2. Contributors
  3. Lescarbot, Marc

Marc Lescarbot
1570-1642

Marc Lescarbot (lawyer, traveller, and writer) was born circa 1570 at Vervius in Thiérache, a frontier region between France and the Spanish Netherlands, and died in Prestes, France in 1642. He studied law in France, translated many works from Latin to French, and published poetry, such as Poèmes de la paix, Adieu à la France, and La défaite des sauvages armouchiquois. Lescarbot sailed for Acadia in May 1606 and stayed there until 1607.  In 1609 he published Histoire de la Nouvelle-France. He followed up with successive editions of Histoire in 1611-1612 and 1617-1618. Lescarbot was also a playwright. His play, Le théâtre de neptune en la Nouvelle-France, is the first documented European-styled drama performed in Canada. This play took place in Port-Royal on 14 November 1606.

Source

Kirkpatrick, Katherine Sorrell. "Marc Lescarbot." New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Spring 2019. Accessed 20 June 2024.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Acadia

Archival Material

There are bits and pieces about Marc Lescarbot in Library and Archives Canada and various Quebec archives, mostly copied from the Archives Nationales in France.  You can search their catalogue to find information related to Lescarbot (but unfortunately not his own papers). 

  • Location
    Library and Archives Canada
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    R7355-0-5-F, MG18-F1
    Date Range of Material
    1610-1619
    Extent

    0.2 cm of textual records (6 p.) photocopies

    Scope and Content Note

    The collection consists of a letter to Mme de Coucy, chatelaine de Vervins, November 10, 1610, photocopy, 1 page; of a sonnet dedicated to Marshal d'Escures, 1612, photocopy, 1 page. The collection also includes a marriage contract between Marc Lescarbot and Françoise de Valpergue, 1619, photocopy, 4 pages.

Frontispiece of "Nova Francia: A Description of Acadia"

Frontispiece of Nova Francia: A Description of Acadia by Marc Lescarbot

Credit

Kirkpatrick, Katherine Sorrell. "Marc Lescarbot." New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Sprin 2019. Accessed 4 July 2023.

See the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia entry.

Cite this page

Bibliography Items

Displaying 1 - 1 of 1
Lescarbot, Marc. Nova Francia, or the Description of that Part of New France which is on the Continent of Virginia. London, England: Andrew Hobb, 1609, 319 pp. [ book ]
Collection(s): NB Authors' Archival Papers project