The Love Triangle That Brought Down Québec

A story about a colony, a thief, his wife, and her lover.

The novel written in 1877 that Madame Pean starred in is called 'The Golden Dog/Le Chien d'Or,' written by the Canadian author William Kirby (his most popular novel). The book draws on the historical background of Quebec City and "tells its story through two intertwining plotlines. The first is of the lady Angélique de Méloizes, Madame de Péan, while the second is of Coronel Pierre Philibert, the son of a prosperous merchant."

In case you're wondering why we are calling a cannonball a bomb: it's because it is a bomb—cannonballs are much smaller. Bombs like this one had explosive powder packed into a hollow core, as well as a wick that stuck out which would have been lit before it was fired from a cannon. We could have called it a cannonball, because in common parlance most people still do, but we wanted to be more accurate—kind of a lose-lose situation.

Similarly, in case this comes up in the comments: the bomb in the base of the elm tree may or may not have been moved into the position it sits today (from nearby). There are three running theories—and no definitive winner. The "most popular" is that the bomb landed next to the elm tree and has slowly been swallowed over the course of 250 years. The next theory is that the military personnel who moved into the building in 1811 placed it there to guard the edge of the house. The third, and probably the most boring story, is that taxi drivers put it there in the early 1900s for similar purposes—possibly welding a metal rod to it that sticks into the ground. Whether or not it's a glorified wheel-guard, it remains a tangible symbol of one of the most important events in the history of the country, and an object that carries the memory of those who partied away in the house beside while New France crumbled.

The Maison Pean was burned down in a fire in 1791. The building there now was constructed in 1811, and ever since then has been owned by the Department of National Defence (a glorious bit of irony for a spot that was the nucleus of the corruption at the heart of the fall of a 'nation'—New France). Today it houses the families of those serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. A bit of a happy twist to the tale.

The fortress at Louisbourg—and most of the East Coast—was lost to Britain after a 47 day siege, which ended on June 26th. Intendant Bigot was applauded by French authorities for agreeing to capitulate and cede the fortress to the British. He also made small fortune from selling everything in the fortress' storehouse to the British army.

Rue Saint Louis is a veritable walk down memory lane in terms of Canadian history. If Canadian identity were a street—this would be it. A couple of the many, many notable spots on along the road: #85 was the home of Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, the writer of the French lyrics of 'O Canada' (he stars in our first episode), and #47 is where the house General Montcalm died in used to be. He was taken there after being shot in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

Also, with a name like 'Plains of Abraham' you might assume it was called that as a reference to something biblical...it wasn't, it was just some guy named Abraham's farm before it was the most iconic battlefield in the country.

Disclaimer: The Porte St. Louis wasn't around when the Siege of Quebec took place. The stone walls of Québec did exist in the same general area. We specifically aimed to use the iconic gate to represent the walls that have since been rebuilt or destroyed.