One of the bloodiest and most publicized chapters in the early history of Florida was written by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, intrepid and unscrupulous agent of Philip II of Spain. On three occasions in the months of September and October, 1565, this Spanish gentleman, fired with true inquisitional fervor, ordered and supervised the systematic slaughter of remnants of the third French expedition to the Florida coast, thus ending the French attempt to colonize this disputed territory. Neither the events leading up to the massacres nor the details of the savage butchery requires retelling here. They are the subjects of numerous narratives, both secondary and primary. A brief word on the European reaction to these events is essential, however

Hammond, A. E.

English

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Florida Historical Quarterly Volume 39 Number 1 Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol 39, Issue 1 Article 9 1960 A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French Colony in Florida at the Hands of the Spanish, 1565 A. E. Hammond  Part of the American Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Article is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Florida Historical Quarterly by an authorized editor of STARS. For more information, please contact STARS@ucf.edu. Recommended Citation Hammond, A. E. (1960) "A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French Colony in Florida at the Hands of the Spanish, 1565," Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 39 : No. 1 , Article 9. Available at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol39/iss1/9 A FRENCH DOCUMENT RELATING TO THE DE-STRUCTION OF THE FRENCH COLONY INFLORIDA AT THE HANDS OF THESPANISH, 1565translated and editedby A. E. HAMMONDNE OF THE BLOODIEST and most publicized chapters in theearly history of Florida was written by Don Pedro Menen-dez de Aviles, intrepid and unscrupulous agent of Philip II ofSpain. On three occasions in the months of September and Octo-ber, 1565, this Spanish gentleman, fired with true inquisitionalfervor, ordered and supervised the systematic slaughter of rem-nants of the third French expedition to the Florida coast, thusending the French attempt to colonize this disputed territory.Neither the events leading up to the massacres nor the detailsof the savage butchery requires retelling here. They are thesubjects of numerous narratives, both secondary and primary.A brief word on the European reaction to these events is essential,however. The recorded reactions in Spain were almost uniformly ex-pressions of satisfaction. Spanish chroniclers, some of whomdoubtless witnessed the affairs, spared no word of praise for theadelantado who in their opinion had acted justly, even generous-ly, by dispatching his victims with the sword when he mightquite properly have burned them alive. One elated writer ex-claimed, “He killed them, I am convinced, more from divineinspiration than from any prompting of human intelligence.” 1Then as the full details of the massacres were gradually madeknown in Madrid during the early months of 1566, joy wasuncontained. If we may rely on the report of M. de Fourquevaux,French ambassador in Madrid, to his sovereign, Charles IX, theSpanish court evinced much more happiness over the Floridasuccess than it would have shown for a victory over the Turks. 21. Bartolome Barrientos, “Vida y hechos de Pero Menendez de Auiles,Cauallero de la Hordem de SanetiagGenaro Garcia,  Dos Antiguaso, Adalentado de la Florida,” in[City],  1902), p.  72.Relaciones de la Florida (Mexico2. Ramond de Becarrie de Pavre Fourquevaux, Depeches de M. de Four-quevaux,  ambassadeur de roi  Charles  IX en Espagne,  1565-1572( P u b l i e e s  p a r  M .  l ‘a b b e  D o u a i s ,  P a r i s ,  1 8 9 6 - 1 9 0 4  T .  I  e t  I I I[Publie par la Societe d’histoire Diplomatique] I, 56.   [  55  ]   1Hammond: A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French ColonPublished by STARS, 196056 FLORIDA  HISTORICAL  QUARTERLYPhilip II, who had authorized the extermination of the predomi-nantly Protestant expedition, completely exculpated Menendez,even troubling himself to write in the margin of a dispatch re-ceived in St. Augustine, “Tell him [Menendez], that with regardto those he has killed, it is fine; as for those he has spared, thatthey should be sent to the galleys.” 3 Upon his return to Spainin July, 1567, Menendez was accorded the welcome of a nationalas well as a Christian hero.In France the reaction was varied. Against the backgroundof religious conflict-France was at the time resting uneasily be-tween its first and second religious wars-public opinion ap-peared to regard the French humiliation as a factional ratherthan a national matter. Some Catholics were openly delightedthat the hated Admiral Coligny had been thwarted in his colonialdesigns, while others were simply pleased that “Menendez hadaccomplished in a small way what the Guises and their otherfanatical leaders would like to achieve throughout France.” 4Catherine de Medicis was enraged, perhaps as much for per-sonal reasons (she had always found her son-in-law, Philip II,distasteful) as for any moral principle involved. She dared notproceed beyond the normal recourse to diplomatic protest andappeal, 5 however, and in her subsequent encounter with Philip’sambassador, Don Frances d’Alava, she found herself more oftenthan not trying to defend the French position when she mightwell have been demanding reparations. Charles IX was even lessvigorous in pressing the French claims. Thus it was only Pro-testant areas that registered any genuine concern.The document translated and edited below typifies the Pro-testant protest concerning the Florida tragedy. Its form is that ofan open letter to the French king, Charles IX, presumably pre-pared by a group of widows, orphans, relatives and friends of theFrench victims of Menendez. In all probability, however, it wasprepared by a clever and well-informed person, motivated byreligious and political considerations. At any rate, it was printed3. Francis Parkman, Pioneers of  France in the New World (Boston,1865),  p.  138.4. Ch.-Andre Julien, Les Voyages de Decouverte et  les Premiers Es-tablissements  ([Colonies et Empires III: Histoire de l’Expansion etde la Colonisation Francaises],  Paris,  1948), p. 251.5. Paul Gaffarel,  Histoire de la Florida Francaise (Paris,  1875), pp.477-481; A. W. Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France(London ,  1904) ,  p .  331 .2Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 39 [1960], No. 1, Art. 9https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol39/iss1/9DESTRUCTION  FRENCH  COLONY  BY  SPANISH 57and distributed at court and elsewhere. Although the letter elo-quently drew the attention of Charles to the sad fate of themassacred French and of their survivors, and although it at-tempted to arouse the wounded pride of the king, there is noindication that it was greeted with anything more than a casualindifference.Request 6 to the King, made in the form of a complaint,by the widows, little orphans, friends and blood and marriagerelations of those that have been cruelly invaded by theSpaniards, in Antarctic France, 7 which goes by the name ofFlorida.To the King.Sire, there is an endless number of poor and miserable people,widows and orphans, all your subjects and vassals, who tearfullythrow themselves at your majesty’s feet, with the entire obedienceand natural submission which they owe you and bring to yourexcellency and highness a pitiful tale of their most just comp1aintsand grievances: or rather the sad spectacle and visible image oftheir fathers, husbands, children, brothers, nephews, cousinsand relations by marriage, up to some eight or nine hundred,men, women and children alike, slaughtered and cut to piecespractically to the last in this land of Florida, by Captain Petreme-lande 8 and his Spanish soldiers. The more as this outrage is al-ready odious enough and all to villainous by itself, and as theblood of your poor subjects, thus treacherously shed, cries to GodThe anonymous  au thor  o f  th i s  l e t t e r  appears  to  have  producednumerous copies of it and to have distributed it for whatever propa-ganda effect it might have. It is preserved in the Bibliotheque Na-tional in Paris. In the meantime, several editions have appeared inprint, one of the earliest being that of Theodor de Bry, who pro-duced  i t  s imul taneous ly  in  German  and  La t in  in  1591  appendedto  the  minor  works  of  J .  Lemoyne .  (Theodor  de  Bry ,  America[Par t  I I ,  F rankfur t -am-Main ,  1591] ) .  I t  i s  a l so  inc luded  in  L .Cimber et F. Danjou, Archives Curieuses de l’Histoire de France(Paris,  1834-40, 27 vols.),  VI, 232-237. In preparing this transla-tion I have relied on the editions of Paul Gaffarel, op. cit., pp. 477-81, and Suzanne Lussagnet (ed.), Les Francais en Amerique Pen-dant  la Deuxieme Moit ie  du XVIe Siecle (Paris,  1958), pp. 234-9.This term has been erroneously employed. It was earlier used byAndre  Thevet ,  Les  S ingu lar i t e z  de  l a  France  An tar t i que  au t r en o m m e e  A m e r i q u e  (Par i s ,  1558 ,  to  des igna te  the  par t s  o f  Braz i lunder French control. See Lussagnet, op. cit., p. 201, n. 2.Pedro Menendez. 