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This family is not originally from Saint-Etienne, it at least acquired a right of citizenship there so incontestable, that it can pass for one of the oldest of those which appear in the annals of this city. It is already recognized well beyond the limits set by the most rigorous genealogical requirements, and many families would be jealous of being able to establish such a respectable antiquity, since from the 13th century it showed itself to be invested with the honorable office of the notary. For three centuries she lived in this liberal profession and behaved there with so much loyalty that she grew there like an oak planted in good ground. The notariat, in ancient times, was respected like all offline positions; it was the nobility of pen, of science, of ability. We can cite several large families who descend from former notaries, they are not lacking in Forez. That of Chantillon du Soleillan went back to Jean de Chatillon, squire, notary and secretary to the king, house and crown of France. The Pellissiers, in Saint-Etienne, as well as the De la Roère, the De la Roa, the Framage and others claim a similar origin which is certainly not to be despised. Under our first kings, agreements were made by letters (epistolœ), or proved by witnesses; formulas are introduced, at the same time as the scribes responsible for taking the notes qualify themselves as notaries. Their offices become important under Charlemagne who orders, by one of his Capitulars of the year 803, that the Missi dominici will appoint notaries in all the populous localities; and then when one said notary, one meant, a man commendable by his knowledge and his probity, by his good manners and his incorruptibility. Two years later, in 805, the monarch forced the bishops, the