Marguerite de Lussan
Marguerite de Lussan | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1682 Paris, France |
| Died | 31 May 1758 (aged 75) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Historical novelist |
Marguerite de Lussan (c. 1682 – 31 May 1758) was an eighteenth century French historical novelist.
Biography
De Lussan was born in Paris in around 1682.[1] It was rumoured that she was a natural daughter of Louis Thomas of Savoy-Carignano, Count of Soissons,[2][3] born from his relationship with an unknown courtesan or a fortune teller named La Fleury, the latter theory appearing to be preferred by "modern research". At any rate, the prince "took a special interest in her education and permitted her to bear his arms",[4] and she remained on friendly terms with her alleged uncle, Prince Eugene of Savoy.[3][5]
De Lussan was a historic novelist,[6] encouraged to write by the scholar Pierre Daniel Huet.[5][3] She based her writing on research that she conducted in chronicles and manuscripts.[7] She dedicated her first novel to the novelist and playwright Jean-Louis-Ignace de La Serre, sieur de Langlade,[2] an "intimate friend" and possible lover.[5]
De Lussan's work Anecdotes de la Cour de Philippe-Auguste is noted as contrasting the story of two heroines and the consequences of their responses to the diktats of their parents.[8]
De Lussan died from acute gastritis on 31 May 1758 in Paris,[2] when she was aged 75.[9]
Publications
- Histoire de la Comptesse de Gondés (1727 and 1752, 2 volumes)
- Les Veillées de Thessalie (1731)
- Anecdotes de la Cour de Philippe-Auguste (1733-8, 6 volumes)
- Mémoires Secret, et Intrigues de la Cour de France sous Charles VII (1741)
- Anecdotes de la Cour de François I (1748, 8 volumes)
- Marie d’Angleterre, Reine d'Ecosse (1749)
- Annales Galantes de la Cour de Henri II (1749, 9 volumes)
- Mourat et Turquia, Histoire Africaine (1752)
- l’Histoire de la vie du règne de Charles VI, roi de France (1753)
- l’Histoire du règne de Louis XI (1755)
- De l’Histoire de la dernière révolution de Naples (1756)
References
- ^ Biographie Universelle Classique. Biographie Universelle, Ou Dictionnaire Historique, Etc (in French). Vol. 3. Paris: Furne. 1833. p. 1781.
- ^ a b c Tinsley, Barbara Sher (30 September 2022). "Lussan, Marguerite de". In Woolf, D. R. (ed.). A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, Volume 2. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-84910-3.
- ^ a b c Briquet, Fortunée (1804). "LUSSAN (Marguerite de)". Dictionnaire historique littéraire et bibliographie des françaises et des étrangères naturalisées en France (in French). Paris: de l’imprimerie de Gillé. p. 215.
- ^ Coblentz, Kathie (15 March 2012). "The Pompadour's Book: A Mystery Manuscript Owned by Madame de Pompadour". NYPL Blog. New York: The New York Public Library. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
- ^ a b c Betham, Mary Matilda (1804). A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country. London: Betham and Ward.
- ^ Zygel-Basso, Aurélie (1 January 2010), "A Fairy Troubadour? Medieval Matter And The 'Bon Vieux Temps' In Women's Fairy Tales (1730–1750)", Early Modern Medievalisms, Brill, pp. 285–304, ISBN 978-90-04-19359-8, retrieved 20 September 2025
- ^ Wiesner, Merry E. (3 July 2000). Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-521-77822-0.
- ^ Hall, Martin (22 May 2000). "Eighteenth-century women novelists: genre and gender". In Stephens, Sonya (ed.). A History of Women's Writing in France. Cambridge University Press. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-0-521-58167-7.
- ^ Paban, Gabrielle de (1820). Année des dames (in French). pp. 212–213.