Editing Victor Hugo (section)

== Early life ==
Victor-Marie Hugo was born on 26 February 1802 (7 [[Ventôse]], [[French Republican calendar|year X of the Republic]]{{sfn|Escholier|1932|p=358}}) in {{lang|fr|[[Besançon]]|italic=no}} in Eastern France. He was the youngest son of [[Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo]] (1774–1828), a general in the [[Napoleonic army]], and [[Sophie Trébuchet]] (1772–1821). The couple had two other sons: [[Abel Hugo|Abel Joseph]] (1798–1855) and {{lang|fr|Eugène|italic=no}} (1800–1837). The Hugo family came from [[Nancy, France|Nancy]] in [[Lorraine]], where Hugo's grandfather was a wood merchant. Léopold enlisted in the army of [[Revolutionary France]] at fourteen. He was an atheist and an ardent supporter of the Republic. Hugo's mother Sophie was loyal to the deposed [[House of Bourbon|dynasty]] but would declare her children to be Protestants.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kU9LloPylhQC&q=protestant|isbn = 9780393318999|title = Victor Hugo|year = 1999|publisher = W. W. Norton & Company}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IExIAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22madame+hugo%22+%22protestant%22&pg=PA133|title = The Andover Review|year = 1886|publisher = Houghton, Mifflin and Company}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=--EEAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22madame+hugo%22+%22protestant%22&pg=PA734|title = The Home and foreign review &#91;formerly the Rambler&#93;|year = 1863}}</ref> They met in [[Châteaubriant]] in 1796 and married the following year.<ref name="Robb 1999 p.">{{cite book|last=Robb|first=G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kU9LloPylhQC|title=Victor Hugo|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=1999|isbn=978-0-393-31899-9|page=12|language=lt}}</ref>

Since Hugo's father was an officer in Napoleon's army, the family moved frequently from posting to posting. Léopold Hugo wrote to his son that he had been conceived on one of the highest peaks in the [[Vosges Mountains]], on a journey from Lunéville to Besançon. "This elevated origin," he went on, "seems to have had effects on you so that your muse is now continually sublime."<ref>Escholier, Raymond, ''Victor Hugo raconté par ceux qui l'ont vu'', Librairie Stock, 1931, p. 11.</ref> Hugo believed himself to have been conceived on 24 June 1801, which is the origin of [[Jean Valjean]]'s prisoner number [[24601]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Novel of the Century : The extraordinary adventure of Les Miserables|last=Bellos|first=David|publisher=Particular Books|year=2017|isbn=978-1-846-14470-7|pages=162}}</ref>

In 1810, Hugo's father was made Count Hugo de Cogolludo y Sigüenza by then King of Spain [[Joseph Bonaparte]],<ref name="dHauterive 1845 p. 223">{{cite book | last=d'Hauterive | first=A. F. B. | title=Annuaire de la pairie et de la noblesse de France et des maisons souveraines de l'Europe et de la diplomatie | publisher=Bureau de la Pub| issue=v. 3 | year=1845 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZhAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA223 | language=fr}}</ref> though it seems that the Spanish title was not legally recognized in France. Hugo later titled himself as a viscount, and it was as "Vicomte Victor Hugo" that he was appointed a [[Peerage of France|peer of France]] on 13 April 1845.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Biré|first=Edmond|title=Victor Hugo après 1830, Vol. II|publisher=Perrin|year=1891|location=Paris|pages=73}}</ref><ref name="Pairs de France">{{cite web | last=Pairs de France | first=Nat | title=Pairs de France: Hugo Marie-Victor, vicomte Hugo | website=Accueil – Sénat | date=4 August 2023 |url=http://www.senat.fr/pair-de-france/hugo_marie_victorpf0733.html | language=fr}}</ref>

