FLESH REBORN
MCGILL-QUEEN’S FRENCH ATLANTIC WORLDS SERIES
Series editors: Nicholas Dew and Jean-Pierre Le Glaunec
The French Atlantic world has emerged as a rich and dynamic field of historical research. This series will showcase a new generation of scholarship exploring the worlds of the French Atlantic – including West Africa, the greater Caribbean region, and the continental Americas – from the sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. Books in the series will explore how the societies of the French Atlantic were shaped and connected by transoceanic networks of colonialism, how local and indigenous cultures and environments shaped colonial projects, and how the diverse peoples of the French Atlantic understood and experienced their worlds. Especially welcome are histories from the perspectives of the enslaved and dispossessed. Comparative studies are encouraged and the series will accept manuscript submissions in English and in French. Original works of scholarship are preferred, though translations of landmark books in the field will be considered.
Le monde atlantique français est devenu un domaine de recherche riche et dynamique au sein de la discipline historique. La présente collection a pour vocation d’accueillir une nouvelle génération d’ouvrages explorant les espaces de l’Atlantique français – y compris l’Afrique de l’Ouest, la grande région des Caraïbes et les Amériques continentales – du début du XVIe siècle jusqu’au milieu du XIXe siècle. Les œuvres qui y sont publiées explorent de quelles manières les sociétés de l’Atlantique français sont façonnées et reliées par les réseaux transocéaniques issus du colonialisme, de quelle manière les cultures locales et leurs environnements influencent les projets coloniaux, et comment les divers peuples de l’Atlantique français comprennent et expérimentent leurs mondes. Les ouvrages donnant la parole aux esclaves ou aux acteurs traditionnellement dominés sont particulièrement bienvenus, tout comme les recherches comparées. La collection est ouverte aux manuscrits rédigés en anglais ou en français, de préférence des monographies originales, ainsi qu’aux traductions de livres ayant marqué le domaine.
1 Architecture and Urbanism in the French Atlantic Empire
State, Church, and Society, 1604–1830
Gauvin Alexander Bailey
2 Flesh Reborn
The Saint Lawrence Valley Mission Settlements through the Seventeenth Century
Jean-François Lozier
FLESH REBORN
The Saint Lawrence Valley
Mission Settlements
through the Seventeenth Century
JEAN-FRANÇOIS LOZIER
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago
© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2018
ISBN 978-0-7735-5344-6 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-7735-5345-3 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-7735-5397-2 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-7735-5398-9 (ePUB)
Legal deposit third quarter 2018
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Lozier, Jean-François, 1980–, author
Flesh reborn : the Saint Lawrence Valley mission settlements through the seventeenth century / Jean-François Lozier.
(McGill-Queen’s French Atlantic worlds series ; 2)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-7735-5344-6 (hardcover). – ISBN 978-0-7735-5345-3 (softcover). – ISBN 978-0-7735-5397-2 (ePDF). – ISBN 978-0-7735-5398-9 (ePUB)
1. Indians of North America – Saint Lawrence River Valley – History – 17th century. 2. Indians of North America – Saint Lawrence River Valley – Government relations – History – 17th century. 3. Saint Lawrence River Valley – History – 17th century. 4. Canada – History – 17th century. I. Title.
E78.Q3L69 2018
971.4004'97
C2018-904492-6
C2018-904493-4
This book was typeset by True to Type in 10.5/13 Sabon
Contents
Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Sowing Seeds: Patterns of Subsistence, Settlement, and Conflict among the Saint Lawrence Algonquians, 1600–1637
2 Friends and Brothers: Leadership, Alliance, and Settlement at Kamiskouaouangachit and Beyond, 1637–1650
3 The Enemy’s Arms: Iroquoian Lifeways, Warfare, and Wendat Migration to the Saint Lawrence Valley, 1649–1651
4 Promised Lands: Wendat Endurance in the Saint Lawrence Valley, 1651–1666
5 Flesh Born Again: New and Old Iroquois in the Mission Settlements, 1667–1680
6 Against Their Own: War between the Christian and League Iroquois, 1684–1690
7 In Their Place: Wabanaki Alliances and Migrations, 1675–1700
8 The Tree of Peace: The Escalation and Resolution of the Iroquois War, 1690–1701
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Figures
1.1
Map of the mission communities in 1701
2.1
Map of the Saint Lawrence Algonquian mission settlements
2.2
Kamiskouaouangachit (Sillery) as depicted by the engineer Robert de Villeneuve
2.3
Devotional objects found on the site of Kamiskouaouangachit
3.1
Iroquois warriors returning with a captive and two scalps, attributed to Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot
3.2
“France bringing the Faith to the Hurons of New France,” attributed to Frère Luc, ca. 1666
4.1
Map of Quebec showing the Wendat compound in the Upper Town of Quebec, by Jean Bourdon
5.1
Map showing the relocations of the Wendat community near Quebec
5.2
“The six first Natives of La Prairie arriving from Oneida on snow and ice, by Claude Chauchetière,” ca. 1686
5.3
Bird’s eye view of Quebec and vicinity showing the Wendat village at Notre Dame de Foy, by Jean-Baptiste Franquelin
5.4
The mission settlement at Lorette (today Ancienne Lorette), by Robert de Villeneuve
5.5
Map of the mission communities of the Montreal region
5.6
Wampum belt given by the people of Lorette to those of Kahnawake
6.1
Mark of Togouirout
6.2
Plan of Kanehsatake, by François Vachon de Belmont
7.1
Map showing the relocations of the Wabanaki missions near Quebec
8.1
Marks of Haronhiateka and Mechayon
Acknowledgments
Among the many traits shared by the culturally diverse peoples at the center of this book was a habit of thanksgiving. The twenty-first-century world of academic book publishing knows its own ritual of acknowledgment, its core wisdom in many ways not so differen
t from the Te Deums or Ohenton Karihwatehkwen that were heard in the churches and longhouses of the Saint Lawrence valley during the seventeenth century: before all else, give thanks. It makes it all the more meaningful and pleasurable to have this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to those without whom this book would not have been possible.
