Roberval was born into a Protestant family of the impoverished lesser nobility around 1500 in Carcassonne, France. He served in the French army under Chevalier de Lamarck and with the future king, Francis I. He developed a life long friendship with the king and often hunted with him on the Roberval estates. After fighting in Italy he returned to France to live at court and adopted an extravagent life style which soon landed him deep in debt. In order to pay his debtors he took to privateering.
Viceroy of Canada
In an effort to help his friend pay his debts, King Francis granted him a commission to settle the lands known as New France. He was given the title of Viceroy and lieutenant-general, previously held by Jacques Cartier who was now required to take his orders.
The expedition was scheduled to sail in May of 1541 but Roberval was not ready as he was busy with his piratical pursuits in the English Channel. Cartier left La Rochelle without him, taking along three ships loaded with colonists.
Meeting Cartier
Once Roberval had finished his efforts in the Channel and captured several English ships he sailed for Newfoundland where he met with Cartier who was on his way back home.
It was now June and Cartier had already established a colony at Charlesbourg-Royal but having discovered what he believed to be gold and diamonds he was anxious to report his finds to King Francis. Roberval ordered him to return with him to the St. Lawrence but Cartier refused and sailed away in the night.
Early Exploration
Roberval took the remaining colonists, many of whom were convicts, and sailed to Cartier’s colony which he renamed France-Roy. On the way he abandoned his niece Marguerite de la Roche and her illicit lover on Isle of Demons off the east coast of Newfoundland..
Before the summer was over Roberval had mounted an expedition to explore the area and went as far as the island of Montreal but after losing one of his boats and eight men he turned back.
Roberval and his people settled into the colony and as fall neared he sent two of his ships back to France for supplies. It was a bitter winter and 50 of the settlers died of scurvy. Roberval ruled the colony with an iron hand, flogging the unruly and hanging one man for theft. The colony did not last long due to weather, scurvy and poor relations with the Iroquois. A relief expedition arrived in 1543, some sources say led by Jacques Cartier, and Roberval and the surviving colonists returned to France.
Calvinist and Pirate
Having suffered huge financial loses due to his Canadian venture, Roberval again took to pirating, this time more or less legally as Spain and France were at war. His ships attacked Cartegena, Baracoa and Havana in the years that followed. He later spent some time in the army and in 1547 King Francis appointed him Royal Superintendent of Mines. Despite these efforts he was never able to recoup his fortune. One night in 1560 as he and some fellow Protestants were coming out of a Calvinist church service in Paris they were attacked and Roberval was killed.
Bibliography
Thomas B. Costain – The White and the Gold - 1954
Richard Howard – A New History of Canada: 1000-1600 - 1972
Lawrence J. Burpee - The Oxford Encyclopedia of Canadian History – 1926
Encyclopedia Canadiana
