This is not an ordinary post. I wish to publish my findings regarding the migration of Reynard the Fox and Æsopic fables to North-America. I have to revise these posts so they are brief articles, but the editors of the Journal to which these will be submitted will require the information that follows. It is not complete, two papers are missing (applied linguistics) and it is not an abundant list, but I faced obstacles. The first consisted of Chronic illnesses: chronic fatigue syndrome and migraines.
The second was a motivation on the part of certain administrators not to have on staff a person who may fall ill if overworked. I was overworked and I fell ill. That was unfortunate, but life does not always unfold according to our expectations. I had to teach courses in several areas of learning and prepared language lab components. Let us say I had an accident. Unlike the victims of the Boston bombings, I did not lose a limb, but I lost what was dear to me, as dear as life itself.
Publishing while preparing new courses and language lab components is almost impossible, especially if one has to go to bed early in the evening. I will therefore publish some of the following articles online. It is my intention to publish my PhD thesis, but firm plans have yet to be determined. I will require research privileges from a large university and money to purchase books. I am a former President of the Canadian Association of College and University Teachers of French (APFUCC), which may help.
I would like to live in an English house again and near friends.
PUBLICATIONS:
Articles :
2002.
« La Patrie littéraire : errance et résistance », Francophonies d’Amérique.
http://www.erudit.org/revue/fa/2002/v/n13/1005247ar.pdf
1998.
« Le Récit d’Acadie : présence d’une absence », in Les Abeilles pillotent,255-275. Université Saint-Anne, Pointe-de-l’Église, Nouvelle-Écosse, .
1988.
« Le Misanthrope, ou la comédie éclatée », in David Trott and Nicole Boursier, eds., L’Âge du théâtre en France/ The Age of Theatre in France, 53-61. Edmonton: Academic Printing and Publishing.
1984.
« L’Échec d’Arnolphe : loi du genre ou faille intérieure? » Papers on French Seventeenth-Century Literature, 11, No. 20: 79-92.
1984.
« Le Poids de l’histoire : à la recherche d’une pédagogie. » The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 40, No. 2: 218-227.
Rpt. in Mosaïque (APFUCC [Association of Canadian University and College Teachers of French], 1984).
Rpt. in Courrier “F” (Ghent, Belgium : Société belge des professeurs de français 2e et 3e langue, 1985).
1981.
« Tartuffe : masques, machines et machinations. » In Actes du XXIVe congrès annuel de l’APFUCC, 491-508. APFUCC/Signum, 1981.Edited Books :
1988.
Mosaïque III : tendances et pratiques actuelles en didactique du français langue seconde. APFUCC.
1986.
Mosaïque II : tendances et pratiques actuelles en didactique du français langue seconde. APFUCC.
1984.
Mosaïque : tendances et pratiques actuelles en didactique du français langue seconde. APFUCC.
Edited Section of Journal:
1984.
« Molière et la nouvelle critique. » In Papers on French Seventeenth-Century Literature, 11, No. 20: 11-92.
Lectures:
2001.
« Renart : éloquence d’un silence, silence d’une éloquence. »
2001 meeting of the International Reynard Society, Hull, England.
2001.
French-Canadian Literature (in French), University of Stuttgart, Germany.
English-Canadian Literature (in English), University of Stuffgart, Germany.
_________________________
“Sous les ponts de Paris”
Lucienne Delyle
We are now skipping a century and find ourselves in Paris where a relative of Haydn’s patrons, Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy (16 December 1847, Austria – 21 May 1923, England), would be the key player in a drama that began several years after France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871), also called the Franco-German War of 1870. France lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, an area it would not regain until the end of World War I (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918).
(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)
Le capitaine Dreyfus devant le conseil de guerre
The Prussian victory was a catalyst. It led to the unification of Germany. Germany had long been a group of loosely-linked German-language states, perhaps best described as a landed squirearchy. It became a nation-state on 18 January 1871, at no less a venue than Versailles itself, in the Hall of Mirrors, ten days before Paris fell, on 28 January 1871. Germany was unified but, from the moment Captain Alfred Dreyfus was arrested, on 15 October 1894, France would be divided into the Dreyfusards, intellectuals, and the anti-Dreyfusards, a division that revealed deep contempt against the Jews, not only in the armed forces, but among civilians.
Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy
In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935), a French artillery officer of Jewish background, was arrested for treason. Dreyfus’ wealthy family originated from Alsace but had moved to Paris after the Franco-Prussian War. The culprit was Marie Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, a remote member of the Esterházy family, but a relative nevertheless. Esterhazy had sold information to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War, not Alfred Dreyfus. Yet a guilty finger was pointed at Alfred Dreyfus.
Émile Zola: « J’Accuse »
Dreyfus was arrested on 15 October 1894, hastily court-martialled, behind closed doors, and convicted of treason on 22 December 1894. After his conviction, Dreyfus was publicly stripped of his army rank and, beginning on 13 April 1895, he started serving a life sentence on Devil’s Island, about 14 km away from mainland French Guiana, in South America. Imprisoned on Devil’s Island, an innocent Dreyfus served five years of a life sentence while French intellectuals, led by writer Émile-Édouard-Charles-Antoine Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902), set about exposing a miscarriage of justice. Never had a miscarriage of justice so mobilized France’s foremost intellectuals. Émile Zola wrote his famous « J’accuse, » an open letter to French President Félix François Faure (30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899), published in L’Aurore on 13 January, 1898.
The military conceals evidence
In 1896, when Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart,[i] chief of the army’s intelligence section, found evidence that Major Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy was engaged in espionage. Esterhazy’s handwriting was found on the memorandum (the bordereau) that had incriminated Dreyfus. Picquart revealed his findings to his senior officers who persuaded him to conceal the truth so that Esterhazy would be protected. Picquart continued investigating and was removed from his position and assigned to duty in Africa. In fact, he would later be accused of the crime that brought France to its knees. Picquart had spoken with Dreyfusards before leaving for Africa.
In the meantime, Zola was accused of libel and brought to trial on 7 February 1898. Zola had hoped that his « J’accuse, » would lead to a trial and to disclosure of evidence that could free and exonerate Dreyfus. It did, but tortuously.
Dreyfus is tried and convicted a second time
Dreyfus was tried a second time, but was again convicted and condemned to ten years of imprisonment while Major Walsin-Esterhazy went free. The memorandum clearly implicated Esterhazy, but a decision had been made to protect him. Consequently, treason was again imputed to Captain Dreyfus despite a petition signed by 3,000 persons asking that the Dreyfus’ trial be reviewed. According to Britannica, the affair “was made absurdly complicated by the activities or Esterhazy in inventing evidence and spreading rumours, and of Major Hubert Joseph Henry, discoverer of the original letter attributed to Dreyfus, in forging new documents and suppressing others.”[ii] Major Henry was arrested for having forged evidence against Dreyfus, but committed suicide shortly after he was incarcerated (1898).
However, Dreyfus was pardoned by French President Émile Loubet, in 1899, but a pardon implies that one has been found guilty. Yet, nothing but forgeries incriminated Dreyfus, but he would not be exonerated and reinstated to his rank until 1906. Therefore the Dreyfus Affair was a 12-year nightmare for Dreyfus and a long fight on the part of Dreyfusards, Anatole France, Henri Poincaré,Marcel Proust, Georges Clemenceau, France’s premier between 1917 and 1920, Émile Zola, the leader, and others. “The parliament passed a bill reinstating Dreyfus. On July 22 he was formally reinstated and decorated with the Legion of Honour.”[iii]
The leading anti-Dreyfusard was Édouard Drumont (3 May 1844 – 5 February 1917), the founder the Antisemitic League of France (1889) and the founder and editor of La Libre Parole. Drumont is the author of The Jews against France (1898). The League was also anti-Masonic and had supporters among Catholics. The editors of La Croix, who have since apologized, wrote an unacceptable “[d]own with the Jews!” and labeled Dreyfus as “the enemy Jew betraying France.” (See La Croix, Wikipedia.)
As he had hoped, Zola was brought to trial, which served Dreyfus’ cause. The trial exposed a miscarriage of justice, except that Zola was convicted of libel, a conviction he did not expect and further divided public opinion. Zola was about to pay a heavy price for publishing his « J’accuse », which had otherwise been a “success.” Britannica reports that “[b]y the evening of that day, 200,000 copies had been sold.”[iv] Despite support, Zola was condemned to a year in jail and a fine of 3,000 francs. He escaped his jail sentence by fleeing to England where he remained for a year, 1898-1899, but he was allowed to return to France when the French Government fell.
Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy
Although Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy[v] was brought before a court-martial in 1897, he was acquitted by his fellow officers and retired in 1898. However, as the movement for revision of Dreyfus’ condemnation gained momentum, Esterhazy fled first to Belgium and then to England where he worked mainly as a translator and possibly as a traveling salesman. Esterhazy was in fact encouraged to flee to England. He lived in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, until his death in 1923 (aged 75). After he was exonerated, Dreyfus did reintegrate the army. He passed away in 1935, at the age of 75. As for Émile Zola, he died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 1902. It may have been an accidental death, but it may also have been murder.
Britannica concludes that “[f]rom the turmoil of which it was the centre emerged a sharper alignment of political and social forces, leading to such drastic anticlerical measures as the separation of church and state in 1905 and to a cleavage between right-wing nationalists and left-wing antimilitarists that haunted French life until 1914 and even later,” and adds that “[a]t best, it evoked a passionate repudiation of anti-Semitism, which did France honour[.]”[vi] But the Dreyfus Affair seems yet another tug of war between extremists, liberals versus conservatives, not to mention a major case of scapegoating at the expense of Jews.
Regarding the connection between Haydn’s patrons and Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, it is simply very unfortunate. However, it could well be that Péter Esterházy (born 14 April 1950 in Budapest), a likeable individual, is the most prominent among current Hungarian writers.
History has had a lot of very bad days, and it keeps repeating itself.
I was hoping to discuss Richard de Fournival’s Bestiaire d’amourFR (1201- ?1260) a medieval philosopher and trouvère (Northern French: langue d’oïl). Trouvères (from trouveur: finder) were Northern France‘s counterparts for troubadours, who spoke in langue d’oc, from old Occitane French. The trouvères and troubadours composed and sang songs associated with chivalry and the code of conduct of Knights, surprisingly consistent with the rules of courtly love. They traveled from court to court but disappeared at the time the Black Death, but not necessarily because of the plague.
Although I will attempt to show a few illuminations from the Bestiaire d’amour, images are difficult to find. Moreover, having reread the text, I believe we need a broader starting-point. Richard de Fournival wrote a Bestiary, but it is a bestiary of love, courtly love. Moreover, Master Richard’s Bestiary is allegorical as is the Roman de la Rose.Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) who transformed Saint Valentine’s Day into the romantic feast it has become, translated part the Roman de la Rose as the Romaunt of the Rose and included his translation in his Legend of Good Women, a poem.
Two sources: Ovid and the “Song of Songs”
Courtly love is not a European institution. It has deep roots, two of which are texts by Roman writer Ovid, best known for his Metamorphoses, as well as the Song of Songs, a book of the Old Testament also known in English as the Canticle of Canticles, written circa 900 BCE.
It would be difficult to trace the origins of courtly love. I should think it constitutes a permanent feature of love, but a feature that finds pinnacles at certain points in history. For instance, Roman poet Ovid, Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BCE – 18 CE), known mainly for his Metamorphoses, wrote:
The very title of Remedia Amoris suggests that once the lover is wounded by Cupid‘s arrow, he is possessed by love. Love is viewed as a disease. Such is the case with Tristan and Yseult (or Yseut, Iseult, Isolde…). Tristan has to take Iseult to Cornwall where she will marry his uncle Mark. As they are sailing from Ireland to Cornwall, she and Tristan mistakenly drink the love potion Yseult was to drink with Mark on their wedding night. Tristan and Yseult are now inescapably “in love” (l’amour fatal). Yseult marries Mark, but on their wedding night, her maid, a virgin, sleeps with Mark. As for Yseult, she spends the night with Tristan and sneaks back to her husband’s room in the morning.
The Celtic legend of Tristan and Yseult (EN) Tristan et Iseut (FR), was written in France, in a Norman language, by 12th-century Norman poet Béroul, and in Old French, by 12th-century British poet Thomas of Britain. The story of Tristan and Yseult has exerted considerable influence on Western art. Among other works, it inspired:
However, the quest of chivalric epic poems is a quest for the Holy Grail. As for courtly love, its Holy Grail is the heart of a woman who has not swallowed a magical love potion and whose love her suitor must earn by following rules of conduct, as in chivalry.
(Please click on image to enlarge it.)
Fin’amor
Although it has deeper roots, fin’amor is an art of love developed in Aquitaine, Provence, Champagne and ducal Burgundy. Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 or 1124 – 1 April 1204) is said to have brought the ethics of courtly lovefrom Aquitaine to the Court of France. She had first married Louis VII, king of France, but the marriage was annulled after the birth of their second daughter Alix de France
Courtly love was codified by Andreas Capellanus in his book entitled De amore, written in 1185 at the request of Marie de Champagne, Aleanor of Aquitaine’s first daughter, by Louis VII. De amore has affinities with the Carte de Tendre, a French seventeenth-century allegorical map of love. However, courtly love’s masterpiece is the Roman de la Rose.
