{"id":7906,"date":"2018-12-22T21:04:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T02:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toupin.org\/?page_id=7906"},"modified":"2019-01-04T20:13:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T01:13:18","slug":"filles-du-roi","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/?page_id=7906","title":{"rendered":"Les filles du roi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"

“Les filles du roi, Qu\u00e9bec<\/em>” by Brickdale (courtesy of the National Archives of Canada) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our ancestor Mathurine Graton is considered\nto be a fille du roi<\/em>, or King\u2019s Daughter, having arrived in New France\nin 1670 as a single woman of 18 or 22 years of age. The term \u201cFille du roi\u201d is\nfirst seen in the writings of Marguerite Bourgeoys in around 1697-1698. It was\nnot repeated until historian \u00c9tienne-Michel Faillon used it in 1853. According\nto historian and demographer Yves Landry (in his book \u201cLes Filles du roi au\nxvii\u2019\u00e8me si\u00e8cle<\/em>\u201d), the term derives from \u201cenfants du roi\u201d (children of the\nKing), which was used in 17th<\/sup> century Canada to refer to children\nwithout parents (orphans) who were raised at the King\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a “Fille du roi”?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there were several definitions of\nthe term throughout the 20th<\/sup> century, the currently accepted meaning\nof fille du roi<\/em> is a marriageable woman, single or widowed (including\nwidows with children), who arrived in Canada between 1663 and 1673 inclusive,\nand who is presumed to have benefited from royal aid in her transport to and\/or\nsettlement in New France. King Louis XIV, through his Minister Jean-Baptiste\nColbert, instituted a program to settle marriageable women in New France in\norder to support the creation of families and increase the population of the\nstruggling colony. Canada had a population of a mere 3200 in 1663.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This effort was commenced in 1663 and lasted until 1673, and was coupled with sending the first regular French army regiment, the Carignan-Sali\u00e8res Regiment, to New France in 1665 to put a stop to the Mohawk raids on the colony\u2019s settlements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See a list of all the Filles du roi at the following link on the website of<\/strong> La Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan<\/em>: https:\/\/fillesduroi.org\/cpage.php?pt=9<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, at least 770 women arrived in\nNew France as Filles du roi in that 11 year period: 737 of the Filles du roi\nsettled in Canada; and 33 others arrived there, but either returned to France,\ndied, or remained without marrying. According to Mr. Landry\u2019s research, some of\nthese women were recruited and transported at the King\u2019s expense; others came\nto the ports of La Rochelle or Dieppe on their own, and were integrated into\nthe group; and again others were neither recruited nor transported by the King,\nbut arrived between 1663-1673 and their settlement was facilitated by colonial\nadministrators (less than 100, mostly during 1664, 1666 and 1672).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of arrivals of Filles du roi\naccording to Landry\u2019s research are as follows: 1663: 36; 1664: 15; 1665: 90;\n1666: 25; 1667: 90; 1668: 81; 1669: 132; 1670: 120; 1671: 115; 1672: 15; and\n1673: 51. Almost one half of the Filles du roi arrived during 1669 to 1671.\nThis follows the demobilization and settlement of over 400 of the\nCarignan-Sali\u00e8res Regiment\u2019s soldiers and officers in Canada in 1668.\nPreviously, between 1634 and 1662, while the colony was governed by the private\nCompagnie des Cents Associ\u00e9s<\/em>, only about 220 filles \u00e0 marier<\/em> were\nbrought to the colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backgrounds of the Filles du roi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The King\u2019s Daughters were of diverse\ncultural backgrounds, but nearly 80% were from either Paris, Normandy or the\nWest of France. Almost 50% came from around Paris (Ile de France); most of\nthose arrived in New France in 1665, 1669, 1670 or 1671. Only 6% were from\ncountries other then France, and only 2% were Protestant (despite the 123\ndepartures of Filles du roi [out of 770] from the port of La Rochelle, a\nprotestant stronghold).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two-thirds of the King\u2019s Daughters were of\nurban versus rural origins, though only 15% of the population of France at the\ntime lived in cities, as noted by Mr. Landry. One half of the urban King\u2019s\nDaughters were from Paris. These numbers can be compared to the two-thirds of\nmale settlers of known origin in Canada at that time who arrived before 1680\nand were from rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two women in particular, Mme. Bourdon and\nMme. Estienne, acted as recruiters of women as Filles du roi, concentrating on\nthe H\u00f4pital g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Paris during the 1669-1671 migrations. The very great\nmajority of the King\u2019s Daughters were from extreme poverty. It\u2019s likely they\nleft France because of financial difficulties, whether they were orphans from\nthe H\u00f4pital g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Paris or their parents sent them off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry\u2019s findings assume that 58% of King\u2019s\nDaughters would have spoken Central French (from the Ile de France); only 26%\nspoke semi-patois, and 16% only patois. Compare this to the distribution among\nthe general population of France: one-fifth; one-fifth; and three fifths,\nrespectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the