History of the Malan ( Mallan) family starting around 830

Malan was originally a term of mockery or abuse meaning “lame” or “leper”. It came from the Latin “malandria” (and the French “malandrie”) meaning “leprosy”. The Malans belonged to a group of “Original Christians” who pre-served the old Apostolic faith through the Middle Ages without any allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. The name seems to have been acquired in the 9th century, about 100 years before family names came into existence and also probably before such places as Milan, Italy were established making a derivation from one of these places unlikely.
    In 830 some Malans probably accompanied Claude Bishop of Turin, Italy when he quit his diocese and retired into the Valleys of Piedmont not willing to acknowledge the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome (who started calling himself Pope). Various records mention the name Malan, Malano, Malanots, and Malanot in Turin, Piedmont, Angrogna, LaTour, St. Jean, and the Valleys of Lucerna (where a city gate was inscribed “Malan -1020 A.D.”), and St. Martin. Many of these places were referred to as the Valleys of the Waldenses (or Vaudois in French) an early group of Christians persecuted as early as the 3rd century by the emperors Decius and Valerian. These places are all located in northwestern Italy and southeastern France. They have been under the political control of both countries at various times and some have also been parts of independent states like the Duchy of Savoy and the Kingdom of Sardina.
    Around 1112 persecution prompted some Malans to emigrate over the Cottian Alps on the west (and south?) to Merindol in the Durance River Valley of Provence, France. There they prospered and soon became esteemed and called to assume positions of leadership. Meanwhile, back in the Waldenses Valleys, many Malans were martyred and their names are among the first to come down to us: Jeanne (1290), Laurent and his wife and child (1309, Barthelemi (1440). Finally in 1488 the Prince of Piedmont stopped the persecution of the Waldenes and returned their rightful possession to them. Things were relatively better in Merindol during theses 280 some years but they soon got much worse.
    The Reformation was developing and the Waldenese in the southeastern provinces of Dauphine and Provence decided that the new Protestant faith was like their own. They published a new French Bible in 1535 which further agitated the French rulers. On Nov. 18, 1540 the Parliament of Aix (near Merindol) decreed that the Waldenese were to be exterminated. There was a delay but on April 15, 1545 Baron d’Oppede, a loyal supporter of King Francis I, carried out the decree. In the following 13 days he, and his 4000 soldiers, Killed about 4000 Waldenese and completely leveled Merindol, Cabriere, and 20 villages!
    In 1557 the most important inhabitants of the Valleys of Lucerene had to appear before the Court of Turin. Guilliame Malan of Lucerene and his nephew Jean Malanot of St. Jean were chosen to head this group. In 1561, Jean Malan and Jacques Malanot of St. Jean, heading a delegation of Waldenese, signed the Peace Treaty drawn up by Immanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. But in 1562 there was another mass murdering in some ares. The Waldenese then united with the French Reformed Church and became known as Hugenots from which the Malans of France, Switzerland, South Africa, and England are descended from the Waldenese of Piedmont.
    Peace finally came in 1592. Andre’ Malan of LaTour was sent with a petition from the Valley of St. Martin to see Prince Henry of Navarre, a converted Hugenot. A genuine Peace Treaty was achieved and when Henry became King Henry IV he issued the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598 giving freedom of religion and equal rights to all including the Hugenots.
    In April, 1655 sporadic persecution started again in St. Jean and LaTour. In Sept., 1661 a petition asking King Louis XIV for peace and protection (particularly for the towns of Malan and Les Malanato) was granted. But in 1665 the Papists unexpectedly struck again in the Valleys and more Malans were added to the list of martyrs. Then there were 20 years of peace before Louis completely revoked the Edict of Nantes in October, 1685. He also forced Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, to try to wipe out the Hugenots in his territory of Dauphine.
    Though there was a “Glorious Return” of the Vaudois in 1690 (their leader Armand obtained a treaty with the House of Savoy), this period of extreme persecution saw the emigration of many Malans to all parts of the world. By now here were Protestant countries who would take religious refugees although some Malans had fled years before to places like Germany, Holland (Leyden records indicate a Jean and a Arnout around 1600) and possibly America (some Malans in western Missouri think they came from France via England in the 1600s).
    It is recorded in the “Etat Civil” of Merindol that in 1690 four Malan brothers lived there: Jacques, Jean, Henri, and Barthelemi. The fate of the latter two is not known but Jacques (1665-1742), with his friend Jean Jordan, fled to Holland where they were chosen as immigrants for South Africa by the Duch Eas India Co. After arriving there in 1688 (a slight conflict with the Merindol record), Jean Jordan married Isabeau LeLong. He died about 1698 and Jecques married his widow in 1699. They had 7 children, the 3rd (Daniel 1703-?) and the 6th (David 1708-1792) being the forefathers of all Malans now in South Africa. In the early 1900’s, after the Second Republican war when the two Boer (farmer) Republics lost their independence, there were some Malans who, rather than be subjected to British rule, moved to East Africa and Kenya. In the early 1950’s Daniel Francois Malan, D.D. (1874 -1959) was Prime Minister of South Africa.
