Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour was a French colonist and fur trader who served as Governor of Acadia from 1631–1642 and again from 1653–1657. Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour was born in France in 1593 to Huguenot Claude de Saint-Étienne de la Tour and his wife Marie Amador de Salazar, a descendant of Georges de La Trémoille, the Grand Chamberlain of France to King Charles VII of France. In 1610, at the age of 17, Charles arrived at Port-Royal in Acadia with his father in an expedition, led by Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt, one of the original settlers in 1604 at Saint Croix Island, Maine before they moved in 1605 to their permanent settlement at Port-Royal; the habitation had been abandoned in 1607 by Biencourt de Poutrincourt and others due to financial troubles. The 1610 expedition included Poutrincourt's 19-year-old son Charles de Biencourt de Saint-Just and a Catholic priest who set about himself the task of baptizing the local Mi'kmaq people, including their chief Membertou.
In 1613, the habitation at Port-Royal was attacked by Virginia colonists led by Captain Samuel Argall. Several settlers were killed, others taken prisoner and the fort and goods were destroyed. Poutrincourt who had wintered in France to gather supplies returned to Port Royal the next spring, he was forced to return to France with the surviving settlers, left his interest in the colony to his son. The young Biencourt and Charles de la Tour remained, living amongst the Mi'kmaq and engaging in the fur industry. Charles de Biencourt died in 1623 and left La Tour as his heir, though this was not recognized by the French crown. La Tour took charge of the colony and migrated from Port-Royal to establish himself at Cap de Sable, building a strong post called Fort Lomeron in honor of David Lomeron, his agent in France. Soon after, La Tour started a family. With the onset of the Anglo-French War of 1627–29, Charles de La Tour knew he had to strengthen defenses if Acadia were to remain French, he wrote letters to King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, that were presented by his father Claude, requesting supplies and reinforcements, as well as a proper commission authorizing him to defend the area.
Reinforcements were sent in the spring of 1628, however the ships were captured by the English under the command of Sir David Kirke, the crew, including La Tour's father, were sent as prisoners to England. With the fall of Quebec to the English in 1629, the sole French stronghold left in New France was La Tour's Fort Lomeron. After his capture, Claude de La Tour made an alliance with the English and promised to win over his son, in exchange for being made a baronet of Nova Scotia and a large grant of land; when Charles was pressed by his father to surrender the fort he refused, stating that "he would rather die than betray his King." Upon La Tour's refusal, Claude de La Tour led English troops in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Lomeron. In 1631, La Tour was formally granted a commission by King Louis XIII naming him lieutenant-general and governor of Acadia, he relocated to the mouth of the Saint John River in present-day Saint John, New Brunswick where he built a new fort called Fort Sainte-Marie.
The setting was described by historian M. A. MacDonald: The following year with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, all the lands, seized by the British were returned to France including Acadia. In addition, Cardinal Richelieu sent his cousin, Isaac de Razilly, as the new lieutenant-general of all New France and governor of Acadia, conflicting with La Tour's commission from the prior year. La Tour and Razilly agreed to divide control of Acadia, the latter controlling La Hève, Port-Royal, the Saint Croix area, while La Tour was given authority over Cap de Sable and the Saint John River, headquartered at Fort Sainte-Marie. Razilly unexpectedly died in 1635, the amicable relationship the two leaders shared did not extend to his successor, Charles de Menou d'Aulnay. By 1639, Charles de La Tour's wife had died leaving three daughters, realizing he needed a male heir to bolster his claim, set about contracting for a new wife, his sights fell on Huguenot Françoise-Marie Jacquelin and a marriage contract was signed on December 31, 1639.
The contract authorized Jacquelin kept all anything that she might inherit. She was entitled to a half share of anything that she or her husband acquired during their marriage, as a widow she would be entitled to half her husband's estate, with an inheritance fund and she would be the guardian of any children. Upon arriving in Port-Royal in June 1640, the couple moved to Fort Sainte-Marie. In July 1640, Charles de La Tour and Charles de Menou d'Aulnay began a series of violent and costly confrontations that would last for the next five years. Hostilities continued to escalate and by 1642 d'Aulnay managed to get La Tour charged with treason and disrespect to the French Crown. Knowing he would be imprisoned if he were to return to France, La Tour sent his wife, Françoise-Marie, to advocate on his behalf which she did skillfully, she was allowed to return to Acadia with a warship to help her husband defend himself. In the Spring of 1643, La Tour led a party of English mercenaries against the Acadian colony at Port-Royal.
His 270 Puritan and Huguenot troops killed three, burned a mill, slaughtered cattle and seized 18,000 livres of furs. In 1645, while La Tour was in Boston seeking reinforcements and drumming up more support for his cause, d'Aulnay retaliated by seizing all of La Tour's possessions and outposts Fort La Tour at Saint John and Cap de Sable. In the Battle of Saint John, La Tour's wife defended the fort for three days. On the fourth day des
Isaac de Razilly
Isaac de Razilly was a member of the French nobility appointed a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at the age of 18, he was born at the Château d'Oiseaumelle in the Province of France. A member of the French navy, he served for many years during which he played an important role in the French colony of Acadia in New France, he was the son of François de Razilly and Catherine de Villiers, brother of Claude de Razilly and François de Razilly. Commandeur de la Commanderie de l'Ile Bouchard Isaac de Razily explored the coast of Brazil in 1612-15 near the island of Marajó, in the attempts to establish France Equinoxiale, with his brother and leader of the expedition François de Razilly. Issac de Razilly sailed to Morocco in 1619, under the orders of Louis XIII, considering a colonial venture in Morocco, he was able to reconnoiter the coast as far as Mogador. In 1624, he was put in charge of an embassy to the pirate harbour of Salé in Morocco, in order to solve the affair of the library of Mulay Zidan.
He was imprisoned and put under chains before being released, although he had to leave many Christian captives behind. The mission of Razilly was accompanied by the first Capuchins to establish themselves in Morocco. Razilly took part in the Blockade of La Rochelle during the suppression of the Huguenot rebellion, where he commanded the blockade fleet, lost an eye there. Soon after, in 1626, he wrote pamphlets advocating commercial expansion overseas, either in Africa, Asia or America, such as his Articles pour persuader un chacun de risquer sur mer et trouver fonds pour la navigation, he submitted the memorandum to Cardinal Richelieu. As Richelieu and Père Joseph were attempting to establish a colonial policy, Razilly suggested them to occupy Mogador in Morocco in 1626; the objective was to create a base against the Sultan of Marrakesh, asphyxiate the harbour of Safi. He departed for Salé on 20 July 1629 with a fleet composed of the ships Licorne, Saint-Louis, Catherine, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Jean.
He bombarded the city the Salé and destroyed 3 corsair ships, sent the Griffon under [Treilleboi to Mogador. The men of Razilly saw the fortress of Castelo Real in Mogador, landed 100 men with wood and supplies on Mogador island, with the agreement of Richelieu. After a few days however, the Griffon reimbarked the colonists, departed to rejoin the fleet in Salé. In 1630, Razilly was able to negotiate the purchase of French slaves from the Moroccans, he visited Marocco again in 1631, participated to the negotiation of the Franco-Moroccan Treaty of 1632, with the help of descendants of Samuel Pallache. In 1632, Razilly became involved, at the request of Cardinal Richelieu, in the colonization of Acadia. Razilly was to develop it into a French colony. To deal with a shortage of funds, a company was set up by Razilly and some of his friends which became known as the Razilly-Condonnier company. Together with the Compagnie de la Nouvelle France, an expedition was outfitted to sail to Acadia; the King gave Razilly the official title of lieutenant-general for New France.
One of his able lieutenants in Acadia was Charles de Menou d'Aulnay, instrumental in maintaining the shipping to and from France. As well, he took on military tasks such as ordering the taking of control of Fort Pentagouet at Majabigwaduce on the Penobscot Bay, given to France in an earlier Treaty, to inform the English they were to vacate all lands North of Pemaquid; this was accomplished shortly before Razilly's death and resulted in all the French interests in Acadia being restored. Razilly died at LaHave, Nova Scotia in December 1635
Saint-Martin-de-Ré
Saint-Martin-de-Ré is a commune in the western French department of Charente-Maritime. It is one of the ten communes located on the Île de Ré. Saint-Martin-de-Ré has extensive fortifications, reflecting the strategic importance of the Île de Ré. During the Huguenot Rebellions of the 1620s, Cardinal Richelieu ordered that the island be fortified as a counterweight to the Protestant nearby city of La Rochelle on the French mainland; this included a citadel at Saint Martin. After La Rochelle had been subdued, Saint-Martin's fortification were demolished to remove its potential threat to royal power. In 1627, an English invasion force under the command of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham attacked the island in order to relieve the Siege of La Rochelle. After three months of combats in the Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré against the French under Marshal Toiras, the Duke was forced to withdraw in defeat. In the 1670s, the French engineer, Vauban was commissioned to review and overhaul the island's defences and, as a result, Saint Martin was enclosed by extensive and modern walls and embankments.
This was done in three major phases ending in 1702 and the end result was an enclosed town capable of housing the island's population for a long siege. Between 1873 and 1938, the prison in Saint-Martin de Re kept prisoners before they were shipped to the penal colonies in French Guiana or New Caledonia. See penal colonies on Re Island; the population of the commune has remained steady since 1800, although it was larger during the French Revolution and dipped below 2000 from the 1920s to the 1940s. The commune is the third-largest town on the island. With La Flotte, it forms a small urban area with 5531 inhabitants in 2008, which places it as the 11th-largest metropolitan area in Charente-Maritime and the largest on the island. Nicolas Baudin and explorer Ernest Cognac Museum Communes of the Charente-Maritime department INSEE Saint-Martin-de-Ré Tourism Office Île de Ré and Ernest Cognacq museums Vauban fortifications Fortified-places.com
Claude Vignon
Claude Vignon was a French painter and illustrator who worked in a wide range of genres. During a period of study in Italy, he became exposed to many new artistic currents, in particular through the works of Caravaggio and his followers, Guido Reni and Annibale Caracci. A prolific artist, his work has remained enigmatic and hard to define within a single term or style, his mature works are vibrantly coloured, splendidly lit and extremely expressive. Vignon worked in a fluent technique, resulting in an electric brushwork, he excelled in the rendering of textiles and precious stones. Claude Vignon was born into a wealthy family in Tours, he received his initial artistic training in Paris from the Mannerist painter Jacob Bunel, a representative of the Second School of Fontainebleau. Although Vignon is not documented in Rome until 1618–19 he was based there throughout that decade, he travelled to Rome as early as 1609–10. Here he formed part of the French community of painters, including Simon Vouet and Valentin de Boulogne, both prominent members of the Caravaggisti, artists working in a style influenced by Caravaggio.
Vignon returned to his home country in 1616 where he became member of the Painter's Guild of Paris in that year. He travelled a second time to Rome the next year, he visited Spain, where he was attacked by 8 bandits in Barcelona, one of whom wounded him in the face. Back in France in 1623, he married in 1624 Charlotte de Leu, the daughter of the engraver Thomas de Leu. Following his return to Paris he became one of the city's most respected and successful artists, his patrons included Cardinal Richelieu. He worked for ecclesiastical patrons as well as for private clients, he became a business associate of art dealer François Langlois. While the great decorative schemes of the day went to other painters such as Simon Vouet who had returned to France in 1627 and Philippe de Champaigne, Vignon continued to enjoy wide patronage and was sought after by the circle of the renowned literary salon of the Hôtel de Rambouillet. Anne, Duchesse de Longueville commissioned him to decorate the gallery at the Château du Thorigny between 1651 and 1653.
After the death of his first wife he married Geneviève Ballard in 1644. He is said to have fathered 35 children; some of his children became painters in their father's workshop: amongst them his sons Claude the Younger and Philippe and his daughter Charlotte. Vignon was admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1651, his last dated work is dated 1656. Vignon painted genre scenes and religious works. Claude Vignon was a versatile artist who assimilated elements of various styles from Mannerism to Venetian and German art. Important influences on his style were the works of the Venetian Caravaggesque painter Domenico Fetti, the German Adam Elsheimer, the Dutchmen Jacob Pynas, Pieter Lastman and many others, his style owes most to the eccentric style of Leonaert Bramer except that Vignon worked on a much grander scale than found in Bramer's paintings. Another important influence was Caravaggio's most direct follower Bartolomeo Manfredi; the multiple influences have made his work enigmatic, contradictory and hard to define within a single term or style.
Some art historians regard him as a precursor of Rembrandt. He started out in a Mannerist style and was influenced by Carravagism during his stay in Rome. In Rome he is known to have created a number of single figure paintings depicting male saints reading or writing. An example is the St. John the Evangelist; this composition is Caravaggesque in its representation of the light source, which shines down onto St. John, thus illuminating his face and hands and casting the folds of his cloak into dynamic patterns of light and shadow. By the 1620s his work had started to reflect elements of both Venetian colouring and Jacques Bellange's Northern Mannerist conventions. In the mid 1620s he vacillated between various styles, in some paintings showing a more Caravaggist bent such as in the Christ among the doctors or the Vision of St Jerome. Other works are more reserved, while some have a clear Baroque vigor such as the Triumph of St Ignatius. A pivotal work from this period is the Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, which displays his taste for the exotic and for theatrical arrangements and uses a thick, encrusted impasto, shot through with golden highlights and an unusual combination of colours.
In the period 1630-1640 when the artist worked in Paris his palette became richer. He used rich tonalities, such as pink, blue and bursts of red colour on soft gray background in his compositions, he relied on an original technique by executing his work in two successive stages: first he made a quick outline of the composition and he painstakingly rendered the fabrics and jewelry, giving the material greater consistency and relief. It was by relying on this technique that Vignon was able to establish a great reputation for the speed at which he painted, it allowed him to produce the great number of paintings for which he is known. The paintings of this period still hold reminiscences of Vignon's Caravaggesque period but are overlaid with a new decorative sensuality, which reflects a new sensibility emerging in Paris at that time. An example of a work of this period is the Banquet Scene, his works of the period 1640–50 ar
Battle of Getaria
The Battle of Getaria or the Battle of Guetaria are the names given to a battle in the Franco-Spanish War, which took place on 22 August 1638 at Getaria, northern Spain, when a French fleet under de Sourdis attacked and destroyed a Spanish fleet under Lope de Hoces. In June 1638 a large French army crossed the Pyrenees to besiege Fuenterrabía; the French army was accompanied by a fleet between 27 and 44 French warships under Henri de Sourdis, who had to stop any help reaching Fuenterrabia over the sea. De Hoces was ordered to attack the French fleet, but had only 12 galleons and some smaller ships at his disposal; the Spanish fleet sailed into the harbor of Getaria on 17 August and took up defensive positions close to the shore. This had several advantages: The largest French ships could not approach because of the shallow waters, the usual French tactics of close combat followed by boarding was impossible and the Spanish fleet had supporting fire from the shore. De Sourdis decided to first batter the Spanish fleet with his superior fire power send in his fireships and cut off any escape route with his smaller vessels.
But first the wind had to blow towards the shore. The French plan works well. De Hoces had made no precautions against fireships, because this weapon was not used by the French, de Sourdis had his fireships disguised as normal war vessels; the entire Spanish fleet caught fire, except the Santiago. Only 1,000 Spanish survivors reached the shores alive, including Lope de Hoces. Chevalier Paul distinguished himself during this action; the battle was a first important victory for the new French navy built under Cardinal Richelieu, excited and thankful towards the French commanders. The victory gave the French temporary naval control of the Bay of Biscay. Despite this naval victory, the French effort at the Siege of Fuenterrabía was a failure for the combined French sea and land forces, which had to withdraw on 8 September, only 3 weeks after the victory at sea; the destruction of the Spanish fleet by fireships had made a deep impression on Abraham Duquesne, who used the same tactics at the Battle of Palermo in 1676.
La Couronne, 72 cannons, 500 men vice-admiral, Claude de Launay-Razilly Navire du Roi, 300 men, Philippe des Gouttes Vaisseau de la Reine, 245 men, capitain Danerac La Vierge, 245 men, Jacques du Mé Le Cardinal, 245 men, capitain de Coypeauville. Le Triomphe, 205 men, capitain de Caen La Victoire, 205 men, capitain Contenaut Saint-Louis de Hollande, 205 men, capitain Treillebois Trois-Rois:, 205 men, capitain Baptiste La Fortune, 205 men, capitain de Casenac L'Europe, 205 men, Chevalier Jules de Montigny Le Triton, 155 men, capitain Villemoulin Le Faucon, 155 men, capitain Dumenillet Le Cygne, 205 men, Chevalier de Cangé Le Cocq, 205 men, capitain De Chastelus La Licorne, 205 men, capitain La Chesnaye Le Corail, 205 men, capitain de Porte-Noire L'Emerillon, 125 men, capitain de Morsay Le Saint-Charles, 155 men, Saint-Etienne Le Dauphin du Havre, 155 men, Boisjoly La Perle, 125 men, capitain La Roullerie La Renommée, 125 men, capitain Daniel L'Intendant, 125 men, capitain de Conflans Le Saint-Jean, 125 men, Abraham Duquesne La Magdelaine de Brest, 125 men, Louis de Senantes Turc, 100 men, Jean Guiton Saint-Francois, 100 men, capitain Regnier Marguerite, 100 men, capitain La Treille Hermine, 100 men, capitain de Lignieres Neptune, 100 men, Chevalier Paul Esperance-en–Dieu, 100 men, Chevalier Garnier Petit-Saint-Jean, 100 men, capitain Razet / De Broq Fregate du Havre, 66 men, capitain Clerisse Royale, 82 men, capitain Savigny Cardinale, 92 men, capitain Baronnie Lion Nassau Licorne Grande Fregate de Brest, 92 men Flibot de Brest 7 or 8 fireships Batalla de Getaria French Wikipedia Juan de Palafox y Mendoza pag 176-178
Siege of La Rochelle
The Siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–28. The siege marked the height of the struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants in France, ended with a complete victory for King Louis XIII and the Catholics. In the Edict of Nantes, Henry IV of France had given the French Huguenots extensive rights. La Rochelle had become their stronghold, under its own governance, it was the main port for Huguenot seapower, the strongest centre of resistance against the Catholic royal government. The city was, with over 30,000 inhabitants; the assassination of Henry IV in 1610, the advent of Louis XIII under the regency of Marie de' Medici, marked a return to pro-Catholic politics and a weakening of the position of the Protestants. The Duke Henri de Rohan and his brother Soubise started to organize Protestant resistance from that time, which exploded into a Huguenot rebellion. In 1621, Louis XIII besieged and captured Saint-Jean d'Angély, a blockade of La Rochelle was attempted in 1621-1622, ending with a stalemate and the Treaty of Montpellier.
Again and Soubise would take arms in 1625, ending with the capture of the Île de Ré in 1625 by Louis XIII. After these events, Louis XIII resolved to subdue the Huguenots, Louis' Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu declared this his first priority; the Anglo-French conflict followed the failure of the Anglo-French alliance of 1624, in which England had tried to find an ally in France against the power of the Habsburgs. In 1626, France under Richelieu concluded a secret peace with Spain, disputes arose around Henrietta Maria's household. Furthermore, France was building the power of its Navy, leading the English to be convinced that France must be opposed "for reasons of state". In June 1626, Walter Montagu was sent to France to contact dissident noblemen, from March 1627 attempted to organize a French rebellion; the plan was to send an English fleet to encourage rebellion, triggering a new Huguenot revolt by Duke Henri de Rohan and his brother Soubise. On the first expedition, the English king Charles I sent a fleet of 80 ships, under his favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, to encourage a major rebellion in La Rochelle.
In June 1627 Buckingham organised a landing on the nearby island of Île de Ré with 6,000 men in order to help the Huguenots, thus starting the Anglo-French War of 1627, with the objective of controlling the approaches to La Rochelle, of encouraging the rebellion in the city. The city of La Rochelle refused to declare itself an ally of Buckingham against the crown of France, denied access to its harbour to Buckingham's fleet. An open alliance would only be declared in September at the time of the first fights between La Rochelle and royal troops. Although a Protestant stronghold, Île de Ré had not directly joined the rebellion against the king. On Île de Ré, the English under Buckingham tried to take the fortified city of Saint-Martin in the Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, but were repulsed after three months. Small French royal boats managed to supply St Martin in spite of the English blockade. Buckingham ran out of money and support, his army was weakened by disease. After a last attack on Saint-Martin they were repulsed with heavy casualties, left with their ships.
Meanwhile, in August 1627 French royal forces started to surround La Rochelle, with an army of 7,000 soldiers, 600 horses and 24 cannons, led by Charles of Angoulême. They started to reinforce fortifications at Bongraine, at the Fort Louis. On September 10, the first cannon shots were fired by La Rochelle against royal troops at Fort Louis, starting the third Huguenot rebellion. La Rochelle was the greatest stronghold among the Huguenot cities of France, the centre of Huguenot resistance. Cardinal Richelieu acted as commander of the besiegers. Once hostilities started, French engineers isolated the city with entrenchments 12 kilometres long, fortified by 11 forts and 18 redoubts; the surrounding fortifications were completed in April 1628, manned with an army of 30,000. Four thousand workmen built a 1,400-metre-long seawall to block the seaward access between the city and harbor, stopping all supplies; the initial idea for blocking the channel came from the Italian engineer Pompeo Targone, but his structure was broken by winter weather, before the idea was taken up by the royal architect Clément Métezeau in November 1627.
The wall was built on a foundation of sunken hulks filled with rubble. French artillery battered English ships trying to supply the city. Meanwhile, in southern France, Henri de Rohan vainly attempted to raise a rebellion to relieve La Rochelle; until February, some ships were able to go through the seawall under construction, but after March this became impossible. The city was blockaded, with the only hope coming from possible intervention by an English fleet. Altogether, the Roman Catholic government of France rented ships from the Protestant city of Amsterdam to conquer the Protestant city of La Rochelle; this resulted in a debate in the city council of Amsterdam as to whether the French soldiers should be allowed to have a Roman Catholic sermon on board of the Protestant Dutch ships. The result of the debate was; the Dutch ships transported the French soldiers to La Rochelle. France was a Dutch ally in the war against the Habsburgs. In the occasion of the Siege of La Rochelle, Spain manoeuvered towards the formation of a Franco-Spanish alliance against the common enemies that were the English, the Huguenots
Port Royal
Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and commerce in the Caribbean Sea by the latter half of the 17th century, it was destroyed by an earthquake on June 1692, which had an accompanying tsunami. Severe hurricanes have damaged it. Another severe earthquake occurred in 1907. Port Royal was once home to privateers who were encouraged to attack Habsburg Spain's vessels at a time when smaller European powers dared not make war on Spain directly; as a port city, it was notorious for its gaudy displays of wealth and loose morals. It was a popular homeport for the English and Dutch-sponsored privateers to spend their treasure during the 17th century; when those governments abandoned the practice of issuing letters of marque to privateers against the Spanish treasure fleets and possessions in the 16th century, many of the crews turned pirate.
