Eden and Empire

[jon]

Eden and Empire

Preface



What follows is an excerpt from this timeline’s thirteenth volume of the eleventh edition (1910) of The Encyclopædia Britannica taken from pages 864-867 (1)...

HUGUENOTS, the name given from about the middle of the 16th century to the Protestants of France. It was formerly explained as coming from the German Eidgenossen, the designation of the people of Geneva at the time when they were admitted to the Swiss confederation. This explanation is now abandoned. The words Huguenot, Huguenote are old French words, common in 14th and 15th-century charters. As the Protestants called the Catholics papistes, so the Catholics called the Protestants huguenots. Henri Estienne, one of the great savants of his time, in the introduction to his Apologie d'Herodote (1566) gives a very clear explanation of the term huguenots. The Protestants at Tours, he says, used to assemble by night near the gate of King Hugo, whom the people regarded as a spirit. A monk, therefore, in a sermon declared that the Lutherans ought to be called Huguenots as kinsmen of King Hugo, inasmuch as they would only go out at night as he did. This nickname became popular from 1560 onwards, and for a long time the French Protestants were always known by it.

The "Huguenot Cross", a symbol adopted by the French Protestant Community over the course of the 16th century.

France could not stand outside the religious movement of the 16th century. It is true that the French reform movement has often been regarded as an offshoot of Lutheranism; up to the middle of the century its adherents were known as Lutherans. But it should not be forgotten that so early as 1512 Jacobus Faber (q.v.) of Staples published his Santi Pauli Epistolae xiv. . . . cum commentariis, which enunciates the cardinal doctrine of reform, justification by faith, and that in 1523 appeared his French translation of the New Testament. The first Protestants were those who set the teachings of the Gospel against the doctrines of the Roman Church. As early as 1525 Jacques Pavannes, the hermit of Livry, and shortly afterwards Louis de Berquin, the first martyrs, were burned at the stake. But no persecution could stop the Reform movement, and on the walls of Paris and even at Amboise, on the very door of Francis I.'s bedroom, there were found placards condemning the mass (1534). On the 29th of January 1535 an edict was published ordering the extermination of the heretics. From this edict dates the emigration of French Protestants, an emigration which did not cease till the middle of the 18th century. Three years later (1538) at Strassburg the first French Protestant Church, composed of 1500 refugees, was founded.

Of all these exiles the most famous was John Calvin (q.v.), the future leader of the movement, who fled to Basel, where he is said to have written the famous Institutio christianae religionis, preceded by a letter to Francis I. in which he pleaded the cause of the reformers. The first Protestant community in France was that of Meaux (1546) organized on the lines of the church at Strassburg of which Calvin was pastor. The Catholic Florimond de Remond paid it the beautiful tribute of saying that it seemed as though " la chretiente fut revenue en elle a, sa primitive innocence."





Persecution, however, became more rigorous. The Vaudois of Cabrieres and Merindol had in 1545 been massacred by the orders of Jean de Maynier, baron d'Oppede, lieutenant-general of Provence, and at Paris was created a special court in the parlement, for the suppression of heretics, a court which became famous in history as the Chambre ardente (1549). In spite of persecution the churches became more numerous; the church at Paris was founded in 1556. They realized the necessity of uniting in defence of their rights and their liberty, and in 1558 at Poitiers it was decided that all the Protestant churches in France should formulate by common accord a confession of faith and an ecclesiastical discipline. The church at Paris was commissioned to summon the first synod, which in spite of the danger of persecution met on the 25th of May 1559- The Synod of Paris derived its inspiration from the constitution introduced by Calvin at Geneva, which has since become the model for all the presbyterian churches. Ecclesiastical authority resides ultimately in the people, for the faithful select the elders who are charged with the general supervision of the church and the choice of pastors. The churches are independent units, and there can be no question of superiority among them; at the same time they have common interests and their unity must be maintained by an authority which is capable of protecting them. The association of several neighbouring churches forms a local council (colloque). Over these stands the provincial synod, on which each church is equally represented by lay delegates and pastors. Supreme authority resides in the National Synod composed of representatives, lay and ecclesiastic, elected by the provincial synods. The democratic character of this constitution of elders and synods is particularly remarkable in view of the early date at which it began to flourish. The striking individuality of the Huguenot character cannot be fully realized without a clear understanding of this powerful organization which contrived to reconcile individual liberty with a central authority.

Gaspard II de Coligny (1519-1572)

The synod of 1559 was the beginning of a remarkable increase in the Reform movement; at that synod fifteen churches were represented, two years later, in 1561, the number increased to 2150. The parlements were powerless before this increase; thousands left the Catholic Church, and when it was seen that execution and popular massacre provided no solution of the difficulty the struggle was carried into the arena of national politics. On the side of the reformers were ranged some among the noblest Frenchmen of the age, Coligny, La Noue, Duplessis Mornay, Jean Cousin, Ramus, Marot, Ambroise Pare, Olivier de Serres, Bernard Palissy, the Estiennes, Hotman, Jean de Serres, with the princess Renee of France, Jeanne d'Albret, Louise de Coligny. The policy which refused liberty of conscience to the reformers and thus plunged the country into the horrors of civil war came near to causing a national catastrophe. For more than fifty years the history of the Huguenots is that of France (1560- 1629). Francis II., who succeeded Henry II. at the age of sixteen, married Mary Stuart, and fell under the domination of the queen's uncles, the Guises, who were to lead the anti-Reform party. The Bourbons, the Montmorencies, the Chatillons, out of hostility to them, became the chiefs of the Huguenots.

The execution of the Protestants involved in the conspiracy of Amboise

The conspiracy of Amboise, formed with the object of kidnapping the king (March 1560), was discovered, and resulted in the death of the plotters; it was followed by the proclamation of the Edict of Romorantin which laid an interdict upon the Protestant religion. But the reformers had become so powerful that Coligny, who was to become their most famous leader, protested in their name against this violation of liberty of conscience. The Guise party caused the prince of Conde to be arrested and condemned to death, but the sentence was not carried into effect, and at this moment Catherine de' Medici became regent on the accession of Charles IX. She introduced Italian methods of government, alternating between concessions and vigorous persecution, both alike devoid of sincerity. For a moment, at the colloquy of Poissy (Oct. 1561), at which Roman Catholic and Protestant divines were assembled together and Theodore Beza played so important a part, it seemed as though a modus vivendi would be established. The attempt failed, but by the edict of January 1562, religious liberty was assured to the Huguenots. This, however, was merely the prelude to civil war, the signal for which was given by the Guises, who slaughtered a number of Huguenots assembled for worship in a barn at Vassy (March 1, 1562). The duke of Guise, entering Paris in triumph, transferred the court to Fontainebleau by a daring coup d'etat in defiance of the queen regent. It was then that Conde declared " qu'on ne pouvait plus rien esperer que de Dieu et ses armes," and with the Huguenot leaders signed at Orleans (April n , 1562) the manifesto in which, having declared their loyalty to the crown, they stated that as good and loyal subjects they were driven to take up arms for liberty of conscience on behalf of the persecuted saints. The first civil war had already broken out; till the end of the century the history of France is that of the struggle between the Huguenots upholding "The Cause" (La Cause) and the Roman Catholics fighting for the Holy League (La Sainte Ligue). The leading events only will be related here (see also FRANCE: History). The Huguenots lost the battle of Dreux (Dec. 19, 1562), the duke of Guise was assassinated by Poltrot de Mere (Feb. 18, 1563) and finally Conde signed the Edict of Amboise which put an end to this first war. But the League gradually extended its action and Catherine de' Medici entered into negotiations with Spain. The Huguenots, seeing their danger, renewed hostilities, but after their defeat at St Denis (Nov. 10, 1567) and the revolt of La Rochelle, peace was concluded at Longjumeau (March 23, 1568). This truce lasted only a few months. Pope Pius V. did not cease to demand the extermination of the heretics, and the queen mother finally issued the edict of the 28th of September 1568, which put the Huguenots outside the protection of the law. The Huguenots once more took up arms, but were defeated at Jarnac (March 13, 1569), and Conde was taken prisoner and assassinated by Montesquiou. But Jeanne d'Albret renewed the courage of the vanquished by pre- senting to them her son Henri de Bourbon, the future Henry IV. Coligny, whose heroic courage rose with adversity, collected the remnants of the Protestant army and by a march as able as it was audacious moved on Paris, and the Peace of St Germain was signed on the 8th of August 1570.