Weary of the constant moving required by military life, Sophie separated temporarily from Léopold and settled in Paris in 1803 with her sons. There, she began seeing General [[Victor Fanneau de La Horie]], Hugo's godfather, who had been a comrade of General Hugo's during the campaign in Vendee. In October 1807, the family rejoined Leopold, now Colonel Hugo, Governor of the province of [[Province of Avellino|Avellino]]. There, Hugo was taught mathematics by [[Giuseppe de Samuele Cagnazzi]], elder brother of Italian scientist [[Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi]].<ref>[[#Vicenti|Vicenti]], p. 46.</ref> Sophie found out that Leopold had been living in secret with an Englishwoman called Catherine Thomas.<ref name="Stephens 2019 p. 24">{{cite book|last=Stephens|first=B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laCKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|title=Victor Hugo|publisher=Reaktion Books|year=2019|isbn=978-1-78914-111-5|series=Critical Lives|page=24|language=lt}}</ref>
{{Gallery
|align=center
|File:Sophie Trébuchet.jpg|[[Sophie Trébuchet]], mother of Victor Hugo
|File:Général Joseph-Leopold Sigisbert Hugo.jpg|General [[Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo|Joseph-Leopold Hugo]], father of Victor Hugo
}}
Soon, Hugo's father was called to Spain to fight the [[Peninsular War]]. Madame Hugo and her children were sent back to Paris in 1808, where they moved to an old convent, 12 {{Lang|fr|Impasse des Feuillantines|italic=no}}, an isolated mansion in a deserted quarter of the left bank of the Seine. Hiding in a chapel at the back of the garden was de La Horie, who had conspired to restore the Bourbons and been condemned to death a few years earlier. He became a mentor to Hugo and his brothers.<ref name="Caussé p. 4">{{cite book|last=Caussé|first=E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlxcBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP4|title=Victor Hugo – Tout pour briller en société|date=January 0101 |publisher=Les Éditions de l'Ebook malin|page=4|language=fr}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 1811, the family joined their father in Spain. Hugo and his brothers were sent to school in Madrid at the {{Lang|es|Real Colegio de San Antonio de Abad}} while Sophie returned to Paris on her own, now officially separated from her husband. In 1812, as the Peninsular War was turning against France, de La Horie was arrested and executed. In February 1815, Hugo and Eugène were taken away from their mother and placed by their father in the Pension Cordier, a private boarding school in Paris, where Hugo and Eugène remained for three years while also attending lectures at [[Lycée Louis-le-Grand|Lycée Louis le Grand.]]<ref name="Robb 2017 p. 49">{{cite book|last=Robb|first=G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNslDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT49|title=Victor Hugo|publisher=Pan Macmillan|year=2017|isbn=978-1-5098-5565-0|page=49|language=lt}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait de Victor Hugo sur fond de Notre-Dame de Reims - Jean Alaux.jpg|thumb|right|Hugo by [[Jean Alaux]], 1825]]
On 10 July 1816, Hugo wrote in his diary: "I shall be [[Chateaubriand]] or nothing." In 1817, he wrote a poem for a competition organised by the [[Académie Française|Academie Française]], for which he received an honorable mention. The Academicians refused to believe that he was only fifteen.<ref name="King 1878 p. 11">{{cite book | last=King | first=E. | title=French Political Leaders | publisher=G.P. Putnam's sons | series=Brief biographies of European public men | year=1878 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQjSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA11 |page=15}}</ref> Hugo moved in with his mother to 18 {{Lang|fr|rue des Petits-Augustins|italic=no}} the following year and began attending law school. Hugo fell in love and secretly became engaged, against his mother's wishes, to his childhood friend [[Adèle Foucher]]. In June 1821, Sophie Trebuchet died, and Léopold married his long-time mistress Catherine Thomas a month later. Hugo married Adèle the following year. In 1819, Hugo and his brothers began publishing a periodical called {{Lang|fr|Le Conservateur littéraire}}.<ref name="Frey Laster Hugo 1999 p. 201">{{cite book|last1=Frey|first1=J.A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=olFboDm4bcgC&pg=PA201|title=A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia|last2=Laster|first2=A.|last3=Hugo|first3=V.|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-313-29896-7|series=ABC-Clio ebook|page=201|language=pl}}</ref>