The Cappel family was a French family which produced distinguished jurists and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

s in the 15th and 16th centuries. The family also took the Latin name Tillaeus based on the fief le Tilloy. In 1491, Guillaume Cappel, as

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of the

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, protested against a

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which Pope Innocent VIII claimed from that body. His nephew, Jacques Cappel (''Johannes Tillaeus'' in Latin; died 1541), the real founder of the family, was himself advocate-general at the parlement of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In a celebrated address delivered before the court in 1537, against the emperor

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, he claimed for King

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the counties of

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, and Charolais. He left nine children, of whom three became

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

s. The eldest, Jacques (1529–1586), sieur du Tilloy, wrote several treatises on

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. Louis (1534–1586), sieur de Moriambert, the fifth son, was a most ardent Protestant. In 1570 he presented a confession of faith to King Charles IX in the name of his co-religionists. He disputed at Sedan before the duc de Bouillon with the Jesuit, Jean Maldonat (1534–1583), and wrote in defence of Protestantism. The seventh son, Ange (1537–1623), seigneur du Luat, was secretary to King Henry IV, and enjoyed the esteem of Sully. Among those who remained

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should be mentioned Guillaume, the translator of Machiavelli. The eldest son Jacques also left two sons, famous in the history of Protestantism: Jacques (1570–1624), pastor of the church founded by himself on his fief of le Tilloy and afterwards at Sedan, where he became professor of

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, distinguished as historian, philologist and exegetical scholar; and

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. He also used his latinized name Jacobus Tillaeus.''Acta Eruditorum'': Jacques Cappel also known as Jacobus Tillaeus
/ref> On the protest of Guillaume Cappel, see Du Bellay, ''Historia Universitatis Parisiensis'', vol. v. On the family, see the sketch by another Jacques Cappel, ''De Capellorum gente'', in the ''Commentarii et notae criticae in Vetus Testamentum'' of

Louis Cappel Louis Cappel (15 October 1585 – 18 June 1658) was a French Protestant churchman and scholar. A Huguenot, he was born at St Elier, near Sedan. He studied theology at the Academy of Sedan and the Academy of Saumur, and Arabic at the University ...

, his father (Amsterdam, 1689).

References

*Eugene and Emile Haag, ''La France protestante'', vol. iii. (new edition, 1881). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cappel Family 17th century in France French families French noble families