Who was he ?

1521 : birth of Gilles Picot, eldest son of a family of seven children. The Picots were squires of Russy (in the -west of Calvados) ; at the end of the 14th century, a part of the family settled in Gouberville (in the north-east of Manche). Gilles's father was Guillaume V Picot, squire of Gouberville and Le Mesnil-au-Val, " lieutenant des Eaux et Forêts pour la Vicomté de Valognes" (Royal Forester for the Viscounty of Valognes) and Jeanne du Fou, daughter of squire of Le Mesnil-au-Val, commander of the castle of Cherbourg.
1542 : his father transferred to Gilles the administration of his property.
1543 : having become his father's successor, he received the royal charge of " Lieutenant des Eaux et Forêts ".
1544 : death of his father. Gilles became the squire of Gouberville and Le Mesnil-au-Val and later of Russy, near Bayeux when his uncle Jean Picot died in 1560.
1578 (March) : death of Gilles Picot, squire of Gouberville, Le Mesnil-au-Val and Russy. Burial in the church at Le Mesnil-au-Val.

If the first person singular is omnipresent in Gilles de Gouberville's Family Record Book, the " ego " of the author is entirely absent. To understand the man, " you cannot count on him directly but on everything that the innocent jottings in his Journal reveal " (1). A Journal in which, with an extreme accuracy and careful attention to detail, he mentioned every aspect concerning his daily life as a country squire : planting and breeding for which Gilles only gave orders, quite content with leaving his servants to carry out the actual work ; other jobs which required technical skills that he supervised directly such as masonry, i.e. building and repairs ; the work that he reserved for himself alone such as caring for apple tree seedlings, .

Over and above the relentless care he accorded to his business affairs or his leisure activities such as hunting, he took on the difficult office of " Lieutenant des Eaux et Forêts " " the supervision of the forest, the cutting of timber, the cartage and transportation of tree-trunks, the distribution of fire-wood and the prosecution of those who plundered or damaged the forest" (1). He tried to change this office into that of " Maître des Eaux et Forêts " (Royal Master-Forester) by undertaking a visit to the King Henri II in Blois in 1556 but he was unsuccessful.

Although he frequently wrote in his Journal : " je ne bougé de céans " (I haven't stirred from here), he actually travelled extensively (more than 2 500 km a year, on horseback), for his private affairs and his lawsuits - numerous because of his fondness for legal proceedings - which often took him to Valognes or Rouen.

Keeping his emotions to himself, Gilles wrote very little of his personal feelings. We can detect the personality of a man quite attached to his independence ; a confirmed bachelor, his sexual habits were fairly free, following the example of his father Guillaume and the customs of the times. He fathered five illegitimate daughters but he made sure that they were well established later in life ; he had much esteem for his half-brother Symonnet and he was always very affectionate towards his sister and brother-in-law. A fair master, he could be quick to deal blows. Keeping a shrewd eye on his financial affairs, he knew how to be a convivial and even very generous host to his visitors. This paradox could be found in many of the men of these violent times.

Without actually being a " humanist ", he was more cultured than the average country squires of the period ; fond of tales of chivalry, he discussed Rabelais's works with the priest of Cherbourg. Before the wars of religion, he even took an interest in the sermons of the first Reformers. However, in his Family Record Book, he shows little interest in style. He did not address an eventual reader. His writing is often repetitive, at times obscure, remaining at a very prosaïc level.
Therefore, we must express thanks to several " intercessors " from the 19th century : Abbot Tollemer, Eugène Robillard de Beaurepaire and others, closer to us in time : Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and Madeleine Foisil who guide us in the understanding of this chronicle of " history at a standstill ".