“Commission du Roy à Champlain,” April 27, 1628. In Dionne, Champlain: fondateur de Québec 2: 523–24.
“Commission à Champlain des Intendant et Directeurs de la Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France,” March 21, 1629. In Dionne, Champlain: fondateur de Québec 2:525–26.
Account of the voyages of 1608, vol. for 1608, printed in 1611. Page 294. Rpt. in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada 8 (1902) ii, 172.
Champlain, Correspondence and Depositions Concerning the Seizure of Quebec, 1629–32. In C.-H. Laverdière, Oeuvres de Champlain, Pièces justificatives, documents, 1–30.
Champlain, “Contrats de vente de 1630.” Ed. M. Delafosse. Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 9 (1963) 282–86.
Champlain, Mémoire en Requête de Champlain pour la Continuation du paiement de sa Pension, ca. 1630. Ed. Gabriel Marcel (Paris, Tross, 1886); copy in New York Public Library.
Champlain, “Contrat de Donation Mutuelle entre Champlain et Hélène Boullé,” Feb. 13, 1632. In Dionne, Champlain: fondateur de Québec 2:239–40.
“Mémoir et instruction baillés au Sieur de Champlain par les Directeurs de la Nouvelle-France,” Paris, Feb. 4, 1633; “Supplément d’Instructions au Sieur de Champlain par les directeurs de la Nouvelle France …,” Dieppe March 17, 1633; Mercure François 19 (1633), 809–11; L. Campeau, Monumenta Novae Franciae 2:340–41, 359–60.
Champlain, “Relation du Voyage de sieur de Champlain en Canada” (1633). Mercure François 803–67; rpt. in Campeau, Monumenta Novae Franciae 2:350–402.
Champlain, Samuel de, to Richelieu, Aug. 15, 1633. Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères. Original text in Biggar, CWB 6:375–77; and Dionne, Champlain: fondateur de Québec 2:246–49.
Champlain, Lettre au Cardinal Richelieu, Aug. 18, 1634. Ms. Photocopy, Library of Congress. From the original in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris; Library of Congress Transcripts; French text in Biggar, CWB 6:378–79.
Champlain, “Lettre au Cardinal de Richelieu,” Aug. 15, 1635. In Dionne, Champlain: fondateur de Québec 2:537–39.
Champlain, “Testament,” Nov. 17, 1635. Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 17 (1963) 282–86; partial inventory, “l’inventaire des meubles qui faisaient partie de la communauté de biens entre Champlain et Hélène Boullé, ibid., 18 (1965) 594–603.
PUBLISHED WORKS OF MARC LESCARBOT
Histoire de la Nouvelle-France, published at Paris in 1609 with English translations in the same year and another in German in 1613; French editions were reprinted in 1611, 1612, 1617, and 1618. Later French printings added new material useful for the career of Champlain. Nearly all variant editions are in the John Carter Brown Library.
Lescarbot, Marc. Histoire de la Nouvelle-France. Ed. Edwin Tross, 3 vols. (Paris, 1866).
—. History of New France, 3 vols. (Toronto, 1907). Ed. H. P. Biggar with a translation by Oxford linguist W. L. Grant.
—. Histoire de la Nouvelle-France. Ed. W. L. Grant and H. P. Biggar, 3 vols. (Toronto, 1914); La Conversion des Savvages qui ont esté baptisés en la Novvelle France, avec un bref récit du voyage du Sieur De Povtrincovrt (Paris, n.d. [1610]), rpt. in Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents 1:49–113.
—. Relation dernière de ce qui s’est passé au voyage du sieur de Poutrincourt en la Nouvelle-France depuis 20 mois en ça (Paris, 1912); rpt. Jesuit Relations 1:119–91.
—. La Conversion des Sauvages (1610; rpt. 1612).
—. Les Muses de la Nouvelle-France (Paris, 1618).
PUBLISHED PRIMARY RECORDS AND WORKS OF OTHER INDIVIDUALS
Albret, Jeanne d’. Mémoires et Poésies de Jeanne d’Albret (Paris, 1893).
