Tag Archives: Louis XIV of France

Filles du Roy, encore…

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Canada, France

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Filles du Roy

Jean Talon, Bishop François de Laval and several settlers welcome the King’s Daughters upon their arrival.  Painting by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale.

Filles du Roy

My colleague tkmorin has written about the Filles du Roy, the King’s Daughters, women who were sometimes considered filles de joy.  Between 1663 and 1763, some 500 to 900 women were sent to New France (Nouvelle-France) so men did not have to marry Amerindian women.  Doubt lingers about these women.  Some are considered filles de joy: filles du roy, filles de joie.  However, my colleague is right, these women came from convents and, once they arrived in New France, they were trained to be “good wives” to settlers by Ursuline sisters, in Quebec City, and sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, a Montreal religious order founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys.

Fille du Roy and Congrégation de Notre-Dame sisters

Fille du Roy

Allow me to add a note on this subject.

In seventeenth-century France, it was of the utmost importance for the nobility to be in Paris.  France was ruled not by Dukes, the highest rank among the nobility, and other aristocrats, but by chief ministers: Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642) and Mazarin (14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661).  Aristocrats therefore feared losing power.  Consequently, they lived close to court and they rebelled.  La Fronde (des nobles and des parlements) was a series of civil wars that took place in France between 1648 and 1653.

To be seen by the king

When Louis XIV ascended the throne, in 1661, after Mazarin death, aristocrats were further humiliated.  Louis refused to have a chief minister:  “L’État, c’est moy.” As for members of his Conseil d’en haut (FR), en haut meant upstairs at Versailles, they were not members of the aristocracy.  Louis’s closest advisors, le Conseil d’en haut, were members of the bourgeoisie.

Aristocrats therefore made sure they had a home in Paris as well as a carriage and fine horses.  They wore clothes that had been purchased from the “bonne faiseuse,” (designer clothes or the right brand of clothes [faiseur; faiseuse: maker]) so they would be allowed at court.  The term “bonne faiseuse” is used in Molière’s Précieuses ridicules (18 November 1659).  Louis XIV lived publicly and according to a protocol.  It was a privilege for courtiers to be present when Louis got up in the morning, le petit lever et le grand lever, and when he went to bed: the petit coucher, le grand coucher.

Impoverishment of France’s aristocracy

Therefore, as mentioned in an earlier article, the seventeenth century saw a gradual impoverishment of France’s aristocracy, which made it increasingly difficult for the nobility to provide dowries for several daughters.  Moreover, there were affluent bourgeois who wanted a daughter to marry an aristocrat so they would leave the bourgeoisie, but could not afford to endow more than one daughter.  Impoverished aristocrats marrying middle-class women did so in order to live in a style befitting their rank.  In fact, marrying the right bourgeois could also be very expensive.  Many were rich and some, very rich.

Social Climbing

Molière’s Bourgeois gentilhomme, The Middle-Class Aristocrat (10 October 1670), provides a fine example of a bourgeois, monsieur Jourdain, who wants his daughter to marry an aristocrat so he will be an aristocrat.  In order to marry Lucille, Jourdain’s daughter who loves him, Cléonte has to stage a turquerie, a play-within-a-play designed to fool monsieur Jourdain into believing his daughter is marrying the son of the Sultan of Turkey.  We already know about turqueries.

For many of these young women, relegated to a cul de couvent, the hellhole of a convent,[i] going to New France was their chance to live a normal life.  So far from being filles de joie, some filles du roy were almost literally filles du roy.  Others were the daughters of a bourgeois who had paid so dearly for marrying a daughter to an aristocrat or an affluent bourgeois that other daughters had to enter a convent or marry “sans dot,” without a dowry, a husband who may not have been of their choosing.  Moreover, there were poor bourgeois and orphaned or illegimate daughters who also had to be given an inexpensive roof: a convent.

Conclusion

So the Filles du Roy were not filles de joie.  They came from convents.  What they did not know is that they would live a difficult life in New France as would, two hundred years later, English-Canadian Susannah Moodie (6 December 1803 – 8 April 1885).  When I first read Margaret Atwood‘s Journals of Susannah Moodie, I thought of the filles du roy.

Sources

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[i] The term is used in Molière’s L’École des femmes (1662).

Fille Du Roy by Heather Dale & French-Language video

 
Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

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The Carignan-Salières Regiment, etc

17 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by in Canada

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Jean Talon, Bishop François de Laval and several settlers welcome the King’s Daughters upon their arrival. Painting by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale

The “Filles du Roy” or King’s Daughters

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 post 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.”

