Fireplace Plaque Bearing The Coats Of Arms Of J. B. Racle De La Roche And M. C. d'Andlau (78x65 Cm)

A Franche-Comté fireplace plaque known as a “porte de four,” cast in the late 17th or very early 18th century, bearing the combined coat of arms of Jean Baptiste Racle de la Roche et Colombier and Marie Charlotte d’Andlau. Its per pale coat of arms is surmounted by a Baron-Freiherr crown, denoting a baron of the Holy Roman Empire—literally a “free lord” in the sense of being emancipated and a landowner. Five “quilles” engraved with two crosses and two columns adorn it.

Jean Baptiste Racle de la Roche et Colombier, who died in 1701, son of Jean Philibert, married in his first marriage, in 1660, Françoise de Pillot, and in his second marriage, around 1680, to Marie Charlotte d’Andlau, daughter of Freiherr von Andlau, Marinus Rudolf d’Andlau, Imperial Baron of Austria (1637–1725), Chamberlain to Emperor Leopold I from 1676 to 1701, who elevated them to the rank of baron in 1676.

The Racle family had been established in the mid-15th century in Pontarlier and in the Val d’Usie (Doubs). Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, stayed at the home of the notary Racle during his trip to the Diet of Regensburg. The family apparently died out in 1705 with Anselme, brother of Jean Baptiste and son of Jean Philibert.
Among others:
- Nicolas Racle d’Usie, born in Vienna, Austria, in 1525, settled in Luxeuil “with a certificate of nobility from the magistrate of his country,” Clerk at the Chamber of Accounts in Dole in 1562, Auditor in 1575, Master Counselor in 1582, and First Master in 1585. His father, Jean Sébastien (1505–1572 Julian), was an imperial notary.
- Jean Racle, son of Nicolas, born in 1562, Captain and Governor of Luxeuil, married Jeanne Brocard. They had a son, Jean Baptiste, who is described below.
- Jean Baptiste Racle, Lord of La Roche, Fouchecourt, Villerpoz, and other places (1560–1615), was elevated to the title of Baron of La Roche by letters patent dated January 7, 1588. He married Guyonne Jacquinot in 1584 in Luxeuil, Haute-Saône, and died in 1601. Claude Grégoire Jacquinot (1538–1598), Guyonne’s father, was a counselor at the Parliament of Dôle.

The d’Andlau family, established in the Bas-Rhin—one of the most illustrious noble families in Alsace, whose origins date back to the late Middle Ages—is one of the oldest families in the French nobility. Since 1356, the eldest son of the family had held the title—confirmed by Charles V in 1550—of “first of the four hereditary knights of the Holy Roman Empire.”
Walter IV of Andlau (1560–1630), lord of Grandvillars and Morvillars in the Territory of Belfort, an Austrian possession until 1648, married Elisabeth d’Arbois in 1593, and wore the crown of a Baron Freiherr on their tomb in Morvillars.

Coat of arms:
- Racle de la Roche: Azure, a rock with six silver peaks surmounted by a gold star.
- d’Andlau: Or, a cross gules.

Note the very slight crack in the lower section, as shown in our last photo.
It weighs 55 kg.

Sources:
- History of the University of the County of Burgundy, Volume II, Nicolas-Antoine Labbey de Billy, 1815, page 313 and following.
- National Journal of Heraldry and Genealogy, January–March 1990, Vol. XXII, No. 114, page 186 (192) 90.II.458 d’Andlau: Quarter of Marie Charlotte d’Andlau, married to Jean-Baptiste Racle de la Roche around 1680. Arnaud de Layssac.
- Dictionary of the Ancient Families of Franche-Comté, Jean Tiburce de Mesmay, 1957.
- Note on the Chamber of Accounts of Dole, followed by a coat-of-arms register of its officers, Roger de Lurion, 1892.
- The Officers of the Parliament of Dole and Their Families. Sylvain Pidoux de la Maduere, 1961.

Thank you to Ms. Christine Chazeau for her research and tenacity.
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