you say he was the father, since you now maintain that the father is Monsieur Bouillon but you had said it was Giot’s? Michelle: ─ His people told me it was the best thing to do.
Du Gravier: — Was Matthew, Bouillon’s son, present when the three men came to talk to you at Hey? Michelle: ─ No, but he came soon after. Du Gravier: — Again, where did you get the silver ring you sometimes wear? Michelle: ─ I bought it for an eighth of an écu from the wife of Louys Giot the miller. I sent it to Monsieur Bouillon’s daughter Judich [Judith] as a token of my esteem, as she had sent me a ribbon, but when I was at Hamptonne Judith gave it back to me, telling me to say that Giot was the baby’s father, and that Giot had given me the ring as a marriage token.
Du Gravier: — How did you get back from England? Michelle: ─ After the three men came to see me at Hey, they took me in a little boat and put me aboard the vessel I originally arrived in. ─ Du Gravier: — After your return to the island, has anybody come to see you, and if so, who were they? Michelle: ─ Well yes, Jaquette Ferron came to see me once. And Mr Salmon and his wife who are attached to Torteval Rectory, they came to see me and begged me to go back and said that they would help me. Then a man called Helier de Gerzé [de Jersey] came and advised me to ask my master’s forgiveness as I had seriously wronged him. Then Thomas de Lisle turned up and also advised me to do that, and asked me, ‘If I send your brother [Bouillon] to see you, will you go with him tomorrow?’ But I refused to do so.
At this, Monsieur Le Lieutenant said to her, ‘It seems to me, my friend, that you have been under other people’s influence, seeing that you have now changed your story from what you said at Hamptonne. That is why I am now asking you, did you tell Monsieur or Madame Bouillon, or any of his household, that Monsieur Bouillon was the father, or did you tell anyone else before you went to England?’
Michelle: ─ My mistress never asked me anything about it, and no-one else at all asked me anything and hardly anyone even noticed or suspected I was pregnant.
The Monsieur Le Lieutenant asked her: — Has anyone ever advised you to name a married man as the father, a man who could afford to feed you and your child, rather than a poor local, who has nothing? Michelle: ─ No, never. Monsieur Le Lieutenant: ─ Do you swear on your soul that you have never had anything to do with any man other than your master? Michelle: ─ Yes, I swear, I have never been with another man.
[Du Gravier:] ─ Did you ever take anything to Giot’s son, such as vegetables, or milk, that you had taken from your master’s house? Michelle: ─ No, I never took him anything, except once I took him some milk, but my mistress gave it to me to take to him.
Du Gravier: ─ Did you once steal a jacket from your master which you took from the field where they launder the linen? Michelle: ─ I have never stolen anything. As for that jacket, Susanne, Bouillon’s daughter, was blanching some linen in the field along with some belonging to Jouan Corbin [Jean Corbin was Susanne's father-in-law]; she sent me to keep an eye on all the linen and gave me the jacket to wear as a cover-up, and someone stole it from me, but I never found out who it was. Du Gravier: ─ Well, your master maintains that you stole it and gave it to a man called Le Manquais, who had been seen wearing it; and that he kept asking him to return it, going so far as to take him to the Consistory over the matter, where Le Manquais had promised to return it, and that despite that he still had not got it back.
At that, the four elders of St Pierre-du-Bois who were present testified that they had never heard of Le Manquais’ being called in front of the Consistory over that jacket.
Colete Palot is questioned
Then they ordered Colete Palot, Michelle’s aunt, to be brought before them, to see if they could find out anything more about it from her. They exhorted her to tell the truth.
Du Gravier: ─ Did you have any idea at all that your niece was pregnant before she went to England? Did you advise her to go there? Colete: ─ I had no idea she was pregnant. I didn’t tell her to go to England and I didn’t even know she had gone until she came back, when she told me about it.
