In this post I will attempt to highlight another tranche of the many Flemish contributions to the founding of the Dutch West India Company, aka, the W.I.C.
One Canadian historian has called this string of contacts in Atlantic ports the ‘Protestant International’. Linked closely by similar religious convictions, driven by a fury at a common enemy, and united by blood and marriage ties, these Flemish émigré families formed a vast trading network. “A cosmopolitan society of shipping merchants, a ‘Protestant International’, already existed at the time Quebec was founded in 1608, indeed much earlier.”[xxi]
The ‘Protestant International’ in France was heavily infiltrated by Flemish Protestant émigrés at La Rochelle and Rouen[xxii]. Flemish merchants ran their own enclaves within these French coastal towns called “cantons des Flamands”[xxiii] as they had done since the Middle Ages.[xxiv] Logically, then, when local troubles compelled Antwerp’s merchants to flee, they sought refuge with their relations in ports where they could continue – with as little disruption as possible – the trade they had carried on from Antwerp.
Of course when these merchants re-established themselves they retained many of their previous habits. Antwerp merchants exploited an elastic, multi-city trade: from Amsterdam to Plymouth, England, down to Portugal or the Flemish (Azores) Isles[xxviii], over to the Caribbean and up to Newfoundland and then back (sometimes with an intermediate port call at Bristol) home.[xxix] As émigrés the Flemish merchants attempted much the same circuit (minus of course Antwerp). Each year, in competition with those around them, they sought better sources of goods and better markets. Moreover, these émigré merchants often did not have direct access to those in power (who usually awarded geographic monopolies. Thus to earn a living they must The notarial record, while spotty, suggests many illicit voyages were conducted each year. “The posts being established in the new French colonies were linked in trade with the Protestant Dutch and English and with various European cities.”[xxx]
Several factors accelerated the expansion of the Flemish column within the ‘Protestant International’. As arcane as it may seem, fashion was one of these factors. Paris even then set the pace for modish dress in the Western world and in the second half of the 16th century there was an increasing push toward felt hats (made from treated fur) for men. Siberian furs, supplied by Flemish expatriate merchants like Olivier Bruneel from Narva, were shipped through Antwerp.[xxxi] The furs were sufficiently inexpensive to generate profits along the supply chain and feed the rising demand for men’s felt hats in western Europe.[xxxii]
However, several political events interrupted this flow of furs. First, in 1580, Narva, the gathering point of Siberian furs, fell to the Swedes who cut off access to this portal for these inexpensive pelts.[xxxiii] Second, and exacerbating the first, Antwerp, the primary European marketplace for all goods (including of course the Siberian fur market for west European buyers) was under nearly constant attack from 1578 until 1585, when it captured by Spain. France at the time was also at war with Spain. Parisian hatters, then, faced a difficulty in not only accessing the emporium where these furs normally could be bought (Antwerp), they also faced a serious problem of access to the Russian hinterland from which came those Siberian furs.[xxxiv] Logically, then, after Antwerp fell in 1585, Flemish Protestants in neighboring diasporas “began to reach out to North America and to take French ports into [their] orbit.”[xxxv]
The process of integrating Flemish trading networks with links between France and New France began long before either Narva or Antwerp fell in the 1580s. Flemish Protestants, such as the West Fleming Adriaen van Bergues, had combined trade and piracy from French and English seaports at least as early as the 1560s. Van Bergues himself used Sandwich, England as his primary base but would make regular runs to La Rochelle, where later even the mayor, Jean Guiton, had Flemish relatives.[xxxvi] By 1568 van Bergues was leading the watergeuzen (Sea Beggars) as an admiral on behalf of the Prince of Orange.[xxxvii] Nor was this a simple bilateral situation. No later than the following year (1569), the Antwerp native Jean van Resteau, while resident in Cologne, was making regular visits to La Rochelle for trade.[xxxviii]
Once on site, the Flemings jumped right in. As early as the 1570s (and possibly earlier), Flemish Protestants in France were financing trade to North America. In the words of one Canadian historian, this was another case of “economic interlacing [that] was the presence in French port towns on the Atlantic of ‘Flemish neighbourhoods’”.[xxxix] To take but one example, the Fleming Corneille de Bellois, likely from the town of Belle near Antwerp, financed French fishing voyages to Newfoundland in the 1570s.[xl] De Bellois, who ultimately became a French subject, went from financier to furrier: he was fur-trading in Canada from 1604-1608 (outfitting perhaps 10 ships during that time). Later, from 1613 to 1620, de Bellois was a member of Samuel Champlain’s trading company.[xli] This trading company included other Flemish investors and participants, as we shall see.
