The Death of Marie-Joseph Angélique

Today is the 278th anniversary of the execution of Marie-Joseph Angélique. She was a slave in New France, accused of setting fire to her mistress’ house, and, due to the nature of fire, a decent chunk of the city of Old Montreal.

Angélique had plenty of motive. She had previously tried to escape with her lover, a white indentured servant named Claude Thibault, was captured, and then sold to a new owner in Quebec City, pending the spring thaw of the St. Lawrence River. The fire was set shortly before the river would have made it possible to ship her away from Montreal.

Historians are notoriously conflicted on the question of her guilt, but most are inclined to think she probably committed the crime she was accused of. Canadians, who like to get a little self-righteous about our nation’s moderately better track record on race relations, vacillate between downplaying the legacy of the Montreal fire and Angélique’s subsequent torture and death and trying to process it as an historical narrative. If you’ve any interest in learning more, there are a bunch of neat documents here.