He was born on the Rue Tirechappe in Paris, in 1466.  He was a few months old in the summer, so I would assume he was born in the late winter or spring.  He is about 16 at the beginning of the novel.

He was bashed against the wall of Notre Dame in the Gallery of Kings by Quasimodo (might have died from his head being crushed), all during the seige of Notre Dame by the Truants (in order to rescue Esme).  He was then thrown to the square below.

Born Joannes Frollo (nicknamed Jehan), his mother and father died from the plague when he was just a babe.  Taken in by his older brother Claude Frollo, he was given to a wet nurse (or a woman who was also suckling another child at the time) at the Moulin (another fief which the Frollo family owned) near Gentilly and the castle of Winchestre.  Here, Jehan spent his childhood, and later earned the rest of his praenomen from it (Joannes de Molendino or "Jehan of the Windmill", for Moulin means windmill in French).  His brother Claude would pay him visits every week or so, but due to the older brother's dedication to study, he did not see Jehan as much as he should have.  Perhaps due to this, or other reasons, Jehan grew up unruly.  Hoping to bring him up in the scholarly way that Claude grew up, his older brother entrusted Jehan to the Collège de Torchi when the boy was of a proper age.  Yet this did nothing but introduce Jehan to greater forms of mischief, and Claude would often receive reports about Jehan's surly behavior.  Where Claude had avoided all the student uprisings, Jehan practically led them.  He was well-known, favorably by other students (his best friend being Robin Poussepain), and fearfully by the townspeople.  Because the boy did not have a source of income, he would often have to approach his older brother for money.  Claude knew where exactly this money went (drinking and carousing) and would give his brother a stern lecture for every denier he handed Jehan.  Jehan, however, had quite a charming disposition, and would always make Claude forgive him for his indiscretions.  But this stopped when Claude's life became so ruined by Esmeralda, he finally got fed up with his brother and cast Jehan out.  Jehan then joined the Truants in the Court of Miracles.

There's not a good description of Jehan, beyond this passage: "'On my soul, it's you, Joannes Frollo de Molendino!' cried one of them to a sort of small, blonde devil, with a pretty and malign face, holding onto the acanthus leaves of a capital".                                                                      --Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris      From what I gather, he is rather short for his age and fairly pretty.  He's said to have an attractive face, despite the maliciousness which lurks in his eyes, and chubby, baby-like cheeks.  He always wears a smile (for he thinks life is one rich joke) and laughs at nearly everything.  His laugh is described as being cruel while being comical.

There are the obvious things about Jehan; the childish wrecklessness and immaturity often represented in students of Medieval times.  There's his charisma and beauty, which makes him a favorite among all the population of Paris, despite his obnoxious attitude.  But the best thing about Jehan's personality is how it's foiled against the other characters.  He is the antithesis of Quasimodo, for he is another child adopted by Frollo and raised as his own.  Yet where Quasimodo is ugly without and beautiful within, Jehan is beautiful without and ugly within.  Well, to put it in simplest terms.  Quasimodo, who is deformed and detested because of it, happens to be the most moral and "kind", and the most appreciative of kindness.  Jehan, however, is a pretty-boy, and may commit every folly in the world and still escape punishment.  But he doesn't know true kindness to anyone (except when he was buying Phoebus drinks), often personifying the vilest, most licentious reactions of the crowd (he would be the one to lead the mass derision of Quasimodo on many occassions), nor does he appreciate the kindness and love shown to him by Frollo.  And this is also foiled against Quasi's near-worship of Frollo.  If Quasimodo were to be one extreme of the human soul, Jehan would be the other.  Another irony is that Quasimodo was adopted for Jehan's salvation.  In the end, he caused Jehan's death.       Jehan can also be contrasted to Esmeralda.  Both are beautiful, both are 16, and both are lively.  Yet where Esmeralda seems to symbolize life and love, Jehan symbolizes all the immoralities of society;  drunkeness, debauchery, general mayhem.  Both are very energetic, yet both find such different outlets for their energy.  Whereas Esmeralda emanates it through her dancing, Jehan throws it into wrecklessness and destruction.  Both are loved by Frollo, but with Esmeralda, Frollo views this as wrong, and with Jehan, he sees it as the one true love he was meant to have, other than science.  They are merely one branch with a crooked fork at its center, and the ironical effects are reflected in Frollo, who views his love for the licentious one as righteous and sees his love for the moral one as sin.       Jehan can be contrasted against his brother, though they are just fingers of the same hand (to steal an analogy made by Esmeralda).  Frollo is for order, calm, knowledge, enlightement, study.  Jehan is for fun, chaos, experience, adventure.  As said at one point in the book, the name Frollo edified the University when Claude attended it, but scandalized it when Jehan was there.  Yet they are just alike.  Both Frollo's are the best at what they do, and could be considered "over-achievers."  Both have inexhaustive energy.  Claude, though, from an early age, channelled that excess energy into study, and because of that, he became overly devoted to the pursuit of knowledge.  He learned everything he possibly could.  But Jehan did not focus his energies in the same way.  Instead, the boy, like wildfire, swallowed the evils of Paris and threw them out in an unruly heap.  He devoted himself to enjoying life every moment that he could, and not working at all.  Only the goals of the two brothers separate them.       As for how he's contrasted against Phoebus and Pierre, well....Phoebus and Jehan are nearly one in the same.  Except for Jehan is more representative of the nastier side of the common masses, whereas Phoebus represents a certain level of the nobility.  In the case of Pierre...well, Jehan had a much easier time getting into the Court of Miracles, being nearly a Truant by birth, but Gringoire, being not so lowly in morals, was nearly eaten up by that same Court.       Jehan's contribution to the plot, I think, is to emphasize the emotions and actions behind the other characters.  And at certain key points, his reactions are useful to verbally express the base thoughts of the common crowd, such as during Gringoire's play, or during Quasimodo's trial, or even Quasimodo's punishment.  It might be pointed out that whenever the crowd turns sympathetic, Jehan becomes strangely quiet.