As this suggests, De Bellois’ was not the sole Flemish involvement with France’s fur trading in North America. Trading partnerships of the time usually conducted trade through merchant families linked by marriage and blood (as well of course, by ancestry and religious affiliation). Take, for example, the Antwerp families of the Hontoms, Vogels, Jabachs, and Duysterloos.[xlii] Linked by marriage, religious affiliation (Lutheran), and origin (Antwerp), they eventually conducted a far-reaching trade with North America. This family network connected Paris, Rouen, LaRochelle, Cologne, Antwerp, Middleburg, and Amsterdam to French America.[xliii]
It’s All in the Family
It is difficult today to appreciate the transnational intricacies of such a family business. Consider Hendrick Hendricksz. Duysterloo, who was born at Middlebrug in 1569 to Flemish Protestant émigré parents from Antwerp. His mother was a Jabach and his step-mother a Pelgrom. Like his cousin Hans Honthom[xliv] (about whom more later), he traded beaver furs in Paris on behalf of the family business, which was called “Jean Honthom, Evrard Jabach & Co.”, well into the early 17th century. Eventually, Hendrick Duysterloo also became a French subject (in 1607).[xlv] Matthijs Duysterloo, who lived in Paris and was certainly a relative (brother? son?) of Hendrick, in fact “controlled the market for supplying Canadian beaver pelts to Parisian hatters.”[xlvi]
Hendrick Duysterloo himself was also a heavy financial backer of a prominent, Rouen-based, French fur trader: Francois du Pont Gravé.[xlvii] While not likely a name familiar to Americans, du Pont Gravé is well-known among Canadian students for co-leading Samuel de Champlain’s historic voyage to Canada in 1603 and co-founding New France[xlviii]. Du Pont Gravé’s involvement with Champlain is better understood when one takes into account the fact that he made multiple voyages for beaver pelts to North America from at least the 1590s until the 1620s.[xlix] For their involvement through du Pont Gravé then Flemings can also lay an indirect claim of assisting in the founding of New France.
Chronicling the role of these Flemings is not easy, which is one reason history textbooks rarely trumpet the role of the émigré Flemings. Family trading dynasties tend to be secretive. Many of their business exploits, records, and achievements are as a result lost to history. However, a few of these enterprises have left for us an archival trail.
In 1606, just two years before the Antwerp native Emanuel Van Meteren recruited Henry Hudson to explore for the V.O.C.[l], another group of Flemish merchants sent out the huge (320 lasts/640 tonnes) ship, the Witte Leeuw (“White Lion”) to trade, fish, and privateer along the North American coast. The Witte Leeuw partnership was owned by eight, prominent Amsterdam residents, three of whom at least, Bernaert Berrewijns, Hans Hunger[li] and Louis del Becque, were Antwerpenaar émigrés. It is probably not an accident that the supercargo of the Witte Leeuw was from Rouen, the same city where Cornelis De Bellois was based.[lii]
Although the United Provinces at the time were ostensibly allied with the French, Lonck attacked two French ships, seized their cannons and ammunition, and captured a Spanish and Portuguese ship as well.[lv] Along the coast he traded the Amerindians for furs and possibly fished for cod and whales. While a profitable trip, it did arose the ire of King Henri IV of France, who sent a letter of protest to the States General of the United Provinces in February, 1607, claiming that the Witte Leeuw had trespassed into French coastal waters.
My next post on the Flemish Founding of the Dutch West India Company/W.I.C. will focus on the “voorcompagnien” – the various ‘predecessor companies’ that paved the way for the W.I.C.
