Les chasseurs luttent contre la Bête du Gévaudan

Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine de Vaumesle d’Enneval

Wolf catcher

If you would like to know a little more about the life of this character, I invite you to read the .pdf document at the bottom of the page. (In French)

Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine de Vaumesle d'Enneval was born in Vimoutiers in Orne on September 28, 1702.

 

In 1730 he married Jacqueline-Marguerite de Malherbe de la Gravelle, who gave him two sons, including Jean-François de Vaumesle d'Enneval.

According to the official version, it was the provincial wolf hunter Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine de Vaumesle d'Enneval who offered his services to King Louis XV through Mr. de Lallemand de Lévignen, intendant of Alençon, and Mr. Cromeau, finance clerk to the Minister of Averdy, in order to try to rid Gévaudan of its killer beast.

The king accepted his proposal because disastrous news came more and more each day from Gévaudan, constantly reminding him of the existence of this beast which mercilessly devoured its weak subjects with a terrible feeling of impunity.

D'Enneval was a very experienced provincial wolf hunter, credited with killing nearly one thousand two hundred wolves (three thousand according to other sources), including a pack of black wolves in the Eu forest in Normandy.

 

But, according to the reality revealed by the archives, it was in fact King Louis XV who secretly summoned the lords of Enneval, whose reputation as bloodhounds and wolf hunters he knew, to go and accomplish this imperative mission in Gévaudan. The king did not wish at that time to become personally involved in the eyes of all in this sensitive affair of the country of the gabales.

The Norman wolf hunters arrived in Gévaudan at the very beginning of March 1765, after having spent the month of February in Auvergne waiting for their big dogs. The Normans were not loved in the Gabalais country. However, in Malzieu, a land and city friendly to the powerful Prince de Conti, whose family maintained good relations with the noble fraternities friendly to the d'Ennevals, it can be said that they were treated like chickens in dough. They found lodging and food at the inn of the Croix Blanche.

Contrary to what is often claimed, Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine did not hold back in his efforts to try to eliminate the beast. He even went so far as to poison the corpses of the monster's human victims hoping that it would come and lick them again, but the animal avoided them, just as much as it avoided the hunters' rifles.

According to historical accounts from the time, Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine had ended up restricting his research to the Teynazère forest, where the Beast was seen stumbling around more and more frequently.

 

After many years of service and his exhausting adventure in Gévaudan, Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine de Vaumesle d'Enneval took a short, well-deserved retirement and died in Vimoutiers on 8 November 1769, at the age of 67. He was buried the following day in Pont-de-Vie.

 

Illustration, Patrick Berthelot

Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine de Vaumesle d’Enneval

This translation was made with a digital translator. It's not perfect, I know that.
If you want to help me make it more understandable, I would be honored with your help.
Please contact me. 👍🏻

Document in French distributed free of charge by its author, Patrick Berthelot.
Commercial use prohibited.

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Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine de Vaumesle d’Enneval

Coat of arms of the wolf scout Jean-Charles-Marc-Antoine de Vaumesle d'Enneval

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