Du Gravier: ─ What time of the day did she return? Colete: ─ It was so late I had gone to bed, and when I asked her where she had been coming in so late, she replied, ‘I have just come back from England.’ When I asked her who had sent her there, she told me it was her master. And it was then, looking at her more closely, that I noticed my niece was pregnant. So because of that I would not let her stay, and I asked her who had made her pregnant. She told me it was Thomas Giot. And when I heard that I said to her, ‘Oh meschante et malheureuse te serois-tu laisée aller à un tel meschant petit garson? Ah je ne le crois pas ─ va t’en, car tu ne coucheras pas céans. Retourne t’en d’où tu viens.’ [You wicked, wicked girl, have you really gone with a bad lad like him? I can’t believe it, clear off, you aren’t getting a bed in this house. Go back where you came from.’] To that, she replied, ‘Hélas ma tante, ou iray-je ? car il me faudra coucher le long des fossez : Ma tante je vous crie mercy.’ [Alas, auntie, where will I go ? I will have to sleep in a ditch, Auntie, have mercy, please !] When I heard that I felt sorry for her, and I kept her there and questioned her more closely so as to find out the real father of the child was. Eventually she admitted: ‘The truth is, my master is the father of my child, and he told me to say that it was Giot’s son instead.’ She added that Monsieur Bouillon and his son were around the place the day after her niece had got back, but they did not say a word to her and pretended that they were busy elsewhere.
Du Gravier: ─ Did he send anyone else later to talk to her? – Colete: Yes, among others there was a woman, Jacquette Ferron, a man called Helier de Gerzé [Helier De Jersey], one of his threshers (batteurs) Jean Langlois, and Thomas de Lisle, who came again last Saturday. Du Gravier: ─ Will you swear that there was no-one who encouraged her to name Monsieur Bouillon as the father? Colete: — No, definitely not.
Then Monsieur Le Lieutenant took up the questioning again.
So why did you give more credence to her claim that her master was the father than you did when she told you the father was a young man? You must have been worried, or have had some doubt in your mind about it. - Colette: I kept pressing her on the matter to see if she wavered at all from her story and better to find out if she was telling the truth, and for no other reason. What made me keep questioning her was that I believed that was why they had sent my niece to England without my knowing anything about it. After I had asked her lots of these sorts of questions I eventually said to her, ‘The child is definitely your master’s, but he has told you to say that that young man is the father.'
After this Michelle Palot was recalled. Monsieur Le Lieutenant said to her:
My friend, please be careful what you do now. If you are going to say that the father of your child is a man of quality, such as is a minister, and a married man, you will face a much worse punishment than if you name a young bachelor as the father. So now, if you have been influenced in some way, as it would appear by your having given two versions of the facts, make absolutely sure you tell us the truth. Because we will let you go now and forget you ever said anything about it, as long as you tell us the truth now. Be brave now, have no fear and tell us the truth, and be sure that whatever you have already said to us will be as nothing. – Michelle: I have told you the truth, and I swear to you on my soul the father of the baby is my master, Monsieur Bouillon.
Du Bouillon gets agitated
Then Monsieur Bouillon arrived. The questions put to his servant, Michele Palot, were read to him, and her answers. When he heard that he was supposed to have fathered this child on the night of the expected Spanish invasion, when his wife and children had moved out to Town, he said, ‘Ah, the slut, I have more than one respectable witness who can prove she was out whoring in the mill and that I was praying with my parishioners in the Church until midnight.’
Once the statements had been read out, he asked the Lieutenant and the assembly to ensure that none of the men who had brought this accusation against him, or who had worked against him, be allowed to sit in judgment on him in this matter, as it was unfair for biased people to judge him. He had plenty of evidence to show that this inquiry was baseless, having been orchestrated by his enemies. The Lieutenant then told him that Michelle could be fetched right now so that she could tell them whether the contents of report were true or not. Did he want that?