Endnotes
[i] Please see my earlier posts on Flemings amongst the Vikings and the possible Gent connection to Rhode Island’s Newport Tower here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-flemings-in-america-part-one.html
[ii] Those raised on the King James Version of the Bible may recall these passages: “And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.” (Mark 12:42) and “And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.” (Luke 21:2). http://www.biblelookup.com .
[iii] “The discovery, however, which has just been made on Newfoundland….A party of English settlers, in proceeding up the river which falls into Conception Bay, a little to the northward of St. John’s, observed, at the distance of about six or seven miles above the bay, the appearance of stone walls, rising just above the surface. On removing the sand and alluvial earth, they discovered the remains of ancient buildings, oak-beams, and mill stones sunk in oaken beds. Enclosures resembling gardens were traced out, and plants of various kinds, growing about the place not indigenous to the island. But the most decisive proof of these ruins being the remains of an ancient European colony was in the different kinds of coins that were found, some of ductile gold, which the inhabitants considered to be old Flemish coins, and others of copper without inscriptions. The coins, which are said to be in the hands of many of the inhabitants of St. John’s…are stamped with the impression of a sun, a star, or simply a cross, but without any inscription…they [the Viking inhabitants of Newfoundland] also trafficked even before that period [the late 1300s] with foreign money, which they received principally from the Flemings.” Sir John Barrow, A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions: Undertaken Chiefly for the Purpose of Discovering a North-East, North-West, or Polar Passage Between the Atlantic and Pacific, (London: J. Murray, 1818), pp.24-25.
[iv] It is undisputable that Flemish priests made landfall (briefly) in Florida in 1512. It is also certain that Flemings visited and lived in Greenland in the 1300s, as Norwegian archives support. It is highly likely that Flemings were included amongst the Vikings at Newfoundland in the 1000s. See my earlier posts for detailed references to these items. Please note also that the eastern most extension of what we today call the Outer Banks, the rich fishing grounds off of the coast of Newfoundland, have traditionally been called the “Flemish Cap”. This is the closest North Atlantic fishing ground for Europeans. European fishermen could fish there literally year-round. Even today, fishermen, when making for the Flemish Cap from Europe, would often say, “We are headed for Flemish.” See Rosa Garcia-Orellan, TerraNova: The Spanish Cod Fishery on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the Twentieth Century, (Boca Raton: Brown Walker Press, 2010), p.222.
[v] An excellent book that details the link between the Catholic feast days, the diet shift to fish, and link between the subsequent demand for fish and the discovery of North America is Brian Fagan, Fish on Friday: Feasting, Fasting and the Discovery of the New World, (New York: Basic Books, 2006).
[vi] The Atlantic cod “preserves unusually well because its white flesh is almost entirely devoid of fat. Fat resists salt and slows the rate at which salt impregnates fish. This is why oily fish, after salting, must be tightly pressed in barrels to be preserved, whereas cod can be simply laid in salt. Also fatty fish cannot be exposed to air in curing because the fat will become rancid. Cod, along with its relatives including haddock and whiting, can be air-dried before salting, which makes for a particularly effective cure that would be difficult with oily fish such as anchovy or herring.” Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History, (New York: Penguin, 2003), p.114.
[vii] “The Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, flourishes over an enormous area of the North Atlantic, with a modern range from the northern Barents Sea south to the Bay of Biscay, around Iceland and the southern tip of Greenland, and along the North American coast as far south as North Carolina. Streamlined and abundant, it grows to a large size, has nutricious, bland flesh, and is easily cooked. It is also easily salted and dried, an important consideration when the major markets for salt cod were far from the fishing grounds, and often in the Mediterranean. When dried, cod meat is almost 80 percent protein.” Brian Fagan, The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850, (New York: Basic Books, 2000), p.70.
[viii] “Cod migrate for spawning, moving into still-shallower [less than 120 feet deep] water close to coastlines, seeking warmer spawning grounds and making it even easier to catch them.” Mark Kurlansky, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, (New York: Penguin, 1997), p.42.
[ix] “The record for long-distance travel belongs to a cod tagged in the North Sea in June 1957 and caught on the Grand Banks in January 1962 after a journey of about 3,200 kilometers.” Brian Fagan, Fish on Friday: Feasting, Fasting and the Discovery of the New World, (New York: Basic Books, 2006), p.228.
