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Old 09-22-2009, 07:43 PM
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Default Alizée and Corsica, Corsica and Alizée

Any good fan knows that Alizée was born and raised in Corsica.

I have a few questions about that

1. Did her entire family blood line reside in that island? Or is she a first/second generation Corsican?

2. If the above is true, would that technically mean that Alizée has some Italian blood in her?
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Old 09-22-2009, 08:09 PM
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Good questions!

She definitely goes back at least two generations, because she has grandparents living on the island.
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Old 09-22-2009, 08:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deepwaters View Post
Good questions!

She definitely goes back at least two generations, because she has grandparents living on the island.
but that could simply be that Granny and Grampy Jacotey moved to Corsica from anywhere else in France....

I see what you are getting at, but what I mean is was the Jacotey blood present on the island for a long, long, long time? or was it like a "oh, let's move to corsica!"
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Old 09-22-2009, 09:15 PM
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Now I could be completely wrong on this but I believe her father is from Corsica. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that her mother's side of the family was from somewhere around Normandy, but I just can't be sure anymore. Even if my memory is correct, the information could have been wrong. Hopefully, someone will know the answer to this and straighten all of us out.
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Old 09-22-2009, 09:16 PM
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I'm just curious to whether or not the blood of some inhabitant of the island passed on and on and eventually coursed through her veins.
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Old 09-23-2009, 01:41 AM
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Corsica exist near the upper part of Italy so I believe it inherits quite a bit from the mediterranean. To me, Alizee look Mediterranean vs the more germanic "franks" look that has some nordic viking blood in it (i.e. norseman, northern men, normandy...). I always said she had Mediterranean eyes on a french face. Probably why she makes us all smitten... I was already a sucka for Mediterranean women...



Corsican history does bring up interesting questions about her family tree.

Last edited by wildfire; 09-23-2009 at 01:43 AM..
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Old 09-23-2009, 02:22 AM
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Actually her mother looks more Mediterranean and her father more mainland France. These are great questions though. Hopefully someone has the answer.
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Old 02-02-2010, 08:14 AM
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Post The geography of "Jacotey" et alia

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jalen View Post
Any good fan knows that Alizée was born and raised in Corsica.

I have a few questions about that

1. Did her entire family blood line reside in that island? Or is she a first/second generation Corsican?

2. If the above is true, would that technically mean that Alizée has some Italian blood in her?
First, there are a certain number of violent nationalists who object to "French" people living on the island, even after two centuries of political union with France. This can only discourage people from mentioning the fact that not every last one of their ancestors lived there since the dawn of time.

Second, French law forbids official enumerations of ethnicity, presumably in the hope of discouraging ethnic conflict.

All that said, no one in Corsica would be surprised to hear that "Jacotey" is not likely of Italian (or Corsu) linguistic origin! So I was not deterred from investigating the geography of that patrilineal name (and others) in an essay called Alizée: The return of Annette. You can use the Web-based tool I cite there to explore further on your own!

All of the most popular surnames in Corsica sound "Italian" to us who speak English. "Jacotey" is very rare in Corsica, and is even unusual in France, where you will find most of the people using it. It is most highly concentrated in Franche-Comté, the eastern limb of historic Burgundy, on the Swiss border and not far from German Swabia and Italian Piedmont. See the cited Web page for more details.

Alizée certainly fits the physical stereotype of a Ligurian/Mediterranean person on the basis of features, coloring and height. But while you might visually distinguish a group of 100 Corsicans from a group of 100 Danes, one can't reliably guess on an individual basis. Remember, Normans once ruled Sicily.

Some native Corsu music is used to introduce Mon Maquis. And when in 1999 the host on Graines de Star bade Alizée to say "bon soir" (French), she instead offered "buona sera" (Corsu).

I like Alizée whatever place her ancestors ever called home. Don't you?

Last edited by FanDeAliFee; 02-04-2010 at 09:53 AM.. Reason: mention Piedmont, too
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Old 02-02-2010, 04:56 PM
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What's sure is that all corsican have "corsican sound names".
Like " Paoli, Bartoli ,Natalini ,Rossi , Orsini..."

And JACOTEY is not one of them...


look at this adresse :

http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/...4390&periode=2

There is no Jacotey in Corsica before 1945.

Last edited by Bigdan; 02-02-2010 at 05:01 PM..
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Old 02-03-2010, 09:02 AM
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Smile Jacotey/Jacotet genealogy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigdan View Post
What's sure is that all corsican have "corsican sound names".
Like " Paoli, Bartoli ,Natalini ,Rossi , Orsini..."

And JACOTEY is not one of them...


look at this adresse :

http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/...4390&periode=2

There is no Jacotey in Corsica before 1945.
Merci beaucoup, Bigdan! You teach me about a valuable genealogy research tool for France. I will use it for another family in another project.

A brief guide to French genealogy resources is found here.