My next post will therefore deal with the Roman de la Rose which we will examine using the Roman de la Rose Digital Library, a project of Johns Hopkins University, and La Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). We will then be ready to look at Richard de Fournival’s illuminated Bestiaire d’amour, our last Bestiary.
Today is not a good blogging day. I have been doing maintenance work on my posts and ended up reinserting images that had disappeared and revising certain blogs. I also discovered a missing blog on Chaucer & Valentine’s Day and rediscovered Charles d’Orléans.
Charles d’Orléans (24 November 1394, Paris – 5 January 1465, Amboise) was a French Duke who was taken prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt, on the 25th of October 1415, and spent nearly 25 years in England, as a “prisoner.” Because he was a possible heir to the throne of France, the English king, Henry V, would not allow him to leave England.
Charles’ first wife died in childbirth, but their daughter Joan survived. His second wife died while he was a prisoner in England. But when he returned to France, he married 14-year-old Marie de Clèves (19 September 1426 – 23 August 1487). He was then 46. She gave birth to the first of their three children, Marie d’Orléans, in 1457. Their second child, born in 1462, would be Louis XII, king of France. Their third child, Anne of Orleans, was born in 1464.
When Charles was released, in 1440, “speaking better English than French,” according to the English chronicler Raphael Holinshed (Charles d’Orléans, Wikipedia), he had become not only a poet, but an excellent poet. One of his poems is exquisite. It’s about winter: Le temps a laissé son manteau… (The weather left its coat…). It is included in my now relatively old, but updated post. However, for this post, I have chosen a frivolous song.
Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) wrote music based on this poem, but we also have a Dutch song, mixing French and Dutch. Moreover, there is a site that features Charles singing a St Valentine’s song. When he returned to France, Charles d’Orléans made Valentine’s Day known in courtly circles.
It seems Geoffrey Chaucer is the father of Valentine’s day. He wrote that Valentine’s Day was the day on which birds mated. This myth probably existed long before Chaucer, but he made it official, so to speak. It is included in his Parlement of Fowles, 1382.
Because of theTrès Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry, the celebrated Fiztwilliam Book of Hours (see Google images) and the numerous Books of Hours produced in the Middle Ages, we tend to associate illuminated books, or books with enluminures, with Books of Hours (Livres d’heures or Horæ). However, there are many illuminated manuscripts serving other purposes, yet utilizing the main artistic elements of Books of Hours: illuminations and fine calligraphy.
Many facsimile editions of illuminated manuscripts can be bought online. I have used some of these facsimile editions. If a title is followed by an**, that title is a link often leading to a commercial site. It allows buyers and other individuals to see the product. Prices vary. The Folio Society edition of the Fitzwilliam Book of Hours is expensive, but other facsimile editions of illuminated manuscripts are more or less affordable.
Below you will find examples of authentic illuminated manuscripts and reproductions. As for the Gallery, it does not contain images copied from commercial sites.
Like Books of Hours, the Breviary is an abridged version of the Liber Usualis. However, it is used by bishops, priests and deacons, not lay Christians. The Breviary “contains the canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings and notations for everyday use.” (“Breviary,” Wikipedia)
A Tiny Gallery
Miniatures depicting the months of December and August, from the Grimani Breviary, illuminated by Gerard Horenbout with Alexander and Simon Bening. The August page (to the right) was illuminated by Alexander and Simon Bening only. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) (please click on the images to enlarge them)
The Lindisfarner Gospel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)“The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated Latin manuscript of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the British Library. The manuscript was produced on Lindisfarne in Northumbria in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and is generally regarded as the finest example of the kingdom’s unique style of religious art, a style that combined Anglo-Saxon and Celtic themes, what is now called Hiberno-Saxon art, or Insular art. The manuscript is complete (though lacking its original cover).” (YouTube description)
piece: O Euchari in Leta Via
performers: Catherine King, Emily Van Evera, Richard Souther & Sister Germaine Fritz
The first horseman as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse (1000-1020). The first “living creature” (with halo) is seen in the upper right. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Books of Hours are a secular and abridged version of the Liber Usualis, a compendium of Gregorian chants sung during the eight Canonical Hours. The Liber Usualis is rooted in Medieval monasticism, but it had to be restored after the French Revolution (1789-1794) and the Directoire (2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799).
