It turns out that the fate of Princess Matoaka (that was the name of Pocahontas) was far from the plot of the Disney cartoon that we all watched as children.
Not everyone knows that Pocahontas, the heroine of Disney cartoons, actually existed. True, her life was not like the one shown by Walt Disney...
"Little Mischief"
Pocahontas is the nickname of the Indian princess Matoaka, which was given by her father, the leader of the Powhatan Indian tribe. It translates as “little naughty girl” and gives every chance to call our heroine a far from modest, quiet girl. Surely, as shown in films and cartoons, Pocahontas was very active, and perhaps she often ran away from home and did not listen to her elders.
It is noteworthy that the exact time of her birth is unknown. Historians lean towards 1595 or 1596. But it has been established that Pocahontas was born in the state of Virginia, in the USA.
Q'Orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas in the 2005 film The New World
Was there a boy?
In fairy tales, Pocahontas's first love is the English explorer John Smith, who arrived in her native land. Also in the story, she saves him from captivity: when the Indians were about to cut off his head, the princess shielded him with herself.
It should be noted that the explorer John Smith really existed. And he came to the land of Pocahontas and was captured by the Indians, and Pocahontas saved him. However, nothing is known about the romantic relationship between the Englishman and the Indian princess. Moreover, researchers believe that this may be nothing more than a beautiful fiction. And there are two reasons for this: firstly, at the time of the meeting with 27-year-old Smith, Pocahontas was only 11 or 12, and secondly, John himself never spoke in his publications about a connection with the leader’s daughter.
It is quite possible that Pocahontas and John Smith communicated. And it was he who taught her English, talking about the culture and traditions of his country. How else can one explain the fact that the princess understood foreigners and even participated in negotiations between the British and Indians.
This is what Pocahontas looks like in the 1995 cartoon
Photo: frame from the cartoon “Pocahontas”
The leader's betrayal
Pocahontas and John Smith's friendship ended after he decided to return to England, wounded. Almost at the same time, the peace between the Indians and the British who arrived on their territory ceased to exist. And after some time, the Indian leader had to give up his daughter Pocahontas in exchange for weapons and people from his tribe who were captured.
Whether the princess liked this exchange is anyone's guess. There is a possibility that she could perceive her sale as a betrayal, and one can assume that she was glad to live with the British, because she not only got along well with them, but also enjoyed authority. At least many strangers dreamed of marrying her.
Rebecca's love or calculation
It is difficult to imagine how many marriage proposals Pocahontas received, but, according to factual information, she became the legal wife of planter John Rolfe and gave birth to his son Thomas. Moreover, to get married, the Indian princess converted to Christianity with the name Rebecca.
However, some historians believe that the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe could have been purely political in nature. Thanks to the fact that the Indian princess accepted the traditions and religion of the British, they became confident in their superiority, and the war with the Indians stopped. Also, the leader's daughter impressed King James I of England during a visit to London. And her brilliant knowledge of English and etiquette played a role here.
Many people are familiar with the story of Pocahontas, an Indian woman who fell in love with an Englishman, John Smith, during the conflict between European settlers in America and the Indians. In 1995, the Disney studio made a beautiful cartoon that showed the romantic relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas. /website/
Everyone knows that Disney cartoons contain a lot of artistic exaggeration. But many believed that the main events in Pocahontas' life were depicted realistically: the love between her and John Smith, her courage when she saved his life, and the tragic ending when John Smith returns to England for treatment. However, Pocahontas's real life looked completely different.
The Disney studio filmed the romantic and twisted life story of Pocahontas. Photo: fanpop.com
It is believed that Pocahontas was born around 1595 into the family of a Powhatan Indian chief. Her real name was Matoaka, although some sources mention the name Amonut. "Pocahontas" is a nickname meaning "spoiled child" or "prankster." The Matoaqui tribe is one of 30 tribes of Indians who speak Alcongin languages. They lived in Tywater, Virginia Territory.
Matoaka was a child when the British arrived in the New World. Conflicts often arose between the colonialists and the Indians. In 1607, English sailor and explorer John Smith arrived in Virginia on a ship with hundreds of other settlers. One day, while he was exploring the Chickahominy River, he was captured by Indians. He was brought to the Powhatan settlement at Werowocomoco.
Further events are described differently in different sources. John Smith himself wrote that he was invited to a great celebration, during which he sat next to and talked with the Powhatan leader. In a letter written to Queen Anne, John Smith said that Matoaca rushed to him and covered him with her body when the Indians wanted to execute him. But John Smith was known as a man who liked to lie to gain fame.
In the Disney film, Matoaka/Pocahontas is depicted as the young girl who rescued John Smith. But according to him, she was then a little over 10 years old. Therefore, it is unlikely that any romantic feelings arose between them.
"Pocahontas Rescues John Smith", painting by Alonzo Chappell, circa 1865. Photo: Wikimedia
Matoaka often visited the colonial settlements in Jamestown and brought them food during difficult times. On April 13, 1613, during one of these visits, Samuel Argall captured Matoaka to exchange her for several English prisoners her father was holding. She lived for a year in Jamestown as a hostage.
During her imprisonment, tobacco planter John Rolfe took a "special interest" in the young captive. He secured her release after she agreed to marry him. Matoaka was baptized as Rebecca and married John Rolfe in 1614. This is the first known marriage between a European and a representative of Indian tribes.