Bouillon: While I do not want to see such a low and wicked girl, and I want nothing whatsoever to do with such a slut and stinking bitch, I am only asking for that which is right and just and in accordance with all good laws. However, the first thing I would ask is that Monsieur du Gravier take no part in this process since he is my enemy, and has worked in every way he can against me and my part in this affair; at the last Colloque he spoke up against me and made every possible effort to show that I was guilty without having heard my side of the story. As for the proposal made last February, Monsieur du Gravier went against it and altered it, but had no idea what he was talking about. And again, Monsieur du Gravier has complained about me to Monsieur the Lieutenant Governor in the name of the assembly and yet he was never in charge of it. I have lots more to say about him which I will come to when the time is right. Again, Guillaume Hallouvris, St Sampson elder. He should not be my judge; for one thing, he has always voted against Monsieur the Governor and against me, and also, he is an ignorant fellow and it is not his place to judge a university graduate. And as for Monsieur Le Marchant, minister of the Vale and St Sampson, I don’t want him to judge me any longer either, especially as he has got it in for me and has accused me of getting other girls from the Vale pregnant as well; he said this wasn’t the first servant-girl from my household who had ended up pregnant. And in addition, I have been accused of having drawn my sword looking to kill this Sieur Le Marchant. In fact, I don’t want anybody who voted against me in my legal battle with Monsieur Baudoyn to judge this case; for example, Francois Allez here, the Forest parish elder, amongst others. What’s more, I have undertaken under the Governor’s seal to recuse the whole Town consistory.
On hearing this, the Governor [Thomas Leighton] said: ‘If you want to recuse me I’ll leave; I don’t think that any of the assembly intend you to be judged by any person you can prove to be your enemy. But does that mean that you accept the remaining members of the assembly; will you submit to their judgment? Bouillon replied: ‘When it comes to you, Sir, I willingly place both my life and my honour in your hands, and the same goes for some members of the assembly; but I reserve the right, if wrong should be done me, to be allowed the usual means of appeal and to have the recourse due to me.’
Then the men whom Bouillon had attempted to recuse, Sieurs du Gravier, Le Marchant and others who were present put forward their arguments in defence of themselves to the charges made against them by Bouillon. The assembly sent them all out while they deliberated, and seeing that they were inconsistent in their testimony, and considering the importance and potential consequences of this case, ordered Bouillon to give his reasons for recusation in writing to the Lieutenant by the following Saturday, so that the potential recused had time to answer in writing before the Wednesday after that. On that day the whole assembly was ordered to meet again in the same location to decide whether these reasons for recusation were relevant and valid, and then to duly continue with the prosecution of the case. This was the point of all they had heard; the parties would only be satisfied by correct application of the law [lesqueles [parties] n’ont gree que droict]. Then, sending them out a second time to think about ways of allaying the scandal and to consider again Monsieur Bouillon’s case, he added that since the father was recused the son might not sit either, and so Monsieur Loumeau, minister of the Forest, son of the said Sieur de Gravier, also left the room.
Then, after long and hard consideration of the import of the case, which had engendered a huge amount of rumour throughout the island, and the public scandal provoked by these events and this accusation, the assembly decided completely unanimously that in order to uphold the honour of holy office it would be best if Bouillon ceased to act as minister until he should be cleared of this charge, exhorting him to defend and exonerate himself as soon as possible. This was communicated to him by Monsieur Roulles, minister for St Andrew and the Castel and Chairman of the proceedings [Moderateur de l’action], appointed by the assembly in the absence of Monsieur du Gravier, who was recused. Bouillon said he intended to appeal against that decision.
When Monsieur the Lieutenant asked him to whom he wished to appeal he replied: 'To whomever the laws of Her Majesty allow me to appeal.' ─ Then he was informed that his appeal was not allowed, because by the law and order of the island no outside appeal was permitted without the consent of both parties. So Bouillon, on the advice of some of the elders of his parish and some of his friends asked for a week to consider before answering concerning his appeal.
