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Lexicon

Farming lease: A contract by which a farmer committed himself to cultivate the seigneur’s lands.

Horned animal: Domestic animals with horns.

Tenant: Inhabitant living on a land granted by the seigneur to whom he has to pay a cens.

Commune: Seigniory lot dedicated for the animals grazing.

Concession: A land granted to a colonist for him to fulfill his colonization duty of his entrusted territory.

Clear: Working on a woodlot in order to make it suitable for occupancy.

Tithe: A tax on harvest collected by the church from each parish inhabitant.

Boom: A dam made by the assembly of stakes, stilts and rafts.

Council: A parish’s business economics board.

Let graze: To let the animals freely eat on a dedicated lot.

Fief: Domain owned by a seigneur.

Master surgeon: An artisan assuming manual work with the sick and the injured that doctors do not exercise, that is, surgery.

Church Warden: Member of the parish council board.

Missionary: A religious man or woman in charge of spreading the faith and Word of God.

Piquet: Game of cards for two players, once played by the aristocracy who had made it a gambling game.

Tomcod (tommy-cod fishing): A fish of the cod family, migrating each winter from the Saint Lawrence River estuary up to the Sainte-Anne River to spawn.

Ratification: An act by which the approval of an involved participant is given to be part of a previously signed treaty.

Seigneurial Regime: The distribution and occupation system of the New France lands, established in 1627 and abolished in 1854.

Carignan-Salières Regiment: The Kingdom of France regiment formed in 1658 and assigned to New France in 1665 to secure the French possessions in North America.

Rent: A payment in kind or in money due to the seigneur by the inhabitant.

Seigniory: A land for which a seigneur must ensure the development under the seigneurial regime.

Tourte: A species of passenger pigeon living in North America whose extinction in the 19e century is due to excessive hunting.