“The Baptism of Pocahontas”, painting by John Gadsby Chapman. Chapman portrayed Pacohontas in a white dress. She is baptized by the Anglican priest Alexander Whitaker in Jamestown. Pocahontas is surrounded by her family members and English settlers. Her brother Nantequaus turned away during the ceremony. The scene depicts the common belief of the time that Indians should embrace Christianity and the European way of life. Photo: Wikimedia
“The Wedding of Matoaka and John Rolfe” from the series “Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend” by William M. S. Rasmussen. This is the first known marriage between English colonialists and Indians. Photo: Wikimedia
Two years later, John Rolfe brought Matoaka to England to use her in a show campaign to obtain funding for a colony in Virginia. She was presented as a living symbol of good relations between the British and Indians. Rebecca was seen as a successful example of "savage" reform, and Rolf was praised for bringing Christianity to "godless tribes."
In England, Matoaka met John Smith. She refused to talk to him, turned away from him and avoided him. Her behavior clearly did not resemble the selfless love shown in the Disney cartoon.
In 1617, Rolfe's family equipped a ship to return to Virginia. But Matoaka was unable to complete the journey home. She became seriously ill. There are various theories here: pneumonia, tuberculosis, smallpox, according to some versions she was poisoned. She had to get off the ship in the English city of Gravesend, where she died on March 21, 1617. She was approximately 21 years old at the time. Unfortunately, the life of the real Pocahontas did not have a fairytale happy ending.
Pocahontas statue in Jamestown, Virginia, USA. Photo: Wikimedia
A more exciting film than Disney's could be made about the life of the real Pocahontas, but it would be tragic.
Matoaka, Pocahontas, Rebecca Rolfe
Pocahontas was born in 1595. in the Indian settlement of Werawocomoco (now Wicomico), Virginia, north of the Pamaunkee River (York River). She was the daughter of a powerful chief of the Powhatan tribe, named Wahunsonakok. However, in history, the English colonists called him by the name of the union of tribes that he led - Powhatan. About 25 tribes who spoke the language of the Algonquian family were subordinate to him. All that is known about Pocahontas’ mother is that she was one of the many wives of the great leader.
Pocahontas's native Indian name was Matoaka, meaning "White Feather." The real name was carefully hidden, because according to beliefs, only members of the tribe could know it. Pocahontas is the name by which the English colonists began to call her, and by which she remained in history.
In the spring of 1607 English settlers landed at the mouth of the Pamaunka River, and then the young princess saw white aliens for the first time.
At the confluence of the Pamaunka and Chickahiminy, the city of Jamestown was founded, named after King James.I (James I). By that time, the local Indians already knew about the existence of white people. In 1570-7. they had encountered Jesuit Spaniards, and they had also heard about attempts at colonization in Carolina. And so the English ships finally arrived at the mouth of the Pamaunka River. A few years before the founding of Jamestown, the British killed one of the leaders, and many Indians were captured and enslaved. So the new colonists were greeted without much enthusiasm. The Indians attacked them first, killing one and wounding several others. But still, after two of the three ships weighed anchor and sailed for provisions, the supreme leader proposed to make peace with the settlers, and as a sign of goodwill he sent a deer to the governor of Jamestown, Wingfield. It was then that Pocahontas met Captain John Smith.
One of the two ships that sailed to England was supposed to return with supplies for the settlers, but was delayed on the way; there was a catastrophic shortage of food in the town, people suffered from hunger on the deserted shore. Then John Smith in December 1607 at the head of a small detachment, he decides to leave the fort in search of food in the Indian forests. However, Smith's foray was not successful; the Indians, led by Pocahontas's uncle and brothers, attacked the expedition, everyone except Smith was killed, and he himself was taken to the capital of Powahatan, to the supreme leader.
At first, the leader warmly welcomed the new uninvited guest and treated him to a sumptuous dinner, but then the captain was taken to the place of execution, where he was to be beaten to death with sticks. At the moment when the fatal staff of one of the leaders was raised above Smith’s head, the young Indian woman and the leader’s beloved daughter covered it with herself, bending down and hugging his head with her hands, saving him from the clubs of her fellow tribesmen.
The leader was touched by his daughter’s act, and left John Smith’s life, declaring him his son and friend. After this, Pocahontas and John Smith became friends and spent a lot of time together.
Smith later returned to Jamestown, taking with him provisions given to him by the Indians. Relations between the latter and the settlers improved noticeably; Pocahontas, along with her fellow tribesmen, often came to Jamestown to exchange food for tools and all sorts of small things.
In his book, John Smith described Pocahontas as a charming young girl, distinguished by her composure and bearing among all the Indians, and surpassing everyone around her in spirit and intelligence.
John Smith was born around 1580. (that is, he was approximately 15 years older than Pocahontas). His life was full of adventures. Before arriving on the shores of the new continent, he managed to fight in Hungary against the Turks (in 1596-1606). Contemporaries called him "a rude, ambitious and boastful mercenary." According to eyewitnesses, he was short and had a beard. An experienced soldier, adventurer, explorer, Smith also had a quick pen and a rich imagination. It was he who wrote the first known description of an English settlement in the New World through the eyes of an eyewitness - “A True Narrative of the Remarkable Events in Virginia since the Founding of this Colony,” 1908. in this book, however, Pocahontas is not mentioned. Smith told about how the Indian princess saved his life only in 1616. in a letter to Queen Anne, just then Pocahontas arrived in England, and then repeated his story in his book "The Big Story", published in 1624.
