Born in Baillif, Basse-Terre, in 1745, Joseph Bologne was the son of planter and former councilor at the parliament of Metz, (1711–1774) and Anne, "dite" Nanon, his wife's 16-year-old African slave of Senegalese origin, who was forced to serve as her personal maid. Bologne was legally married to Elisabeth Mérican (1722–1801) but acknowledged his son by Nanon and gave him his surname. The younger Saint-George was ineligible under French law for titles of nobility due to his African mother. Starting in the 17th century, a Code Noir had been law in France and its colonial possessions. On April 5, 1762, King Louis XV decreed that "Nègres et gens de couleur" (blacks and people of color) must register with the clerk of the Admiralty within two months. Even leading Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire argued that Africans and their descendants were inferior to White Europeans. These laws and racist attitudes towards people of color made it impossible for Joseph Bologne to marry anybody at his level of society, though he did have at least one serious romantic relationship.