Angélique du Coudray

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Angélique du Coudray

Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray (* 1712 or 1714 in Clermont-Ferrand , † April 17, 1794 in Bordeaux ) was a French midwife who played an essential role in the introduction of a systematic training for midwives and obstetricians .

Life

Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray was born in Clermont-Ferrand in 1712 (according to other sources, 1714) as a descendant of an important French medical family.

In February 1740, at the age of 25, she completed her three-year training as a midwife, which she had completed with Anne Bairsin, Dame Philibet Magin. She passed her examination to become a midwife in front of a committee at the Paris Ecole de Chirurgie , consisting of surgeons, midwives and other members. After 1740 she worked as a licensed midwife in Paris.

When in 1743 the status of surgeons in relation to midwives was changed, so that the surgeon's status was upgraded, they could work in obstetrics and no longer had to follow the instructions of midwives, du Coudray signed a petition together with other midwives in which the surgeons were accused of neglecting their duties. Du Coudray argued that if midwives were not trained by other midwives as a result, they would be trained incorrectly and there could be a shortage of officially accredited midwives. In order to avoid potential harm to patients, doctors were called upon to solve the problem. As a result, midwives continued to receive a solid education, and du Coudray was appointed head accoucheuse (midwife) at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris.

Du Coudray published in 1759 their treatise on obstetrics Abrégé de l'art of accouchements (dt. Summary about the art of midwifery ) that the review of a book on obstetrics of François Mauriceau was from 1668.

In the same year, King Louis XV commissioned. them to teach peasant women to reduce child mortality. He provided her with a royal certificate and a salary. Between 1760 and 1783 she traveled through rural France and shared her extensive knowledge with poor peasant women, but also with the doctors in the rural areas. During this time she has taught in over forty French towns and villages and has directly trained about 4,000 midwives. The clear on-site training was also essential because the majority of the students could not read or write. Madame du Coudray was also responsible for training 6,000 other women who were tutored by their former students. She has also taught about 500 surgeons and doctors. Through the education of others, du Coudray became a celebrity, internationally a symbol of French medical progress and through her teaching method revolutionized obstetrics and the teaching of it in what was then France.

Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray died on April 17, 1794 in Bordeaux. It is not clear whether they were in the turmoil of the French Revolution because of the support they received from Louis XV. found out, was killed, or whether she died of natural causes.

"The machine"

"The machine" of Madame Du Coudray

Du Coudray invented the first doll on which obstetric manipulations could be practiced. She became known under the name La Machine ("The Machine"). The construction cost about 300 livre (equivalent to about 4500 €). It consisted of fabric, leather and filling material. Occasionally, human bones have been used to shape the torso . The machine depicts the torso of a woman giving birth with a fetus in the uterus . The stretching of the birth canal and the perineum was simulated using ropes and straps to demonstrate the birth process.

The infant doll's head had a sculpted nose, sewn ears, inked hair, and an open mouth with a tongue. A finger could be inserted into the mouth to a depth of 5 cm. This detail was important because it enabled the midwife to put two fingers in her mouth to make it easier for the head to pass through the birth canal in the event of a breech delivery (see Veit Smellie handle ). The dolls were very detailed and carefully made. Furthermore, the opened cloths allowed the teacher to bring the doll into different positions in a realistic manner, in order to train the midwife to understand the space and feel.

The invention of a birthing machine is often attributed to the Scotsman William Smellie , but the French Academy of Surgeons decided that du Coudray had an earlier claim to the invention.

Training trips

Her first training trip took her to Moulins in November 1761 . The director of Moulins, Claude Le Nain, had already heard of du Coudray's work through correspondence and invited her to teach in Moulins. Le Nain was delighted with her arrival, supported her and invited her to stay with him. Eighty women turned up for the first hour and 70 for the second. Fewer women came during harvest time. Du Coudray sent away women who had no talent for obstetrics and worked intensively with the rest. The women paid 36 to 40 livres to attend the course. A certificate of completion was also included in this price.

Du Coudray worked intensively with her students. She first taught the basics of female anatomy and fertility, then the processes and changes that occur during pregnancy, in order to then practice the birth process. This included lectures on difficult births, twin births, breeches, and stillbirths . Follow-up care for mother and child was also part of her lectures. The courses took place six days a week, morning and afternoon, and lasted two months. The women had ample opportunity to listen to the lectures and also to practice handling the machine. The best pupils were then allowed to take part in childbirth under Coudray's guidance. In most of the cities where she offered her education, she was paid 300 livres for a month of teaching.

Her further travels took her to Autun , Bourg-en-Bresse , Chalon-sur-Saône , Limogne-en-Quercy , Tulle , Angoulême , Bourdeilles , and in 1764 she taught in Poitiers . She then traveled to Sablé-sur-Sarthe , and in 1769 she was in Périgueux and Agen . She traveled to more than 40 congregations and taught on site.