Therefore the Liber Usualis Benedictine monks use today is a restored compendium of Gregorian chants. It was first edited in 1896 by Solesmes abbot Dom André Mocquereau (1849–1930) FR. (See “Liber Usualis,” Wikipedia.) Moreover, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, which introduced the use of the vernacular in Catholic liturgy, “mandated that Gregorian Chant should retain ‘pride of place’ in the liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 116.)” (See “Liber Usualis,” Wikipedia.)
Books of Hours
Although used by lay Christians, all Books of Hours, Medieval books, are religious in spirit and reflect a motivation to participate in the liturgy of the hours observed by monks. Yet, Books of Hours differ from the Liber Usualis.
Other than the obligatory content, Books of Hours could include heraldic emblems, coats of arms, information necessary to its owner, genealogical information, etc.
Second, they are works of art: Illuminations and Calligraphy
Because they are shorter than the Liber usualis, Books of Hours leave room for enluminures (illuminations) and fine calligraphy, the main artistic elements of Jean de France’s “Très Riches Heures” and other luxury books of hours. Enluminures were miniature paintings designed to reproduce the luminosity of stained glass.
So not only did Books of Hours include liturgical, devotional and personal contents, but they are also works of art. It is mainly as works of art that they have come down to us. Illuminated pages of Books of Hours were genuine miniature paintings and were not bound, at least not originally. They were independent folios bound at a later date.
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Book of Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux (Arrest of Jesus and Annunciation) Photo credit: Wikipedia
Illuminations
Illuminations could be extremely costly, depending on their sophistication, the time required to illuminate the text, the pigments and other materials used to make the colours, the “paper” on which the artist(s) created his or her illuminations and, of great importance, the skills of the scribe. Let us look at the paint and the paper artists used.
The Paint
The paint used by artists to decorate Books of Hours was a very durable form of gouache. The colour was made from various pigments, including expensive lapis lazuli, mixed or crushed in a binder (un liant). However, when artists used gold or silver, they usually applied it in flat sheets or a “leaf.”
The Paper: Parchment
Moreover, Books of Hours are associated to the history of paper. Now the history of paper finds its origins at an earlier date. Egyptian papyrus was manufactured in the 3rd millennium BC. In the case of Medieval Books of Hours, however, one used parchment(parchemin), a writing membrane made from the skin of sheep, goats, or calves. The finest paper was vellum (from the old French vélin, “calfskin”).
Calligraphy
Where calligraphy is concerned, Books of Hours are an important step in the history of printing, as are illuminations, our illustrations. In calligraphy, we find the ancestors to our fonts. Accomplished scribes wrote so beautifully that calligraphy itself was a work of art. Very accomplished scribes seldom made mistakes and they had to leave room for illuminations and, in particular, historiated letters.
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Charles d’Orléans reçoit l’hommage d’un vassal. Photo credit: Wikipedia
The historiated “D,” to your left, shows Charles d’Orléans (24 November 1394, Paris – 5 January 1465, Amboise) receiving homage from a subject. Painting historiated letters must have been a challenge to miniaturists as the letters were a miniature within a miniature. Some miniaturists used a lens. Books of Hours were a collaborative project.
Ordinary and Luxury “Books of Hours”
The above-mentioned Hours of Catherine of Cleves (c. 1440), offered to her as a wedding present, is an example of a luxury book of hours. Catherine’s horæ, theLatin word for “hours,” are decorated with 158 colorful and gilded illuminations. (“Hours of Catherine of Cleves,” Wikipedia.) Miniaturists therefore spent several years preparing her wedding present. They also spent years producing the Hours of Jeanne d’Évreux, Queen of France, c. 1324–28, by Jean Pucelle (French, active in Paris, 1319–1334). Catherine’s hours are housed in the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N. Y. It contains twenty-five full-page miniatures and approximately seven hundred smaller enluminures and was first bought by Jean de France, Duc de Berry.
However, less affluent and, at times, poor Christians, including servants, also owned a Book of Hours. Tens of thousands Books of Hours were made. Thousands are still available. These may have had a few illuminated pages and may have been manuscripts, but the humbler Books of Hours were seldom the products of great artists. Moreover, some were printed, but the printer sometimes left spaces that could be hand coloured.
