ARNOULD from here or somewhere else

27 février 2007

ARNOULD from here or somewhere else

It seems that the Lorraine area is the one where our ARNOULX family came from. They became ARNOLD from 1640 in MUNSTER in Alsace. In Lorraine this name was very widespread. Their Patron Saint St ARNOULD (celebrated on July the 18th and ancestor of Charlemagne) was born in Lorraine. A great number of aristocratic or ennobled people, burghers or peasants are in Nancy records or Epinal records and were named ARNOULX.

An other branch may come from Germany with the name ARNOLD (Patron Saint celebrated on August the 14th – the one we celebrated during our first « Cousinade » or we will celebrate on our next Cousinade which will be on August 2008). It’s why we don’t think that Claude ARNOLD was coming from Switzerland.

In the first decades of 17th century ARNOULD families were living in many places of Lorraine. And we can see that nowadays many of families ARNOULD are always living in the same areas.

In front of such stability...the disappearance of ARNOULT from Gerbéviller is really an unusual case that we can explain may be because it was a place where different disasters had been or because ARNOULT family was affected by these disasters.

It is the case of ARNOULD from la Bresse, village starter of «chemin des marchands" and who had good relationships with the valley of MUNSTER for a long time. And the some ARNOLD we found in that valley came from la Bresse but are not from our family:

- Florentina ARNOLD "Von Woll" registered on 5.25.1575 Munster Archives FF81)

- or Mathieu ARNOLDT from Gunsbach (around 1640 E.Ortlieb).

In addition we find homonymy for example: Didier ARNOULD from la Bresse (who was a churchwarden in Gerbéviller in 1664).

In 1571 we find Bernard ARNOULT son of the Marquis nanny, son of the Duke of Lorraine (Epinal Archives G379)

In 1626-1632 In the pleas held by Nicolas Guérin, tax collector for Abbess Catherine of Damas we find an homonym of our ancestor: Demange ARNOULD lessor of M. de Neuflotte, because of his Seigneury of Marizot, at Raon, Gugney, Val d'Ajol, Gochey and Adoncourt..(Epinal Archives G1370) but we know that at the same time our Demange was a beggar and was living in huts in Gerbéviller where he was suspected to be ill as his spouse just died of plague...

In 1632-33 in Val d’Ajol: one ARNOULT got a fine because with acolytes he broke into the prosecutor’s house (Epinal Archives G1423)

In 1643 in Rambervilliers: Brother ARNOULD, a capuchin friar, travelled for business (also in 1634) (Epinal Archives CC83)

There were also two other ARNOULX in that town "down" of marquisate, for example: Jacques or Jenon who had 8 children from 1620 to 1635.

In 1646 in NANCY: Christophe ARNOULT was a trader and at the same year, Charles ARNOULT made a wish. Provost of Nancy, he brought to Sion ("the inspired hill") in 1665, a silver lamp dedicated to the Virgin while he accomplishing his wish (Epinal Archives)

In 1705: Laurent ARNOULD is the Mayor of la Bresse (Epinal Archives B1617), to be noted that this one may be the descendant of Claude ARNOLD by the side of his son Martin but we have no proof.

We find ARNOULT-ARNOULD-ARNOULX in many villages of Vosges and in Lorraine, but in 1982, there was no more ARNOULD in GERBEVILLER!!!

Sources: The Lorraine roots of Arnold from Kruth Cl. and Denise GEWISS 1982.