Since 1860 History scholars disagree about the veracity of his story about Pocahontas. Smith could well have made it all up; his imagination worked well. Doubts were aggravated by the fact that he had already been saved by a Turkish princess before, when in 1602. he was captured by the Turks in Hungary. Karen Kupperman suggests that he "described events that occurred several decades earlier" when telling the story of Pocahontas. Various theories suggest that Smith may have misunderstood an incident he had while visiting Pocahontas's father. He may have undergone a tribal ritual intended to symbolize his death and rebirth as a member of the tribe. David A. Price notes that about ritualsPowhatanLittle is known, and there is no evidence of similar rituals among other North American tribes.
However, historian J.E.O. Leo LeMay noted in his 1992 book that since Smith had written books before that were primarily geographical and ethnographic in content, he had no reason to subsequently rewrite the story of Pocahontas.
One way or another, in Smith’s account, Pocahontas became a real good angel for the English colonists. Thanks to her help, relations with the Indians improved for some time. The princess visited the fort often and maintained a relationship with John Smith. She even saved his life again by warning him that the leader wanted to attack the city again.
However, in 1609 Smith suffered a mysterious accident, was seriously injured by a black powder explosion and was forced to return to England. Pocahontas was told that he died. Relations between the Indians and the settlers rapidly deteriorated, mutual hostility grew, and more and more frequent clashes began, although this did not affect the trade in basic necessities. In the autumn of 1609 The supreme leader of the tribal union gives the order to attack the newly arrived settlers in Werawocomoco, during the clash the latter killed about 60 people.
In April 1610 Pocahontas marries her fellow tribesman, the young military leader Kokum, and goes to live in an Indian settlement on the Potomac River. Living in the village, she still maintained contact with the British. Little is known about this period of Pocahontas’ life, as well as about the fate of her husband. Perhaps he died in one of the clashes with the English colonists.
Captain Samuel Argall, who lived in Jamestown, planned to kidnap the princess in order to force her father to return English prisoners in exchange for his daughter, as well as return the stolen weapons and pay a ransom in grain and corn. The captain carried out his plan in 1612. The chief sent part of the ransom and asked that his daughter be treated well.
So, for some time Pocahontas lived in Jamestown, then in 1613. she was sent to the settlement of Henrico, of which Thomas Dale was governor. The governor entrusted the Indian woman to the care of Pastor Alexander Whitaker. Thanks to the pastor, Pocahontas learned English and began to become acquainted with the Christian faith.
At the same time, in July 1613. she meets colonist John Rolfe, who plays a significant role in her life. Rolf was rich and respected, and was also known as a successful tobacco planter.
At the end of 1613, having received the entire ransom, the British returned the princess home, but in the name of making peace, the father and great leader of his people decides to marry Pocahontas to an Englishman, this man was John Rolfe. However, Rolf was a pious man, he did not accept a marriage to an Indian princess, and he agonized over the potential moral consequences of marrying a pagan. In a long letter to the governor, he expressed both his love for her and his faith, he wrote that he would save her soul. Pocahontas's own feelings about Rolf and marriage are unknown. But still, Pocahontas, already familiar with the basics of the Christian religion, accepts a new faith.
In 1614 In Jamestown, the English priest Alexander Whitaker baptized the Indian princess, giving her the name Rebecca. This name was not given to her by chance; it was taken from the Bible and belonged to a girl with dark skin, who became the mother of children who united two nations. For John Rolfe this was already the second marriage.
John Rolfe and his wife Sarah sailed from England to Jamestown, but on the way they were overtaken by a storm and thrown into Bermuda. While in Bermuda, Sarah gave birth to a girl, but both Rolf's wife and his newborn daughter soon died. There, in Bermuda, Rolf picked up local tobacco grains, and, sailing to Virginia in 1612, crossed them with local and coarser varieties. The resulting hybrid gained enormous popularity in England, and the export of tobacco ensured the financial well-being of the colony for a long time. Of course, John Rolfe became one of the most revered residents of Jamestown. The tobacco plantation he owned was called Bermuda Hundred.
April 5, 1614 28-year-old widower John Rolfe and the Indian princess got married. The bride's relatives were at the wedding - her uncle and brothers.
Leader Powhatan himself was not at the celebration, but sent a pearl necklace as a gift for his beloved daughter.
January 30, 1615 Rebecca gave birth to a son, the boy was named Thomas, in honor of the governor. The descendants of Pocahontas were called “Red Rolfs” in the United States.
In 1616 in his Narrative of Virginia, Rolfe describes several years as “blessed” for the inhabitants of the colony. Thanks to this largely political marriage, peace reigned between the Jamestownians and the Indians for 8 years. This short period of time was enough for the colony to strengthen and gain a solid economic basis - the tobacco trade. This was the only acceptable competitive product that the small colony of Jamestown could supply to Europe. It was necessary to conquer the English market; this was the only way the colonists could stay afloat in the future, perhaps even count on profit. To do this, it was necessary to obtain an audience with the king and obtain permission to trade. For this purpose, in the spring of 1616. Governor Thomas Dale set out for England, reaching first Plymouth and then going to London. In order to impress and attract public attention to the life of the colony, he took with him Princess Pocahontas and about eleven natives of the Powhatan tribe, including a holy man named Tomokomo. Mrs. Rebecca Rolf was accompanied by her husband and son. On July 12th, when the ship arrived in Plymouth, it was there that she learned that John Smith was alive and living in London. During her stay in England, John Smith wrote a letter to Queen Anne, in which he told the story of his miraculous salvation and in every possible way extolled the positive role of Pocahontas in the fate of the colony.
