Towards the close of the First French Revolution, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo, son of
a joiner at Nancy, and an officer risen from the ranks in the Republican army, married
Sophie Trébuchet, daughter of a Nantes fitter-out of privateers, a Vendean royalist and
devotee.
Victor Marie Hugo, their second son, was born on the 26th of February, 1802, at
Besançon, France. Though a weakling, he was carried, with his boy-brothers, in the
train of their father through the south of France, in pursuit of Fra Diavolo, the Italian
brigand, and finally into Spain.
Colonel Hugo had become General, and there, besides being governor over three
provinces, was Lord High Steward at King Joseph's court, where his eldest son Abel was
installed as page. The other two were educated for similar posts among hostile young
Spaniards under stern priestly tutors in the Nobles' College at Madrid, a palace
become a monastery. Upon the English advance to free Spain of the invaders, the
general and Abel remained at bay, whilst the mother and children hastened to Paris.
