Denonville, Jacques René de Brisay, marquis de [key], d. 1710, governor of New France (1685–89). To subdue the Iroquois he led a force of 3,000 French and Native American enemies of the Iroquois into the Seneca country in W New York in 1687 and destroyed their villages. Subsequently, he invited a number of Iroquois to a peace conference, and, betraying them, shipped them off to France as galley slaves. This act so infuriated the Iroquois that they descended the St. Lawrence River in force, massacred the inhabitants in Lachine in 1689, and terrorized the country. Denonville was recalled to France in 1689 and then served as a royal tutor.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Canadian History: Biographies