Charles de Menou d'Aulnay

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Charles de Menou d'Aulnay, (b. c. 1604 – d. 1650) was a member of the French nobility who was at various times a sea captain, a lieutenant in the French navy to his cousin Isaac de Razilly, and Governor of Acadia. He was born at Château de Charnisay near Loudun in the Province of Vienne, his father being a high ranking official for Louis XIII.

Isaac de Razilly became governor of Acadia in 1632 and Menou was one of his able assistants, borrowing funds, hiring ships, and recruiting men for the regular ocean crossings to and from France for the Compagnie des Cent-Associés and a private company, Razilly-Condonnier. These companies had divergent interests at times which resulted in costly competition. In 1635, he re-established French control of Fort Pentagouet at Majabigwaduce on the Penobscot Bay, which had been given to France in an earlier Treaty with the English.

Isaac de Razilly died in 1635 and the King appointed his brother, Claude de Launay-Razilly as the new governor. Claude did not come to Acadia but appointed Menou as his lieutenant to govern on his behalf and run the company, Razilly-Condonnier, in Acadia while he ran the operation in France.

In 1647, after intense and expensive competition between the two factions which governed Acadia, Charles de Menou was named governor of the entire area. Because of his commitment to colonization, Menou's death left a thriving colony in Acadia. He is recognized as an important pioneer of European settlement in North America.