THE CODE NOIR

Habitation Clement - Martinique

Earlier this year my travels took me to two former French colonies, Louisiana and Martinique. At both places my interest in history took me to the plantations of the French colonial masters and they shared several things in common - sugar, slavery, unspeakable cruelty and “Code Noir”. The grand antebellum mansions of the Mississippi and  the elegant facades of the island plantations were built on the blood and misery of the slaves. 

Oak Alley, Louisiana

The Code Noir (or The Black Code) was an edict of Louis XIV issued in 1685 (for the French possessions in the Antilles and introduced into Louisia in 1724) ostensibly to control the treatment of black slaves in the French colonies. Prior to the French colonisation of the Carribbean there was no history of slavery in France so the acquisition of slaves in the new colonies meant that their colonial masters had no guidance as to how slaves should be managed. Drafters of the code may have looked to Roman law for a starting place. By the mid seventeent century the number of slaves in Haiti, for example, well outnumbered their white masters (almost exceeding that number imported into Brazil). Slave unrest and minor insurrections were not unknown. 

The true purpose of the Code Noir goes deeper than just the control of the slaves. It is about France asserting her authority in her colonies and securing the sugar trade and to do that she needed to make sure the opposition was out of the way. In her Hoydens and Firebrands post on 14 April this year (17th-century Jews: Carving a Place in the New World), Patricia O’Sullivan wrote about the persecution of the Jews in the seventeenth century and you may wonder what this has to do with The Code Noir and the Louis XIV. The very first of the 60 or so Articles in the code, expels Jews from the French islands. As Patricia noted the Jews had a strong presence in the Dutch colonies of the West Indies and their presence within the boundaries of the French colonies was seen as an unacceptable Dutch influence.

The second article decrees that all slaves had to be baptized into the Roman Catholic church. The practice of the slaves taking their masters surnames came into being. The third article forebade the practice of any other religion other than Roman Catholocism. Its my observation from having poked around the museums of Louisiana and Martinique that it is from this insistence on Roman Catholic practice comes the strange hybrid of voodoo - an amalgam of catholic practice and the ancient animist religions of the slaves themselves. The slaves gave lip service to their new, imposed religion while continuing their own worship practices. Only Catholic marriages would be recognised within the colonies (Article IV) and only Roman Catholics could own slaves

From the 4th Article on the subject narrows to that of the treatment of slaves. The articles cover the marriage of slaves, the children born of slaves or children of their white masters. Children between a male slave and a female free woman were free ; children between a female slave and a free man were slaves.

Slaves were prohibited from owning or carrying weapons. Slaves of different masters were prohibited from gathering together. They were forbidden to sell sugar but they could sell other commodities with the permission of their masters. Slaves could pass under their masters wills and used as payment for debts but they could not be mortgaged. Salves could be freed and freed slaves were to be considered French citizens with the same rights as French colonial masters.

Scars from whipping

Some protections were included.  Married slaves and their young children were not be sold separately. Masters had to give their slaves food and clothes even those who were old and sick. A master who falsely accuse a slave of a crime, for which the slave was put to death would be fined. Masters who killed their slaves would be punished but masters could chain and beat their slave but may not torture or mutilate them. Masters could not force slaves to marry against their wishes, masters had to bury slaves properly (baptized slaves in a holy cemetery) and slaves who were being “barbarously” treated could report their masters

However for slaves who transgressed, punishment was  severe. Execution for a slave who struck their master, mistress or children. Recaptured fugitive slaves would have their ears cut off and be branded with a fleur de lys on the shoulder. A second transgression led to their hamstring being cut and being branded again. A third time meant death. Free blacks who aided fugitive slaves would be fined 300lbs of sugar per day of refuge and they would be beaten. 

The final two articles of the Code state:

Article LVIII. We declare their freedom is granted in our islands if their place of birth was in our islands. We declare also that freed slaves shall not require our letters of naturalization to enjoy the advantages of our natural subjects in our kingdom, lands or country of obedience, even when they are born in foreign countries.

Article LIX. We grant to freed slaves the same rights, privileges and immunities that are enjoyed by freeborn persons. We desire that they are deserving of this acquired freedom, and that this freedom gives them, as much for their person as for their property, the same happiness that natural liberty has on our other subjects.