In exploring Alizée's surname, I discovered that over time, the spelling Jacotet gradually gave way to the spelling Jacotey. Both forms are really two of many variants on the root name Jacot, (homophonic with Jacquot, "Jimmy"), a diminutive of Jacques ("James"). Other variations include Jacottet, Jacottey, Jacotez, Jacotin, Jacottin, Jacotot, Jacottot, Jacote, Jacotte. (<i>Jacotey</i> is perhaps best translated into English as the double-diminutive <i>Jimmykins</i>.)

Doubs, the Jacotey homeland


The earliest person I have found with a surname homophonic to Alizée's is Francois Jaccottet. born circa 1520 in Moudon, Vaud, Switzerland. In recent centuries, the French department of Doubs, an upland area dominated by the Jura Mountains in Franche-Comté , starting 20 miles to the northwest, has been home to the Jacote(t/y)s best remembered in genealogical records. (Aside: Think of Mylène Farmer's DOUBle Sens lyrics!)

<table align="center" cellpadding="0"><tr valign="bottom"><td width="250"><img src="http://www.meteo10.com/images/doubs.png"><center><br><h3>Location of Doubs</td><td width="30"></td><td width="183"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Blason25.PNG"><center><br><h3>Coat-of-arms for Doubs</td></tr></table>In August 2004, an association called Doubs Généalogie was created. In consequence, the department now has its very own genealogy Web site at Doubs Généalogie, complete with an advanced search page. Using this page with defaults to search for the exact Patronyme "Jacotey" one gets 153 hits! The earliest notes the 25/11/1705 marriage of André JACOTEY and Jeanne-Claude DAVID in Granges la Ville.

<center><a href="http://www.routedescommunes.com/departement-70-commune-1397.html"><img src="http://www.routedescommunes.com/admin/makeimg.php?filename=../images/upload/communes/1397/1397____granges-la-ville_1801104282.jpg&nx=230&ny=250"><br>a small fountain in Granges-la-Ville</a></center>
Liberalizing the same search by allowing sound matches (changing the default value of Comparaison from Exacte to Sonore) multiplies the number of hits to a total of 4566. The earliest item is the birth of Jean JAQUOT on 12/11/1541 in Crosey RP to Emery JAQUOT and ?Jeannette.

<table align="center" cellpadding="0"><tr valign="bottom"><td width="200"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Franche-Comt%C3%A9_region_locator_map.svg/200px-Franche-Comt%C3%A9_region_locator_map.svg.png"><center><h3 ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Franche-Comt%C3%A9_region_locator_map.svg">Location of Franche-Comté</a></center><small>Access over 1000 free books with "Franche-Comté" in their titles here.</td><td width="30"></td><td width="330"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Franche-Comt%C3%A9.svg/330px-Franche-Comt%C3%A9.svg.png"><center><br><h3><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franche-Comt%C3%A9.svg"><h3>Drapeau de la région Franche-Comté en France</td></tr></table>

The Franco-Swiss borderlands


I looked for "Jacotey" and "Jacotet" at GeneaNet and only got one search hit, only for the latter:

Contact No Surname Year Place Geography Zone
depgn21231m 2 JACOTET 1683 - 1689 Dijon Côte d'Or, Bourgogne, France

We are not surprised to find the hit is in Burgundy, because of the many contemporary Jacoteys living today in Franche-Comté, its historic eastern extension. I wonder if Alizée likes Grey Poupon?
<!-- [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Poupon"] -->

The two wedding records from the search hit document these marriages:

Day_______ Year Parish___ Husband_________ Wife
09 novembre 1683 St Philibert BAVAILLOT Jacques JACOTET? Jeanne
25 avril____ 1689 Notre Dame JACOB Jean_______ JACOTET Huguette

Marking___ Page
5 Mi 9 R 29 29
5 Mi 9 R 32 146

RootsWeb's WorldConnect project yields results with many details both for Jacotey (7 hits) and Jacotet (12 hits). The earliest born is Pierre Ignace Jacotet (1744-1828), whose Jacotet descendants are diagrammed here.