I've already gone into detail about the origin of the name Frollo, but I shall recap.  Frollo was a Roman governor of Gaul (modern-day France) under the rule of Emperor Claudas.  Also, legend has it, King Arthur chased him to Paris, where he was walled up, before Arthur killed him (see Frollo's section for more details).       The name Jehan is a nickname of Joannes, which is derived from the same place as John, Jean, and Johannes.  Its origin is Greek in nature, taken from the Greek word Ioannes, which is actually just a transliteration of the Hebrew word "Yochanan."  Which means "God's favor" or "God's grace" or "God is merciful" depending on the reference.  This name, of course, comes from the Bible (and can be compared to the origin of Esme's name, which is also Biblical; see Esmeralda's section) and was taken on by many saints, Popes, and even a ruler or two in France and England.  While I can only surmise that Hugo intended an irony between Jehan's name and his actual behavior (one is devout and almost like a gift;  the other is blasphemous and nearly a curse) I also allow that perhaps one of France's rulers gives more credit to this name.  I will have to research it to find out more.

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Jehan, though being a rather common character in almost all the versions of HoND produced, is actually not so common as one might think.  His name is used, but for the most part, Jehan is inaccurately portrayed.  Either the movies or plays find use for him as a bad guy, or they don't use him at all.  This is understandable, for they often have a small budget, and added characters who had nothing to the story will often get in the way.       With that said, it's best to look at the first major change to Jehan after the advent of the book.  I have no knowledge of Jehan's portrayal before the 1900's, but in 1923, with the first large production of a movie-ized Hunchback of Notre Dame, Jehan was indeed present (played by Brandon Hurst).  However, due to the censorship of the early 1900's and the largely Christian public, the archdeacon Frollo could not be a bad guy (never mess with the religious sects).  Therefore, the next easy (and most plausible) target is Jehan Frollo.  He's aged a good twenty years and made a lesser part of the Church, noted obviously as a divergent member (it's said he refuses to wear priestly garb in favor of more worldly clothes, and in the first ten minutes, he's already plotted the socialistic overthrow of the Church).  All of his other features, that of wickedness and debauchery, are abandoned in favor of Claude's traits from the book.  He is made to fall in love with Esme, and lust after her, and eventually stab Phoebus (who survives).  The only actual difference between him and the original Claude is that Jehan in the 1923 movie is made to be more of an evil villian.  Not a tormented man.       In 1939, with Charles Laughton's Hunchback, it's obvious that the movie's source of inspiration is from its predecessor a decade before.  Claude, again, is the saint, and Jehan once again is the surly judge/lawyer/whatever (I think here is where Jehan becomes a Minister of Justice).  He's made to be very prominent in government, almost King Louis' right-hand man, and otherwise, he retains the same features of Claude Frollo from the novel.  He lusts after Esmeralda, and kills Phoebus in the process.  Yet he's also worked around a bit to better suit the producers' needs.  He is aged, again, by 30 or so years (the years have not been kind to you, dear Jehan) and he's much more evil in nature. He doesn't seem as much disturbed by his lusting after Esmeralda as he seems intent on just getting her.  His religious devotion is made into something ridiculous, both by his focused lust for Esme and the mockery made of him by King Louis.  But, also, in this movie, is the introduction of the printing press as a main issue.  And Jehan is made to curse it, whereas the King whole-heartedly supports it.  Again, they villainfy him so much, he couldn't even be Claude from the novel.       I believe in 1956, with the  production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Americans finally got their first view of Jehan's real character (as portrayed by Maurice Safarti). He's silly, he's unruly, he is only interested in his brother as far as money is concerned.  He joins the Truants, and he's eventually killed  -- everyone mourns.  My knowledge of the 1977 TV version of Hunchback (with David Rintoul as Jehan Frollo) only goes that far as well.  I'll update this part when I've seen both movies.        Since then, Jehan Frollo has been dropped from every major production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (excepting some, such as a New England production by Charles Seymour Jr and perhaps the Alanta Ballet, as far as I know).  His part as the villain has been handed over to his brother Claude, who was then either kept as a priest or turned into a Minister of Justice (such as in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame).  Otherwise, no productions have seen fit since 1977 to include an unruly, rambunctious youth as part of the cast, or have thought to make Claude Frollo an archdeacon (who serves no real purpose and takes up just as much room as the youth would, in the story).  I don't know if a lack of Jehan really changes the story much.  Since very few of the versions have even thought to give him his original characters, it's obvious what show business thinks of Jehan.  Certainly the chaos and energetic charisma that Jehan seemed to exude is lacking from these movies, and I suppose that's the greatest deficit in his absence.

Back to Gringoire                  Return to Characters' Page                  On to Clopin *Background art by L.O Merson, 1889 edition *Illustration of Jehan by L.O. Merson, 1889 edition *Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Jehan Frollo, (c) 1939 RKO Pictures Inc This page (c) Misty Woodard, 2000-2001.  Please use none of the text without permission, recognition, and/or informing me.