3Hammond: A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French ColonPublished by STARS, 196058 FLORIDA  HISTORICAL  QUARTERLYfor vengeance. It behoves your majesty, Sire, to consider, if youplease, that he has made you sovereign King and granted you theobedience of so many people to govern them with good laws andto uphold and defend them. Therefore the poor supplicants haveno other recourse, after God, but to implore your aid and pro-tection and most humbly entreat your majesty to succour, raiseand sustain them: at the very time when the wound of theiranguish is still bleeding. In short, to assist them with the samegentleness and consolation, as the embrace of a father to hisown children, or the master’s good face to his loving and faithfulservants: and, in fact, their complaints are not less worthy ofcompassion and pity than the cruelty of the Spaniard Petreme-lande is contrary to all war practices, and to all laws and decreesthat have been received either from God or from men. And toexplain it to you in full, your majesty, Sire, knows well that youraforesaid subjects were sent by you in this land of Florida, underyour authority and by your express command, and by virtue ofyour letters patent, in the form of commission and leave, carriedby Jean Ribaud: 9 the aforesaid vessels have arrived in the afore-said place in the land of Florida, were furiously invaded by fiveSpanish boats, the largest of which was eight hundred tons, thesecond two hundred tons and the others average tonnage. Thepeople on board these vessels took first of all the fort which hadbeen built in your name by the French: and the men womenand children found inside the aforesaid fort were murdered andmaimed by the aforesaid Spaniards without mercy. On the con-trary, they displayed the pierced bodies of the little children heldon the point of their pikes,  10 and secondly, they killed the afore-said Captain Jean Ribaud, and all his company of seven to eighthundred men, in spite of the assurance and pledge they had givento spare their lives, having bound their hands and arms behindtheir backs, calling your subjects wicked, scoundrels, knaves,9. A more common spelling, in French documents, is Ribault.10. An obvious exaggeration. There exists no reliable eye-witness ac-count of this event by any Frenchman, Le Challeux, Laudonniereand Le Moyne having fled Ft. Caroline before the massacre. Spanishaccounts specifically point out that Menendez had ordered all childrenunder  the  age  of  f i f teen  and  a l l  women,  regard less  of  re l ig iousdeclaration to be spared. See the account by Gonzalo Solis de Merasin Eugenio Ruidiaz E. Caravia, La Florida, su Conquista y Coloniza-cion por Pedro Menendez de Avi les  (Madrid, 1893-4, 2 vols.),  I ,87, 97, et passim.4Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 39 [1960], No. 1, Art. 9https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol39/iss1/9DESTRUCTION  FRENCH  COLONY  BY  SPANISH 59and French thieves, and all this in the presence, and under theeyes, of the aforesaid Ribaud who, through horror of the afore-said massacre, wanted to come near the aforesaid Petremelandeto place himself under his protection, and nevertheless, the saidPetremelande repelled him and had him killed instantly by oneof his soldiers, who struck him a blow through the body with hisdagger from behind, from which blow the aforesaid Ribaud fellto the ground, and, once fallen, the aforesaid soldier struck himanother blow through the body from in front, so that the aforesaidRibaud remained dead on the spot, and, which done, the afore-said soldier cut off his head, shaved his beard and split the headof the aforesaid Ribaud in four quarters, which were stuck ontop of four pikes in the centre of the place where the otherFrench people had died. Finally, the aforesaid Spanish captainsent a letter to the King of Spain, and enclosed in it the hairs ofthe beard of the aforesaid Captain Jean Ribaud, in such a waythat the aforesaid Spanish Captain Petremelande and his men,insulting with such brazen acts the servants of so powerful andrenowned a King, want to make it plain that they set very littlestore by honour, and fear even less the meeting of a mightymaster. Your majesty, besides, knows that, to complete the tri-umph of wickedness and increase the outrage of such an exe-crable crime: even after death fun was made of, and mockerybandied at, the head and the beard of him who was no less a per-son than your lieutenant-general, and the paper of a letter wasused as a dish to make a gift of the hair of his beard. It is, how-ever, incredible that there should be a christian, or even pagan,King or prince ready to own the aforesaid Petremelande aftersuch a cruel and barbarous deed, surpassing the rage and furyof Lions and Tigers, and the more execrable as it was performedin a period of complete peace, truces and a friendly meeting ar-ranged, while there was no war declared by you on any othernation or principality whatsoever, and nevertheless the Spaniardshave set their hands upon places and people: which in no waybelong to other than your Sceptre and crown: unless Petreme-lande chose to say that the strength of a foreigner can prevailagainst the King, to usurp what is yours, or to appropriate thepower to command in your stead, or to give himself the authorityof the letters and to take upon himself to punish and correctthose that God has entrusted to you as subjects, with such a5Hammond: A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French ColonPublished by STARS, 196060 