high marriage and birth rate, and\nthe traditional role of the mother in raising and educating the children,\nLandry concludes that the King\u2019s Daughters could have contributed to the\nacceleration of the assimilation, making Central French the common speech of\nCanada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four socio-economic groups of origin (based\non the father\u2019s profession) were represented among the Filles du roi: nobility\n& bourgeoisie; tradesmen; farmers; and the \u201chumble\u201d occupations. Landry\nestimates that only 12% of the King\u2019s Daughters fell into the first group,\ncontrary to earlier writings. This figure is comparable to the percentage in\nthe general population of France, and slightly less than that in the population\nof Canada at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry describes how the general lack of\nmoney and personal goods among Filles du roi demonstrates the importance played\nby the royal aid in their settlement. Royal aid consisted of the cost of the\nvoyage, assistance upon arrival, and\/or a royal dowry on marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marriages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

250 of the 606 known marriage contracts (or\n41%) of the King\u2019s Daughters mention a royal dowry. Almost all of them were in\nthe sum of 50 livres, and two were 200 livres. About three-quarters of King\u2019s\nDaughters of known upper socio-economic origins received only a 50 livres\ndowry, paid in goods. Of the seven higher dowries (100 livres or more), six\nwere given to \u201cdemoiselles\u201d (higher social origins). Most dowries were granted\nbetween 1669 and 1671 (244 of the 250), years when recruits of Mme. Bourdon and\nMme. Estienne arrived from the H\u00f4pital g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Paris, an orphanage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women who arrived with fewer possessions\nwere more likely to receive a royal dowry at marriage. However, social class or\norigin did not determine the likelihood of a dowry. According to Landry, Jean\nTalon, the Intendant of the colony since 1665, seemed to equalize the level of\nwealth among the newlyweds through this practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average age of single Filles du roi on\narrival in Canada was 23.9 years; for widows, it was 32.5 years. Only half of\nthese women were between 18 and 25 at immigration. However, 96% of the Filles\ndu roi were between 16 and 40 upon settlement in New France. A total of 718 of\nthe Filles du roi were single on arrival; 38 were widows (though Landry\nbelieves that many failed to declare their true status for fear of rejection);\nand 14 were of unknown status.  Only 24%\ncould sign their name, a rough estimation of literacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry found that 56.7% (387 of 663) of\nFilles du roi who provided information had a deceased father upon immigration;\n19% had a deceased mother; and 11.3% were complete orphans. Mathurine Graton\nwas in the latter category. Thus 64.4% of the Filles du roi (who provided the\ninformation) were orphaned of at least one parent. This percentage was even\nhigher among women recruited by Mmes. Bourdon and Estiennes from Paris in\n1669-1671.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry points out that some Filles du roi\nmay have been incited to immigrate by family ties to other immigrants who\npreceded, accompanied or followed them to Canada. Certainly this was the case\nof Mathurine Graton, who travelled to New France either together with or during\nthe same summer as her brother and his family. One in ten King\u2019s Daughters were\nrelated to someone in New France; however, this percentage was low compared to\nthe general French immigrant population, among whom two in three were related\nto a Canadian (pre-1700).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

738 of the Filles du roi known to arrive in\nNew France married at least once in the colony; 181 married twice; 35 married\nthree times; and two married four times. Landry reports that marriageable men\noutnumbered available women between six and fourteen times in Canada up to\n1670; whereas, by 1679, this ratio had decreased to two to one. The average\ninterval between arrival and first marriage in the 1663-1673 period was 4.7\nmonths. From year to year, the average varied from one month (1673) to 8.5\nmonths (1667).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Settlement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Filles du roi resided initially at\nreception centers in Quebec City, at the H\u00f4tel Dieu hospital, and at houses of\nthe Ursuline nuns and of individuals such as Mme. La Peltrie and Anne Gasnier,\nfollowing their arrival in the colony. In Montreal, some resided at the Maison\nSaint-Gabriel, which currently is open as a museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The King\u2019s Daughters dispersed throughout\nthe colony after marriage, with few (10%) settling where they had just married\nin Quebec City. More than half of the couples settled in a different parish\nwithin a radius of 40 km or more from Quebec City, including the Ile d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans.\nThe areas around Montreal and Trois-Rivi\u00e8res attracted 26% and 12% of the\nnewlyweds, respectively. But only 16% of the Filles du roi founded their new\nhomes in the major towns of the colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first official act in the nuptial\nprocess for the Filles du roi was an oral promise of marriage called a\ndeclaration of \u201cfian\u00e7ailles\u201d (fiancees). Next came the marriage contract.\nThough not a necessity, 82% of the Filles du roi entered into one with their\nhusbands for their first marriages (most did so prior to the religious\nceremony), as opposed to only 65% of couples during the earlier 1632-1662\nperiod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all contemplated marriages took place.