Louyse Bourgeois

Louyse Bourgeois, known as La Boursier

Louyse Bourgeois (also: Louyze or Louise Bourgeois , also called La Boursier after her husband ) (* 1563 in Faubourg St. Germain near Paris ; † 1636 there ) was a midwife at the French royal court and a pioneer in obstetrics for 26 years . With her midwifery book, Marie-Louise Bourgeois replaced the obstetric textbook written in the 12th century by the first female doctor, Trotula von Salerno . By scientifically documenting the methodology of her profession, she paved the way for obstetrics from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

Childhood and marriage

Bourgeois was born into a wealthy family in the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain in 1563. Martin Boursier, a barber and surgeon and student of Ambroise Paré, lived nearby . Bourgeois married him on December 30, 1584 in the parish church of St-Sulpice , they continued to live in the suburbs in the following years.

In 1589 Henry IV attacked Paris; Bourgeois fled to the city walls with her three children while her husband served as a field surgeon in the army. Bourgeois, left to fend for themselves as a single mother, made her living by sewing lace. This did not bring her much, however, and she decided at the age of 24 to become a midwife. She acquired her medical skills from her husband's records, experiences of her own births and from court doctor Paré.

Career at court

On November 12, 1598, Bourgeois obtained the license and diploma to practice obstetrics. Her competitor Madame Dupuis, who was also the obstetrician of Gabrielle d'Estrées , had intrigued violently against it, because Bourgeois was unsuitable for the profession as the wife of a surgeon. The examination board consisted of a doctor, two surgeons and two midwives. She moved with her family to the rue Saint-André des-Arts and built an excellent reputation as a midwife. After three years of practice there, she was appointed midwife by Queen Maria de 'Medici , as she was already known through her work at the royal court. The queen had turned down Madame Dupois, the wet nurse proposed by the king, because she had also helped Heinrich's mistress with her birth.

Louyse Bourgeois helped Louis XIII as a midwife . on the world. The scene was recorded on an engraving, in addition to the king the Council of State was present with 14 people. Between 1601 and 1610, Bourgeois helped the queen with all six births. This made her a well-paid confidante of the Queen, who was with her throughout the last months of pregnancy. According to Ludwig 1601 these were: Elisabeth 1603, Christina 1606, Nicolas Henri 1607, Gaston 1608 and Henrietta Maria 1609. 50 livres was the average income of a midwife at the time, but Louyse Bourgeois received a bonus of 500 livres for each son of the king, for each daughter 300. In 1608 she was also granted a special bonus of 6000 livres. After the birth of Henrietta Maria, Bourgeois asked for a pension of 600 livres a year and received 300 livres from the king.

In her "retirement" Bourgeois wrote a textbook on obstetrics, which she was proud to do as the first woman ever. She added new knowledge to this work in several subsequent editions, and it remained the standard work on obstetrics for a hundred years. Bourgeois continued to treat women, boasting in her first book that she assisted two thousand births.

When in 1627 the young wife of Gaston von Orléans , who was also born by her , Marie de Bourbon , died of childbed fever in her first birth (the daughter survived), Bourgeois defended himself against allegations after the autopsy. Her reputation at court fell as a result, and she resorted to writing more than ever. In her public apology, she referred to her books, which had already been translated into several languages. Later books by her also dealt with anecdotes from the nursery and birthplace of the royal court.

Louyse died in 1636, two years after her husband Martin Boursier. The couple had a total of five children.

Louyse Bourgeois was repeatedly exposed to hostility: Her colleagues did not recognize her because she had a different career as the wife of a barber. In addition, she revealed valuable knowledge and secrets in her books that had been passed on from midwife to midwife in generations before. The medical profession throughout Europe thus gained new knowledge and was able to interfere in the practice of obstetrics in the period that followed. Doctors at court, in turn, intrigued against the bourgeoisie when they competed with their medical expertise. After the death of the Duchess of Orléans and similar incidents, midwives fell into disrepute and were gradually replaced by doctors as obstetricians.

bibliography

• Observations diverses sur la stérilité, perte de fruict, fécondité, accouchements et maladies des femmes et enfants nouveaux naiz , Paris 1609–1626 in several editions, A. Saugrain - the book of midwives
• Instruction à ma troisième fille
• Récit véritable de la naissance de Messeigneurs et Dames les enfants de France Paris, M. Mondière, 1626 (memoirs)
• Recueil des secrets de Louise Bourgeois (medical prescriptions)

German translations

The literary research project VD 17 lists 17 publications by Louise Bourgeois for Germany, mainly editions of the midwifery book: A completely new useful and necessary midwifery book: Darinn von fertility vnd fertility of women / premature and premature birth / condition of the fruit in and outside the womb / accidental illnesses so much the child prayer as the child / as well as the cure and remedies / together with the office of a woe mother or midwife is widely traded. (The German translation by Merian Verlag in Frankfurt 1626.) Because of the high demands on the illustration, at least in Germany publishers of the book who could produce high-quality copperplate engravings at the same time. This is how the German editions came from:

• 1619 - Johann Theodor de Bry (publisher and engraver), Oppenheim and Hieronymus Galler (printer), also Oppenheim
• 1626 and 1628 - Matthäus Merian the Elder (publisher and engraver), Frankfurt and Erasmus Kempfer (printer), Frankfurt
• 1644 - Matthäus Merian the Elder and his son Matthäus Merian the Younger (publisher and engraver), Frankfurt and Johann Aubry (printer), Hanau
• 1652 - Matthäus Merian the Younger (publisher and engraver), Frankfurt as publisher and Johann Aubry (printer), Hanau

Medical polemic: Louise Bourgeois: Protective speech or responsibility Frawen Loysa Burgeois / called Burcier / midwives ordered the old queen in France / To save her honor again the report of several Medicorum and surgeons in Paris blown out in an open truck / Attached the death of a high princely Woman in France; Translated from French into German . In: Biography News Superwomen . Merian, Matthäus (the elder), Franckfurt 1629 (French, reading sample).

literature

• Strohmeier, Renate: Lexicon of the natural scientists and women of Europe. From antiquity to the 20th century . 1st edition. German, Thun 1998, ISBN 3-8171-1567-9 .

Web links

• Publications by and about Louyse Bourgeois in VD 17 .
• GND 119410508

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see literature Martha Schad: Women who moved the world
2. ^ ^{A b c d} P. M. Dunn: Louise Bourgeois (1563–1636): royal midwife of France. In: Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition. Volume 89, Number 2, March 2004, pp. F185-F187, ISSN  1359-2998 . PMID 14977911 . PMC 1756029 (free full text).
3. ^ Achille Chereau: The six layers of Marie de Medici Queen of France and Navarre . Willem, 1875.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Wendy Perkins: Midwifery and Medicine in Early Modern France . University of Exeter Press, 1996, ISBN 0-85989-471-1 .
5. ↑ ^{a b} Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. 1000 biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 78.
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Medarus.org (French): Louise BOURGEOIS dite "la BOURSIER" 1563-1636. ( Memento from July 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive )