Charles Rene D'hozier
CHARLES RENE D'HOZIER (1640-1732), younger son of Pierre, was the true continuator of his father. In addition to his commentary appended to Antoine Varillas's history of King Charles IX. (1686 ed.), he published Recherches sur la noblesse de Champagne (1673). On the promulgation in 1696 of an edict directing all who had armorial bearings to register them on payment of 20 livres, he was employed to collect the declarations returned in the various generalites, and established the Armorial general de France. This work, which contained not only the armorial bearings of noble families, but also of those commoners who were entitled to bear arms, is not complete, inasmuch as many refused to register their arms, either from vanity or from a desire to evade the fee.
The collection (now in the BibliothSque Nationale) consists of 34 volumes of text and 35 of coloured armorial bearings, and in spite of its deficiencies is a useful store of information for the history of the old French families. It contains 60,000 names, grouped according to provinces and provincial subdivisions. The sections relating to Burgundy and Franche-Comte' were published by Henri Bouchot (1875-1876): those relating to the generalM of Limoges, by Moreau de Pravieux (1895) ; and those for the election of Reims, by P. Cosset (1903).
In 1717, in consequence of a quarrel with his nephew Louis Pierre, son of Louis Roger, Charles sold his collection to the king. It then comprised 160 portfolios of genealogical papers arranged alphabetically, 175 volumes of documents, and numerous printed books profusely annotated. In 1720 it was inventoried by P.de Clairambault, who added a certain numberof genealogies taken from the papers of F. R. de Gaignieres, increasing the total to 217 boxes and portfolios. Thus originated the Cabinet des litres of the Bibliotheque Nationale. Charles subsequently became reconciled to his nephew, to whom he left all the papers he had accumulated from the date of the quarrel until his death, which occurred in Paris on the 13th of February 1732.
Louis PIERRE D'HOZIER (1685-1767), son of Louis Roger, succeeded his uncle Charles as juge d'armes. He published the Armorial general, ou registre de la noblesse de France (10 vols., 1738-1768), which must not be confounded with the publication mentioned above, inasmuch as it related solely to noble families and was not an official collection. Complete copies of this work, which should contain six registres, are comparatively rare. A seventh registre, forming vol. xi., prepared by Ambroise Louis Marie, nephew of Louis Pierre, was published in 1847 by comte Charles d'Hozier. Louis Pierre died on the 25th of September 1767. His eldest son, Antoine Marie d'Hozier de Serigny (1721-c. 1810), was his father's collaborator and continuator; and his fourth son, Jean Francois Louis, wrote an account of the knights of St Michael in the province of Poitou, which was published in 1896 by the vicomte P. de Chabot.
His nephew, AMBROISE Louis MARIE D'HOZIER (1764-1846), was the last of the juges d'armes of France. He held the position of president of the courdescomptes, aides et finances of Normandy, and was therefore generally known as President d'Hozier, to distinguish him from the other members of the family. After the Restoration he was employed to verify French armorial bearings for the conseil du sceau des litres. He died in obscurity. His collection, which was purchased in 1851 by the Bibliotheque Nationale, comprised 136 volumes, 165 portfolios of documents and 200 packets of extracts from title-deeds, known as the Carres d'Hozier.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
