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Post 2 – Père Jerome,

(Stadacona, November 1544)

There was ice on the Stadacona River[1]. While the ice on the small river was still patchy, Père Jerome knew that, within a few weeks, even the big Kanata River[2] would be frozen solid. After that point, there would be no way for the resupply ship from France to reach Stadacona. While Père Jerome still hoped that the ship would come, he knew that at this point, it probably wasn't coming. They wouldn't have sent a ship all the way across the Atlantic just to be stranded in Stadacona over the winter.

Père Jerome turned and walked away from the river towards Fort-St-Francis, the outpost that had been constructed by Roberval and his men, on the site of Cartier's 1535-1536 encampment. The fort stood across the small river from the Kanatian village of Stadacona, but stood twice as tall as Stadacona's palisade, and certainly dwarfed any of the longhouses inside the wall. The fort contained the barracks for Roberval's men, along with store-rooms, a mess hall, and a small forge. While cramped and Spartan by French standards, living in the fort was still definitely better than sleeping in a longhouse. But Jean-Paul [3], despite now carrying the feudal rank of Compte, had chosen to continue to live in a longhouse.

Well, there was probably good reason for that. Jean-Paul had told Père Jerome that he was afraid of losing support amongst his own people. While the French all called him Compte (sometimes in a mocking way), and treated him with at least a little more respect than the other Kanatians, amongst his own people Jean-Paul was not the only one that went by the title of “chief”. His rival Agona had been chief during Jean-Paul's stay in France, and many Stadaconans continued to follow Agona rather than Jean-Paul. While many of Jean-Paul's followers had been willing to convert to Christianity, many others had seen Jean-Paul's support for a 'foreign' religion as a reason to go over to Agona's camp. Jean-Paul had told Père Jerome that he needed all the support he could get if he was to remain influential in Stadacona, and had said that to get that support, he would need to live with his people, not apart from them in Fort-St-Francis.

From where he was standing, Père Jerome could see through the palisade gate to the wooden church under construction inside. It had taken two years for Jerome to convince Roberval to spare the men to direct the Kanatians in the construction of the church. Roberval had wanted the Christian Kanatians to continue to use the small chapel in the fort along with his men. He had only spared the men and supplies to build the church when it became clear that the chapel was now too small to accommodate all the Kanatians who had converted.

As Père Jerome approached Roberval's office in the fort, he could see that Cartier was already inside. Cartier had returned from his latest expedition upriver a few days ago, and was probably discussing his latest findings. From what Père Jerome had heard, Cartier was now certain that the great body of water he had discovered to the West was just a lake (Cartier's initial hope had been that it was a freshwater arm of a great sea leading to China), but that he was now more or less certain that there was an even larger body of water farther to the West [4]. Cartier had heard that this body of water was where the copper-mining Land of the Saguenay was located, and he was hoping that it would turn out to be an arm of the ocean on the other side of this continent and that he would reach China on the other side.

Père Jerome knocked on the door. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.

“Come in, come in,” Roberval said, “we're just talking about plans for the winter. I was talking about how we might expand the fort once that new church of yours is finished, but Cartier's telling me that I need to send my men out hunting. Please tell our good friend Cartier here that we have enough meat in the stores already to make it through till spring. And more will be arriving with the supply ship, whenever it comes.”

“That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I don't think it's coming.”

“Not coming!” Roberval interjected “What do you mean? Are you saying that our good King Francis would leave us to starve.”

Cartier spoke up, “I think Père Jerome is right, I think that your good King Francis may have realized that he's spending more gold on us than he's ever going to get out of this expedition. I don't think he wants us to starve, but maybe if we want him to continue sending us supplies we may need to send him more than just furs and a few rocks that may or may not contain gold. We have spent three years in this land with little to show for it, and I think Francis is telling us now that he's no longer willing to supply our expedition.”

Silence fell as Roberval thought things over. “Perhaps the two of you are right,” he said, “maybe His Most Christian Majesty is no longer interested in this expedition. If the King wishes me to return, I must return, and see how I can serve him better.”

“And I must return too,” added Cartier, “while I would love to continue to explore this land, I know I will not be able to provision my expedition without the King's help. What will they eat? There's cabbages and turnips from our vegetable garden of course, and they can hunt for meat, but we still haven't cleared enough land to grow a proper field of grain. My men need bread and beer; if I force them to spend another winter eating that corn that the Kanatians grow, they'll mutiny on me! It looks like this expedition is over until we can convince the King to fund another one. In spring we'll depart on my ships. The supplies in our store will last us till spring, but they won't last the voyage home, so we'll need to spend this winter hunting. I'm a little concerned that there won't be enough space for us and all our supplies on the three ships that remain to us.”

“Well I, for one, will be staying,” replied Pére Jerome. “I have a flock of nearly 100 Christian Kanatians here who will have no priest to show them the Way of the Lord if I leave. It is my mission to spread the Word of God among these people, and I will not give up that mission even if it means giving up bread and beer. And I think there may be others who will want to stay with me…”


* * * * *

(Stadacona, December 1544)

“I know that you all came here for a baptism. The occasion of the birth of the first Christian child in the land of Kanata is a momentous one, and I do not want to diminish its importance. However, I have something more pressing to discuss with you all.” Père Jerome was addressing a crowd of 60 Kanatians and a dozen French, all gathered in the new church. He spoke in the local Kanatian language. While he knew he wasn't as eloquent in Kanatian as he was in French, he needed to make himself understood.