Artist's Portrayal of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572)

For a moment it seemed reasonable to hope that the war was at an end. Coligny had said that he would prefer to be dragged through the streets of Paris than to recommence the fighting; Charles IX. had realized the nobility and the patriotism of the man who wished to drive the Spaniards from Flanders; Henri de Bourbon was to marry Marguerite of France. Peace seemed to be assured when on the night of the 24th of August, 1572, after a council at which Catherine de' Medici, Charles IX, the duke of Anjou and other leaders of the League assisted, there occurred the treacherous Massacre of St Bartholomew {q.v.) in which Coligny and all the leading Huguenots were slain. This date marks a disastrous epoch in the history of France, the long period of triumph of the Catholic reaction, during which the Huguenots had to fight for their very existence. The Paris massacre was repeated throughout France; few were those who were noble enough to decline to become the executioners of their friends, and the Protestants were slain in thousands. The survivors resolved upon a desperate resistance. It was at this time that the Huguenots were driven to form a political party; otherwise they must, like the Protestants of Spain, have been exterminated. This party was formed at Milhau in 1573, definitely constituted at La Rochelle in 1588, and lasted until the peace of Alais in 1629. The delegates selected by the churches bound themselves to offer a united opposition to the violence of the enemies of God, the king and the state. It is a profound mistake to attribute to them, as their enemies have done, the intention of overthrowing the monarchy and substituting a republic. They were royalists to the core, as is shown by the sacrifices they made for the sake of setting Henry IV on the throne. It is true, however, that among themselves they formed a kind of republic which, according to the historian J. A. de Thou, had its own laws dealing with civil government, justice, war, commerce, finance. They had a president called the Protector of the Churches, an office held first by Conde and afterwards by the king of Navarre up to the day on which he became king of France as Henry IV (1589). The fourth religious war, which had broken out immediately after the Massacre of St Bartholomew, was brought to an end by the pacification of Boulogne (July 16, 1573), which granted a general amnesty, but the obstinate intolerance of the League resulted in the creation of a Catholic party called " les Politiques " which refused to submit to their domination and offered aid to the Huguenots against the Guises. The recollections of the horrors of St Bartholomew's night had hastened the death of Charles IX, the last of the Valois; he had been succeeded by the most debauched and effeminate of monarchs, Henry III. Once more war broke out. Henry of Guise, "le Balafre," nephew of the cardinal of Lorraine, became chief of the League, while the duke of Anjou, the king's brother, made common cause with the Huguenots. The peace of Monsieur, signed on the 5th of May 1576, marked a new victory of liberty of conscience, but its effect was ephemeral; hostilities soon recommenced and lasted for many years, and only became fiercer when the duke of Anjou died on the 10th of June 1584.



The fact that on the death of Henry III the crown would pass to Henry of Navarre, the Protector of the Churches, induced the Guise party to declare that they would never accept a heretical monarch, and, at the instigation of Henry of Guise, Cardinal de Bourbon was nominated by them to succeed. Henry of Navarre since 1575 leader of the Huguenots, had year by year seen his influence increase, and now, faced by the machinations of the Guises, who had made overtures to Spain, declared that his only object was to free the feeble Henry III from their influence. On the 20th of October 1587 he won the battle of Coutras, but on the 28th the foreign Protestants who were coming to his aid were routed by Guise at Montargis. The new body, known as " the Sixteen of Paris," thereupon compelled Henry III to sign the "Edict of Union" by which the cardinal of Bourbon was declared heir presumptive. The king could not, however, endure the humiliation of hearing Henry of Guise described as "king of Paris" and on the 23rd of December 1588 had him murdered together with the cardinal of Lorraine at the chateau of Blois. The League, now led by the duke of Mayenne, Guise's brother, declared war to the knife upon him and caused him to be excommunicated. In his isolation Henry III threw himself into the arms of Henry of Navarre, who saved the royalist party by defeating Mayenne and escorted the king with his victorious army to St. Cloud, whence he proposed to enter Paris and destroy the League. But Henry III, on the 1st of August 1589, was assassinated by the monk Jacques Clement, on his deathbed appointing Henry of Navarre as his successor.

Henri IV (1553-1610), portrayed here as Hercules having defeated the Catholic League, portrayed as the Lernaean Hyrda. Oil painting, Toussaint Dubreuil, circa1600

This only spurred the League to redoubled energy, and Mayenne proclaimed the cardinal of Bourbon king with the title of Charles X. But Henry IV, who had already promised to maintain the Roman Church, gained new adherents every day, defeated the Leaguers at Arques in 1589, utterly routed Mayenne at Ivry on the 14th of March 1590, and laid siege to Paris. Cardinal de Bourbon having died in the same year and France being in a state of anarchy, Philip II of Spain, in concert with Pope Gregory XIV, who excommunicated Henry IV, supported the claims of the infanta Isabella. Mayenne, unable to continue the struggle without Spanish help, promised to assist him, but Henry neutralized this danger by declaring himself a Roman Catholic at St Denis (July 25, 1593), saying, "Paris after all is worth a mass, in spite of the advice and the prayers of my faithful Huguenots." "It is with anguish and grief," writes Beza, "that I think of the fall of this prince in whom so many hopes were placed." On the 22nd of March 1594 Henry entered Paris. The League was utterly defeated. Thus the Huguenots after forty years of strife obtained by their constancy the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes (April 13, 1598), the charter of religion and political freedom (see NANTES, EDICT OF).



The Protestants might reasonably hope that Henry IV., in spite of his abjuration of their faith, would remember the devoted support which they had given him, and that his authority would guarantee the observance of the provisions of the Edict. Unhappily twelve years afterwards, on the 14th of May 1610, Henry was assassinated by Ravaillac, leaving the great work incomplete. Once more France was to undergo the misery of civil war. During the minority of Louis XIII power resided in the hands of counsellors who had not inherited the wisdom of Henry IV and were only too ready to favour the Catholic party. The Huguenots, realizing that their existence was at stake, once more took up arms in defence of their liberty under the leadership of Henri de Rohan (q.v.). Their watchword had always been that, so long as the state was opposed to liberty of conscience, so long there could be no end to religious and civil strife, that misfortune and disaster must attend an empire of which the sovereign identified himself with a single section of his people. Richelieu had entered the king's council on the 4th of May 1624; the destruction of the Huguenots was his policy and he pursued it to a triumphant conclusion. On the 28th of October 1628, La Rochelle, the last stronghold of the Huguenots, was obliged to surrender after a siege rendered famous for all time by the heroism of its defenders and of its mayor. The peace of Alais, which was signed on the 28th of June 1629, marks the end of the civil wars.

Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle, Henri Motte, 1881.

The Huguenots had ceased to exist as a political party and, in the assurance that liberty of conscience would be accorded to them, showed themselves loyal subjects. On the death of Louis XIII., the declaration of the 8th of July 1643 had guaranteed to the Protestants "free and unrestricted exercise of their religion," thus confirming the Edict of Nantes. The synods of Charenton (1644) and Loudun (1659) asserted their absolute loyalty to Louis XIV., a loyalty of which the Huguenots had given proof not only by their entire abstention from the troubles of the Fronde, but also by their public adherence to the king. The Roman Catholic clergy had never accepted the Edict of Nantes, and all their efforts were directed to obtaining its revocation. As long as Mazarin was alive the complaints of the clergy were in vain, but when Louis XIV. attained his majority there commenced a legal persecution which was bound in time to bring about the ruin of the reformed churches. The Edict of Nantes, which was part of the law of the land, might seem to defy all attacks, but the clergy found means to evade the law by demanding that it should be observed with literal accuracy, disregarding the changes which had been produced in France during more than half a century. The clergy in 1661 successfully demanded that commissioners should be sent to the provinces to report infractions of the Edict, and thus began a judicial war which was to last for more than twenty years. All the churches which had been built since the Edict of Nantes were condemned to be demolished. All the privileges which were not explicitly stated in the actual text of the Edict were suppressed. More than four hundred proclamations, edicts or declarations attacking the Huguenots in their households and their civil freedom, their property and their liberty of conscience were promulgated during the years which preceded the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In spite of all sufferings which this rigorous legislation inflicted upon them they did not cease to resist, and in order to crush this resistance and to compel them to accept the "king's religion," there were organized the terrible dragonnades (1683-1686) which effected the forcible conversion of thousands of Protestants who gave way under the tortures which were inflicted upon them. It was then that Louis XIV declared that "...the best of the larger part of our subjects, who formerly held the so-called reformed religion, have embraced the Catholic religion, and therefore the Edict of Nantes has become unnecessary..." on the 18th of October 1685 he pronounced its revocation. Thus under the influence of the clergy was committed one of the most flagrant political and religious blunders in the history of France, which in the course of a few decades(2) lost more than 500,000(3) of its inhabitants, who, having to choose between their conscience and their country, endowed the lands(4) which received them with their heroism, their courage and their ability...



Footnotes



1. With three exceptions this text is identical to pages 864-867 of OTL’s 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica and reflects the attitudes prevalent at the time.



2. OTL’s edition reads “years”



3. OTL’s edition reads “400,000” and is now regarded as an exaggeration. Currently, most scholars who work on the Huguenots estimate that no more than 200,000 fled France in the immediate aftermath of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and that perhaps another 100,000 followed in the subsequent years. In TTL the numbers here are more accurate for a number of reasons.



4. OTL’s edition reads “nations”



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Hi everyone! My comprehensive exams are done, I'm officially a Ph.D. Candidate! As a reward to myself I've decided to venture back into the realm of Alternate History. However, I need a break from ATBA so I've decided to get back to what captivated me about Alternate History and use it to learn more about a historical topic that interests me.



A recent trip to Montreal rekindled a longstanding interest in the French Huguenots and resulted in an impromptu trip to the library upon my return to Toronto. Though I had initially thought about writing a TL about a Huguenot colonization of Quebec, my research effectively closed that door. Yet in closing one door, my research presented another, more interesting, possibility which quickly became the basis for this timeline.

(Crossposted from AH.com)

[jon]

I.