In all the Code Noir contains 60 articles. It is high in rhetoric but the reality in Haiti, Martinique, Louisiana and all the far flung French colonies was that it was probably more honoured in the breach than the observance. Displays in the museum in Martinique show scenes of unspeakably cruel and barbarous punishments being inflicted on slaves, long after the introduction of the Code Noir. 

This is one such example: “In Léogâne in 1772, a Haitian woman named Zabeth, her story recorded, lived a not uncommon life and death. Rebellious, like many, from childhood, she was chained for years when not working, chased and attacked by dogs when she escaped, her cheek branded with a fleur de lis. Zabeth was locked up in a sugar mill for punishment. She stuck her fingers in the grinder, then later bit off the bandages which stopped the flow of blood. She was then tied, her open wounds against the grinder, where particles of iron dust poisoned her blood before she died. Her owner lived unconcerned across the sea in Nantes.” (from Haiti’s Agonies and Exultations by Ramsey Clark)


France descended into the  turmoil of the French Revolution in 1789 and in August 1791, the slaves of St. Dominigue rebelled under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture. The ripples from this rebellion touched the shores of every slave owning nation and in 1794 the Assembly of the First Republic abolished slavery by law in France and all its colonies and granted civil and political rights to all black men in the colonies. What this meant in reality for the slaves and their masters is beyond the remit of this post but if you are interested in reading more about it, but there is much written about the rebellion (the only successful slave rebellion ever recorded) and its charismatic leader. See for example The Louverture Project. 

Slavery was reintroduced by Napoleon in 1802, possibly as a consequence of pressure from his Martinique born wife, Josephine, who still held land interests in Martinique. It was not fully exterminated until the 1830s. In the history of slavery, the French had imported over a million slaves, four times the number that went to America. 

As an example of the effectiveness (or not) of the Code Noir I leave you with this vivid first hand account of the treatment of runaway slaves in the French Colonies in the 1690s.

Punishment for fugitive slaves - Martinique 1690s

The following translation appears in the 1698 English edition: “. . . if their masters once catch them, they give them no quarter; for they hang a great iron collar about their necks on each side whereof there are hooks, whereunto is fastened a stake or branch of a tree, with which they thrash them at pleasure. . . . But if it so happen that after this sort of chastisement they relapse again into the same fault, they . . . cut off one of their legs, nay, and sometimes hang them for an example, of terrour [sic] unto others . . .. I knew one [slave master] in Martinico who being of a compassionate nature could not find in his heart to cut off his slave’s leg, who had run away four or five times, but to the end he might not again run the risqué of losing him altogether, he bethought of fastening a chain to his neck, which trailing down backwards catches up his leg behind, as may be seen by the cut [engraving]. And this, in the space of two or three years does so contract the nerves that it will be impossible for this slave to make use of his leg. And thus, without running the hazard of this unhappy wretch’s death, and without doing him any mischief, he thereby deprived him of the means to make his escape”  (Source Francois Froger, Relation d'un Voyage fait en 1695, 1696, & 1697 aux Cotes d'Afrique, . . . Brezil, Cayenne & Isles Antilles . . . (Paris, 1698), facing p. 150; A relation of a voyage made in the years 1695, 1696, 1697 (London, 1698), facing p. 120. Copies in the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University)From http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/index.php)

London Coffee Houses: Guest - Gina Black

This week we are delighted to welcome GINA BLACK as a guest blogger on Hoydens and Firebrands. Gina has always been a lover of European History and is the author of a romantic tale of highwaymen and revenge set in 1663 - THE RAVEN'S REVENGE. 

I begin,"Once upon a time, a long time ago (before 1650) there was no coffee to be had in the entire realm of England. A sad tale but true--"

"Then let them have tea," you interrupt no doubt afraid I'm going to start bombarding you with Boring Historical Facts.

"Sorry," I respond. "They didn't have any of that either."

"Whatever did those poor people drink?" you wonder reluctantly, glad you weren't around those smelly, caffeine-deprived people. You take another sip of your morning cuppa.

"They started out the day with ale."

"But isn't ale alcoholic?" You make a small chortle. "It gives a whole new spin to the phrase Jolly Olde England doesn't it?"