FLORIDA  HISTORICAL  QUARTERLYtreasured wealth of submission, obedience and natural affectiontowards you, that they would rather die a thousand deaths, thandeign to entertain the idea of changing masters, or voluntarilysubmitting to the yoke of another principality. If, therefore,Petremelande is disowned, his master has only to say that he ishaving, or will let you have, justice done, with such satisfactionand reparation as you are entitled to: in addition, forsaking andhanding over to you the jurisdiction and possession of this landof Florida, which has long been acquired, occupied and held byyour subjects in your name and under the title and authority ofyour Sceptre and crown, taking also into consideration that youraforesaid subjects have not been deported or relegated there asfugitives or deportees, but sent as ambassadors, officers and minis-ters of your majesty, and as, such recognized and owned by yourletters patent commissioning the aforesaid Ribaud, held and ac-claimed to act in these matters in the same capacity as you your-self, and no matter how atrocious such an indignity is by itself,yet it is made worse when left unpunished, and the dishonour isincreased and the scandal carried further when the murders,violators of public faith, have their malice fed and sustained withimpunity and can freely exercise it. Which your mansuetude,Sire, never allowing, will take up the quarrel of your poor sub-jects, thus unjustly outraged to the detriment of all laws, andwith such great cruelty that it seems to be in order to dissolvethe bonds of all human society, and break the divine order sothoroughly that the aforesaid Petremelande would, through hiscunning, have all occasions for modesty lost, when patience istried to the extreme. The Carthaginians and African peoples have been stronglyblamed for breaking their pledges in spite of all assurances givenwhenever this was advantageous to them. The Romans so faith-fully observed theirs that they would keep them even to theirenemies. Would to God that the same tribute could be paid to-day to Petremelande and his fellow-countrymen, who have madeso light of their promises and assurances and hypocritical solemnoaths impiously calling upon the name of God as though to makehim a party to their treacherous disloyalty. If at times God usesthe wicked ones, and allows them rope to give the full measureof their wickedness, as he did the Cananeans, he is not, however,subject to the strength of men, and, being stronger than them6Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 39 [1960], No. 1, Art. 9https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol39/iss1/9DESTRUCTION  FRENCH  COLONY  BY  SPANISH 61all, he fortifies the weaker and keeps us ceaselessly alive to ourduty, that the thought of his gentleness and mercy does notmake us forget the rigour of his justice and vengeance. So muchso that, as in the same act, the crime of men is revealed, and thejustice of God made manifest, so the warning befits them, that,it is said, God works in the hearts of the wicked as he pleases,yet pays each of them back according to their demerits.To the King again.Sire, you have heard what lamentations and regrets, whattears, or rather what dying sighs accompany the sad memory ofour misery and misfortune, the pitiful account of Petremelande’saudacious and scandalous enterprise, the marks of his injusticeand tyranny condemned by all laws: the tokens and memorialsof his infidelity and treason, the intolerable contempt he showedfor your authority and grandeur: in short, the murders andcruelties perpetrated against your servants and subjects, all ormost of them virtuous and brave captains, men of honour andgood repute, who would have acted as a living rampart aroundyour majesty, and as frontiers to hold back all the enemies of yourstate. By which if there were ever humanity, compassion andmercy on record, the supplicants hope that our God in his good-ness will so fill your heart with these, that your majesty will lethimself be touched by our just grievances and pitiful complaints,will espouse our cause to see justice done, and, to that end, willextend to us his favour and protection, which will be a piouswork, worthy of your calling, and a manifestation of charity to-wards your poor subjects and faithful servants, with a view toassuaging the bitterness of their afflictions and bearing witnessto their innocence to the whole of Christendom, which will makeyou beloved and hailed by all nations, not only as a King, butalso as a father to your people.7Hammond: A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French ColonPublished by STARS, 1960

A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French Colony in Florida at the Hands of the Spanish, 1565

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A French Document Relating to the Destruction of the French Colony in Florida at the Hands of the Spanish, 1565

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