[x] “A Flemish Buss doth often take seven or eight Last [=14-16 tonnes] of herrings in a day. But if GOD gave a Buss, one day with another, but two Last of herrings a day, that is, twelve Last of herrings in a week; then at that rate, a Buss may take, dress, and pack the said whole Proportion of a hundred Last of herrings (propounded to be hoped for), in eight weeks and two days, And yet is herein[after] allowance made for victuals and wages for sixteen weeks, as after followeth. Of which sixteen weeks time, if there be spent in rigging and furnishing the said Buss to sea, and in sailing from her port to her fishing-place; if these businesses, I say, spend two weeks of the time, and that the other two weeks be also spent in returning to her port after her fishing season, and in unrigging and laying up the Buss: then I say (of the sixteen weeks above allowed for) there will be twelve weeks to spend only in fishing the herring.” Edward Arber, Social England Illustrated, a Collection of XVIIth Century Tracts With an Introduction by Andrew Lang, (Westminister: Archibald Constable & Co., 1903), Forgotten Books Classic Reprint, p.284.
[xi] Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), p.9.
[xii] Louis Sicking and Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, eds., Beyond the Catch: Fisheries of the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic, 900-1850, (Leiden: Brill, 2009), p.5.
[xiv] For the process see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbing . Note that in general the Flemish buss was a modest vessel and after 1600 almost exclusively for fishing. However, “a buss of 1523 was rated at over 200 tons. In 1570 there was a report of a buss which could bring home a catch of 140 tons. But from the 1570s size decreased and vessels of about 100 tons or less became the rule. The buss of those years would approach 25 meters in length and be over 5 meters broad with a depth of over 3 meters.” Richard W. Unger, Dutch Shipbuilding Before 1800, (Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 1978), p.30.
[xv] “Columbus added to his own navigational problems by carrying both Flemish and Genovese compasses, and while the Genovese needle, or wire, was set in line with the north point of the [compass] card, the Flemish needle was probably offset to the east of north by three quarters of a point (8.4 degrees) as was the custom .” Lloyd A. Brown, The Story of Maps, (New York: Bonanza, 1949), p.133.
[xvi] “Portuguese mariners [at that time, considered leaders in the field] seem to have been quick to adopt the Flemish designations of the winds in preference to the Italian. In the Arte de navegar, of Pedro de Medina (Valladolid, 1545) [THE Bible of navigation for Europeans well into the late 17th century] the Flemish names are given on roses of four, eight, twelve, and thirty-two points. Roderigo Zamorano, in his Compendio del arte de navegar, (Seville, 1588) also used the Flemish names.” Lloyd Arnold Brown, The Story of Maps, (New York: Courier Dover, 1979), p.126.
[xvii] Please see my earlier post on the hows and whys of the beaver felt trade in North America here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2010/12/beaver-peltries-and-la-batard-flamand.html
[xviii] Bernard Allaire, “The European Fur Trade and the Context of Champlain’s Arrival,” pp. 50-60 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), pp.50-51.
[xix] J.K.J. de Jonge, De Opkomst van het Nederlandsch Gezag in Oost-Indie, (The Hague, 1892), Vol. I, p.31; quoted in Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), p.9.
[xx] Dolhain’s real name was Adriaen van Bergues. A native of Sint-Winnoksbergen, a village near Dunkirk, he was allied with the Prince of Orange as early as 1568. To raise men, money and materiel, the Prince of Orange sent Dolhain to the Flemish émigrés’ enclaves in England. See Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 212.
[xxi] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.3.
[xxii] “La Rochelle…was the point of departure for almost half of the ships sent to Canada.” Bernard Allaire, “The Occupation of Quebec by the Kirke Brothers,” pp. 245-257, in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), p.245.
[xxiii] “To the north and west of the port [of La Rochelle], the old parish of Saint Barthelemy was chiefly inhabited by foreign merchants and wealthier local gens de justice. Near the harbor, in rue Chef de Ville, congregated Dutch, Flemish, and German merchants with commercial operations in La Rochelle. In their honor, Rochelais [inhabitants of La Rochelle] called the main street intersection in the vicinity the ‘canton des Flamandes’.” Kevin C. Robbins, City on the Ocean Sea: La Rochelle, 1530-1650: Urban Society, Religion, and Politics on the French Atlantic Frontier, (Leiden: Brill, 1997), p.54.
