Cora Millet-Robinet (28 November 1798 – 7 December 1890) was a French agricultural innovator and silk producer. She was the author of a highly popular handbook of farming, household management and cookery, known in English as ''The French Country Housewife''.

Biography

Her father and mother, both French in origin, had farmed in the French Caribbean colony of

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...

, which had become the independent state of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. Dispossessed as a result of the Haitian revolution, they moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

where Cora Robinet, their first daughter, was born. Nothing is known of her childhood or education. In 1823 she married her mother's brother, lieutenant-colonel François Millet who, likewise born in Saint-Domingue, had recently been widowed and had come to live with his sister's family in Paris. He also owned a château and farm in

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin dialect, Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a Provinces of France, province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main histori ...

, La Cataudière in the commune of

Availles-en-Châtellerault Availles-en-Châtellerault () is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. See also *Communes of the Vienne department The following is a list of the 266 communes of the Vienne department of Fra ...

(département of

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.farmyard A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open yard adjoining a barn,Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Barn. n. and, typically, related farm buildings, including a farmhouse. Enclosed b ...

or ''basse-cour'' with its poultry, the keeping of pigeons and rabbits. The most famous of all her books, ''Maison rustique des dames'' or ''The French Country Housewife'', first published in two volumes in 1844/1845, is an encyclopedia of cookery, the country household, and many aspects of farming. Regularly updated, this work remained in print for a hundred years: the 21st edition appeared in 1944. Cora Millet-Robinet photo c 1880

In 1847/1849, François and Cora sold ''La Cataudière'' and bought the partly ruined Domaine de Pont near Genillé, which they restored and extended. François died in 1860. At some date after that Cora went to live at a smaller property, La Berlonnière, at Saint-Benoît, probably easier for her to manage alone and close to

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...

where she had contacts with publishers and was an honorary member of the Poitiers Society for Agriculture, Sciences and Arts. She was also a corresponding member of two French agricultural societies and of the Royal Academy of Agriculture in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

. In 1884, at the age of eighty-five, she was one of the first two women to be honoured with the title Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit.Jaine (2017) p. 57

Notes and references

* Mary R. S. Creese, ''Ladies in the Laboratory II: West European Women in Science, 1800-1900'' (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2004) pp. 72–73 *

Tom Jaine Tom Jaine (born 4 June 1943) is a former restaurateur, a food writer and until recently the publisher of Prospect Books. He was educated at Kingswood School (1955–1959) and at Balliol College, Oxford where he studied Modern history (1961–1 ...

, transl., ''The French Country Housewife: the first volume of ''Maison rustique des dames'' (1859) by Cora Millet-Robinet''. London: Prospect Books, 2017. * Pierre Michel, "La ''Maison rustique des dames'', ou l'édification domestique" in Stéphane Michaud, ed., ''L'Edification: morales et cultures au XIXe siècle'' (Paris: Creaphis Editions, 1993. ) pp. 105–115

External links

* Gloria Godard,
Cora Millet-Robinet, la Dame de la Cataudière
' * ''Maison rustique des dames'' (10th ed. 1877
vol. 1vol. 2
at the ''Internet Archive'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Millet Robinet, Cora 1798 births 1890 deaths French women writers French food writers Agricultural writers People from Poitou-Charentes Silk production Agriculture in France 19th-century women writers