Hi, Christina here from Maple History. Today's episode is a little different. In all the
other episodes on the main feed, I have a guest with me, but for this one it's just me.
I'm pulling it from the bonus feed on the Patreon/substack because it is a fun little
episode that highlights a woman who has hardly ever mentioned in most books that talk about
Champlain and his efforts to build a colony in Canada. There will be plenty more episodes
about women in the coming months, but for now, here is a story of Helene Boule, the child
bride of Samuel de Champlain.
Hi and welcome to a bonus episode of the Maple History Podcast. Today we are talking
about a little-known figure in Canadian history, the child bride of Samuel de Champlain, Helene
Boule. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say she was a child bride, she was 12 years old
when her family married her off to Champlain when he was around 40 years old. Historians
aren't supposed to be judgy about things that happened in the past, but for this podcast,
screw that, as a former 12-year-old girl myself and a mother of a young daughter. My
god, that's disgusting.
Little Helene Boule was the daughter of Nicholas Boule, a Catholic convert who worked at a Bourgeoisie
finance job at court and was called Monsieur La Contreure Boule. I'm not totally sure
why that role was, but I suspect it was something like a VP of finance for the court. Nicholas
and his wife Marguerite had four children, possibly more, but they may not all have survived
childhood. Helene's older sister Margaret had already been married off to the secretary
of a prince by the time they were looking to marry off Little Helene, so it was clear
that the family was always on the hunt for advantageous marriages. Champlain's relationship
to the Boule family would have begun when Champlain and Nicholas Boule had served together
in Brittany during the French Wars of Religion. Helene's younger brother, Eustache, is often
confused with someone who had been with Champlain in Acadia, but that is not possible since Little
Eustache would have only been about six years old when Champlain was there, so Eustache is
not the connection between the Boule family and Champlain. It was decided by her parents
in 1610 that the bright and charming little Helene would be married. This was an opportunity
for the Boule family to solidify their relationship with people like Pierre de Gua de Monts, who
was a strong supporter of Champlain's mission to make New France a profitable colony. The
king had been assassinated that year, so things were very much in flux at court. Henry
IV had been a strong supporter of Champlain, so it was important for him to have someone
on the inside at the new court. Nicholas Boule's position as a financial officer at the palace
made him a helpful friend to have, along with Jumeon, who may have been the matchmaker between
the Boule family and Champlain. Feisty Little Helene was not happy at all about any of
this, and if you have a feisty young daughter or were a feisty young daughter at some point
in your life, you can imagine Helene's reaction being told that she was to marry one of her
dad's old war buddies. Nicholas Boule and Champlain got the dowry arrangements made,
and the agreement that Champlain would pay a substantial annual allowance for Helene's
maintenance, particularly when he was away from France. The other part of the contract
was that Helene would continue to live with her parents for two years before moving to
Champlain's house when she would be 14. That's not that much better in my books, though.
Helene was likely relieved when Champlain went back to Quebec, and she stayed at home
for the next two years with her parents. I suspect that she was none too happy with
them for selling her off to an old man, but for the time being, she had a reprieve from
the reality of being a tween bride. The reprieve was over when Champlain returned in August
1613, and her parents forced her to fulfill the marriage contract and begin living with
him. It must have gone spectacularly poorly, because somehow, in January 1614, the teenage
Helene escaped her husband's home and was in the wind for at least a week. Her parents
were supremely pissed off by her actions and disinherited her, which is why we have a record
of her running away. Notaries were called to write up the documents to disinherit, and
they gave testimony for the reasons they were disinheriting her. Mainly, because she had
shamed the family with her scandalous behavior. It is great to have these records that give
us the barest glimpse of this incident, but I am much more interested in the story that
is lost to history. I want to know who helped Helene get away. Who did she stay with? What
were the reasons that she left? How was she found? What was her reaction to being dragged
back home? This void in the historical record of a remarkable story is so frustrating, and
it has the makings of an excellent creative writing project. Helene was a wealthy Parisian
teenager in the 17th century, so I doubt she escaped to live on the streets for a week.
She must have somehow gotten away to a friend, or perhaps there was a young man that helped
her. Perhaps it was a relative who didn't like how her parents had treated her. Maybe
one of you out there will grasp this wisp of a story and give the world your version of
what you think happened. Somehow or other, Helene was tracked down and returned to her
husband's household. I hope she came back raging. We can't know what really happened,
but what we do know is that it was a pretty chilly marriage a lot of the time. Having
Champlain go off back to New France for years at a time may have been Helene's preference
because at least he would leave her in peace. It seems that around this time she had fully
converted to Catholicism and became very devout. She wanted to become a nun, which was a desire
that could have come from her devotion to her new faith, but joining a convent was a
way for an intelligent woman to be freed from the burdens of marriage. She and Champlain
did not have any children, so perhaps she was able to use her faith as a shield and
keep Champlain out of her bed. Champlain knew of her desire to join a convent, but as her
husband he was able to prevent her from fulfilling that wish. Helene may have been living a lonely
life in Paris. In 1617, the two of them, Champlain and Helene, had signed a contract
to have a young woman named Isabel Terrier become her maid and companion. So maybe things were
going well between them during this time, because she did go with them to New France
in 1620. There must have been quite the culture shock for a posh Parisian 22-year-old when
she arrived in the colony. She was very well received by people there. They were saying
that she brought sunshine to the small colony. She stayed in New France for four years and
spent a great deal of time with the indigenous people that came to the Quebec settlement.
She learned the languages well enough to be able to teach catechism, and she was a source
of fascination for the children and women in that community, partly because of the small
mirror she wore on her belt that delighted the people. She was still quite lonely in
Quebec though. Champlain was off and off in the wilderness and going to various indigenous
villages pretty far from Quebec. In order to continue building the relationships between
the French and the various indigenous nations, this left Helene isolated. There were other
French women in Quebec by this time, but Helene did not seek to make friends with them.
Perhaps it was a class distinction that held her off from developing a relationship with
them, but whatever it was, she was lonely and returned to France in 1624, never to return.
Helene became a widow when Champlain died on Christmas Day in 1635 in Quebec. She had
been following the goings on in New France and managing Champlain's business matters
in France, while he remained in Quebec for many years. When Champlain died, a cousin
of his contested the will, so Helene had to manage that, but they came to a settlement.
She did eventually renounce her possessions and fulfill her desire to join a convent in
1645. She had been continuing to grow in her Catholic faith for many years and had even
helped her younger brother Eustache convert from Calvinism. She also financially supported
Eustache when he became a priest after a brief stint with his brother-in-law in New
France. Despite her devotion to Catholicism, the convent life didn't suit her well. It
would have been a difficult transition from a fairly independent married woman whose husband
left her alone for the vast majority of her marriage to someone duty-bound to follow the
rigid rules and relentless routine of a convent. She left before she took her vows and founded
her own monastery. She made this a welcoming place and was well remembered when she passed
away at the age of 56 in 1654. Helene would have seen and heard much of the
political and social drama that drove the stories of how New France was developing.
She managed Champlain's financial affairs in France and had even sued one of the merchants
involved with the Quebec settlement, Guillaume de Cen for money he owed Champlain. She was
well aware of the major religious conflicts that were still troubling France, even though
the wars of religion were over by the time she was born. And of course, she knew that
she herself was a pawn to the men around her as a short-up support among the various factions
that were trying to grasp hold of control of the fledgling colony in North America.
Even though she was living through all this, we know so little about her story. What a
wonderful thing it would have been to have a collection of her letters or a journal of
sorts, where she shared her thoughts on the world around her. Sadly, we are left with
snippets of her life through court documents and other notes people wrote about her, usually
related to her relationship to Champlain. Champlain said that she was the only woman
he ever truly loved, so she must have been quite remarkable. If only we could have learned
more about her.
Thanks for your support of the Maple History Patreon, and next episode will probably be
on some of the other people in the New France Quebec settlement. I think we need to know
a little bit more about the colonists now. Thanks!