Abraham Duquesne (1610-1688) French Admiral and Father of Henri Duquesne

For all his later fame and notoriety, Henri Duquesne could have very easily disappeared amongst the sizeable Huguenot diaspora that emerged in the aftermath of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Though his father, Abraham Duquesne, one of Louis XIV’s leading admirals, had been exempted from the royal proscription in light of excellent service and poor health, Henri was not so lucky and in the end chose exile rather than abjuration. Arriving in the barony of Aubonne in the Swiss Pais du Vaud in 1685, Henri Duquesne had no pretensions of assuming a position of leadership within the Huguenot diaspora, instead he took solace within the home of former Huguenot writer Jean-Baptise Tavernier. Here, over the course of a few years, he began to imagine a new future perhaps drawing inspiration from the castle which sported a tower built in a distinctly far-eastern style as a testament to Tavernier’s earlier voyages (1).

Despite later claims of idleness in the immediate aftermath of 1685 made by his detractors, Duquesne was anything but, as he surveyed the situation of the Huguenot diaspora and began to come up with his own solution. A keen observer of European politics, Duquesne quickly came to embody the Protestant utopian impulses of the time which enthralled many French Huguenots. Beginning in the 16th century with the colonial ambitions of Gaspard de Coligny, many Huguenots had dreamt of building their “New Jerusalem” on the other side of the Atlantic. Now, bereft of the support of the French state, some of Duquesne’s contemporaries such as Charles de Rochefort had advocated English American colonies as the hypothetical colony’s logical location several hundred Huguenots had followed his advice to that end. Other Huguenot leaders such as Pierre Jurieu pushed for temporary colonies to be founded throughout Europe in the hopes of preserving a Huguenot community which could quickly return to France following the overthrow of Louis XIV, an event Jurieu believed to be imminent with the beginning of the Nine Years War in 1689.(2) Duquesne took an entirely different approach to his predecessors in his first tract as he believed that “a general persecution in all of Europe” was far more likely than “an imminent physical deliverance of the church.”(3) Furthermore, Duquesne noted that the location of the Huguenot diaspora within the countries and colonies of foreign powers not only raised the spectres of assimilation and strife but also taxed the goodwill of the Protestant princes upon which the community depended. For Duquesne, the current status quo was quite simply, unsustainable. He concluded by pointing out that even if the Edict of Nantes was reinstated the Huguenots would remain minorities in France, “tolerated but never dominant,”(4) and at the mercy of the next monarch who would succumb to the pressures of the Catholic clergy and withdraw toleration once again. At the time of their initial publication, Duquesne’s criticisms were met with disdain by the Huguenot leadership, yet for many refugees his words proved strangely attractive.

Pierre Jurieu (1637-1713) Huguenot Religious Leader

In light of the failings of the plethora of past attempts to found a Huguenot New Jerusalem, Henri Duquesne proposed a radically different plan. In his tract he argued that the disparate portions of the Huguenot diaspora be gathered together in an overseas colony that would be both French and Protestant. There, on an island known as “L’Îsle d’Éden” due to its bounty and beauty, French Protestants would be able to found a French Calvinist aristocratic utopia that would preserve their society for the foreseeable future. In order to do so, Duquesne maintained that any prospective colonists needed to abandon the hope of finding another Peru replete with gold and precious stones and instead desire “a society composed of honest men, established in a fertile and agreeable place with the blessings of health, liberty, tranquility of the conscience, justice, charity, and above all the hope of safety.”(5) Though certainly idealistic, the end of Duquesne’s tract revealed that L’Îsle d’Éden was no utopian fantasy, but rather a new name for a very real place at the time known as L’Îsle de Bourbon. An island in the Mascarene archipelago, L’Îsle de Bourbon had been colonized by the French in 1665 and though Duquesne claimed that it had been recently abandoned in tracts aimed at refugees and sponsors in Holland, in a tract to persecuted Huguenots in France he revealed his more bellicose intentions as he proposed to seize the island based on the right of reprisal. L’Îsle de Bourbon would then serve as compensation for the property and lives lost in Louis XVI’s unjust dragonnades (6). Together the twin themes of Duquesne’s tract, refuge and revenge, struck a chord within Huguenot readers and resulted in its widespread circulation and further demand.

Henri Mirmand (1650-1712) French Huguneot Leader in Switzerland

Despite the resonance the tracts found among the rank and file within the Huguenot community, Duquesne’s plans seemed destined to remain idle dreams. Prominent Huguenot leaders such as Henri Mirmand, leader of the Swiss Huguenot Communities, saw Duquesne’s scheme as overly reckless and remained optimistic that the forces of the Grand Alliance would triumph over Louis XIV and ensure that the Huguenots would once again be granted the tolerance they had previously enjoyed. Furthermore, as with other efforts to settle Huguenot refugees abroad, Duquesne’s plan required ships and significant financial and military support which could only come from an interested Protestant power. Fortunately, Duquesne’s plans found willing supporters within the Dutch Republic. Having received intelligence reports that the French were planning to use the Mascarenes as a base to harass Dutch trade, the Estates General found that Huguenot desires for refuge and revenge dovetailed with their own geopolitical interests in the region. Mere months after the publication of the first tract in 1689, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) contacted Duquesne and agreed to provide five thousand florins as well as aid in hiring transportation for any refugees he could gather. Duquesne would then be able to found his Huguenot republic in the Indian Ocean and maintain significant autonomy as long as he recognized the suzerainty of the VOC and the Dutch Republic (7). Presented with such a suddent change of fortune, Duquesne was able to gather roughly two hundred prospective colonists at Amsterdam despite the contempt visited upon his proposal by the vast majority of Huguenot leaders. At the same time, the VOC followed through on their promise and equipped a pair of large ships named La Droite and Saint Espirit to carry them to their destination (8). Aided by men like Charles De Sailly and a few others willing to entertain his ideas, Duquesne appeared set to succeed where so many other Huguenot leaders had failed(9).

L’Îsle de Bourbon, or as Henri Duquesne would have had it in OTL, L’Îsle d’Éden

Then in January 1690, mere days before the two vessels were set to depart with their cargo of colonists and all the supplies necessary to build a new life on the Isle of Eden, devastating news reached Amsterdam. In his memoirs, Duquesne notes that despite it being a humid summer day a chill sank into his bones as he read the report that L’Îsle de Bourbon was still occupied by the French and that Louis XIV had sent a squadron of seven warships to the Indian Ocean. Duquesne quite nearly gave into the panic that was overtaking him and nearly everyone who supported this expedition. Though the two VOC vessels provided were well armed, they were by no means warships, and many of the would-be colonists were women and children of little use during a battle, any confrontation with the French would be suicidal at best (10). Had Duquesne not taken a few hours to retreat into his room and pray fervently, the entire expedition could have been scrapped in the next few days, perhaps replaced by a reconnaissance mission of some sort to ascertain true French strength in the region. As Duquesne emerged from prayer, he displayed an almost otherworldly confidence which he was able to use to push the mission forward in spite of the odds (11 *POD*).

Duquesne’s monumental efforts in convincing the Estates General to allow the expedition to proceed came with a cost. Whereas initially both he and his brother Abraham were to accompany the vessels to L’Îsle d’Éden, political pressures and the need to secure more support in case the first attempt failed led them and Charles de Sailly to remain in Europe. Command of the Expedition reverted to an uneasy triumvirate of Antoine de Valleau, François Leguat, and Captain Etienne de Trégodière. Each commanded one aspect of the mission with de Valleau commanding the naval contingent, Leguat having command over the civilian administration, and Captain Etienne de Trégodière being put in charge of fortification efforts (12). Though far from ideal, the complicated command structure managed to survive the harrowing four month journey from Amsterdam to the Cape of Good Hope, narrowing avoiding a shipwreck near the Shetland Islands. The voyage did not come without its costs however as 9 refugees passed away on the journey due to disease and the travails of the voyage.

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A Similar view would have met the Huguenot Refugees as they arrived in April 1690

Having arrived at the Cape, the expedition took on additional supplies before setting off for the Mascarene Islands. Here too they were able to make contact with earlier Huguenot refugees who proved to be even more eager to immigrate to L’Îsle d’Éden than their co-religionists in Amsterdam (13). The attitude of these refugees proved to be decisive in giving the remaining colonists the will to continue on to Duquesne’s famed island. Unfortunately, their journey from the Cape to L’Îsle d’Éden proved to be just as difficult, if not more so than their journey from Europe to the Cape. Fierce storms as well as an appearance of St. Elmo's Fire sapped the morale of the crew and colonists and nearly resulted in the destruction of both vessels. Fortunately, able seamanship was able to see both vessels arrive at L’Îsle d’Éden in May of 1690. It quickly became apparent however, that contrary to Duquesne’s expectations, L’Îsle de Bourbon’s garrison, though small, was more than a match for the beleaguered and demoralized Huguenot colonists. Had the squadron of vessels rumored to be bound for L’Îsle de Bourbon not been actually destined for Siam, the entire enterprise may have come to a short, bloody, ignominious end right there (14).

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The Mascarene Islands in OTL

Without any French naval resistance, the leadership of the expedition were able to easily adapt to the new situation. Knowing the distances and the risks involved, Duquesne had seen the necessity of a backup plan and had briefed the leadership of the expedition along with his financiers from the VOC prior to their departure. Should it be impossible to land the colonists on L’Îsle de Bourbon, de Valleau, Leguat, and de Trégodière, had been instructed to proceed to the Island of Rodrigues and establish a temporary colony with the aim of eventually conquering L’Îsle de Bourbon. This change of plans was hardly greeted enthusiastically by the beleaguered colonists and their attitudes only further hardened over the course of the perilous journey to the Island of Rodrigues during which three more of their number perished (15).