\nFifteen percent of the King\u2019s Daughters who signed first marriage contracts did\nnot marry their intended (highest during 1669-1671), resulting in annulment of\nthe contract. According to Landry, this was three times the rate of annulments\nfor the period 1632-1662 and twice as high as for second marriages for the\nFilles du roi. And another 13% of these women did not marry following a second\ntry at a first marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the husbands in the first marriages\nof the Filles du roi were born in France (95%). Only 3% were Canadian-born; but\nthen, only 10% of the males in the colony were born there, notes Landry. Yet\nthere was a high degree of cultural mixing in the choice of spouses. For\nexample, whereas half of the wives were from the region around Paris, only 8%\nof the husbands hailed from that area (among persons of known origin). Only\n18.7% of spouses were from the same region, as compared to a rate of 33% among\nCanadian couples generally before 1680.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children of the Filles du roi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry found that 71% of the children born\nto the King\u2019s Daughters entered the world between 1670 and 1685. In all, there\nwere a total of 4459 births to Filles du roi from 1664-1702. Baptismal and\nlater records (especially the census of 1681) were used to track these births.\nOver 100 births per year occurred during 1669-1687 alone. One-third of the\nfirst-borns of the Filles du roi were conceived during the period of November\nthrough January; in other words, within a very few months of the profusion of\nautumnal weddings that took place shortly after the summer arrivals of these\nwomen in the colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry found that a Fille du roi had on\naverage 5.8 children during her lifetime (after statistical correction), at a\ntime when New France was sparsely populated. The author also noted that the\naverage Fille du roi\u2019s marriage lasted 23.5 years. In couples who lived at\nleast to age 45, Landry found that a Fille du roi who married between the ages\nof 20-24 had an average of 8.5 children, and one who married between 25-29 had\nan average of 5.7 children. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule:\nCatherine Ducharme and her husband Pierre Roy dit Lambert beat the average;\nthey had 18 children over their 27 year marriage! The Filles du roi gave birth\nto 46% of their first-born children before their first anniversary of marriage,\nwith an average of less than 13 months between the two dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lifespan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry calculates that the average age of a\nFille du roi at death was 62.2 years. Almost two-thirds of the group died in\nthe first 30 years of the 18th<\/sup> century. He determined that life\nexpectancy for the Filles du roi at birth was 42.5 to 45 years; but that at age\n20, a King\u2019s Daughter had a life expectancy of 61.4 additional years! This was\nan exceptional duration of life for the 17th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landry compares this statistic to known\nEuropean life expectancy figures, and concludes that only women of old ruling\nclass families in Geneva had a longer life expectancy at age 20. This rate even\nsurpassed that of ruling classes in the rest of Europe; some did not reach this\nlevel until the late 19th<\/sup> century!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On average, at least one spouse had been\nmarried previously in roughly one in four marriages of the King\u2019s Daughters,\naccording to Landry. He shows us that the adoption of step-children was not a\ndeterrent to remarriage in this society: 86% of widows were under 40 years old,\nand three-quarters of those remarried while responsible for five or more\nchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the brief 11 year period of the\nFilles du roi program in New France, this group of women stand out\nsignificantly as founders of the French-Canadian population, notwithstanding\ntheir origins in poverty in France and the pressure on them to marry quickly\nfollowing their arrival in New France. The healthy and safer Canadian\nenvironment, combined with the hardiness of these women who had survived\nexposure to illness and difficult circumstances in France, the harsh voyage\nacross the Atlantic, and the desolate Canadian landscape, led to a population\nboom in Canada and the survival of the colony and the French-speaking people in\nNorth America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researched & Written by David Toupin, great-grandson of Felix Toupin.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yves Landry, Les Filles du roi au\nxvii\u2019\u00e8me si\u00e8cle: Orphans in France, Pioneers in Canada<\/em>, 1992, Lem\u00e9ac<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter J. Gagn\u00e9, King\u2019s Daughters and\nFounding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673<\/em>, 2001, Quintin Publications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our ancestor Mathurine Graton is considered to be a fille du roi, or King\u2019s Daughter, having arrived in New France in 1670 as a single woman of 18 or 22 years of age. The term \u201cFille du roi\u201d is first seen in the writings of Marguerite Bourgeoys in around 1697-1698. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7906","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","column","twocol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7906"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8650,"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7906\/revisions\/8650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toupin.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}