It was also he who asked the queen that Pocahontas be accepted as a person of royal blood. And indeed, the Indian princess was a stunning success in London.
In 1617 she and Tomokomo were presented to King JamesIand Queen Anne at Banqueting House in the Palace of Whitehall during Ben Jonson's masque performance of The Vision of the Rapture. King James (James) was so uninviting that none of the Indian guests realized who they had met until it was explained to them later.
For some time, Pocahontas and Rolf lived in the suburbs of Brentford, Middlesex and in Rolf's family home of Norfolk. At the beginning of 1617.Pocahontas and John Smith met again. Sources disagree on the circumstances under which this meeting took place. It is only known that after meeting with Smith, Pocahontas spoke about the words of her father, when everyone thought that Smith was dead, her father told Tomokomo to look for Smith because white people lie.
Seven months after arriving in England, John Rolfe, thanks to his wife, received the necessary support to sell the goods. In March 1617 The Rolf family began to prepare to go home to Virginia, but when the ship just approached Gravesend, Rebecca fell ill on the Thames River, either with a cold or pneumonia, some sources indicate tuberculosis or smallpox.
March 21, 1617 At the age of 22, Pocahontas died and was buried in the chapel of the town church in Gravesend, Kent, England. In her last days, she reassured her husband: “... everything must go away someday, it’s enough that our son is alive...”.
Pocahontas's father, Chief Powhatan, died the following spring of 1618, and relations between the colonists and the Indians deteriorated completely and irrevocably.Cities were built during this time And . In summer. The Legislative Assembly, the House of Burgesses, met in Jamestown. House of Burgesses), the first democratically elected body in the New World.Jamestown, meanwhile, flourished.
After spending several years in England, John Rolfe returned to Jamestown, where he continued to successfully cultivate tobacco. In 1619, he was one of the first to use the labor of black slaves on the plantation; in general, he was a progressive-minded person for his time and, as a result, forever entered the history of the tobacco industry and the history of America. Also in 1619, Jamestown became the state capitalVirginia. However, in 1676, the city was practically destroyed during one of the largest Indian uprisings in American history, the Baconis Rebellion, after which it fell into relative decline and in 1698 lost its status as the state capital.
In 1622, the Indians, under the leadership of a new leader Opekankanohomaattacked Jamestown and killed about 350 settlers. The British responded to aggression with aggression. Even during the lifetime of Pocahontas's peers, the Indians living in Virginia were almost completely exterminated and scattered throughout America, and their lands were given to the colonists. Soon, similar methods of treating Native Americans spread throughout the continent.
Pocahontas' son, Thomas Rolfe, was raised in England under the care of his uncle, Henry Rolfe. However, at age 20, he returned to his mother's homeland, became an officer in the local militia, and commanded a frontier fort on the James River.
Through this son, Pocahontas has many living descendants. Many First Families of Virginia trace their roots to Pocahontas and tribal leader Powhatan, including such notables as Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson; George Wiese Randolph; Admiral Richard Beard; Virginia Governor Harry Flood Beard; fashion designer and socialite Pauline de Rothschild; former First Lady Nancy Reagan; actor Glenn Strange; and astronomer and mathematician Percival Lowell.
John Rolfe died in 1676, the year of the rebellion, but whether he died a natural death (he would have been about 90 years old) or was killed during a massacre committed by Indians in the city is unknown.
In subsequent years, the story of Pocahontas, Captain Smith and John Rolfe gradually became one of the favorite Virginian and then all-American myths. Many people in Virginia and beyond are descended from Pocahontas, and references to her and her descendants appear in many literary works. Here is what Mine Reed writes, for example, in the novel “Osceola, Chief of the Seminoles”: “There is an admixture of Indian blood in my veins, since my father belonged to the Randolph family of the Roanoke River and traced his descent from Princess Pocahontas. He was proud of his Indian ancestry - he almost boasted of this. Perhaps it will seem strange to a European, but it is known that in America whites who have Indian ancestors are proud of their origins. Being a mestizo is not considered a shame, especially if a descendant of the natives has a decent fortune. the nobility and greatness of the Indians are less convincing than the simple fact that we are not ashamed to recognize them as our ancestors. Hundreds of white families claim to be descended from the Virginia princess. If their claims are true, then the beautiful Pocahontas was a priceless treasure for her husband."
The image of Pocahontas still adorns the flag and seal of the city of Henrico.
Well, after cinema was invented, the myth of Pocahontas - the Indian woman who helped the pale-faced - was repeatedly captured on film in different versions. The first film about Pocahontas was the silent film of the same name in 1910, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953) was filmed in the middle of the century. In 1995, the Walt Disney Company's full-length animated film "Pocahontas" was released, which depicts a fictional love affair between Pocahontas and John Smith. The sequel, Pocahontas II: Ride to a New World, depicts her meeting John Rolfe and traveling to England. Also in the same 1995, a second feature film based on her life, Pocahontas: The Legend, was released. The latest project currently listed is Terence Malick .
Thanks to colorful Disney cartoons, the whole world knows the story of the Indian princess Pocahontas and her two lovers - Captain Smith and John Rolfe. However, was everything really like that, or did the creators of the cartoon and films about the Indian princess embellish the truth too much? And why did Pocahontas choose John Rolfe over his namesake Smith? To understand all this, it is worth learning more about the fate of Mr. Rolfe, as well as about the actor Christian Bale and other performers of this role.