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The Island of Rodrigues in OTL

Fortunately, the mutinous attitude pervading the colonists vanished as the Island of Rodrigues was sighted by the two vessels. Having been forced to flee not only from Europe, but also just days prior, the island that was supposed to be their refuge, the verdant hills of the unoccupied island seemed to be a gift from God. In a stirring speech to the colonists, François Leguat renamed the island L’Îsle de Grâce and proclaimed that the beginning of their new life would begin here to raucous applause. With their destination so close at hand, even the treacherous shoals that surrounded the island could not dampen the enthusiasm of the colonists (16). Though it took some time to find a suitable harbour, a search which resulted in the Saint Espirit running aground, as the colonists disembarked they maintained a steadfast optimism as they organized their supplies, salvaged what they could from the wreck of the Saint Espirit, and began to clear land for their New Jerusalem. In this they were aided by the crews of both vessels for a month before they all embarked on the remaining vessel and began their journey back to Europe to bring news of the successful founding of Duquesne’s colony.

Footnotes

1. All of this is identical to OTL.

2. As crazy as it seems Jurieu’s beliefs were the same in OTL.

3. These quotations are translations of sentences from Duquesne’s OTL tracts. As found in the appendix of the 1891 English translation of Francois Leguat’s travelogue titled A New Voyage to the East-Indies.

4. See #3

5. See #3

6. Duquesne’s proposals are all identical to OTL. After undergoing a few name changes L’Îsle de Bourbon would eventually become to be known as the French overseas department of Réunion.

7. The Dutch offer to Duquesne is identical to OTL’s offer as well.

8. Everything save the name of the second ship originally meant to carry the colonists to Réunion is from OTL. I took the name of this ship in TTL from the ship commanded by Henri Duquesne’s father Abraham Duquesne in the Battle of Stromboli in 1676.

9. Charles de Sailly played a role in Duquesne’s ambitions in OTL as well and would later go on to be one of the biggest advocates for Huguenot settlement in the Carolinas.

10.Many observers point to Henri Duquesne’s promise to not bear arms against France made to his father Abraham in 1688 as the real reason he ordered the expedition cancelled in August 1689. However as Owen Stanwood points out in his 2013 article in the AHR “From Eden to Empire: Huguenot Refugees and the Promise of New Worlds” Duquesne used quite aggressive language in tracts published in France and made a strong case for Huguenot revenge. In light of his rather belligerent tract published in France, I don’t think the earlier approach stands. In my opinion military realities, not Duquesne’s oath to his father prompted the cancellation of the initial colonizing mission in OTL.

11. At long last you reached the Point of Divergence! In OTL Duquesne was not nearly as confident so the two large vessels were disarmed and disembarked. Instead a small 6 gun frigate L’Hirondelle was sent to the region in September 1690 with a crew of 20 with a mission to conduct reconnaissance and establish a temporary colony if possible.

12. All of these men were in some way involved in the OTL expedition to the Mascarene Islands. De Valleau and Leguat roughly took similar commands while de Trégodière was left behind to resume his work as a member of a Wallonian battalion due to the small size of the OTL expedition.

13. Though these Huguenot families would go on to have no problems assimilating into the surrounding Dutch culture in OTL, all accounts point to the first few decades being quite difficult for them. Leguat upon visiting them in OTL suspected that they would eagerly immigrate to L’Îsle d’Éden if given the chance and given the Dutch attitudes towards cultural uniformity in their colonies, banning further French immigration in 1700, they might be able to in TTL.

14. The destination of the French squadron as well as many of the features of TTL’s voyage are from Francois Leguat’s account of the Huguenots’ journal in OTL. The region between the Cape and the Mascarene Island is known for fierce storms from January-May.

15. This backup plan is actually from OTL and was adopted after news of the French squadron reached Amsterdam. However in OTL Duquesne only told de Valleau of his change of plans leaving Leguat and the other 9 colonists in the dark. In TTL the greater risks involved meant that Duquesne took a few more precautions.

16. The responses of the colonists in TTL mirror the responses of Leguat and others in OTL.

In addition to being the inspiration for this TL, Large parts of this update were adapted from Owen Stanwood’s 2013 article “From Eden to Empire: Huguenot Refugees and the Promise of New Worlds” in The American Historical Review118(5):1319-1344.

[jon]

II.

July 8th 1691

Etienne de Trégodière blinked rapidly to get the sweat out of his eyes so he could see better.

There must be hundreds of them...perhaps even a thousand. Casting brief glances to his right and left he saw his fellow colonists, jaws set and eyes narrowed, gripping their weapons with fierce determination.

How had it come to this?

A veteran of the Dutch Republic’s Walloon regiment, Trégodière had seen war before. He’d smelt the coppery stench of freshly spilt blood, felt the burns of gunpowder on his skin, been deafened by the explosions and screams of the wounded that followed. He’d distinguished himself in combat against the papist forces of Louis XIV, so much so that the Estates General and Henri Duquesne had picked him to secure their proposed refuge in the Indian Ocean. Initially his commander had balked at the assignment, Trégodière had been one of his best officers and was particularly adept at constructing new fortifications. He had been loath to lose him to such a harebrained scheme and had insisted that Trégodière return at the earliest possibility.

Whether that actually happened remained to be seen. To date, not even the faintest hint of a ship had been seen from the lookouts Trégodière posted daily. They were truly and utterly on their own here in the middle of the sea.

Not that he cared all that much. As much as he’d protested the assignment when in the company of his comrades back in the Netherlands, truth be told, Trégodière had tired of the fighting a long time ago. He could still remember reading Duquesne’s tract for the first time and feeling the inescapable yearning to leave behind all the chaos and destruction and merely live his life, honestly before God and man. That same yearning had caused him to argue against Leguat’s proposal to attack the colony on the Isle of Bourbon over a year ago and agree to land here.

An Image of the Island of Rodrigues from OTL as depicted in Leguat's book

For a while the Island of Rodrigues, Diego Ruy(1), or, most recently, L’Îsle de Grâce looked like it would afford him that opportunity. Their arrival had been anything but peaceful, as storms had driven one of their ships, the Saint Espirit aground upon one of the plethora of reefs that encircled the island, but things had quickly settled down. After the panicked rush to salvage as much as they could from the wrecked vessel, the colonists who had survived the treacherous journey from Amsterdam found themselves inhabiting a true paradise. The verdant island was well stocked with all manner of fish, game, and birds, while the ground eagerly lent itself to their efforts to clear sites for all kinds of habitations.

Etienne could still remember the rapid recovery nearly everyone made as they acclimated to live on the small island. Not only was the air and the climate extremely agreeable(2), but the knowledge that they were at long last safe meant that almost instantaneously a massive weight was lifted off the shoulders of his fellow refugees. That sense of safety only grew as the colony continued to be established. As one of the few veterans among the colonists, Eteinne had been in charge of training the militia and providing for the defense of the island. In addition to a primary blockhouse, constructed to overlook the harbour of New Boën(3) on the north shore of the island, he’d seen to it to emplace several other cannon salvaged from the wreck of the Saint Espirit at several key points across the island.

Not that those cannons were of any use to them now. Months ago yet another hurricane pummelled the island, doing just as much damage as the first. Though all of them knew that such a storm was a possibility, few were prepared for its ferocity. Only by the grace of God were they all able to survive the ordeal, unharmed but for a few bruises and broken bones. It was taking time for the colony itself to be rebuilt in light of what could very well be annual storms and replacing the mounts and carriages of the cannons was a low priority. Of greater concern was the pestilence that the hurricanes brought with them, namely a hoard of green caterpillars that could have replaced the locusts that Moses called down upon the Pharaoh of Egypt. Whereas the colonists had been blessed with the foresight to bring along several cats (4) to keep the islands’ hoards of rats at bay, they would have to find another solution to keep the rapacious worms from devouring everything green in sight. To date, the best they could do was cover what crops had survived to date at night and then uncover them in the morning much in the same way they covered any meat with sea-water soaked linen to keep the flies on the island from infesting it(5).

Yet the colonists had a concern more pressing than rats, hurricanes, or caterpillars, one that brought them out tonight as the waxing moon cast light on the beach in front of them.

Revenge.

Of all the challenges that faced the colonists of L’Îsle de Grâce, the land crabs were perhaps the largest and unexpectedly the most dangerous. For months they had resisted efforts by the colonists to live peaceably side by side, constantly burrowing into gardens, storehouses, and bedrooms, set on devouring anything even remotely edible. This had prompted many drives to date to kill as many of the land crabs as possible, yet they had proved incredibly difficult to exterminate as they were often able to retreat into their burrows and absorb whatever blows could be meted out with ease. Almost a year ago they had observed that around the full moons of July and August large numbers of them made their way to the sea to release their eggs. A few of the colonists had tried at that point to kill as many as possible, but it had hardly seemed to put a dent in their numbers. Unfortunately for the crabs, events had transpired since then that had led to the entire population of the colony being mobilized for nothing less than a complete and total war against them.

