Jean Hotman

by Will Johnson, wjhonson@aol.com, Professional Genealogist

Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved

Based partly on an article which I had written for Wikipedia many years ago.

Visitor Count: Jean Hotman was born in 1552 in Geneva as the eldest child of the famous jurist and author Francois Hotman (1524-1590), by his only known wife Claude Aubelin. Donald R Kelley, who wrote the definitive biography of Francois, states that Jean was born in Geneva, but it's also possible he was born in Lausanne. Athough Francois was heir to an estate in France, the family, as Calvinists had been exiled, during the Wars of Religion. His father Francois, had moved the family to Geneva in order to be Calvin's secretary.

They next moved to Lausanne where, after a struggle, Francois was elected to that university. Their next child, Theages, was born between 1553 and 1555. They moved to Strausburg where Francois was professor of law in the gymnasium there. Francois went in Jul 1560 to the court of Antoine de Naverre (1518-62). He followed the court for three months, and in the process met Louis de Bourbon (1530-1569), Prince de Conde, who was Antoine's brother, and was appointed Master of Requests. He must also at this time, have met the infant born in 1554, who would later become Henry IV, King of France.

In 1562, Francois was Counselor and Master of Requests in the house of Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde. In 1563 Francois moved his family to Valence, in order to take a position as professor of law at the university. In 1567-68, Francois acted as advisor to the Prince de Conde.

At this time Jean, was studying law at the University of Valence. Perhaps he even had his own father as his professor! Jean took his law degree by 1568. It would be amazing if a person got a law degree today at age 16! About 1578, Jean went to Paris, where through his father's influence, he became a tutor in the household of Sir Amias Paulet (1536-1588), Ambassador to France (1576-79), and then followed him back to England. In 1580 Amias was appointed the keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, and remained her keeper until her execution in 1587.

Jean was the tutor and guardian of Amias' two sons, Anthony born 1563/4 and George born 1565. He followed them when they went to University, as their tutor and guardian, settling at Oxford Mar 1580. In 1581, Jean himself received a doctorate in law from Oxford. The elder son and heir, Anthony Paulet (DNB, XV, pg 527), married in 1583 to Catherine Norreys, and eventually succeeded his father, in 1588 as Governor of Jersey. His younger brother George also has a DNB entry, Volume XV, pg 528.

While at Oxford, Jean became friendly with Sir Philip Sidney and through this connection, caught the attention of Philip's uncle Robert Dudley (~1532-1588), Earl of Leicester, who was then the Chancellor of the University, and became one of his personal secretaries. A few years earlier, in 1578, Robert had married the widowed Lettice Knollys, Countess Essex, who had three children from her prior marriage to Walter Devereux, 2nd Viscount Hereford, 1st Earl of Essex. The eldest of these was Penelope Devereux (~1562-1607) who Oct 1581 married Robert Rich, later made Earl of Warwick. Penelope had a lady-in-waiting then, named Renee de St Martin. Jean met Renee, and they married in 1584 or 1585. It's not known to me whether they married in England, or in France, however on 14 January 1585, Jean was appointed counsellor and master of requests by Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV. He returned to England, where he followed Leicester to the Low Countries in May 1585. When Robert was recalled to England, he left Jean behind as his agent to pacify the troubles in Utrecht. Jean did this, and wrote to Robert, but also had the effrontery to write directly to Queen Elizabeth.

In Dec 1585, Jean's father Francois was admitted to the privy council of Henry, then King of Navarre, but later to become King of France. Francois was maintained as a spokesman for Henry, until his death in 1590. Perhaps Francois was admitted, in the place of his son Jean, who was now in the hands of Dudley.

Jean or at least his wife was in London in the Spring of 1587 when their eldest child, named either Robert or Charles (sources vary) was born there. Robert Dudley again went to the Netherlands, it is not known to me if Jean accompanied him, but when Robert returned to England Dec 1587, Jean was in his company. In March 1588, Jean was admitted to Gray's Inn, but apparently did not practice. On 4 September 1588, Robert Dudley died, possibly of malaria. Jean now probably without a patron, may have looked back across the channel to the hopes of Henry, then King of Navarre. He writes to Camden on 14 Sep 1588 here, but I haven't yet translated that to see what it says.

Or perhaps Jean, went back to Basel where his father then was. Francois died 12 Feb 1590 at Basel, Switzerland; Jean writing from there a few days later on 17 Feb 1590. (See my transcription of this letter at this link.) Jean became the guardian of his three unmarried sisters. Jean evidently as some sort of spokesman or ambassador writes to Burghley Feb 1591.

I do not find sources detailing his life, at this point, but it is known that one of his sisters Suzanne had a marriage contract dated 18 Jul 1594 in Paris. It's very likely that Jean was there in Paris at this time. Suzanne married Jehan de Monteth (John Menteith), Seigneur of Argentenay.

The Hotman family is noted, although with errors in the Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, "Hotman". There it states that Jean was counsellor to Henri de Bourbon, King of Navarre and Master of Requests of his Hotel in Jan 1595.

Jean and his wife Renee are known to have had at least or exactly four children, their second son was Francois, later Seigneur de la Tour. Their third son Henry became a lieutenant of a company in Holland. Their daughter Suzanne, named for her aunt, married Benjamin de Cumont, Seigneur de Vasse and de Fiefbrun. It's not known to me, where these children were born.

Jean at some point, received a title of Count de Hotman, and probably later a title of Marquis de Villers-St-Paul to which he was heir through his paternal grandmother, probably skipping his father, who did not live to see the family restored to the King's favor.

Jean was the "French agent at Dusseldorf" in 1609-14.

Jean Hotman died 26 Jan 1636, but I do not know where.