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| Samuel_de_Champlain (1567-1635), probably after a portrait by Moncornet (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Figuratively
speaking.
Literally he
never comingled with a female person to produce an offspring.
But he really
did marry a twelve year old girl.
When he was forty-three.
She was very rich and her name was Hélène Boullé.
He managed to entice her to join
him in the New world; even named Isle Ste Hélène in the St. Lawrence River for her.
But Paris was evidently
preferable to Quebec City in the early 1600s and it wasn't long before the
lonely, pampered teenager returned home.
Where she eventually joined a convent.
Unlucky in love, Champlain didn't pick his friends wisely either.
In 1616 he threw his lot in with the ill-fated Hurons who convinced
him to support them in their war with the other Iroquois tribes.
And he pretty well cooked the French goose when he killed two Iroquois
chiefs during one of his explorations to the Great Lakes while his men killed a
third.
It seems the writing was already on the
wall by then and it wasn't in English.
4 comments:
Wow Francie, I will never look at Champlain the same way again (not that he was ever really on my mind to begin with, lol) I wonder what his child bride got out of the bargain?
WOW is right
Ooooh...I had no idea about the young bride of Samuel de Champlain. I think it might have been better not to know...LOL...
This is fascinating stuff, Francie. Sounds like you have a much more interesting history book than the boring one I had in high school.
Well, ya can't win 'em all.
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