Jean Allefonsce

Background

Jean Allefonsce was born about 1482 at Saintonge near Cognac, France.

Career

In 1534 Jacques Cartier, under orders from Francis I to discover a passage to Cathay, had visited the North American coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. On a further voyage (1535) he had followed the St. Lawrence River as far as Hochelaga (Montreal). Determining to erect the newly discovered region into a viceroyalty, the King in 1540 selected Jean Francois de la Roque of Picardy, known as Roberval, to be virtual viceroy. Roberval set forth for America perhaps in April 1542, taking Jean Allefonsce with him as chief pilot, and reached Newfoundland June 8. To Allefonsce fell the duty of exploration incident to finding, if possible, the much sought Western Passage. He entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and may have ascended the St. Lawrence River to the Saguenay. His sketch maps of that voyage appeared in 1545 in a little manuscript treatise (Cosmographie) prepared for the King. The sketches include the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the region northward to Iceland, a portion of the St. Lawrence River, and the Saguenay as a strait leading into a great sea. "I think, " says Allefonsce, "the same runs into the Sea of Cathay. " Some of the sketches relate to the southern part of Newfoundland and the New England coast with the river Norumbega. A sketch shows the coast of Florida with the West Indies and part of South America. Allefonsce, it is interesting to note, makes mention of "the Isle St. Brandon and a large island called the Seven Cities, forming one large island; and there were many persons who have seen it, as well as myself, and can testify, but I do not know how things look in the interior for I did not land upon it. It is in 28° 30' north latitude. "

In 1559 there was published posthumously his Voyages Avantureux, and from this volume we learn that he met his death in a naval engagement "with Menendez, the Spaniard, near the reef of Rochelle. "

Achievements

• Allefonsce was prominent in the European age of discovery. He made sketch maps of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the region northward to Iceland, a portion of the St. Lawrence River, and the Saguenay as a strait leading into a great sea, which have come down to us.

Personality

As a navigator Allefonsce was thought to possess unusual skill. But he was something of a corsair, adventurous, haughty, and apt to incur trouble.

Connections

Allefonsce was married to a woman named Victorine Alfonse (Victorina Alfonso).

Spouse:

Victorine (Alfonse) Fontenaud

References

• France and the American Tropics to 1700: Tropics of Discontent?
• Cartier to Frontenac