Nevis & St. Kitts – New Addition for our Hospitaller Museum (January 2020)
The Hospitaller Museum of the Order which is based in Nevis & St. Kitts will soon have a new and very interesting addition to its exhibits in the form of the construction which is underway for the new Governor POINCY addition.
Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy (1584-1660) was a French nobleman and Bailiff Grand Cross of the Knights of Malta. He governed the island of Saint Christopher from 1639 to his death in 1660, first under the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique and later under the Knights of St. John themselves. Poincy was the key figure in the Hospitaller colonization of the Americas.
Since our Hospitaller Museum projects and underlines the not so publicised Hospitaller influence and history in the Caribbean, this addition is indeed a very important accumulation in the historic exhibits on offer to visitors to the museum, due to Governor Poincy's central input in the history of the region. The museum volunteers, all members of the Order, have been finalising a beautiful diorama (3D miniature model, showcase) portraying as accurately as historically possible his famed estate, known as Chateau de la Montagne aka: The Fountain.
This was a 5 acre estate, described as being the most magnificent of the 17th century for all the Caribbean. Unfortunately, it was all but destroyed by an earthquake at the end of the 17th century, but was commemorated on a St. Kitts postage stamp.
On 12 January 1638 Poincy set sail for the Caribbean on board La Petite Europe. On February 20 he took up his commission as Lieutenant Governor of the Isles of America and Captain General of the French at St Kitts. He arrived wearing the regalia of the Knights of St John of Malta and soon dispensed with the authority of the French king, declaring "The people of St Kitts will have no other Governor than Poincy and will take no orders from the King of France."
In 1639 he reached an agreement with the English on St Kitts that neither nation should grow tobacco for one and a half years.
Poincy instructed one of his followers, the Huguenot Levasseur with sixty buccaneers, to drive the English out of Tortuga. Levasseur was successful, and on 6 November 1640 a treaty was drawn up between Poincy and Levasseur which allowed religious toleration and trade between the two islands.
Pointy claimed the island under the Knights of St. John, making it their 5th island territory in the West Indies. Poincy appointed Levasseur vice-Governor, who followed on the heels of Governor Hilton of Nevis, who had settled the island prior, after Nevis was attacked by Carib Indians (not Arawak Tainos who were always peaceful). It was on Tortuga that Levasseur established the infamous Brethren of the Coast. Based primarily on the island of Tortuga off the coast of Haiti and in the city of Port Royal on the island of Jamaica, the original Brethren were mostly French Huguenot and British Protestants, but their ranks were joined by other adventurers of various nationalities including Spaniards, and even African sailors, as well as escaped slaves and outlaws of various sovereigns.
You can't make this stuff up!
By 1642 Poincy started building the Château de la Montagne on his estate called La Fontaine. This was an elaborate building, credited as being one of the grandest ever constructed in the Americas, though today it is in ruins. The grounds of La Fontaine were also heavily planted with exotic tropical plants. The Poinciana (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) was named in his honor, the name later becoming secondarily associated with the Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia).
He had a Town Hall erected in Basseterre in what is now known as Church Street. This served as his administrative centre, where he dispensed justice and administered the colony.
A detailed history of this period can be read in a special book published by the Deputy Grand Chancellor - Elect and which is available for sale at the Hospitaller Museum in Nevis & St. Kitts.