I am profoundly indebted to Allan Greer for his unfailing guidance and encouragement, as well as to Jan Grabowski, Kenneth Mills, Denys Delâge, and Roy Wright for providing me with essential advice at critical junctures over the years. Their enthusiasm for the past has been contagious, and they continue to inspire me as a teacher, researcher, and writer. Sadly, Roy passed away as I was finalizing this manuscript. He will be sorely missed. Beyond this core, a great number of colleagues, friends, and acquaintances have also enriched my knowledge and insights into the subject matter of this book – or otherwise supplied me with precious distractions and emotional support. I would like to extend a word of thanks to Emma Anderson, Alain Beaulieu, Damien-Claude Bélanger, Carl Benn, Matthew Betts, John Bishop, Darren Bonaparte, Kevin Brousseau, Marge Bruchac, Brian Carroll, Philippe Charland, Isabelle Charron, René Chartrand, Leslie Choquette, Muriel Clair, Paul Cohen, Peter Cook, Sébastien Côté, Edward Countryman, Wahsontiio Cross, Christian Crouch, Kerri Davis, Sylvie Dépatie, Catherine Desbarats, Dominique Deslandres, Anne DeStecher, Guy Dondo, Alexandre Dubé, Matthew Dziennik, Robert Englebert, Timothy Foran, Joseph Gagné, Xavier Gélinas, Maxime Gohier, Suzanne Gousse, Benoît Grenier, Gilles Havard, Adrienne Hood, Christophe Horguelin, Frédéric Hottin, Martin Hubley, Ann Hunter, Cornelius Jaenen, Anik Laflèche, Jonathan Lainey, François Lalonde, Anne Marie Lane Jonah, Patrick Laurin, David Ledoyen, Peter MacLeod, Kathryn Magee Labelle, Alexandre Michaud, Cory Karhowane McComber, Françoise Moreau-Johnson, Michel Morin, Jan Noel, Alison Norman, Christopher Parsons, Forrest Pass, Thomas Peace, Joshua Piker, Jean-Luc Pilon, Lisa Poirier, Eric Pouliot Thisdale, Brian Rice, James Rice, Michael Rice, Daniel Richter, Léon Robichaud, Daniel Rück, Brett Rushforth, Karen Ryan, Laura Sanchini, Francis Scardera, Margaret Schotte, Renaud Séguin, John Steckley, Nicole St-Onge, Andrew Sturtevant, Guillaume Teasdale, Éric Thierry, James Trepanier, Roland Viau, and Thomas Wien. If I have left anyone out, it was not my intention.
Over the years I have also benefited from the support of several wonderful institutions, including the University of Toronto, where I first set out to write the dissertation that has grown into this book, and the Canadian Museum of History, where its underlying ideas had the opportunity to mature. A temporary professorship at the University of Ottawa, combined with a leave of absence from the museum, made it possible to bring the project to fruition – I am exceedingly grateful to Dean Oliver, Alan Elder, and Jean-Marc Blais, at the museum, as well as to Kevin Kee, Kouky Fianu, and Sylvie Perrier, at the University of Ottawa, for having allowed this accommodation.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council contributed to the initial iteration of this project by means of a generous doctoral fellowship, and short-term research fellowships from the Newberry Library and American Philosophical Society provided me with profoundly stimulating experiences. I have likewise gained much from the opportunity to test some of my findings at conferences organized by the Canadian Historical Association, the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française, the Omohundro Institute of Early American History, the French Colonial Historical Society, the American Society for Ethnohistory, the Algonquian Research Conference, the Conference on Iroquois Research, and the Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference. The book at hand would be very different, and far less interesting, were it not for the feedback received on such occasions.