(please click on the picture to enlarge it)

The Sovereign Council, Charles Walter Simpson

The Sovereign Council: the 1660s in New France

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.

(please click on the picture to enlarge it)

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.”

Rémy de Courcelle & the Marquis de Tracy

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s finance minister and chief member of the Conseil d’en haut[ii] suggested that a mere 100 soldiers be sent to Canada, but Louis was of a different mind. In June 1665, some 1100 men, perhaps more, were sent to New France.  Twenty companies left from France and four, from Martinique. This was a formal merger. They would serve under Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle, Sieur de Montigny, de La Fresnaye et de Courcelle (1626 – October 24, 1698) who was governor of New France from 1665 to 1672. It would also serve under Lieutenant General Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy (1596 or 1603–1670) a military man who had driven the Dutch out of the West Indies in 1664.

The Regiment Engages the Iroquois

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. 

RELATED POSTS 

 
Photo credit: Wikipedia & Civics Canada Online (Simpson)
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[i] Civics Canada Online
http://www.civicschannel.com/textbook/6canadian.php
[ii] The king’s Council were called “d’en haut,” because they lived upstairs at the king’s castle. 
[iii] Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_de_Prouville
[iv] W. J. Eccles, “Carignan-Salières Regiment” Canadian Encyclopedia
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/carignansalieres-regiment
[v] Madeleine de Verchères, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_de_Verch%C3%A8res
 
composer: Jean-Baptiste Lully (28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687)
piece: Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme)
performers: Skip Sempé (b. 1958)
ensemble: Capriccio Stravagante
 
© Micheline Walker 
17 November 2012
WordPress

Terminology, the Music of Louis XIII & the News

06 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Music, Sharing

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The Wedding Ball of the Duc de Joyeuse, 1581

Photo credit:
Wikipedia: Anne de Joyeuse (1561-87) married Marguerite de Vaudémont on the 24th of September 1581.  The painting is not identified other than as a work of the French school 1581-1582.  It is housed in Le Louvre.  Anne was and may still be, albeit rarely, both a masculine and feminine name.
Wikipedia: Dirck de Bray, 1635-1694 
 

Classical music & the “classical” era

There is a great deal of unnecessary confusion regarding the word “Classical” in music, but the matter can be simplified.

Broadly speaking, the eras of music listed below are called collectively “Classical music.”  In other words, for practical reasons, music composed during these periods can be called Classical, whether or not it is music of the Classical period.

The Eras, or periods, of Western music are

the Medieval era (500-1400)
the Renaissance (1400–1600)
the Baroque*era (1600–1760)
the Classical era (1730–1820) ←
the Romantic era (1815–1910)
the 20th century (1900–2000)
*the word “baroque” is used to describe an odd-shaped pearl.
 

Classical Music: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven…

Strictly speaking, Classical music is music composed between 1730 and 1820.  The three main figures associated with the Classical period are Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), and Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827).  But Beethoven is also considered a composer of the Romantic era, early Romanticism.  So there is overlapping between periods.  To obtain the names of musicians associated with Classical music, simply click on Classical period.

Louis XIII as composer

Louis XIII (27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643), King of France from 1610, when his father Henri IV was assassinated, until his death in 1643, was very fond of music and therefore composed lovely pieces.  Contrary to Frederick the Great (Friedrich II) of Prussia, Louis XIII never truly reigned.  Louis’s life therefore allowed him to indulge his interests, such as music.

However, during that period, France was nevertheless governed.  Marie de’ Medici, Henri IV’s widow did rule for a short period, but France was soon governed  by Armand Jean du Plessis, cardinal-duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac (9 September 1585–1642), le Cardinal Richelieu.  Le Cardinal Richelieu also governed New France.  After Richelieu’s death, France’s Prime Minister was Jules Mazarin (1602–1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino and trained by le Cardinal Richelieu.

In other words, from the late 1610s until 1661, France was governed first by Henri IV’s widow, Marie de’ Medici, who was not up to the task.  As a result, Prime Ministers started to govern, the first of whom was Richelieu.  They may be called éminences grises, except that they were too visible to be referred to as “grey.”  The better term would be that of Prime Minister.  For instance, le Père Joseph (Father Joseph), the man behind le Cardinal Richelieu, was a genuine éminence grise.

When his father died, Louis XIV of France would not tolerate ministers.  He was an advocate of the divine right of kings.  He reigned between 1661 and 1715.  Absolutism was achieved when the Edict of Nantes, an Edict of tolerance issued on 13 April 1598, was revoked in October 1685, by Louis XIV.  In 1685, France lost some of its finest citizens: French Calvinist Protestants called Huguenots.