Avaux, comte d’. Correspondance inédite du comte d’Avaux avec son père (1627–1642), Ed. A. Boppe (Paris, 1887).
Barbour, Philip L., ed. The Complete Works of Captain John Smith (1580–1631) 3 vols. (Chapel Hill, 1986).
Bertrand, le sieur, Lettre missive, touchant la conversion et baptesme du grand Sagamos de la nouvvelle France … a letter to his brother le sieur de la Troncheraie, June 28, 1610 (Paris, Regnoul, 1610); rpt. in Jesuit Relations 1:118–23); copy of the original in the New York Public Library.
Bideau, Michel, ed. Jacques Cartier: Relations (Montreal, 1986).
[Black Hawk] Jackson, Donald, ed. Black Hawk: An Autobiography (Urbana, Ill., 1990). Patterson, J. B., ed., Life of Mà-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiàk or Black Hawk … Dictated by Himself (Rock Island, Ill., 1833), with certificate of authenticity by Antoine LeClaire, U.S. interpreter for the Sac and Fox nations. Other editions followed in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Mobile. The first modern edition was edited by Milo Milton Quaife and published in the Lakeside Classics (Chicago, 1916) as the Life of Mà-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiàk or Black Hawk … Dictated by Himself. Ed. J. B. Patterson (Cincinnati, 1834); new edition, ed. Milo M. Quaife (Chicago, 1916).
[Bogaert] Gehring, Charles T., and William Sterna, eds. A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634–35: The Journal of Harmen Meynderts van den Bogaert (Syracuse, 1988).
[Bourbon, Antoine de] Rochambeau, marquis de. Lettres d’Antoine de Bourbon et Jeanne d’Albret (Paris, 1877).
Bueil, Honorat de, seigneur de Racan. Oeuvres complètes (Paris, 1857).
Cartier, Jacques. The Voyages of Jacques Cartier. Published from the originals with translations, notes, and appendices by H. P. Biggar (Ottawa, 1924); A Collection of Documents relating to Jacques Cartier and the Sieur de Roberval, ed. H. P. Biggar (Ottawa, 1930); The Voyages of Jacques Cartier, ed. Ramsay Cook (Toronto, 1993).
Colden, Cadwallader. History of the Five Indian Nations (1727, 1747; rpt., 1866; Ithaca, N.Y., 1958).
Charlevoix, Pierre-Francis-Xavier de. Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle France, with Journal historique, 3 vols. in quarto, 6 vols. in duodecimo (Paris, 1744). An excellent modern scholarly edition of the Voyages is Charlevoix, Journal d’un Voyage fait par ordre du roi dans l’Amérique septentrionale, ed. Pierre Berthiaume, 2 vols. (Montreal, 1994). English translations include: History and General Description of New France, trans. John Gilmary Shea 6 vols. (New York, 1866–1872, rpt. Chicago, 1962); and Louise Phelps Kellogg, Journal of a Voyage to North America, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1923).
Charlevoix, Pierre-Francis-Xavier de. Histoire de l’établissement des progrès et de la décadence du christianisme dans l’Empire du Japon, 3 vols. (Rouen, 1713).
Daniel, Charles. Voyage à la Nouvelle France du Capitaine Charles Daniel de Dieppe (1629; rpt. Rouen, 1881); CWB 6: 153–61. For an example of periodical literature see Le Mercure François 19 (1633) 802–67.
Davis, John. The Seaman’s Secrets (London, 1607). In Albert Hastings Markham, ed., The Voyages and Works of John Davis, the Navigator. Hakluyt Society, series 1, vol. 54 (London, 1880).
