The Toussaint Toupin Mystery And The Templar Legacy of New France

Vincentian Heritage Journal, 1993

From the Bishop's palace on the bluff overlooking the Saint Lawrence at Quebec-City uébec City late in 1725, an aging but articulate Jean Baptiste de Saint-Vallier, filling out his fortieth annual report for authorities back in France, attempted to describe the spiritual condition of his vast American diocese.' The diocese of Québec was perhaps "the most wretched and difficult of all the French dioceses in mission lands. 112 It was immense, taking in the greater part of the territories already explored in North America: Newfoundland, Acadia, the valley of the Saint Lawrence, the region of the Great Lakes, and even the whole drainage A diocese on a continental scale. And what parishioners! Nine out of ten were Indians, who remained resistant to National Archives of Canada (hereafter NAC), France: Archives des Colonies, Correspondance generale, Canada, MGI, série CIIA, vol. 47, PP. 265-73, L'Evêque de Québec a (document illegible), 4 octobre 1725. The manuscript sources for the ministry of Bishop Saint-Vallier are abundant. The most important are located in the Archives du Seminaire de Québec (hereafter ASQ). It should be noted that the series Lettres at the ASQ contains the voluminous seminary correspondence between Québec and Paris. In addition, a great quantity of documentation on Saint-Vallier's episcopacy can be found in Paris at the Archives des Colonies under the series CIIA,

French Colonial History, 2002

ne s'agissait pas seulement de la difficulté à convertir les indigènes au christianisme, mais aussi de l'indifférence, même du mépris, des français en ce qui concernait les pratiques de la religion catholique. Beaucoup déjeunes gens français s'échappaient entièrement aux centres peuplés de Français pour s'engager comme coureurs de bois au commerce de peaux de castor gras au pays d'en haut. Ms se mariaient avec des jeunes filles indigènes, ce qui facilitait les relations commerciales avec les Amérindiens. Intégrés dans les communautés indigènes, les coureurs de bois adoptaient beaucoup de leurs pratiques sociales, culturelles, et religieuses. Le destin du catholicisme n'était guère meilleur parmi les habitants d'origine française demeurants dans les villes ou dans d'autres centres de population. Des documents des Archives colonialesfrançaises et des Archives du séminaire de Québec, aussi bien que des Archives de l'Archidiocèse de Québec, parmi d'autres sources, sortent des exemples des difficultés qu'avaient l'Iveque Saint-Vallier et d'autres prêtres à diriger la vie religieuse catholique dans une colonie où lesfrançais rencontraient les indigènes avec une autre vie spirituelle à eux déjà bien établie. From the bishop's palace on the bluff overlooking the St. Lawrence at Québec City late in 1725, an aging but articulate Jean Baptiste de Saint-Vallier, filling out his fortieth annual report for authorities back in France, attempted to describe the spiritual condition of his vast American diocese.1 At the end of his episcopacy, the bishop reflected more on the dangers

Journal of Classical Sociology, 2010

During the 1830s and 1840s the future of France’s new colony in Algeria became Tocqueville’s chief preoccupation in politics. At first confident that settlers from Europe would mix with the natives of Algeria, eventually he lost his belief in an integrated colonial society. Yet he never abandoned his opinion that France must consolidate its hold over Algeria for reasons of

Migrations, transferts et échanges de part et d'autre de l'Atlantique. Histoire et Archéologie des XVIe et XVIIe siècles. CTHS 2011 Quebec City., 2011

Terrae Incognitae. The Journal of the Society for the History of Discoveries 34, 34-45., 2002

Privately published, 2011

Special note pertaining to the BLOUIN family that is a part of the Martel family in these genealogies: About 2015 (my email correspondence from the account that I then used is no longer accessible), I had been in contact with Clermont Blouin of Québec. He was preparing (and has since completed) a privately printed and distributed genealogy of the Blouins from 1600 to today. I contributed a very small amount of information, and photos, from my Blouin ancestor (Arthur Blouin, my maternal grandfather). The cover reads "Blouin; Loyal et constant", displaying a coat of arms. The volume is undated and there is no separate title-page. This is a marvelously detailed genealogy, unpaginated but more than 200 pp., well illustrated. Having appeared after the completion of my own genealogical work, the information in Clermont Blouin's genealogy does not appear in the genealogies I prepared. Earle Spamer