“I need to talk with all of you about the future of our town. As you have probably all heard Cartier and Roberval will be leaving in the spring with their ships and most of their men. As you have probably also heard, I will be staying with you to continue to spread the Christian faith. And I will not be the only Frenchman staying. Little Thèrese, who was baptised today, is too young to survive the voyage across the great ocean, and she and her mother will be permitted to move into Fort-St-Francis with her father once the rest of the expedition has departed. Henri Grignon here will also be staying, as his wife is with child, and he has a few things to say to you.”

Henri Grignon stood up to address the crowd. His Kanatian was much less fluent than Père Jerome's, but he was still better than most of the other Frenchmen. He had been once of the first to join Père Jerome in his trips into the Kanatian town, and had been responsible for establishing a trade of metal tools for corn that had gotten the expedition through the first winter. He had also been one of the first to take a Kanatian wife: he had married Marie-Claire, one of Jean-Paul's daughters. It was hard to imagine that Henri had been a thief back in France and had been recruited to this expedition from King Francis' prison, as he had become quite the pillar of society among the Kanatians.

“Since I've come here, I have fallen in love with your people, have fallen in love with this land, and, of course have fallen in love with my dear wife Yegatetsi.” It annoyed Père Jerome than even Henri still referred to Marie-Claire by her pagan name, but he had learned it was something that would have to be tolerated if Christianity were to spread. “I, along with a dozen of my brothers here will be staying here with you. Most of us have Kanatian wives, or have plans to take one, and we know that if we stay, we'll be staying as part of Stadacona. But, at the same time, we don't want to give up the French life entirely. We know you have come to appreciate the metal tools we've traded with you. My friend Marc here was an apprentice blacksmith back in France, and he will be able to continue to work the forge once Cartier and Roberval leave, but will need metal to make tools out of. Some of you eat the yogurt that comes from our cows and the eggs that our chickens lay, and we hope that we can ensure that the cows and chickens stay rather than being slaughtered for meat. But, if we are to do so, we will need your help.”

“The iron tools along with the cows and chickens here all belong to the King,” Henri continued, “and Roberval is determined to bring them back to France to return them to his King. While he has agreed to allow those of us who are staying to keep our muskets and has agreed to turn over Fort-St-Fancis to us for safekeeping, he wants to slaughter the cows and chickens for food, and wants to take all the iron back with him. If we want the cows and chickens to stay, and if we want to keep the iron, we will need to give Roberval something in return.”

“What I ask of you, my new adopted family, is to go hunting with me. If we spend this winter hunting, we can secure enough meat for Roberval that he will be able to part with his cows and chickens. If we skin the animals and tan their skins, we will have fur that we can give to Roberval too. In France, metal is plentiful and fur is rare, while here fur is plentiful and metal rare. If we trade Roberval enough furs, he will allow us to keep those metal tools as well.”

“But, again, I cannot do this without your help. The dozen of us Frenchmen who will be staying will not be able to hunt enough meat and furs to satisfy Roberval, and you Kanatians know the best hunting grounds much better than we do. Join us in the hunt, and we will share what we get from Roberval with you. We will make any metal tool you desire in our forge, and will give you milk from the cows and meat from the chickens. We will teach you to care for the animals, and will teach you to spread their manure on your fields to make your corn grow taller. We will teach your sons to make metal tools for themselves, and teach your daughters how to use oxen to plow a field. What say you, shall we trade with Roberval to make Stadacona a better place?”

The room was silent. Père Jerome could tell that most of those present had understood Henri's proposal. The general reaction from the crowd seemed positive, which was good. Jean-Paul was the first to speak up. “Henri, you and your Frenchmen bring great wisdom from across the ocean. I have already welcomed you into my family when you married my daughter Yegatetsi, and I would be happy to welcome your fellow Frenchmen into my town of Stadacona. You have a lot to teach us about the importance of iron, cows and chickens, but I recognize already that they will bring us great things in the future. I and all those who follow me will help you with your hunt, and together we will share in the bounties of iron, cows, and chickens.”

Once Jean-Paul had spoken, the outcome was clear. The Christian Stadaconans, and many of those who remained heathen, would likely follow Jean-Paul, and there would be enough of them to make this hunt a success. Roberval would get his meat and furs, and Stadacona would get their iron, cows, and chickens.

* * * * * *

(Stadacona, July 1547)

Père Jerome was teaching Marie-Claire Grignon how to read when he heard news of the arrival of the trade ship. Marie-Claire [5] was one of Père Jerome's most promising students: she had learned to speak almost perfect French within a year of starting lessons with Père Jerome, and now had moved on to learning to read and write. If Père Jerome had met her in France when she was still unmarried, he would have recommended that she become a teacher in the convent school. Well, she was married to Henri, so she couldn't now become a nun. But, Père Jerome thought, she still had potential, and was definitely eager to learn.

