Victorine Chastenay

Victorine Chastenay (1771–1855) was a French writer, essayist, translator and "mémorialiste". She is also known as Victorine de Chastenay.

Biography She was born Louise-Marie-Victoire de Chastenay on 11 April 1771 in Paris and died 9 May 1855 in Châtillon-sur-Seine (Côte-d'Or). Victorine was the daughter of French upper class, the Count Erard-Louis-Guy de Chastenay-Lanty and Catherine d'Herbouville, daughter of the Marquis d'Herbouville. Her brother, Henri-Louis Chastenay, was born in 1772.

Victorine spent her childhood in Paris. She received an unusually high level of instruction and care for a young woman at the time. She was taken "with grammar, mathematics, geometry, algebra, physical and natural sciences, mythology, geography, Latin, German, English, Spanish, Italian and music, without neglecting drawing or dancing."

Canoness As a young aristocrat of 14, Victorine's parents began proceedings to have her named the new abbess of the chapter of Epina. This was a coming of age event. At a formal ceremony in October 1785, the parents presented proof that their daughter was descended from French nobility on both the maternal and paternal sides, and Victorine was received into the noble chapter of Épinal. As the young Abbess, she took no vows and was not forbidden to marry, but, despite her unmarried status, she became entitled to be called Madame, a salutation ordinarily reserved for mature or married women. According to Trousson, the girl wasn't as impressed with the official ceremony and reception as she was by the ball that followed. "The ceremony," she said, "made me cry because Mom cried there; but the dance comforted me very quickly. I was suddenly the main and legal object; I had ball successes for the first time maybe, because I never danced very well or very badly." Her career as abbess was brought to an abrupt halt, however, when, on November 2, 1789, foretelling events of the coming French Revolution, the French National Assembly seized all ecclesiastical properties and possessions, and the chapter of Epinal was dissolved. ), went out to learn the latest news, she and her brother spent the time reading, drawing and enjoying the calm of the countryside. Still, the tranquility there could not dispel the fear that, at any moment, revolutionary violence would find them. Nineteen days later, her father was arrested and transferred on 14 July 1794 to the infamous prison, the Conciergerie, in Paris, where many French nobles were being held and many executed. With the arrest of her father, Victorine was released; she began a fervent letter writing campaign. thanks to the efforts of the Revolutionary lawyer, Pierre François Réal, who had argued in his favor. By this time Réal had become the object of Victorine's affection, as she explained in her memoir.

Marriage opportunities Victorine wrote in her memoirs that she had many serious suitors over the years

Isolation and death From 1816, she lived primarily in Essarois, France in relative isolation. She had lost her father in 1830, mother in 1831 and brother in 1834.

Translator

The Abandoned Village, translated from the English poem by Olivier Goldsmith, Paris, Impr. by Réal, (1797) Les Mystères d'Udolphe, Paris, (1797) Secret memories to serve as the story of the end of the reign of Louis XVI by Bertrand de Molleville (this book was originally published only in English)

Author

The Calendar of Flora or Studies of flowers from nature, Paris, Maradan, (1802) - (1803) From the Genius of the Ancient Peoples, or Historical and Literary Table of the Development of the Human Spirit in the Ancient Peoples, from Known Early Times to the Beginning of the Christian Era, Paris, Maradan, (1808) The Norman Knights in Italy and Sicily, and General considerations on the history of chivalry, and particularly in France on that of the chivalry of France, Paris, Maradan, (1816) From Asia or religious, philosophical and literary considerations on Asia, work composed and dedicated to M. le Baron Sylvestre de Sacy, Paris, Renouard-Dondey-Dupré, (1832) Memoirs of Madame de Chastenay, 1771-1815, Paris, Alphonse Roserot, Plon, (1896) Memoirs, 1771-1815: Two revolutions for one life, Paris, Tallandier, (2009)