"Well, as I understand it, ale in those days was thin, weak stuff, and drunk soon after brewing, not the strong drink it is now."

"Sounds nasty," you say.

"Not as bad as the water. That was far too dirty to drink. It was much safer to drink something that had been brewed, and so ale was it."

You shake your head and drain your coffee mug, wondering how people ever survived without coffee, thinking of a time when the choice wasn't between French Roast and Guatemalan and when Free Trade or organic didn't matter.

Then--seeing my opening--I proceed to tell you all about it. Having written a paper about this back in my college days and being so impressed with the import of The Bean to England, I researched it again and included references to coffee in my book, The Raven's Revenge. Although my story was set in 1663 before coffee drinking was widespread, the hero had come back from parts east so he knew about coffee.

While some people might think that coffee arriving in England has about as much drama as a new Starbucks opening up in their neighborhood, it actually heralded a New Age: the age of the Penny University, for that was what coffee houses came to be called.

The first coffeehouse in England was opened in Oxford in 1650. The first one opened in London two years later in St. Michael's Alley in Cornhill. The proprietor was Pasqua Rosée, a man who has earned his place in history.

Whereas taverns and ale-houses were rough and rowdy places, coffee houses were not. They were democratic in nature (read the rules reprinted below) and places of intellectual discussion and debate. The reason they were called Penny Universities is that for the price of a penny a man (yes a man--this was the seventeenth century after all) could gain entrance, get his cup of coffee (some doctors even prescribed it for rheumatism and other ills) and either read or--if he couldn't read--someone would read the newspaper to him.

The proliferation of coffee houses coincided with a rising middle class. By 1700 there were probably over 2000 coffeehouses in London. Even the plague and the Great Fire failed to lessen its attraction.

Several important institutions had their origins in the English coffee house. Stockbrokers used to meet at Garraways which became the London Stock Exchange. And Lloyd’s had its origins in the coffee house owned by Edward Lloyd, where ship owners, captains and merchants came to discuss the latest shipping news. Later, Lloyds became a place for obtaining marine insurance.

So, next time you sit down with your latte and laptop, the earphones of your MP3 player tucked into your ears, think of the famous poet Dryden a fixture at Wills, expounding to a rapt audience. Not quite the same thing, now, is it?

THE RULES AND ORDERS OF THE COFFEE HOUSE

\Enter, sirs, freely, but first, if you please,


Peruse our civil orders, which are these.


First, gentry, tradesmen, all are welcome hither,


And may without affront sit down together:


Pre-eminence of place none here should mind,


But take the next fit seat that he can find:


Nor need any, if finer persons come,


Rise up for to assign to them his room


To limit men's expense, we think not fair,


But let him forfeit twelve-pence that shall swear:


He that shall any quarrel here begin,


Shall give each man a dish t' atone the sin;


And so shall he, whose compliments extend


So far to drink in coffee to his friend;


Let noise of loud disputes be quite forborne,


Nor maudlin lovers here in corners mourn,


But all be brisk, and talk, but not too much;


On sacred things, let none presume to touch,


Nor profane Scripture, nor saucily wrong


Affairs of State with an irreverent tongue:


Let mirth be innocent, and each man see


That all his jests without reflection be;


To keep the house more quiet and from blame,


We banish hence cards, dice, and every game;


Nor can allow of wagers, that exceed.


Five shillings, which ofttimes do troubles breed;


Let all that 's lost or forfeited be spent


In such good liquor as the house cloth vent,


And customers endeavour, to their powers,


For to observe still, seasonable hours.


Lastly, let each man what he calls for pay,


And so you 're welcome to come every day.

To find out more about Gina and her books, visit her WEBSITE.

Researching Seventeeth Century Seville

It is always difficult for a historical novelist to research a place which is not local to them - my previous book was set in London so I was frequently on the 200 mile train journey from Lancaster to London to visit the libraries and museums  and to look at archival material. You would have thought I would have learnt my lesson, and chosen somewhere local, but the plot of my next novel took me even further afield to Spain - and to Seville.

