Château Paveil de Luze: Raymond Bretonneau
With Jean Bretonneau’s death the estate passed to one of his children. In truth there were not many left to choose from, eight of the twelve having died in infancy or childhood. It was the eldest, Raymond Bretonneau (1710 – 1775), who took on the meat of his father’s estate, assuming the seigneurie of Paveil as he did so. Before his passing Jean had also shoehorned him into a position as president of the Cour des Aides in Guyenne, one of the region’s two sovereign courts, an office he held from 1740 up until his death more than thirty years later.
In 1740 Raymond married Simone de Rauzan (1723 – 1800), the daughter of Jean-Baptiste des Mesures de Rauzan (1693 – 1780), who held the seigneuries of both Rauzan and Gassies. As these names suggest Simone hailed from the family which owned Château Rauzan, the forerunner of the modern-day Château Rauzan-Ségla and Château Rauzan-Gassies. This was a major step up the social ladder for Raymond, easily surpassing what his father had achieved. After Jean’s death in 1742 he used his inherited wealth to transform the Paveil estate which he inherited without division (his three surviving siblings having inherited other property, or money, instead), bringing it up to a level more in keeping with his status. This meant adding gardens, a large fishpond and an orchard. It was clearly a splendid property as both Raymond and Simone lived here until they died, in 1774 and 1800 respectively.