The real story of Pocahontas
The Indian princess Pocahontas actually had a slightly different name - Matoaka. She was originally from the Powhatans (Powhatens) and was the daughter of Heleva - one of the many wives of the leader of the tribal union - Powhatan. Although the head of the tribal union had more than 80 children, Matoaka was his favorite, so he often followed her whims. Perhaps that is why the British called her Pocahontas - “prankster”, “mistress”.
It is believed that Matoaka was born in 1594-1595. in the Indian village of Werawocomoco (present-day Wicomico) near the Pamaunka River (now York River). Nothing is known about her early years.
In 1607, white people established the settlement of Jamestown on Powhatan lands. That's how John Smith came here. Being 15 years older than Pocahontas, he managed to visit a lot of places. Smith was a traveler and adventurer who took part in several wars. For the leader's daughter, who had never been anywhere in particular, a man like John was exotic, it is not surprising that she immediately fell in love with him.
When the Indians tried to kill John Smith and his men, who had wandered into the lands of the Redskins in search of food, the girl shielded the pale-faced captain and thereby saved his life. Later, thanks to her, the colonists' relations with the Indians improved, which helped them survive their first winter in new lands.
John Smith spent another year in Jamestown, and all this time he maintained a close acquaintance with the Indian princess, who became a real blessing for the colonists. How close their relationship was - history is silent.
In the fall of 1609, Captain Smith was seriously wounded and sent home to England, and Pocahontas was informed that he had died. Some historians believe that this was the idea of Smith himself, who thus wanted to end a protracted romance with a beautiful savage.
Some accuse John Smith of lying to gain attention, since the brave captain never mentioned this romantic story before Matoaka arrived in Britain in 1616. In addition, his memoirs featured a similar story about the hero’s rescue by the daughter of the Turkish Sultan.
On the other hand, it cannot be denied that with Smith’s departure, relations between the Indians and the inhabitants of Jamestown worsened, which means that he had a certain influence on their princess. In addition, only Smith's story can explain why the British later kidnapped the girl and blackmailed the Powhatan leader with her in order to end the war with them.
After holding Pocahontas captive for several months, the colonists realized that by marrying her to one of the settlers, they could achieve eternal peace with the Indians. But for this you need a suitable candidate. It was John Rolfe.
Biography of John Rolfe
This man was born in 1585 in Hechem. Unlike Smith, he was not a seeker of adventure and military glory. Rolf was more of a hard-headed entrepreneur who became famous through the tobacco trade.
At that time, the struggle for a monopoly on the tobacco trade market began in Europe. Since the British climate was unfavorable for growing this plant, it became necessary to develop new lands for this in America. Among those who went into this business was young John Rolfe.
Together with his pregnant wife Sarah Hacker, he went to Jamestown in 1609 to settle there and establish a tobacco supply. However, due to bad weather, the Rolfs were stranded. During this period, Sarah gave birth to a daughter, but John's wife and daughter soon died.
However, the widower did not give up. Having found a special variety of tobacco in Bermuda, he crossed it with one that was grown in Jamestown. The new variety gained incredible popularity in England and Europe, thanks to which both the colony and John himself began to prosper.
Meanwhile, Jamestown was still uneasy because of the Indians. Only the capture of Matoaka allowed peace to be achieved for a time. For the sake of the well-being of the colony, John agreed to become the husband of an Indian princess.
Love triangle: John Smith, Pocahontas and John Rolfe
According to legend, Rolf fell in love with Matoaka at first sight and, having achieved reciprocity, married her. However, in reality, this marriage was only a business agreement, which John did not decide on until the bride converted to Christianity.
And Pocahontas didn’t feel much passion for her groom. Not because of John Smith. If the princess was in love with him, then over time this feeling went away, and the leader’s daughter married a fellow tribesman and lived with him for several years. What happened to the husband is not known; he probably died before Matoaka was captured.
For many, it remains a mystery why the proud princess agreed to marry Rolf if she did not love him. Most likely, she saw in this marriage the only chance to gain freedom.
In April 1614, the colonist and the princess got married. The bride's father did not attend the ceremony, but gave gifts through his brother and son.
A year later, Mrs. Rolfe gave birth to a son, Thomas. Thanks to the marriage, peace reigned between the colonists and the Indians for many years, and Jamestown began to prosper. However, huge royal taxes prevented the city from developing. To persuade the king to reduce them, in 1616 John Rolfe, along with his wife and son, went to England. On this trip, Pocahontas played the role of an exotic curiosity who was supposed to win the favor of the monarch.
Rolf made the right decision - his wife created a real sensation at court. However, she herself was no less surprised when she learned that John Smith, whom she considered dead, was alive.
According to legend, Pocahontas found herself between two fires: she had to choose between two men, and, out of duty, she remained with her husband.
Smith himself claimed that when they met, Matoaka asked to be called her daughter, and he praised her very much. But eyewitnesses testified to the contrary: Mrs. Rolfe called Smith a vile deceiver and kicked him out. They did not meet again, and a few months later Pocahontas fell ill with smallpox and died.
After her death, John Rolfe left two-year-old Thomas in the care of relatives while he returned to America. A year and a half later, he remarried the colonist Jane Pierce. From this marriage a daughter, Elizabeth, was born.
With the death of Matoaka, relations with the Indians began to deteriorate. According to one legend, Rolf was killed by the Powhatans in 1622, as revenge for the capture and death of Pocahontas.
