La Fléchère family

Origins

The family owned the Château de Beauregard [fr] from 1236 until 2004, although Amédée de Foras [fr] notes that the documented lineage begins only in 1370. Members of the family held various notable positions during the nineteenth century.

This house has provided no individual who held the highest offices of the State, but it presents an uninterrupted series of distinguished men in the army and in the Church… This consistent distinction, combined with its great antiquity, the possession of numerous seigneuries, and its illustrious alliances with the families of Vuagnard, Menthon, Lucinge, Saint-Jeoire, Lornay, Châtillon, Rovorée, Chevron-Villette, La Forest, Blonay, Mareschal-Duyn, Arenthon, Gerbais, Seyssel, Genève-Boringe, etc., justifies the place that the late Marquis Costa de Beauregard assigned to the La Fléchère among the historical families of the Duchy of Savoy.

According to Amédée de Foras, author of the Arms of Savoy [fr], the La Fléchère family originated in Scotland and may represent a branch of the Flescher family.^[2][3] Another tradition, also reported by Jean-Louis Grillet [fr],^[4] attributes to them an Irish origin.^[3][5] Some historians state that an ancestor of the family accompanied Peter II of Savoy on his return from England to his county,^[5] although the Flescher family itself appears only in the thirteenth century, coinciding with the earliest references to the Savoyard branch.^[3] The Swiss historian Louis Vulliemin, in Chillon: étude historique, presents an additional hypothesis, suggesting that members of Savoyard families who accompanied the count to England later settled there and formed new lineages.^[6]

Beyond these proposed origins, the earliest attested member of the family in the Régeste genevois [fr] appears in a deed between Aymon II of Faucigny [fr] (c. 1180–after October 1253) and the Priory of Chamonix, in which Pierre de La Fléchère is recorded as a witness in 1236.^[7][3]

Emergence in Savoy

The family, established at Saint-Jeoire-en-Faucigny, built the Château de Beauregard, a fortified site controlling access to the Risse Valley [fr] on the slopes of the Herbette mountain.^[8]

Its local prominence is indicated by the presence of family tombs in the Church of Saint-Georges [fr].^[9]

In 1366, Hugues de La Fléchère (c. 1320–1370), together with the neighboring lord Pierre de Saint-Jeoire, accompanied Count Amadeus VI of Savoy during the Crusade of the East undertaken to support John V Palaiologos. He is reported to have married Elisabeth de Lucinge around 1340.^[9]

In 1654, the marriage of his descendant François-Marie with the niece of the Prince-Bishop of Geneva, Jean d’Arenthon d’Alex [fr], further consolidated the family’s integration into the upper ranks of the Savoyard nobility.^[10]

Surviving La Fléchère de Beauregard branch

The senior branch of the family, known as La Fléchère de Beauregard, remains extant.^[11] It is listed among the surviving families of the French nobility^[12] and was registered with the Association d’entraide de la noblesse française (ANF [fr]) in 1990.^[13]

Political figures

• Charles de La Fléchère, Councillor of State and chevalier d'honneur in the Senate of Savoy [fr] by letters patent of 2 August 1635.^[17]
• Pierre-Claude de La Fléchère [fr] (1722–1790), promoter of the development of the town of Carouge.^[18]
• François-Marie de La Fléchère [fr] (1727–1793), colonel in the Sardinian army, first syndic of Annecy, and Count of Alex.^[17]
• André Urbain de La Fléchère [fr] (1754–1832), member of the Helvetic Senate from 1798, Councillor of State of Vaud.^[19]
• Étienne de La Fléchère [fr] de Beauregard (1822–1887), syndic then mayor of Saint-Jeoire until 1887, conseiller général in 1874; he was deputy of Savoy in the Parliament of Turin [fr] for the Taninges constituency (1857–1860), replacing Germain Sommeiller.^[20][21]

Military figures

• Henri de La Fléchère served as artillery commissioner deçà des Monts under letters patent issued on 15 February 1595 and was a knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.^[17]
• François-Marie de La Fléchère (born 1727) held the rank of colonel and commanded the Chablais Regiment.
• Jean-Pierre de La Fléchère (1727–1804) was an officer who served as commander-in-chief and governor of Cagliari, where he oversaw the city’s defense against the French fleet in 1793.^[10] He later served as vice-roy of Sardinia^[10] and subsequently presided over the Piedmontese Military Congress (1799) and the Supreme Council of the Administration of Piedmont (1800).^[22]
• Pierre Jean Isidore de La Fléchère (1769–1830) served as colonel commanding the Piedmont Brigade and was a knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.^[17]
• Georges-François de La Fléchère (1775–1843) was a colonel of chasseurs in the army of the States of Savoy. He served as governor of the city and province of Sassari in 1825^[10] and later as commander of the province of Savoy in 1829. He was promoted to general in 1830 and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.^[23]

Ecclesiastical figures

• François de La Fléchère (c. 1540–1602) was a monk of Contamine-sur-Arve and later prior of Sillingy^[24] and Contamine. He also served as an advocate at the Senate of Savoy [fr] and as prior of Sion. He was the godfather of Saint Francis de Sales.^[9][24]
• Georgie de La Fléchère served as prioress of the Mélan Charterhouse from 1572 to 1575.^[17]
• Madeleine de La Forest, Lady of La Fléchère (c. 1580–1632), entered religious life following the death of her husband and founded the Visitation monastery of Rumilly.^[9]
• Sister Françoise-Innocente de La Fléchère (1608–1655), daughter of Madeleine de La Forest, served as superior of the Visitation of Annecy and later of the Visitation of Rumilly [fr], succeeding her mother in 1632.^[9] Saint Francis de Sales was her godfather and guardian.^[15]
• John William Fletcher (1729–1785) was an Anglican priest and theologian associated with the Methodist movement.^[25]