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In the following paragraphs I will
report to you about Louis de Baude the
Comte de Frontenac.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Louis de Baude the Comte de
Frontenac was born in 1622 at St. Germain,
France.(3) He was The Governor of
New France, one of The Sovereign Council,
the rulers of New France. He served
his position as Governor for a total of
eighteen years, first from 1672 to
1682, then from 1689 to 1697.(1)
Louis de Baude de Frontenac was a
strong and violent leader who was quite
headstrong and therefore got into
many, many fights with both The Intendant
and The Bishop ( Jean Talon and
Francois Laval) in New France. One of
these fights was with Laval about
the trading of alcohol to the aboriginals
(Native Peoples). Laval regarded
this action as a sacrilege and threatened
to revoke church privileges from
the Coureurs de Bois and even Frontenac
himself if the trading of Brandy
continued. Frontenac knew the Coureurs
would choose the church over profit
so he carefully organized a meeting
where no clergy were present and
passed the trading of liquor to the
natives.(1) Another fight he fought
was much more serious. The English
were coming to take Quebec.
Frontenac went out to meet them in battle. He
had only a few Frenchmen and a
motley crew of aboriginals to lead into the
fight. The English met him with an
army and screamed out their challenge.
Frontenac answered with the now
famous words that sent the English packing,
"I will answer only with the mouths
of my cannons and with my musketry!"(2)
Louis de Baude the Comte de
Frontenac died in 1697 at Quebec New France.(1)
PERSONALITY
Louis de Baude de Frontenac was a
born leader. He was bossy, headstrong,
and egotistical. He told everyone
what to do. He even bullied The
Intendant to get what he wanted.
Even though he was poor, he carried
himself like a noble and he always
thought he was right. He was also
violent and fiery, and his many,
many fights prove this. Last of all he
was greedy. He used his sovereignty
as Governor to profit personally from
the fur trade and from the selling
of alcohol, which was why he did not want
brandy to stop being
sold.
IMPORTANT LIFE EVENTS AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Did you know…
· That Louis de Baude de
Frontenac was appointed Governor of New France in
1672?(1)
· That Frontenac secretly
married Anne de la Grange against her father's
wishes in 1648?(6)
· That Frontenac lived to be
75 years old?
· That Frontenac built Fort
Frontenac that later became known as Kingston to
maintain peace with The
Iroquois?(1)
· That Frontenac once bullied
the Intendant so much that Talon locked
himself in his chambers and armed
his servants?(6)
· That Frontenac successfully
governed New France for a total of eighteen
years?
Well now you do!
CHALLENGES AND
DIFFICULTIES
One of the challenges and
difficulties for Frontenac was guarding New
France against The English and
their new king, William of Orange. Frontenac
was at war with the English for
most of his long life, and while defeating
the English many a time, his
actions built up the rivalry between the French
and he English. It was that rivalry
which caused The Seven Years War, and
the eventual defeat of the French
empire in North America.(6) Being an
enemy of the English, Frontenac was
also an enemy of the Iroquois, who were
allied with the English. He had to
keep peace with the Iroquois if he
wanted to profit from the fur
trade. Profiting from the fur trade was
another difficulty of Frontenac's.
However, he eventually solved this
problem by passing the trading of
brandy for furs and persuading the
Iroquois to come to Fort Frontenac
to trade their furs instead of the other
English forts that were in and
around The Hudson Bay Lowlands.(1)
IMPACT OR IMPORTANCE TO FUTURE
CANADIANS
Frontenac did a lot to impact
future Canadians. Aside from his actions
causing The Seven Years War, which
in turn resulted in Canada becoming an
English colony, he did many
positive things. He made many French outposts
in Canada, and was so famous that
he even had places named after him i.e..
Chateau Frontenac, and The
Frontenac beer company.(1) One particular
accomplishment was the building of
Fort Frontenac, which later became
Kingston and a place to live for
future Canadians.(1)
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