One World Tree finds no records for Jacotey, but turns up well over a dozen for Jacotet. One finds them clustered near one another in Franche-Comté, Alsace and Neuchâtel (a Swiss canton), with many records circa 1800. We enumerate their names here: Marie Elise Jacotet, Maria Magdulena Jacotet, Georges Joseph Jacotet (b. 1785) and his daughter Seraphine Virgine Jacotet (b. 1828), Josuë Henri Jacotet and his daughter Susanne Salomé Jacotet. (It is perhaps interesting to note that the name Salomé conjures up a terpsichorean seductress. But the question begged by the line of inquiry opened by <i>The DaVinci Code</i> is this: If Mary Magdalene was in fact no prostitute, was Salomé something other than a mere homicidal ecdysiast? More on this below.) We even happen to have an obituary for Susanne Salomé Jacotet, who had lived in Neuchâtel:
Le dix Juillet mil huit cent vingt six (1826) a été inhumée à Dombresson Susanne Salome née Jacottet veuve de David Pierre Diacon de Dombresson, Bourgeois de Valangin, morte de folie [?] à Dombresson où elle résidoit le sept du dit mois. Elle avoit été baptisee à St. Blaise le vingt neuf Decembre mil sept cent soixante & dix (1770) & étoit fille de Josuë Henri Jacottet & de Susanne Marguerite née Ame Droz(*), âgé de 56 ans.
Or, in English:
On the tenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six (1826) was buried at Dombresson Susanne Salome, born Jacottet, widow of David Pierre [Peter] Diacon of Dombresson, Bourgeois of Valangin, dead of madness [?] at Dombresson, where she resided the seventh of said month. She had been baptized at St. Blaise the twenty-ninth of December one thousand seven hundred seventy (1770) & was the daughter of Josuë [Joshua] Henri [Henry] Jacottet & Susanne Marguerite, born Ame Droz(*), aged 56.
(*) Ami-Droz is specified here. Two years before the woman's passing, tiny Dombresson, with under 1000 inhabitants, saw the discovery of a treasure of 400 gold and silver coins struck in antiquity. (Make up your own mystery novel!) Those who are aware of Alizée's Wizard of Oz connection will be amused that the Web site of contemporary Dombresson includes Toto, too!

These records can be supplemented by consulting Family Search, which provides a only few results for Jacotey, but very many for Jacotet. We summarize much of the records generated, using date order:

Susanne Salomé Jacotet
Gender: Female
Christening: 29 DEC 1770 St-Blaise, Neuchatel, Switzerland

George Joseph JACOTET
Gender: Male
Birth: 1788 Richebourg, Haute-Marne, France
Marriage: 1818 Richebourg, Haute-Marne, France to Marianne Mairat

[Bad record? Death date confused with son?
Georges Joseph JACOTET
Gender: Male
Marriage: 1834 De Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France to Mariana MAIRAT
Death: 28 AUG 1900 Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France ]

CATHARINA JACOTEY
Gender Female
Marriage: 04 OCT 1791 Belfort, Haut-Rhin, France

Johanna Jacotet
Gender: Female
Birth: 04 SEP 1798 Echallens, Vaud, Switzerland

Catherine JACOTEY
Gender: F
Birth/Christening: < 1827 <Chenebier, Haute-Saone, France>

Seraphine Virgine JACOTET
Gender: Female
Birth: 28 AUG 1828 Richebourg, Haute-Marne, France

Eugéne Constantin Joseph JACOTET
Gender: Male
Birth: 18 APR 1834 Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France
Father: Georges Joseph JACOTET
Mother: Mariana MAIRAT
Marriage: 16 JUN 1854 Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France
Death: 28 AUG 1900

Henri Paul Alphonse JACOTET
Gender: Male
Birth: 10 APR 1884 Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France
Marriage: 18 MAY 1908 Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France
Father: Eugéne Constantin Joseph JACOTET
Mother: Marie Justine BASIN

Marie Louise Augusta JACOTET
Gender: Female
Birth: 17 JUN 1886 Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France
Death: 16 FEB 1969

Paul Joseph Félicien JACOTET
Gender: Male
Birth: 03 APR 1889 Vernois Le Fol, , Doubs, France

HENRY ALPHONSE (EUGENE) JACOTET
Gender: Male
Birth: 18 NOV 1911 Vernois-Le-Fol, Doubs, France
Death: 9 Jun 1945 Montbeliard, Doubs, France

Linguistic note: Vaud, Doubs and Neuchâtel, places long home to the name Jacotey, are in the northern march of the area in which the Romance language Franco-Provençal (or Arpitan, "Alpine") persists. Readers who are familiar with Lola and her loup may be amused to learn that the singular masculine definite article in Arpitan is lo.

Jacotey in America


World Vital Records reveal that Alizée was not the first Jacotey to visit the United States. New York City area Ellis Island records document these two women, quite possibly sisters:

Given Name Surname Approx Birth Date of Arrival Age on Arrival Residence
Emma Jacotey 1869 14 October 1893 24
Marie Jacotey 1865 14 October 1893 28

And the 1930 US Census shows a woman living in appropriately maritime Atlantic City, New Jersey, with a given name the same as that of the wife of the most famous Ajaccio son. Was she the sister of one or both of the women above?

Name ------------ Birth (est.) Age State County Location
Jacotey, Josephine 1867 ------- 63 NJ ATLANTIC ATLANTIC CITY, WARD 1

Thank ALS for encouraging a more thorough search for contemporary USA Jacoteys by quickly finding one result. In fact several Jacoteys are alleged by Wink for the USA, among other places also named.

How many Jacoteys?


We observe that no Jacotey born in France inclusively between 1891 and 1990 was born in Corsica before 1941. Alizée's father reports he is an island native born 21/11/1958, and so is one of the two Jacoteys shown born in Corsica by the cited map. But how much earlier a Jacotey not born there was a resident remains a mystery. The USA decennial census lets us track American residence through 1930 so far, for reasons of privacy. Is the French national census online? What is the newest data available?

