The de Livet family, feudal under-tenants of the barony of the de Ferrières family (centered on that family's seat at
Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire, located a scant four miles from Jonquerets-de-Livet), originated in Livet-en-Ouche. Descendants of one branch of this family became the
Marquises of
Barville in France (de Livet de Barville). ,
Marquis de Barville, 1766. Buried at
Bazoques in 1789. The Norman French branch of the de Livet family counts among its members early knights (
chevaliers), church officials (including Guillaume de Livet, a judge at the trial of
Joan of Arc),
Canon of
Rouen Robert de Livet (who excommunicated King
Henry V of England during his siege of Rouen, after which de Livet was imprisoned for five years in
England)
chevalier banneret Jean de Livet (standard bearer to King
Philip II of France in 1215) and early
Crusaders. Many de Livet family members were associated with the
Knights Hospitallers, a medieval chivalric order founded to protect pilgrims to the
Holy Land. The de Livets were among the ancient noble families (noblesse ancienne, or
Noblesse d'épée) of France. The family's name appears in the earliest records of Normandy. One branch of the family later became the Marquis de Livet de Barville. Another branch was named the hereditary controllers of the rivers and waterways of Normandy in the 13th century, reflected in the use of an anchor on that branch of the family's French
coat of arms. The family traditionally bore as their coat of arms three molettes d'or (gold) on a blue (azure) background. Another branch of the family settled at Arentot in Ourville (now Arantot, hamlet at
Ourville-en-Caux). Georges de Livet, a member of this branch of the de Livet family, was killed at the
battle of Agincourt in 1415. The last member of this branch of the family, who died without descendants, was
comte Constantin Augustin Robert de Lyvet,
mayor of Ourville, who died in 1924. During the
Norman Conquest of England, a branch of the de Livet family followed the
de Ferrers (later the
Earls of Derby) to England, along with the Curzons (
Notre-Dame-de-Courson) and the Baskervilles (
Basqueville, now
Bacqueville-en-Caux), who were also under-tenants of the old Ferrieres fiefdom in Normandy. The name of this branch of the de Livet family was anglicized into the name
Levett, Levet, Lyvet, Livett, Leavett and its variants. ==Population==