For, in addition to continue their feeding upon all manner of food grown by the colonists, the crabs had done, albeit indirectly, what even the mighty hurricane could not: claim the lives of a colonists. Prior to the manslaughter of Pierre du Maurier and the subsequent sentencing of his killer Jean Leblanc to a life of imprisonment and forced labour, not a single colonist had lost his life on the island. Free from war, disease, and hunger, the 179 colonists that had survived the journey had not only survived here on this island but thrived, seeing no fewer than 5 children already being born to the intrepid families that had made the trip or formed soon after arriving. What made du Maurier’s death all the more tragic was that it could easily have been avoided had Leblanc not lost his temper over the supposed theft of a pair of pistols. Believing that his rival du Maurier had absconded with them, Leblanc confronted him and engaged in a fight that led to du Maurier striking his head upon a rock and perishing, leaving his wife and child dependent on the colony. Only once the damage had been done was it determined that a land crab had made off with the leather purse in which the pistols were kept rather than Leblanc (5).

Du Maurier’s death, coupled with the fatigue of constantly dealing with the crab’s depredations had led to tonight, the first of what would be many battles in the war on the crabs. With a yell Etienne motioned with his stave and urged his command forward towards the pack of female crabs headed to the sea to deposit their eggs. What followed was a pure, unmitigated slaughter, echoed at dozens of sites across the island, as the colonists tore into the hoard of crabs and slaughtered them with whatever was at hand. With no holes to retreat to, the crabs were left with little recourse but to be slaughtered, revealing their copious cargoes of eggs (7). For what seemed like an eternity, Etienne brought his stave down again and again, smashing shell after shell until his arms began to ache.

Based off Leguat’s descriptions, most observers believe that the “land crabs” of Rodrigues were in fact coconut crabs like the ones drawn above

Looking up, from his final kill, Etienne strained his eyes but the torchlight revealed not a single crab still moving. Turning around he could see that his force had managed to survive the engagement, having only suffered a few cuts courtesy of the crabs’ impressive pincers. They would come back tomorrow night to see if any more crabs emerged from their hiding places, and would continue to do so until their crops were free from this pestilence, but now what lay ahead of them was the even more onerous task of preparing the crabs’ meat for the feast that was to follow these “grand battles”. Though the work was labour intensive, the meat was good, and when paired with some palm wine was a feast fit for a king in his mind. With this thought in mind, Etienne devoted the rest of the night to the gathering of the crabs and the subsequent duty of cleaning and cooking them...

***

March 15th 1692

If the grin that creased the face of François Leguat were any wider Charles de Sailly reckoned it would split his head in two...

In all fairness, he probably deserved every ounce of satisfaction he now felt. Few had given him, or the nearly two hundred colonists who had accompanied him much of a chance of success carving out a colony here on the smallest and most isolated of the Mascarene Islands. Henri Duquesne had been particularly disparaging of their chances, as even after hearing of their initial successes upon the return of Antoine de Valleau a year ago, he refused to authorize a second journey and assume his position as Président of the Republic promised to him by the Estates General in 1689. Instead he chose to tour the capitals of Europe, making full use of the colonist’s initial success as a proof of concept in gaining additional foreign support for his ventures. In the meantime, de Sailly had been sent onboard the small frigate L’Hirondelle to, among other things, conduct a survey of the island and report on its suitability for not only military actions against L’Îsle de Bourbon but further settlement as well (8).

Now as their survey of the small island concluded, De Sailly could admit that what he had encountered utterly exceeded even his most optimistic expectations. At best he had expected a struggling colony that would still require significant support to survive, more likely he had suspected that whatever colonists still remained on the island would have swarmed their small vessel and demanded to be returned to Mauritius, the Cape, or some other more hospitable locale. What he found instead, a small colony that was by all appearances thriving despite a few material wants borne of isolation, would be welcome news in Amsterdam as it would only further justify Duquesne’s arguments.

Leguat’s map of his small settlement of 10 people in OTL. TTL’s settlement is considerably larger, but roughly located in the same area

To say that the colonists had been active in the twenty-one months they had been on the island would have been a gross understatement. Not only had they succeeded in clearing and cultivating vast sections of the island, they had also managed to construct a fortified blockhouse armed with the cannon stripped from the wreck of the Saint Espirit and a small but vibrant town they referred to as “New Boën”. They’d even begun to construct fishing vessels with which their more adventurous souls could venture into deeper waters to take further advantage of the rich fisheries God had seen fit to provision this island with.

God’s Grace is indeed sufficient... de Sailly couldn’t help but remember Paul’s sentiments expressed in his second letter to the Corinthian church (9) as he arrived to a feast prepared in his honour at the Hotel de Ville (10) erected by the colonists. When showing him building, Leguat apologized for its primitive wooden construction and thatched roof noting that their first two edifices had been destroyed by the hurricanes the island had experienced. Though destructive, these storms had resulted in the colonists to construct their new Hotel de Ville and indeed many of their habitations on stilts and with features to better resist the yearly tribulations. Despite its’ primitive construction, upon being seated in the main dining hall, de Sailly noted that though the colonists had adopted many new traditions to better cope with their environment, they still maintained many aspects of French culture.

As the food was served, Charles couldn’t help but note that the meal too highlighted not only the colonists’ adaptation to their new residence and their dependence on the sea, but also some of their more unusual practices. The desire of the colonists to found a permanent home here on this island, coupled with its small size and isolation had produced some rather unforeseen developments, which, though not pernicious by any stretch of the imagination took someone of Charles’ sensibilities a bit of getting used to. Perhaps the first was the Islanders’ penchant for palm wine a drink Charles had hitherto considered fit for only slaves. It had been explained to him that the yearly monsoons would make viniculture extremely difficult and that Palm wine presented them with equal satisfaction and was far less complicated to produce in this climate. His hosts explained that the fermented product before him was only a recent discovery and they assured him that in time further refinements would produce a beverage comparable to the best wineries in France. Of this Charles de Sailly had his doubts, yet he humoured the colonists who were eager to impress him with even more of their numerous accomplishments (11).

A bottle of Palm Wine in OTL

The colonists had come to so love the products made from the sap of the Palm trees that they had begun to plant a prodigious amount of seeds in order to cultivate new trees to replace those cut down, or killed because of overambitious sap harvesting, as well as to furnish wood for the settlement. Besides their own crops, the only local plant which the islanders cultivated more of was an Ebony tree, of a similar species to those harvested by the Dutch on Mauritius. Leguat seemed determined to manage the growth of these trees on the island as a part of his vision for a permanent Huguenot home. For every Ebony tree cut down and transformed into merchandise to be sold in Europe ten saplings were planted throughout the island. Leguat was convinced that within a few decades the island would be able to furnish a steady supply of Ebony to the mainland. Of course the great question in de Sailly’s mind was whether the appetite of the colonists for land would allow Leguat’s aspirations at arboriculture to bear fruit, but again he chose not to ask it and instead saved it for his letter to Duquesne, instead choosing to politely listen and partake in the feast being set before him (12).

A cross-section of an Ebony tree in OTL

As it was with the drink, so too did the appetizer and the main course showcase yet another interesting aspect of the island colony’s nascent culture. It was almost as if Leguat had purposely chosen both dishes to highlight the islands flourishing aquaculture which had allowed the sea to augment the limited amount of land at hand. To be sure, the fruits of the soil were present on the table before him both in the form of a slightly odd tasting bread(13) and the ubiquitous melons that had were perhaps the only things to adapt to life on this island better than the colonists. Yet Leguat’s choice of dishes in Eel Soup and Manatee steak were likely conscious choices to showcase not only the colonists’ ingenuity but potential for future expansion.

Eel Farming is a practice in Europe that dates back to antiquity and would have been known to the colonists in TTL

Leguat had been especially proud of the colonists efforts to tame and make use of the abundant fish and game surrounding the island. Though efforts to domesticate a bird he referred to as the “Rodrigues Solitare” had failed to bear fruit, more traditional minded efforts had succeeded where others failed. In particular valliculture efforts around the creeks and shallow waters had allowed the islanders to create something of an industry around the giant eels that occupied the waters around the islands. De Sailly had never seen a larger eel and upon tasting it in this soup he understood why Leguat had seen to it that their populations be harnessed in order to provide a relatively stable supply of excellent fish to the colony. Of course the fact that such an industry was superfluous to the islanders given their ample supplies of other game was irrelevant to Leguat who clearly had his eyes on attracting more colonists to L’Îsle de Grâce (14).

A contemporary drawing of a Dugong, or Manitee/Sea-cow as they were referred to by Leguat and de Sailly

Similarly, the islanders had attempted to use a system of nets to begin the process of taming the Manatees or Sea Cows that frequented the lagoon on the western end of the island. This industry, Leguat had explained was also only in its infancy and had taken some ingenuity to begin to perfect. Desiring milk yet having no cows, the pregnant women of the colony had pressed Leguat for milk for their infant children. With no supply ships forthcoming, Leguat and his advisors had instead turned to the large numbers of sea cows which populated the lagoon on the islands’ western shore. Though full domestication was still a long way off at the very best, Leguat and his men had done their best to optimize the environment in the lagoon to encourage the growth of these cows, limit their mobility, and encourage the longevity of the industry. As they were docile creatures, the colonists had no problems dragging one out of the water and slaughtering it to provide the meat for tonight’s feast. The sea cow steak was accompanied by a rich sauce made from various local spices and the fat from one of the islands’ land turtles rounded out the meal, which was, of course, accompanied by a plate of fresh fruit for dessert (15).

