MAREUIL-LA-MOTTE
(La Motte)
In the Beauvais genealogy document that tells about the descendants of Colard de Croisettes (still alive in 1429), there is very early and consistent reference to a fief named 'La Motte'. There are about ten of them of significance in France, and many minor 'La Motte' hamlets or farms to be found tucked away here and there, including in Picardie. La Motte first appears before 1500 as a fief belonging to the second son of Colard de Croisettes. It gave its name to one of the three main branches of this family. Like le Tillet, it would have been, like le Tillet, under threat of confiscation when the de Croisettes men busied themselves in Paris working in the royal courts rather than living on and working their fiefs.
Marueil-la-Motte is the only La Motte in L'Oise and Picardie with a history that places it in the historic archives. It lies a few kilometres due east of Ressons-sur-Matz along winding country lanes on the D78. We approached it from Ressons, climbing to a plateau of arable land with a slope running north. At the top of this sits Mareuil-la-Motte, plainly a 'motte', or defendable hillock on which a chateau could be built. We could just imagine the bailey around it.
Once back home, rooting around on the web, we came up with an old map on www.notrefamille.com, part of the 'cartes anciennes' collection, specifically a set of c. 1750 maps by Cassini covering the whole of France. This website also displays postcards which show that Marueil-la-Motte existed c. 1900 in much the same form as now, except that the church tower is a lot shorter, maybe as the result of war-time shelling.
The 'Cassini' map, see below and click for detail, for the area shows that c. 1750 there were two villages: Marueil to the south and La Motte to the north. Plainly the two merged, with the village of Marueil disappearing entirely. Even more intriguingly, tucked away to the south east, a complex of villages and settlements that no longer exist: Belle Eglise, La Croisette, the Priory of St Margaret, and others. It is tempting to wonder whether the de Croisettes took their surname from this place and, once wealthy, built their 'motte' at Marueil-la-Motte.
This is the church and its surroundings. The village is undistinguished. An old postcard shows the Mairie alongside a cafe c. 1900, but probably later
This charming 'place' with its avenue of trees is typical of any small village. The pomp of the de Croisettes family is better expressed in places like Le Tillet, or Villers sous St Leu, and even Baron.
