Susan DuVerger or Susan Du Verger born ''Suzanne de La Vallée'' (baptised in 1610 – 1657) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translator and author.

Life

DuVerger was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and baptised in 1610. The baptismal records record that her parents were Charles and Ester de La Vallée and she was the last of their five children. The baptism took place at the

French 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 Bez ...

church in

Threadneedle Street Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, England, between Bishopsgate at its northeast end and Bank junction in the southwest. It is one of nine streets that converge at Bank. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. History The stree ...

. The Huguenots had arrived after 1598 and this church was one of their refuges. That church was destroyed in the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

. The next record shows that by 1633 Suzanne de La Vallée was married to Jean-Jacques DuVerger as they had a daughter Françoise about this time; by 1635 she was joined by another daughter, Suzanne. She would appear to be a Protestant, but in 1639 she was translating the works of the French writer and bishop

Jean-Pierre Camus Jean-Pierre Camus (November 3, 1584 – April 26, 1652) was a French bishop, preacher, and author of works of fiction and spirituality. Biography Jean-Pierre Camus was born in Paris in 1584, the son of Jean Camus, seigneur de Saint Bonnet, who ...

. Camus was a Catholic at a time when England was divided over this Christian sectarianism. The 1639 work was his romantic stories titled "Admirable Events" and she dedicated her translation to

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She wa ...

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

's French Catholic wife. She translated another work by Camus titled "Diotrèphe" in 1641. In 1657 DuVerger published the lengthily titled "Humble Reflections Upon some Passages of the right Honorable the Lady Marchionesse of Newcastles Olio. Or An Appeale from her mes-informed, to her owne better informed judgement". "Humble Reflections" was written in reply to "The World's Olio" which had been published by the noted and productive writer

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623 – 15 December 1673) was an English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer and playwright. Her husband, William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was Royalist co ...

. Jane Collins in the ODNB calls DuVerger's work as "fascinating" and very unusual as it demonstrates an intellectual debate about religion between two women in the seventeenth century. In 1659 her daughters were getting married in Canada. When they registered their marriages they named their mother as deceased.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DuVerger, Susan 1610 births 1657 deaths Writers from London 17th-century English translators 17th-century English women writers French–English translators