And now, in the middle of the summer, was the best time for Jerome to work with Marie-Claire because in spring and fall Marie-Claire was constantly busy working in the fields. Jerome was still confounded by the fact that, in Kanatian culutre, farming was women's work. It's not that there wasn't plenty for the men to do: they took care of the cattle herds, went out on hunting trips, and were in charge of building construction and maintainance. But the fact that Kanatian women wouldn't let men help them work in the fields, even during harvest time, still seemed a little strange.

The fields that Marie-Claire tended were on the Fort-St-Francis side of the Stadacona River. The fields on the far side were tended by the Kanatians who lived in the longhouse village and followed traditional ways, while those on the Fort-St-Francis side were tended by those who had converted to Christianity and now lived in the fort. Marie-Claire's fields still grew the traditional crops of squash, beans, and corn, but she and the other Christian women had learned much from the French. They now used manure to fertilize their fields, and used plows drawn by oxen rather than tilling their fields by hand.

Once his lesson with Marie-Claire was done, Père Jerome went down to the banks of the river to meet the trade ship. He watched as the ship anchored offshore, and the captain got into the longboat to come ashore. Soon we'll build a proper harbour so the ship can pull up right to the dock, Père Jerome thought to himself. This ship was a Breton fishing ship from St-Malo, and was stopping by Stadacona to trade before heading back out to fish the Grand Banks. Once they had learned how much they could get in furs for a copper kettle or a bolt of cloth, the fishing captains had made sure to make a stop in Stadacona.

As the boat pulled up to the shore, Henri Grignon appeared from the direction of Fort-St-Francis, carrying a hide bag. “Pierre says this batch of beer is ready. It thought I might give it to the captain to try,” said Henri as he approached. “It's not as bad as last batch, but I still very much miss beer made from actual barley. Corn beer just doesn't taste as good.”

“Jerome! Henri!” the captain called as he climbed out of the boat. “Good to see you! Trading here is always a pleasure, as I can actually do business in French. Gesturing to those savages up at Tadoussac is always a nightmare! I'm assuming you have furs for me. What do you want for them? I have iron, glass, wool, and other goods with me.”

“A sack of barley seed would be nice. And maybe some rye too.” replied Henri “Pierre has started a brewery, but the corn beer he makes is just dreadful. I think he'd do better if he had some barley to work with. And I sure do miss bread.” He passed the beerskin to the captain.

“Sadly, I don't make a habit of crossing the ocean with sacks of unmilled grain. If you want me to bring something specific for you next year, you have to pay in advance,” jibed the captain. He took a swig from the skin and quickly spat it back out again. “Boy, that is vile stuff!” he said.

“We'll pay in advance, as long as you'll accept payment in corn beer. We have 20 barrels of it!” said Henri. Both him and the captain burst out laughing.

Père Jerome interjected. “Any word from Cartier? Last year you told us that he was trying to petition the King to sponsor another expedition. Is he planning to come back here. Will he need Fort-St-Francis back?”

“I don't think he's coming back. Roberval's turned against Cartier and is blaming him for the failure of the expedition. The King's always listened to Roberval more than Cartier.”

That was good news for Père Jerome. After Roberval and Cartier had left, Jean-Paul and many of the Christian Kanatians had moved into Fort-St-Francis, leaving Agona in charge of the longhouse village inside the palisade. The prospect of being able to spent winter in the fort rather than the drafty longhouses had initially convinced many more Kanatians to convert, but Agona and his followers hadn't made things easy for them. Agona was now accusing those who had left the longhouse village of abandoning their families and clans, and likely would try to prevent the Christians from moving back into the longhouses if Cartier needed the fort back. At least now that Agona and his followers had departed for the summer fishing grounds, there would be less chance of overt conflict.

“There's one other thing,” the captain said to Père Jerome, “I have a letter for you from the Bishop in St-Malo. He didn't seem happy when he gave it to me.”

Père Jerome opened the letter. It was as he had feared. The Bishop had expected him to return when the expedition had returned. After all, he had only originally been sent out as the expedition's chaplain. The Bishop had never intended for him to serve as a Parish Priest in Stadacona. And this letter was an ultimatum. He was to return to St.-Malo with this ship, or he would be defrocked and possibly even excommunicated.

Well, I guess that's the price I will have to pay, Jerome thought to himself. He couldn't abandon the Christians here. Even if he had once dreamed of becoming a Bishop someday, he knew now that his true calling was missionary work. I'll stay.

Footnotes:
[1] OTL this river is known as the Saint-Charles River
[2] The OTL St. Lawrence River. It was known as the River Canada around this time OTL as well.
[3] Remember, Jean-Paul is Donnacona's Christian name. It is the only name Père Jerome refers to him by.
[4] The body of water that Cartier knows to just be a lake is OTL Lake Huron, the one farther to the West is OTL Lake Superior.
[5] Remember that Marie-Claire's Kanatian name is Yegasetsi. She'll come up again later in the story.