Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Papillon, David
PAPILLON, DAVID (1581–1655?), architect and military engineer, younger son of Thomas Papillon, captain of the guard and valet-de-chambre to Henri IV of France, by his wife Jeanne Vieue de la Pierre, was born in France on 14 April 1581. The family was Huguenot, and contributed a victim to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. To it belonged Clement Marot's friend, Almanque Papillon (1487–1559), author of ‘Le Nouvel Amour,’ and valet-de-chambre to François I; probably also Antoine Papillon, the friend of Erasmus. In 1588 David Papillon's mother sailed with him and his two sisters for England. Their ship was wrecked off Hythe; the mother perished, the children were saved, and, though their father continued to reside in France until his death, were brought up in England, probably by relatives domiciled in London. David adopted the profession of architect and military engineer, throve, and purchased an estate at Lubbenham, Leicestershire, and built thereon Papillon Hall. He was treasurer of Leicestershire from 1642 to 1646. He published in 1645 an ‘Essay on Fortification,’ and gave effect to his principles in the following year by fortifying Gloucester for the parliament. He was author of a moral and religious essay entitled ‘The Vanity of the Lives and Passions of Men,’ London, 1651, 4to; and left in manuscript a philosophical essay on forms of government, entitled ‘Several Political and Military Observations,’ and a French version of the ‘Comfort to the Afflicted,’ and two other works of the puritan divine, Robert Bolton [q. v.] He probably did not live to see the Restoration. A portrait, engraved by Cross, is prefixed to his ‘Essay on Fortification.’
Papillon married twice. His first wife (m. 1611, d. 1614) was Marie, daughter of Jean Castel, probably pastor, as Papillon was deacon, of the French church in London. His second wife (m. 4 July 1615) was Anne Marie, granddaughter of Giuliano Calandrini, a convert to the reformed faith, who migrated from Lucca to Lyons between 1557 and 1567, and died at Sedan some time after the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
Papillon had issue by both wives, his seventh and youngest child being Thomas Papillon [q. v.]
[A. F. W. Papillon's Memoirs of Thomas Papillon, 1887.]