DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

LÉPINE, AMBROISE-DYDIME – Volume XV (1921-1930)

b. 18 March 1840 in St Boniface (Man.)

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

BRIGEAC (Brisac, Brigeart, Brijat), CLAUDE DE, soldier, secretary to Governor Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve; b. at Ligny-en-Barois (Lorraine) c. 1631; killed by the Iroquois in 1661.

Brigeac, who arrived at Montreal in 1659, was referred to as a gentleman and a grenadier. He was attached to the garrison as a soldier, and became Governor Maisonneuve’s secretary. On 25 Oct. 1661 he was ordered to accompany and protect a team of some 12 men who were going under the direction of the Sulpician Abbé Vignal to look for stones on the Île à la Pierre, adjoining the Île Sainte-Hélène. Brigeac was one of the last to arrive, and did not have time to arrange for the party’s safety before 35 Iroquois made a surprise attack upon the scattered workers, who fled in confusion towards their canoes. Fearlessly, Brigeac faced the enemy single-handed, but a volley of shot shattered his right arm and mortally wounded Abbé Vignal. The Iroquois captured them, as well as two companions, René Cuillerier* and Dufresne, and made camp at La Pierre-de-la-Madeleine. Dufresne was then given to the Mohawks, the Oneidas keeping the two other captives for themselves. Subsequently Cuillerier was adopted by the tribe, whereas Brigeac, who managed to get a note to Father Simon Le Moyne informing him of his capture, was subjected to the cruellest tortures for two days and finished off at last with a knife. His body was put in the pot and provided a meal for his enemies.

Gustave Lanctot

ACND, MS M1, Écrits autographes de Sœur Marguerite Bourgeoys. Dollier de Casson, Histoire du Montréal, 163–65, 241, 250, 252. JR (Thwaites), XLVII, 176–78, contains a letter from Brigeac, written when he was an Iroquois prisoner. JJ (Laverdière et Casgrain), passimPremier registre de léglise Notre-Dame de Montréal (Montréal, 1961). Faillon, Histoire de la colonie française, II, 361, 505–12. É.-Z. Massicotte, “Brigeac, Brigeart ou Brijat,” BRH, XXXV (1929), 639–40.

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

Gustave Lanctot, “BRIGEAC, CLAUDE DE,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 18, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/brigeac_claude_de_1E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/brigeac_claude_de_1E.html
Author of Article:   Gustave Lanctot
Title of Article:   BRIGEAC, CLAUDE DE
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1966
Year of revision:   1979
Access Date:   March 18, 2024