Charlotte Duplessis-Mornay

Charlotte Duplessis-Mornay (née Arbaleste de la Borde; February 1, 1550 – May 15, 1606) was a French writer of the Reformation, known for her first-person account of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and for authoring the Memoires de Messire Philippes de Mornay, about her husband, Philippe de Mornay.

Family Born Charlotte Arbaleste, in Paris, France, on February 1, 1550, she had three brothers and a sister. Her father was Guy Arbaleste II, Viscount of Melun, Lord of la Borde in 1552. In 1555 he became president of the Paris Chamber of Accounts.

She moved her family to London, Flanders, Gascony and Saumur as her husband moved. During their travels, Charlotte and Philippe befriended many prominent Protestants such as Francis Walsingham, Mary Sidney and Philip Sidney. Charlotte and Philippe had eight children together; however, only three lived past infancy. While her husband was building his career she aided him by entertaining people who came to see him: military men, courtiers, and other writers. She dedicated her life to Philippe; as a fellow Huguenot she decided it was her duty to ensure he had the time to write and convert people to become involved in the Huguenot cause.

During that time, she kept a record of all of her husband's writings, declarations, and political activities. When she received the tragic news of the death of her son Philippe, who was killed fighting with the army of Prince Maurice at Gueldres on October 23, 1605, Charlotte gave up her Memoires, which she had been writing for him alone. She put down her pen on April 21, 1606.

Death Charlotte Duplessis-Mornay died in 1606, one year after the death of her only son, after a long period of illness, exhaustion, sorrow, and near blindness. She died on May 15, 1606, of the same year she quit writing. Not long after her husband’s death, in 1623, Memoires de Messier Philippe de Mornay was published. The accounts in the memoir are about her husband, but the writing gives insight to what a great writer Charlotte was. Her husband, Philippe, wrote an account of her death, in which he claimed that she continued to affirm her Protestant faith until the day she died.