[xxiv] Judith Chandler Pugh Meyer, Reformation in LaRochelle: Tradition and Change in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1568, (Geneva: Libraire Droz, 1996), pp. 25, 46-47. For the roots of these ‘cantons des Flamands’ in the early Middle Ages please see also Louis Sicking, Neptune and the Netherlands: State, Economy, and War at Sea in the Renaissance, (Leiden: Brill, 2004), p.21.
[xxv] For example, Jacques de Peyster, born at Gent in 1596, became a banker at Rouen, where he died in 1655. His wife Catherine de Lanoye, was incidentally, the daughter of Josse de Lanoye and Sara de Wannemaker of Antwerp. Another, Jean de Peyster, was a banker at La Rochelle. The rest of the family was scattered thru Haarlem, Utrecht, England, Ireland, and even Greece! See here, Henry De Peyster, “The Pre-American Ancestry of the De Peyster Family” in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, pp. 210-216 in Vol LXX (July, 1939) and pp. 313-331 of Vol.LXXI (October, 1939) for the detailed written backdrop with supporting documentation. Or, for a quick look at the simple connections, see http://www.frostandgilchrist.com/getperson.php?personID=I11518&tree=frostinaz01
[xxvi] The Gouverneurs were the maternal ancestors of Gouverneur Morris, one of the Founding Fathers of the American Republic. See Monroe Johnson, “The Gouverneur Genealogy”, in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, pp. 134-138 in Vol LXIX (April, 1939)
[xxvii] See Newbold LeRoy, III, “Appendix: The Van Sevenhoven Family of La Rochelle, Rotterdam, and New York”, pp.93-95 in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. CXXXI, (April, 2000). For the specific Antwerp connection please see Th. Van Lerius, Biographies D’Artistes Anversois, (Antwerpen: P. Kockx, 1880), Vol.II available in scanned online format here: http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/4/3/biographiesdarti01leriuoft/biographiesdarti01leriuoft.pdf
[xxviii] For an explanation (in Dutch) of how these islands came to be called the Flemish Isles, please see my earlier post here http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/11/een-vlaamse-voorloper-van-columbus.html
[xxix] That this was a trade route linked to the émigrés from Antwerp, is underscored by the anecdote about one of the few Dutch patroons in New Netherland, David Pietersz. De Vries: “In 1619, some Amsterdam merchants made him a proposal:’They suggested that after the ship [that de Vries was constructing] was built they would [pay] me to perform something which was never before practiced in this country [Holland]; that is, that I should sail to Terra Nova [Newfoundland], there loading my ship with fish.” Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), pp.8-12.
[xxx] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.3. See also Emanuel Van Meteren, Histoire der Neder-landscher ende haerder Na-buren Oorlogen ende geschiednuissen, Tot den Iare M.VIXII…, (‘s-Gravénhage, 1614), folio 63: “Et certes on en trouvera un plus grand nombre que communement on n’estime. Que sit ant seulement on regarde la multitude de ceux qui se sont retirez seulement en Angleterre tant a Londres qu’a Santwick, la ou ils ont leurs assemblees publiques en nombre infini; puis qu’on face monster de ceux qui sont a Francfort, a Strasbourg, a Heidelberg, a Franckendal, Coloigne, Aix, Dusbourg, Embden, Geneve, et aultres plusieurs villes et villettes, certainement qu’on n’en trouvera pas moins de cent mille.” Quoted in Dr. J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek 1572-1630: Een Demografische en Cultuurhistorische Studie, (Sint-Niklaas: Danthe, 1985), p.223, n.12.
[xxxi] See here for an excellent post in English on Olivier Brunel of Leuven/Brussel and his critical ‘first mover’ efforts to connect Flanders to China: http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/brunel.html
[xxxii] Bernard Allaire, “The European Fur Trade and the Context of Champlain’s Arrival,” pp. 50-60 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), pp.50-51.
