La Floride: A French Huguenot Colony in North America
- Thread starter PGSBHurricane
- Start date
Also, this is not final yet but I have potential extremity northern and southern boundaries in mind.
Minor retcon alert: The fate of the survivors of Fort Coligny is now included.
Last edited:
Why would the French name so many New World rivers after actual French rivers, when IOTL neither the Spanish nor the English (nor even the French) did so? (and for a good reason: it is very confusing — just imagine, “now we were sailing up the Seine when we were attacked by Indians...”). At the very least, they would name them Nouvelle-*something*, and more probably, just like the English did, after a French rendering of their Indian names (I can hep for this if needed) or the name of French people.
(By the way, it is Charente and Garonne).
The first time around basically everyone was able to escape to the mainland. I’m talking about the survivors of the 1567 destruction of the colony.
Believe it or not, this is what they were named by the French in our timeline, and I didn’t want to mess with everything. As far as Charente and Garonne go, I will fix those as soon as I can. Here is the source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1150349
Last edited:
unprincipled peter
Donor
OTL, British efforts in North Carolina/Virginia (1580s) failed. With a French presence in South Carolina, Britain may put a little more resource effort there to block France from getting too much of the east coast. YOU might not have such plans in mind, but the British don't know that!
I was talking about in regards to Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritimes. But I will keep this in mind when I move forward.
Admittedly it’s not easy to pick up right away but the Edict of Amboise is completed earlier and because of this, Coligny appoints better leadership at an earlier time so it is more stable.
Chapter Three: A People In Turmoil
Chapter Three: A People In Turmoil
On August 17, 1563, when he was just fourteen years old, Charles IX was declared of age at Rouen, but he showed very minimal interest in actual governance. Still, his coming of age meant that preachers and Protestant princes banned from France could return if they wished. At the same time, in order to revive loyalty to the monarchy, Catherine de' Medici decided to tour France with her son from January 1564 through May 1565 to enforce the Edict of Amboise. During this time, she met with Jeann e d'Albret, the Protestant queen regnant of Navarre, as well as her daughter Elisabeth. In 1566, Charles and Catherine proposed to the Ottoman Court, through its ties to the Ottoman ambassador, Guillaume de Grandchamp de Grantrie, a plan to resettle French (and German) Protestants to Ottoman-controlled Moldavia as a military buffer against the Habsburgs. However, this was not taken seriously by the Ottomans and failed to generate any real interest despite the Franco-Ottoman alliance. September 27, 1567 was a key turning point from the perspective of Catherine de' Medici. On that day, in what was known as the Surprise of Meaux, Huguenot forces attempted to ambush the king and the rest of the French Royal family, triggering the Second War of Religion which came to an end after the Peace of Longjumeau in March 1568. The attempt on her life and her loved ones caused her to abandon compromise with the Huguenots and instead pursue a policy of repression.
Famously corresponding with her changes in attitude, she told the Venetian ambassador in June 1568 that all one could expect from Huguenots was nothing but deceit. She also praised Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, for his reign of terror in the Netherlands, where Calvinists were expelled or killed by the thousands (which itself had a hand in sparking the Dutch Revolt that May). A sizable minority of these Calvinists fled to La Floride. At this point, the largest concentration of Huguenots in France was in La Rochelle on the West Coast of France. To show how strong their faith still was, Jeanne d'Albret wrote to Catherine that, "We have come to the determination to die...rather than abandon our God, and our religion." The third War of Religion broke out in 1568 as Catholic leagues sprang up across France that summer and fall in reaction to the peace. In September, the right of Huguenots to worship was revoked. In fear for their lives, Conde and Coligny fled to Noyers and Tanlay respectively. Under Conde, a formidable army was gathered, including 14,000 mercenary reiters, and their financing was largely sourced from Queen Elizabeth of England who was influenced by Sir Francis Walsingham. At the Battle of Jarnac in March 1569, Condé was killed, forcing Admiral de Coligny to take command of the Protestant forces. The Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille was a nominal victory for the Huguenots, but they were defeated at the Battle of Moncontour. Still, Charles IX desired a peaceful resolution to the war.
The desires of the king plus the staggering increase in royal debt led to the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on August 8, 1570, negotiated by Jeanne d'Albret, which once more allowed concessions to the Huguenots, perhaps more than ever before up to that point. Compared to during the Second and Third Wars of Religion, Huguenot emigration to the New World was slow due to relative toleration. Their luck would run out, very tragically, in 1572. The peace was precarious since most Catholics did not accept it, especially not the readmittance of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny into the king's council in September 1571. Catherine de' Medici, and her son, Charles IX, did nothing because they knew about the financial difficulties France was facing and the strong defensive position the Huguenots were in as they controlled the towns of La Rochelle, La Charité-sur-Loire, Cognac, and Montauban. To cement this deal, Catherine arranged for her daughter Margaret to marry the Protestant, Henry of Navarre, son of Huguenot leader Queen Jeanne d'Albret on August 18, 1572. This marriage was condemned by traditionalist Catholics, including the Pope and King Philip II of Spain. The overwhelming majority of Parisians, encouraged by Catholic preachers, were horrified at the marriage. Parliament was opposed and even the court was mixed. All of this caused a major increase in poltical tension across the country.
This tension would soon result in the luck of the Huguenots running out very quickly. After the wedding between Margaret and Henry, Admiral Coligny and other Huguenots remained in Paris to discuss with the King the Peace of St. Germain. Four days later, Coligny was coming home from the Louvre when he was shot and wounded from a window, with bullets tearing off a finger from his right hand and shattering his left elbow. Although the probable assassin was Charles de Louviers, Lord of Maurevert, it is possible that the Guises, the Duke of Alba, or Catherine de’ Medici herself was responsible. The King sent his physician to treat Coligny. On August 24, he was killed by Jean Charles D´Ianowitz, but other Huguenots would face a similar fate. Beginning that same day, and lasting into October of 1572, thousands of Huguenots, including several leaders, were killed in France, including Paris, and other provincial towns and cities. The perpetrators were granted amnesty in 1573. Henry of Navarre and his cousin, the Prince of Condé, were spared as they pledged to convert to Catholicism but bother pronounced their conversion both renounced their conversions after they escaped Paris. In the weeks following the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, there were mass conversions of Huguenots to Catholicism, while others fled to La Floride in North America, both causing the Huguenot population to drop to 7-8% of that of France by 1600. News of the massacre spread across the Atlantic.
On a separate note, I've decided to do two updates on this TL and then one update for my other TL as a permanent pattern, but my internship starting in a couple weeks could delay when I post next. Plus, in the next chapter, the person taking over the role of Gaspard II de Coligny as the sponsor/overall leader of operations for the colony will be revealed.
Since I'm having a little bit of trouble deciding who should replace Coligny, I created a poll.
www.strawpoll.me
Who Should Replace Gaspard II de Coligny
Vote Now! [François de Coligny] [Henry Navarre] [Henri, Prince of Condé ] [Other (Explain)]
www.strawpoll.me
There's still some time to vote in the poll and in the meantime I will be starting to write up the next chapter which I hope is done next week.
Since there are no votes in the poll, I've decided to utilize Coligny's eldest son in his place. Also, I've decided that the northernmost point of La Floride should be
Cape Lookout, NC
That seems pretty reasonable. It's also not too far from where my TL had its first French colony in La Floride (OTL Beaufort, NC)