The first Balcombe was a giant of 7 feet and 200 pounds, when the average man of those days was no more than 5 feet and 120 pounds. He was a blacksmith, an art that wasn’t readily available to the ordinary mortal, but it could be explained by the fact that he was rumored to be the son of a witch !

His name was Robert Balcombe and he lived in the village of Mirmont, in the northern part of what would be later called France. His trade meant that he was one of the most prominent members of the community beside the healer and the preacher.

If he hadn’t been in the path of the next invasion he would never have made it in the history books, also if he hadn’t been chivalrous before the time of chivalry he would have remained anonymous.

When a sword-yielding barbarian chased the daughter of the healer in the middle of the village square he was the only one who dared to stand in the way. He tripped the horse of the villain with the long handle of his blacksmith’s hammer, then delivered a fatal blow with the heavy end to the invader’s skull.

Within a two-day ride he was now known as Robert Balcombe de Mirmont, and he married the daughter of Villard the healer. Their children were known as Balcombe de Villard de Mirmont. The villagers looked up to them and trusted them with healing their ills and providing security. They fortified the village and they built their first castle, the chateau de Taillefer. With time a few more villages joined, and for centuries it remained no more than a local, but sovereign barony.

It was only when they joined the Dauphin and Joan of Arc that they were affiliated to the Kingdom of France and granted the title of Comte de Taillefer. The Dauphin was crowned. Joan was betrayed by her own, and the Balcombes retired to their domain.

In 1512 the Balcombes were acknowledged as subjects of both the King of France and the Lord of Monaco when King Louis XII acknowledged the sovereignty of the Lordship of Monaco with the words: “As it is a fact that it is being held only from God and the sword.” Five years earlier a Balcombe had helped the Grimaldis of Monaco in their fight for the independence from Genoa. (With reference to the Story of the Antares [1])

A few centuries later, when France was having another civil war, they raised as many troops as they could and rallied the infant King, future Louis XIV. On the day of his crowning they were granted the title of Marquis de la Ferriere for their new chateau. From that time the title of Marquis de la Ferriere went to the head of the family, and the one of Comte de Taillefer to the second born while the title of Baron of Mirmont went to the third born.

When Louis XIV, became the Sun King and invited all of France’s nobility to join him at his court of Versailles, the Balcombes soon tired of the etiquette and returned to their chateau. The fact that they had helped crown him and provided the wood for most of the Kingdom’s ships explains how they could afford such a liberty.

Two hundred years later, after La Prise de la Bastille, the Balcombes had the insight of taking refuge in Switzerland. They didn’t have to leave at night, they left with the help of the whole village. They left with 57 stage coaches loaded with masterpieces, jewels, gold etc. They never had any quarrel with the peasants, they owned little arable land, they mainly owned less valuable forests.

Switzerland was a natural destination. From very early on Geneva had developed into one of the European banking capitals. Part of their fortune originally made from supplying wood for shipbuilding was already invested there in trade and banking.

One their way to Switzerland they met the Prince de Bourbon-Condé and a detachment of his “Army of Immigrants”. The Prince, a cousin of King Louis XVI, wanted them to join his project of retaking the Kingdom at any cost. The old Marquis refused, “The people has spoken, the monarchy is over, and we won’t be part of a blood bath…”

Within a year of their arrival in Geneva, the French revolutionary troops entered Switzerland. The Canton of Geneva adopted the Revolution and the Balcombes had to retreat. At first they followed the lake, but Lausanne soon fell to the Sans-culottes. They had to head for the mountains. With a following of about two hundred and fifty people, a few canons and their crew, and fifty fusiliers on horse back, they weren’t exactly welcomed by villagers who felt invaded.

The revolution had evolved into the Consulat and Napoleon was one of the three Consuls. They knew of the wealth they were carrying, and they sent General Turreau, the butcher of the Chouans after them. The Balcombes with their stage coaches couldn’t hope to escape from a regiment of cavalry. They took refuge in the ruins of the mountainous medieval fortress of Gestelnburg. They were besieged with their backs to the wall of the Alps. The 13th Marquis offered his benediction and a purse of gold to each one who wanted to surrender. One of the oldest fusiliers took a couple of steps forward to say,

“Mon Seigneur… We have no use for such gold… We are in your care and we live together or we die together.”

The old Marquis raised his sword, kissed its cross-guard and promised,

“If we survive, we won’t ever forget !”

Later, these words would be referred to as “The promise of Gestelnburg.”

The Balcombes prepared for their last battle. They took the best cover they could in the old ruins. Women were issued rifles and the children were taught how to reload…

For two days it was a nonstop exchange of fire. Powder was plenty, but bullets were running out, they melted the silverware. Cannon balls ran out, they replaced them with rocks. The Sans-culottes thought that it was time for the final assault. They were under pressure to conclude as the local villagers were refusing to re-supply them as they felt sympathy for the refugees fighting one against four.

The revolutionary troops should have been cautious of the silence greeting their climb towards the ruined fortress. As they reached the last few yards before the walls they had quite a surprise when they saw the old Marquis standing in front of them with his sword drawn, and calling, “Fire!”

The Marquis was shot, his wife and son stood up and called: “Fire at will!” Every able bodies stood and fired…

Ten minutes later the raging fusillade was replaced by the moans of the wounded. The Sans-culottes had faced a point blank wall of silver bullets, and cannon fired rocks, they were decimated. They retreated under stones thrown by the villagers.

Half of the Balcombes had fallen. The villagers tended to the wounded, and the young Marquis offered the sword of his late father to the Burgermesteir of the village of Gestelnburg.

Less than a year later, Napoleon invaded Switzerland and the Mayor returned his sword to the young Marquis. The Balcombes with their cannons, remaining fusiliers and the villagers retreated higher in the mountains, and fought a guerilla against the invaders.

After Waterloo, Switzerland regained its independence and the Balcombes helped rebuild the village before settling near Geneva where they bought the castle of Crans. They were offered Swiss citizenship, and they developed their fortune into one of the first of Europe.

In 1830 the Balcombes returned to France at the request of “Citizen King” Louis-Philippe, after the acknowledgement of their triple citizenship of France, Monaco and Switzerland. They recovered their estate, and renovated and redecorated their chateau de La Ferriere with the masterpieces they had originally left with.

During the First World War, a number of Balcombes gave their lives in the trenches, either with an officer’s sword leading another stupid charge decided by some senile Parisian generals, or with a nurse’s uniform picking up the wounded.

As for the Second World War, it saw the Balcombes joining General de Gaulle in London and the Second DB. It should also be noted that the chateau de la Ferriere gave shelter to numerous orphans.

Nowadays, Robert Balcombe, is the Marquis, the head of the family. He served as an air force officer and retired with the rank of “General de Brigade” before briefly serving as Under-secretary of Defense. Having lost his wife and child in a car accident he retreated from public life to breed racehorses, and manage the family’s fortune.