“I had goosebumps when I realized they were documents belonging to Jeanne Mance,” says Paul Labonne, general director of the Musée des Hospitalières at the Hôtel-Dieu in Montreal. “This is big news. With these documents we have before us an almost unpublished portrait of Montreal in 1650. At that time the Hôtel-Dieu was barricaded. […] There were numerous Iroquois attacks. The chapel is used as an artillery store. »
Jeanne Mance takes refuge in a fortress. On the windows of the attics, to withstand the numerous and repeated attacks, we would have mounted at least two swivel cannons, an arm cannon mounted on a tripod, more or less the equivalent of today's bazooka. There are two cannons on the ground floor. Embrasures are drilled everywhere to enable shooting. The founding of Montreal was not quiet and gentle.
Paul Labonne had these rare documents in his hands for the first time last spring.
Everyone repeated that these original documents about the founding of Montreal had been burned in the Hôtel-Dieu fire, that there was practically nothing left. “But no one understood that the documents were sent to Quebec at her request when Jeanne Mance died. » The documents were still there, more or less well classified and therefore invisible if you weren't careful.
“The documents were not identified with Jeanne Mance,” explains Paul Labonne, even if, according to her wishes, they come from the papers left behind at her death.
In a multi-page letter, Jeanne Mance explains the reasons that led her to give Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve the sum of 22,000 pounds, which is equivalent to about $700,000 today. It is necessary to recruit around a hundred settlers in France to help build this religious project called Montreal, she explains in this document.
Jeanne Mance writes that she had to invest this money to “save a land where God would unfailingly give great glory by delivering infinite souls from the darkness of infidelity in which they found themselves.” His special relationship to the indigenous world becomes clear in this text. She sees the Iroquois as “barbarians,” “insolent furies.” It's the war.
In fact, this letter from Jeanne Mance had already been discovered in 1953 by her biographer, the historian Marie-Claire Daveluy. But due to a lack of exploitation, it was, so to speak, forgotten again. In fact, “this was always the summary [François] Dollier de Casson in his History of Montreal, which was quoted. Never the original. He was considered missing. Because the hospital burned down. »And yet here it is, this original finally found…
Among the documents found are also a dozen contracts attesting to the betrothal of French farmers and craftsmen by Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière, lawyer of the Society of Notre-Dame de Montréal, in 1644, so that they set off for the New World. “We understand clearly for the first time,” explains Paul Labonne, “that it is Maisonneuve who sets out in search of settlers,” thanks to a document from around 1665. And it is clearly indicated that Montreal will be abandoned, when a number is reached not enough settlers are found.
Investigation
A new investigation into the extensive archives of the Musée de la Civilization in Quebec has uncovered important documents in the handwriting of Jeanne Mance. The co-founder of Montreal, as she is now known, left all her papers after her death to Mgr. François de Laval, founder of the Quebec Seminary and first Bishop of Quebec.
Where had those papers gone, all those papers that she supposedly gave him on the condition that he was willing to “pray to God” for the rest of his soul?
This question was asked by the general director of the Musée des Hospitalières de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, Paul Labonne, together with the archivist Peter Gagné from the Musée de la Civilization on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of Jeanne Mance's death. A new exhibition dedicated to this resolute mysticism was in preparation. The Jeanne Mance celebrations will take place until June 2024.
Some documents found bear the classification notice affixed by the notaries at the time of the inventory of Jeanne Mance's property after her death. This confirms the origin of the documents and their authenticity. “The reviews are behind the documents. They were installed at the Hôtel-Dieu on June 19 and 20, 1673, after the death of Jeanne Mance. »
Archives directly linked to Montreal's co-founder are very rare. The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, run by Jeanne Mance from 1642, suffered three terrible and devastating fires in 1695, 1721 and 1734. The latter decimated a significant part of the hospital's archives. For a long time almost all of his papers were considered lost.
A discovery like this is important because it can open up new perspectives on Montreal's origins.
Above all, it is stimulating, affirms Paul Labonne, in that it allows us to “open up new avenues of research that will enrich our collective memory”.
Jeanne Mance's correspondence is considered lost. For a long time only a few very rare written traces of his hand were known, including a “Memoir of Wood”, a simple letter that reports on the loan of materials for the construction of his Hôtel-Dieu. This rediscovery of old documents gives new impetus to the ideas we can have about our actions.
She was born in Langres, France, in 1606 and died in Montreal (Ville-Marie) in 1673. Jeanne Mance is considered one of New France's most important pioneers. After Montreal's 100th birthday celebrations in 1942, how many newborns will be given the first name Jeanne-Mance as a tribute to her role in telling the story of this colony?