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Satanic Tomatoes and Other Weird Details Not Taught in History Class

Khalid Elhassan July 4, 2020 33 min

South Lawn - Goat — Wilson's sheep. Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum

26. From Courtier to Pirate

Another weird French pirate was Jean-Francois Roberval (1500 – 1560). A nobleman, adventurer, and buccaneer, Roberval began his career in the French army in Italy. There, he met and befriended France’s crown prince, the future King Francis I. the French royal became Roberval’s lifelong pal, and a frequent guest and hunting companion on the Roberval estates.

Moving into high society, hosting royalty, and living as a courtier was pretty expensive though, and it eventually drove Roberval deep into debt. In 1541, Francis I commissioned Roberval to establish a settlement of about 500 French colonists in Canada. However, the king did not furnish his friend with the necessary funds. So to make ends meet, Roberval turned to piracy to help finance the settlement.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.