Thirteenth Generation

5324. Ferdinand JACQUET Seigneur de Hameteaux was possibly born in Liège, Belgium. The town had been an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire which, after 1477, came under the rule of the Habsburgs/Hapsburgs (House of Austria, a German dynasty). By the 17th century, it became a dependent territory of a member of the Bavarian royal house of Wittelsbach and was ruled by Bavarian princes until 1704. In the 1667 marriage contract of their son, Jean, to Marie Jeanne Trudel, he states that his parents were from St-Paul de Liège. This is likely a reference to (what is now) St. Paul's Cathedral. However, St. Paul's is a collegiate church and, therefore, there is no indication that any baptisms or marriages were ever performed there. It is possible, however, that Ferdinand and Dorothée attended mass there. Ferdinand became an archer bodyguard of King Philippe of Spain beginning on 1 September 1617. This might possibly explain why he married a woman with the rare surname of Cona, a Spanish name. (Philippe also reigned over Naples and Sicily where the name Cona originates). His wife could have been part of the court staff.²⁵⁸⁹ On 28 February 1628, Ferdinand JACQUET Seigneur de Hameteaux was given Letters Patent by King Philippe IV of Spain granting him nobility in appreciation for his service, and the service of his father and grandfather, who were also soldiers who served in the Spanish army, one under Don Juan of Austria and the other under Carlos V. The document was signed at Madrid. After receiving his ennoblement, it appears that he remained a member of the Spanish military. Per info obtained by Suzanne Lesage from some of her contacts in Liège, in 1631, he became a 'réserviste' at the insistence of Isabel Clara Eugenia - the then-governor of the Spanish Netherlands. A réserviste was a member of a military reserve force whose members hold both military and civilian occupations simultaneously. His main role would have been to be available when needed. He retired to the Spanish Netherlands with a recommendation letter from Philip IV that he be offered a good position in the Brabant Chamber of Accounts. However, he refused the offer and, instead, was given an officer position in the "salle de l'Infant-Cardinal" when he was in Flanders. This was a reference to Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, the brother of King Philip IV of Spain. The Cardinal-Infante eventually became Governor of the Spanish Netherlands in 1633 - replacing his aunt, Isabel Clara Eugenia. However, prior to that, he was a military leader. It appears that, during this time, is when Ferdinand JACQUET accepted the officer position in the Infant-Cardinal's ranks. At some point, he was called into active service and was likely part of group composed of the Spanish Army of Flanders, the Imperial Army, and the Duchy of Lorraine who crossed the Somme River into what was then the French border on 5 August 1636 as part of the Thirty Years' War (and the related conflict called the Franco-Spanish War). The French, who had managed to stay out of active participation in the conflict which had begun in 1618, had issued a declaration of war in 1635 against the Habsburgs in Austria, Spain, and the Spanish Netherlands as well as all of the principalities of the Holy Roman Empire after the Habsburg empire had significantly strengthened their position due to their defeat of the Swedes in 1634 and the subsequent peace treaty signed in 1635. As the French escalated their war-time participation, the Spanish drove their army deeper into France. Beginning in early July of 1636, Spanish troops seized the French-held fortress of La Capelle and then occupied Bohain-en-Vermandois, Vervins, Origny-Sainte-Benoite, and Ribemont. After crossing the Somme River at Cerisy, the troops continued the assault on other towns in their path before reaching the border fortress of Corbie where 30,000 Spanish troops surrounded the 1,600 French troops who were holding the fortified town of Corbie. On 15 August 1636, six days after the seizure began, the French commander was left with few options other than surrender in order to save the city from being pillaged. Although details of the events surrounding that day are not readily available, Ferdinand JACQUET Seigneur de Hameteaux reportedly died on 15 August 1636 on a battlefield in the north of France - likely during fighting that occurred before the surrender/seizure of the fortified town which took place on the same day. Dorothée CONA and Ferdinand JACQUET Seigneur de Hameteaux were likely married before 1628..¹⁷⁷⁰

5325. Dorothée CONA was born (date unknown).

Special thanks to Suzanne Lesage for providing information above on this family and for sharing her article entitled "On a Gold Ring and the King of Spain" which was published in L'Outaouais 'généalogique, Volume 35, Number 3, Page 58.

Children were: