DCHP-3

filles du roi

< French 'daughters of the king'
DCHP-2 (Sep 2012)

Spelling variants:
filles du Roi, les filles du roi, Filles du Roi,

n. — plural, historical

women sent by the king from 17th-century France to New France for marriage.

Type: 1. Origin — In the late 17th century New France experienced a shortage of women, which threatened the success of the colony. In order to alleviate the problem, King Louis XIV had more than 700 women of marriageable age transported from Paris and northern France to New France to become wives of the settlers. By 1671 the birthrate in the colony had increased enough for the program to be discontinued (see Grady 1998: 97-106).
See also COD-2, which marks the term "Cdn (hist.)".

Quotations

1930
Francois Lenoir of Montreal was hauled into court for his reluctance and placed under promise to pay a fine of a hundred and fifty livres to a charity if he failed to take a wife from the next party of filles du roi.
1951
"For many years Canadian historians have argued as to whether or not the first women sent here by the French were filles de joie from penal institutions," Mr. Lanctot says. "I have spent five months in research in the National Library of France and I have proof that this is not true. The young ladies were filles du Roi, orphans, chaperoned and provided with a dowry for their chance in the New World. [...]"
1978
In 1665, Louis XIV presented the men of New France with a platoon of women called les Filles du Roi and a dozen long-legged horses. The pioneer women proliferated, but the offspring of those first French horses have dwindled from a healthy herd of 300,000 in the 19th century to today’s precarious low of 250—the last of the registered breed known simply as The Canadian.
1988
Besides bringing young women to Canada as brides for settlers (les filles du roi) Bourgeoys recruited French and Canadian women as teachers, setting up boarding schools first in Montreal, and then elsewhere in the colony.
2004
King Louis XIV of France introduced bonuses for large families in Canada 335 years ago today, in 1669. The bonuses were meant to encourage people to stay in the colony and populate it. Les Filles du Roi, single women shipped to North America to be wives for the men there, was also part of the program.
2006
To increase the population of colonial Quebec, intendant Jean Talon orders the colony's bachelors to marry the filles du roi, single woman brought over from France, or lose their fishing, hunting and fur trading rights.
2007
Actors portraying Marguerite Bourgeoys (left) and les filles du roi take part in a re-enactment of the annual harvest festival at Maison St. Gabriel in Point St. Charles yesterday. [...] Les filles du roi were women sent from France to New France to be married to men living in the colony.

References

  • Grady (1998)
  • COD-2