Marie-Josephte Corriveau
Encyclopedia
Marie-Josephte Corriveau (1733 at Saint-Vallier, Quebec
Saint-Vallier, Quebec
Saint-Vallier is a small village of about 1,100 people in the Bellechasse Regional County Municipality, part of the Chaudière-Appalaches administrative region, located in the province of Quebec in Canada....

 – at Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

), better known as "la Corriveau", is one of the most popular figures in Québécois
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....

 folklore. She lived in New 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...

, and was sentenced to death by a British court martial for the murder of her second husband, was hanged for it and her body hanged in chains. Her story has become legendary in Quebec, and she is the subject of numerous books and plays.

In history

La Corriveau was born in 1733, most probably in the January or February,The record of the act of baptism, of May 14, 1733, indicates that she was about three months old. and baptised on May 14, 1733, in the rural parish of Saint-Vallier
Saint-Vallier, Quebec
Saint-Vallier is a small village of about 1,100 people in the Bellechasse Regional County Municipality, part of the Chaudière-Appalaches administrative region, located in the province of Quebec in Canada....

 in New 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...

 as "Marie-Josephte Corriveau". She was the only surviving offspring of Joseph Corriveau, a farmer, and Françoise Bolduc. Her ten brothers and sisters all died in childhood.

Corriveau married at the age of 16, on November 17, 1749, to Charles Bouchard, aged 23, also a farmer. Three children were born in this marriage: two daughters, Marie-Françoise (1752) and Marie-Angélique (1754), followed by a son, Charles (1757). Rumors (that only started after the death of her second husband) say that she murdered him, as there is no concrete record of his death. Charles Bouchard was buried on April 27, 1760, and she remarried fifteen months later, on July 20, 1761, to another farmer from Saint-Vallier, Louis Étienne Dodier. On the morning of January 27, 1763, he was found dead in his barn, with multiple head wounds. Despite an official recording of the cause of death being from kicks of horses' hooves, and a speedy burial, rumours and gossip of murder spread rapidly through the neighbourhood. Dodier was on bad terms with his father-in-law and with his wife.

New France had been conquered by the British in 1760 as part of the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

 and was under the administration of the British Army at this time. On hearing the rumours the local British military authorities charged with keeping order set up an inquiry into Dodier's death. The inquiry opened in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

 on March 29, 1763, at the Ursulines of Quebec
Ursulines of Quebec
The Ursuline Convent of Quebec City, , founded in 1639, is the oldest institution of learning for women in North America...

, charging Joseph Corriveau and his daughter Marie-Josephte, before a military tribunal made up of 12 English officers and presided over by Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Roger Morris. The case ended, on 9 April, with Joseph Corriveau being sentenced to death, for culpable homicide of his son-in-law. Marie-Josephte was found to be an accomplice to murder, and sentenced to sixty lashes
Whip
A whip is a tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid in dressage...

 and branded
Human branding
Human branding or stigmatizing is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron...

 with the letter M on her hand. One of Joseph Corriveau's nieces, Isabelle Sylvain (who he employed as a servant), had testified but changed her story several times during the hearing; she was found guilty of perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

 and given thirty lashes and branded with the letter P.

Condemned to hang, Joseph Corriveau then told his confessor
Confessor
-Confessor of the Faith:Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death. The term is still used in this way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint, as well as those who have been declared...

, that he was no more than an accomplice to his daughter, after she had killed Dodier. At a second trial, on 15 April, Marie-Josephte testified to having killed her husband with two blows of a hatchet during his sleep, because of his ill-treatment of her. The tribunal found her guilty and sentenced her to hang, her body after to be "hanged in chains" (that is, put up for public display on a gibbet
Gibbet
A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...

).

The place of execution was Quebec, on the Buttes-à-Nepveu, near the Plains of Abraham
Plains of Abraham
The Plains of Abraham is a historic area within The Battlefields Park in Quebec City, Quebec, that was originally grazing land, but became famous as the site of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which took place on 13 September 1759. Though written into the history books, housing and minor...

, probably on 18 April. Her body was then taken, as directed by the sentence, to be put in chains at Pointe-Lévy
Levis
-People:*François de Gaston, Chevalier de Lévis , French soldier best known for his command in Canada in 1760*George Levis , American college basketball player and coach*Georges Lévis , French adult comic artist-Places:Canada...

, at the crossroads of Lauzon and Bienville (today the Rue St-Joseph and the Boulevard de l'Entente).These were all near an ancient religious site between the Saint-Joseph and Vaudreuil roads. There was a religious monument called the which remained in the middle of the nineteenth century, until 1885. The body, on its iron gibbet, was exposed to the public view until May 25 at the earliest. Following the requests of those living nearby, an order from the military commander of the district of Quebec, James Murray, addressed to the captain of the militia of Pointe-Lévy, permitted its being taken down and buried.

In 1849, the "cage" was dug up from the cemetery of the church of St-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-Lévy when a pit was dug.Some renown attached to the bones recovered in this dig. The writer Louis Fréchette wrote about this discovery at the age of ten. Soon after, the cage was stolen from the church cellar, and acquired by the American impresario P. T. Barnum
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....

 and put on display as a "macabre object". After that, it was put on display at The Boston Museum
The Boston Museum
The Boston Museum is a planned history museum for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The Museum will bring the region's 400-year history into focus, inspiring local residents and visitors from across the globe to explore Boston’s rich heritage, historic sites and cultural attractions...

. The museum slip indicated its provenance with two words: "From Quebec".It seems that the cage was destroyed in the museum fire at the start of the twentieth century.

In legend

The post-mortem exhibition of Corriveau's remains at a busy crossroads (an unusual punishment and unknown in the time of the French regime, and reserved in England for those found guilty of the most serious crimesSee Gibbet
Gibbet
A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...

.
); the repercussions in the trial; the rumour that her father would be convicted of murdering Dodier at his daughter's instigation; and the gossip which grew up around the circumstances of the death of her first husband all stirred up the popular imagination and became legends still told today in the oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...

 — increasing the number of murdered husbands to as many as seven and likening la Corriveau to a witch.

The 1849 discovery of the iron cage buried in the cemetery of St-Joseph parish (now the Lauzon district) served to reawaken the legends and the fantastic stories, which were amplified and used by 19th century writers. The first, in 1863, Philippe Aubert de Gaspé
Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé
Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé was a French Canadian writer and seigneur.He was born at Quebec City in 1786, the son of seigneur Pierre-Ignace Aubert de Gaspé and Catherine Tarieu de Lanaudière, the daughter of seigneur Charles-François Tarieu de La Naudière. The Aubert de Gaspé family was...

 in Les Anciens Canadiens, has a supernatural Corriveau hanging in the Pointe-Levy cage, terrorising one night a passer-by conducting a witches' Sabbath and Will-o'-the-wisp
Will-o'-the-wisp
A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...

 at the Île d'Orléans
Île d'Orléans
Île d'Orléans is located in the Saint Lawrence River about east of downtown Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The island was one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French, and a large percentage of French Canadians can trace ancestry to early residents of the island...

. James MacPherson Le Moine
James MacPherson Le Moine
Sir James MacPherson Le Moine was a Canadian author and barrister.He was involved with the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, helping in the development of their natural history museum, and later serving as president in 1871, 1879-1882, and 1902-1903.From 1894 to 1895, he was the president...

 (Maple Leaves, 1863) and William Kirby
William Kirby (author)
William Kirby, was a Canadian author, best known for his classic historical novel, The Golden Dog.-Life:...

, following in his footsteps (The Golden Dog
The Golden Dog
The Golden Dog was a novel by William Kirby that was written between April 1869 and 1872, with further revisions being up through 1876. After being rejected by several publishers, the work was finally arranged to be published in 1877 by Lovell, Adam, Wesson and Company...

, 1877), made her a professional poisoner, a direct descendant of La Voisin, famous for her purported role in The Affair of the Poisons. Writers and historians such as Louis Fréchette and Pierre-Georges Roy have tried to give Corriveau's history, but without completely separating the facts from the anachronistic fantasies added in legend and novels.

The figure of Corriveau still inspires novels, songs and plays and is the subject of argument (was she guilty or not?). Oral tradition also perpetuated and has not stopped, and remains alive, as is evidenced by the numerous stories collected in the lands of many regions of Quebec.Notably the 52 stories collected between 1952 and 1973 under the direction of Luc Lacourcière ( http://www.ourroots.ca/f/page.aspx?id=3650205 and the 122 put together between 1975 and 1990 by the students of Nicole Guilbault .

In popular culture

  • 1863: Les Anciens Canadiens, novel by Philippe Aubert de Gaspé
    Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé
    Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé was a French Canadian writer and seigneur.He was born at Quebec City in 1786, the son of seigneur Pierre-Ignace Aubert de Gaspé and Catherine Tarieu de Lanaudière, the daughter of seigneur Charles-François Tarieu de La Naudière. The Aubert de Gaspé family was...

  • 1863: Marie-Josephte Corriveau, A Canadian Lafarge, in Maple Leaves by James MacPherson Le Moine
    James MacPherson Le Moine
    Sir James MacPherson Le Moine was a Canadian author and barrister.He was involved with the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, helping in the development of their natural history museum, and later serving as president in 1871, 1879-1882, and 1902-1903.From 1894 to 1895, he was the president...

  • 1877: The Golden Dog, A Legend of Québec, novel by William Kirby
    William Kirby (author)
    William Kirby, was a Canadian author, best known for his classic historical novel, The Golden Dog.-Life:...

    , translated into French by Léon-Pamphile Le May, (1884)
  • 1885: , novel by Louis Fréchette, first published in a special edition of the newspaper , 24 February 1885; reprinted and rewritten many times, notably under the title in the , Montreal, 1913.
  • 1966: La Corriveau, dramatic ballet choreographed by Brydon Paige, with original theme and songs by Gilles Vigneault
    Gilles Vigneault
    Gilles Vigneault, is a Canadian poet, publisher and singer-songwriter, and well-known Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist.A poet deeply rooted in his native Quebec, Vigneault has become an icon at home and Quebec ambassador abroad...

     and music by Alexander Brott
    Alexander Brott
    Alexander Brott, , born Joël Brod, , was a Canadian conductor, composer, violinist and music teacher. His wife Lotte was an accomplished cellist...

    . Commissioned by the , the ballet was premièred by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
    Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
    Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal is a Canadian ballet company based in Montreal, Quebec.It was founded in 1957 by Ludmilla Chiriaeff. Conductor and composer Michel Perrault served as the organization's first music director. In 2000, Gradimir Pankov became Artistic Director...

    , with the collaboration of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
    Montreal Symphony Orchestra
    Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...

     at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
    Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
    Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier is a large multipurpose venue in Montréal, Québec equipped with sophisticated technical equipment. It seats 2,982 people and is part of the Place des Arts cultural complex in Montréal's Quartier des Spectacles entertainment district....

     of the Place des Arts
    Place des Arts
    right|frame|View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the rightPlace des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada....

     at Montréal
    Montreal
    Montreal 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...

    , 21 and 22 December 1966.
  • 1972: La Corriveau, song written by Gilles Vigneault
    Gilles Vigneault
    Gilles Vigneault, is a Canadian poet, publisher and singer-songwriter, and well-known Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist.A poet deeply rooted in his native Quebec, Vigneault has become an icon at home and Quebec ambassador abroad...

     in 1966 for the ballet of the same name, is recorded by Pauline Julien
    Pauline Julien
    Pauline Julien, CQ was a singer, songwriter, actress, feminist activist and Quebec sovereigntist.Born in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Julien was the companion of the poet and Québec provincial MLA Gérald Godin, another Trifluvian and sovereigntist. She also worked with Gilles Vigneault and recorded...

     on her album
  • 1973: Ma Corriveau, play by Victor-Lévy Beaulieu
    Victor-Lévy Beaulieu
    Victor-Lévy Beaulieu is a Québécois writer, playwright and editor.Born in Saint-Paul-de-la-Croix, in the area of Bas-Saint-Laurent, Victor-Lévy Beaulieu began primary school at Trois-Pistoles, moving later to Montréal-Nord.He began his public writing career at the Montreal weekly Perspectives,...

     written for the public examinations of the students of the National Theatre School of Canada
    National Theatre School of Canada
    The National Theatre School of Canada is a private college located in Montreal, Quebec.Established in Montreal in 1960, the National Theatre School of Canada offers professional training in English and French in a setting that unites all the theatre arts: acting, playwriting, directing, set and...

    , premièred at the Monument-National
    Monument-National
    The Monument-National is a historic Canadian theatre located at 1182 Saint Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, Quebec. Erected between 1891 and 1894, it was originally the Cultural centre of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society.-Yiddish theatre:...

    , its Montreal base, from 3 to 6 October 1973 with a production by Michelle Rossignol
    Michelle Rossignol
    Michelle Rossignol, OC, CQ is a Canadian film actress. She has appeared in 15 films since 1956. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1991 and a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2001.-Selected filmography:...

    , first premièred professionally at the Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui in Montreal from 19 September to 30 October 1976 in a production by André Pagé.
  • 1978: , fantasy story by André Carpentier, translated into English in 1982.
  • 1981: La Corriveau, historical novel by Andrée LeBel
  • 1990: La Cage, play by Anne Hébert
    Anne Hébert
    Anne Hébert, CC, OQ , was a Canadian author and poet. She is a descendant of famed French-Canadian historian Francois-Xavier Garneau, "and has carried on the family literary tradition spectacularly."...

    , translated into English in 2009.
  • 1993 : La Corriveau, romance novel by the English Canadian Douglas Glover
    Douglas Glover (writer)
    Douglas Glover BA, M.Litt., MFA is a Canadian writer. He was raised on his family's tobacco farm just outside Waterford, Ontario...

    , translated into French the same year, and into Serbian in 1995.
  • 1993: La Corriveau, play by Guy Cloutier, produced by Denise Verville and staged at the Théâtre Périscope, Quebec, from 12 to 30 January 1993. It was reprised, adapted for television with the title La Corrivaux by the director Jean Salvy, with Anne Dorval
    Anne Dorval
    Anne Dorval is a Canadian actress.-Career:Dorval may be best known for her appearance in the Quebec television series Le Coeur a ses raisons. She has also appeared in other Quebec series, such as Chambres en ville, Virginie, Paparazzi and Rumeurs, and in the film I killed my mother...

     in the title role, and broadcast on the Télévision Radio-Canada network in 1995.
  • 1999: La Maudite, teen novel by Daniel Mativat
  • 2001: La Corrida de la Corriveau, song by Mes Aïeux
    Mes Aïeux
    Mes Aïeux is a folk music group from Quebec, Canada founded in 1996.Although they are labeled as leaders of the "neo-traditional" movement in Quebec, they frequently use subjects and characters from traditional French Canadian folklore in order to approach modern themes with a...

     (on the album Entre les branches)
  • 2003: La Fiancée du vent : l'histoire de la Corriveau, née en Nouvelle-France et pendue sous le Régime anglais, novel by Monique Pariseau
  • 2003: Julie et le serment de la Corriveau, teen novel by Martine Latulippe
  • 2004: Nouvelle-France
    Nouvelle-France (film)
    Nouvelle-France is a 2004 historical romance directed by Jean Beaudin, written by Pierre Billon and starring Noémie Godin-Vigneau, David La Haye, Juliette Gosselin, Sébastien Huberdeau, Gérard Depardieu, Bianca Gervais, Irène Jacob, Pierre Lebeau, Vincent Perez, Isabel Richer, Tim Roth, Jason...

    , film produced by Jean Beaudin
    Jean Beaudin
    Jean Beaudin is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 20 films since 1969. His film J.A. Martin Photographer, was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival, where Monique Mercure won the award for Best Actress. The film also won best Film, he won best Director, and Mercure...

     (loose adaptation on the theme of la Corriveau)
  • 2006: La Corriveau, animated film by Kyle Craig

Sources


Further reading

  • Dion, Sylvie (in Portuguese), Fantasmas femininos e imaginários coletivos-os casos de Marie-Josephte Corriveau e Maria Degolada, in .

External links

Latest access date of external links: 17 April 2010
Archive documents
  • Documents concernant la Corriveau, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
    Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
    Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec is the Crown corporation acting as the provincial library and archives of Quebec...

    , Centre d'archives de Québec, Collection Centre d'archives de Québec, P1000,S3,D435. 128-page collection of research notes on la Corriveau (p. 1), typed transcription of the article by James MacPherson Le Moine, Marie-Josephte Corriveau, A Canadian Lafarge, from 1863 (pp. 2–11), a newspaper clipping entitled Le procès de la Corriveau, dated 28 February 1939 (p. 12) and a copy of the proceedings of the Corriveau case (typist's copy and photostat of the manuscript) (pp. 13–128) of the originals preserved by the Imperial War Museum
    Imperial War Museum
    Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...

     in London.


Oral tradition
  • Angélina Roy, La Corriveau, 1953. Story about the legend of la Corriveau, recounted 15 November 1953 by Madame Wilfrid Fradette, née Angélina Roy (1875–1958), of Saint-Raphaël de Bellechasse
    Saint-Raphaël, Quebec
    Saint-Raphaël is a small village of about 2,400 people in the Bellechasse Regional County Municipality, Quebec, part of the Chaudière-Appalaches administrative region. It has several small buildings and a very small supermarket....

    , to Luc Lacourcière
    Luc Lacourcière
    Luc Lacourcière, CC was a Quebec author and ethnographer. In 1970, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.-External links:* at The Canadian Encyclopedia...

    . Archives de Folklore de l'Université Laval, Collection Luc Lacourcière, enreg. 1658, published in

  • Gema Leblanc, La Corriveau, 1989. Story about the legend of la Corriveau, recounted in 1989 by Gema Leblanc, inhabitant of Quebec, to Isabelle-Sophie Dufour. Published in Nicole Guilbault (ed.), Contes et sortilèges des quatre coins du Québec, Documentor/Cégep François-Xavier-Garneau, Quebec, 1991.

  • José Bourassa, La Corriveau, 1989. Story about the legend of la Corriveau, recoiunted in 1989 by José Bourassa, inhabitant of Charny, Quebec
    Charny, Quebec
    Charny is a community in central Quebec, Canada, south of Quebec City. It is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. Formerly an independent city, Charny was merged with Lévis on January 1, 2002.-History:...

    , born in Drummondville, to Dany Parizé. Published in Nicole Guilbault (ed.), Contes et sortilèges des quatre coins du Québec, Documentor/Cégep François-Xavier-Garneau, Quebec, 1991.


Song


Sculpture
  • La Corriveau, bronze sculpture by Alfred Laliberté
    Alfred Laliberté
    Alfred Laliberté was a Canadian sculptor and painter based in Quebec. His output includes more than 900 sculptures in bronze, marble, wood, and plaster. Many of his sculptures depict national figures and events in Canada and France like Louis Hebert, François-Xavier-Antoine Labelle, Adam Dollard...

     made between 1928 and 1932, now in the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
    Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
    The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is a museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada gathering approximately 25,000 works essentially produced in Quebec, or by Quebec artists, some of which dating from the 18th century. It also houses a library since 1987...



Popular culture

Animated film

Commercial use
  • La Corriveau, dark oatmeal ale from the Quebec microbrewery Le Bilboquet
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