[xxxiii] An excellent discussion of the Antwerp merchants’ dominance of this eastward-looking trade network in the period 1550 to 1580 (with a superb map on p.28 of Antwerp export markets) can be found in Cle Lesger and Eric Wijnroks, “The Spatial Organization of Trade: Antwerp Merchants and the Gateway Systems in the Baltic and the Low Countries c.1550,” pp. 15-35 in Hanno Brand, ed., Trade, Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange: Continuity and Change in the North Sea Area and the Baltic, c.1350-1750, (Hilversum: Verloren, 2005).
[xxxiv] Bernard Allaire, “The European Fur Trade and the Context of Champlain’s Arrival,” pp. 50-60 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), pp.50-51.
[xxxv] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.3.
[xxxvi] See, for example, P.S. Callot, Jean Guiton Dernier Maire de l’Ancienne Commune de La Rochelle, 1628, (La Rochelle, 1872), pp.137-139. Also, see Jean Guiton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Guiton
[xxxvii] Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 212.
[xxxviii] Gustaf Asaert, 1585: De Val van Antwerpen en de Uittocht van Vlamingen en Brabanders, (Tielt: Lannoo, 2004), p. 109.
[xxxix] Cornelius Jaenen, “Champlain and the Dutch,” pp. 239-244 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), p.239.
[xl] The profits must have been outrageous on these fur trading ventures: De Bellois lent his money to one Frenchman, Pierre Chavin, for a fur trading expedition to Tadoussac in 1605 at 30% per annum. See Cornelius Jaenen, “Champlain and the Dutch,” pp. 239-244 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), p.243.
[xli] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.4.
[xlii] Although he slips into the errors of many other historians without a deep understanding of Flemish history by classifying natives of Flanders and Brabant as “Dutch”, the source for this is the well-written and (unpublished?) article by York University Professor J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” especially pp.4-7.
[xliii] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.4.
[xliv] Hunthum was a Fleming but with a reputation for cruelty to the natives (mutilating an Indian chief’s genitalia when he did not receive beaver peltries quickly enough). So he was hardly a credit to the reputation of Flanders. For references to Huntum’s “black reputation”, see Van Cleaf Bachman, Peltries or Plantations: The Economic Policies of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland, 1623-1639, (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1969), p. 131 and p. 131, n.35. That reputation hurt the Netherlanders’ trading opportunities with the Mohawks. For at least 20 years (1613-1633) Hunthum traded and lived in Nieuw Nederland. He was a ship captain and fur trader, later in the service of the WIC. Hunthum was killed by Cornelius vander Vorst in a quarrel in April, 1634 at Rennsselaerwyck. Hunthum’s father's name was Joris. Hunthum married Ibel Hendricks,the widow of Adriaen Mathyszen vander Put, on May 8th, 1618 at Amsterdam and his son Hans born 5/2/1619 in Amsterdam. Hans Jr. was first a clerk and later a cashier for the WIC in the 1630s. See Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), pp.60-62.
[xlv] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.4.
For a description of the beaver trade in North America with the Amerindians, its role in settlement and intercolonial rivalries, and its importance to Europe, please see my earlier posting here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2010/12/beaver-peltries-and-la-batard-flamand.html .
[xlvi] Cornelius Jaenen, “Champlain and the Dutch,” pp. 239-244 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), p.241.
[xlvii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Grav%C3%A9_Du_Pont and http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=321
[xlviii] Du Pont Gravé actually commanded New France, supplanting Champlain, for several critical years. See http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=321
[xlix] “On [the company’s] behalf he [Duysterloo] lent 1,190 livres in 1608 to Francois Gravé du Pont who was sending two ships to trade for furs at Tadoussac [a village at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in Canada] and Canso (Le Blant & Baudry, Nouveaux documents, p.83). This was a bottomry loan [loan against the goods of the ship] at 25 per cent premium. On 25 February 1609 Duysterloo lent du Pont 1,000 livres to send [the ship] Le Francois to trade for furs at Tadoussac, again on behalf of Jean Honton, Jabach & Cie., and on 23 December he bought 100 beaver skins from du Pont for 772 livres, these furs to be brought from Tadoussac to Honfleur by the Scottish captain William Douglas (Le Blant, “Un commerce international”, p.11-12). Earlier that year [1609] Duysterloo had bought 200 Canadian beaver furs from Jean Sarcel of Saint Malo. In 1620 Duysterloo was a member of the Compagnie du Canada and in 1622 of the Compagnie de Montmorency (Le Blant & Baudry, Nouveaux documents, pp. 182, 418-19, 432, 466-468).” J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.18, n26. Needless to say, there is an entire subject here – Flemish Protestants in France and their connection to North American trade and discovery. But it will have to wait for a future post.
