Chevalier de Saint-George - Youth

Youth

Joseph Bologne was born in Guadeloupe to Nanon, a Wolof former slave, and a white French plantation owner, Georges Bologne de Saint-George. Although his father called himself de Saint-George, after one of his properties, he was not born into the nobility. Some biographers have mistaken him for Pierre Tavernier-Boulogne, Controller-General of Finances, whose nobility dated back to the 15th century. The confusion surrounding the nobility of Saint-George's father originated with Roger de Beauvoir’s novel of 1840 ("Le Chevalier de Saint-George"). However, Georges Bologne was not ennobled until 1757, when he acquired the title of Gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre du roi, and noble rank was hereditary only for children born in wedlock.

In 1747 George Bologne was falsely accused of murder and fled to France with Nanon and her child to prevent their being sold. After two years he was granted a royal pardon and the family returned to Guadeloupe. In 1753, George took Joseph, who was then eight, to France permanently where he was enrolled in a private academy.

At the age of 13 Saint-George became a pupil of La Boëssière, a master of arms, and excelled in all physical exercises, especially fencing. When still a student, Saint-George beat Alexandre Picard, a fencing-master of Rouen, who had mocked him as ‘La Boëssière’s upstart mulatto’, and was rewarded by his father with a horse and buggy. He also studied literature and horseback riding, and became an exceptional violinist.

On 5 April 1762, King Louis XV decreed that people of color (blacks (nègres) and mulattos) must register with the clerk of the Admiralty within two months. Saint-George's mother, Nanon, registered herself as age 34 at that time. On 10 May 1762, La Bossière registered Saint-George as "Joseph de Boulogne".

On graduating at the age of 19, he was made a Gendarme de la Garde du Roi (member of the royal guard). After the end of the Seven Years' War, George Bologne returned to his Guadeloupe plantations, leaving his son in France with a handsome annuity. The young chevalier became the darling of fashionable society; contemporary accounts speak of his romantic conquests. In 1766 the Italian fencer Giuseppe Faldoni came to Paris to challenge Saint-George. Faldoni won, but proclaimed Saint-George the finest swordsman in Europe.