Dauphiné (Historic), France Genealogy

France Dauphiné

The Dauphiné was a region which became a prinipality and historic province of France. Its capital was Grenoble. It was in what is now south eastern France: to the south was Provence; to the north, the east bank of the Rhône divided it from the French possessions of Bresse ("Brêsse") and Bugey ("Bugê"); and, to the east, was the Alps and Savoy. This area more or less corresponds with the modern French departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes.

Jurisdictions
The principality included the counties of Viennois, Graisivaudan (or Grésivaudan), Valentinois, Diois, Embrunais, and Gapençais; the Baronnies of Tour-du-Pin, Méouillon, and Montauban; and the lordships of Briançon, Champsaur, Pont-en-Royans, and Montélimar. The Dauphiné contained seven episcopates: Vienne, Valence, Die, Grenoble, Viviers, Gap, Embrun.

The Dauphiné was divided into Haut-Dauphiné (Upper Dauphiné) and Bas-Dauphiné (Lower Dauphiné). The principal subdivisions of the Dauphiné were:


 * Viennois
 * Royannais
 * Vercors
 * Trièves
 * Dévoluy
 * Oisans
 * Graisivaudan
 * Chartreuse
 * Queyras
 * Valgodemar
 * Champsaur

Did you know?

 * The name Dauphiné (EN:ˈdəʊfɪneɪ, FR: dofine) derives from the word for "dolphin", a creature which was depicted on the heraldic arms of the rulers of the province; between 1350 and 1830, the eldest son of the King of France (heir apparent to the French throne) was invested with the Principality of Dauphiné and took the nick-name of "Dauphin" (the dolphin).

Centre Généalogique du Dauphiné
The Centre Généalogique du Dauphiné is an association for genealogical studies in the former province of the Dauphiné.


 * address: 20 Av. Géneral Champon 38100 Grenoble
 * telephone: 09 52 22 00 02
 * email: admin@cgdauphiné.org

The association makes available to its members more than 3.5 million records (as at 2012) including marriages, parish baptisms and burials, civil registrations of births and deaths, notarised documents and cemetery records. These are also accessible on GeneaBank via participating societies. Its website has a number of useful articles and resources.