There are very few Jacoteys and Jacotets in France, as evidenced by the number of births in the table below:<table align="center" cellpadding="10"><caption><center><big>Number of births<br>during indicated years</caption><tr><th>Years</th><th>Jacotey</td><td>Jacotet</td><th>total</th></tr><tr><td>1891-1915</td><td>25</td><td>17</td><td>42</td></tr><tr><td>1916-1940</td><td>45</td><td>21</td><td>66</td></tr><tr><td>1941-1965</td><td>49</td><td>24</td><td>73</td></tr><tr><td>1966-1990</td><td>65</td><td>17</td><td>82</td></tr><tr><td>1891-1990</td><td>184</td><td>79</td><td>263</td></tr></table>Crudely speaking, with 263 births in a century and a nominal lifespan of 70, the average Jacote(t/y) population of France over the cited century was 184.

From the maps immediately below, observe that even today, the surnames Jacotey and Jacotet are highly concentrated in Franche-Comté, including (and probably especially) Doubs, a constituent department. At least two villages in Doubs have mayors named Jacot(t)et - Michel Jacotet in Roches-lès-Blamont and Daniel Jacottet in Présentevillers. The capital of Doubs is even home to a software publisher called Alizée Informatique.
<table align="center"><tr><td><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/SurnameJacotey.jpg" width="403" height="589"></td><td align="center"><big><big>The JACOTEY surname</big></big><br>per <a href="http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/"><i>World Family Names</i></a><p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="325"><tr><td style="BORDER-RIGHT:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-TOP:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid; width: 100%; height: 20px;"><font size="3pt" color="#004DAB"><strong>&nbsp;Top Countries</strong></font></td></tr><tr class="header"><td width="80%">Country</td><td>FPM</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>FRANCE</td><td>2.61</td></tr></table>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="325"><tr><td style="BORDER-RIGHT:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-TOP:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid; width: 100%; height: 20px;"><font size="3pt" color="#004DAB"><strong>&nbsp;Top Regions</strong></font></td></tr><tr class="header"><td width="80%">Area Name</td><td>FPM</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>FRANCHE-COMTÉ , FRANCE</td><td>48.3</td></tr><tr class="item2"><td>BOURGOGNE , FRANCE</td><td>8.65</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON , FRANCE</td><td>5.87</td></tr><tr class="item2"><td>RHÔNE-ALPES , FRANCE</td><td>5.51</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>ALSACE , FRANCE</td><td>5.31</td></tr><tr class="item2"><td>PICARDIE , FRANCE</td><td>3.8</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>AQUITAINE , FRANCE</td><td>1.85</td></tr><tr class="item2"><td>LORRAINE , FRANCE</td><td>1.39</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>ÎLE-DE-FRANCE , FRANCE</td><td>1.19</td></tr><tr class="item2"><td>PAYS-DE-LA-LOIRE , FRANCE</td><td>0.8</td></tr></tr></table></td></tr></table>

<table align="center"><tr><td><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/SurnameJacotet.jpg" width="403" height="589"></td><td align="center"><big><big>The JACOTET surname</big></big><br>per <a href="http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/"><i>World Family Names</i></a><p><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="325"><tr><td style="BORDER-RIGHT:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-TOP:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid; width: 100%; height: 20px;"><font size="3pt" color="#004DAB"><strong>&nbsp;Top Countries</strong></font></td><tr class="header"><td width="80%">Country</td><td>FPM</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>FRANCE</td><td>1.13</td></tr></table>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="325"><tr><td style="BORDER-RIGHT:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-TOP:#ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid; width: 100%; height: 20px;"><font size="3pt" color="#004DAB"><strong>&nbsp;Top Regions</strong></font></td></tr><tr class="header"><td width="80%">Area Name</td><td>FPM</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>FRANCHE-COMTÉ , FRANCE</td><td>22.88</td></tr><tr class="item2"><td>ALSACE , FRANCE</td><td>5.31</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE D'AZ , FRANCE</td><td>5.18</td></tr><tr class="item2"><td>ÃŽLE-DE-FRANCE , FRANCE</td><td>0.6</td></tr><tr class="item1"><td>RHÔNE-ALPES , FRANCE</td></td><td>0.5</td></tr></tr></table></td></tr></table>
This leaves open the question of Alizée's maternal lineage. One presumes the marriage records in Corsica would reveal her mother's maiden name and so suggest her Mom's patrilineal heritage. That name could well end in the letter "i"! In fact, since francophone names are so very rare in Corsica, almost certainly Alizée's mother (Michelle) had a very typical Corsican maiden name and all that implies.

The Fesch connection


The surname best known in Corsica is of course Buonaparte (Bonaparte), and sounds very Corsu. But perhaps the second best known name, surely so in Ajaccio, is Fesch, a German name. The name is an adjective meaning "fashionable," or perhaps more economically, "chic."

