Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval
Encyclopedia
Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval (c. 1500–1560) was a French nobleman and adventurer who, through his friendship with King Francis
, became the first Lieutenant General of New France
. As a corsair
he attacked towns and shipping throughout the Spanish Main
, from Cuba to Colombia. He died in Paris as one of the first Huguenot
martyrs.
, southern France
. He was also associated with Roberval, Oise
, in the north of the country.
As a young nobleman, Roberval joined the French army
in the Italian campaigns. He quickly developed a lifelong friendship with the future King Francis
, and in addition to soldiering together, they hunted on the Roberval estates. On return from the wars, he led the expensive life of a courtier, and borrowed heavily on his estates. This was a debt that would encourage his adventurism throughout his life.
, to whom the King had first given this commission on the basis of his previous two voyages to Canada, was hired as no more than a pilot. Roberval was not ready to go, but gave permission for Cartier to proceed to New France. Cartier did so in May 1541, and, with 500 colonists, built a fortified colony, Charlesbourg-Royal, near the Iroquois settlement of Stadacona
.
In order to raise additional funds, Roberval went pirating with Bidoux de Lartigue, taking several English merchant ships. Despite his pleasure at tweaking the English, Francis I diplomatically kept the peace and rebuked de Roberval.
Roberval with his three ships and 200 colonists set sail in April 1542, arriving June 8. Cartier, impatient to show the king the "gold and diamonds" he had found (which were nothing more than quartz and some iron pyrites), was already on his way home from Charlesbourg-Royal. The ships met off the coast of Newfoundland and, despite Roberval's wishes, Cartier promptly left for France with his military detachment and some discouraged colonists. Having some good maps from Cartier, the Roberval team sailed easily up the Saint Lawrence River
, to Charlesbourg-Royal, which Roberval renamed France-Roy. En route, he abandoned his near-relative Marguerite de La Rocque
with her lover on the "Isle of Demons", off the coast of Quebec
, as punishment for their affair. The young man, their servant and baby died, but Marguerite survived to be rescued by fishermen and returned to France.
The settlement lasted less than two years due to the severe winter, scurvy
, and attacks by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians
, who had been displeased with the French in the recent past (since or before 1534), not least because of Cartier's treatment of the chief Donnacona
. In 1543 a relief expedition arrived from France and Roberval decided to repatriate his little colony to France.
against Spanish ships and towns, since France and Spain were at war. (See Corsair
for a discussion of French pirates under the king's protection.) Known to the Spanish as Roberto Baal, in 1543 he attacked Rancherias and Santa Marta
, followed by an attack in 1544 on Cartagena de Indias
. In 1546 ships under his command attacked Baracoa
and Havana
. In 1547 he retired from pirating, and subsequently King Henry II
appointed Roberval as the Royal Superintendent of Mines. Despite all of these ventures and royal favor he did not manage to reconstitute his fortune. By 1555, his goods were fully mortgaged and the Château de Roberval was threatened with seizure.
, that is, a French Protestant or Huguenot
, and as such risked persecution from the Catholic Church. In 1535 he escaped hanging as a Protestant only by the intervention of the King. In his management of the Canadian expedition he showed a very Calvinistic severity. One night in Paris in 1560 as he was coming out of a Calvinist meeting, Roberval, along with his fellow Protestants, was attacked by a Catholic mob and killed.
The remains of his fortune passed to his creditors, and the Château de Roberval was repurchased by his nephew Louis de Madaillan. The dovecote is all that remains of the old chateau.
(1559) by Queen Marguerite of Navarre
. André Thevet wrote on Jean-François de Roberval, including two versions of the legend of Marguerite de Roberval in Cosmographie universelle and Le Grand Insulaire et pilotage. Court poets Clément Marot et Michel d'Amboise dedicated works to him. A Protestant poem in Latin, "Robervalensis Epitaphium", is part of an anonymous collection of poems at the National Library
in Paris.
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, became the first Lieutenant General of New France
Lieutenant General of New France
Lieutenant General of New France was the military post that governed early New France from 1598 until 1627. Before 1598, the office was briefly occupied from 1541 to 1543. The office was replaced by the title of Governor of New France in 1627...
. As a corsair
Corsair
Corsairs were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds...
he attacked towns and shipping throughout the Spanish Main
Spanish Main
In the days of the Spanish New World Empire, the mainland of the American continent enclosing the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico was referred to as the Spanish Main. It included present-day Florida, the east shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Mexico, Central America and the north coast of...
, from Cuba to Colombia. He died in Paris as one of the first Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
martyrs.
Early life and soldiering
Roberval was born in CarcassonneCarcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
, southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He was also associated with Roberval, Oise
Roberval, Oise
Roberval, Oise is a small village in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise....
, in the north of the country.
As a young nobleman, Roberval joined the French army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
in the Italian campaigns. He quickly developed a lifelong friendship with the future King Francis
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, and in addition to soldiering together, they hunted on the Roberval estates. On return from the wars, he led the expensive life of a courtier, and borrowed heavily on his estates. This was a debt that would encourage his adventurism throughout his life.
