Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville
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Jacques-Rene de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville (10 December 1637 – 22 September 1710) was Governor of New France from 1685 to 1689.
Replacing Joseph Antoine de LaBarre, Denonville set out to make King Louis XIV proud. The Iroquois Confederation had been a nuisance for half a century, hampering New France's efforts to establish itself as a profitable colony. Although France and England were at peace, Denonville sent Sieur de Troyes north from Montreal with a hundred men (most likely the Troupes de la marine), to capture the English fur trading posts on the Hudson Bay. The victory was swift and profitable; word of the French attack would not reach the English for months. Denonville then set out with a well organised force to Fort Frontenac where they met with the 50 hereditary sachems of the Iroquois Confederation from their Onondaga council fire. These 50 Chiefs constituted the entire decision-making strata of the Iroquois. They had been lulled into meeting under a flag of truce. Denonville recaptured the fort for New France and seized, chained, and shipped the 50 Iroquois Chiefs to Marseilles, France to be used as galley slaves. He then ravaged the land of the Seneca. Before he returned to New France, he travelled down the shore of Lake Ontario and created Fort Denonville at the site where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. This site was previously used by La Salle for a fort named Fort Conti from 1678-1679, and was later used for Fort Niagara, which still exists to this day.
The destruction of the Seneca land infuriated the Iroquois Confederation who considered the Seneca the most honoured nation of the Confederation. This, coupled with the dishonorable loss of their Sachems, demanded they set out to terrorise New France as never before. Denonville's regulars were dissolved and dispersed to towns across the land, attempting to protect New France's homes and families. Forts were abandoned. The Iroquois destroyed farmsteads and whole families were slaughtered or captured. On August 4, 1689 Lachine, a small town adjacent to Montreal, was burned to the ground. 1500 Iroquois warriors had been harassing Montreal defenses for many months prior. Denonville was finally exhausted and defeated. His tenure was followed by the return of Frontenac, who would replace Denonville as Governor for the next nine years (1689–1698). Frontenac had been arranging a new plan of attack to mollify the effects of the Iroquois in North America and realized the true danger the imprisonment of the Sachems created. He located the 13 surviving leaders and they returned with him to New France that October, 1698.
[edit] Anniversary medal
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A medal commemorating the 250th anniversary of the 1687 Denonville Expedition was created by the Rochester Numismatic Association in 1937. The medal obverse has an image of the Marquis de Denonville while the medal reverse shows the timeline and path of the expedition.
[edit] External links
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- "Seigneur and Marquis de Denonville". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
| Preceded by Joseph-Antoine de LaBarre |
Governor General of New France 1685 – 1689 |
Succeeded by Louis de Buade de Frontenac |