Seville - 17th Century Port

Seville was enormously important as a trading centre in the 17th Century because it was the only port awarded the royal monopoly for trade with the Spanish American colonies (Las Indias) and the rich assortment of goods they offered. Because of this, merchants from Europe and other trade centres needed to go to Seville to acquire these goods - goods such as spices, exotic fruit and plants, sugar, cocoa, potatoes, tomatoes, pineapples, vanilla, chilli peppers, cochineal, exotic feathers and furs.

At first I was attracted by the sheer opulence of Seville, but soon realised that as with many rich cities it was also plagued by extreme poverty. Every sort of vagabond, beggar, or whore was drawn to the city in the 17th Century in the hope of a small share of its riches. Just the sort of climate in which to set a novel! Spain has always been intensely Catholic and at this time followers of other faiths were persecuted by the Inquisition.  I wanted to contrast this with the repressive anti-Catholic regime of Jacobean London, so knew I needed to research both locations, and always had in mind that my very English lady would travel to (and be amazed by) Seville.

'Triana' by Emilio Sánchez Perrier in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville

I was helped enormously by finding 'Aristocrats and Traders: Sevillian Society in the Sixteenth Century' by Ruth Pike. My novel is set just into the 17th Century at the time of the Gunpowder Plot so this was fantastic background. It provided me with census accounts and information about the particular area of Seville I was researching - Triana - the part where artisans had the fire-trades such as sword-making and pottery-firing, crafts kept across the river from the main city in case of an outbreak of fire.

During my research phase I ordered as many books as I could that were in English, including Mary Elizabeth Perry's 'Gender and Disorder in Early Modern Seville' which told me a lot about the treatment of women and the lower classes. 

Perry also wrote a seminal book on moorish women - The Handless Maiden.

Online research and books are all very well, but eventually I did have to make the research trip, and try to glean as much as I could about the old Seville, buried beneath the modern city. A visit allows you to record things that other people might miss - such as what you are walking on. Here - some photos I took of tiled floors with moorish designs. The herringbone brick with 'olambrillos' (decorative ceramic squares) was particularly common in the 17th century.

It was fantastic to see so many buildings still well-preserved, and to soak up the heat and the atmosphere of Catholic Spain. This was something that is not obvious unless you go there - the sheer number of weeping madonnas in shop windows, the many hidden churches in courtyards with leather flaps over the doors to protect the icons from the sun. A bonus was to see the Inquisition Museum, which is very tastefully done despite its grim subject matter, and to visit the Golden Tower where I was able to take phographs of a huge map of 17th Century Seville that is not available online. The slightly blurred photographs are because I had to take the pictures through the top of a glass cabinet.

On my return I had lots of leaflets and booklets which needed to be translated my by local Spanish teacher so I could understand them as my Spanish is very limited!

It's expensive to travel abroad, but is it worth it? Absolutely. Not only did I have a fantastic holiday where I was able to have romantic evenings with my husband, eating Tapas at a little pavement cafe under the orange trees, or watching Flamenco, but also the visit later allowed me to 'live' in 17th Century Seville when I was writing. Here I am at the Alcazar, sitting on tiles that could possibly have been made in the 17th century in Triana, Seville.

My novel set in Jacobean London and Golden Age Seville is A Divided Inheritance, more about it can be found on my website.

Jamestown

Recently, I visited Jamestown, the first English colony to survive on the North American continent. It had been several years since my last visit and very little had changed. One of the most interesting aspects wasn't a display or anything like that, but some archaeologists who were working on a dig. They took the time to talk with us. Unfortunately, we had missed their big find earlier in the week, when they had uncovered an intact horse skeleton. Also, unfortunately for them, they discovered the horse was from the 18^th century and the Revolutionary War era, not the 17^th century.

On my previous visit, I was most interested in the original Jamestown. Part of the original fort is already underwater, and it's said that with global warming, the rest will eventually follow suit. On this trip, my response was the same as on the previous occasion when I passed the Pocahontas statue. Let me just say, she appears to be attired more like she had belonged to a western plains Indian tribe rather than eastern woodland. But then, I believe the statue was made in the 1930s. It just seems to me a historic site could add a more accurate portrayal.

The newest exhibit was the reconstruction of Jane, the girl whose remains had been the first forensic evidence of cannibalism during the Starving Time. As I walked through many of the other exhibits, I grew saddened and disappointed. Nothing showed or explained the original colonization from the Paspahegh point of view. After all, the land belonged to them when the colonists first arrived. In fact, the exhibits seemed to go out of the way to perpetuate the myth of how primitive these people were. But then, the Paspahegh were annihilated because they had resisted English encroachment, and there are no descendants to tell their side of the story.

