In 1867, Abbot Tollemer, the headmaster of the secondary school in Valognes, found the part of the manuscript written between 1553 and 1562, in the château of Saint-Martin de Varreville (Manche). He published a global commentary on the manuscript. The actual text was published by Eugène Robillard de Beaurepaire in the Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie (vol. XXI) in 1892. In 1886, Louis Drouet, clerk in Saint-Pierre-Eglise (Manche) had found in the archives of the château there, another part of the Journal written between 1549 and 1552 which was published by the Count de Blangy in the Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie (vol. XXII) in 1894. The manuscripts are preserved today in two different private collections.

NB : If we presume that Gilles de Gouberville kept his records " Mises et receptes " during the 36 years that he managed his properties (1542 to 1578) we can deduce that approximately two-thirds of the entire work are missing : the period from 1542 to 1548 and from 1563 to 1578, i.e. in all about 21 years.

The name of Gilles de Gouberville, like so many others before him, should have fallen into oblivion except that he left behind him a priceless treasure : his Journal.
The part of his Journal which has come down to us is made up of three thick notebooks, one dating from 1549, the next one starting at 1553 and the last one beginning from 1557.

On the cover of these notebooks, the author inscribed in his large handwriting the same title : " mises et receptes faictes par moi, Gilles de Gouberville ". The " mises ", according to 16th century terminology, were the current debits of the household ; the meaning of " receptes " has not changed : they were the sums of money that were received or brought into the household. Thus the author defined his own work as a " book of accounts " or a Family Record Book. The term " Journal " which is used for the document today was invented later. It was first used by Eugène Robillard de Beaurepaire in the 19th century.
While the " accounting " information is the structuring feature of the Journal, the " domestic and private " information, an expression coined by Montaigne, actually dominates the work because of the wealth of information, the variety and extent provided. For this reason, it deserves the name of Journal.

There is such a close relation between what Gilles wrote and what he actually lived, that the reader of this document feels as if he is physically transported to the rural life of the 16th century, i.e. living it, breathing it, as if the time which separates us from that period had suddenly disappeared.
The author took up his pen and wrote of his daily existence, as he lived it from day to day, seen through his eyes : the weather fluctuations, the daily chores to be done, comings and goings, meetings, important moments in life, etc. The time between the writing and the lived experience is so short that we are presented with an almost immediate transcription of the facts, a transcription of every day events as they were performed without any intervening time for reflection or analysis.

Gilles de Gouberville never abandoned his Journal which remained , at least for the 13 years that are in our possession, his faithful daily companion. Such exemplary perseverance is rare in journal-writing. The temptation to keep a journal or a Family Record Book, to write a text for oneself is not rare. In the enthusiasm of the beginning of such a project, the first pages are written with regularity, then, little by little, the enthusiasm dwindles, every day becomes every other day, then entries become more and more irregular and, one day the work is abandoned altogether.
In good health or ill, in town or in the country, at home or abroad, Gilles de Gouberville hardly ever missed a day with his Journal. When he was in his country manor, the book recounts the life of a gentleman-farmer ; when he resided in town, it becomes the diary of his meetings and other events ; when he was travelling, the Journal shows each stage of the trip ; when he was ill, it is a health bulletin,.

A text of inexhaustible wealth, many of its aspects have yet to be explored, including those which are not mentioned in the manuscript. Why he remained silent on some matters has yet to be explained .

Madeleine Foisil
(from the introduction of her book Le sire de Gouberville)
trad. Maria Hennequin