The fate of Thomas Rolfe
After the death of his mother, the boy also fell ill with smallpox, so he was left by his father in England. The child managed to survive, but John did not want to take him in and left him in the care of his brother Henry. The boy never saw his father again.
It is believed that Pocahontas’ son returned to America at the age of 21, but his fate in the next 6 years is unknown. He later married Jane Poythress. The couple had only one daughter, Jane.
The last written mention of John Rolfe's son dates back to 1658, and he is believed to have died in 1680.
Film history of the character
The legend about the noble daughter of a leader who fell in love with a Briton has been filmed several times. This happened for the first time in 1953. The movie was called “Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.” In this film, the plot was built around the couple Smith and the princess, so Rolf was a minor character.
2 years later, in the film magazine TV Reader's Digest, the issue of America's First Great Lady was dedicated to the story of Matoaka. In it, John Rolfe acted as a noble man who became an obstacle to the love of Smith and Pocahontas.
In 1998, the Disney studio released the cartoon Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World.
The traditional story has been changed. Matoaka arrives in England to protect his lands from the machinations of Ratcliffe, who convinced the king that the Indians had gold. Rolf helps her get used to the new world, with whom she sincerely falls in love, and in his company returns to America, rejecting the advances of John Smith.
In 2005, the film “New World” was shot, in which the love story of the leader’s daughter was told in a traditional form.
John Rolfe: biography, filmography of the performer of this role Christian Bale
The first two film adaptations of the story of Pocahontas, filmed in the 50s, did not gain much popularity. But the film “New World” became the best of its kind.
In it, the role of a loving colonist was played by Christian Bale, already a fairly well-known actor at that time. John Rolfe turned out to be very sincere, and many believe that Bale played better than John Smith.
Christian Bale was born in 1974 in Britain in the family of a pilot and a circus performer. They moved endlessly from country to country. Already at the age of 9, young Christian starred in advertising. This actor first became known to domestic audiences thanks to the film “Mio, My Mio,” in which he played Yum-Yum. In subsequent years, Christian Bale starred a lot in costume television projects (Treasure Island, Little Women, Portrait of a Lady, etc.). Real fame came to him with roles in “American Psycho” and “Equilibrium.”
Later, Bale managed to consolidate his success thanks to the birth of Batman in the film trilogy. Moreover, Christian’s performance is recognized as one of the best in the entire history of the character’s existence.
In addition to Batman, during his career Bale managed to create many interesting characters on the screen: John Connor, Moses, Michael Burry and John Rolfe. has more than 40 projects, and he does not plan to stop there. In 2017, with the participation of the actor, the film Hostiles will be released about an American captain accompanying the dying Cheyenne leader on the way to the lands of his ancestors.
Other actors who play John Rolfe
In addition to Bale, other artists played Pocahontas' husband. The first performer of this role was the hero of science fiction films of the 50s - Robert Clark. In "America's First Great Lady" John Rolfe was played by John Stevenson. And in the Disney cartoon, Pocahontas' lover was voiced by the famous Hollywood playboy, Billy Zane ("Titanic", "Sniper").
Interesting facts
Many Americans and Britons proudly call themselves descendants of Pocahontas. However, most of them are wrong. The fact is that in the 30s of the 17th century. Thomas Rolfe's namesake lived in England. In 1632 he married the British woman Elizabeth Washington. This couple had 5 children. Their numerous descendants consider themselves the heirs of Pocahontas. But, according to documents, this man lived in England in 1642, while the real Thomas Rolfe at that time lived thousands of kilometers away in Virginia, which is documented.
And Edith Wilson - the wives of two US presidents - are considered direct descendants of Pocahontas.
Before The New World, Christian Bale participated in another project related to the story of an Indian princess. He voiced one of the sailors in the cartoon "Pocahontas".
Unfortunately, the real fate of John Rolfe and his wife Pocahontas was not nearly as romantic as shown in the Disney cartoon or in The New World. But if it weren’t for her, then there would be nothing to inspire writers and artists who created beautiful masterpieces based on her, which the whole world admires to this day.
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Last updated - July 14, 2004
Pocahontas: the wrong side of the legend
Irina,, July 2004
In 1995, Christian Bale voiced the cartoon Pocahontas, and now he will play one of the roles (John Rolfe) in Terrence Malick's new film The New World. Both the film and the cartoon are based on the same real events from 17th century American history, which center on the Indian princess Pocahontas and her relationship with the palefaces. We bring to your attention a story about these events.
Daughter leader
Pocahontas was born around 1594 or 1595 (the exact date is unknown), presumably at the Indian settlement of Werawocomoco (now Wicomico, Virginia), north of the Pamaunkee River (York River). Her ancestral, secret name was Matoaka ("Snow-White Feather").
She was the daughter of a Powhatan chief named Wahunsonacock. True, in the history of white people he remained Powhatan - after the name of the union of tribes that he led. There were about 25 tribes under his rule. Pocahantas was the daughter of one of his many wives.
In the spring of 1607, English settlers landed at the mouth of the Pamaunka River. At the confluence of the Pamaunkee and Chickahiminy, they founded a city named Jamestown (in honor of King James I). By that time, the Powhatan Indians already knew about the existence of white people. In 1570-71, they encountered the Jesuit Spaniards, they heard and about the attempts of the pale-faces to establish English colonies in the Carolinas. English ships also sailed to the mouth of the Pamaunka River. A few years before the founding of Jamestown, the English killed one of the Powhatan leaders, and captured many Indians and enslaved them. It is not surprising that the new batch of colonists were Indians They were met unkindly: they were attacked, killed one and wounded several settlers.However, after two of the three ships weighed anchor and sailed back to England, Chief Powhatan invited the settlers to make peace and, as a proof of goodwill, sent a deer to the first governor of the colony, Wingfield. It was at this time that Matoaka met the pale-faced people, who knew her as Pocahontas, which means “spoiled” or “playful.” It was then, presumably, that Pocahontas met John Smith, a man largely thanks to whom her story has survived the centuries and become a legend.
