On September 6, 1704, Guillaume Renaud achieved a level of success and prestige that could not have been predicted. Having arrived in Canada some 40 years prior with nothing, he had worked his way up the social ladder to the point where the community honored his character and abilities as he was installed as procureur fiscal for the seigneurie of Notre-Dame-des-Anges at the age of 59. He received his commission from Pierre Haimard, judge of the provost court, based upon the recommendation of the Jesuit Father Martin Bouvart, rector of the College of Quebec and superior general of the mission in New France.
The Jesuits, as lords of the seigneurie of Notre-Dame-des-Anges, had the right and responsibility of dispensing justice in the territory along the Saint-Charles river. Appointing officers such as Pierre Haimard and Guillaume was the means to fulfill this objective. As J. E. Roy explains, “It was the lord justice who appointed the officers of his tribunals by letter-missives signed by his hand and sealed with his arms. In the seigneurie of the Jesuits, the superior and the procurator of the college of Quebec signed the commissions.” Bouvart’s letter has been preserved and in it he indicated that there was no one more qualified to assume the role of procureur fiscal than Guillaume citing the confidence of the community in Guillaume as well as Guillaume’s experience and fidelity.
The record of his appointment by the Jesuits is preserved in the archives under the title “Installation de maître Guillaume Renaud, habitant de la seigneurie Notre-Dame-des-Anges, en l'office de procureur fiscal en ladite seigneurie”. The document notes that the position entitled Guillaume to all of the honors, prerogatives, liberties, fruits, profits, emoluments, and appurtenances which the office brought with it. This is a different understanding of a government office holder than our current view which, at least rhetorically, disdains personal gain and enrichment through their government position. However, for Guillaume, this appointment was the culmination of a lifetime of work providing for his family’s material needs and building a solid family name and reputation.
In addition to the material and social benefits, the appointment brought important responsibilities and Guillaume appears to have exercised them diligently as he played an active role in the administration of seigneurial justice and in the daily life of the residents of Notre-Dame-des-Anges.
As procureur fiscal, Guillaume arguably served as the point person in the mediation of community relations. The procureur fiscal played a leadership role in a wide range of issues and disputes including cases involving the welfare of children and orphans which made him responsible for the resolution of inheritance cases including “the choice of guardian, the closing of inventories of property after death and the division of property.” While seemingly mundane, according to James Dickinson these responsibilities held great significance.
“In a society where the family formed the basis of the legal system, the responsibility to ensure that the relationship between members was in accordance with custom was very heavy. Seigniorial justice was thus a vital part of the judicial administration of New France, ensuring the organization of relations between individuals and the maintenance of social order.”
Guillaume was also responsible for enforcing regulations issued from royal courts and officials in Quebec. Offenders had to be brought to justice and it was his responsibility to do so. This is all in addition to the usual disputes that arose over boundary lines, grazing cattle, hunting and fishing rights. The procureur fiscal was fully empowered to take the initiative to investigate matters especially in criminal matters in which, according to Roy, his actions were “rigorous.” The judge could not rule until the procureur fiscal issued his conclusions. “Once the procureur fiscal gave the summary of the case as he understood it, the role of the judge began. The procureur fiscal was to pronounce his indictment standing and, after having made his conclusions, he withdrew from the court room, leaving the judge to deliberate and pronounce his judgment out of his presence.”
The justice system in Canada followed the Coûtume de Paris which provided for three categories of justice (e.g. high, medium and low). Not all seigneurs were granted the right to exercise all three categories. The authority to conduct high justice allowed seigneurial courts to conduct investigations and dispense justice in criminal cases. As procureur fiscal, Guillaume played a central role in defending the rights of his seigneurial lords to exercise their authority. In the case of Jean Normand’s death, the Jesuits trust in Guillaume seems justified.
When Charles Normand discovered his father Jean’s corpse in his father’s fields under “suspicious circumstances” on July 24, 1706, Charles contacted the authorities to determine the cause of his father’s death. The local authorities suggested Jean had died from a fall from a tree or he had been gorged by a bull due to three “unusual and significant wounds”. Charles could not accept these conclusions and suspected foul play. At his father’s funeral the next day “he approached the king’s representative” pleading for a royal investigation. When his request was granted, a jurisdictional dispute arose between the seigneurie of Notre-Dame-des-Anges and the office of the Royal Provost in Quebec who ordered the body exhumed for additional examination of the corpse and the clothes the deceased was wearing at the time of his death. Guillaume acted quickly to counter the actions of Charles and the Quebec authorities.
On July 30, Guillaume filed an application to the lords of the Sovereign Council, the highest judicial authority in the colony, asserting the rights of his lords to jurisdiction of the matter. That same day, René-Louis Chartier de Lotbinière, who had been appointed by King Louis XIV as Chief Counsellor of the Sovereign Council in 1703, (4th highest office in the colony behind the governor, intendant, and bishop) indicated that Guillaume’s case and that of the Provost of Quebec would be heard the following Monday on August 2.
The Sovereign Council sided with Guillaume’s argument that since the corpse had been found in the jurisdiction of Notre-Dame-des-Anges, then the right to dispense justice (and receive any fees and payments related to it) belonged to the seigneurie rather than the Provost of Quebec. The Council subsequently declared the activities of the Provost null and void and that the evidence (clothing of the deceased) provided to the Provost be brought to the jurisdiction of Notre-Dame-des-Anges. The Sovereign Council also issued fines of three livres each to Charles and Joseph Normand for their attempt to bypass the jurisdiction of the seigneurial court.
The following Friday Guillaume filed a Requête with the Judge to continue his investigation and issue summons to witnesses to testify. On August 11 he deposed Marie Pivin (wife of Jacques Glinel age 45), Pierre Pivin (age 24), and Blaise Dumareil dit Lafranchise (age 47). Judge Haimard also provided Guillaume with the testimony of Jacques Glinel, the ferryman for the seigneurie on the St. Charles River. Glinel had appeared before Haimard and gave the judge the breeches and stockings worn by Jean Normand that he had received from Joseph Normand.
The 12th of August was a busy day for Guillaume. He issued a demand that Joseph Normand and Jean’s widow be summoned to the court office in Notre-Dame-des-Anges to deliver the shirt of the deceased which had been ordered by the Sovereign Council. He also submitted a request for the publication of a monitoire, a tactic that had its origins in the medieval ecclesiastical courts in which all members of the parish were summoned to come forth under threat of excommunication to say what they knew of whatever issue was at hand. In this case, Guillaume sought to compel the residents of Notre-Dame-des-Anges to provide testimony regarding the death of Jean Normand.
Apparently, no one came forth as the record indicates Guillaume sought to close the case on November 22 1706 by issuing a note to Judge Pierre Haimard that since no new facts had resulted from the issuance of the monitoire, the heirs of the deceased Normand should be required to pay the costs to reimburse the witnesses and the procureur fiscal should be given permission to continue any proceedings.
The Normand family was less than fully cooperative as Pierre Haimard issued a judgment dated 24 March 1707 ordering Joseph Normand and the co-heirs of the late Jean Normand to pay Guillaume Renaud 19 livres and 4 French deniers (in Canada the equivalent was 25 livres and 7 sols) for the trial costs. Haimard further postponed any judgment on the homicide until there was some evidence. This suggests that the Judge decided that there was no evidence to support suspicions of foul play by Charles.
The case was finally closed a year later on November 21, 1707 with Guillaume’s issuance of the Memoire des Frais detailing the costs incurred and the declaration by the bailiff, Auvray, that he provided the summons to Joseph Normand that the heirs should appear at the court to pay the costs of the trial.
This was not the only dispute Guillaume was involved in with the Normand brothers who at one point took their father Jean to court regarding the succession of their mother, Anne Lelaboureur. The documentation for this case spanned from 1700-1712 and is 162 pages. Once again, the Sovereign Council ordered the brothers Normand to pay Guillaume Renaud, on this occasion the sum of 35 livres.
Though eventful, Guillaume’s time as procureur fiscal was brief due to his death in 1709. Guillaume was just the second of six men known to serve in the role for Notre-Dame-des-Anges. Guillaume’s appointment might not have happened had he lived a few decades later as the colony’s growing population and development made it more attractive for men of means to come to New France and as the domestic hierarchies stabilized. The ability to arrive under humble origins as Guillaume did and work your way up the socio-economic ladder was disappearing and would continue to narrow with the loss of Quebec to Great Britain in the 1760s. However, Guillaume’s appointment and term as procureur fiscal does raise some questions as to when he obtained his literacy skills and if he had received some schooling in France or if he acquired all of his skills in Canada.
Nevertheless, his appointment completed his transformation from the son of a French peasant to one of the leading members of his community whose daily activities helped transform Canada from a small trading outpost in the wilderness into a vital part of the French Empire with expanding ties to the European world. For Guillaume, who was near 60 when he assumed the position, it provided enough remuneration to allow him to give up the life of farming which was hard enough work for a young man let alone an aging one.
He seems to have been successful in his effort as Dickinson notes that Guillaume “endowed his wife with a dower of 200 livres. He was also able to benefit his sons for £ 200 each when they got married. In the inventory drawn up on the death of his wife, he had 1,141 pounds of property and a land of 60 acres in Saint-Bernard which was not estimated. This constitutes a considerable fortune for a man of modest origin.”
At the time of Guillaume’s death in 1709, the colony of La Nouvelle France had a growing population and increasing prosperity. The vision of King Louis XIV for a strong French presence in North America seemed to be coming to fruition. Guillaume had supported the King’s effort as a domestic servant, a soldier, a farmer, a parish leader as church warden and finally as a member of the local government. He had laid the groundwork for the success of the colony. It would be up to his heirs to see if they could build upon his work and carry it through the 18th Century.
For additional information on Guillaume Renaud’s time as procureur fiscal and the sources used for this post see https://www.renaudfamilyhistory.com/resources.