Though the meal gradually drew to a close, the conversation continued as the colonists, cut off from their homeland for nearly two years were eager to hear news from Europe. Though de Sailly had already answered many of the same questions in an earlier private conversation with Leguat, he humored the colonists and proceeded to catch them up on the events of the war with Louis XIV and the tantalizing possibility that the Grand Alliance would emerge victorious and be able to put an end to the persecution that had driven them to flee. Like Leguat, the colonists consumed the news almost as eagerly as they did the eels, sea cows, and melons, that seemed so prolific on this island. De Sailly couldn’t help but wonder if he missed his calling and should have instead pursued theater, for he was able to convey a confidence in the ultimate victory of the Alliance that he simply did not feel and that was infectious. Still, a slight exaggeration seemed a small price to pay for contributing to the morale of the colony.

In a few days Charles would depart onboard L’Hirondelle bearing news of the colony’s success and a sizeable cargo of ebony logs and trinkets. The wood would certainly fetch a decent price and would help contribute to the destitute coffers of the colonization enterprise in a small way (16). De Sailly could only hope that the information contained in his survey would serve to be an equally profitable product...

Footnotes

1. Diego Ruy was one of the names for L’Îsle de Grâce in OTL.

2. Leguat’s account from OTL as recorded in his book A New Voyage to the East Indies (which is available for free on Google Play as an e-book) seems to back this up. Though small and possessing few trade goods, the Island of Rodrigues proved to be an excellent host for the colonists in OTL and I see no reason why it would differ in TTL. In OTL Leguat’s book was initially received as a piece of fiction akin to Robinson Crusoe only to be revealed as accurate in 1991.

3. In his account of his stay on the island of Rodrigues in OTL, Leguat likened the island to the valley of Lignon in France. Boën is one of the main towns in that valley in France and the major settlement on the island in TTL is thus named after it.

4. In OTL rats were a major problem for Leguat and his band of 9 other settlers due to the fact that they had no cats. Apparently Leguat only had a few owls with which to ostensibly keep the pests at bay. In TTL some of the colonies had the foresight to bring cats along with them.

5. Flies, Rats, Hurricanes, and Caterpillars were all pests mentioned by Leguat in his account of life on the island. The solutions the colonists adopted in TTL is identical to what they came up with in OTL.

6. This is one of those classic examples where truth is stranger than fiction. An identical incident happened in OTL among Leguat’s colonists. Fortunately in OTL, the small size of the settlement meant that tensions de-escalated and hostility was directed back against the crabs. In TTL there are more people and thus more problems leading to the death of one of the colonists. This then helps mobilize people to pursue a more vigorous war on the crabs than OTL.

7. Though coconut crabs are incapable of swimming, they lay their eggs in the sea. Leguat writes that on Rodrigues this happened around the full moons in July and August.

8. Charles de Sailly is a character from OTL who was involved in Duquesne’s scheme and after it failed conducted several surveys in anticipation of Huguenot settlement in England’s American colonies. The vessel he travels on in TTL is the same one that conveyed Leguat and his men to the island in OTL.

9. 2 Corinthians 12:9

10. Town Hall

11. Leguat’s colonists in OTL came to enjoy Palm Wine as well, albeit unfermented. In TTL by 1692 the colonists have begun fermenting some of it in order to replace wine in their diets.

12. I’ll admit that the arboriculture is a bit of a stretch, but given the island’s isolation and the colonist’s dependence on the palm tree I don’t think it’s all that implausible.

13. The odd taste is due to the fact that in TTL as in OTL the colonists accidentally purchased millet along with grain to grow on the island. In OTL Leguat and his comrades thought the millet plants were tares and thus inedible, however in TTL better agricultural minds and a bit of desperation borne from isolation means that the settlers make the best of a bad situation.

14. The giant eels are from OTL and were unfortunately hunted to extinction by later settlers. In TTL Leguat sees to it that they are exploited in a more manageable fashion.

15. When referring to sea-cows or manatees, de Sailly is in fact referring to what we would call Dugongs. Leguat’s account as well as subsequent accounts both describe the early colonists hunting the populations of Dugongs around the island with considerable ease. In Leguat’s book he notes that once the docility of the creatures had been established, the men harvested them for meat with considerable ease. In TTL, again desperate times call for desperate measures and so the beginnings of a dugong dairy are founded. That being said, reliance upon this dairy will be solely a temporary measure.

16. Make no mistake, any profit from the ebony will be only a drop in the bucket of the funds needed to help pay for future colonization.

[lordroel]

You my man have already scored good point with this timeline by having the dutch involved.

[jon]

III.



Having landed the colonists and seen to it that they were properly established on L’Îsle de Grâce, Antoine de Valleau took his remaining vessel and set course for the Cape in June 1691. Upon his arrival at Table Bay in July, de Valleau proceeded to execute the second portion of Duquesne’s plan (1). While Jean Testart, one of the colonists who chose not to stay on Rodrigues due a broken leg he’d suffered during the first month of the colony, proceeded back to the Netherlands onboard a VOC ship, de Valleau and the rest of the crew of the La Droite purchased provisions and began to lay the groundwork for the eventual conquest of L’Îsle de Eden. Both Duquesne and de Valleau hoped that providing an accurate assessment of the colony’s defenses, the Estates General and the VOC could be persuaded to capture it for the sake of the Huguenot refugees.

An OTL depiction of late 17th century St. Denis

De Valleau and a few other choice men landed in secret on L’Îsle de Bourbon a month later and found that a considerable amount had changed since their initial passing voyage. When the colonists had first sighted the island in May 1690 not only they had been exhausted and demoralized but the island had been politically unified. Their initial decision to bypass the island and instead land on the Island of Rodrigues was validated upon their second illicit arrival in July 1691. Fifteen months had seen L’Îsle de Bourbon beset by considerable political turmoil as the despotism of Henri Habert de Vauboulon boiled over in December 1690. Led by Father Hyacinthe de Kerguelen de Kerbiquet, a Capuchin monk who had arrived with Vauboulon in 1689, and Michael Firelin, a young merchant, the colonists overthrew the governor and imprisoned him in the St. Denis gaol. This turmoil was only magnified in the following months as Father Hyacinthe refused to replace Vauboulon and instead nominated the 24 year old Michael Firelin who though possessing idealism and vigour had no experience in running the colony (2).



Encouraged by the recent outbreak of political violence and instability within the royalist French colony, de Valleau continued to survey the island, recruiting a local African man, Arré to help him gain further insight on the island. Though de Valleau’s account of the mission records several close calls with local colonial authorities, both he and Arré managed to avoid capture and eventually return to Cape Town in October 1691. This information was likewise sent to Duquesne on the next VOC ship returning from the Indies via the Cape (3).



News from his subordinates in the East Indies couldn’t arrive in Amsterdam soon enough as Henri Duquesne had fallen into a deep melancholy following the departure of the first of two ships destined for the Mascarene Islands. Though Jean Testart feared that the news he brought with him in November 1691 would only exacerbate the situation, having sworn an oath to Captain Antoine de Valleau to do so he felt he had no other choice. Fortunately, Duquesne did not sink further into depression but rather became energized at the partial success of his plan. The loss of one ship was far from ideal but the initial positive news from the colony was immensely encouraging and proved to be enough for him to send his subordinate Charles de Sailly to survey the small island at the earliest possible moment. Testart spent the next two days answering all of Duquesne’s questions before he too joined de Sailly onboard the small frigate L’Hirondelle bound for the tiny L’Îsle de Grâce, filled with supplies for the wayward colonists.

An OTL Picture of Jean Testart

Duquesne’s partial success was greeted with elation from the Estates General, who had always been far more favourable towards the idea of setting up a colony on Rodrigues than conquering L’Îsle de Bourbon. In fact, the only reason the expedition had proceeded at all was by guaranteeing that L’Îsle de Bourbon would not be attacked if it was occupied and thereby calming the fears of the concerned party (4). As such, when Duquesne returned to the Estates General with news of his colonist’s initial success and asking for a subsequent expedition to take L’Îsle de Bourbon he found a rather cool reception. Instead, the Estates General offered a generous financial package which would pay for the transport of a considerable number of refugees, the supplies necessary for their maintenance, and Duquesne himself to assume his position as Président to Rodrigues upon the completion of de Sailly’s survey.



Though generous, this offer was turned down by Duquesne who had serious concerns about the longevity of any Huguenot refuge on Rodrigues/Deigo Ruy/Grâce. Without significant land for settlement or even a good harbour to facilitate trade, Duquesne feared his project becoming little more than a tokenistic effort on the part of the Dutch to alleviate their guilt over the Huguenot refugees and create yet another colony dependent on the VOC. Instead, Duquesne chose to remain in Europe to build support for his project of liberating L’Îsle de Bourbon and establishing a Huguenot refuge there. A message was sent with de Sailly extending the legitimacy of Leguat’s governorship while both Duquesne, his brother, and a few others, toured the capitals of Protestant Europe and the communities of the Huguenot diaspora to build support for their ambitions (5).

An OTL picture of Henri de Massue 2nd Marquis de Rouvigny, Viscount Galway, and Baron Portarlington

Had they attempted to do so without the beginnings of a colony in the Mascarenes, their efforts would surely have come to naught, for not only was the War of the Grand Alliance presenting a tantalizing possibility that the French crown would be forced to restore the Edict of Nantes, but other Huguenot leaders were pursuing a parallel colonization project in Ireland. Led by Henri de Massue 2nd Marquis de Rouvigny, Viscount Galway, and Baron Portarlington as well as Duquesne’s fierce opponent Henri Mirmand, this project hoped to take advantage of the English crown’s anxiety over Irish loyalties by encouraging the settlement of politically friendly Protestant Huguenots (6). As Viscount Galway had considerable influence in the court of William III, it seemed unlikely that Duquesne’s proposals would go very far once he moved across the channel. Yet due to the initial successes on Rodrigues, and political difficulties in London, William III came to look more favourably on Duquesne’s project. Unlike the planned settlement of a large number of Huguenot refugees in Ireland, which involved William granting land to politically and religiously reliable foreigners, but foreigners nonetheless, Duquesne’s plan involved no such thing (7). Given the potential political resistance that Galway’s Portarlington plan would face, William III began to warm to Duquesne’s option as a more politically palatable alternative. Though none of the emissaries to other Protestant European states, encountered the same degree of support Duquesne encountered in England, all found a general willingness to support the resettlement of Huguenot refugees, especially those considered not to bring an immediate benefit to the state in question (8).



Official diplomacy on behalf of Duquesne`s Eden Expedition was matched by what amounted to a propaganda campaign directed at the Huguenot diaspora. Initial positive reports from Rodrigues were added to Duquesne`s initial extolling of L’Îsle de Éden to paint a sublime picture to the weary refugees. This picture was then followed by far more direct call for revenge and redistribution than earlier tracts on the subject. Though the response of the Huguenot leadership to these new tracts, echoed their response to Duquesne`s earlier tracts, among the rank and file members of the Huguenot diaspora Eden became an increasingly preferable option to their prolonged exile across Europe. Furthermore, by the way it was described, Eden and Grace seemed far better destinations than the English colonies in the New World. Faced with its increasing popularity among their congregations, several Huguenot leaders began to recognize new realities and began to limit their opposition to the plan or in some cases voice cautious support for it.



Efforts to gain support abroad by Duquesne and his associates did not mean the abandonment of efforts in the Netherlands. Indeed, upon the arrival of de Valleau`s intelligence from L’Îsle de Bourbon in 1692 and anticipating de Sailly`s survey of L’Îsle de Grâce, Duquesne and his associates engaged in yet another vigorous campaign to gain Dutch support for the conquest of L’Îsle de Éden. Eventually, the pressure from Duquesne, other Huguenot groups, and foreign princes all came together and influenced the decisions of the Estates General and the Heeren XVII (9). Having already made the decision to dispatch a sizeable fleet to the East Indies with the aim of capturing the seat of the French East Indies Company in Pondicherry, both the Estates General and the Heeren XVII decided in 1692 to divert ships to L’Îsle de Bourbon and capture it for the Huguenots en route. In exchange, Duquesne agreed to recruit and lead a military force under Dutch command in the East Indies for the duration of the conflict or until he was released (10).

An OTL depiction of a meeting of the Heeren XVII

At the time, Duquesne’s decision and preparations were kept secret, but following the war he was questioned about the conflict between his agreement to aid the Dutch and his promise to his father not to make war against France. In his written responses Duquesne outlined what would eventually become the basis of a new Huguenot national identity. Borrowing from the ideas of Pierre Jurieu, he argued passionately against the new vision of France under Louis XVI and declared that his policies targeted against the Huguenots coupled with precedents for popular sovereignty both in scripture and French constitutional law relieved Huguenots from the obligation of Loyalty. In subsequent tracts, Duquesne instead encouraged Huguenots and others to join him in building a New and Better France along republican lines on L’Îsle de Éden maintaining that given the continued refusal of the French government to provide recompense for wealth confiscated and lives taken during the dragonnades any offensive actions would fall within the Right of Reprisal. Furthermore, (11).



Though Duquesne had hoped that de Sailly (12) would be able to arrive in time to join his small force, as the fleet prepared to leave it became apparent that this would not be the case. Having recruited a force of some 100 sailors and 150 volunteer soldiers, Duquesne left instructions for de Sailly to prepare another group of refugees to settle on L’Îsle de Éden as soon as possible in anticipation of his victory prior to his departure with the rest of the fleet in January 1693. 19 vessels strong, the fleet made the journey down to the Cape and met Captain Antoine de Valleau’s vessel La Droite and its crew who agreed to join the expedition and fight with Duquesne along with 50 disaffected Huguenot colonists from the Cape (13). Given the royal welcome and deference with which Duquesne was treated by the Huguenots, the mass migration of the French speaking colonists to the Mascarenes following the conquest of L’Îsle de Éden seemed almost assured, much to the delight of the governor Simon van der Stel (14).

An OTL painting of Simon van de Stel

The arrival of the entire fleet off the shore of L’Îsle de Bourbon on June 4th 1693 proved to have precisely the effect Duquesne intended. Growing discontent over the incompetence of Michael Firelin forced the governor to take decisive action. Draconian measures reminiscent of a scorched earth policy resulted in yet another revolt against the authority of not only Firelin as governor but that of Father Hyacinthe who supported him (15). Faced with the alternative of a destructive conflict destined to end in defeat, the new civilian leadership of the colony surrendered the colony bloodlessly to the Dutch/Huguenot force after a brief 2 day standoff. The resulting transfer of power went relatively well as Abraham Duquesne was left behind to lead a small mixed garrison and the fleet purchased rather than pillaged additional provisions from the islanders. In the following months, the able rule of the younger Duquesne brother and a policy of religious tolerance (16), coupled with the influx of wealth into the colony – a deliberate strategy of Duquesne’s – and the prospect of a more democratic existence appealed to the existing colonists and prevented a subsequent revolt until the arrival of several hundred Huguenot Colonists, first from the Cape and then from Europe, made such a course impractical.



True to his word, Henri Duquesne and his force of French Huguenot volunteers continued on with the Dutch fleet to Pondicherry where they contributed to the swift siege that caused the French factory’s capitulation in August 1693 (17). Though VOC officials argued that further offensive actions be suspended following the seizure of the primary French entrepôt, Duquesne argued persuasively that further French factories be seized to be used as bargaining chips during the inevitable peace process. After a fierce debate, Duquesne’s proposal won out and the remainder of 1694 saw the capture of not only Balasor and Masulipatam, but a trio of French ships as well. With the capture of the three main French trading posts in India, the only outpost that remained was in Surat where the local governor enforced a strict policy of neutrality among the European traders (18).



Following the dismantling of French territories in India, Duquesne and his contingent were allowed to return to the Mascarene Islands in order to defend them and in so doing act as a first line of defense against a rumored French counter-attack in 1695. Three warships, accompanied by three company vessels all under the command of the Marquis de Nesmond left Lorient in March 1695 with the intention of raid British and French shipping in the Indies and lay the groundwork for the recapture of L’Îsle de Bourbon (19). Unfortunately for Louis XIV, the entire expedition displayed the same hubris exhibited earlier when revoking the Edict of Nantes. Disparaging both Henri Duquesne’s skill as a commander and his independence from the Dutch, Nesmond opted to send the majority of his ships to the Coromandel coast while leading only a pair of vessels to attack Huguenot positions on the Mascarene Islands. Had he taken his entire force, Nesmond may have been able to defeat Duquesne`s flotilla, but as it was, he was outnumbered and retreated after a short yet decisive battle (20).

Duquesne's fleet, consisting of borrowed Dutch warships like the ones pictured above, proved to be quite effective in the Indian Ocean during the last years of the War of the Grand Alliance.

Eager to further demonstrate his worth to his allies, Duquesne pursued the two ships in the hopes of limiting their damage. However Nesmond ordered the other ships to take a different course resulted in it slipping away. Eager to take revenge on the Huguenots for the unexpected defeat, Nesmond attempted to raid the colony on L’Îsle de Grâce only to run aground on the unfamiliar reefs surrounding the island, find his vessel under siege from the colonists, and eventually surrender to them (21). The other vessel which had escaped attempted to engage in acts of piracy as well as trade in the Indian Ocean but was forced to put into Surat in August 1695 having done little of consequence due to the pursuit of Henri Duquesne’s ships (22). Forced to likewise replenish his supplies at Surat, Duquesne’s arrival coincided with the governor of Surat’s request to find escorts for a fleet conveying pilgrims to Mecca. Eager to gain favor with the key Indian official, and examine new possibilities for trade Duquesne accepted the governor’s offer when no other European captains would. Duquesne’s logs make it clear that he expected little to come of the mission and remained pessimistic that any new commercial avenues would be discovered or that any favour garnered by taking the contract would result in concrete commercial benefits. Little did he know what awaited him in the Straits of Bab-el Mandeb as his vessels approached it in September 1695 (23).



Unbeknownst to Duquesne, a veritable fleet of pirate vessels lay anchored off the island of Perim in the middle of the strait. In another world, their leader, Captain Henry Avery, might have been considered one of the greatest pirates, but in this world his fate was to be slightly less grand. Formerly a crewman onboard the privateer Charles II, Avery led a mutiny in 1694 and persuaded its crew to pursue a life of piracy in the Indian Ocean. Having seized several ships while en route Avery eventually formed alliances with several other pirates including Thomas Tew of the Amity who had seized a large prize in the Red Sea in late 1693 with the intent of ambushing the yearly convoy which Duquesne now escorted. In addition to Tew onboard the Amity and several smaller ships, Avery commanded over 150 men onboard the Charles II having renamed her Fancy in addition to razeeing her for additional speed to make her one of the fastest vessels in the Indian Ocean (24).