Joseph Cardinal Fesch (1763-1839) was the Ajaccio-born son of a Swiss mercenary officer in the service of the Genoese Republic, which had ruled Corsica for centuries, but had lost control to native forces everywhere but the coastal cities by the time he was born. The soldier, a protestant, converted to Catholicism so that he could marry a Corsican widow, who would be remembered in history as the maternal grandmother of Napoleon. This made the man who would be called Cardinal Fesch the uncle by marriage of the future emperor of France.<table cellspacing="20"><tr><td width="250" align="center"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Cardinal_Joseph_Fesch.jpg/250px-Cardinal_Joseph_Fesch.jpg" width="250" height="289"><p><big><big><big><big><font color="red"><b><i><nobr>Abeille I was</nobr><br><nobr>ere I saw Elba</nobr></i></b></font></big></big></big></big></td><td width="200">The four corners of the Napoleonic crest of Cardinal Fesch (right) are guarded by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_(mythology)#Symbolism">mystical bees</a> (below) of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_Napoleon_I">Merovingian</a> royal dynasty of France. Also, the red cord pattern in the design echoes the hexagonal lattice of the honeycomb.<p><center><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Childeric's_bees.jpg"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/Childeric%27s_bees.jpg/200px-Childeric%27s_bees.jpg" width="200" height="170"></a></center><table width="200" align="center"><tr><td width="20"></td><td><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedC.jpg" width="40"><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedB.jpg" width="40"><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedC.jpg" width="40"><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedB.jpg" width="40"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td width="20"></td><td><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedB.jpg" width="40"><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedC.jpg" width="40"><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedB.jpg" width="40" ><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedC.jpg" width="40"></td>
<td></td></tr></table></td><td><img src="http://armorial-du-souvenir.fr/archives/img/famille/fesch.PNG" width="298" height="375"></td></tr></table>It is curious that located in the northeast corner of Doubs, of all places, is sited a town called Fesches-le-Châtel, today a scant 4 miles from the Swiss border and 30 miles from the German border. Its name means Castle/Chateau of the Fesches, and was first mentioned in writing during 1282, under the name Fesches-Le-Chastelot. (Recall that the earliest record for "Jacotey" held by Doubs Généalogie is a 1705 marriage in Granges-la-Ville - a mere 15 miles from Fesches-le-Châtel.) Another place, called Fêche-l'Église, is halfway between Fesches-le-Châtel and the Swiss border. About 70 miles SSE of the French locations is a place in Switzerland named Feschel. But similar place-names are all but non-existent anywhere else in the world.

<table align="center"><tr valign="top"><td>The <a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famille_Fesch_ou_Faesch">Fesch family</a> established itself in nearby Basel in 1409, and rose to become its patricians as the city itself became great. But curiously, an <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=zTI2AAAAMAAJ">anomolous source</a> writes:<blockquote><i>La famille Fäsch, que nous écrivons Fesch, était établie à Bâle depuis le xve siècle, mais elle s'y tenait peu, à en juger par François Fesch qui, né en 1711 à Londres, avait d'abord essayé du commerce en Angleterre, puis aux États Généraux - il semble même alors du commerce colonial - n'avait réussi ni ici ni là et...</i></blockquote><table><tr valign="top"><td width="170"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Newton_25.jpg"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/James_Thornhill_Portrait_of_Sir_Isaac_Newton.jpg/81px-James_Thornhill_Portrait_of_Sir_Isaac_Newton.jpg"> </a><br>Sir Isaac Newton in 1712, the year after François Fesch was allegedly born in London.</td><td>Thereby it curiously claims that the cardinal's father, Franz/François Fäsch/Fesch, was not born in this area, but rather in <a href="http://gw5.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=wailly&lang=en;p=francois;n=fesch">Lo ndon during 1711</a>. At that time, Isaac Newton, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion#Alleged_Grand_Masters">alleged</a> to be the 19th Nautonnier (Grand Master) of the Prieuré de Sion, was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton#Later_life">resident</a> there as Master of the Mint for the British crown.</td></tr></table></td><td width="462"><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/TheNexus.gif"><br>The Jacotey marriage of 1705 took place in Granges-la-Ville (pink marker), only 15 miles from Fesches-le-Châtel (blue marker), first mentioned in writing during 1282. The smaller nearby satellite village of Fêche-l'Église is <a href="http://fr.geneawiki.com/index.php/90045_-_F%C3%AAche-l%27%C3%89glise">called</a> <i>villa quae Fische dicitur</i> (<i>country seat which affirms 'Fische'</i>) in 1187, the very year the pivotal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hattin">Battle of Hattin</a> was lost in the Holy Land. (One should note that in German, <i>Fische</i> means <i>fishes</i>, which symbolism is alluded to below.)</td></tr></table>
One of France's greatest writers, Victor Hugo, was born during 1802 in Besançon, the capital of Doubs. His writing idol is betrayed by some scribbling in his notebook reading: "To be Chateaubriand or nothing." It happens that Chateaubriand served as secretary for a year to Fesch, starting when the latter set out in 1803 as Napoleon's ambassador to the Papacy. And in 1822, Hugo married at Église Saint-Sulpice in Paris, whose associated mission had been put under Fesch's supervision in 1805, following the detente between the French Empire and the Catholic Church.