[l] While the Antwerp native Emanuel Van Meteren reportedly made the initial overture in England (since he was physically present and the Dutch Consul), in the V.O.C. leadership itself, Antwerp native Dirck Van Os (Head of the Amsterdam Chamber of the V.O.C.) and the Brugge native Jan Janszoon Carel together with Pieter Dirckszoon Hasselaer of Haarlem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hasselaer were all heavily involved with the Dutch East India Company and with Henry Hudson's recruitment and engagement. All three were members of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company ("VOC"). Van Os, a native of Antwerp, was the most important: he was the 'originator' and head of the VOC. He was also the person who signed Henry Hudson's contract on behalf of the VOC. See Henry C. Murphy, Henry Hudson in Holland: An Inquiry Into the Origin and Objects of the Voyage Which Led to the Discovery of the Hudson River With Bibliographical Notes, (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1909), reprint, p.10.
[li] Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), pp.47-48.
[lii] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.4. Note that one historian refers to the supercargo as “none other than the smuggler from Rouen Nicolaes de Bancquemaire,” Cornelius Jaenen, “Champlain and the Dutch,” pp. 239-244 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), p.242.
[liii] Roman Catholics are currently the largest denomination in the Netherlands, accounting for more than 25% of the population. Mainline Protestants account for another 15%. Ironically, for a country formed in the fires of faith, the majority of the Dutch population today rejects Christianity. See Wikipedia for excellent visuals and an explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Netherlands
[liv] Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), p.13, n.7.
[lv] Lonck admitted in a notarized statement (now in the City of Amsterdam Archives) to have captured 107 barrel of grain and seven guns from the Spanih ship and 24,000 codfish from the Portuguese ship. See Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), pp. 13-15.
[lvi] Cornelius Jaenen, “Champlain and the Dutch,” pp. 239-244 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), p.239. Samuel Eliot Morison in his Samuel de Champlain, Father of New France, (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1972), says (on p. 148) of Pierre Dugua de Monts: “As a founder of New France, de Monts was second only to Champlain in importance, and often Champlain’s commander; but he has received precious little recognition from French Canadians, or anyone.” For an excellent biography of this “honest, likeable, generous man” who could was also brave, efficient, and loyal, please see Jean-Yves Grenon, “Pierre Dugua de Mons Lieutenant General of New France,” pp. 143-150 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004).
[lvii] J.F. Bosher, “French Ports and North America Before 1627: The View From LaRochelle,” p.4.
[lviii] Pierre Dugua De Mons affirmed this before a notary in 1596, two years before both the Edict of Nantes (which allowed freedom of religion in France) and when Dugua de Mons first visited Canada (and observed the trading for beaver pelts). See Jean-Yves Grenon, “Pierre Dugua de Mons Lieutenant General of New France,” pp. 143-150 in Raymond Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America, trans. By Kathe Roth, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), p. 144.
[lix] Despite having many Flemish Contra-Remonstrant admirers, Grotius was imprisoned as an Arminian for several years. Ironically, Grotius fled to France and was taken in by Louis XIII. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Grotius downloaded July 15, 2011.
[lx] Cornelis’ son Francis was a prominent Contra-Remonstrant and played a role in the execution of Johan Oldenbarnevelt. See http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelis_van_Aerssen_(1545-1627) downloaded July 15, 2011.
[lxi] The restitution included handing over the Spanish guns! See Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson, (Amsterdam: City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), pp. 13-15.
Copyright 2011 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any form is permitted without my express, written consent.
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