Date Published:
March 2005

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

Charles de Menou, Seigneur d'Aulnay Charnisay

Charnisay, Charles de Menou, Seigneur d'Aulnay (d. 1650), governor of Acadia (1635-50), came of an old family of Touraine. He came to Acadia with his cousin Rasilly, in August, 1632, as his lieutenant, and Rasilly appointed him his successor in 1635. There followed years of strife with Charles de La Tour, who also claimed to represent the king. Charnisay, however, with superior influence at court, had La Tour's commission revoked, and in 1645 he attacked and captured La Tour's headquarters, Fort St. John. La Tour fled from the country, and Charnisay remained with almost unlimited power in Acadia. In May, 1650, he was drowned in the Annapolis river by the upsetting of his canoe. He married Jeanne Molin, daughter of the Seigneur de Courcelles, by whom he had eight children.

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 38.