Louise Bourgeois Boursier

This article is about the midwife. For the artist, see Louise Bourgeois.
Louise Boursier

Louise Bourgeois or Louise Boursier or Louise Bourgeois or Louyse Bourgeous or Louyse Bourgeois (1563–1636) was a French midwife called The Scholar. She was midwife to the French royal family of King Henry IV of France and his wife Marie de Médicis,[1] and helped raise the art from folklore to science through her prodigious writings and her methods which were based on common sense.

Early life

Bourgeois was born in 1563 in what was then a rural area just outside Paris called, the Faubourg Saint-Germain.[2][3] Her family was wealthy. They lived near the master surgeon Martin Boursier, who for years was a pupil-assistant of Ambroise Pare.[2]

Bourgeois married Fellow in 1584 at the parish of Saint Sulpice.[3] The following is what the register of this parish register reads: The 30 December 1584, married Martin Boursier, barber-surgeon and Loyse Bourgeois.[4] They started living at Faubourg Saint-Germain probably by 1586 and definitely by 1588.[3]

King Henri IV attacked Paris in 1589; Bourgeois had three children at the time.[3] Bourgeois fled behind the city walls of Paris with her children for protection, since her husband was away in the army. She had to abandon most of their valuable possessions because there was no way to bring them within the city walls.[3]

For an income then Bourgeois took up needlework, which however did not bring in enough money to live on. Later she took up midwifery as a profession. It is possible that she learned this medical skill from her husband, or instead by going to a recently established school for midwives at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris.[2]

Career

Bourgeois obtained a diploma and licence to legally practice midwifery in 1598 when she passed the examination for that profession. The examining panel consisted of a physician, 2 surgeons, and 2 experienced midwives.[5] She then moved to the rue Saint-Andre´des-Arts with her family, and quickly built up a large practice in the Latin Quarter. As a skilled midwife, she enjoyed an excellent reputation as a professional and was well liked.[2]

Henri IV married Marie de' Medici in 1600. Their first child was due in 1601. The King wanted to employ Madame Dupuis to be the royal midwife. Marie de' Medici chose Bourgeois instead, as she had successfully assisted the childbirths of several young ladies of the Royal Court and had an excellent reputation as a professional midwife.[6] Between 1601 and 1610 (when Henri IV was killed) six children were born to Marie de' Medici, all assisted by Bourgeois. They were Louis XIII, future King of France (1601), Elizabeth, Queen of Spain (1602), Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy (1607), Nicolas Henri, Duke of Orléans (1607), Gaston, Duke of Orléans (1608), and Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, Queen of Scots and Queen of Ireland (1609). Bourgeois received 500 livres (crowns) for each son delivered and 300 livres for each daughter.[2] The average income for a midwife at the time was 50 livres.[7]

Later life

Bourgeois was ultimately awarded in 1608 a lump sum of 6,000 livres for her services as royal midwife. After the birth of Henrietta Maria, the last child, Bourgeois asked for a pension of 600 livres per year. King Henry IV agreed to 300 livres, which was considered a reasonable retirement income.[7]

In her "retirement" Bourgeois wrote a great deal and made important contributions to obstetrics. She wrote a book on childbirth practices in 1609 and was the first woman to write such a book.[8][9] Additional techniques and information were added in 1759 by her descendant, Angelique le Boursier du Courdray, who was also a royal French midwife. She in turn passed this knowledge down to poor women of her time.[8]

Bourgeois described herself as The first woman practicing my art to take up the pen.[2] She was the grandmother of Louis-Théandre Chartier de Lotbinière.

Works

References

  1. 1 2 3 Encyclopedia of World Biography | 2005 | Louise Bourgeois (French midwfe)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Louise Bourgeois (1563–1636): royal midwife of France by P.M. Dunn
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Perkins, p. 15
  4. ↑ Chereau, p. 5
  5. ↑ Perkins, p. 17
  6. ↑ Perkins, p. 18
  7. 1 2 Perkins, pp. 23
  8. 1 2 3 Anzovin, p. 115 The first woman to write a book on childbirth was Louise Boursier (1563-1636), teacher, author, and midwife to the French court for 27 years. In 1609, she wrote a book on midwifery and childbirth practices that was expanded in 1759 by her descendant, Angelique le Boursier du Courdray, who was also a midwife.
  9. ↑ Proffitt, p. 53
  10. ↑ Perkins, p. 24

Sources

Additional reading

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