Understanding Seigneurial Social Formation in New France

School

Queens University**We aren't endorsed by this school

Course

HIST 104

Subject

Anthropology

Date

Dec 12, 2024

Pages

Uploaded by BarristerNeutron15626

Settler Colonialism and the Seigneurial Social Formation Coureur de Bois● Light on the land - not settling - running back and forth ● Familiar terms w indigenous people - often marrying ● Fur trade, fishery (east coast)The Humble Habitant● Farmer, peasant, left little behind ● The ones that put down the first permanent roots New France and Acadia ● New france remains an outpost for the fur trade before becoming a permanent settlement/colony ● Rotour - long rectangular farms ○ Sineureal system● The rule in france/new france was “no land without a senior” - essentially a feudal land system - seniorialism ○ Extreme ambiguity of ownership ○ Ex. king owns - senior occupies it in exchange for military service - gives land to habitants/farmers who decide what to grow/do with the land - of they did a good job they may have had a sense of ownership and could sell said land■ Seniors could revoke land whenever they want, make demands, ect. ○ If the habitant fulfilled all their obligations, it could be hard for the seniors to evict people - the courts didn't like or support it ○ All parties had mutual obligations to each other (between senior and habitant) ■ Obligations were mutual but not equal ● Cens et Rentes - late payment fees ● Corvee - labour ● Lods et Ventes - fees for exchange of land - 1/12 of the purchase price ● Banalites - gave seniors a 5% cut of the habitants grain ● Habitant enjoyed a personal freedom and control over their land which you would not have found in european feudal ○ Shouldn't underestimate the feudal system in New France ○ In 1765 almost 45% of the grain would have been owed to the senior ○ Most habitants were behind on their rents The social hierarchy of nouvelle france ● Manor house - seniors● Clergy ● Habitant The “Productive Household” and the Habitant Family Economy ● In a place like new france there was a high value for marriage and family ● People got married young ● Families had on average 5 or 6 kids - if the parents lived longer they would have 8 or 9 kids Les Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King) ● Married quickly to have kids

● Church was entitled to crops and money from habitants - also charged rent to sit Social Formation: Seigneurial - end of it ● Most english schemes for abolishing the seigneurial systems did not understand it ● Rather than regard previous social formations a backwards, it's our job to understand the formations from the point of view that the people at the time understood it ● Why need labour machines when you have 10-12 people in the family to do the work ● English continued to push their private property agenda ● Subdividing the land to children wasn’t feasible - demographic explosion combined with the fact that there's only so much land to go around made it too impractical to function ● How is it that some societies with the same social formation live it out in different ways - don't use the concept of social formation in deterministic fashion Acadia ● Existed within the same social formation but things went down very different● 1632 french state sent over 200 settlers ● 1710 English capture port royal and English sovereignty is established ● System failed in Acadia - partially due to the weakness of the French state ○ The seniors themselves didn’t care much ○ Rarely collected the dues and rents that were due to them and then didn’t provide their services ● Acadians decided to skip the hard work and move down to the shore ○ Created a system of dykes ○ Created some of the most fertile farming land in North America ○ Exported large amounts of livestock and got liquor, nice clothes and fabric in return ○ Lived really good ○ Refused to sign oath but agreed to be neutral ○ Very few social distinctions - uninterested in the established catholic church - didn't enter the priesthood - they were catholic but on their own terms ○ British assumed control and decided something needed to be done about them Fortress Louisbourg● If they could cut the fort supply lines - the british figured they could take the fort ● British troops take the Acadians, burn their houses, destroy the dyke system, and move them to Louisiana Le Grand Derangement - The Acadian Deportation