Jean Corolère

Jean Corolère (after 1752) was a resident of New France, who held the position of the colony's chief executioner in the early 1750s.

Born near Quimper, France, Corolère is believed to have come to New France as a military recruit. While in prison, Corolère's cell was next to that of Françoise Laurent, a young servant who had been sentenced to death for stealing clothes from her employers, and the two appear to have developed a relationship inside the prison walls; Naomi McCormack's short historical drama film The Hangman's Bride, and Kate Cayley's theatrical play The Hanging of Françoise Laurent Nearly all such works explore the story from Laurent's perspective rather than Corolère's, often positing that Laurent was in fact the one who convinced Corolère to accept the job and marry her, although none of the original historical records establish whether Corolère or Laurent was the real architect of the decision.