A few years later, paramount chief Opechancanough organized an attack against the colonists. By that time, Jamestown definitely belonged to the English. The exhibits claimed that a boy by the name of Chanco had saved Jamestown from certain annihilation. In reality, there is no historical evidence that Jamestown was ever threatened. I guess, even now, it may be too much to ask a historic site to tell both sides to a story.

Fortunately for me, my visit was to research how Jamestown had grown in the 1640s. During this time, much of the ship trade had been cut off from England due to the Civil War there. That was another fact that I didn't see mentioned, but the port remained busy because of trade from the Dutch, New England, and the West Indies. I walked the path that the colonists of the era would have walked, and it helped me see and feel what my characters in my upcoming book The Dreaming: Wind Talker would see.

Afterward, I traveled the island by car. Maybe someday I'll return and walk the island. Before leaving, I saw a large bird in a tree. Other observers said that it was a bald eagle. According to most indigenous people, the eagle is a sacred messenger spirit. In that regard, I know the Paspahegh would be pleased.

Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.net

17th Century Satire-The Two Tom Lucys

George Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Northumberland

These days, the royals appear unable to keep anything secret, especially when reprehensible behaviour is concerned. Newspapers and social media eagerly jump on every snippet and make it public knowledge within hours. However, it seems the 17th Century royalty were no more effective in keeping their private affairs out of the pamphleteers hands.

George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland was the youngest son of Charles II and Barbara Villiers, the Duchess of  Cleveland. John Evelyn, the diarist, who met him at dinner at Sir Stephen Fox's house, described him as "of all his Majesty's children the most accomplished and worth the owning," and is "extremely handsome and well shaped." Expansive praise indeed because Evelyn was equally kind towards Charles II elder son, the ill-fated James Scott Duke of Monmouth.

At the age of 21, George eloped with Katherine, the beautiful widow of Captain Thomas Lucy of Charlecote. The duchess was the mother of a small daughter, but had no dowry or rank, and an unsavoury reputation - although this third vice may or may not have been circulated so as to make George's reprehensible behaviour more acceptable..

George’s uncle, King James II was in negotiations for a wealthy wife for his nephew to a daughter of the Duke of Newcastle and was openly furious about the match. Repenting his elopement, George sought the help of his older brother, Henry, Duke of Grafton, another of Barbara's offspring, who advised him to divorce the blameless Katherine. Due to their papist leanings, divorce was impossible, so the two dukes kidnapped the bride, took her by barge from Chelsea to Gravesend, and there sailed for Flanders. At Ghent they placed her in a nunnery, and returned to England. Problem solved then?

King James, however, discovered their actions and sent a yacht to return the duchess to England, thus forcing his nephew to acknowledge her, and presented at Court.  Maybe the king’s conscience was bothering him, for he secretly married Ann Hyde in 1660 and was ready to repudiate her until his brother Charles II, insisting James acknowledge the marriage, and publicly received his wife.

It isn't recorded what Katherine thought about this treatment, but I hope George was reminded of it at regular intervals. The story was circulated amongst London society, and made into a satire - called "Ballad. The Widows and Maids." and was already being sung in taverns by the time Katherine was returned home. 

THE TWO TOM LUCYS

Young widows and maids
Now hold up your heads,
There are men to be had for all uses.
But who could presage
That ever one age
Should be furnished with two Tom Lucys? [1]

No reason I see
Our Goodman [2] should be
So very much angry with her son;
For though her [3] estate
Be encumbered with debt,
She always was free of her person.

Since his grace would prefer
The poulterer's [4] heir
To the great match his uncle had made him,
T'were just if the King
Took away his blue string [5],
And sewed on two to lead him.

That the lady was sent
To a convent in Ghent
Was the counsel of kidnapper Grafton;
And we may foretell
That all will do well,
Since the rough blockhead 6 governs the soft one. [7]

King John [8], who once passed
For a coward, at last
Gave evident proof of his courage;
There's many a one
Scorns pistol and gun,
Would not venture on such a marriage [9].

