“Pierre d’Hozier was a seventeenth century French genealogist and juge d’armes to the king. His job was to check on claims of nobility. His son, Charles, eventually took over the work and the position of juge d’armes. He created, at the request of Louis XIV, the Armorial général de France, a list of all the coats of arms in use at the time. It includes not only personal arms, but those of cities, towns and associations. The king wanted to know not only that those who surrounded him were of the right sort, but the names of all of those who could be taxed as nobility.
“All of the d’Hoziers’ genealogy notes, and those of other royal genealogists, especially Bernard Chérin, (but also including the work of the fraud, Jean de Launay, who was put to death for selling fake arms and fake “proofs” of nobility) are in the Bibliothèque nationale. The entire collection is entitled the Cabinet des Titres.”
Continue reading: Anne Morddel, “The Cabinet des Titres” in The French Genealogy Blog (Jan. 25, 2013).