Charles de Montmagny | |
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| Born | Charles Jacques Huault de Montmagny c. 1583 to 1599 Montmagny, Val-d'Oise, France |
| Died | 1657 |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Governor of New France |
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Charles Jacques Huault de Montmagny (c. 1583 to 1599 – 4 July 1657) was governor of New France from 1636 to 1648. He was the first person to bear the title of Governor of New France and succeeded Samuel de Champlain, who governed the colony as Lieutenant General of New France. Montmagny was able to negotiate a peace treaty with the Iroquois at Trois-Rivières in 1645.
Born in Montmagny, Val-d'Oise, to Charles Huault (descended from a noble family headed by Jacques Huault, a counsellor under Henri II of France 1534 to 1580[1]) and Antoinette Du Drac, Huault de Montmagny was educated by the Jesuits in Malta under the Order of the Knights Hospitaller in 1622. He later joined the navy and then became a member of the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, following the invitation of Cardinal de Richelieu in 1632.
His name 'Montmagny' roughly translated into the Iroquoian languages as "Onontio" (Great Mountain), a title which the Iroquois Confederacy used for all subsequent Governors of Quebec.
Late in his life he was commissioned by the Knights Hospitaller to oversee the Hospitaller colonies in the Caribbean. His presence there was ineffective, since he was bogged down in power struggles with the sitting governor, Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy. Montmagny died on Saint Christopher on 4 July 1657.
He became the inspiration of the character Montmagny by Cyrano de Bergerac in his novel L'autre Monde.[2]