In the French region of Auvergne there was a logging family called Pinon who could prove descent from loggers of the time of Charlemagne.*
The family was respected highly, and Louis XIV himself would send greetings to the patriarch on his birthday. Wishing to grant the head of the family a nobiliary title, the King sent for his answer, and obtained this dignified reply: “I am much beholden to Your Majesty, but I prefer to be the first logger of France, than the last of its barons.”**
Photo by Queryzo
* Fernando Palazzi, encyclopedia degli Aneddoti (Milan: Ceschino, 1935), Vol. 1, p. 82. (Nobility.org translation.)
** Calepino, Personal Annotations. (Nobility.org translation.)
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 53