Part II of Michelle and the minister: witnesses and judgment
¹ Pierre Le Roy, dit Bouillon, was one of a select group of Protestant ministers who escaped the St Bartholomew's Day massacres (Shickler, Les Eglises &c, who lists him as minister of Baron, in Calvados). He is attested as pastor in the diocese of Caen between 1565 and 1570. The Le Roy-Bouillon family are then represented in the Registers of the Walloon Church at Southampton, which opened in 1567. They first appear in July 1578 when Marguerite, the daughter of Pierre Le Roy, is admitted to the Sacrament. 'The daughter of Monsieur du Bouillon, minister, and Rachel, his wife,' is admitted in October 1579, along with Pierre de Bouillon, son of Gilles. In 1580 we find Suzanne Le Roy, dit Bouillon, admitted. In August of that month, Rachel Le Roy, dit Bouillon, marries Guillaume Thierry (son of Mathieu?), of Espine, 'Ville sur la Mer au pays de Caux;' she is given as a native of Dieppe. In 1583 Rachel has a daughter, Judith, by Thierry, and her father Pierre Le Roy dit Bouillon is the godfather. In 1580, Gille Le Roy marries. In 1588 appears one Renée Bouillon, admitted as communicant, as does Jane Bouillon in 1592. In October 1579 a son of Pierre Bouillon's is baptised Jean; the godfather is Guillaume Hersen (or Hersem), who in 1581 was also godfather to Suzanne, the daughter of Guillaume Thierry and Rachel de Bouillon. In 1585 Pierre le Roy is minstering in Guernsey, as one of only two ministers who did not resign after the schism with Jersey. After his hurried departure from Guernsey, we find him three years later finally officially defrocked [déposé] by the Synod of Saumur in 1596.
There was a Bouillon family in Guernsey, already established in the Vale, but as yet there is no evidence there was any relationship between them. A complicating factor in following Pierre's career is that there may have been more than one Pierre Le Roy in Protestant holy orders at the time. In Registres de la Compagnie des Pasteurs à Genève, III, 1565-1574, is this note, p. 210:
[Letter sent 5 June 1566 concerning the request Troyes made re M Pierre Le Roy.] Pierre Le Roy, de Lodève (Herault), student at Geneva in 1560 (LR I no 57), was sent to the church at Dijon. In 1561 he was in Troyes to help Sorel (see CO XIX col 49-53; Bèze III, p. 109-110, 209-210, 213-215). In December 1561, the church at Troyes wrote to Calvin to ask him to keep Pierre Le Roy and not to send him to Bordeaux (CO XIX co. 160, 182-184). According to our letter, it seems that the Assembly paid no regard to these requests (or was unable to acquiesce to them) and Le Roy went to Bordeaux, but we have not been able to find any reference to his presence there. A Pierre Le Roy, dit du Bouillon, was pastor in Calvados from 1565 (see The Registers of the Protestant Church at Caen ed. C E Lart, Vannes; S Beaujour, Essai sur l’histoire de l’église réformée de Caen, Caen, 1877, p. 95 and 113) ; Le Synode national de Saumur in 1596 deposed this Pierre Le Roy (Aymon I p. 211 and FP (1) VI p. 565.) It may be that this person is the same as the one referred to in our letter and that he was pastor of Bordeaux, a village in Calvados, a few kilometers from Caen.
In 1592 a 'Petrus Regius Builoneus, Parisiensis' enrolled at the University of Leyde to study mathematics [Cohen, G, Ecrivains français en Hollande, Slatkine Reprints, Geneva, 1976, p. 227.]
² Colloque April 10 1590. Susanne Le Roy was the wife of Colas Corbin, son of Pierre. They were living at his father's house; she claimed she was being mistreated by her husband and his father. Her mother testified at this extraordinary Colloque heard at St Peter's to resolve the matter; by this time, Susanne had already been separated from her husband for around ten months. Madame du Bouillon blamed father-in-law Jean Corbin, and the Colloque was of the same mind, recommending that Susanne return to her husband and that Colas find a better place for them to live, away from his father, who it was claimed, 'hated' Susanne. Unfortunately, when Monsieur Vian turned up at St Peter's to read the judgment to the various parties he found in the case of Jean and Colas Corbin 'only open rebellion.' Colin/Colas Corbin claimed that he and his father had done nothing to upset Susanne, and that he could not leave his father's house, as his father was his only means of employment; if he did leave he would have to become a poor day-labourer, and, he said, he would rather 'be hanged than die of hunger.' They continued in their refusal to co-operate.