Laudonnière & Fort Caroline: History and Documents PDF
Preview Laudonnière & Fort Caroline: History and Documents
LAUDONNIERE ~ FORT CAROLINE LAUDONNIERE ~ FORT CAROLINE History and Documents CHARLES E. BENNETT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS Tuscaloosa ISBN 978-0-8173-1122-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 978-0-8173-8338-1 (electronic) DEDICATED TO THE MOST PERFECT WOMEN I HAVE EVER KNOWN lUY AI0THER & MY WIFE FOREWORD TO PAPERBACK EDITION JeraldT. Milanich America's history was shaped in part by the clash of cultures that took placeinthesoutheasternUnitedStatesinthe 1560s.Indians,French,and SpaniardsviedtoprofitfromEuropeanattemptstocolonizethelandJuan Poncede LeonhadnamedLaFlorida. Itwasadecade ofdecisiveactions, which, though played out largely along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, andFlorida,were closelytiedto geopolitics onthe opposite side oftheAtlantic Ocean. Priorto the publication ofLaudonniere & Fort Carolinelittle scholar ly attention had been focused on the role of the French in those early colonizationefforts. The events offour centuriesago werelittle known by the general public whose knowledge ofAmerican history began with the English atJamestown in 1607.Withthis book, Charles E. Bennett,would change allthat. CharlesE.Bennettisoneofthemoreinterestingpeopleonewouldever wanttomeet.Aveteran ofWorldWarII,herepresentednortheastFlorida inthe U. S. House ofRepresentativesfor decades. Devotedto his region, Congressman Bennettwas highly successful in garneringfederal support for his constituency. He also broughtthem somethingthatwas priceless: theirhistory. ItwasthroughhiseffortsthatFortCaroline NationalMemo rial was established. Fort Caroline, of course, is the name the French christened their small settlementfounded in 1564 on the south bank of the St.Johns RivernearJacksonville. Bennett next set outto pen the story ofthat French Huguenot settle ment,itscolonists'interactionswiththeTimucuaIndianswhowerenative totheregion,andthecaptureofFortCarolinein 1565bySpaniardsledby Pedro Menendez deAviles.Thatmilitaryencounterresultedin the estab lishment ofSt. Augustine, assuring La Florida would remain in Spanish handsfor manyyears to come. Bennett'sresearchisbasedondocumentsfoundinthearchivesofFrance andSpain.Inthesecondpartofthebookheprovidestranslationsofmany ofthose accounts.TheycontaindescriptionsofNativeAmericansandthe naturalwondersofthelandinwhichtheylived,informationcrucialto our presentknowledge oftheTimucua Indians. Thisisaclassicbook,writtenbyapersonwhohimselfisaclassic. Iam honoredto be a partoftheUniversityofAlabama Press's initiativeto put this importantvolumebackinprint. PREFACE HERE are striking similarities between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Four hundred years ago the major states of Western Europe vied for headship in exploring and settling the unknown parts of the world. Today the most pow erful nations of the earth compete in probing the mysteries of space. In the sixteenth century man was seeking the means to break chains that limited his freedom; in the tlventieth century some men still yearn for freedom, while in the free world other men strive to protect their liberties from "isms" which would restrict them. In both centuries the cruelties of mankind dishonor ed God, but in both centuries new ideas and new ways of doing things gave promise of a brighter tomorrow. Before 1500, Portuguese and Spanish captains had sailed soutA around Africa to the Orient and west to the Caribbean Is lands. During the first decades of the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors explored and established colonies in Central Amert.. ca, Mexico, and South America. They found gold and silver there, and they searched for precious metals in areas Ivhich are now parts of the United States. With the sanction of the Pope, Portugal and Spain divided the "unknolvn Ivorld" between themselves and at tempted to exclude settlers of other countries from their assigned lands; but England, France, and the Netherlands refused either to admit the right of the Pope to divide the world between Portugal and Spain or to recognize the monopoly claimed by the Iberian countries. Sea captains backed by England and France platted the coasts and harbors of North America. But international war and internal conflicts prevented England and France from attempting settlements in the Neu' Worid until the second half of the sixteenth century. VIII PREFACE Almost every American student has the opportunity to read of the great explorers-Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ponce de Leon, Magellan, Cortez, Pizarro, De Soto, the Cabots, Cartier, and Henry Hudson-but few history textbooks record the activities of Jean Ribault in Florida. Fewer still give Laudonniere credit for leading French colonists to North America and planting a colony in Flor ida. The principal subject of this book, its text and documents, is Rene de Goulaine de Laudonniere of France. In 1564 he estab lished a French colony at Fort Caroline on the banks of the St. Johns River and governed his often discontented colonists for more than a year. In his later years he asked: "Shall I, Laudonniere, pass away untouched by glory?"l A companion of his at Fort Caro line described the perilous passage from France to Florida as a "road, wonderfully strange."2 Wonderfully strange too is the life of Laudonniere. In a sense he was untouched .by glory. His destiny was not to found the first permanent European colony within the present limits oj the United States, but his settlement did activate Spain and did result in the establishment of St. Augustine, ihe old est city in the United States. He thus in fact began the permanent settlement of our country. Furthermore, Laudonniere was the first man to lead peculiarly dedicated men and women to North Ameri ca-colonists searching for a place where they could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. This French leader deserves a more important place in the annals of the past than that which historians have assigned him. A statue in Jf~shington bears the inscription "What is past is prologue." While this idea is sufficient justification for the study of history, there are other valid reasons for investigating the heritage of mankind. Knowledge and understanding of human experience should prevent modern man from repeating the mistakes of his an cestors, and a study of their civilization should enable him to act with intelligence and plan for the future. For instance, a study of the political intrigues 0/ Queen Mother Catherine de Medici and other politicos of France in the 1560's and of the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in that·country should prepare citizens of the United States to understand many current problems and to solve them by considered action. The tyranny of the sixteenth cen- PREFACE IX tury has been supplanted in the free world by democratic proc esses in which the rights of individuals are protected, and concerted action by the free people of the world can eliminate the islands of tyranny existing in this modern age. Four hundred years ago Laudonniere and hundreds of his French compatriots sought religious freedom on what became the shores 0/ America. They stepped upward to a new and higher pla teau in man's ageless search lor freedom. A little more than two hundred years later, the American Revolution created a country dedicated to upholding the right of all men to be free and, thereby, another more lofty plateau oj liberty was attained. Today, almost two hundred years after the writing 0/ the Declaration of Independ ence and the Constitution of the United States, and four hundred years alter the founding of Fort Caroline, Americans have vowed not only to preserve their freedom but also to assist mankind all over the rest of the world in his struggle against those individuals or nations that would keep him in bondage or re-enslave him. A high plane 0/ personal liberty and responsibility is within the grasp of the freedom-loving people of the earth. On the other hand, igno rance of the past and refusal to act with intelligent concern can turn mankind back to dictatorships over mind and body, thus re establishing the restrictive despotism of past centuries. By strange coincidence, Americans of today are seeking new worlds in space from the launching pads at the fohn F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral near where the French settled in 1564. Too often historians concentrate on the great men and neglect the people of little fame. Though he won no more than limited recognition from his generation, Laudonniere helped turn the tide of history in the right direction. This book is the result of thirty years of interest and study. In the preparation of the manuscript, source materials in Latin, Ital ian, French, and Spanish were read and translated. Insofar as the author knows, most of the documents, depositions, and articles in the second part of this volume appear in English for the first time. The author is grateful to the excellent staff at the Library of Con gress-particularly to Elisabeth Hanunian, Tom V. Wilder, and William Springer-for checking his translations and lor many
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