Henriette Campan (Jeanne Louise Henriette; ''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Genet; 2 OctoberMadame Campan, ''Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France'', 1752 16 March 1822) also known as Madame Campan, was a French educator, writer and

Lady's maid A lady's maid is a female personal attendant who waits on her female employer. The role of a lady's maid is similar to that of a gentleman's valet. Description Traditionally, the lady's maid was not as high-ranking as a lady's companion, who wa ...

. In the service of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

before and during the French Revolution, she was afterwards headmistress of the first

Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur The maisons d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur () are the French secondary schools set up by Napoleon and originally meant for the education of girls whose father, grandfather or great-grandfather had been awarded the Légion d'honneur. Access i ...

, appointed by Napoleon in 1807 to promote the education of girls.

Biography

She was the daughter of Edme-Jacques Genet and Marie-Anne-Louise Cardon. Her father was the highest-ranking clerk in the foreign office (the ambassador Citizen Genet was her younger brother), and, although without fortune, placed her in the most cultivated society. By the age of fifteen she could speak English and Italian, and had gained so high a reputation for her academic accomplishments as to be appointed reader to

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

's daughters (''Mesdames'' Victoire,

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

and Louise) in 1768, and '' Femme de chambre'' to Marie Antoinette in 1770. She was a general

favourite A favourite was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In Post-classical Europe, post-classical and Early modern Europe, early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated signifi ...

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

, and when in 1774 she bestowed her hand upon Pierre-Dominique-François Berthollet Campan, son of the secretary of the royal cabinet, the king gave her an annuity of 5,000 ''

livres Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * F ...

'' as dowry. The marriage was unhappy and the couple separated in 1790. Campan was promoted to ''

Première femme de Chambre ''Première femme de Chambre'' ('First Chamber Maid') was an office at the royal court of France. The ''Première femme de Chambre'' was in charge of the preparing of clothes, cosmetics and other things in the queen's wardrobe for the dressing and ...

'' by Marie Antoinette in 1786; and she continued to attend on her until the 10 August 1792 storming of the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was b ...

, in which she was left behind in the palace when the queen and the royal family left prior to the storming. With her own house pillaged and burned that day, Henriette sought asylum in the countryside. She survived the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...

, but after the 9th of Thermidor, finding herself almost penniless, and being thrown on her own resources by the illness of her spouse, Campan determined to support herself by in 1794 establishing a school at

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. ...

. The institution prospered, and was

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

ized by

Hortense de Beauharnais Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (; , ; 10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837) was Kingdom of Holland, Queen of Holland as the wife of King Louis Bonaparte. She was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoléon I as the daughter of his first wife, Joséphi ...

, whose influence led to the appointment of Campan as superintendent of the academy founded by Napoleon at

Écouen Écouen () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The 19th-century poet and playwright Pierre-Joseph Charrin (1784–1863) died in Écouen. The artist Loui ...

for the education of the orphaned daughters of members of his ''

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

'' in 1807. She held this post until it was abolished at the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, when she retired to Mantes, where she spent the rest of her life amid the kind attentions of friends, but saddened by the loss of her only son, and by the calumnies circulated on account of her connection with the Bonapartes.

Legacy

Henriette Campan died in 1822, leaving valuable ''Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette'' (published 1823 (posthumously), Paris, 3 vols.), subtitled ''To which are Added Personal Recollections Illustrative of the Reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI'' (); a treatise ''De l'Education des Femmes'' (pub. 1824); and one or two small

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...

works, written in a clear and natural style. The most noteworthy thing in her educational system, and that which especially recommended it to Napoleon, was the place given to

domestic economy Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

in the education of girls. At Écouen the pupils underwent a complete training in all branches of housework.

Quotes

References

Attribution: *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Campan, Jeanne-Louise-Henriette 1752 births 1822 deaths 18th-century French educators 18th-century French women writers 18th-century French writers 19th-century French educators 19th-century French women writers Ancien Régime office-holders Education writers Heads of schools in France French courtiers French ladies-in-waiting People of the French Revolution French women memoirists Household of Marie Antoinette 19th-century French women educators Ladies maids 18th-century French memoirists

Biography

Legacy

Quotes

References

Further reading

External links