    The other Merindol Malan brother Jean (1653-1698) married Anne Gras and had 3 children; Jean who remained in Merindol; Jeanne who was buried alive with a pitcher of water, a loaf of bread, and a lamp because she would not deny her religion (the last Malan martyr); and Pierre who was born in 1692 and fled to Genova, Switz, in 1714. There he married Jean d’Evares and had a son Antoine (1725-?) who in turn married Susanne Fluckiguer and had 2 sons: Jacques(1760-?) and Alexander.
    Jacques, preferring to remain in Protestant Genova, passed up the invitation of Nepoleon in 1797 to all French families who had fled for religious causes to retake the properties and rights of their ancestors. As a result, when a Malan lady in Merindol died without heirs, her considerable fortune passed, oddly enough, to the city of Milan, Italy. Jacques married Jacqueline deClavlieres and had two sons: Louis and Caesar.
    Louis (1784 at Genova – 1844 at Poltawa, Russia or Ploand?) was the father of the Russian Malans and a tutor to the family of Prince Repuine, Regent of Poland. Louis married first a French lady and had a son Eugene and then had Basil, Varette, and Nicholas by his 2nd wife. The latter three children were all Godchildren of royalty and Louis was made a nobleman by Czar Nicholas.
    Caesar Henri Abraham Malan (1787 at Genova – 1864 in England) was the father of the Swiss and the English Malans. He was a theologian and hymn writer though he had to endure persecution of insult, scorn, and injury from the then Socinian Church of Genova according to an account written in 1863 by his son Henry Victor Malan – the first Malan to compile a family history. Caesar married Salome Schonberger at Genova in 1811. They had 5 sons and 7 daughters and moved (in 1830) to England. In 1912, a descendant John A. Malan moved to Australia.
    The tradition of our family (the descendants of Etienne and Suzanne Malan) is that we are part of the Swiss branch. Some remember past generations saying Etienne was related to Pierre. But Pierre does not appear on the list of our ancestors and he and his immediate relatives do not “fit” into the list even if Pierre was his middle name or if some other name and/or date is wrong. The list was compiled by the Utah Malans whose connection with Rev. Jean Jalla of Torre Pellice, Italy. He searched wills and other pre-parish records but could not find the connecting link to the other branches of the family. However everyone believes that all Malans are related if we go back far enough. Hopefully research will continue and the links will be found.
Malan was originally a term of mockery or abuse meaning “lame” or “leper”. It came from the Latin “malandria” (and the French “malandrie”) meaning “leprosy”. The Malans belonged to a group of “Original Christians” who pre-served the old Apostolic faith through the Middle Ages without any allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. The name seems to have been acquired in the 9th century, about 100 years before family names came into existence and also probably before such places as Milan, Italy were established making a derivation from one of these places unlikely.
    In 830 some Malans probably accompanied Claude Bishop of Turin, Italy when he quit his diocese and retired into the Valleys of Piedmont not willing to acknowledge the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome (who started calling himself Pope). Various records mention the name Malan, Malano, Malanots, and Malanot in Turin, Piedmont, Angrogna, LaTour, St. Jean, and the Valleys of Lucerna (where a city gate was inscribed “Malan -1020 A.D.”), and St. Martin. Many of these places were referred to as the Valleys of the Waldenses (or Vaudois in French) an early group of Christians persecuted as early as the 3rd century by the emperors Decius and Valerian. These places are all located in northwestern Italy and southeastern France. They have been under the political control of both countries at various times and some have also been parts of independent states like the Duchy of Savoy and the Kingdom of Sardina.
    Around 1112 persecution prompted some Malans to emigrate over the Cottian Alps on the west (and south?) to Merindol in the Durance River Valley of Provence, France. There they prospered and soon became esteemed and called to assume positions of leadership. Meanwhile, back in the Waldenses Valleys, many Malans were martyred and their names are among the first to come down to us: Jeanne (1290), Laurent and his wife and child (1309, Barthelemi (1440). Finally in 1488 the Prince of Piedmont stopped the persecution of the Waldenes and returned their rightful possession to them. Things were relatively better in Merindol during theses 280 some years but they soon got much worse.
    The Reformation was developing and the Waldenese in the southeastern provinces of Dauphine and Provence decided that the new Protestant faith was like their own. They published a new French Bible in 1535 which further agitated the French rulers. On Nov. 18, 1540 the Parliament of Aix (near Merindol) decreed that the Waldenese were to be exterminated. There was a delay but on April 15, 1545 Baron d’Oppede, a loyal supporter of King Francis I, carried out the decree. In the following 13 days he, and his 4000 soldiers, Killed about 4000 Waldenese and completely leveled Merindol, Cabriere, and 20 villages!