Her training was also dedicated to the increased concern for infants that were not viable and who had not been the focus of care until then. Until then, such babies were often separated from their mothers; the midwife looked after the mother, and the children were often left alone in the hallway until they died. More intensive care has saved many children.

Textbook

Du Coudray based the teaching points on the structure of her textbook Abrégé de l'art des accouchements . Its structure starts with the female anatomy and fertility, then the processes and changes that occur during pregnancy follow and then the birth process is presented. This also includes chapters on difficult births, twin births, breeches and stillbirths, as well as prenatal care for mother and child. In her textbook, she also addresses unusual circumstances in childbirth.

Images from Abrégé de l'Art des Accouchements . Edition 1777

plant

Modern reception

The maternity clinics La maternité Angélique Du Coudray de l'hôpital Delafontaine in Saint-Denis and La maternité Angélique du Coudray à l'hôpital Marc Jacquet de Melun in Melun are named after her . The streets Rue Angélique Du Coudray in Thorigné-Fouillard and Brest , the Rue Angélique Ducoudray in Dijon and the Rue Angélique-Marguerite du Coudray le Boursier in Besançon also bear her name.

The American artist Judy Chicago dedicated an inscription to Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray on the triangular floor tiles of the Heritage Floor of her installation The Dinner Party . The porcelain tiles labeled Angelique du Coudray are assigned to the place with the place setting for Caroline Herschel .

literature

  • Lisa Forman Cody: Sex, Civility, and the Self: Du Coudray, d'Eon, and Eighteenth-Century Conceptions of Gendered, National, and Psychological Identity . In: French Historical Studies . tape 24 , no. 3 , 2001, ISSN  1527-5493 , p. 379-407 ( jhu.edu ).
  • Nina Rattner Gelbart: The King's Midwife: A History and Mystery of Madame du Coudray . University of California Press, Berkeley 1998, ISBN 978-0-520-22157-4 ( online ).
  • Michel Benozio, Claire Beugnot, Sophie Demoy, Arlette Dubois, Caroline Durier, Jacques Gélis, Jacques Petitcolas: La machine de madame du Coudray: Ou l'Art des accouchements au XVIIIe siècle . Edition Point de vues, Rouen 2004, ISBN 978-2-9516020-9-0 ( summary [PDF]).
  • Mary Lindemann: Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe . CUP, 2010, ISBN 978-0521732567 , p. 126.
  • Eva Labouvie : Madame Ducoudray's courses for country midwives in Lorraine , in: dies .: Assistance in child needs. Midwives and female culture in the country (1550-1910) , Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / New York 1999, ISBN 978-3593363615 , pp. 234–241 (partly available from Google Books )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Autumn Stanley: Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology . Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick (New Jersey) 1995, ISBN 978-0-8135-2197-8 , pp. 234 (English, digitized in the Google book search).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Angélique Du COUDRAY (1712 - 1790) sage-femme. In: medarus.org. Retrieved March 11, 2018 (French).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h The King's Midwife. In: cdlib.org. publishing.cdlib.org, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  4. ^ A b c Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography . Springer, 1991, ISBN 978-1-349-12704-7 , pp. 175 ( books.google.de ).
  5. ↑ a b Pierre Bien Vault: Madame du Coudray, pionnière de la simulation. In: La-Croix.com . January 4, 2016, accessed March 25, 2018 (French).
  6. ↑ Michel Benozio, Claire Beugnot, Sophie Demoy, Arlette Dubois, Caroline Durier, Jacques Gélis, Jacques Petitcolas: La machine de madame du Coudray: Ou l'Art des accouchements au XVIIIe siècle . Edition Point de vues, Rouen 2004, ISBN 978-2-9516020-9-0 ( summary [PDF]).
  7. ↑ a b c Angelique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray's Abrégé de l'art des accouchements . In: Books, Health and History . 2014 ( nyamcenterforhistory.org ).
  8. ^ Accueil - Center Hospitalier Delafontaine de Saint-Denis. In: maternite-delafontaine.fr. Retrieved April 25, 2018 .
  9. ^ Center Hospitalier de Melun. In: ghsif.fr. Retrieved April 25, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Angélique du Coudray, inventrice . ( bienpublic.com ).
  11. ↑ Brooklyn Museum: Angélique de Coudray. In: brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved March 14, 2018 .

Web links

Commons : Angélique du Coudray  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Coudray, Angélique du
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Le Boursier du Coudray, Angélique Marguerite
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French midwife, author of a midwifery book
DATE OF BIRTH 1712 or 1714
PLACE OF BIRTH Clermont-Ferrand
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 1794
Place of death Bordeaux