Marc Lescarbot
Encyclopedia
Marc Lescarbot was a French author, poet and lawyer
, best known for his Histoire de la Nouvelle-France
(1609), based on his expedition to Acadia (1606-1607) and research into French exploration. Considered one of the first great books in the history of Canada, it was printed in three editions, and was translated into German and twice into English. He also wrote numerous poems, including the Théâtre de Neptune, which was performed at Port Royal
as the first theatrical production in North America. In 2006, on its 400th anniversary, the piece was revived in Canada.
, and his family was said to be from nearby Guise
in Picardy
. He wrote that his ancestors originated in Saint-Pol-de-Léon
, Brittany
. He first studied at the Collège in Vervins
, then at Laon
, now part of Reims
. Thanks to the protection of Msgr. Valentine Duglas, the bishop of Laon, he was supported by the Collège of Laon
to complete his studies in Paris. He had a classical education, learning Latin
, Greek
, and Hebrew, and acquiring a wide knowledge of ancient and modern literatures. He also studied canonical and civil law
.
in 1598, he took a minor part in the negotiations for the Treaty of Vervins between Spain and France. At a moment when the discussions seemed doomed to failure, Lescarbot delivered a Latin discours in defence of peace. when the treaty was concluded, he composed a "Harangue d’action de grâces", wrote a commemorative inscription, and published Poèmes de la Paix.
In 1599 he was called to the Parlement of Paris as a lawyer. He also translated into French three Latin works: le Discours de l’origine des Russiens and the Discours véritable de la réunion des églises by Cardinal Baronius, and the Guide des curés by St. Charles Borromeo, which he dedicated to the new bishop of Laon, Godefroy de Billy. It was published in 1613, after that dignitary's death.
Leacarbot lived in Paris, where he associated with men of letters, such as the scholars Frederic and Claude Morel
, his first printers, and the poet Guillaume Colletet
, who wrote a biography
of him, since lost. Interested in medicine
, Lescarbot translated into French a pamphlet by Dr. Citois, Histoire merveilleuse de l’abstinence triennale d’une fille de Confolens (1602). But he also travelled and maintained contact with his native region, where he had relatives and friends, such as the poets the Laroque brothers, and where he attracted law clients.
, who was associated with the Canadian enterprises of the Sieur Du Gua de Monts, invited Lescarbot to accompany them on an expedition to Acadia
, and he quickly accepted. He wrote an "Adieu à la France" in verse, and embarked at La Rochelle
on 13 May 1606.
The party reached Port-Royal
in July and spent the remainder of the year there. The following spring they made a trip to the Saint John River and Île Sainte-Croix
, where they encountered the Algonquian
-speaking indigenous peoples whom the French called the Malécites and Mik maq. Lescarbot recorded the numbers from one to ten in Maliseet, together with making notes on the native songs and languages. When de Monts's licence was revoked in the summer of 1607, the whole colony had to return to France.
. The first edition was published in Paris in 1609, by the bookseller Jean Millot. The author recounted the early voyages of René Goulaine de Laudonnière
, Jean Ribault
, and Dominique de Gourgues to present-day Florida
; those of Durand de Villegaignon
and Jean de Léry
to Brazil; and those of Verrazzano, Jacques Cartier
, and Jean-François Roberval to Canada. The last section was the least original part of his work, and relied on published sources.
Lescarbot's history of de Monts's ventures in Acadia was original work. During his year at Port-Royal, he met the survivors of the short-lived settlement at Sainte-Croix; talked with François Gravé Du Pont
, de Monts, and Samuel de Champlain
, the promoters and members of the earlier expeditions; and visited old fishing captains, who knew Newfoundland and the Acadian coasts. His account was firsthand from what he had seen, or learned from those who had taken part in the events or witnessed them at first hand.
In the successive editions of his Histoire, in 1611–12 and 1617–18, and in his complementary pamphlets, "La conversion des sauvages" (1610) and the "Relation derrière" (1612), Lescarbot reshaped and completed his account. (The Catholic Encyclopedia says it went through six editions from 1609-1618.) He added material on Poutrincourt's resettlement of the colony, as well as his and his son Charles de Biencourt's disputes with their competitors and the Jesuits Biard, Massé and Du Thet, and Argall
's ruin of Acadia. Lescarbot relied on the accounts of Poutrincourt, Biencourt, Imbert, or other witnesses. His work expresses their point of view, but it is valuable for recounting incidents and texts that would otherwise have been lost.