“Pagan” Roots: Horæ and a Farmer’s Almanac
In my post on the Très Riches Heures, I mentioned that Books of Hours combined Christian elements, elements predating Christianity and personal information. So Books of Hours are not entirely Christian works and a secular form ofthe Benedictine Liber Usualis. For instance,Medieval Books of Hours use Psalms from the Old Testament. “The book of hours has its ultimate origin in the Psalter.” (See “Book of Hours,” Wikipedia.)
Books of Hours also have “pagan” roots. They were Horæ in Latin Antiquity, a word still used in the Middle Ages, and were inspired by the cycle of nature, the degree of light and darkness,[ii] and the appropriate Labours of the Months. As I mentioned in a recent post, Candlemas: its Stories & its Songs, Greek Poet Hesiod, who is believed to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, wrote a Works and Days that Wikipedia describes as a farmer’s almanac.
In this respect, Jean de France’s Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry resembles Hesiod’s Works and Days. The Très Riches Heures feature a monthly page consisting of a full-page painting and a page featuring an image, above which there is a semicircle that shows the twelve signs of the Zodiac as well as the ecclesiastical lunar calendar, full moon and new moon, yet another manner in which Books of Hours predate Christianity. As calendars, Books of Hours span civilizations, but may not contain illuminations and fine calligraphy.
Conclusion
In short, Medieval Books of Hours are a very rich legacy rooted in the Liber Usualis and in seasons forever new.However, this does not preclude a resemblance with Latin horæ and borrowings, some from a more distant past. Pictures predate Christianity as do calendars, almanacs, labours of the months: seasons. In this regard, Books of Hours can be linked to earlier works. They also constitute a step in the history of printing and a history of books.
* * *
I must close here, but our next step is a glance at illuminated manuscripts that are not Books of Hours. Under “Sources” below, I have mentioned Psalters. But, among illuminated books, there were Gospel Books, Responsorials, Antiphonaires, Missals, Apocalyptic books, Breviaries, hagiographic books (lives of saints) and other illuminated manuscripts.
In an earlier post, I wrote about the Fitzwilliam Book of Hours. This post is one of the related articles listed at the end of the current blog. It should be updated. For instance, it requires embedded videos.
N.B. Some of the illuminations painted for Berry’s Book of Hours inspired some of the backdrops to sets used by Laurence Olivier (22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) in his film of Shakespeare’s play Henry V which he made in 1944 on the eve of the Normandy invasion. (Online Library of Liberty.)
I was nominated for this award by tuttacronaca on 28 January 2013. “Versatile” is a word people have often used to describe me. I have taught many subjects. I therefore became a “versatile” teacher. As for my students, if I mentioned Montaigne and Montesquieu when teaching Pascal, they thought I was “jumping around.” I wasn’t. All three wrote about the relativity of laws.
I thank tuttacronaca most sincerely. He is an extremely versatile blogger. In fact so are most of my readers. They read my posts despite the diversity of subjects. Diversity was Jean de La Fontaine‘s motto.
Choosing nominees is not easy. For instance, two of my nominees for the Versatile Blogger could have been Sunshine award nominees. And two of my Sunshine Award nominees could have been Versatile Blogger nominees. But most of my Sunshine award nominees are versatile bloggers and vice versa.
Nominating a WordPress colleague for an award is a way of telling that colleague that I enjoy his or her posts. I simply wish I could have nominated more of my WordPress colleagues.
There are rules
I apologize. I forgot to provide the rules.
First, you must link back to me. You may do this by writing a comment when you receive this post.
Second, You must reveal seven facts about yourself.
In my opinion, we should pay more attention to the education of little children.
Facts are essential, but my main goal as a teacher was to encourage students to widen their horizon and see the many facets of subjects we were discussing.
Living in France had a permanent influence on the manner I dress, cook, live and think.
I have had fine friendships with exceptional men.
I fear extremists.
I am a pianist and an artist, which may demonstrate versatility.
My chief cause is peace.
I love you all.
composer: Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809)
piece: Serenade
I was nominated for this award by tuttacronaca on 28 January 2013. “Versatile” is a word people have often used to describe me. I have taught many subjects. I therefore became a “versatile” teacher. As for my students, if I mentioned Montaigne and Montesquieu when teaching Pascal, they thought I was “jumping around.” I wasn’t. All three wrote about the relativity of laws.
I thank tuttacronaca most sincerely. He is an extremely versatile blogger. In fact so are most of my readers. They read my posts despite the diversity of subjects. Diversity was Jean de La Fontaine motto.
