The Will of Etienne Falla, 1667
The will of Etienne Falla, son of Etienne. Transcription by Edith Carey in the annotated Pedigree of the Falla Family. With references to the Lainé family.
19 December 1667
The will of Etienne Falla,1 son of Etienne. Firstly, to the poor of the Parishes; 50 pounds tournois. To my brother-in-law, Jean Henry, the 60 livres tournois that the said Henry owes me. To my brother Michel; the 170 pounds tournois that are owed to me [due from an original debt of] Henry de Jersey. And to my aforementioned brother Michel; my partisan.2 To my brother Thomas, a young gelding and a bull, and my cart and all its appendages, except the plough and everything that goes with that. In addition, I give him my best suit and coat. To my brother Jean Le Patourel, a bull or cow. To my four godsons, 3 pounds tournois each. I appoint my wife executor for the rest of my personalty. Proved by Jean de Saumarez, 19th December 1667. [From the French below.]
Will: Étienne Falla (II) fils Étienne(I). 1er aux pauvres des Paroisses; 50 livres tournois. A mon beau-frère Jean Henry 60 livres tournois que le dit Henry me doibt. A mon frère Michel: la somme de 170 livres tournois qui me sont deubes sur Henry de Jersey. Et a mon dit frère Michel; ma pertuisane. A mon frère Thomas, un jeune cheval coupé et un bœuf, et ma voiture et ce qui en appartient réservé la charrue et appartenance à icelle. Plus je luy donne mon meilleur habit et manteau. A mon frère Jean Le Patourel un bœuf ou vache. A mes quatre filleuls 3 livres tournois chacun. Le reste de mes biens meubles je laisse ma femme executrice. Proven by Johannes de Saumarez. 19 Dec. 1667.
See also: Jean Falla's Eldership, 1688; Jean Falla's Commission.
[By Dinah Bott]
The Lainé family of the Vaugrat was closely related by marriage to the above Fallas of Les Roques Barrées (they both married into the Le Patourel and Hopin families). A very extensive and interesting study of the Lainé family by E. B. Moullin, 'A Guernsey homestead in the mid-17th century,' Transactions of the Société Guernesiaise XV (1947), pp. 195 ff., includes several wills from the 1640s with lists of household goods of all sorts, an inventory of 1685, and other relevant documents, and the Livre de perchage of the Fief in 1684, with analysis. Other families mentioned include Quertier, Robin, Le Patourel, Carey, Gibault, and de la Marche. In addition to their historical interest, Moullin's translations of these lists and documents will be very useful to anyone presented with similar papers to translate. The same author presents an addendum with V. J. Collas in the 1948 Transactions, pp. 275 ff. on the history of the Lainé family, and other important Vale families of the period, with more information about the Le Patourels of the Maison d'Aval and Paradis. He wrote about the Lainés again, in the Quarterly Review of the Guernsey Society, in two parts, Spring & Summer 1951.
1 From the Pedigree and Edith Carey's notes:
Etienne Falla I was Douzenier of the Vale. He died in December, 1632.
He married twice, firstly to Susanne Bisson (d. 1618), and had a son, Nicolas Falla (1615-1638 or 1653). Nicolas married Ester, daughter of Collas La Perre. Their daughter Esther (d. 1698) married Jean Henry, son of Thomas Henry; their second daughter Jeanne (b. 1636) married Michel Hopin in 1657.
Étienne Falla I's second wife was Marie Simon. Their son Étienne Falla II, whose will this is, was born in 1640 and died around 1666. He married a Le Patourel, the sister of John Le Patourel. His brother Michel (b.c. 1645) had two well-off wives: he first married Dorothy Holland in 1669, the daughter of Francis Holland and Elizabeth Radon, who died in 1702; Edith Carey suggests that the Falla arms are an adaptation of the Holland arms. He then married the daughter of Jacob Coste and Elizabeth Guille of the Rohais. Étienne's I's other son, Thomas (b. 1647) married Rachel, daughter of Nicholas Bonamy and Mary Allez.
2 A partisan, a kind of ceremonial halberd, the design being based on the fleur-de-lis, in use as a weapon from the 15th to 18th centuries. The spear on the end was about two feet long and the handle six feet. Halberds were carried in Guernsey by the Bordiers, or their sustitutes, while undertaking their ceremonial duties as late as the execution of John Charles Tapner in 1854. The Beefeaters at the Tower of London still carry partisans.