The Champion de Crespigny family: English research presented in Vierville

A cut devoted to the history of Vierville announces a communication on the Crespigny farm at the next meeting of the S.S.A.B.L. The English researcher M. G. A. Ibbetson, domiciled in Saint-Brelade, Jersey, had sent his text to Michel Hardelay, mayor of Vierville, who had translated it from English. The newspaper publishes excerpts in preview. The genealogical developments and interpretations that follow are those of this research as reported by the article.

The text first evokes the "judgment of God" in the old Norman law and the custom, for some high-ranking characters, of having a champion fight in their place. He links to this practice a family called Champion, knights of Lower Normandy and sieurs of the Fleurière. According to this presentation, these swordmen defended the interests of the succession of the Dukes of Normandy and participated in the first crusade, in 1096. They would then have taken the title of Crespigny, then the name Champion de Crespigny.

The article locates the farm about three hundred meters from the village of Vierville-sur-Mer, in Calvados. Some parts are described as very old, including a fireplace described as Renaissance. Family research would have renewed the interest in these remains. At the time of publication, the farm is operated by Mr. and Mrs. Coliboeuf; the photographic caption presents it as the most photographed in the region.

Among the last members of this family to remain in France, the story quotes Claude de Crespigny, a high-ranking officer in the French army. His marriage to Marie, Countess of Vierville, would have earned him the name of Vicomte de Vier(ville). The two families being Huguenots, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV, in 1685, would have forced them to abandon their properties and reach England with their eight children. The episode of the escape is told with precision: disguised as fishermen, they allegedly carried their two youngest children in baskets on their backs and asked a fisherman to take them on board.

Welcomed to the Pierponts, to whom he was related by marriage, Claude Champion de Crespigny was reportedly naturalized in 1690, then became a colonel in the English army. Marie died in London in 1692 and Claude in 1695. The article locates their burials in the old cemetery of Marylebone, opposite Mrs. Tussaud's wax museum, and indicates that they were spared from the bombing of the 1940 Blitz. He points out that the Vierville farm also escaped destruction in 1944 and attracted many British photographers every tourist season.

After a study of the different branches of the offspring, Ibbetson evokes Hugh Vivian Champion de Crespigny, son of Philip de Crespigny, a doctor in Melbourne. During the Second World War, Hugh Vivian would have reached the rank of Air Vice-Marshal in the R.A.F. Then withdrawn to Durban, South Africa, he would have given his house the name "Vierville". Although they had become English for about two hundred and fifty years, the family members would not have forgotten their French origin: they would speak French among themselves and often use it in their letters and postcards. The researcher notes with humor that the English around them cannot read them in this way.

The last passage questions the consequences of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Some descendants would have seen in this exile a misfortune that weighed on their destiny for a long time. Ibbetson opposes this judgment with the hypothesis that by staying in France they could have lost their property, even their lives, during the Revolution of 1789. He is also surprised that this family, like the Tonnerre family and other exiles, was able to acquire and preserve beautiful properties in England after having to abandon its French castles and lands; he indicates that he has obtained no explanation that he considers satisfactory. Finally, the home of the sieurs de la Fleurière, presented as the first Champion, had not been found in the vicinity of Bayeux.

Reconstructed or uncertain passages:
- The date of publication is not visible on the clip.
- Medieval origins, filiations, titles, the escape of 1685 and other family elements are reported by the article according to Ibetson's research; they are not established here by acts or references that can be consulted.
- The notation "Vier(ville)" and the name Coliboeuf are kept according to the denomination.

Archive image: https://vierville.cordelle.eu/Photos2008/histCrespigny.jpg