A brief account of earlier Lolas and Lilis


I had to laugh when exploring Ajaccio history on account of Alizée led me to personally discover Fesch, because I was reminded of the 1930 film, Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), credited as the first German film with synchronized sound ("talkie"). In it, Marlene Dietrich plays a nightclub singer named Lola Lola and sings a song called Ich Bin die Fesche Lola, of all things! The song is heard in the video immediately below.<table cellspacing="20"><tr valign="top"><td>I will translate the lyrics into English, reworking them to better measure and rhyme:

<small><i>I am the dashing Lola, darling of the season!
I have a pianola [player piano] at home in my salon
I am the dashing Lola, one loves me, every man
But on my pianola, there no one I let ran!

I am the dashing Lola, darling of the season!
I have a pianola at home in my salon.
And all who will come with me there, down along the hall,
I'll bash them in the strings, and stomp on their pedal!

Lola, Lola - all know just who I am
Look but to make me out?
Your sense is then in doubt!
Men here? Men here? - none do I kiss here
Alone at the keyboard, sing I the lines by ear.

I am the dashing Lola, darling of the season!
I have a pianola at home in my salon
I am the dashing Lola, one loves me, every man
But on my pianola, there no one I let ran!

I am the dashing Lola, darling of the season!
I have a pianola at home in my salon.
And all who will come with me there, down along the hall,
I'll bash them in the strings, and stomp on their pedal!

I am the dashing Lola, darling of the season!
I have a pianola at home in my salon
I am the dashing Lola, one loves me, every man
But on my pianola, there no one I let ran! </i></small></td><td width="425" align="left"><object width="340" height="285"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dpu7t-GagRY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dpu7t-GagRY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="340" height="285"></embed></object><br><br><object width="425" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/jO0h190oboE?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/jO0h190oboE?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="349"></embed></object><br>Marlene performs in Morocco - could it be at the cabaret Le Bonaparte, LOL?</td></tr></table>The first place show-business legend Mel Brooks called home was a half-mile stroll from the hospital at which this writer was born - and he surely is a great credit to so tragic a <a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/books/871/brownsville-revisited/print/">neighborhood</a> as that. In 1974 Brooks produced a box-office-record-breaking comedy, the satirical Western film, <i>Blazing Saddles</i>, in which Madeline Kahn does a thinly-veiled parody of Dietrich, playing a character called Lili Von Shtupp. Kahn even mocks the best known song (Falling in Love Again) from the 1930 Dietrich film, by performing one called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-pmpgrYQgs" target="_YT">I'm Tired</a> (which one might loosely translate into French as <i>J'En Ai Marre</i>!) I hope all of this provides Alizée fans a few simple chuckles.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-pmpgrYQgs" target="_YT"></a>
<br>The late Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles (1974)

<table><tr><td>But WHY did Brooks give the Kahn character the name "LILI" to frame a parody of someone whose name was MARLENE? Without doubt, the answer is the legendary German love song, curiously beloved of soldiers on <i>both</i> sides during World War II, the timeless and subtlely anti-militarist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Marleen"><i>Lili Marlene</i></a>.

Due to its title, the song became something of a signature tune (at least after <i>Falling in Love Again</i>) for Marlene Dietrich, especially because she often sang it as a member of the American USO during the war. An <a href="http://www.chuckallan.com/history/LiliMarlene.html"> English version</a> included the following special passage, meant to sustain the morale of the Allied troops with whom she served:<blockquote><i>When we are marching in the mud and cold,
And when my pack seems more than I can hold,
My love for you renews my might,
I'm warm again, My pack is light,
It's you Lili Marlene, It's you Lili Marlene</i></blockquote>Dietrich was born in Imperial Germany, the daughter of a Royal Prussian police officer, as Marie Magdalene Dietrich; "Marlene" derives from a contraction of her given names. (Aside: This means that "Lili Marlene" might be read as <big><big>"Lili Marie Magdalene"</big></big> - more on this in a section immediately below!) After the career breakthrough provided by <i>The Blue Angel</i>, Dietrich moved to Hollywood and was a screen idol during the 1930s. A staunch (and even outspoken) anti-Nazi, she became a US citizen in 1937.</td><td><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/tango-lily-marlene-CARBUCCIA-ADRY/dp/B003UAKCD2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302046455&sr=1-2"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UW7kPIaGL._SL500_AA300_.jpg"></a></td></tr></table>
Her entertainment services during the Second World War, not only on the radio, but more often at the very combat front, with the better part of a thousand personal appearances before the troops, won her major decorations from the American, French and later the Israeli governments. Many photos from this era, including those with both ordinary GIs and General Patton, are featured in Dietrich's performance of <i>Lili Marlene</i> in German <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDQnfF6-j48">here</a>. You can also hear her sing it in English during a 1944 show <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRxR7e2c2L0">here</a>. (One shudders to think of what would have happened to her had she been captured by a Nazi-run <i>Third Reich</i>, or one of its client states, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France"><i>Vichy France</i></a>.)
<table align="center" cellpadding="10"><tr valign="middle"><td width="197"><center><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/PasDeDeuxWithJenifer_th.jpg" width="197" height="161"><b>Corsican sister act:<br>vocal <i>Pas de Deux</i> <br>Alizée and Jenifer</b></td><td>After the war, Dietrich was a highly-paid live entertainer. To elaborate her act, and later do most of her musical recordings, she retained the services of prolific songwriter and musical director Burt Bacharach (an alumnus of this writer's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Hills_High_School">high school</a>, which also graduated Simon and Garfunkel, the creators of Alizée's favorite song, <i>Sound of Silence</i>).

