Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval

Jean-François Roberval
Sketch of de La Rocque de Roberval by Jean Clouet, Chateau de Chantilly, France
Born	Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval c. 1500 near Carcassonne, France
Died	1560 Paris, France
Other names	Roberval
Occupation	French nobleman and pirate
Known for	First lieutenant general of French Canada

Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval (c. 1500 – 1560) was a French nobleman and adventurer who, through his friendship with King Francis, became the first Lieutenant General of New France. As a corsair he attacked towns and shipping throughout the Spanish Main, from Cuba to Colombia. He died in Paris as one of the first Huguenot martyrs.

Roberval was born in Carcassonne, southern France. He was also associated with Roberval, Oise, in the north of the country.

As a young nobleman, Roberval joined the French army in the Italian campaigns. He quickly developed a lifelong friendship with the future King Francis, and in addition to soldiering together, they hunted on the Roberval estates. On return from the wars, he led the expensive life of a courtier, and borrowed heavily on his estates. This was a debt that would encourage his adventurism throughout his life.

On 15 January 1541, Francis I of France gave Roberval a commission to settle the province of Canada and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith". The King provided some funds for this expedition and three ships, the Valentine, the Anne and the Lechefraye. Jacques Cartier, to whom the King had first given this commission on the basis of his previous two voyages to Canada, was hired as Chief Navigator. Roberval was not ready to go, but gave permission for Cartier to proceed to New France. Cartier did so in May 1541, and, with 500 colonists, built a fortified colony, Charlesbourg-Royal, near the Iroquois settlement of Stadacona.

In order to raise additional funds, Roberval went pirating with Bidoux de Lartigue, taking several English merchant ships. Despite his pleasure at tweaking the English, Francis I diplomatically kept the peace and rebuked de Roberval.

Roberval with his three ships and 200 colonists set sail in April 1542, arriving June 8. Cartier, impatient to show the king the "gold and diamonds" he had found (which were nothing more than quartz and some iron pyrites), was already on his way home from Charlesbourg-Royal. The ships met off the coast of Newfoundland and, despite Roberval's wishes, Cartier promptly left for France with his military detachment and some discouraged colonists. Having some good maps from Cartier, the Roberval team sailed easily up the Saint Lawrence River, to Charlesbourg-Royal, which Roberval renamed France-Roy. En route, he abandoned his near-relative Marguerite de La Rocque with her lover on the "Isle of Demons", off the coast of Quebec, as punishment for their affair. The young man, their servant and baby died, but Marguerite survived to be rescued by fishermen and returned to France. The settlement lasted less than two years due to the severe winter, scurvy, and attacks by the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, who had been displeased with the French in the recent past (since or before 1534), not least because of Cartier's treatment of the chief Donnacona. In 1543 a relief expedition arrived from France and Roberval decided to repatriate his little colony to France.