Denys, Nicolas. Histoire Naturelle des Peuples, des Animaux, des Arbres et Plantes de l’Amerique Septentrionale, & de ses divers Climats. Avec une Description exacte de la Pesche des Moluës, tant sur le Grand Banc qu’à la Coste; & de tout ce qui s’y pratique de plus particulier, &c (Paris, 1672). Another copy in the Public Records Office bears the date of May 10, 1687. A Dutch translation appeared in 1688, with additional text and engravings not in the French edition. A bilingual English and French edition is The Description and Natural History of the Coasts of North America (Acadia), ed. William F. Ganong, with much editorial commentary (Toronto, 1908).
[De Coste, Mathieu] “Declaration of Nicolas de Bauquemare, par laquelle il reconnaît avoir engagé le nègre Mathieu de Coste pour des services de Canada, Cadie et ailleurs; Canada, Acadie, et Nouvelle-France.” In Le Blant and Baudry, eds. Nouveaux documents, 105–06, 194, 195, 203, 212, 235, 388.
[Elena, Guillermo] Testament of Guillermo Elena, 26 June 1601. Original in the Archivo Historico Provincial, Cádiz; copy in Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa; an English translation of the Spanish original is published in Joe C. W. Armstrong, Champlain (Toronto, 1987), appendix 2, 274–78.<
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Estoile, Pierre de l’. Mémoires-Journaux 12 vols. Ed. Brunet (Paris, 1875–96).
—. The Paris of Henry of Navarre, as seen by Pierre de l’Estoile: Selections from his Mémoires-Journaux (1574–1611). Trans. and ed. by Nancy Lyman Roelker (Cambridge, 1958).
Fiefmelin, André Magé de. Les Oeuvres du Sieur Fiefmelin (Poitiers, 1601).
Gargas, M. de. “Mon Séjour de l’Acadie, 1687–88,” in William Inglis Morse, ed., Acadiensia Nova, 1598–1779 (London, 1935).
Giffard, Robert. Marriage contract. Bulletin des Recherches Historiques 9 (1903), 267–70.
—. “Concession à Robert Giffard, Sr. de Beaufort,” signed Bras-de-Fer Châteaufort, Jan. 15, 1634, N.-E. Dionne, Champlain: fondateur de Québec, 535–37.
Mercoeur, duc de. Correspondance du duc de Mercoeur. Ed. Gaston de Carné (Rennes, 1899).
Henri IV, Recueil des Lettres missives de Henri IV. Ed. M. F. Guessard, 9 vols. (Paris, 1843–76). The major source. A survey of many other published materials appears in Bernard Barbiche, ed., Lettres de Henri IV. … (Rome, 1968). A definitive modern scholars’ edition of the scattered writings of Henri IV would be a major contribution to our understanding of a great leader in modern history.
Herouard, Jean. Journal. Published as “Le Canada pendant la jeunesse de Louis XIII.” ed., A.-Léo Laymarie, Nova Francia, 1 (1925), 161–70.
Juet, Robert, “The Voyage of the Half Moon from 4 April to 7 November 1609.” In Robert M. Lunny, ed., Collection of the New Jersey Historical Society 12 (Newark, N.J., [1609] 1959).
Lahontan, Baron de. New Voyages to North America. Ed. Reuben G. Thwaites (1703; 2 vols., New York, 1970); Oeuvres complètes. Réal Ouellet and Alain Beaulieu, eds., 2 vols. (Montreal, 1990); the best edition.
La Tour, Charles Turgis de Saint-Étienne de. Letter to Louis XIII, July 25, 1627. In Trudel, Histoire de la Nouvelle-France 2:270.
Lauson, Jean de. Lettre à Richelieu, 30 juin 1627. Archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères de France. Mémoires et documents, France, vol. 785: 178r. VI 4 (March 1953) 517–35.
Layfield, Dr. John. Account of travels in the Spanish Empire, ca. 1599. In S. Purchas, ed., Hakluytus Posthumous; or Purchas His Pilgrimes … 20 vols. (Glasgow, 1905–07) 16:43–106.
[Mons, var. Monts, Montz]
W. I. Morse ed. Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, Colonial and Saintongeais (London, 1939). Other letters from de Mons are published in Biggar, CWB; Le Caron, Au Roy; Lescarbot, New France and Documents relatifs à la Nouvelle-France.