They continued to use the city as their main base during the 17th century. Pirates from around the world congregated at Port Royal, coming from waters as far away as Madagascar. After the 1692 disaster, Port Royal's commercial role was taken over by the nearby town of Kingston. Plans were developed in 1999 to redevelop the small fishing town as a heritage tourism destination to serve cruise ships, it could capitalize on its unique heritage, with archaeological findings from pre-colonial and privateering years as the basis of possible attractions. The Taino Indians occupied this area for centuries before European settlement, they used the area, which they called Caguaya, during their fishing expeditions. Although it is not known whether they settled at the spot, they did inhabit other parts of Jamaica; the Spanish first landed in Jamaica in 1494 under the leadership of Christopher Columbus. Permanent settlement occurred when Juan de Esquivel brought a group of settlers in 1509, they came like gold and silver.
Instead they began to process the sugar cane. Much like the Taino before them, the Spanish did not appear to have much use for the Port Royal area, they did, retain its Taino name. Spain kept control of Jamaica so that it could prevent other countries from gaining access to the island, strategically situated within the trade routes of the Caribbean. Spain maintained control over the island for 146 years, until the English took control following their invasion of 1655; the town was captured by England in 1655 during the invasion of Jamaica. By 1659 two hundred houses and warehouses had been built around the fort; the English called the place Cagway but soon renamed it as Port Royal. For much of the period between the English conquest and the 1692 earthquake, Port Royal served as the unofficial capital of Jamaica, while Spanish Town remained the official capital. In 1872 the government designated the largest city, as the capital. In 1657, as a solution to his defence concerns, Governor Edward D'Oley invited the Brethren of the Coast to come to Port Royal and make it their home port.
The Brethren was made up of a group of pirates who were descendants of cattle-hunting boucaniers, who had turned to piracy after being robbed by the Spanish. These pirates concentrated their attacks on Spanish shipping, whose interests were considered the major threat to the town; these pirates became legal English privateers who were given letters of marque by Jamaica’s governor. Around the same time that pirates were invited to Port Royal, England launched a series of attacks against Spanish shipping vessels and coastal towns. By sending the newly appointed privateers after Spanish ships and settlements, England had set up a system of defence for Port Royal. Spain was forced to continually defend their property, did not have the means with which to retake its land. Spain could not retake the island and, due to pirates, could no longer provide their colonies in the New World with manufactured goods; the progressive irregularity of annual Spanish fleets, combined with an increasing demand by colonies for manufactured goods, stimulated the growth of Port Royal.
Merchants and privateers worked together in what is now referred to as "forced trade." Merchants would sponsor trading endeavors with the Spanish, while sponsoring privateers to attack Spanish ships and rob Spanish coastal towns. While the merchants most had the upper hand, the privateers were an integral part of the operation. Nuala Zahedieh, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, wrote, "Both opponents and advocates of so-called ‘forced trade’ declared the town’s fortune had the dubious distinction of being founded on the servicing of the privateers’ needs and lucrative trade in prize commodities." She added, "A report that the 300 men who accompanied Henry Morgan to Portobello in 1668 returned to the town with a prize to spend of at least £60 each leaves little doubt that they were right.”The forced trade became a way of life in Port Royal. Michael Pawson and David Busseret wrote "...one way or the other nearly all the propertied inhabitants of Port Royal seem to have an interest in privateering."
Forced trade was making Port Royal one of the wealthiest communities in the English territories of North America, far surpassing any profit made from the production of sugar cane. Zahedieh wrote, "The Portobello raid alone produced plunder worth £75,000, more than seven times the annual value of the
