The Clan Mother's War on Louis XIV

How the Matriarch of the Five Nations (commonly known as the Iroquois) avenged the kidnapping and enslavement of her Grand Council who she sent on a mission of peace to Cataraquai (now known as Kingston, Ontario), 1687-1689.

Host: Dr. Ryan Flavelle, RDP History Instructor, with Saija Clement and Jordyn Hansen, RDP students

The Clan Mother of the Five Nations, the Jigonsaseh, went by many names. She was called Lynx, Peace Woman, Fire Woman, Peace Queen, and New Face. She was the political leader of the Woman's Council of the Five Nations (commonly known as the Iroquois), in charge of maintaining peace within the Confederacy. 

In the spring of 1687, the Marquis de Dennonville, Louis XIV's appointee as governor of New France, invited the governing council of the Five Nations to a peace conference at Cataraqui (now known as Kingston, Ontario). There, he had his soldiers imprison the assembled Sachems of the Five Nations, and shipped his "prisoners" to France as slaves for Louis' fleet of galleys. In so doing, Denonville and Louis hoped to "decapitate" the Confederacy by destroying their political leadership. But, unbeknownst to them, a twinned half of the governing council, the Women's Council or Clan Mothers, led by the Jigonsaseh, took the leadership of the Confederacy into their own hands and, for two years, fought and finally defeated Dennonville, forcing Louis to return the survivors of her governing council as a precursor to peace.

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