John Smith
John Smith was born around 1580 (that is, he was about 15 years older than Pocahontas). His life was full of adventures. Before arriving on the shores of the new continent, he managed to fight in Hungary against the Turks (in 1596-1606). Contemporaries called him "a rude, ambitious, boastful mercenary." According to eyewitnesses, he was short and had a beard.
An experienced soldier, adventurer, explorer, Smith also had a quick pen and a rich imagination. It was he who wrote the first known description of an English settlement in the New World through the eyes of an eyewitness - “A True Narrative of the Remarkable Events in Virginia since the Founding of this Colony” (1608). This book, however, does not mention Pocahontas. Smith told about how the Indian princess saved his life only in 1616 in a letter to Queen Anne (Pocahontas had just arrived in England, but more on that below), and then repeated this story in his book “General Historie”, published in 1624.
According to Smith, in December 1607, he, at the head of a small detachment of colonists, left the fort in search of food. The Indians, led by Pocahontas's uncle, Openchancanu, attacked the expedition, killed everyone except Smith, and he was taken to the capital Powhatan, to the supreme leader. He ordered Smith to be killed, and then the young Indian woman protected him from the clubs of her fellow tribesmen.
Researchers and historians disagree on how true this story is. Smith could well have invented it - as already said, his imagination always worked well. Doubts were aggravated by the fact that before, Smith, according to him, had already been saved by a princess, but not an Indian, but a Turkish woman - when he was in Turkish captivity. There is another version: the Indians did not intend to kill him at all, but, on the contrary, wanted to accept him into the tribe. Part of the ritual was a mock execution, from which Pocahontas “saved” him.
One way or another, but in Smith's presentation, Pocahontas became a real good angel of the colony of English settlers in Jamestown. Thanks to her, relations with the Indians improved for some time. Pocahontas often visited the fort and maintained friendly relations with John Smith. She even saved his life again by warning him that Chief Powhatan wanted to kill him again. In the winter of 1608, Indians brought provisions and furs to Jamestown, trading them for axes and trinkets. This allowed the colony to hold out until spring.
However, in October 1609, Smith suffered a mysterious accident - he was seriously wounded in the leg by a gunpowder explosion, and had to return to England. Pocahontas was informed that Captain Smith had died.
Among the pale-faced
After Smith's departure, relations between the Indians and colonists began to rapidly deteriorate. In the fall of 1609, Powhatan orders the killing of 60 settlers who arrived in Werawocomoco. Around the same time, Pocahontas marries her fellow tribesman Kokum and goes to live in an Indian settlement on the Potomac River. Little is known about this period of her life (even if John Smith was not found), as well as about the further fate of her husband.
In 1613, one of the residents of Jamestown, the enterprising captain Samuel Argoll, found out where Pocahontas was, and with the help of one of the small Indian leaders (he received a copper cauldron for treason), he lured the daughter of High Chief Powhatan onto his ship, after which he demanded her father - in exchange for his daughter - to release the English captured by the Indians, as well as return the weapons stolen from the settlers and pay a ransom in corn. After some time, the chief sent part of the ransom to Jamestown and asked that his daughter be treated well.
From Jamestown, Pocahontas was transported to the city of Henrico, where Thomas Dale was then governor. The governor entrusted the Indian woman to the care of Pastor Alexander Whitaker. After some time, Pocahontas converted to Christianity. She was baptized into the Anglican faith under the name Rebecca. Around the same time, another white man appeared on the scene, who played a significant role in Pocahontas’s life - colonist John Rolfe.
John Rolf
When John Rolfe and his wife Sarah were sailing from England to Jamestown, a storm drove them to Bermuda. While in Bermuda, Sarah gave birth to a girl, but both Rolf's wife and his newborn daughter soon died. There, in Bermuda, Rolf picked up local tobacco grains, and, arriving in Virginia in 1612, crossed it with local coarse varieties. The resulting hybrid gained enormous popularity in England, and the export of tobacco ensured the financial well-being of the colony for a long time. Of course, Rolf became one of the most respected and wealthy residents of Jamestown. The tobacco plantation he owned was called "Bermuda Hundred".
Pocahontas met John Rolfe in July 1613, after tobacco had brought him wealth and respect from the colonists. The canonical legend states that Pocahontas and Rolfe fell in love and married - with the blessing of Governor Thomas Dale and Pocahontas' father, Chief Powhatan. However, genuine historical documents (in particular, a surviving letter from Rolfe to Governor Dale) allow us to conclude that this marriage was only a political union, and the very pious John Rolfe not only did not want, but even feared an alliance with a pagan and agreed to it only “for the good of plantation, for the honor of the country, to the greater glory of God and for our own salvation" and only after Pocahontas 
accepted Christianity. For Pocahontas, consent to marriage could be a condition of release.