He devoted the last section of his Histoire to describing the aboriginal natives. Keenly interested in the First Nations
peoples, he frequently visited the Souriquois (Micmaq) chiefs and warriors while in Canada. He observed their customs, collected their remarks, and recorded their chants. In many respects he found them more civilized and virtuous than Europeans, but in his book, he expressed pity for their ignorance of the pleasures of wine and love.
Lescarbot had strong opinions about the colonies, which he saw as a field of action for men of courage, an outlet for trade, a social benefit, and a means for the mother country to extend her influence. He favoured a commercial monopoly as a way of meeting the expenses of colonization; for him, freedom of trade led only to anarchy, and produced nothing stable. Lescarbot sided with his patron Poutrincourt in his dispute with the Jesuits. Historians do not believe that he wrote the satire the Factum of 1614 [see General Bibliography] that some authors attribute to him; he was working in Switzerland when it was published.
All the editions of the Histoire include, as an appendix, a short collection of poems called Les muses de la Nouvelle-France, which were also published separately. Lescarbot dedicated the book to Brulart de Sillery. Like his contemporary Malherbe, Lescarbot tended to write poetry as an occasional diversion and a means of pleasing the elite to acquire patronage. He had a feeling for nature and a keen sensibility, and sometimes found agreeable rhythms and images; but his verse is considered clumsy and hastily wrought.
His Théâtre de Neptune, which is part of the Muses, was performed as a theatrical presentation at Port-Royal to celebrate Poutrincourt's return. In a nautical work, the god Neptune
arrives by bark
to welcome the traveller. He is surrounded by a court of Triton
s and Indians, who recite in turn, in French, Gascon
, and Souriquois verse, praises of colonial leaders, followed by singing the glory of the French king, to the sound of trumpets and firing cannons. This performance in the Port-Royal harbour, with its mixture of paganism and mythology, was the first theatrical presentation in North America.
Lescarbot dedicated the second edition of his Histoire to President Jeannin, whose son-in-law, Pierre de Castille, hired Lescarbot as his secretary and took him to Switzerland. Castille had been appointed ambassador to the Thirteen Cantons. The post allowed Lescarbot to travel, visit part of Germany, and frequent the watering-places. He wrote a Tableau de la Suisse, in poetry and prose, a half-descriptive, half-historical production. He was appointed to the office of naval commissary. When the Tableau was published (1618), the king sent him a gratuity of 300 livres.
In 1629, he published two poems about the siege of La Rochelle
: La chasse aux Anglais (Hunting the English) and La victoire du roy (The King's Victory), possibly seeking favor with Richelieu. With continuing interest in New France, Lescarbot stayed in touch with Charles de Biencourt and Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour. He also corresponded with Isaac de Razilly, governor of Acadia. Razilly recounted details about the founding of La Hève, and invited Lescarbot to settle in Acadia with his wife. He chose to stay in Presles, where he died in 1642. With no children, he left his assets to his brother Claude and to his nephew; his wife survived him.
Lescarbot is considered a picturesque figure among the annalists of New France. Between Champlain
, the man of action, and the missionaries concerned with evangelization, the lawyer-poet is a scholar and a humanist, a disciple of Ronsard and Montaigne. He had intellectual curiosity and embraced the Graeco-Latin culture of the Renaissance
. Although a Roman Catholic, Lescarbot was friends with Protestants; his attitude of independent judgment and free inquiry contributed to a reputation for unorthodoxy. He was a faithful reflection of his period.
He was a prolific writer in a variety of genres - evidence of his intelligence and the range of his talents. He wrote some manuscript notes and miscellaneous poems. He is believed to have written several pamphlets, published anonymously or left in manuscript, including a Traité de la polygamie, which he had talked about. He was also a musician, a calligrapher, and a draughtsman. Canadian folklorists can claim him, since he was the first to record the notation of Indian songs.
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, best known for his Histoire de la Nouvelle-France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
(1609), based on his expedition to Acadia (1606-1607) and research into French exploration. Considered one of the first great books in the history of Canada, it was printed in three editions, and was translated into German and twice into English. He also wrote numerous poems, including the Théâtre de Neptune, which was performed at Port Royal
Port Royal
Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...
as the first theatrical production in North America. In 2006, on its 400th anniversary, the piece was revived in Canada.
Early life
Lescarbot was born in VervinsVervins
Vervins is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Population:-References:*...
, and his family was said to be from nearby Guise
Guise
Guise is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-Population:-Sights:The ruins of the medieval castle of Guise, seat of the Dukes of Guise, are located in the commune.-Miscellaneous:...
in Picardy
Picardy
This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
. He wrote that his ancestors originated in Saint-Pol-de-Léon
Saint-Pol-de-Léon
Saint-Pol-de-Léon is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretange in northwestern France, located on the coast.It is famous for its 13th-century cathedral on the site of the original founded by Saint Paul Aurelian in the 6th century. It has kept a unique architecture, such as Notre-Dame du...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. He first studied at the Collège in Vervins
Vervins
Vervins is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Population:-References:*...
, then at Laon
Laon
Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...
, now part of Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
. Thanks to the protection of Msgr. Valentine Duglas, the bishop of Laon, he was supported by the Collège of Laon
Laon
Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...
to complete his studies in Paris. He had a classical education, learning Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, and Hebrew, and acquiring a wide knowledge of ancient and modern literatures. He also studied canonical and civil law
Civil law (legal system)
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...
.
Early career
After graduating as a Bachelor of LawsBachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
in 1598, he took a minor part in the negotiations for the Treaty of Vervins between Spain and France. At a moment when the discussions seemed doomed to failure, Lescarbot delivered a Latin discours in defence of peace. when the treaty was concluded, he composed a "Harangue d’action de grâces", wrote a commemorative inscription, and published Poèmes de la Paix.
In 1599 he was called to the Parlement of Paris as a lawyer. He also translated into French three Latin works: le Discours de l’origine des Russiens and the Discours véritable de la réunion des églises by Cardinal Baronius, and the Guide des curés by St. Charles Borromeo, which he dedicated to the new bishop of Laon, Godefroy de Billy. It was published in 1613, after that dignitary's death.
Leacarbot lived in Paris, where he associated with men of letters, such as the scholars Frederic and Claude Morel
Claude Morel
Claude Sylvestre Anthony Morel is a Seychellois diplomat.He was the Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director-General for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Permanent Representative to the European Commission in Brussels...
, his first printers, and the poet Guillaume Colletet
Guillaume Colletet
Guillaume Colletet was a French poet and a founder member of the Académie française. His son was François Colletet.-Life:Colletet was born and died in Paris...
, who wrote a biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of him, since lost. Interested in medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, Lescarbot translated into French a pamphlet by Dr. Citois, Histoire merveilleuse de l’abstinence triennale d’une fille de Confolens (1602). But he also travelled and maintained contact with his native region, where he had relatives and friends, such as the poets the Laroque brothers, and where he attracted law clients.
Expedition to Acadia
One of his clients, Jean de Biencourt de PoutrincourtJean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just
Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just was a member of the French nobility best remembered as a commander of the French colonial empire, one of those responsible for establishing the most successful among early attempts to establish a permanent settlement in the North American...
, who was associated with the Canadian enterprises of the Sieur Du Gua de Monts, invited Lescarbot to accompany them on an expedition to Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
, and he quickly accepted. He wrote an "Adieu à la France" in verse, and embarked at La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
on 13 May 1606.
The party reached Port-Royal
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...
in July and spent the remainder of the year there. The following spring they made a trip to the Saint John River and Île Sainte-Croix
Saint Croix Island, Maine
Saint Croix Island , long known to locals as Dochet Island, is a small uninhabited island in Maine near the mouth of the Saint Croix River that forms part of the International Boundary separating Maine from New Brunswick....
, where they encountered the Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
-speaking indigenous peoples whom the French called the Malécites and Mik maq. Lescarbot recorded the numbers from one to ten in Maliseet, together with making notes on the native songs and languages. When de Monts's licence was revoked in the summer of 1607, the whole colony had to return to France.
Life in France
On his return, Lescarbot published a poem on La défaite des sauvages armouchiquois (1607). Inspired by seeing parts of the New World, he wrote an extensive history of the French settlements in the Americas, the Histoire de la Nouvelle-FranceNew France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
. The first edition was published in Paris in 1609, by the bookseller Jean Millot. The author recounted the early voyages of René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière was a French Huguenot explorer and the founder of the French colony of Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, Florida...
, Jean Ribault
Jean Ribault
Jean Ribault was a French naval officer, navigator, and a colonizer of what would become the southeastern United States. He was a major figure in the French attempts to colonize Florida...
, and Dominique de Gourgues to present-day Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
; those of Durand de Villegaignon
Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon
Nicolas Durand, sieur de Villegaignon, also Villegagnon was a Commander of the Knights of Malta, and later a French naval officer who attempted to help the Huguenots in France escape persecution.A notable public figure in his time, Villegaignon was a mixture of soldier,...
and Jean de Léry
Jean de Léry
Jean de Léry was an explorer, writer and Reformed Pastor born in Lamargelle, Côte-d'Or, France. Little is known of his early life; and he might have remained unknown had he not accompanied a group of Protestants to their new colony on an island in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil...
to Brazil; and those of Verrazzano, Jacques Cartier
Jacques 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...
, and Jean-François Roberval to Canada. The last section was the least original part of his work, and relied on published sources.
Lescarbot's history of de Monts's ventures in Acadia was original work. During his year at Port-Royal, he met the survivors of the short-lived settlement at Sainte-Croix; talked with François Gravé Du Pont
François Gravé Du Pont
François Gravé , said Du Pont , was a French navigator , an early fur trader and explorer in the New World.Gravé Du Pont is known to have traded furs in the New France, since maybe 1580, surely before 1599, reaching Trois-Rivières in...
, de Monts, and Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
, the promoters and members of the earlier expeditions; and visited old fishing captains, who knew Newfoundland and the Acadian coasts. His account was firsthand from what he had seen, or learned from those who had taken part in the events or witnessed them at first hand.
In the successive editions of his Histoire, in 1611–12 and 1617–18, and in his complementary pamphlets, "La conversion des sauvages" (1610) and the "Relation derrière" (1612), Lescarbot reshaped and completed his account. (The Catholic Encyclopedia says it went through six editions from 1609-1618.) He added material on Poutrincourt's resettlement of the colony, as well as his and his son Charles de Biencourt's disputes with their competitors and the Jesuits Biard, Massé and Du Thet, and Argall
Argall
Argall is a surname, and may refer to:* Dave Argall*John Argall* Philip Argall* Samuel Argall** William Vollmann's historical novel Argall: The True Story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith; Samuel Argall is the titular character....
's ruin of Acadia. Lescarbot relied on the accounts of Poutrincourt, Biencourt, Imbert, or other witnesses. His work expresses their point of view, but it is valuable for recounting incidents and texts that would otherwise have been lost.
He devoted the last section of his Histoire to describing the aboriginal natives. Keenly interested in the First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
peoples, he frequently visited the Souriquois (Micmaq) chiefs and warriors while in Canada. He observed their customs, collected their remarks, and recorded their chants. In many respects he found them more civilized and virtuous than Europeans, but in his book, he expressed pity for their ignorance of the pleasures of wine and love.
Lescarbot had strong opinions about the colonies, which he saw as a field of action for men of courage, an outlet for trade, a social benefit, and a means for the mother country to extend her influence. He favoured a commercial monopoly as a way of meeting the expenses of colonization; for him, freedom of trade led only to anarchy, and produced nothing stable. Lescarbot sided with his patron Poutrincourt in his dispute with the Jesuits. Historians do not believe that he wrote the satire the Factum of 1614 [see General Bibliography] that some authors attribute to him; he was working in Switzerland when it was published.
All the editions of the Histoire include, as an appendix, a short collection of poems called Les muses de la Nouvelle-France, which were also published separately. Lescarbot dedicated the book to Brulart de Sillery. Like his contemporary Malherbe, Lescarbot tended to write poetry as an occasional diversion and a means of pleasing the elite to acquire patronage. He had a feeling for nature and a keen sensibility, and sometimes found agreeable rhythms and images; but his verse is considered clumsy and hastily wrought.
His Théâtre de Neptune, which is part of the Muses, was performed as a theatrical presentation at Port-Royal to celebrate Poutrincourt's return. In a nautical work, the god Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
arrives by bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
to welcome the traveller. He is surrounded by a court of Triton
Triton (mythology)
Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the big sea. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, whose herald he is...
s and Indians, who recite in turn, in French, Gascon
Gascon language
Gascon is usually considered as a dialect of Occitan, even though some specialists regularly consider it a separate language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
, and Souriquois verse, praises of colonial leaders, followed by singing the glory of the French king, to the sound of trumpets and firing cannons. This performance in the Port-Royal harbour, with its mixture of paganism and mythology, was the first theatrical presentation in North America.
Lescarbot dedicated the second edition of his Histoire to President Jeannin, whose son-in-law, Pierre de Castille, hired Lescarbot as his secretary and took him to Switzerland. Castille had been appointed ambassador to the Thirteen Cantons. The post allowed Lescarbot to travel, visit part of Germany, and frequent the watering-places. He wrote a Tableau de la Suisse, in poetry and prose, a half-descriptive, half-historical production. He was appointed to the office of naval commissary. When the Tableau was published (1618), the king sent him a gratuity of 300 livres.
Marriage and family
Although appreciative of female society, Lescarbot did not marry until he was nearly 50. On 3 September 1619, at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, he married Françoise de Valpergue, a young widow of noble birth who had been ruined by swindlers. Her dowry was said to be a lawsuit to defend. Her family's house and estates, burdened with debt, had been seized by creditors who had occupied them for 30 years. Lescarbot, a brilliant lawyer, worked to restore his wife's inheritance. He gained her re-possession of the Valpergues’ house in the village of Presles and of an agricultural estate, the farm of Saint-Audebert. An endless series of court actions required his continuing defense and took what little revenues the unprofitable lands yielded.In 1629, he published two poems about the siege of La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
: La chasse aux Anglais (Hunting the English) and La victoire du roy (The King's Victory), possibly seeking favor with Richelieu. With continuing interest in New France, Lescarbot stayed in touch with Charles de Biencourt and Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour. He also corresponded with Isaac de Razilly, governor of Acadia. Razilly recounted details about the founding of La Hève, and invited Lescarbot to settle in Acadia with his wife. He chose to stay in Presles, where he died in 1642. With no children, he left his assets to his brother Claude and to his nephew; his wife survived him.
Lescarbot is considered a picturesque figure among the annalists of New France. Between Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
, the man of action, and the missionaries concerned with evangelization, the lawyer-poet is a scholar and a humanist, a disciple of Ronsard and Montaigne. He had intellectual curiosity and embraced the Graeco-Latin culture of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. Although a Roman Catholic, Lescarbot was friends with Protestants; his attitude of independent judgment and free inquiry contributed to a reputation for unorthodoxy. He was a faithful reflection of his period.
He was a prolific writer in a variety of genres - evidence of his intelligence and the range of his talents. He wrote some manuscript notes and miscellaneous poems. He is believed to have written several pamphlets, published anonymously or left in manuscript, including a Traité de la polygamie, which he had talked about. He was also a musician, a calligrapher, and a draughtsman. Canadian folklorists can claim him, since he was the first to record the notation of Indian songs.
Legacy and honors
- His major work is Histoire de la Nouvelle-France. It had three editions, adorned with maps. It was widely distributed in France and abroad, and translated in 1609 into German and English, by Erondelle and Purchase, respectively. Often quoted, the work contributed to the European colonization work beginning in the 17th century. CharlevoixCharlevoixThe Charlevoix region, located in Quebec, includes parts of the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains region of the Canadian Shield...
praised Lescarbot; H. P. Biggar has called him the "French Hakluyt", and G. Atkinson proclaims him "the best of the historians of New France." Lescarbot's book is considered one of the first great ones in the history of Canada. It was published in another edition in 1866, and translated again into English in 1907 by L. W. Grant.
- A production of theThéâtre de Neptune play was cancelled in Canada on Nov. 14th, 2006, its 400th anniversary, after complaints of racism inherent within the play.
- Replacing the re-enactment was a post-colonial version, where theatre activists from MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
performed it on the original site of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, as Sinking Neptune.