Colin Le Clerc

Parents. Son of Mengin Le Clerc and Catherine de Gircourt.

Spouse. Marguerite Petitgout.

Married Marguerite Petitgout (born c. 1390–1410, likely in or around Mirecourt), recorded in earlier genealogies only as 'N. Petitgout' before later reconstructions restored her Christian name. She was the daughter of Richart dit le Favart Petitgout — wealthy merchant, civic magistrate and Mayor of Mirecourt — and his wife Hauvix, who together founded a charitable hospital in the town. Through her, the Petitgout inheritance passed into the Le Clerc line and was formally recognised in 1461, when her grandson Nicole Le Clerc de Pulligney was declared 'plus proche hoir' (closest heir) of Richart Petitgout. Many historians consider this inheritance a significant factor in the emergence of the Le Clerc de Pulligney family as an influential noble house of Lorraine.

Children. Father of Jacques Le Clerc and Jehan Leclerc de Pulligney, through whom the line passes into the ennobled branch.

Colin Le Clerc forms the bridge between the first documented Le Clerc generation and the later ennobled branch at Nancy. As the son of Mengin Le Clerc and Catherine de Gircourt, he inherited a family position already connected to property, local authority and noble alliances.

He held the office of échevin, a magistracy of standing within the municipal life of medieval Lorraine. Through his descendants, the family moved closer to the civic and ducal world of Nancy.

His marriage to Marguerite Petitgout, daughter of the wealthy Mirecourt magistrate and mayor Richart dit le Favart Petitgout and his wife Hauvix, brought the Le Clerc line into alliance with one of the most prosperous bourgeois houses of medieval Lorraine. The Petitgout inheritance — formally recognised in 1461 when their grandson Nicole Le Clerc de Pulligney was declared 'plus proche hoir' (closest heir) of Richart Petitgout — is widely regarded as a key factor in the family's rapid social ascent during the fifteenth century.

Colin Le Clerc served as échevin — a magistracy of standing within the municipal order of medieval Lorraine, charged with the administration of civic justice and the supervision of public affairs.

His office anchors the family within the governing class of its commune in the generation following Mengin, confirming continuity of standing across the early fifteenth century.

Through Colin the early Le Clerc line was carried forward into the generation that would, with Jehan Leclerc de Pulligny, enter the recognised noble and seigneurial world of Lorraine.