Pierre-Esprit Radisson: Merchant Adventurer, 1636-1701

by Martin Fournier

Historians have been critical of Radisson and Des Groseilliers' changes of allegiance but Martin Fournier shows that they loyally served their English business partners until the political turmoil of the Exclusion Crisis against the succession of the Catholic Duke of York, Radisson's patron, forced the two Frenchmen to leave England. Radisson then worked briefly for French interests before permanently establishing the Nelson River trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1684. From 1687 until his death in 1710 he lived as a gentleman in London.

310 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001