ESPRIT - 4 reference results
Radisson, Pierre Esprit, c.1632-1710, French explorer and fur trader in North America. He arrived in Canada in 1651. His journals, first published as the Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson (1885), are confusing documents, often leaving great doubt as to the location of places and the time of events. The first journal tells of his capture (1652-53) by the Iroquois. Another asserts that he made (1655-56) a trip to the West with his brother-in-law, Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers, his companion on the later trips; it is probable, however, that only Groseilliers undertook the journey mentioned in this journal. On the second trip (1659-60) the two men entered Lake Superior and went as far west as the Sioux villages near Isanti Lake, the first white men to enter the region that is now Minnesota. They returned with an immense cargo of furs, which were confiscated at Montreal because they had traded without a license. This episode led Radisson and Groseilliers to transfer their allegiance to the English, and, backed by Prince Rupert, they set sail in 1668 for Hudson Bay. Radisson's ship was turned back but Groseillers's continued, and he established Fort Charles at the mouth of Rupert River in James Bay. He returned to England with furs, and in 1670 both men were back at Hudson Bay, Radisson establishing Port Nelson on the Nelson River. It was thus largely because of their efforts and Radisson's stories of the wealth of the north in furs that the Hudson's Bay Company was formed. Later Radisson returned to the French and led a plundering expedition against the English forts on Hudson Bay. He finally (1684) joined the English again and after a long lawsuit was pensioned by the Hudson's Bay Company in his old age.
See G. L. Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness (1943, repr. 1969).
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Fléchier, Esprit, 1632-1710, French writer. He was a famous pulpit orator and became bishop of Nǐmes. His principal work is an account of special assizes held at Clermont (1665) for the repression of crime, in which most of the local nobility was involved. Fléchier's manner is witty and detached; he attended the proceedings only as an onlooker.
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Licensed from Columbia University Press
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Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit, 1782-1871, French operatic composer. His greatest successes resulted from his collaboration with the librettist Scribe. Their first success together was Le Maçon (1825), and among the long succession that followed were Fra Diavolo (1830), Le Domino noir (1837), and La Part du diable (1843), witty, tuneful, sophisticated works that were very popular in their time. La Muette de Portici (1828, also known as Masaniello) was the model of the French grand opera of the 1830s.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
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