Moll Hinton [10] best knows
Why Newburgh [11] keeps close,
But it need never trouble her conscience;
Tis duty to clap
That impertinent fop,
For then the town's free of his nonsense.

For one that loves peace
And would live at his ease,
Northampton [12] the best way has chosen;
Leaves courting the fair
To his uncle's care,
And the combating part to his cousin.

In Shrewsbury [13] we find
A generous mind
So kindly to live with his mother,
And never try yet
To revenge the sad fate
Of his father and only brother.

Since fighting we see
With some don't agree,
A witness the much safer post is,
And though Ford [14], Lord Grey,
In the field ran away,
He can charge in a court of justice.

'Tis pleasant to hear
An eminent peer [15]
Make whoring a case of conscience,
When 'tis so well known
His favor begun
By pimping to Portsmouth not long since.

It is plain case
The countess's [16] disgrace
The Catholic cause advances,
And 'tis also as plain
That Tyrconnel's [17] chief aim

Was to bring in his daughter Frances.
That church will dispense [18]
With no heretic wench,
But yet we have this for our comfort:
If the priest at the Court

Denies us the sport,
The Chancery allows us a Mountfort. [19]
Thrice fortunate boy
Who can give double joy,
And at every turn be ready,

With pleasures in store,
Both behind and before,
To content both my lord and my lady.

Katherine Wheatley, Duchess of Northumberland

1.   Lucy - Thomas Lucy Captain of a Troop of the Household Guards who inherited Charlecote in 1677.
2.   Goodman - Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland, George's mother and mistress of Charles II.
3.   "her" - refers to the new Duchess of Northumberland, Katherine.
4.   poulterer - Katherine’s father, who was in fact a country gentleman, Robert Wheatley of Bracknell, Berks.
5.   blue string - The ribbon of the Order of the Garter.
6.   the rough blockhead - Duke of Grafton.
7.   the soft one - Duke of Northumberland.
8.   King John- John, Earl of Mulgrave, "fearful Mulgrave" in "Satire," accused of cowardice at Tangier
9.   marriage- Mulgrave married Ursula (Stawell), wealthy widow of Edward, Earl of Conway.
10.   Hinton- Mall Hinton, a famous prostitute
11.   Newburgh- Foppish Charles Livingston, Earl of Newburgh (c. 1662-94).
12.   Northampton - George Compton, 4th Earl of Northampton and his uncle, Henry Compton, Bishop of London, wooed Ursula, the widowed Lady Conway. Mysterious underhand dealings developed between Lord Mulgrave and the lady's step-father, Mr. Henry Seymour. Northampton sent Seymour a challenge by his young cousin, Hatton Compton, but Seymour refused to fight. Hatton Compton and Edward Seymour's second son "grew very warm, and this morning [February 18] fought near Kentish Town; nobody was killed, but both the principals and one of the seconds wounded"
13.   Shrewsbury- Charles Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury killed in a duel [1668] with the Duke of Buckingham. Shrewsbury's brother, John, was slain by the Duke of Grafton in a duel [1686]
14.   Ford- Ford, Lord Grey of Werke - one of the main instigators of Monmouth's
Rebellion. After the defeat at Sedgemoor, Grey informed on the others plotters and after paying a fine of £40k was re-admitted to court.
15.   an eminent peer- Robert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland and Secretary of State, persuaded King James II to dismiss his Protestant mistress, Katherine Sedley (he made "whoring a case of conscience").
16.   the countess- Katherine Sedley created Countess of Dorchester. A week later, and although pregnant, she was ‘turned out of Court’  She allegedly went to Ireland but returned to London eight months later. King James's priests considered her dangerous to their plans for Catholicizing England.
17.   Tyrconnel- Colonel Richard Talbot created Earl of Tyrconnel. One of the four Catholic lords who tried to persuade King James to dismiss the Countess of Dorchester. The satirist implies Tyrconnel's purpose was provide his stepdaughter as the new royal mistress. Frances, eldest of the three daughters of his second wife, Frances (Jennings).
18.   dispense with- Condone by dispensation, pardon.
19.   Mountfort- William Mountfort, actor and playwright, was in the service of Lord Chancellor Jeffreys as an entertainer and mimic, a supposed bisexual.