Choosing nominees is not easy. For instance, two of my nominees for the Versatile Blogger could have been Sunshine award nominees. And two of my Sunshine Award nominees could have been Versatile Blogger nominees. But most of my Sunshine award nominees are versatile bloggers and vice versa.
Nominating a WordPress colleague for an award is a way of telling that colleague that I enjoy his or her posts. I simply wish I could have nominated more of my WordPress colleagues.
In my opinion, we should pay more attention to the education of little children.
Facts are essential, but my main goal as a teacher was to encourage students to widen their horizon and see the many facets of subjects we were discussing.
Living in France had a permanent influence on the manner I dress, cook, live and think.
I have had fine friendships with exceptional men.
I fear extremists.
I am a pianist and an artist, which may demonstrate versatility.
My chief cause is peace.
I love you all.
composer: Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809)
piece: Serenade
*Jackson Square
Thure de Thulstrup (April 5, 1848 – June 9, 1930), born Bror Thure Thulstrup
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
France controlled this vast area from 1699 until 1762, the year it gave the
territory to its ally Spain. Under Napoléon Bonaparte, France took back the
territory in 1800 in the apparent hope of building an empire in North America. Here are the main dates:
The territory Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, S.J. (a Jesuit) explored in 1673 and claimed for France would be controlled by France from 1699 until 1762.[i]
In 1762, the French gave the territory to Spain.
Napoleon took it back in 1800, hoping to build an Empire in North America.
Three years later, in 1803, Napoléon sold Louisiana to the United States.
In 1673, explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled down the Mississippi to within 435 miles (700 kilometers) of the Gulf of Mexico and claimed both sides of the River (all the way to the Rocky Mountains) for France. The territory was given to Spain in 1762, but reclaimed by Napoléon in 1800.
However, a mere three years after the territory was reclaimed by France, it was sold to the United States for 15 million dollars. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed on April 30, 1803 during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826), the third President of the United States. The Treaty’s main American negotiator was Robert R. Livingstone, then US Minister to France. This is what he had to say after the Treaty was signed:
We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives… From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank.
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Louisiana (green overlay)
The Story
Upon learning that Napoléon sold Louisiana, one is baffled. Moreover, given that Napoléon sold it for 15 million dollars, one can easily jump to the conclusion that Napoléon knew nothing about real estate and made terrible mistakes on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet, it may be that Bonaparte did what he had to do.
When the US approached Napoléon, which it did, all it was asking for was a right of way or a strip of land to the south of Louisiana which would have linked the eastern part of the current United States to its western part. The US was somewhat landlocked. However, Napoléon reflected that the United States could buy not only the very south of Louisiana, but all of it, for what we would call “peanuts,” i.e. very little money.
In fact, one wonders whether or not Napoléon had discussed the matter with Talleyrand. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, prince de Bénévent, then prince de Talleyrand (1754–1838), was Napoléon’s éminence grise or right-hand man. Well, Talleyrand actually negotiated the Louisiana Purchase Treaty.
It would appear that Napoléon needed to purchase ships so he could conquer the world, with the exception of what would become the United States of America. Fifteen million dollars could buy him a fleet. It also appears France had debts to repay. However, we cannot exclude early warning signs of the development of the rather pompous “Manifest Destiny.” In the not-so-distant future, the territory France sold would probably have been conquered by an expansionist United States, in which case France would have lost Louisiana. It at least earned itself a consolation prize.
For instance, on December 2, 1823, the United States introduced a policy known as the Monroe Doctrine, after President James Monroe(April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831). The Monroe Doctrine was a document authored by Secretary of StateJohn Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) who succeeded James Monroe as President of the United States (POTUS) between 1825 and 1829. The document stated that European countries, or any other country for that matter, could no longer colonize South or North America. Could he have been so bold had the US been considerably smaller? I doubt it.
Therefore, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, signed on April 30, 1803, may have led, in part, to a somewhat inflated view on the part of the United States concerning its place among nations. When Livingstone stated that “[f]rom this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank,” he was giving the US a glorious future. I do not know whether or not this notion has been expressed in textbooks on the history of the United States, but by selling Louisiana, Napoléon played a major role in empowering the United States of America.
Conclusion
In 1763, under the of Treaty of Paris, France chose to keep Guadeloupe and ceded Canada, Acadie and territory east of the Mississippi to the British. Later, in 1803, under the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, at fifteen million dollars, France chose to “give,” or nearly so, Louisiana to the United States.
