Interesting thoughts all. Now "dit" of course means "called" or "known as". "Patron pecheur" could ostensibly mean the captain of a fishing vessel or fleet. "Royal job" - it depends what you mean by "royal"! There were still parts of France which were relatively autonomous for a long time, especially in the Southwest, but most interesting of all is the seeming change in careers of these men. That could certainly indicate a change in social status. Tradespeople, especially artisans, didn't just decide one day to chuck it all in and take up fishing. "Fustier" sounds like a family name to me. The title of "maitre" was usually combined with another word as a title of distinguishment (and still is. It could also mean "merite" or "meullier" but most likely "maitre". It wouldn't mean that one was affiliated with the aristocracy, but that he had attained a certain level of education or expertise in his field. ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com

In regards to my previous question about if & when Protestants were denied the right to hold government positions (probably should have said public positions), here's an edited excerpt from the Huguenots topic in the "Catholic Encyclopedia" on the New Advent Website <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07527b.htm>. ³. . . as Louis XIV got the reins of government into his own hands, the position of the Huguenots became increasingly unfavourable. After 1660 they were forbidden to hold national synods. . . A royal order of 1663 deprived relapsed persons ‹ i.e. those who had returned to Protestantism after having abjured it ‹ of the benefit of the Edict of Nantes, and condemned them to perpetual banishment. A year later, it is true, this order was suspended, and proceedings under it were arrested. . . the children of Protestants were declared competent to embrace Catholicism at the age of seven, their parents being obliged to make an allowance for their separate support conformably with their station in life. The Protestants soon saw themselves excluded from public office; the chambers in which the parties were equally represented were suppressed, Huguenot preaching was restrained and emigration was forbidden under pain of confiscation of property." Some of the families I¹m working on lived in areas where Protestants were a very small minority and had limited access to their Reformed temples prior to the final Revocation in Oct 1685. On the New Advent website there's also an interesting section which states that in areas where Protestants were numerous and wielded some power, they could be just as intolerant as their Catholic counterparts were in other areas of France: "Truth compels the less prejudiced among their historians to admit that the Huguenots, who complained so much of Catholic intolerance, were themselves just as intolerant wherever they happened to be the stronger. Not only did they retain the church property and the exclusive use of the churches, but, wherever possible (as at Béarn), they even opposed the enforcement of those clauses of the Edict of Nantes which were favourable to Catholics. They went so far as to prohibit Catholic worship in the towns that had been ceded to them."