Jean de Léry (1536–1613) was an explorer, writer and
Reformed
Reform is beneficial change
Reform may also refer to:
Media
* ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang
* Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group
* ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine
*''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
pastor born in
Lamargelle,
Côte-d'Or
Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.[France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...]
. Scholars disagree about whether he was a member of the lesser nobility or merely a shoemaker. Either way, he was not a public figure prior to accompanying a small group of fellow
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
s to their new colony on an island in the Bay of
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
from 1557 to 1558. There he produced the first known transcriptions of native American music: two chants of the Tupinambá, near Rio de Janeiro. The colony,
France Antarctique
France Antarctique (formerly also spelled ''France antartique'') was a French colony in Rio de Janeiro, in modern-day Brazil, which existed between 1555 and 1567, and had control over the coast from Rio de Janeiro to Cabo Frio. The colony quickl ...
was founded by the
Chevalier de Villegaignon, with promises of religious freedom, but on arrival, the Chevalier contested the Protestants' beliefs and persecuted them. After eight months the Protestants left their colony and survived for a short time on the mainland, living amongst the
Tupinamba Indians. These events were the basis of de Lery's book,
''History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Also Called America'' (1578). Exhausted and starving, they then returned to France aboard a pirate ship.

Throughout this book, Léry describes his voyage across the Atlantic to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. On the way he encounters never before seen ocean wildlife that foreshadows many more discoveries to follow. While on the ship he and his men develop new skills of judging and navigating the winds, stars, currents, and tides. Upon arrival, Léry and his men are exposed to what seems to be an entirely new world. Throughout the body, the crew encounters a wide variety of people in an area not yet affected by European
colonization
Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
. With the main goals set at
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
, these men face many more challenges than expected, however make discoveries and encounter new things beyond their wildest dreams. Léry witnessed the Tupinamba engage in war and cannibalize their enemies.
On his return to France, de Léry married unhappily and became a Protestant minister. He endured and chronicled the
Siege of Sancerre
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterize ...
, remarking in his book, ''History of the City of Sancerre'' (1574) that his hardships in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
served him well, because he taught his fellow soldiers to make hammocks and eat anything, including shoe soles (though
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
still repelled him).
During the siege of Sancerre, a Calvinist married couple and an old woman were caught boiling the couple's dead daughter in a cauldron for food. Léry devoted the tenth chapter of his account of the siege to describing and evaluating this episode of European Protestant cannibalism. Historian
Adam Asher Duker has argued that Léry equated the residents of Sancerre with the cannibalistic Israelites of the Old Testament, and that he believed his own Huguenot community to be the worst of all cannibals, as they ate each other despite their highest understanding of the will of God.
Works
* ''L'histoire mémorable du siège et de la famine de Sancerre'' (1573)
* ''Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre de Brésil'' (1578)
Honours
In 1829, botanist
José Mariano de Conceição Vellozo published a genus of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...
s from South America, belonging to the family
Icacinaceae
The Icacinaceae, also called the white pear family, are a family of flowering plants,"Icacinaceae" At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website (see ''External links'' below).
consisting of trees, shrubs, and lianas, pr ...
, as ''
Leretia'' in his honour.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lery, Jean de
French Calvinist and Reformed ministers
French explorers
French Protestant missionaries
Huguenots
1536 births
1613 deaths
Protestant missionaries in Brazil
16th-century Calvinist and Reformed ministers
French expatriates in Brazil
France Antarctique