Pieresc, Nicolas-Claude de Babri, seigneur de Peiresc. “Observations de Peiresc sur les curiosités rapportées d’Acadie par Pierre du Gua, sieur de Mons,” 26 Nov. 1605 and 13 March 1606. In Le Blant and Baudry, eds., Nouveaux Documents sur Champlain, 102–06.
—. Journal. Publié par F.-W. Gravit as “Un document inédit sur le Canada.” Revue de l’Université Laval 1, 4 (1946) 282–88.
Razilly, Isaac de, “Lettre de Razilly à Lescarbot, 16 août, 1634,” Bibliothèque nationale de France, Fonds français, 13,423:349–50. Copies of this document are available in LAC and Fort Point Museum, La Have, Nova Scotia.
—. “Memoir du chevalier de Razilly, Nov. 26, 1626.” Published by Léon Deschamps as a “mémoire inédit.” Revue de Géographie (1886) 374–83, 453–64. The original is lost; a manuscript copy is in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (Paris).
[La Roche] Le Ber, Joseph. “Un document inédit sur l’Ile de Sable et le marquis de la Roche.” Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 2 (1948) 199–213.
[Thevet] Schlesinger, R., and A. P. Stabler, eds. André Thevet’s North America: A Sixteenth-Century View (Montreal, 1986).
Sully, duc de. Les économies royales 2 vols. (1611–17, Paris 1836–37). The best edition is edited by David Buisseret and Bernard Barbiche; 2 vols. (Paris, 1970, 1988).
—. Mémoires du duc de Sully. Nouvelle édition (Paris, 1822).
[Valois], Mémoires de Marguerite de Valois. Ed. M. F. Guessard (Paris, 1842).
OFFICIAL RECORDS
Bréard, Charles, and Philippe Barrey, eds. Documents relatifs à la Marine Normande aux XVe et XVIe siècles (Rouen, 1906).
Bréard, Charles, and Paul Bréard. Documents relatifs à la Marine Normande et à ses armements aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles pour le Canada, l’Afrique, les Antilles, le Brésil et les Indes (Rouen, 1889).
Bois, Monique. Inventaire des documents relatifs au Canada de 1522 à 1604 dans les tabellionages de Rouen et du Havre conservés aux archives départementales Seine-Maritime (Paris and Ottawa, 1990).
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574–1660 […] Edited by W. Noël Sainsbury […] (London, 1860).
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, 1675–1676. Also Addenda, 1574–1674 […] Edited by W. Noël Sainsbury […] (London, 1893).
Bonnault, Claude de. “Les archives d’Espagne et le Canada. Rapport sur une mission dans les archives d’Espagne.” Rapport de l’archiviste de la Province de Québec (Quebec, 1951–52 and 1952–53).
Brodhead, John Romeyn. Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York: Procured in Holland, England and France by John Romeyn Brodhead […] Edited by E. B. O’Callaghan. (Albany, 1853–87).
Collection de manuscrits contenant lettres, mémoires et autres documents historiques relatifs à la Nouvelle-France, recueillis aux Archives de la Province de Québec ou copiés à l’étranger (Quebec, 1879–88).
Pièces et documents relatifs à la tenure seigneuriale, demandés par une adresse de l’Assemblée législative, 1851 2 vols. (Quebec, 1852).
Conseil Supérieur de Québec, Complément des ordonnances et jugements des gouverneurs et intendants du Canada (Quebec, 1856).
Gosselin, Édouard. Nouvelles glanes historiques normandes puisées exclusivement dans des documents inédits (Rouen, 1873).