Dietrich had a New York City apartment, but spent the last decade of her life mostly bedridden in her Paris apartment. France had honored her first as a Chevalier, and then as a Commandeur of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9gion_d%27honneur">Légion d'honneur</a>, an order originally created by Ajaccio's most famous son. (<i>Encyclopaedia Britannica</i> honors her with a <a href="http://www.britannica.com/women/print?articleId=30401&fullArticle=true&tocId=90304 01">biography</a> which is part of its series <i>300 Women Who Changed The World</i>.)

A fashion icon, Dietrich's frequent gender-bending attire and smokey singing voice let her stand out alone among all the famous <i>femme fatales</i> of her era. Her aura endures even today. with her official memorial site <a href="http://www.marlene.com/sitehistory.html">noting</a>:

<i>What she did not appreciate, perhaps, was the vast success of the indelible quality of that image. People copy it mercilessly, some with great talent (Madonna)...</i>.</td></tr></table>It is interesting that Alizée expressly admires Patricia Kaas, who would sing <i>Lili Marlene</i> during concerts in the 1990s and in 1994 was even offered the lead in the aborted film project called <i>Falling In Love Again</i>. Kaas was born and raised in Lorraine, abutting the "Jacotey homeland" of Doubs, of a French father and German mother. Kaas is also known for singing the title song of the 1995 film <i>Les Misérables</i>, based on the famous novel by Doubs-born Victor Hugo.

Art and legendary mysteries

Il &nbsp; pendolo &nbsp; di &nbsp; Foucault
Foil &nbsp;&nbsp; uncopulated &nbsp;&nbsp; Idol

During the suppression of the Roman Catholic Church by the French Revolution, Fesch put on an army uniform, and grew enormously wealthy in the process. His lifelong hobby became collecting artwork and his holdings laid the basis for Le Musée Fesch at 50 rue du Cardinal Fesch in Ajaccio today. It features France's largest collection of Italian paintings outside the Louvre.

Among the paintings Fesch once held was Leonardo DaVinci's St. Jerome in the Wilderness, an unfinished painting legend says he rescued by assembling two parts, like the pieces of some puzzle. In it, art critics claim the form of St Jerome prefigures that of the Virgin Mary in DaVinci's painting Madonna of the Rocks, whose name pivotally features in The DaVinci Code through its anagram, So Dark the Con of Man. (The Mariposa Lily flower (Calochortus leichtlinii) is sometimes called the Madonna of the Rocks; mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly, cf. la fée Clochette.)

In the spring of 2009 a nude, Mona Lisa-like painting emerged, which had belonged to Fesch and lay ensconced within the wood walls of his private library for nearly a century. A note dating to 1845 records that the Cardinal bought "the portrait of the Mona Lisa, mistress of Francis I, by Leonardo da Vinci," from the Rospigliosis, a rich aristocratic Roman family.

When taken together with other facts about Fesch, this material provides amusing fodder for fans of The DaVinci Code and closely related conspiracy theories. First there is the rehabilitation of the Jesuits by Fesch (under the name of Pacanarists), whom Pierre Plantard asserted had absorbed the assets of the Prieuré de Sion in 1617. Then there is the important role of Église Saint-Sulpice in Paris, under the care of Fesch, where the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion#Alleged_Grand_Masters">alleged</a> 24th Nautonnier of the Prieuré de Sion, Doubs-born Victor Hugo, was married. Recall also the curious connection of the name Fesch with Doubs we had noted before. You should be reminded that Vézelay Abbey, like Doubs, also in greater historic Burgundy, was where by 1050 the monks began to claim to hold the relics of Mary Magdalene, turning it into a major pilgrimage destination.

