ABSTRACT
Constant’s mother, Henriette-Pauline de Chandieu (4 September 1742-10 November 1767), traced her ancestry back to one of the leading Protestant figures in the French Reformation, Antoine de La Roche Chandieu from the Dauphiné region, who sought refuge in Geneva in 1564 and later Lausanne, and who acquired citizenship of Geneva. The first wife of Henriette’s father, Benjamin de Chandieu-Villars (1710-84), FrançoiseMarie-Charlotte, née de Montrond (1722-77), gave birth to ten children of whom four daughters survived: Constant’s mother Henriette who died shortly after he was born; her sister Anne-Marie-Pauline-Andrienne (1744-1814) who became Comtesse de Nassau on marrying Count Lodewijk Theodoor de Nassau La Lecq (1741-95) in 1768, and who lost her only child Louis, aged 24, in 1794-Anne de Nassau was always one of Benjamin’s closest and most cherished relatives and he corresponded with her until her death; Henriette’s elder sister Catherine-Louise-Jacqueline (1741-96) who married Salomon de Charrière de Sévery (1724-93) in 1766; and Henriette’s youngest sister AntoinettePauline (1760-1840) who was to marry Jean-Samuel de Loys (1761-1825) in 1784. None of Constant’s eight cousins by these various marriages were as important in his life as his uncle Samuel de Constant’s children, but worthy of note are Catherine de Charrière de Sévery’s son Wilhelm (1767-1838), with whom there was mutual antipathy, and Pauline de Loys’s daughters Antoinette (1785-1861) and Andrienne (1789-1850)— Constant considered marrying one or other of them in January 1806 (see Constant, Œuvres, p. 560, journal entry for 2 January 1806).
