Fort Longueuil was a stone

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

that stood in

Longueuil Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly ac ...

, in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

from 1690 to 1810. Fort Longueuil was recognized as a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

on May 25, 1923. The historic site includes the

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

of the fort, which was demolished in 1810. The site extends beneath the present-day Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue Cathedral. It is one of the only buildings in Canada that could ever be considered a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

(fortified residence for a noble), and out of those buildings it most resembles the castles of Europe. This makes it unique in the country.

History

The territory of

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 ...

was divided into

seigneuries ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (o ...

in order to ensure the colony's defence. Of these seigneuries, Charles Le Moyne was granted the ''Seigneury of Longueuil''. His son, Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil, built a fort with four towers between 1685 and 1690 as his fortified residence. The fort was built entirely in stone masonry, and included a guard house, a chapel and

corps de logis In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture ...

Louis de Buade de Frontenac Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (; 22 May 162228 November 1698) was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a nu ...

and

Jean Bochart de Champigny Jean Bochart de Champigny, Sieur de Noroy et de Verneuil, chevalier (after 1645 – December 1720), was Intendant of New France The Intendant of New France was an administrative position in the French colony of New France. He controlled the colo ...

then asked

King Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

to erect the seigneury of Longueuil as a

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

, which he did in 1700, establishing the Barony of Longueuil. Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil was the only Canadian-born person to be raised to the rank of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

by a

French King France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the firs ...

. Fort Longueuil was believed to be occupied by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

troops during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. It was subsequently occupied by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. It was demolished in 1810 because of its poor condition.

Location

The fort was located in the

Old Longueuil Old Longueuil (french: Vieux-Longueuil) is a historic neighbourhood located in the borough of the same name, in the city of Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. There is not a universal definition of what exactly constitute the Old Longueuil neighbourhood, ...

neighbourhood. It was partly situated on the site of the

Co-Cathedral of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue The Co-Cathedral of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue (french: Co-cathédrale Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue) is a co-cathedral in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada, on Montreal's south shore. It is located on the corner of Rue Saint-Charles and Chemin Chambly in the Bo ...

, Saint-Charles Street, Chambly Road, the site of a

Laurentian Bank The Laurentian Bank of Canada (LBC; french: Banque Laurentienne du Canada, link=no) is a Schedule 1 bank that operates primarily in the province of Quebec, with commercial and business banking offices located in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbi ...

branch and a restaurant. Parts of the fort are visible in the Royal Bank of Canada branch through a special made hole in the floor.

Description

It measured 68 meters long by 46 meters wide. The interior of the fort included:Aveu du 17 avril 1723, in Louis Lemoine op. cit. p. 60-61 *a house 72 X 24 feet *a chapel of 45 X 22 feet *a guard house of 25 X 25 feet *a barn of 70 X 30 feet *a barn to house 12 horses *stables to house 40 cattle *a barn 30 feet squared and other necessary farm buildings

History

Location

Description

References

Further reading