The News

English
The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/ EN
 
CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/
CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/
 
French
Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/ 
La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
 
German
Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/
 

Music: A “Ballet de cour” by Louis  XIII

But let us listen to Louis XIII the composer.  The French ballet de cour, the Masque, became a favourite divertissement in the late sixteenth century. However, it is associated with the reign of both Louis the XIII and Louis XIV.  Louis XIII wrote the Ballet de la Merlaison, all of which, i.e. the music, is on YouTube.

© Micheline Walker
August 6, 2012
WordPress


Richelieu & Nouvelle-France

01 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Canada, History

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Tapis de Savonnerie, Grand Galerie du LouvreCharles Le Brun

Tapis de Savonnerie, Grande Galerie du Louvre
Charles Le Brun

Nouvelle-France under Henri IV and Richelieu

Seldom acknowledged is the attention given New France by Henri IV and Richelieu.  Samuel de Champlain (c. 1567 – 25 December 1635), a father of Nouvelle-France, was able to obtain, from Henri IV (13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), the support he required to create a settlement for the French in Port-Royal, Acadie, now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.  Acadie was settled in 1604.

Quebec City

But Du Gas de Monts, the largely unrecognized father of Acadie, and an indefatigable explorer, quickly realized that he had to create a French settlement in what is now Quebec City.  Sailing up the St Lawrence River to Quebec City was a relativity safe endeavour.  Champlain argued that the inhabitants of the new settlement in Quebec City would convert Amerindians and, second, he emphasized the economic benefits of this “établissement.”  Once more the king obliged.

Quebec City: l’habitation

There was kinship between Henri IV, a former or less visible Huguenot, and Champlain, still a Huguenot or French Calvinist Protestant.  More importantly, however, Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Du Gua de Monts, (Du Gua de Monts; c. 1558 – 1628), were dealing with a king, Henri IV, who had business acumen, as did his chief advisor, Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully (1560–1641).

Pierre Du Gua de Monts and Samuel de Champlain could smell the fur and had caught a glimpse of the natural resources that could be tapped in Nouvelle-France and relayed the message in what must have been an eloquent form of French.

For France’s North-American colonies, the death of Henri IV was tragic and so was the dismissal of Sully, one of Marie de’ Medici’s worst mistakes.  But Champlain found advocacy “for the retention of Quebec” under Richelieu who, contrary to Marie, was a man of vision.  Richelieu founded the “Compagnie des Cent-Associés and saw the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye return Quebec City  to French rule under Champlain, after the settlement had been captured by the Kirkes in 1629. This in part allowed the colony to develop eventually into the heartland of Francophone culture in North America.”[i]

Les Filles du Roy

In other words, under the leadership of Henri IV and Richelieu / Louis XIII, Nouvelle-France grew.  As for its situation after the death of both Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII, one could say that Nouvelle-France remained in the field of vision of the motherland.  For instance, under Louis XIV, 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.

Upon their arrival, the brave women were housed in a convent and taught what they needed to know about their domestic duties and the rigours of Nouvelle-France.  It was only then that courting began.  They were a precious asset to Nouvelle-France because most could read and write and had also studied arithmetic.

Nouvelle-France and Acadie under Louis XV

However, under Louis XV, France’s North-American colonies were no longer a priority.  Absolutism has its drawbacks.  Voltaire’s Candide contains the famous “a few acres of snow” (quelques arpents de neige), the words he used to describe Nouvelle-France.  But I have often wondered whether or not this comment should be read literally.  As a writer, Voltaire had mastered oblique writing, what I call “indirection.”  His master had been Pascal whose Provinciales he greatly admired.  In some of the Lettres provinciales, a candid character asks questions to a Jesuit who then tells the wonders of casuistry. All sins could be absolved under the art of the rather Machiavellian casuistry.

In short, those few words could have been a “candid” indictment of France’s poor administration of its colonies, so poor that in 1763, when given a choice between keeping Nouvelle-France or a few balmy islands to the south, the French let Nouvelle-France go, keeping however Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, small islands off the coast of Newfoundland as a pied-à-terre for its fishermen.

The impoverishment of French Aristocrats

But allow me to return to our “filles du Roy” turned farmers.  In the seventeenth century, French aristocrats were expected to be present at the petit lever and grand lever, as well as the petit coucher and grand coucher of Louis XIV.  It therefore became very difficult to find a husband for a daughter.  How were they to raise the necessary dowry?

© Micheline Walker
March 1st, 2012
WordPress
updated: April 8th, 2013
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[i]  Wikipedia, “Cardinal de Richelieu”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Richelieu

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