Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-09-02
Library HAS COLLECTION
Of LAFAYETTE PAPERS
Historic Manuscripts Of Noted
French Family on Display
on Capitol Hill.

The one hundred and sixtieth BIRTH
day anniversary of Lafayette, which IL
to be observed in this city Thursday
recalls that the State Department some
xsars ago was made the recipient OF
number of large prints and manuscripts
of historic value. from the family OF
the great Frenchman.
The collection was presented through
Consul General Mason in Paris by
Emile cellevier. president of the Inter
national College of Heraldry, 1Ol Rue
Aliromesul. in Paris, and ms daugnte y,
his deceased wife. Gabrielle France
Cunningham of New York
The collection consists of six ancient
four coats of arms painted on parch-
ment and forty authentic manuscripts
furnished by the International College
of Heraldry taken from the archives
of the three celebrated d'Hoz1er, king
of arms of ancient France.
Manuscripts 1 and II show that the
first motier lords of Lafayette were
made knights in the eleventh century
of Christ.
Manuscripts III to VI state that their
descendant. Gilbert de Lafayette de-
sa battle THE R 81 OF He in
France from British invasion, and was
made Marechal de France, the highest
distinction of the time.
Manuscripts TX to XII furnish proofs
of nobility of the Lafayettes of the If
teenth century.
Manuscript XIII: Antoine de Lafa-
Sette, great master of the French artil-
1ery, defeats the Venetians at Agnadel
in 1909. He is made knight on the
battlefield, then ambassador for France
in Pisa and governor of Boulogne.
Manuscripts XIV to XIII: Family
documents and deeds. with several sig
Iqf9vaftPS.
that in 1925 Count Philippe de Lafa-
yette. Knight of Malta. was made pris-
oner by the Turks: his brother, Fran
co.'s. Bishop Of Limoges and great au-
monier to Queen Anne of Austria, paid
a ransom for him of $4,000.
Manuscripts XIV to XVIII: Gene
alogy and alliances of Francois de La
fayette and his wife. the celebrated
Countess de Lafayette. She was the
first lady author of the reign of Louis
XIV and wrote Princess of Cleves,"
masterpiece in French literature. Orig
inaI signature of their son, Col Mar
quis de Lafayette.
Manuscripts xxx to XII establish
the relationship of the Lafayettes to
the sovereign houses of Bourbon and
Monaco, to the princes of Polignac. the
dukes Ia Rochefoucault, the dukes
Dues, the dukes la Tremoille, the
Marquis Je Noailles, the comics de
Percy. The chow that all these illus
trious houses. some of them now relat-
ed to American families. descend in the
female line from the twelve first lords
OF Lafayette.
Among the engravings is an episode
Of the independence war, where Cen
Lafayette. at the head of the American
troops. defeats an English regiment
Another engraving shows Lafayette
during the French revolution handing
over the coiors of liberty to the Paris
municipality.
The gift was made from a considera-
ton that the manuscripts might prove
of some value for the history of Ameri-
can independence. Extending back to
the time of the crusades, they mark in
the first generations of the house of
Lafayette an equally chivalrous and
disinterested spirit of liberty handed
down through seven centuries to the
great Marquis de Lafayette, companion
in arms Of Gen. George Washington. the
first great leader of democracy on this
continent.
The Lafayette prints and manuscripts
are now carefully preserved in the
manuscript division of the Library or
Congress. where they can be observed
by visitors who admire the heraldry of
the great Frenchman.