When was Le Quesnoy founded?
Le Quesnoy
While not yet a town at the time of Julius Caesar, the region was occupied by the Nerviens. Near the Fauroeulx gate of the town in 1933, Roman pottery was discovered. Under the Merovingian and Carolingian, we find no evidence of a major population centre in the vicinity. However, the historian Jacques de Guise, claims that at that time the town was founded by a brave knight named Aymond, who lived around the year 800:This Aymond was Count of Faumars (Famars) and Ardennes, also by his loyalty to the king, he and all four sons tended the deep wood, where they made a fortress and a place called Carcetus,Le Quesnoy. The legendary story of the epic by Renaud of Montauban the horse Bayard and the four Aymond sons” is still known today from the Ardennes forest to the forest of Orleans). Despite this assertion, the historian Valenciennes d’Oultreman said he could be a character named Aymon: governor of Ponthieu? Furthermore, the historian Jules Duvivier would rather name an ancient Count of Hainaut: indeed, in the 8th century, portions of territories around the present town belonged to the Leudes, fellows of the Frankish kings to whom they were granted. In the 9th century, the region was occupied by the Vikings who settled there along rivers. Around the year 842 at the time of King Charles the Bald, they were blocked at Valenciennes, as the river became too narrow for their boats. Later, the land at Le Queroy became a freehold belonging to the Episcopal mass at Cambrai and by the name of</i>Noflus, latinized from Novem fluctibus.[6] Finally, 1148, the freehold was sold by the Bishop of Cambrai, Nicolas de Chièvres to Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut.[7]
Frédéric-Auguste Quesnel
He was admitted to the Bar of Montreal in 1807, set up practice there, and by 1819 had offices on Rue Notre-Dame. During that period, Quesnel laid the basis of his fortune by investing in his brother's, Jules-Maurice's, activities in the fur trade. He was also involved in various speculations that included considerable land sales. Already a Captain in the 5th Battalion of Montreal militia, this unit became the "Chasseurs Canadiens" with whom he fought during the War of 1812. Sometime after the war, he reached the rank of Major.