This paper reassesses the Franciscan mission in Canada between 1615 and 1629. It argues that the missions of the friars have often been overlooked in favour of examination of the much more heavily-publicised Jesuit missions. Franciscan missionaries invested New France with considerable eschatological significance believing that the conversion of the indigenous peoples effected through discovery of a western passage to China would bring on the final end of the world and salvation of humanity. But New France was no missiological tabula rasa because the friars viewed both the landscape and peoples of Canada and Acadia through the lens of their experiences in New Spain – Mexico – in the early sixteenth century where they maintained that they had effected the triumphant Christianization of millions. The vast spaces and small populations of Canada caused consternation for the Franciscans who discerned in the Huron virtually none of the signs of ‘civilization’ that they had found in the Aztec and Maya of Mesoamerica. They did find, however, one familiar face – the devil – whose influence they held to be the reason why the adult Huron were not ready for baptism. The paper will argue that prior Franciscan experiences of the spaces and frontiers of the New World were as influential in determining their responses to New France as was the interaction between First Nation and French societies and norms in the seventeenth century. Please note that these are speaking notes and that the footnoting is not at all complete. I hope to edit the paper properly in the coming months. You will also find typos a-plenty and notes-to-self!

2015

SOME ASPECTS OF JACQUES CARTIER’S VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION along the Gaspé coast in 1534 continue to be subject to debate and discussion. This study takes account of the divergent views expressed in published works by scholars and historians relating to this voyage. Many years of navigation and research spent on the waters between Cap d’Espoir and Cap Gaspé have enabled us to also gather first-hand information concerning this part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, visited by Cartier on his first voyage. We had the opportunity to follow Ganong’s advice, which was to follow Cartier’s course, and view the places he described in his narrative from the same positions that he did. A similar methodology was used by Lewis for the North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence aboard a sailboat, and by Morison on an airplane.1 We have carefully examined some facts not fully considered by previous historians, who were sometimes unfamiliar with the distinctive features of this maritime region. We reached dif...

Tu Sais Mon Vieux Jean-Pierre: Essays on the Archaeology and History of New France and Canadian Culture in Honour of Jean-Pierre Chrestien, 2017

Henri Brunet was a migrant merchant who operated seasonally in French Newfoundland; based out of La Rochelle in the early 1670s and subsequently out of Boston, Brunet journeyed seasonally to Newfoundland to sell food and supplies to residents and seasonal fishermen in exchange for dried codfish. He worked principally in the French colony of Plaisance (now Placentia) and the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, though he often voyaged through Placentia Bay to visit smaller settlements. He left behind an important and largely unanalyzed set of papers, which contain his journals, letters, and financial accounts. Brunet’s writing positions him in the world of North Atlantic trade as an active merchant in the fish trade to Newfoundland, and within the transatlantic networks that supported him during his time in Newfoundland. This article is written in memory of the inspiration that Jean-Pierre Chrestien provided about French colonial Newfoundland, and of his interest in the North Atlantic cod fisheries.

The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 2006

In Search of Empire: the French in the Americas, 1670-1730 / James Pritchard. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-521-82742-6 (hardback) 1. French-America-History-17th century. 2. French-America-History-18th century. 3. France-Colonies-America. 4. America-History-To 1810. 5. Frontier and pioneer life-America. 6. America-Ethnic relations. I. Title. e29.f8p75 2003 970'0971244-dc21 2003043592 isbn 0 521 82742 6 hardback Contents List of Illustrations page xi List of Maps and Graphs xiii List of Tables xv Preface xvii Dates, Weights, Measures, and Currency xxiii List of Abbreviations xxvii Part 1: Colonies Formed Contents ix 8.5 Northern Colonies Abandoned 8.6 Conclusion 9 Elusive Empire 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Rivals for a Continent 9.3 Franco-Spanish Hostilities 9.4 Piracy's Resurgence 9.5 Colonies in Search of a Navy 9.6 Elusive Empire Appendixes