Attempt at colonizing Canada
On 15 January 1541, Francis I of France gave Roberval a commission to settle the province of Canada and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith". The King provided some funds for this expedition and three ships, the Valentine, the Anne and the Lechefraye. Jacques CartierJacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...
, to whom the King had first given this commission on the basis of his previous two voyages to Canada, was hired as no more than a pilot. Roberval was not ready to go, but gave permission for Cartier to proceed to New France. Cartier did so in May 1541, and, with 500 colonists, built a fortified colony, Charlesbourg-Royal, near the Iroquois settlement of Stadacona
Stadacona
Stadacona was a 16th century St. Lawrence Iroquoian village near present-day Quebec City.French explorer and navigator Jacques Cartier, travelling and charting the Saint Lawrence River, reached it on 7 September 1535. He returned to Stadacona to spend the winter there with his group of 110 men...
.
In order to raise additional funds, Roberval went pirating with Bidoux de Lartigue, taking several English merchant ships. Despite his pleasure at tweaking the English, Francis I diplomatically kept the peace and rebuked de Roberval.
Roberval with his three ships and 200 colonists set sail in April 1542, arriving June 8. Cartier, impatient to show the king the "gold and diamonds" he had found (which were nothing more than quartz and some iron pyrites), was already on his way home from Charlesbourg-Royal. The ships met off the coast of Newfoundland and, despite Roberval's wishes, Cartier promptly left for France with his military detachment and some discouraged colonists. Having some good maps from Cartier, the Roberval team sailed easily up the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
, to Charlesbourg-Royal, which Roberval renamed France-Roy. En route, he abandoned his near-relative Marguerite de La Rocque
Marguerite de La Rocque
Marguerite de La Rocque de Roberval was a French noblewoman who spent some years marooned on the Île des Démons in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, off the coast of Quebec...
with her lover on the "Isle of Demons", off the coast of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, as punishment for their affair. The young man, their servant and baby died, but Marguerite survived to be rescued by fishermen and returned to France.
The settlement lasted less than two years due to the severe winter, scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
, and attacks by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians
St. Lawrence Iroquoians
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians were a prehistoric First Nations/Native American indigenous people who lived from the 14th century until about 1580 CE along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and New York State, United States. They spoke Laurentian...
, who had been displeased with the French in the recent past (since or before 1534), not least because of Cartier's treatment of the chief Donnacona
Donnacona
Chief Donnacona was the chief of Stadacona located at the present site of Quebec City, Canada. French Explorer Jacques Cartier, concluding his second voyage to what is now Canada, returned to France with Donnacona. Donnacona was treated well in France but died there...
. In 1543 a relief expedition arrived from France and Roberval decided to repatriate his little colony to France.
Piracy in the Caribbean
Taking his disappointment at the failed Canadian venture and his ships, Roberval again went pirating (privateering), this time in the CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
against Spanish ships and towns, since France and Spain were at war. (See Corsair
Corsair
Corsairs were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds...
for a discussion of French pirates under the king's protection.) Known to the Spanish as Roberto Baal, in 1543 he attacked Rancherias and Santa Marta
Santa Marta
Santa Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
, followed by an attack in 1544 on Cartagena de Indias
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
. In 1546 ships under his command attacked Baracoa
Baracoa
Baracoa is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in 1511...
and Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
. In 1547 he retired from pirating, and subsequently King Henry II
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
appointed Roberval as the Royal Superintendent of Mines. Despite all of these ventures and royal favor he did not manage to reconstitute his fortune. By 1555, his goods were fully mortgaged and the Château de Roberval was threatened with seizure.
Religion and death
Roberval was an early convert to CalvinismCalvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
, that is, a French Protestant or Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
, and as such risked persecution from the Catholic Church. In 1535 he escaped hanging as a Protestant only by the intervention of the King. In his management of the Canadian expedition he showed a very Calvinistic severity. One night in Paris in 1560 as he was coming out of a Calvinist meeting, Roberval, along with his fellow Protestants, was attacked by a Catholic mob and killed.
The remains of his fortune passed to his creditors, and the Château de Roberval was repurchased by his nephew Louis de Madaillan. The dovecote is all that remains of the old chateau.
In literature
Rabelais spoke of him as Robert Valbringue. His marooning of Marguerite de la Roque de Roberval, his young relative, and her rescue, is recounted in novella 67 of the HeptameronHeptameron
The Heptameron is a collection of 72 short stories written in French by Marguerite of Navarre, published in 1558. It has the form of a frame narrative and was inspired by The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio...
(1559) by Queen Marguerite of Navarre
Marguerite de Navarre
Marguerite de Navarre , also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was the queen consort of Henry II of Navarre...
. André Thevet wrote on Jean-François de Roberval, including two versions of the legend of Marguerite de Roberval in Cosmographie universelle and Le Grand Insulaire et pilotage. Court poets Clément Marot et Michel d'Amboise dedicated works to him. A Protestant poem in Latin, "Robervalensis Epitaphium", is part of an anonymous collection of poems at the National Library
National library
A national library is a library specifically established by the government of a country to serve as the preeminent repository of information for that country. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books...
in Paris.