Geneviève Poitrine, known as Madame Poitrine ( – after 1783), was a

wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...

of the

Dauphin of France Dauphin of France (, also ; french: Dauphin de France ), originally Dauphin of Viennois (''Dauphin de Viennois''), was the title given to the heir apparent to the throne of France from 1350 to 1791, and from 1824 to 1830. The word ''dauphin'' ...

, Louis Joseph, son of King

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

and Queen

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

. Poitrine was retrospectively accused of transmitting

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

to the infant prince, thus inadvertently causing his death, aged seven years; this meant that his younger brother Louis Charles became

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

. The word ''poitrine'' translates to "

chest The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the crea ...

" or "bosom", and her married name of Madame Poitrine was remarked upon by contemporaries as being appropriate for her duties.

Biography

Geneviève Barbier was born in about 1750 into a peasant family. She married a gardener from Sceaux, and taking his name was thereafter known as Madame Poitrine.Histoire de Versailles, de Ses Rues, Places Et Avenues Depuis l'Origine de Cette Ville Tome 1 (French Edition) (French) Paperback – February 28, 2018 by Le Roi-J-A (Author:
Joseph Adrien Le Roi, 1797-1873))Histoire de Versailles, de Ses Rues, Places Et Avenues Depuis L'Origine de Cette Ville Tome 2: Jusqu'a Nos Jours. (Author:
Joseph Adrien Le Roi, 1797-1873)) ''Poitrine'' is French for "chest" or "bosom", and this example of

nominative determinism Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names. The term was first used in the magazine ''New Scientist'' in 1994, after the magazine's humorous "Feedback" column noted several ...

was remarked on during her lifetime. She was 31 years old when she took over the role in 1781. The previous wet nurse had been rejected after just six weeks because the young prince had developed a rash. The courtier and official Marie-Angélique de Bombelles recorded that the new nurse had a ...

predestined name - Madame Poitrine - who had large breasts and, according to doctors, excellent milk. Her rustic looks contrasted with the 'obsequious urbanity' of the courtiers.

Poitrine also reportedly:

... had the tone of a
pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...
, swore with great ease, and was neither surprised nor moved by anything. She accepted royal lace and linen without embarrassment, and only asked that she not be made to wear powder, because she had never used it. She wanted to wear her six hundred
livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

bonnet A Bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Scottish * Blue bonnet, a distinctive woollen cap worn by men in Scotland from the 15th-18th centuries And its derivations: ** Fea ...
on her hair, like the courtiers. Her spoken tone and simple phraseology amused everyone.

Poitrine left her royal service in 1783, retiring with a pension of 6,000 livres, including 500 livres for each of her two daughters and 800 for her son. A portrait remains in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

which is said to be of Madame Poitrine and by "A de Peters". Poitrine was retrospectively accused of transmitting

to the infant prince, thus inadvertently causing his death, aged seven years; this meant that his younger brother Louis Charles became

.Arnaud Delalande. ''Le Cœur du Roi : Révolution 1'' (The Heart of the King), Grasset, 2017, . Since it is unusual for pre-adolescent children to die from TB, it is possible that this accusation was the result of a misdiagnosis as to the cause of the child's death.

Nursery rhyme / folk song populariser

It is said that Poitrine was the serendipitous key to the popularisation of the

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre "Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre" (Marlborough has left for the war), also known as "Mort et convoi de l'invincible Malbrough" (The death and burial of the invincible Marlborough), is a popular folk song in French. History The burlesque lament on ...

" ("Marlbrough has left for the war"). She had learnt the 70-year-old song in her village and when Marie-Antoinette heard her singing to the infant Louis Joseph, she too learnt it and played it on the harpsichord. The courtiers naturally followed suit and thus the song became popular around the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

and across France.''Le Petit-Trianon et Marie-Antoinette,'' Éditions Télémaque, by Élisabeth Reynaud, April 2010, page 288, Antiwar Songs (AWS) - Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
/ref>

References

External links

Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre (''Marlbrough has left for the war'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poitrine, Geneviève 1750s births 18th-century French women Date of birth uncertain Date of death unknown French nursery rhymes Wet nurses