Etienne Brule: “The Immortal Scoundrel” The first European in the Huron Tract
By David Yates Friday March 28, 2008
More than 200 years before ‘Tiger’ Dunlop met John Galt at the mouth of the Maitland River and more than a half century before LaSalle’s ill-fated ship The Griffon in 1679 passed Huron County’s coast, the first European had already stepped foot on the shores of the Huron Tract.
Etienne Brule, the first of that rugged breed of couriers du bois, was the first white man to have visited Huron County’s shores in the 1620s.
Brule was born in 1592 at Champigny-sur-Marne, France. At age 16, he volunteered to sail with Samuel de Champlain’s expedition to the New World. In 1608, the young Brule stood at Champlain’s side at the founding of Quebec.
Brule was one of only eight French survivors of those first two horrific winters. Without complaint, Brule suffered terrible hardships and earned Champlain's trust and confidence. Champlain would refer to Brule in his journals as ‘my boy’.
In 1610, with Champlain’s blessing, Brule’s sense of adventure led him to live among the Huron Indians for a year to learn the language and establish good relations with the natives. In Brule’s place, a native boy was left in Quebec. One historian has called this the ‘first student exchange’ in Canadian history.
The Huron warriors were hard muscled men used to straining their arms at the paddles of their canoes for endless hours and portaging heavy burdens great distances while enduring the torments of the black flies and mosquitoes.
Brule adapted quickly to the native lifestyle and bore more than his share of the load. He learned the Huron language and customs. In turn, the Huron were impressed with the young Brule’s toughness and resilience.
As arranged, the Huron returned Brule to Champlain on June 13, 1611. It was an emotional reunion as Champlain recalled when he saw “my French boy… dressed like a ‘sauvage.’”
Champlain reported that “my lad… was well-pleased with his treatment from the Indians.” Brule secured permission to return to the Huron country. Champlain had reason to be proud of his 'boy' in whom he placed high hopes.
Brule preferred the freedom of the wilderness. He also embraced the greater sexual freedom enjoyed by Huron youth. His romantic trysts with Indian maidens were becoming legendary. Presumably, this is not what Champlain meant when he instructed Brule to establish relations with the natives.
Brule’s complete adoption of native morals put him on a collision course with Champlain who disapproved of his ‘dissolute’ behaviour.
Champlain, by all accounts, was faithful to his wife, Helene Boulle, whom he married in 1610 when she was 12 and he was 40. He demanded the same conduct of France’s emissaries among the natives. Champlain was deeply disturbed that Brule was “much addicted to women.”
Not surprisingly, the church, who had missionaries in Huronia, also disapproved of Brule’s peculiar habits. Father Jean Brebeuf, the famed Jesuit priest, who lived with the Huron, expressed shock and disgust over Brule's complete adoption of native customs.
However, as long as Brule could be counted upon to lead Huron raiding parties against the Iroquois, Champlain could forgive much in him.
Brule was still useful as an explorer to New France. Between 1611 and 1626, Brule’s explorations of the Great Lakes waterways are difficult to trace with precision. He probably discovered Lakes Huron, Erie, Ontario and Superior.
It is even possible that he may have encountered Lake Michigan, but did not recognize it as a separate body of water. However, the area he was most familiar with was Lake Huron or la mer douce (soft sea) as Brule called it.
According to James Scott, in The Settlement of Huron County (1966), Brule 'undoubtedly' was the first European in present day Huron County. In 1625-26, Brule explored the eastern shore of lower Lake Huron and traded with the Attawandarons who inhabited present day Huron County.
While among the Attawandaron, Brule learned something of their rituals, customs and language.
It was on one journey that Brule was captured by the Iroquois and tortured. His beard and finger nails were plucked out. He claimed to have saved his life by threatening a terrible vengeance upon his tormentors when a fortuitous thunderstorm frightened his captors into releasing him.
Well, that was his story. More likely, he was released because he was more valuable alive to the Iroquois as a liaison with the Huron and French than dead.
Olga Jurgens in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography praises Brule as an individual of 'remarkable and colourful personality… endowed with a great spirit of independence, initiative and indisputable courage.” Yet, whatever virtues Brule may have possessed, loyalty was not one of them.
In 1629, an English expedition commanded by Captain Thomas Kirke captured Quebec City. Champlain was horrified to learn that the man who guided the English ships up the St. Lawrence River was his ‘boy’ Etienne Brule. Brule had turned traitor to his king, his country and his mentor Samuel de Champlain.
It must have been a hard and bitter moment when Champlain realized that his 'boy' had betrayed him. Little wonder that C.W. Butterfield, Brule’s Victorian era biographer, dubbed him ‘the immortal scoundrel.’
When Quebec was returned to France in 1632, Brule disappeared into the woods of Huronia. In 1633, for reasons that remain obscure, Brule was tortured and eaten by the Huron people with whom he had lived for more than 20 years.
Was it a broken trust or a broken heart that led to Brule’s gruesome demise? Perhaps, it was the rumours of his trading with the Iroquois who were the enemy of the Huron.
Whatever the reason, the Huron were fearful of Champlain’s response to Brule’s death. They need not have worried. Champlain bitterly dismissed Brule as a ‘vicious character’ and assured the Huron that there would be no consequences for Brule’s murder. Champlain knew that he had lost ‘his boy’ in the Huron country long before.
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