Isaac de Razilly (1587 – 1635) was a member of the

French nobility The French nobility (french: la noblesse française) was a privileged social class in France from the Middle Ages until its abolition on June 23, 1790 during the French Revolution. From 1808 to 1815 during the First Empire the Emperor Napol ...

appointed a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at the age of 18. He was born at the Château d'Oiseaumelle in the Province of Touraine,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. A member of the

French navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

, he served for many years during which he played an important role in the

French colony The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. He was the son of François de Razilly and Catherine de Villiers, brother of Claude de Razilly and François de Razilly. Commandeur de la Commanderie de l'Ile Bouchard (Touraine)

Brazil

Claude d'Abbeville, Histoire de la mission, Louis Henri

Isaac de Razily explored the coast of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in 1612-15 near the island of

Marajó Marajó () is a large coastal island in the state of Pará, Brazil. It is the main and largest of the islands in the Marajó Archipelago. Marajó Island is separated from the mainland by Marajó Bay, Pará River, smaller rivers (especially ...

, in the attempts to establish France Equinoxiale, with his brother and leader of the expedition François de Razilly.

Morocco (1619-1624)

Issac de Razilly already sailed to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

in 1619, under the orders of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

who was considering a colonial venture in Morocco. He was able to reconnoiter the coast as far as

Mogador Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It ha ...

. In 1624, he was put in charge of an embassy to the pirate harbour of

Salé Salé ( ar, سلا, salā, ; ber, ⵙⵍⴰ, sla) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town. Founded in about 1030 by the Banu Ifran, ...

in Morocco, in order to solve the affair of the

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

of Mulay Zidan. He was imprisoned and put under chains before being released, although he had to leave many Christian captives behind. The mission of Razilly was accompanied by the first

Capuchins Capuchin can refer to: *Order of Friars Minor Capuchin The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from t ...

to establish themselves in Morocco.

Blockade of La Rochelle (1625)

Razilly took part in the

Blockade of La Rochelle The Blockade of La Rochelle (French: ''Blocus de La Rochelle'') took place in 1621-1622 during the repression of the Huguenot rebellion by the French king Louis XIII. In June 1621, Louis XIII besieged and captured Saint-Jean d'Angély, a strate ...

during the suppression of the

Huguenot rebellion The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in southwestern France, revolted against ...

, where he commanded the blockade fleet, and lost an eye there. Soon after, in 1626, he wrote pamphlets advocating commercial expansion overseas, either in Africa, Asia or America, such as his ''Articles pour persuader un chacun de risquer sur mer et trouver fonds pour la navigation''. He submitted the memorandum to Cardinal Richelieu.

Morocco (1629)

As Richelieu and Père Joseph were attempting to establish a colonial policy, Razilly suggested them to occupy

(Essaouira) in

in 1626. The objective was to create a base against the Sultan of Marrakesh, and asphyxiate the harbour of Safi. He departed for

on 20 July 1629 with a fleet composed of the ships ''Licorne'', ''Saint-Louis'', ''Griffon'', ''Catherine'', ''Hambourg'', ''Sainte-Anne'', ''Saint-Jean''. He bombarded the city the Salé and destroyed 3 corsair ships, and then sent the ''Griffon'' under reilleboi to Mogador. The men of Razilly saw the fortress of Castelo Real in Mogador, and landed 100 men with wood and supplies on Mogador island, with the agreement of Richelieu. After a few days however, the ''Griffon'' reimbarked the colonists, and departed to rejoin the fleet in Salé. In 1630, Razilly was able to negotiate the purchase of French slaves from the Moroccans. He visited Marocco again in 1631, and participated to the negotiation of the Franco-Moroccan Treaty of 1632, with the help of descendants of Samuel Pallache (see Pallache family).

Acadia (1632)

In 1632, Razilly became involved, at the request of Cardinal Richelieu, in the colonization of

. Razilly landed at La Hève, now LaHave, Nova Scotia, with 300 men and 3 monks and built Fort Sainte Marie de Grace. He took possession of Port Royal to establish a French colony and offered the Scottish settlers to buy back their lands and give them a safe trip back to Scotland.To deal with a shortage of funds, a company was set up by Razilly and some of his friends which became known as the Razilly-Condonnier company. Together with the

Compagnie de la Nouvelle France The Company of One Hundred Associates (French: formally the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, or colloquially the Compagnie des Cent-Associés or Compagnie du Canada), or Company of New France, was a French trading and colonization company cha ...

, an expedition was outfitted to sail to Acadia. The King gave Razilly the official title of lieutenant-general for New France. One of his able lieutenants in Acadia was

Charles de Menou d'Aulnay Charles de Menou d'Aulnay (''de Charnisay'') (–1650) was a French pioneer of European settlement in North America and Governor of Acadia (1635–1650). Biography D'Aulnay was a member of the French nobility who was at various times a sea capt ...

who was instrumental in maintaining the shipping to and from France. As well, he took on military tasks such as ordering the taking of control of

Fort Pentagouet Fort Pentagouët (Fort Pentagoet, Fort Castine, Fort Penobscot, Fort Saint-Pierre) was a French fort established in present-day Castine, Maine, which was the capital of Acadia (1670–1674). It is the oldest permanent settlement in New England. I ...

at Majabigwaduce on the Penobscot Bay, which had been given to France in an earlier Treaty, and to inform the English they were to vacate all lands North of Pemaquid. This was accomplished shortly before Razilly's death and resulted in all the French interests in Acadia being restored.

Death

Razilly died suddenly at LaHave, Nova Scotia in December 1635.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Razily, Isaac 1587 births 1635 deaths 17th-century French politicians 17th-century French diplomats Acadian history Governors of Acadia Knights Hospitaller