THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRI IV in 1610 shifted the balance of power in the northland.
THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRI IV in 1610 shifted the balance of power in the northland. Champlain’s longtime supporter was gone, and Henri’s wife, Marie de Médicis, had little interest in New France. Champlain spent years in Paris trying to appease investors and influence the royal court. He married the twelve-year-old daughter of a court secretary to gain access to Marie’s inner circle, and he lobbied noblemen to rally behind his creation. Back in Quebec, Champlain paddled the Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, and the French River; crossed the rocky Canadian Shield; and saw the vast expanse of Lake Huron. He met Otaguottouemin, High Hair, Petite, Putun, and Madawaska Indians, among many others, and kept a promise to his Indian allies in 1615 by attacking a central Onondaga village in Iroquoia—near present-day Syracuse, New York.
