Civilization.ca - VMNF - The Seigneurs

The Censitaires' Complaints

Seigneurs often met with resistance from their censitaires. The latter would have no truck with the notion of subordination that the term censitaire implied in France, and they even refused to be called by it. They were very soon able to insist that it be replaced by the word habitant in their concession deeds and in most of the legal documents that had to be notarized. Habitant was more consistent with the scope of the tasks, initiatives and responsibilities that befell them. The censitaires demanded to be placed on an equal footing with other men in their relations with their seigneurs and with the state. As historian Jean-Pierre Wallot asks, "How could the censitaires be kept in the condition of subordination which was their lot in France, or even in the improved but still inferior status that was allotted to them now?"

As early as 1646 there was an instance of this resistance to subordination at the Beauport seigneury. Robert Giffard had recruited two men of his own class and social background in Perche. Their names were Zacharie Cloutier and Jean Guyon [Dion]. Neither would agree to live under the authority of a 'master.' In 1637 they both obtained possession of an arrière-fief : Cloutier's was called La Clouterie, and Guyon's was called Le Buisson.

The settler's work

Nine years went by and they had yet to perform for Giffard the ceremony of foi et hommage (fealty and homage) to which he was entitled. They had not staked out the boundaries of their lands nor drawn up the aveu et dénombrement (description and enumeration) for them. In addition they had failed to pay the cens et rentes (annual taxes) which they owed to Giffard, despite the fact that it was he who had recruited them.

At last, the nineteenth of July, 1646, the governor of the colony took action to force Cloutier and Guyon to comply with their contractual obligations. On the thirtieth of the same month the two of them were summoned to put their affairs in order. Here is the explanation they gave to the registrar, Guillaume Tronquet:

[They] replied that they were under no obligation whatsoever to give him a declaration of the amount of their landholdings and that in the most recent judgment handed down by his excellency the governor there was no mention that they owed any annual tax nor that they were obliged to make a declaration of title of the said lands, wherefore they will take no heed of the above request unless his excellency the governor ordains otherwise, and that nothing is owed to the seigneur of Beauport from their salaries and payment for their services, his lands have already been paid for from their salaries...

There were cases beyond number of censitaire refractoriness, and they filled the time of the courts for the duration of the seigneurial system, both during the French regime and under the English.

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