Jean Gerson had a very humble beginning. Born on 14 December 1363, in the village of Gerson-lès-Barbey from which he later took his name, he was the eldest of the twelve children of Arnould le Charlier and his wife, Elizabeth.The village lay in Champagne about two miles from the town of Rethel and in the diocese of Rheims. Although the village was ultimately within the overlordship of the Duke of Burgundy, Gerson's father was a tenant on the land of the Benedictine priory of Rethel. He supported his large family of five boys and seven girls by farming. One of the boys, Pierre, died while still a child, but the Charliers were able, though with some financial difficulty, to send the other four sons, all named Jean except for Nicholas, the youngest, to school, where they studied for the priesthood. All but Gerson himself eventually became monks. Only one of Gerson's sisters married. One died as a child and the others remained at home forming for a time an informal pious community under the spiritual direction of their eldest brother, who guided them from afar by means of letters and tracts. Gerson's early formation was clearly in an atmosphere of fervent Christian piety. He makes several references in his letters and other works to the spiritual guidance and instruction afforded his siblings and himself by both his parents, and there is abundant evidence of his mother's piety, spirituality and loving concern for her children in her letter to two of Gerson's brothers. Whatever may have been the general level of Christian formation among the rural and urban populations of France, the Charlier family is an example of profound piety in a peasant milieu.