Philis de La Charce

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Detail view of the statue of Philis in Grenoble , 1900

Philippe de la Tour du Pin de La Charce , better known as Philis de La Charce or Philis de La Tour (born January 5, 1645 in Montmortin ; died June 4, 1703 in Nyons ) was a French war heroine in the Dauphiné during the Palatinate War of Succession .

Life

Philippe came from the La Tour du Pin family , which was particularly influential in the Dauphiné. She was the daughter of Catherine Françoise de La Tour du Pin-Mirabel, nee de Montmorin and Pierre III. de la Tour du Pin-Gouvernet, the Marquis of Charce and Lieutenant General or Field Marshal of the Royal Army of the Dauphiné.

Philippe was raised in a noble family in Montmortin. Between 1672 and 1674 she stayed in Nyons, where she met the scholar Antoinette Deshoulières . After reading Honoré d'Urfés L'Astrée , she changed her name based on the model of one of the characters in the novel in Philis. After King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the Protestant woman also changed her denomination and converted to Catholicism.

In 1692, Viktor Amadeus II , Duke of Savoy, invaded the Dauphiné to take Grenoble . Marshal Nicolas de Catinat thwarted this as commander of the French army and fought back Viktor Amadeus II.

Legend has it that Philis de La Tour armed himself with a sword and led a quickly raised peasant army against the invaders. She is said to have been supported by her mother and sister. Legend credits her with several great victories, but historians deny that she fought more than just local skirmishes.

Through their relationships, however, they received the favor of Louis XIV for their loyal services. Philis therefore received a lifelong honorary salary of 2000 livres ; her sword and her portrait have since been kept in the Bourbon crown treasure. She has since been referred to as the heroine of the Dauphiné and compared to Joan of Arc .

Individual evidence

  1. René Bourgeois, Stephan Corporon et Vincent de Taillandier, Promenades dans Grenoble, Grenoble, press Universitaire Grenoble, 2004 ( ISBN 2706110015 ), p. 97
  2. a b c Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 288.