Seigneurial System

In France, for many centuries, land had been held under the Feudal System.

This system began in Europe in very troubled times, the peasants needed the protection of a lord or baron and were willing to obtain this protection by tilling the land, giving the lord part of the crop, making roads and bridges, end even fighting if the lord required. In fact, it was the king who distributed land to his lord. Naturally, in New France, when the French undertook to govern the country, they followed much the same system.

They called it as the Seigniorial Tenure. Under the system of Seigniorial Tenure all the land was regarded as belonging to the king or the Governor of New France who represented the king in Canada. The Governor gave land in large blocks, called seigneuries, to men who would promise to obtain settlers and look after them. These men were called seigneurs.

They didn’t have to pay to obtain land, but if they did not find settlers, and in they didn’t work on the land, they lost their possessions. Instead the settler or tenant agreed to cultivate his farm and to do pay the seigneur a very small tax in money, and also give him some the produce of the farm. If the farm was sold to another tenant, the settler had to pay the seigneur a part of the price. All the grain had to be ground at the seigneur’s mill, who received a certain portion of it in payment. Besides, for at least three days a year the tenant was required to work for nothing on the roads, and he might be called at any time to repair bridges. If the tenant went fishing, he had to give the seigneur one fish of every eleven fish he caught.

A good seigneur treated tenants much a father. Once a year, on St. Martin’s Day, November /11th, there would be a grand gathering at the seigneur’s home. All the tenants, dressed in their best clothes, would file into the seigneurs’s large parlour to present to him their rents. In France, for many centuries, land had been held under the Feudal System. This system began in Europe in very troubled times, the peasants needed the protection of a lord or baron and were willing to obtain this protection by tilling the land, giving the lord part of the crop, making roads and bridges, end even fighting if the lord required. In fact, it was the king who distributed land to his lord.

Naturally, in New France, when the French undertook to govern the country, they followed much the same system. They called it as the Seigniorial Tenure. Under the system of Seigniorial Tenure all the land was regarded as belonging to the king or the Governor of New France who represented the king in Canada.

The Governor gave land in large blocks, called seigneuries, to men who would promise to obtain settlers and look after them. These men were called seigneurs. They didn’t have to pay to obtain land, but if they did not find settlers, and in they didn’t work on the land, they lost their possessions. Instead the settler or tenant agreed to cultivate his farm and to do pay the seigneur a very small tax in money, and also give him some the produce of the farm.

If the farm was sold to another tenant, the settler had to pay the seigneur a part of the price. All the grain had to be ground at the seigneur’s mill, who received a certain portion of it in payment. Besides, for at least three days a year the tenant was required to work for nothing on the roads, and he might be called at any time to repair bridges. If the tenant went fishing, he had to give the seigneur one fish of every eleven fish he caught.