Remontrances, prophéties et confessions de femmes (1575–1650) ed. by Jean-Philippe Beaulieu (review)

This collection of pamphlets, which were originally published between 1575 and 1650, is a welcome addition to the growing library of texts by and about early modern women, newly available to the modern reader. The short texts that make up this compilation focus largely on contemporary and social issues and events, a sector underrepresented in currently available texts from the era.

The editor of Remontrances, Jean-Philippe Beaulieu (with the collaboration of Diane Desrosiers and Claude La Charité) groups the pamphlets into six sections. The first is “Voix de ligueuses,” featuring the Regrets and a Remontrance of Anne d’Este, deploring the assassination of her sons Henri de Lorraine and Louis de Lorraine, as well as the Regrets of Catherine de Clèves lamenting the death of her husband, Henri de Lorraine. The second section, titled “La Fée et la pucelle,” consists of imagined prophesies of Mélusine la prophétesse and Jeanne d’Arc. Political pamphlets written in the ventriloquized voices of Friquette la Bohémienne, Mathurine, and prophesies attributed to la Martingale make up the third section, “Bohémienne et Bouffonne.” Section four is another ventriloquized work, a repentance written in the voice of Marguerite d’Auge, who had murdered her husband, Claude Antoine. More ventriloquized documents, confessions attributed to la maréchale d’Ancre, make up section five, “La Magicienne.” Section six is titled “Libellistes de la Fronde, and includes several pamphlets by Charlotte Hénault, Renée de Monterbault-Bouju, and Élisabeth Salète.

The book features a brief general introduction; a more detailed introduction precedes each of the six sections. Beaulieu makes a convincing case for the objectives of the authors of these pamphlets. He situates them among other similar works, and documents contemporary ideas and attitudes that inform the texts. The pamphlets are followed by a list of variantes, an index of names, a glossary of abbreviations, a glossary of terms from Middle French, and an extensive bibliography. Beaulieu also includes two appendices : Requeste presentée à Messieurs de la Court […] par Madame la Duchesse de Guyse and Factum au Roy et à Nosseigneurs de son Conseil, pour Claude Scotte, dite Martingalle. It is unclear why these two documents were relegated to appendices; an introduction to them would have been welcome.

A large proportion of the texts included in this compilation were written not by women, but rather in a sort of literary female impersonation. These ventriloquized representations of women’s voices inevitably differ from women’s own self-constructions, and clearer distinctions between the texts believed to have been written by women (the editor casts doubt even on the authorship of letters attributed to Anne d’Este) and those penned by others would have been much appreciated. Nevertheless, these pamphlets underscore the significance of women’s roles on the political front of early modern France. The very appropriation of their voices in the form of ventriloquized pamphlets illustrates the importance attributed to women’s point of view, their opinions, and their ability to influence events, even at the highest levels of government. The mocking tone of some of the documents provides evidence of the derision with which the protagonists were regarded by some, but, inadvertently, it also suggests the power that women might yield if left unchecked. This collection of pamphlets will be invaluable to scholars researching women in early modern France, particularly those active in the political arena. But thanks to Beaulieu’s excellent and illuminating introductions, as well as the rich bibliography he provides, graduate students and even advanced undergraduates will profit from this fascinating reader.