Last modified: 2021-07-14 by ivan sache
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Flag of Marolles-les-Braults - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 11 April 2021
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The municipality of Marolles-les-Braults (2,157 inhabitants in 2018; 2,419 ha; municipal website) is located 40 km north of Le Mans.
Marolles-les-Brault was mentioned as Marojalum, Marolloe Braudi, Marolloe Beral, Maroloe Beraldorum, Marolles-les-Beraux. The etymology is obscure. Fires set up in fields to burn thorns and weeds were locally called "marolles". The name of the village could also have been derived from Latin "materiola", the diminutive form of "materia", "a wood". A Celtic origin, from "maro-ialo", "a vast plain", was also proposed. Braults / Braux would come from a Gallo-Roman root, "bracus", meaning "a small valley", "a hollow".
Ivan Sache, 14 July 2021
The flag of Marolles-les-Braults (photo) is white, charged in the center
with the municipal coat of arms, "Azure a tower or masonned sable surrounded by three crescents argent".
These arms were adopted in 1961 by the Municipal Council with the permission of the descendants of the Desson de Saint-Aignan family.
The Desson de Saint-Aignan family originates to Jean Desson, tax controller in Pont-Authou and Pont-Audemer, who was ennobled for a fee of 1,000 pounds by Royal Letters issued in Vincennes in May 1594, verified on 18 May 1594 by the Chamber of Accounts of Normandy and on 9 August 1612 by the Court of Subsides.
In 1766, Jean-François Desson inherited the castle of Saint-Aignan from his cousin, Marie-Catherine de Clermont d'Amboise, deceased in 1761; he moved his residence to the castle, where he died on 4 October 1770. His elder son, Michel Desson (1751-1821), Count of Saint-Aignan, seated in 1789 in the assemblies of the nobility organized in Le Mans. The younger son, François-Charles Desson, the Viscount Desson de Saint-Aignan, served as Lieutenant of the King's Vessels in 1785. His descendant Gabriel-Edmond Desson de Saint-Aignan served as State Councillor and was elected Representative during the July Monarchy. Another descendant, Maurice Desson, Count of Saint-Aignan, was elected Deputy for the department of Seine-Inférieure in 1883.
[C. d'E.-A. [Gustave Chaix d'Est-Ange] Dictionnaire des familles françaises anciennes ou notables â la fin du XIXe siècle. Vol. XIV (DES-DUG). 1915]
The Armorial Général features "Azure a tower or masoned sable surrounded by three crescent argent as the arms of:
- Nicolas Claude Desson, lord of Le Torp (a domain depending of Pont-Audemer) (image);
- Jean Desson, lord of Le Torp (image);
- Guillaume Desson, lord of Douville, with the tower argent (image).
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 14 July 2021