1. The Seigneurial System
New France
The Seigneurial System

2. What is the Seigneurial System?
It is the way the King of France wanted to divide the land
Land was divided into large squares
One man was given the land
This man was called a seigneur or a LORD

3. What is the Seigneurial System?
The seigneur would ask farmers to live on the land
When farmers moved there, they would divide the land even more
The farmers were called censitaires or TENENTS

6. What did the Seigneurial System look like?
The seigneury was usually next to a river
This help people travel quickly
The water also helped farmers grow crops
The seigneury looked like lots of rectangles stuck together

9. What was on the Seigneury?
You could find lots of things on the seigneury:
The lord’s house
The tenants’ houses
Farms
Roads
Windmill
Sawmill
Pier
Church
Cemetery
Land for animals to walk and eat

10. The Lord’s House
The Lord’s house and land was usually close to the water and church
The Lord’s house was usually bigger than the farmer tenants’ houses
The Lord also had a lot of land called the DOMAINE

11. The Lord’s House

12. The Tenants’ Houses & Farms
The farmer tenants’ houses were small
The land they had was usually a narrow or thin rectangle
Sometimes the land was oddly shaped because of small rivers, hills or other natural elements
The farmers used the land to grow crops
Crops were important for the farmers to make money

13. The Tenants’ Houses & Farms

14. Roads The First road was called the King’s Road
The second road was called the 2nd row
The third row was called the 3rd row
The road that came up from the river was called LA MONTEE

15. Roads
2nd row
1st ROW
MONTEE
KING’S ROAD

16. The Pier
The pier was important because boats carrying important goods could stop and leave from there
Boats that left the pier could bring goods grown by the farmers to markets to be sold
Soldiers and other people who want to communicate quickly would use waterways to get around quickly

17. The Pier

18. The Windmill
The windmill was important because it was used to grind up grains to make bread and other edible goods
The windmill would be placed close to the water where there was a chance for more wind.
More wind means the mill could work better

19. The Windmill

22. The Sawmill The sawmill would be used as a place to cut wood
The cut pieces of wood could be used to build several different things

23. The Sawmill

24. Land for Animals
The farmers would keep their animals on one piece of land, usually in the center of the seigneury
Animals could eat the grass there  this is called grazing
The land was usually called the COMMUNE

25. Land for Animals

26. Church and cemetery
The church and cemetery were very important to have at each seigneury
Remember, the people living in New France were Catholic  they needed a church
The church and cemetery were usually in the center of the seigneury
Having a church close by was important  traveling far away was almost impossible

27. Church & Cemetery

28. What happened on the Seigneury?
The Lord was in charge
The tenants worked hard
The Lord and the tenants had RIGHTS & DUTIES
Rights  what they were allowed to do and what they were allowed to have
Duties  things they had to do

29. Duties of the Lord The Lord had to: Be loyal to the King of France
Give any valuable mineral or stones to the King
Build a church on the seigneury and pay taxes to the church
Divide land for the farmers
Build roads for the farmers
Live on the seigneury

30. Rights of the Lord The Lord was allowed to:
Sit at the front of the church during church events
Be buried in the church cemetery
Tax the farmers  money or the farmers would give the Lord goods from their farms
Ask the farmers to work on his land for free during 3-4 days out of the year

31. Duties of the tenants/farmers
The tenants/ farmers had to:
Give free work to the Lord
Pay taxes to the Lord & church
Use the mill of the Lord and give him some of the milled grain
Give some money to the Lord if he sold his land

32. Rights of the tenants/farmers
The tenants/farmers were allowed to:
Sell his land or leave it to his family
Use the mills (he paid for this)
Let his animals use the COMMUNE (he paid for this)
Keep most of his profits from his farm