Anne de La Roche-Guilhem or La Roche-Guilhen (July 24, 1644,

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

– 1707 or 1710, England) was a French writer and translator.

Biography

Anne de La Roche-Guilhem was the daughter of Charles de Guilhen and Marie-Anne d'Azemar. Through her mother, she was a grand-niece of the poet

Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant (September 30, 1594December 29, 1661) was a French poet. Saint-Amant was born near Rouen. His father was a merchant who had, according to his son's account, been a sailor and had commanded for 22 years "''une ...

. Anne de La Roche-Guilhem became known for several works of fiction. A Protestant, she emigrated to England on the

revocation of the Edict of Nantes The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

(1685), perhaps via the Netherlands. Her father died without a fortune, and she never abjured from Protestantism, so she sought, unsuccessfully, for protectors by dedicating some of her works to princesses or to Charles II. ''Rare on tout'' (Rare-in-all), her comedy-ballet, was composed for the king's birthday (1677) and performed at the Hall Theatre, Whitehall, on 29 May 1677. She also translated Spanish works. Finally, settled in London, she died there surrounded by

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

friends. The circulation of her works written in England, printed in Holland, and secretly distributed in France, shows how Protestant networks worked during this troubled time.

Notes

1644 births 1710 deaths 17th-century French women writers 17th-century French novelists French Protestants French women novelists {{France-novelist-stub