Many thanks to the helpful staff of Library and Archives Canada, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, of the library and archives of the Canadian Museum of History and Canadian War Museum, of the American Philosophical Society, Newberry Library, New York Historical Society, New York State Archives, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Archives nationales de France, and of the libraries of the Universities of Toronto and Ottawa. A special note of appreciation goes out to Marc Lacasse and David Émond, of the Archives du Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice de Montréal; Theresa Rowat and Jacques Monet, of the Archive of the Jesuits in Canada; Peter Gagné, of the Centre de référence de l’Amérique française; Marlaine DesChamps, of Union College, Schenectady; Agnès Vatican, of the Archives départementales de la Gironde; as well as to Éric Chalifoux, of Recherches amérindiennes au Québec. Several other people fielded my email queries and cold calls in search of unpublished archaeological and urban planning reports: William Moss, Eric Dumas, and Dominique Lauzier, of the Ville de Québec; Martin Blais, of the municipality of L’Ancienne-Lorette; and Réginald Auger, of Université Laval.
I am indebted to McGill-Queen’s University Press for seeing the merit of this project. Kyla Madden and Ryan Van Huijstee shepherded the process with an enthusiasm and patience for which I am ever grateful. Additional thanks go to Finn Purcell and the broader editorial team, as well as to the anonymous referees who reviewed the manuscript, to Colleen Gray for her thoughtful editing, and to Andrée Héroux for her cartographic skills.
Finally, I would like to thank the people closest to me, who have endured the most. I dedicate this book to Albert and Françoise Lozier, to Genevieve Bonenfant – and to Augustin and Étienne who, while I was plodding along on this manuscript, suddenly brought new perspective into my life.
FLESH REBORN
Introduction
On the last day of June 1665, ten or twelve men gathered to welcome Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy, Louis XIV’s newly landed lieutenant general in America. They represented a community of perhaps a hundred Wendats – Hurons as the French knew them – who had spent the last fifteen years residing at the heart of the French colony, the last nine of them at the very core of its capital, the town of Quebec, almost a thousand kilometers from the land their people had occupied in far greater numbers a generation earlier. They had been forced from this homeland by the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, who also jeopardized the existence of New France. Louis XIV, having taken over the colony two years prior from an apathetic charter company, now sent some thirteen hundred soldiers under Tracy’s command to ensure the defeat of this common enemy.1
It is difficult to get a clear picture of this encounter. The French state had not yet developed its colonial office, and its governors were not yet in the habit of having their clerks record and send to court detailed minutes of their councils with Indigenous diplomats. Our only glimpse of them comes from the Relation prepared by the personnel of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, and published in Paris a year later. Characteristically, these missionary chroniclers leave us guessing about many features of the meeting. Tracy, having fallen ill at sea, “weak and reduced by fever,” had asked the townspeople to dispense with the reception that had been prepared for him, and instead went to the church of Notre Dame de Québec to thank his God for the safe journey with a Te Deum, the standard hymn of praise. Whether out of personal curiosity, a sense of the occasion, or because the locals explained to him that it would be impolitic to dispense with it, the lieutenant general also agreed to hear the Wendats who were “determined” to welcome him “according to the customs of their country.” These were not only precious allies, but also neighbours whose presence would have been impossible to overlook. The “Fort des Hurons,” a palisaded enclosure which contained their longhouses, occupied the space between the town’s church and Château Saint Louis, the governor’s residence and seat of government itself. Where, exactly, the Wendats and Tracy met is unclear. Perhaps it was in the Château, in the absence of Governor Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle who would arrive only later that fall, or maybe it was in the building that until recently had served as a courthouse, where Tracy soon established his own household. It is also possible that the meeting took place within the Wendat enclosure, in the longhouse where these Indigenous people usually held their councils. Perhaps it oc
curred in the open air, outside any of these structures. Besides the Wendat headmen and Tracy himself, the assembly included some of Tracy’s retinue of personal guards and pages, and very likely other officers and leading colonists. The bishop, François de Laval, who had presided over the church ceremony, may have been present as well. A few Jesuits were certainly there, acting as translators – probably their superior, Jérôme Lalemant, François-Joseph Le Mercier who would soon succeed him, and undoubtedly also Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot, all men who had spent years living among the Wendats.2
Le Mercier, who reported the event, did not think it useful to name the speaker for his readers, figuring that it was enough to simply tell them that he was one of the oldest and most distinguished of the Wendat leaders. The names of leaders mentioned elsewhere during these years allow us to speculate, if hopelessly, that it may have been Louis Taiaeronk, Louis Thaondechoren, or Joseph Sondouskon – or someone else altogether. We do not know whether this man and his peers had donned wool coats in the French style, as Indigenous leaders had taken up the habit of doing on diplomatic occasions, or whether they were dressed in more traditional fashion in a deerskin breechclout, wearing over their naked shoulders a mantle of beaver, moose, or bear skin ornamented with paint or dyed porcupine quills. These men probably wore necklaces and bracelets of wampum, white and deep purple shell beads of great value, but also glass beads, and quite likely crucifixes and devotional medals too. Le Mercier mentions that the speaker punctuated his speech with presents of dressed and painted moose skins, as was the custom, to ritually support his words.3 These words, as far as the missionary was concerned, were what mattered most. The transcript of the encounter, although it was most certainly condensed, filled ten pages of the printed Relation. The Wendat elder spoke with facial expressions, gestures, and an eloquence that left a deep impression on the assembly, addressing the lieutenant general as Onontio, meaning “Great Mountain,” the name that Indigenous allies had come to use to refer to successive French governors:
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