The name Saunière also appears in the related legends, both as Father François Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917), a priest in the French village of Rennes-le-Château, and as Jacques Saunière, Louvre curator and Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion in The DaVinci Code. It so happens that Vaud, where the Jacotey name homophonically first emerges in history, just south of Doubs, lies on the straight-line path between the town of Lons-le-Saunier in France and Sion in Switzerland. Toss in the documented existence of a Maria Magdulena Jacotet, as well as the ancient treasure found in the Jacotey village of Dombresson, which parallels Le Trésor Maudit allegedly found by Father Saunière, and one has quite a stew! To top it off, in June 1951, Jean Cocteau, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion#Alleged_Grand_Masters">alleged</a> 26th Nautonnier of the Prieuré de Sion, <a href="http://ajaccioartculturehistoire.e-monsite.com/rubrique,ajaccio-et-jean-cocteau,1172455.html">visited</a> journalist <a href="http://www.corsematin.com/article/corse-du-sud/livre-pascal-bontempi-ma-plus-belle-histoire-damour-cest-ajaccio">Pascal Bontempi</a> in Ajaccio itself. If all this intrigues you, dear reader, then consider the mystical artistic project outlined in Alizée sings Saint Teresa - the music video.

The dress worn by Alizée in a composite publicity photo for her <i>Psychédélices</i> album features symbols which embrace the central theme of <i>The DaVinci Code</i>. That and related Alizée symbolism are examined at great length in an essay titled <a href="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/SexSymbolism/"><i>Sex symbolism, biomimetic and not: The secret "shame" of Tinkerbell</i></a><table align="center" width="770" cellpadding="10" border="0"><tr valign="top">
<td bgcolor="#ffe0e0"><table border="10" cellpadding="10"><tr><td><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hbZ0Yfz-NG8C&pg=PA130">
<center><big><big><big>AMON L'ISA ?</big></big></big></center></a>"...Da Vinci was in tune with the <i>balance</i> between male and female. He believed that a human soul could not be enlightened unless it had both male and female elements."

"Whatever DaVinci was up to," Langdon said, "his Mona Lisa is neither male nor female. It carries a subtle message of androgyny. It is a fusing of both."

- <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hbZ0Yfz-NG8C&pg=PA129">pg. 129, <i>The Da Vinci Code</i></a>
</td></tr></table>
<big><big><b>Some curious parallels between the <i>Mona Lisa</i> and Alizée</b></big></big></center>

The painting by Leonardo DaVinci which English speakers call <i>Mona Lisa</i> is known in France as <i>La Joconde</i>. Its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa#Subject_and_title">subject</a> is a woman called in French <i>Madonna Lisa la Joconde</i>, or in English <i>My lady Lisa, the Mrs. Joconde</i>. There are some curious parallels between this name and the world of Alizée, including her role-model, the singer Madonna.
<tt><big><big>
YEAR
<nobr>1503 MADONNA&nbsp;&nbsp;LISa la JOCOnde</nobr>
<nobr>2003 MADONNA aLIZee&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JOCOtey</nobr>
</big></big></tt>
Note also, that in French <i>Joconde</i> is a pun, both the feminine form of the husband's surname, and a term meaning jocund, happy or jovial.

Thus it is interesting that a French anagram for <i>Alizée Jacotey</i> is <i>[Il] y a éclatez joie!</i> or in English <i>There was a burst of joy!</i> Further, <i>Alizée</i> by itself is practically the same as the Hebrew name Alizah (עליזה) meaning joyful. In the Biblical passage Isiah 22:2, Jerusalem is given the poetic name kiriyah Alizah, meaning joyful city.

<small>Aside: Andy Warhol was fond of creating <a href="http://radicalart.info/AlgorithmicArt/grid/repetition/62Warhol/index.html">works</a> using multiple copies of <i>Mona Lisa</small></i></td>

<td width="340" bgcolor="#ffe0e0"><center><img src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/o/docdtv/Alizee/RedC.jpg" width="250" height="250"><!--<big><big><big><big><big><big><big><big><big><b> V</b></big></big></big></big></big></big></big></big></big>--></center>
<big><big><b><center> The <i>Sacred Feminine </i><br>made flesh?</b></big></big></big></center>
<i>Is it true that you are a Merovingian princess... and indeed even descended from He whom many call King of Kings? Are you... Princess Salomé, the </i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code#Secret_of_the_Holy_Grail"><big>s ang réal</big></a>?<object width="340" height="285"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9lVQ2yFMVyo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1&showinfo= 0">
</param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true">
</param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always">
</param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9lVQ2yFMVyo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1&showinfo= 0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="340" height="285"></embed></object><center><b>Alizée's favorite color: What else? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Line#Dan_Brown"><i><big><big>rose</big></big></i></a></b></center>
</td></tr></table>
<br><br><br><br>
<center><big><big>ACKNOWLEDGEMENT</big></big></center>
I'd like to thank Monique Mufraggi for bringing to my attention Alizée's participation in Ajaccio's 2010 Saint-Erasme festival and more about the religious legends of Burgundy.
<center><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1507006409078&set=a.1227527382277.2 034208.1651848604&type=1&ref=nf#!/photo.php?fbid=1448593228785&set=a.1227527382277.2 034208.1651848604&type=1"><img src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/58945_1448593228785_1651848604_31514940_8015076_n. jpg"></a></center>

Last edited by FanDeAliFee; 08-24-2011 at 07:05 PM.. Reason: Mend link rot
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