New France The Seigneurial System

n Seigneuries – a large piece of land in New France given to a Seigneur by the King or the Governor.

n Seigneur – a “land lord” who was given a piece of land by the king. n (They were usually wealthy, important citizens e.g. retired military leaders, bishops, merchants. )

n The seigneurs had to split the large piece of land into smaller pieces and gave them to settlers (called Habitants).

n (In addition to giving the land away, the Seigneur had to build a small church or chapel, and a mill where the habitants could grind their wheat into flour.)

n (All the seigneuries and all of the settler’s strips of land had access to the river (at least at first)

n (They all needed water frontage because the rivers were the highways of New France. n There were very few roads, and most of those were of very poor quality.) Seigneurial System, Satellite Image This satellite photo shows clearly the land tenure system of the seigneurial system, by which the maximum number of farmers were given access to the river, the only highway in New France. Successive generations were given land in the second and third rows (courtesy Canada Centre for Remote Sensing).

n (As the population grew and the river front was filled up, a second row of seigneuries was developed with no frontage on the rivers.)

n Habitant – a settler who worked on the land given to him by the Seigneur.

n (The habitants could make a good living on the land given to them. They built their own log homes, cleared and farmed their land, and produced enough to live on. n However, the habitants owed something to the seigneur for letting them live there.)

n The habitants had to pay a rent called the cens et rentes. n These were not overly high and could usually be paid in goods from the farm or with labour.

n (The Habitants also agreed to give 3 days each year to help farm the Seigneurs’ piece of land (usually during planting and harvesting season). Why do you think the Seigneur would have the Habitants work during those times of the year?

n (They also had to agree to give him 1/14 th of the flour they produced at the mill, a certain amount of the wood cut on their land, and some of the fish they caught on their river front.)

n (This was usually enough labour to ensure that the Seigneur lived a relatively comfortable life.)

Habitant’s Farm The entire Seignurie was subdivided (as shown) into the habitant’s farms and the Seigneur’s land (the biggest, best piece). Habitant’s House Seigneur’s House Please draw this in the space Provided on your work sheet.