Jean de Béthencourt (; 1362–1425) was a French
explorer who in 1402 led an expedition to the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
, landing first on the north side of
Lanzarote. From there he conquered for
Castile the islands of
Fuerteventura (1405) and
El Hierro, ousting their local chieftains (''majos'' and ''bimbaches'', ancient peoples). Béthencourt received the title
Lord of the Canary Islands ("Señor"), named himself
King of the Canary Islands, but recognized King
Henry III of Castile, who had provided aid during the conquest, as his overlord.
Background
The Canary Islands were apparently known to the Carthaginians of Cadiz. The Roman writer
Pliny the Elder called them "the Fortunate Islands". Genoese navigator
Lancelotto Malocello is credited with the rediscovery of the Canary Islands in 1312. In 1339, Majorcan
Angelino Dulcert drew the first map of the Canaries, labeling one of the islands "Lanzarote".
[
]
Life
Jean de Béthencourt, Baron of Saint-Martin-le-Gaillard, was born in Grainville-la-Teinturière, province of Normandy, the son of Jean III Béthencourt and Marie de Bracquemont. During his conflicts with the king of Navarre, King Charles V ordered demolished all fortresses of the region belonging to supporters of Navarre, or those whose owners were unable to ensure their defense. Béthencourt's father was killed in May 1364 at the Battle of Cocherel, serving under Bertrand du Guesclin,[ and Jean was still a minor. Grainville was demolished in 1365. In 1377, the fifteen-year-old Béthencourt entered the service of Louis I, Duke of Anjou, reaching the position of squire. Between 1387 and 1391 he held the honorary post of chancellor of Louis de Valois and Duke of Touraine (later Duke of Orleans). In 1387, King Charles VI of France gave permission to rebuild the castle in Grainville.
As lord of Grainville, Béthencourt held seven parishes and rights over all the goods that crossed his land. He held Grainville as a vassal of the Count of Longueville, Olivier Du Guesclin, son of Bertrand du Guesclin. He later held it under ]Henry V of England
Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against ...
who had taken control as a result of his expeditions in France. Around this time, taking advantage of the instability of relations between England and France, it is likely that Béthencourt engaged in piracy against both sides. In 1392, he married in Paris Jeanne de Fayel, the daughter of Guillaume de Fayel and Marguerite de Chatillon.
Siege of Mahdia
In 1390 he accompanied the Duke of Touraine on the Barbary Crusade, an expedition organized by Genoese merchants to address North African piracy.[Goodman, Jennifer Robin. ''Chivalry and Exploration, 1298-1630'', Boydell & Brewer, 1998]
The proposal by the doge was presented as a crusade. As such it would give prestige to its participants, a moratorium on their debts, immunity from lawsuits, and papal indulgence.[ The Berbers realized that they could not overcome the heavier armed invaders. Tired of the oppressive heat and concerned about the upcoming winter, the French agreed to a treaty negotiated by the Genoese.
It is likely that Béthencourt heard stories regarding the Canary Islands from the Genoese, and of the presence of orchil, a ]lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...
used to make a rare and expensive dye.[Bernage, Georges. "Jean de Bethencourt, King Canary", ''Heritage Normand'', No. 31, February - March, 2000]
/ref> Here too, he again met up with Gadifer de la Salle, whom he had known previously during service under the Duke of Orleans, and who would accompany him to the Canaries.
Expedition to the Canary Islands
At that time the Canary Islands were mainly frequented by Spanish merchants. To finance his expedition he sold his house in Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
valued at 200 gold francs and some other small pieces of property in December 1401.[Descendants of Jean de Bethencourt]
His cousin, Robert de Bracquemont, French ambassador to Castile, loaned him 7,000 pounds against a mortgage of Bethencourt's estate.[
Béthencourt set sail from La Rochelle on 1 May 1402 with eighty men, mostly Gascon and Norman adventurers, including two ]Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
priests (Pierre Bontier and Jean le VerrierGuanches
The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...
who had been captured in an earlier Castilian expedition and were already baptised, and Jean Arriete Prud'homme who would assist in the conquest as a key adviser and administrator.
After passing Cape Finisterre, they put into Cadiz, where he found some of his sailors so frightened that they refused to continue the voyage. Of the eighty crew with which he set out, Béthencourt sailed with fifty-three. He arrived at Lanzarote, the northernmost inhabited island. While Gadifer de la Salle explored the archipelago, Béthencourt left for Cádiz, where he acquired reinforcements at the Castilian court, and was recognized as Lord of the Canary Islands, as a vassal of the King of Castile.[Les Grandes Découvertes: D'Alexandre à Magellan, by Jean Favier](_blank)
/ref>
At this time a power struggle had broken out on the island between Gadifer and Berthin de Berneval, another officer. Berthin spread dissention between the Normans of Béthencourt and the Gascons of Gadifer. Local leaders were drawn into the conflict and scores had died in the first months of Béthencourt's absence. During this time, Gadifer had managed to conquer Fuerteventura and to explore other islands. It was only with the return of Béthencourt in 1404 that peace was restored to the troubled island. De la Salle and Béthencourt founded the city of Betancuria (as capital of the island of Fuerteventura) in 1404.
A power struggle broke out between the two men, and his lieutenant De la Salle was forced to return to France.La Gomera
La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...
without conquering it.
In October 1405, Bethencourt landed on the island of Gran Canaria (''canarios''), but was defeated by the aboriginals in the battle of Arguineguin in the south of the island and retreated.
Probably in December 1405, Bethencourt sailed back to France, and entrusted his nephew Mateo or Maciot de Béthencourt with the government. He never returned to the Canary Islands, because of the flare-up of the Hundred Years' War in Normandy and financial problems.
/ref>
He died in 1425 and was buried in the church of Grainville-la-Teinturière.
Some of his distant family had great power and fortune in the islands. Including ''Ginés de Cabrera Béthencourt'', famous for building the Casa de Los Coroneles (House Of The Colonels) in the municipal area that would nowadays be known as La Oliva.
Béthencourt surname
To this day, Betancourt and other forms of his surname are quite frequent among Canary Islanders and people of Canary Islander descent, in spite of his death without issue, thanks to the practice of baptising the natives with his surname and to the offspring of his nephew Maciot de Béthencourt who succeeded him as king of the islands.
See also
* Roccella tinctoria
References
External links
*
History of the Canaries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethencourt, Jean De
1362 births
1425 deaths
People from Seine-Maritime
French explorers
French city founders
History of the Canary Islands
Jean