An OTL picture of Henry Avery

In light of Tew’s success in 1693, Duquesne agreed with Captain Ibrahim of the Ganj-i-Sawai that the convoy should try to pass through the Straits of Bab-el Mandeb under the cover of nightfall. Though this proved to be enough to guarantee the safety of the faster ships in the convoy, for the slower ships, most of which were heavily laden with treasure, a single night proved to be inadequate (25). What followed was a 5 day running engagement between Avery’s pirate fleet and the Mughal convoy with its Huguenot escorts. Though Duquesne’s fleet was able to engage and defeat the Amity captained by Thomas Tew and drive off a handful of other attacks, being only three vessels they could not be everywhere at once. They arrived too late to prevent the despoiling of the Fateh Muhammad and only just barely arrived in time to prevent the capture of the Ganj-i-Sawai. Finding the Mughal treasure ship being boarded by not only Avery’s flagship the Fancy but a pair of other ships, the Pearl and the Portsmouth Adventure, Duquesne chose to attack and capture the poorly crewed pirate vessels rather than immediately relieving the beleaguered crew of the Ganj-i-Sawai. Once again, Duquesne found himself with a massive advantage over his opponents and eagerly pressed it to bring about an end to the battle, personally leading the boarding parties which seized Avery’s flagship and allegedly engaging in a duel with Avery himself (26).



As their ships struggled to repel the Huguenot boarders, the pirates attempting to take control of the Ganj-i-Sawai began to waver, reviving the spirits of the Mughal crew causing them to renew their attacks with greater vigor. Faced with the renewed determination of the Mughal crew and having lost their sole avenue of retreat the battle quickly concluded as most pirates chose to lay down their arms rather than fight to the death. Those that chose not to surrender had their wishes indulged with extreme prejudice by the newly confident Mughal crew bringing an end to the violence and allowing the convoy to continue its journey to Mecca (27). Though the last leg of this journey took slightly longer due to the need to repair damage suffered by the Ganj-i-Sawai, it did allow Duquesne to organize crews for the three captured pirate vessels and transfer the wealth they had stolen from the Fateh Muhammad back to its proper owners. It was only with the conclusion of the journey that Duquesne learned that the Ganj-i-Sawai was carrying one of the favourite sisters of Emperor Aurangzeb and that he had now gained an influential friend in the Mughal court (28).



Duquesne remained in the region for the duration of the pilgrimage and focused his efforts on exploring potential commercial opportunities for Huguenot merchants to exploit in the future. It would be during this period of relative idleness that he would make contact with merchants from the Kingdom of Abyssinia and learn of its potential to contribute to the burgeoning coffee trade (29). At the time, Duquesne took no direct action in this regard and instead fulfilled his contract by escorting the Mughal convoy back to Surat where he received a fair sum and the gratitude of Aurangzeb himself for his services in the Straits of Bab-el Mandab. Duquesne then proceeded to return to L’Îsle de Éden to protect it from the threat of further French raids and consolidate his rule there. However, for the remainder of the war the Indian Ocean remained relatively quiet as the French Navy opted to focus on the North Sea and the Atlantic rather than the Indian Ocean, leaving Duquesne to his own devices amongst his nascent colonial refuge until he sailed for Rhyswik in 1697 to join a group of Huguenots attempting to shape the prospective peace treaty (30).

A depiction of the port of Surat in OTL

As the diplomats of the Great Powers involved in the Nine Years War sat down at Rhyswik to negotiate an end to the conflict in 1697, few realized the hopes placed in them by the Huguenot communities. All across Europe, French Protestants expected their plight to be a major point of contention in the negotiations and prayed fervently for the reinstitution of the Edict of Nantes as a result of the peace and their eventual return to France. For these penitents, only disappointment greeted them with the signing of the peace as the Edict of Nantes remained consigned to the annals of history and France under Louis XIV asserted its firmly Catholic nature. Only those Huguenots who had chosen to align themselves with Duquesne’s vision of a New France on L’Îsle de Éden had cause to rejoice as the island was ceded to the Dutch along with a sizeable ransom for the intact return of the French East India Company’s factories (31). Yet the cession of L’Îsle de Bourbon came with a number of stipulations that would complicate the Dutch Estates General’s plan that would complicate its intention to honor the agreement signed in 1689 with Henri Duquesne and his group.



Footnotes



1) Antoine de Valleau was tasked with reconnaissance of L’Îsle de Bourbon in OTL after depositing Leguat and his colonists on the Island of Rodrigues in OTL.



2) All of this is from OTL.



3) de Valleau’s collusion with a free black man named Arré is from OTL. However in OTL they were captured spelling a decisive end for Duquesne’s Eden project. In TTL they escape and provide vital intelligence to the Dutch/Huguenots.



4) This is from OTL.



5) It’s well established in the existing literature on the Huguenots that increasingly after 1685 the diasporic communities were supported by a group of merchants, religious figures, and statesmen known among historians as the “Protestant International.”



6) This is all from OTL as well. While Viscount Galway envisioned a permanent Huguenot settlement in Ireland, Henir Mirmand, another key supporter of the Portarlington plan saw Ireland as an antechamber for the Huguenots to reside in and maintain their cultural identity while awaiting the restoration of the tolerant policies mandated by the Edict of Nantes.



7) This foreshadows the fate of the Portarlington settlements in OTL. English indignation at William III’s favoritism towards non-English groups and a desire to monopolize gains in Ireland resulted in Galway’s land grant being revoked and the settlements eventually collapsing with their residents migrating to America.



8) Contemporary accounts reflect the growing weariness among Protestant states regarding the need to support large numbers of Huguenot refugees.



9) The Heeren XVII were the board of directors for the Dutch East India Company (VOC)



10) The Dutch expedition to Pondicherry is from OTL while the diversion to Reunion is a deviation from OTL. Duquesne’s force is a ploy by the Dutch to reduce the costs not only of their expedition to India but the process of drawing down their forces after the war.



11) Duquesne isn’t doing anything new here, just restating what he said in OTL slightly differently.



12) By all accounts Charles de Sailly was a talented and decorated member of the French Navy prior to 1685.



13) In OTL and TTL the Huguenot settlers were hesitant to offer their support to de Valleau as he gathered intelligence. However given their dissatisfaction at the Cape in their initial years, I’d wager that if Duquesne himself made this request with the support of a sizeable Dutch flotilla they would be a bit more forthcoming



14) These sentiments are from OTL.



15) Hyacinthe supported Firelin through thick and thin in OTL. I highly doubt he’d deviate from this course in TTL given the faith and nationality of the attackers.



16) Realism dictates that, at least initially, Catholic rights on the Island are respected.



17) The date is from OTL roughly, I’ve seen sources that vary between August/September 1693. Some talk of a short siege, others of a slightly longer one. TTL’s is quite short due to Duquesne’s expertise (he played a large role in his father’s later victories in OTL).



18) In OTL the Dutch chose to rest on their laurels and fortify Pondicherry. This proved to be incredibly counterproductive as in OTL they were forced to return the port to the French along with its newly improved fortifications. The policy they pursue in TTL under advisement from Duquesne is identical to the one they pursued during the Franco-Dutch War of 1672-1678.



19) This expedition is from OTL and Nesmond did command a French privateer in the Indian Ocean, a little later in OTL. Though OTL’s raid was of the same size it was a staggering failure. However unlike OTL, in TTL it cannot resupply at L’Îsle de Bourbon so instead they opt to repair and resupply in Madagascar.



20) Henri Duquesne became a captain in 1674 and played a major role in his father’s later victories in OTL. He definitely had the experience and aptitude to pull something like this off in OTL.



21) Shipwrecks were quite common off Rodrigues and proved to be a major source of resources and wealth for the inhabitants. Given the unfamiliar waters I think this is plausible.



22) The main difference here is that in OTL the French had six ships whereas in TTL they only have 1.



23) A contract to escort the pilgrims was offered to captains in Surat in OTL’s 1695 but no one took it.



24) Avery, Tew, et. al. are all from OTL. Needless to say, Naughty Dog would have to adjust the plot of Uncharted 4 in TTL.



25) So far, the battle is identical to OTL.



26) I’ll admit I’m leaning on the scales a bit to get a more divergent outcome from OTL, but I don’t think my TL has reached an overly gratuitous point yet. If anything I’d likely change the battle at Fort Dauphin so the French get off easier and Duquesne takes fewer prizes in a subsequent version.



27) Most historians now see the fight between the Mughals and Avery’s pirates as being a fairly near run thing. In TTL Duquesne’s arrival is enough to tip the scales decisively against Avery.



28) There’s no solid evidence any of Aurangzeb’s relatives were onboard in OTL, but I’m wagering that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The level of protection afforded to the vessel does seem a bit much if no one of importance was onboard.



29) European powers had sent missions to Abyssinia prior to this in OTL but nothing came of it. Duquesne is certainly not the first one to consider trade with them.



30) Duquesne participated in this group of Huguenot leaders with regard to the Treaty of Rhyswik in OTL as well.



31) In OTL the Dutch were forced to return Pondicherry, which they had just finished expanding, to the French for a sizeable ransom. In TTL they control more French territory and get away with not only the Isle of Bourbon (officially) but a much larger profit than OTL.



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As a side note I'm changing the date of my weekly update to Sundays to better fit my work schedule. Next update will be posted sometime on June 12th.