Date Published:
June 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Augustin de Saffray, Chevalier de Mézy

Mézy, Augustin de Saffray, Chevalier de (d. 1665), governor of New France (1663-5), was town major of Caën, Normandy, and the principal member of the company of devotees formed at Caën by Bernières. His piety so delighted Bishop Laval that the latter had him appointed governor of New France in 1663, believing that he would prove a willing tool in. his hands. Laval and Mézy reached Quebec on September 15, 1663, and for a time all went well. Mézy, however, in the following year, gave evidence of a strong will of his own, removed from the council at Quebec those members who were Laval's, creatures, and reconstructed the council by his own. authority. Laval preferred charges against him at court, and an enquiry was ordered. Before this could take place, Mézy died at Quebec, on May 6, 1665. See La mort de gouverneur de Mésy (Bull. rech. hist., vol. v).

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. IV, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 400p., p. 283.