Père Marquette and Louis Jolliet would have felt betrayed by the Treaty of Paris (1763)and the Louisiana Purchase Treaty. Napoléon Bonaparte removed from North America all that was left of France’s presence on the North-American continent, a continent French explorers, missionaries and Canadiensvoyageurs had openedin its near totality, or almost.
* * *
Paris at the very end of April is a delightful city. All that was old is new again. But Mr Livingstone, with all due respect, could you really tell your fellow nation crafters that acquiring Louisiana was “the noblest work of [y]our whole lives?” I would agree, however, that April 30, 1803 was a very fine day in the history of the United States of America and that all parties involved had something to gain, except for the people whose motherland ceased to be France, for better of for worse, with the stroke of a pen.
From the story of Madeleine de Verchères, we know that among Amerindians, there were “Noble Savages” and “Savages” who were not so noble. We know moreover that Madeleine’s father was a member of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. However, the story of Madeleine de Verchères has not told us about the Carignan-Salières Regiment itself, whose members started to protect New France in 1665. Nor has it told us that, during the 1660s, France sent women to Canada. This matter was discussed in a blog entitled Richelieu & Nouvelle-France, but is again relevant. We therefore require more information.
In the above-mentioned post, I wrote that “between 1663 and 1673, 500 to 900 Frenchwomen, the King’s daughters (les filles du Roy), were given a dowry by king Louis XIV and sent to Nouvelle-France, if they were deemed sufficiently healthy to survive the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.”
The 1660′s were the early years of Louis XIV’s reign and he became interested in France’s North-American colonies. Since 1628, the Company of One Hundred Associates had ruled New France, but it was forced out of business in 1663 and Louis took charge. He in fact created a “Royal Government whereby France would run the government of New France through a Sovereign Council.” The Sovereign Council comprised a GOUVERNEUR (governor), a bishop, an INTENDANT and 5 councillors.[i]
In other words, to quote the Canadian Encyclopedia,
[i]n 1663 Louis XIV equipped the colony with a complete administrative system modelled on those used to govern French provinces.
However, hostile Amerindians, the Iroquois, were threathening the life of settlers. Attacks, such as the attack that would make Madeleine de Verchères a heroine in 1692, were becoming a genuine obstacle to the growth of the colony. How would the Filles du Roy and their husbands survive? The remedy consisted in the deployment of the Carignan-Salières Regiment.
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Le Régiment
Le Régiment de Carignan-Salières
The Carignan-Salières Regiment combined two regiments, the Régiment de Carignan and the Balthasar Regiment. However, after the death of Balthasar, in 1665, the Régiment became the Régiment de Carignan-Salières. These were informal mergers. (Carignan-Salières Regiment, Wikipedia)
The Régiment de Carignan-Salières had fought against the Ottoman Turks in Hungary in 1664, but its main enemy as Régiment de Carignan-Balthasar had been the Spanish. However, after the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ended Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), France no longer needed a large military force. Consequently, in 1665, the soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment were deployed to New France to protect the settlers from attacks by not-so-noble “savages.”
By November 1665, forts had been built along the Richelieu River, considered as the main invasion route. The French and Canadiens attacked the Mohawk Country in February 1666. Men were ambushed and the expedition had to retreat losing some 60 men on its return journey to Quebec City. It was midwinter, which seriously jeopardized the success of military operations.
The French attacked again in September 1666, but no Iroquois was to be found in Mohawk Country. Soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment burned the villages and cornfields and took possession of the Mohawk Country. Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy was ruthless. He forced the Iroquois to convert to Roman Catholicism and to speak French as taught by the Jesuit missionaries. A mission village was set up for Catholic Mohawks at Kahnawake, south of Montreal.[iii]
According to the Canadian Encyclopedia “[i]n July 1667 the Iroquois finally came to terms. The regiment was recalled to France in 1668, but some 400 officers and men chose to remain and settled on seigneuries along the Rivière Richelieu, greatly strengthening the colony’s defences, military ethos, and economy.”[iv]
Back to Madeleine de Verchères
Those 400 officers and men proved a godsend to a previously feeble New France. It protected the colony, but they also settled New France. François Jarret de Verchères, Madeleine de Verchères’s father, was among the 400 officers and men who decided to stay behind. He was given a seigneury, married Marie Perrot, and built the fort his daughter defended on 22 October 1691.[v]
The Iroquois were defeated, but a defeated Iroquois may well be a more dangerous enemy than a victorious one.
Micheline Walker ©
November 17th, 2012
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