Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve
Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (born February 15, 1612 in Neuville-sur-Vanne , France , † September 19, 1676 in Paris ) was a French officer and nobleman . In 1642 he founded the city of Montreal, which is now in Canada , and was its first governor until 1669 .
biography
Maisonneuve was the son of a noble family from Champagne . At the age of 13 he joined the French army and subsequently went through an officer career. Details from this period are scarce. Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière , a Jesuit , founded the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal in 1639 . The aim of this religious association was to set up a mission station in the interior of New France to convert the natives. As part of this idealistic-utopian Christian settlement project, Maisonneuve was commissioned to lead the colonists there and to ensure their safety.
In May 1641 the colonists, led by Maisonneuve and lay sister Jeanne Mance , set sail from La Rochelle . After three months they reached Québec , where they hibernated. The following spring they sailed up the Saint Lawrence River and landed on the Île de Montréal on May 17, 1642 . Maisonneuve founded the Ville-Marie settlement there , from which the city of Montreal later developed. Mance, in turn, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal , the first hospital on Canadian soil.
As governor, Maisonneuve maintained peaceful relations with the Algonquin . When a flood threatened the settlement in 1643, he prayed to the Virgin that she would spare Ville-Marie. In gratitude that the flood had spared the settlement, he erected a cross on Mont Royal . The Mont Royal Cross erected in 1924 commemorates this event . Also in 1643 the Iroquois discovered the settlement, which immediately sparked a conflict. Several times Maisonneuve had to fall back on his military experience to defend the colony from Iroquois raids. On March 30, 1644 he narrowly escaped an ambush and was able to get behind the fortifications to safety.
After learning of his father's death, Maisonneuve returned to France in 1645. He turned down the offer to become governor of New France . From 1647 he stayed again in Montreal. In the spring of 1651 the attacks by the Iroquois became so frequent and violent that the end of the small colony seemed near. In 1652 Maisonneuve sailed again to France to recruit a hundred volunteers. When they arrived in the fall of 1653, Montreal had just under 50 inhabitants. Had the recruitment failed, Maisonneuve would have had to give up the colony and evacuate the remaining settlers to Québec.
Over the years the colony grew and was eventually large enough to withstand the Iroquois attacks. The Sovereign Council of New France set up by King Louis XIV withdrew control of the colony from the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal in 1663. Maisonneuve did not enjoy the support of the newly appointed Governor General Augustin de Saffray de Mésy . In September 1665 he was ordered to return to France. In the following years he lived rather inconspicuously in Paris .
In honor of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the Maisonneuve monument , a work by the sculptor Louis-Philippe Hébert , has stood on the Place d'Armes in downtown Montreal since 1895 . The Boulevard De Maisonneuve , the Collège de Maisonneuve and the Parc Maisonneuve in Montreal and the Chomedey district in Laval are named after him .
See also
Web links
- Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
- Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chomedey de Maisonneuve, Paul |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Chomedey sieur de Maisonneuve, Paul de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French governor, founder of Montreal |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 15, 1612 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Neuville-sur-Vanne |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 19, 1676 |
| Place of death | Paris |