Jean Thiriot

In 1611, Queen Marie de' Medici had bought the Luxembourg hotel wishing to build a palace there according to the plans of the one her father lived in at Florence.

Born in Vignot, Jean Thiriot was not subject to royal authority; indeed, Lorraine at that time was not included in the kingdom of France.

His son, Louis XIII - then newly married to a Spanish woman - subsequently returned to Paris and had Marshal Concini murdered; the queen, for her part, was forced into exile in Blois.

The queen's relatives and sympathizers were frowned upon, and the unfortunate architect was removed from his post to be replaced as quickly by Clément II Métezeau, to whom de Brosse had promised to recommend his best workers.

Thiriot was one of them, and it is thus that in 1617, he was found working on the construction of the portal of the chapel of the Sorbonne, which did not prevent him from thinking of his master whose absence made him very sad.

The king often came to visit the works, accompanied by the cardinal who deigned to remember the young stonemason presented by de Brosse, having promised him his protection.

The following year, Jean Thiriot, then master mason, was to be met at La Rochelle on a building site which will soon make his fame.

In fact, the construction of the dike was intended to prevent maritime intrusions, particularly by the English, and thus protect the city from the so feared Huguenots.

The latter was also seduced and ordered that they be housed in his quarters while awaiting the final agreement of the cardinal which soon arrived and thus marked the beginning of the work.

At that time, mail transport was not as easy as it is today and it was necessary to wait for a favourable opportunity to correspond over long distances.

This letter was therefore entrusted to a young man from Saint Mihiel, from the Vaubécourt regiment who, wounded at La Rochelle, was to return to Lorraine.

Jean Thiriot having largely participated in the success of this undertaking, he then received "the title and the emoluments of engineer-architect of the buildings of the king, the nickname of captain, with letters of nobility and coat of arms consisting of a mallet whose handle is engaged between the branches of a compass; for stamp, an open helmet beside, and for support, two naked geniuses".

Thiriot died on 24 January 1649, and he was buried in the Rosary chapel of the church Saint Honest of Yerres,[3] where he had a country house built.

This epitaph can be read on his grave: The history and career of the above-mentioned Jean Thiriot were the subject of many versions which all differ on the facts, and especially on the importance of his role in the construction of the La Rochelle dike.