Laudonnière, René Goulaine de
Laudonnière, René Goulaine de
(rənā` go͞olĕn` də lōdônyĕr`), fl. 1562–82, French colonizer in Florida. After accompanying Jean RibautRibaut or Ribault, Jean, c.1520–65, French mariner and colonizer in Florida, b. Dieppe. When Gaspard de Coligny decided to plant a French colony as an asylum for Huguenots in the New World, he appointed Ribaut to
..... Click the link for more information. on the first French expedition to Florida (1562), he led a second colonization attempt in 1564, establishing Fort Caroline (named for Charles IX of France) on the south bank of the St. Johns River near its mouth. The colonists soon incurred the enmity of the Native Americans, many refused to work, others took to piracy, and finally most of them mutinied. Fort Caroline was in desperate straits when the English privateer Sir John Hawkins appeared in Aug., 1565, and sold Laudonnière food and one of his ships. Laudonnière was prepared to sail for France when Ribaut arrived with supplies, reinforcements, and an order for Laudonnière to return to answer charges that had been brought against him. His departure was delayed by the appearance of the Spanish. Ribaut sailed to attack them at St. Augustine, but Pedro Menéndez de AvilésMenéndez de Avilés, Pedro
, 1519–74, Spanish naval officer and colonizer, founder of Saint Augustine, Fla. He went to sea as a youth and so distinguished himself that by the time he was 35 he held the captain generalcy of the Indies fleet, which convoyed
..... Click the link for more information. attacked Fort Caroline by land and massacred most of those left there by Ribaut. Laudonnière, one of the few who escaped, finally reached France in Jan., 1566. His Histoire notable de la Floride (1586) was translated by Richard Hakluyt as A Notable Historie Containing Foure Voyages Made by Certayne French Captaynes into Florida (1587).
Bibliography
See study by C. E. Bennett (1964).