Raised In A World Of Privilege

This medieval property record, canceling a rent-in-kind due from Pierre de Chavaniac to his suzerain the landlord of Langeac, is the oldest document in Cornell’s Lafayette Collection. It shows that the Lafayette family had deep roots in Auvergne. When he acquired the Marquisate of Langeac in 1786, Lafayette inherited the feudal dues attached to a land where he did not live. Peasants were supposedly required to pay rent to use the lord’s mill, oven, wine press, or breeding stock. They were also levied death taxes, inheritance taxes and sale-of-property taxes.

Lafayette’s birthplace was a medieval castle “romantically situated” in central France, destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1701. Inventories indicate that the family had a modest lifestyle. The estate was confiscated during the Revolution, and later returned to the family. In 1917, John Moffat, the son of the Scottish owner of an Australian coal mining empire, purchased Chavaniac and restored it. It is now a Lafayette museum, open to the public.

In 1916-1917, John Moffat, the son of the Scottish owner of an Australian coal mining empire, purchased Chavaniac with the decisive support of a private American foundation, and restored it. It is now a Lafayette museum, open to the public.

Originals held by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.

The Marquis’ family could trace back its nobility as far as the 13th century, and counted among its members a marshal and the female author of La Princesse de Clèves (1678). Although Lafayette’s father lived in Auvergne and spoke the dialect of the local peasants or tarougne, he married very well: Julie’s father had an annual rent of 120,000 livres, or six times the pay of a vice-admiral, and a condominium in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Gilbert Jr. never knew his father, who died at war when he was two; his mother left Chavaniac for Paris soon thereafter, leaving her young son with two aunts, a grandmother, and a priest. She spent summers in Chavaniac. Here, she appears in an elegant “hiking outfit”, complete with a walking stick and a water jug around her waist. It probably refers to the famous Christian Pilgrimage to Compostela, which she perhaps accomplished: Le Puy, just south of Chavaniac, was a starting-point for one of the major pilgrim routes. In the region, Saint-Jacques pélerin was often confused with a great saint protector, St. Roch, usually depicted as a pilgrim with the famous coquilles saint-Jacques on his clothing, plus the dog who saved his life. Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert de la Fayette was actually christened in Saint-Roch de Chavaniac.

Two weeks after Lafayette’s father wrote this letter, on August 1, the restless French abandoned their advantageous defensive position and crossed the Weser River. The British prevailed, and about 13,000 men were killed, easy-going Gilbert Sr. among them. His son would inherit a lifelong desire to avenge his father’s death by harassing Britain.

This copy is from the library at Chavaniac.

Lafayette received a classical education focusing on Latin, religious instruction, mathematics, military arts and equitation, first under the direction of priests at Chavaniac and later at exclusive institutions like the Collège du Plessis (an annex of the Sorbonne) and the Academy of Equestrian Arts in Versailles. His young imagination was stirred by stories of military feats in the works of Homer and Caesar. Although his knowledge of political philosophy was somewhat limited (Cornell has his copy of L'Histoire des deux Indes by l'Abbé Raynal [and Diderot], third edition of 1780), he was sympathetic to the Enlightenment and the reformist causes of the day. He also learned the rudiments of English, an uncommon accomplishment at a time when French was still the international language of the elite, and one that would prove fortuitous. During his first voyage to America, Lafayette would divide his time between studying military books and reading books in English.

Cornell's copy is from Lafayette's collection.

In the decade before the Revolution, Raynal (1731-1796) was perhaps the most celebrated of the Enlightenment philosophes then living. His massive history of European colonial and commercial expansion, with its attacks on slavery and its passionate support of the concept of national and popular sovereignty, was popular among the educated elite. Actually written by several authors (notably Diderot and tax-farmer Paulze), and first published in 1770, it went through more than forty editions in Raynal’s lifetime. Lafayette's copy is the revised text of 1780, usually characterized as the third edition. While previous editions offered a somewhat unflattering portrait of “the free men in English America,” (as feeble-bodied, feeble-minded degenerates)  passages were rewritten after 1780 to put America in a much more favorable light. As Philippe Roger points out, this was partly due to Benjamin Franklin’s efforts.  Franklin arrived in Paris in December 1776 to represent the rebel colonies. With his bonnet, his simple and affable manners, and his diplomatic skills (for example, he gave a dinner in his house in Passy with Raynal as guest of honor), le bonhomme Franklin became very popular. In the 1780 version, Franklin's scientific achievements were used as an example of the sort of prejudices that should be suppressed: “It took a Franklin to teach the physicians of our astonished continent to master lightning.”

This is the oldest existing letter written by Lafayette. He jumps from one subject to another in a very witty, if cynical, fashion. Although he apparently had a knack for hunting and gossip, the young Musketeer did not enjoy the ghetto of Versailles; he preferred the military life and the tavern L’Épée de bois in the Latin Quarter. His chances of obtaining a position commensurate with his status were curtailed by the new reformist mood: the possibility of buying, selling or offering regiments of cavalry was abolished, his unit was disbanded and he was relegated to reserve status in June 1776.

Lafayette was nineteen-years old when he decided to join the American “insurgents.” He set off on his adventure with the knowledge and support of a wide variety of well-connected friends. He bought passage with his own money, plus additional contributions from linen manufacturers, the Van Robbais family (his travel companion De Kalb had married their daughter and niece), and from a former head of the royal spy agency. Powerful friends took an interest in his welfare. Writing to George Washington after Lafayette left Spain for America, Benjamin Franklin asked the American commander to look after “the boy.”

Lafayette began writing this letter to his wife on board the ship “La Victoire” on May 30, 1777, and completed it at the house of a Mr. Huger in South Carolina on June 15: