Louis de Buade

Bust of Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac in Ottawa

Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (born May 12, 1622 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye , † November 28, 1698 in Québec ) was governor of the French colony of New France ( Canada ).

Life

Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac and of Palluau, was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on May 12, 1622, the son of the captain of the royal castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . His mother, née Phelypeaux, was the daughter of the royal secretary of state. King Louis XIII of France was his godfather. Louis de Frontenac received "very good training" and embarked on a military career that took him to theaters of war in the Netherlands , France, Italy and Germany as well as to Crete , where he commanded a unit of French troops that was besieged by the Turks Candia (now Heraklion ) helped defend. At the age of 24, his right arm was so badly wounded that he could no longer use it properly for the rest of his life. Like many of his peers, Frontenac lived beyond his means and was heavily in debt for almost his entire life. In 1648 he married Anne de La Grange, secretly and against the determined resistance of his father-in-law.

In 1672 he was appointed governor of the colony of New France . It is alleged that one of the reasons why he took this office was because it escaped his creditors in France. His wife stayed there and used her not inconsiderable influence at court to support his career in Canada. During his first service from 1672 to 1682 he built together with René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario to intimidate the hostile Iroquois , control the fur trade and clear the way to the unexplored west of North America. With his support, La Salle undertook his great voyage of discovery to the mouth of the Mississippi River , in the course of which the Mississippi River took possession of the land through which this river ran as a Louisiana (colony) for France. This was of great long-term importance as it enabled France to develop large areas in the interior of the American continent.

Despite these successes, Frontenac had to deal with growing tensions and hostility, which largely resulted from his personality. Although he was intelligent, generous and of great personal bravery, on the other hand he made many enemies with his vanity, his arrogance and his arrogant, presumptuous manner. After all, he fell out with almost all of the colony's officials, mostly over trivial matters. His enemies included the influential Jesuits and the fur traders of Montréal . King Louis XIV was finally forced to recall him in 1682.

After an uprising of the Iroquois, triggered by French attacks and supported by the English , threatened the existence of the colony, Frontenac was sent to Canada as a savior, where he quickly counterattacked and inflicted severe defeats on the British and Iroquois. The recruitment of Pierre d'Iberville as a commanding officer, which the British were no match for at sea or on land, proved to be a particular stroke of luck for Frontenac . In 1690 the English sent a fleet from Boston under Sir William Phips against Québec. Frontenac gave the famous answer to an envoy who demanded surrender:

"Je n'ai point de response à faire à votre general que par la bouche de mes canons et à coups de fusil!"

("Go and tell your master that we will answer him through the muzzles of our cannons").

The attack was repulsed. In return, the French drove the British out of Hudson Bay , conquered Newfoundland and destroyed British forts into what is now Maine . In 1696, Frontenac refused to carry out an order from France, apparently given in ignorance of the situation, to give up the northern part of Canada, which would have robbed the colony of its hinterland and rendered it incapable of existence.

When Frontenac died in 1698, he was mourned as the savior of French Canada. It was largely thanks to his efforts that the colony did not fall victim to joint attacks by the Iroquois and British. In doing so, he played a crucial role in the history of colonial North America. The French colony, which was weakened when he took office and attacked from all sides, was secure when he died and parts of it still existed until the beginning of the 19th century.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Registre of baptêmes de l'Eglise Saint-Germain in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, archives municipales de Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Web links

• Association Frontenac-Amériques (French)