One way or another, on April 5, 1614, 28-year-old widower John Rolfe and the Indian princess Pocahontas got married. The wedding was attended by relatives from the bride's side - her uncle and brothers. Leader Powhatan himself did not appear at the celebration, but agreed to the marriage and even sent a pearl necklace for his daughter. In 1615, Pocahontas, now Rebecca Rolfe, gave birth to a son, who was named Thomas, after the governor. The descendants of Pocahontas and Rolf were known in the United States as the "Red Rolfs."
In his 1616 Narrative of Virginia, Rolfe calls the next few years "blessed" for the colony. Thanks to the marriage of Pocahontas and Rolf, peace reigned between the colonists of Jamestown and the Indians for 8 years.
In the civilized world
In the spring of 1616, Governor Thomas Dale traveled to England. The main purpose of the trip was to seek funding for the Virginia Tobacco Company. In order to impress and attract public attention to the life of the colony, he took with him a dozen Indians, including Princess Pocahonas. Her husband and son accompanied her on the trip. Indeed, Pocahontas had great success in London and was even presented to the court. It was during her stay in England that John Smith wrote a letter to Queen Anne, in which he told the story of his miraculous salvation and in every possible way extolled the positive role of Pocahontas in the fate of the colony. Then Pocahontas and John Smith met again. Sources disagree on the circumstances in which this meeting took place. According to Smith's notes, Pocahontas called him father and asked him to call her daughter. But Chief Roy Crazy Horse, in an authentic biography of Pocahontas on the website powhatan.org, claims that Pocahontas did not even want to talk to Smith, and at the next meeting she called him a liar and showed him the door. Whether this is true or not, Pocahontas and John Smith never met again.
In March 1617, the Rolf family began to prepare to return home to Virginia. But while preparing to sail, Pocahontas fell ill - either with a cold or with pneumonia. Some sources even name tuberculosis or smallpox among the likely illnesses. She died on March 21 and was buried in Gravesend (Kent, England). She was, according to various sources, 21 or 22 years old.
Epilogue
Pocahontas's father, Chief Powhatan, died the following spring of 1618, and relations between the colonists and the Indians deteriorated completely and irrevocably. In 1622, Indians under a new chief attacked Jamestown and killed about 350 settlers. The British responded to aggression with aggression. Even during the lifetime of Pocahontas's peers, the Indians living in Virginia were almost completely exterminated and scattered throughout America, and their lands were given to the colonists. Soon, similar methods of treating the redskins spread throughout the continent.
Jamestown, meanwhile, flourished. John Rolfe continued to grow tobacco successfully. In 1619, he was one of the first to use the labor of black slaves on the plantation; in general, he was a progressive-minded person for his time and, as a result, forever entered the history of the tobacco industry and the history of America. Also in 1619, Jamestown became the capital of Virginia. However, in 1676, the city was practically destroyed during one of the largest Indian uprisings in American history, the Baconis Rebellion, after which it fell into relative decline and in 1698 lost its status as the state capital.
Pocahontas' son, Thomas Rolfe, was raised in England under the care of his uncle, Henry Rolfe. However, at age 20, he returned to his mother's homeland, became an officer in the local militia, and commanded a frontier fort on the James River.
John Rolfe died in 1676, the year of the rebellion, but whether he died a natural death (he would have been about 90 years old) or was killed during a massacre committed by Indians in the city is unknown.
In subsequent years, the story of Pocahontas, Captain Smith and John Rolfe gradually became one of the favorite Virginian, and then all-American myths. Many people in Virginia and beyond are descended from Pocahontas, and references to her and her descendants appear in many literary works. Here is what Mine Reed writes, for example, in the novel “Osceola, Chief of the Seminoles”: “There is an admixture of Indian blood in my veins, since my father belonged to the Randolph family of the Roanoke River and traced his descent from Princess Pocahontas. He was proud of his Indian ancestry - he almost boasted of this. Perhaps it will seem strange to a European, but it is known that in America whites who have Indian ancestors are proud of their origins. Being a mestizo is not considered a shame, especially if a descendant of the natives has a decent fortune. the nobility and greatness of the Indians are less convincing than the simple fact that we are not ashamed to recognize them as our ancestors. Hundreds of white families claim to be descended from the Virginia princess. If their claims are true, then the beautiful Pocahontas was a priceless treasure for her husband."
The image of Pocahontas still adorns the flag and seal of the city of Henrico.
Well, after cinema was invented, the myth of Pocahontas - the Indian woman who helped the pale-faced - was repeatedly captured on film in different versions. The first film about Pocahontas was the silent film of the same name in 1910, and the latest at the moment is Terence Malick’s project “The New World”.
The following materials were used in writing this article:
www.incwell.com/Biographies/Pocahontas.html – biography of Pocahontas
www.co.henrico.va.us/manager/pokeypix.htm – “The Four Faces of Pocahontas”
www.powhatan.org/pocc.html - "The True Story of Pocahontas"
www.geocities.com/Broadway/1001/poca.html – David Morenus, "The Real Pocahontas"
members.aol.com/lredtail/poca.html – "Pocahontas, truth and myth"
www.pinzler.com/ushistory/pocatimeline.html – Pocahontas and John Smith, chronology
members.aol.com/mayflo1620/pocahontas.html – John Smith's letter to Queen Anne
www.virtualjamestown.org/rolfe_letter.html – letter from John Rolfe to Governor Dale
www.tabak.ru/realy/hist5.html – John Rolfe in the history of tobacco
www.krugosvet.ru/articles/37/1003773/1003773a1.htm – from the history of American literature
lib.novgorod.net/MAJNRID/oceola.txt – Mine Reed, “Osceola, Chief of the Seminoles”