Queen Anne may have sighed inwardly to hear this familiar request for more military help - yet another drain on the royal treasury. “We have undertaken a long and tedious voyage, which none of our predecessors could be prevailed upon to undertake.” They went on to describe how “we have been as a strong wall for security even to the lives of our best men,” but that without help they would not be able resist the French and Huron forces. “Great queen,” began the speech from the sachems. Schuyler believed that an appeal for more ships, troops, and arms to defeat the French in Quebec would arouse more sympathy if it came from these Indigenous leaders, who were known as sachems. It was Schuyler who had talked the men - three Mohawks and a Mahican (Nicholas) - into making the trip. Standing to the side was one of the men responsible for bringing then to England - Peter Schuyler, a colonial government official in Albany, New York. Their introductions to the queen were much longer and grander-sounding: Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row of the wolf clan, Emperor of the Six Nations and leader of the delegation (Hendrick) Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow of the bear clan, King of the Maquas (Brant) Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row of the wolf clan, King of the Generethgarich (John) and etow Oh Koam of the tortoise clan, King of the River Nation (Nicholas). Their Christian names were Hendrick, Brant, John, and Nicholas. England needed them in its conflict with New France and its Indigenous allies. These men represented England’s allies in the New World. Part of that conflict’s vast battleground included North America, where it was known as Queen Anne’s War.įocusing the queen’s attention on the war named after her was the main purpose of bringing these powerful-looking men to London. Abroad, her armies were busy fighting the War of the Spanish Succession. A succession of miscarriages, stillbirths, and early child deaths had taken their heartbreaking toll.Īt home, internal political machinations took up much of her time. She was a widow at forty-five, and she was childless, despite having been pregnant about eighteen times. Besides feeling uncomfortable, she was unhappy. Gout, obesity, and other health problems had left her essentially immobile. Queen Anne sat on her throne to receive the chiefs, which was just as well, since standing was almost impossible for her. The contrast between these “men of good presence,” as one observer of the time called them, and the ailing queen they had come to make entreaties of was especially jarring. Dressed in partial English fashion in freshly tailored waistcoats, breeches and stockings, with scarlet cloaks around their shoulders and buckled shoes on their feet, the four Indigenous leaders from the New World dwarfed their European hosts. James’s Palace on April 19, 1710, was that they were exceptionally tall, strong, and in perfect health.
What everyone noticed about the men as they entered St. These “Indian Kings” were different - they were treated like people who wielded real power. Up until that time, North American Indigenous people who found themselves in Europe were usually there under duress - as curiosities at best, as slaves at worst. Known as the “ Four Indian Kings,” these full-length colour oil paintings of Indigenous men oddly dressed in capes and tunics will be seen in Canada in 2010, their first public showing in this country in more than twenty years.Ĭreated in 1710 by an obscure Dutch artist while the Indigenous men were visiting London as diplomatic envoys, the paintings - and the story behind them - continue to fascinate us.
Tucked away in the vaults of Library and Archives Canada’s Portrait Gallery is a set of remarkable paintings that the Canadian public rarely gets a chance to see.
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