Also known as La Maupin, Julie D’Aubigny was famous for her beautiful voice in the world of French opera, but she was also a formidable fencing master.
Bibliothèque nationale de FranceA photographic print of Julie D’Aubigny from circa 1700 .
On phase , she was have it away as La Maupin . Off - phase , Julie D’Aubigny induce so many scandals that she had to plead for a imperial pardon – doubly .
Raised on the bound of King Louis XIV ’s tourist court , D’Aubigny campaign duels , wooed lovers , and give away the law . She seduced a noblewoman in the middle of a imperial ball and dug up a all in conical buoy to pull out off a con .
Bibliothèque nationale de FranceA print of Julie D’Aubigny from circa 1700.
D’Aubigny never turned down a challenge – or an opportunity to add to her list of conquests . And although her legend has undoubtedly been embellished over the age , she remains a one - of - a - form 17th - century revolutionist .
Who Was Julie D’Aubigny?
Born around Paris in the early 1670s , Julie D’Aubigny had an unusual childhood . Raised by her father , a master fencer , young D’Aubigny learned to take a chance and campaign instead of studying more traditionally womanly pursuits .
D’Aubigny ’s sire worked for King Louis XIV ’s Master of Horse , the Count d’Armagnac . So , she expend her day with the top executive ’s pages . Royal tutorsinstructedJulie and the pages in literature and grammar .
alfresco of class , D’Aubigny commit fencing . Master swordsmen train the young girl . And at 12 , d’Aubigny could best any of the boy in a swordfight .
Jean Beraud/Wikimedia CommonsA Victorian-era painting of a woman fencer.
Jean Beraud / Wikimedia CommonsA Victorian - epoch painting of a woman fencer .
It was n’t long before D’Aubigny caught the attention of the Count d’Armagnac . When she was still a teenager , she became the count ’s schoolmistress .
To cover up their affair , the count arrange a marriage for D’Aubigny . At 17 , around the time her father died , d’Aubigny wed Jean de Maupin , a clerk . The count speedily sent the salesclerk off to rural France so the affair could retain .
Theophile Gautier/Wikimedia CommonsA 19th century imagining of Julie D’Aubigny’s romances.
But Julie d’Aubigny refused to settle for one man – or one cleaning lady . before long , she establish herself flee Paris with another lover who killed his competition in a affaire d’honneur .
La Maupin, The Sword-Fighting Singer
Parisian police chase after Julie D’Aubigny and her lover , the master swordsman Séranne . But no one know her name – or her shocking past tense – in the Confederate States of America of France .
D’Aubigny and her lover transformed themselves into journey performers . Across the countryside , they held fencing manifestation . D’Aubigny often dressed in men ’s clothes , her fortunate scroll the only clue to her sexuality . And sometimes the pair tote up vocalizing to their performance .
With a natural talent for euphony , D’Aubigny found herself offered a role at the Opera de Marseille . Opera became her Passion of Christ – and she performed under the stage name La Maupin .
Hyacinthe Rigaud/Louvre MuseumKing Louis XIV agreed to pardon La Maupin for her crimes.
But get out Paris did not mean leaving outrage behind . In the Confederate States of France , D’Aubigny fell in love with a untried fair sex named Cécilia Bortigali . appal , the Bortigali familysentCécilia to a convent .
That did n’t give up D’Aubigny . She only conjoin the convent and continued her affair with Cécilia . When convent life grow slow , the lovers localize a corpse in Cécilia ’s seam and lit the way on fervency .
Theophile Gautier / Wikimedia CommonsA nineteenth century imagining of Julie D’Aubigny ’s romances .
Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ/Wikimedia CommonsMademoiselle de Maupin posing for an artist in a 1902 painting.
The plot of land was meant to fake Cécilia ’s death so the two could leave the convent . But the plan unraveled when authority identified the organic structure as a recently deceased nun and sentenced La Maupin to death .
By then , D’Aubigny had fled once more , heading home to Paris and the opera .
Royal Pardons
On her path to Paris , Julie D’Aubigny got into a bar competitiveness . She take exception three human beings to a duel , outflank all of them . One of the men was the son of a duke . After go his shoulder joint through with her blade , she and the duke reportedly became buff .
But a destruction sentence still cling over La Maupin ’s head . So once she reached Paris , she visited the Count d’Armagnac .
The count check to speak with King Louis XIV about a regal forgiveness . Amused by the swashbuckling opera vocaliser , the king grant the forgiveness . That pass the way for D’Aubigny to pursue a life history with the Paris Opera .
Hyacinthe Rigaud / Louvre MuseumKing Louis XIV agreed to excuse La Maupin for her offence .
La Maupin took to the stage four nights a hebdomad , regaling audiences with her voice . One auditor declare that La Maupin had “ the most beautiful voice in the world . ”
When she was n’t singing , D’Aubigny found herself in red-hot water once again . Dressed in men ’s clothes , Julie d’Aubignycrasheda royal orchis . Sweeping aside three noble wooer , D’Aubigny butterfly and kissed a untested noblewoman .
The angry suitors gainsay D’Aubigny to a affaire d’honneur . She soundly vote down all of them , one by one . But Louis XIV had lately outlaw duel . Once more , she had to flee the law .
After spending a year in Brussels , romancing the Elector of Bavaria , D’Aubigny revert and beg a second pardon from the king . With a grin , Louis declared the law only ban men from duel – once again let La Maupin off the hook .
The Scandalous Life of Julie D’Aubigny
On stage , Julie D’Aubigny was just as passionate as she was off level . During one performance , she seize with teeth her lover ’s spike until it bled . In another , during the moment her character attached suicide , La Maupin stabbed herself and quarter blood .
D’Aubigny appeared in dozens of operas , often playing strong women or goddesses .
Jean - Jules - Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ / Wikimedia CommonsMademoiselle de Maupin posing for an artist in a 1902 house painting .
In one of her most celebrated performances , La Maupin played the role of an Arabian warrior princess . On stage , D’Aubigny appeared in full armor , battling the manly jumper cable . She was perhaps the only opera Isaac Merrit Singer in France who could convincingly pull off the role .
D’Aubigny had no interest in follow societal conventions . Still technically matrimonial to Jean de Maupin , she took another devotee in 1703 : Madame la Marquise de Florensac . The duo rest together for two years – the longest romantic family relationship in D’Aubigny ’s life – until Florensac died .
Bereaved , Julie D’Aubigny retired from the leg and retreated from public life history . She died in 1707 at the young eld of 37 .
History remembers La Maupin in with child part because of her singing career . But she was without a doubtfulness not the only sword - fighting bisexual in other modern France . Women like Julie D’Aubigny cave in society ’s norm loudly – and for every Julie history remembers , thousands more likely existed , veil from view .
Julie D’Aubigny was a fighter and a devotee – but above all , she chase after outrage . Next , read about thecross - dressing womanhood piratesAnne Bonny and Mary Read . And then , take aboutTomoe Gozen , Japan ’s fierce woman samurai .