RELIGIOUS RECORDS: JESUITS
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents 73 volumes (Cleveland, 1896–1901, rpt. New York, 1959) is a bilingual edition of reports by Jesuits to their superiors, with many other documents. The English translations in this bilingual work, originally compiled and edited by the American historian Reuben Gold Thwaites, must be checked against the original, and used with great caution. Most helpful for a student of Champlain are relations by Pierre Biard, Charles Lalement, Énemond Massé, Paul Le Jeune, in particular: Biard, “Relation, 1614,” Jesuit Relations 3:83; 4:7–167; “Relation, 1616,” “Relation, 1633,” Jesuit Relations 5:83–85; “Relation, 1636,” Jesuit Relations 9: 218–83; Le Jeune, “Relation, 1637,” Jesuit Relations 12:86–87, 13:147; Biard, Pierre, s.j., “Relation de la Nouvelle France. Écrite en 1614,” Relations des Jésuites, 4:100 (Lyon, 1616), rpt in Jesuit Relations 3:21–283, 4:7–167.
Also of high value is another compilation by Jesuit scholar Lucien Campeau, who devoted his career to a great historical project that he called Monumenta Novae Franciae. Campeau conceived this as a subseries of the Jesuits’ Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu. His purpose was to publish all major documents relating to the Jesuits in Canada and Acadia, with another series to follow for the Illinois country and Louisiana. He intended it to supersede the large bilingual collection of Jesuit Relations by Thwaites. For a discussion of strengths and weaknesses, see “Memories of Champlain,” above.
Of particular value for Champlain are the first three volumes in Campeau’s great work: La première mission d’Acadie, 1602–1616; Établissement à Québec, 1616–1634 (Rome and Quebec, 1979); and Fondation de la mission huronne, 1635–1637. Other volumes consist of: vol. 4, Les grandes épreuves, 1638–1640; vol. 5, La bonne nouvelle reçue, 1641–1643; vol. 6, Recherche de la paix, 1644–1646; vol. 7, Le témoignage du sang, 1647–1650; vol. 8, Au bord de la ruine, 1651–1656.
Also very useful are the private letters of Jesuit father Charles Lalement, separately published:
“Lettre à Champlain, 28 juill. 1625, écrite de Québec,” in Gabriel Sagard, Histoire (ed. Tross) 3:789. Reproduced i
n Gabriel Sagard, Histoire du Canada, 4:170.
“Lettre au Provincial des Récollets, 28 juill. 1625, écrite de Québec,” in Sagard, Histoire du Canada 3:789. Reproduced according to Sagard’s text in Jesuit Relations 4:172–75.
“Lettre à son frère Jérôme, August 1, 1626, écrite de Québec,” publiée à Paris en 1627. Mercure François 13:12–34, 4:185–227.
“Lettre au Général des Jésuites, August 1626, écrite de Québec,” Jesuit Relations 4:176–83.
Extrait dv Registre de Bapteme de l’Eglise dv Port Royal en la Nouvelle France Le iour Sainct Iehan Baptiste 24. de juin [1610]: a record of the baptisms of Sagamore Membertou and his large family on St. John’s Day, 1610, by Jesse Fleche. The original is in the John Carter Brown library; published in Jesuit Relations 1:108–13; also an interesting source for the structure of a Mi’kmaq family in the early seventeenth century.
RELIGIOUS RECORDS: RÉCOLLETS
Récollet relations and other documents have not been collected as systematically as those of the Jesuits, but some individual works are of high importance.
Le Baillif, Georges. Plainte de la nouvelle France dicte Canada (Paris?, n.d.). Photocopy in Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.
Le Caron, Joseph. Au Roy sur La Nouvelle France (Paris, 1626). Photocopy in Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.
Le Clercq, Chrestien. Nouvelle relation de la Gaspesia (Paris, 1691): New Relation of Gaspesia with the Customs and Religions of the Gaspesian Indians. Vol. 5 in the publications of the Champlain Society, W. F. Ganong, ed., (Toronto, 1910).
—. Premier établissement de la foy dans la Nouvelle-France (Paris, 1691) in at least two other editions with variant titles. Published in English translation as First Establishment of the Faith in New France, ed. J. G. Shea, 2 vols. (New York, 1881).
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