    In 1557 the most important inhabitants of the Valleys of Lucerene had to appear before the Court of Turin. Guilliame Malan of Lucerene and his nephew Jean Malanot of St. Jean were chosen to head this group. In 1561, Jean Malan and Jacques Malanot of St. Jean, heading a delegation of Waldenese, signed the Peace Treaty drawn up by Immanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. But in 1562 there was another mass murdering in some ares. The Waldenese then united with the French Reformed Church and became known as Hugenots from which the Malans of France, Switzerland, South Africa, and England are descended from the Waldenese of Piedmont.
    Peace finally came in 1592. Andre’ Malan of LaTour was sent with a petition from the Valley of St. Martin to see Prince Henry of Navarre, a converted Hugenot. A genuine Peace Treaty was achieved and when Henry became King Henry IV he issued the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598 giving freedom of religion and equal rights to all including the Hugenots.
    In April, 1655 sporadic persecution started again in St. Jean and LaTour. In Sept., 1661 a petition asking King Louis XIV for peace and protection (particularly for the towns of Malan and Les Malanato) was granted. But in 1665 the Papists unexpectedly struck again in the Valleys and more Malans were added to the list of martyrs. Then there were 20 years of peace before Louis completely revoked the Edict of Nantes in October, 1685. He also forced Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, to try to wipe out the Hugenots in his territory of Dauphine.
    Though there was a “Glorious Return” of the Vaudois in 1690 (their leader Armand obtained a treaty with the House of Savoy), this period of extreme persecution saw the emigration of many Malans to all parts of the world. By now here were Protestant countries who would take religious refugees although some Malans had fled years before to places like Germany, Holland (Leyden records indicate a Jean and a Arnout around 1600) and possibly America (some Malans in western Missouri think they came from France via England in the 1600s).
    It is recorded in the “Etat Civil” of Merindol that in 1690 four Malan brothers lived there: Jacques, Jean, Henri, and Barthelemi. The fate of the latter two is not known but Jacques (1665-1742), with his friend Jean Jordan, fled to Holland where they were chosen as immigrants for South Africa by the Duch Eas India Co. After arriving there in 1688 (a slight conflict with the Merindol record), Jean Jordan married Isabeau LeLong. He died about 1698 and Jecques married his widow in 1699. They had 7 children, the 3rd (Daniel 1703-?) and the 6th (David 1708-1792) being the forefathers of all Malans now in South Africa. In the early 1900’s, after the Second Republican war when the two Boer (farmer) Republics lost their independence, there were some Malans who, rather than be subjected to British rule, moved to East Africa and Kenya. In the early 1950’s Daniel Francois Malan, D.D. (1874 -1959) was Prime Minister of South Africa.
    The other Merindol Malan brother Jean (1653-1698) married Anne Gras and had 3 children; Jean who remained in Merindol; Jeanne who was buried alive with a pitcher of water, a loaf of bread, and a lamp because she would not deny her religion (the last Malan martyr); and Pierre who was born in 1692 and fled to Genova, Switz, in 1714. There he married Jean d’Evares and had a son Antoine (1725-?) who in turn married Susanne Fluckiguer and had 2 sons: Jacques(1760-?) and Alexander.
    Jacques, preferring to remain in Protestant Genova, passed up the invitation of Nepoleon in 1797 to all French families who had fled for religious causes to retake the properties and rights of their ancestors. As a result, when a Malan lady in Merindol died without heirs, her considerable fortune passed, oddly enough, to the city of Milan, Italy. Jacques married Jacqueline deClavlieres and had two sons: Louis and Caesar.
    Louis (1784 at Genova – 1844 at Poltawa, Russia or Ploand?) was the father of the Russian Malans and a tutor to the family of Prince Repuine, Regent of Poland. Louis married first a French lady and had a son Eugene and then had Basil, Varette, and Nicholas by his 2nd wife. The latter three children were all Godchildren of royalty and Louis was made a nobleman by Czar Nicholas.
    Caesar Henri Abraham Malan (1787 at Genova – 1864 in England) was the father of the Swiss and the English Malans. He was a theologian and hymn writer though he had to endure persecution of insult, scorn, and injury from the then Socinian Church of Genova according to an account written in 1863 by his son Henry Victor Malan – the first Malan to compile a family history. Caesar married Salome Schonberger at Genova in 1811. They had 5 sons and 7 daughters and moved (in 1830) to England. In 1912, a descendant John A. Malan moved to Australia.
    The tradition of our family (the descendants of Etienne and Suzanne Malan) is that we are part of the Swiss branch. Some remember past generations saying Etienne was related to Pierre. But Pierre does not appear on the list of our ancestors and he and his immediate relatives do not “fit” into the list even if Pierre was his middle name or if some other name and/or date is wrong. The list was compiled by the Utah Malans whose connection with Rev. Jean Jalla of Torre Pellice, Italy. He searched wills and other pre-parish records but could not find the connecting link to the other branches of the family. However everyone believes that all Malans are related if we go back far enough. Hopefully research will continue and the links will be found.