Wilmont Kreis

Book Thirteen: Early French-Canadian land control. OK, here is my simple-minded description of a convoluted topic. All the land belonged to France, i.e. the King. He, however, gave control to an important Frenchman, in this case Cardinal Richelieu, who in turn gave control to a group known as the Company of 100 Associates. To my knowledge almost all of the people mentioned so far had never seen Canada and likely had little knowledge as to where it even was. The Company in turn divided the land into large strips of land called fiefs or seigneuries. These men, such as Robert Giffard and Jean Juchereau, generally came to and lived in Canada to oversee their land. (Actually still the King’s land). Eventually they began to divide these lands into smaller strips called arriere-fiefs or sous-seigneuries. These were controlled by early settlers like our five families from Perche (Guyon, Langlois, etc.) They could then work some land and rent the rest to tenants who were non-indentured men who came to Canada. They could also employ, engager, who were men who came with an agreement to stay and work for three years, after which they could try to obtain a piece of a sous-seigneurie, find a job, or return to France. The tenants and engager gave a segment of their produce to the sous-seigneurie, who gave a share to the seigneurie, who gave a share to the Company who gave a share Richelieu who gave it to the King. Obviously, the first people to come to Canada did the best with this system.