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Jeanne Louise ''Henriette'' Campan ('' née'' Genet; 6 OctoberMadame Campan, ''Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France'', 1752, Paris 16 March 1822,
She was the daughter of Edme-Jacques Genet and Marie-Anne-Louise Cardon. Her father was the highest-ranking clerk in the foreign office (the ambassador Citizen Genet was her younger brother), and, although without fortune, placed her in the most cultivated society. By the age of fifteen she could speak English and Italian, and had gained so high a reputation for her academic accomplishments as to be appointed reader to
''Memoirs Of Marie Antoinette'' at Gutenberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campan, Jeanne-Louise-Henriette 1752 births 1822 deaths 18th-century French educators 18th-century French women writers 18th-century French writers 19th-century French educators 19th-century French women writers Ancien Régime office-holders Education writers Heads of schools in France French courtiers French memoirists People of the French Revolution French women memoirists Household of Marie Antoinette 19th-century women educators Maids 18th-century memoirists
Mantes
Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, from the centre of the capital. Mantes-la-Jolie is a subpre ...
) was a French educator, writer and Lady's maid. In the service of Marie Antoinette before and during the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, she was afterwards headmistress of the first "Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur
The maisons d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur were the French secondary schools set up by Napoleon and originally meant for the education of girls whose father, grandfather or great-grandfather had been awarded the Légion d'honneur. Access is s ...
", as appointed by Napoleon in 1807 to promote the education of girls.
Biography
She was the daughter of Edme-Jacques Genet and Marie-Anne-Louise Cardon. Her father was the highest-ranking clerk in the foreign office (the ambassador Citizen Genet was her younger brother), and, although without fortune, placed her in the most cultivated society. By the age of fifteen she could speak English and Italian, and had gained so high a reputation for her academic accomplishments as to be appointed reader to Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
's daughters (''Mesdames'' Victoire, Sophie and Louise) in 1768, and '' Femme de chambre'' to Marie Antoinette in 1770.
She was a general favourite
A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...
at court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
, and when in 1774 she bestowed her hand upon Pierre-Dominique-François Berthollet Campan, son of the secretary of the royal cabinet, the king gave her an annuity of 5,000 ''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 ...
'' as dowry. The marriage was unhappy and the couple separated in 1790. Campan was promoted to ''Première femme de Chambre
''Première femme de Chambre'' ('First Chamber Maid') was an office at the royal court of France.
The ''Première femme de Chambre'' was in charge of the preparing of clothes, cosmetics and other things in the queen's wardrobe for the dressing and ...
'' by Marie Antoinette in 1786; and she continued to attend on her until the 10 August 1792 storming of the Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, f ...
, in which she was left behind in the palace when the queen and the royal family left prior to the storming. With her own house pillaged and burned that day, Henriette sought asylum in the countryside.
She survived the Reign of Terror, but after the 9th of Thermidor
The Thermidorian Reaction (french: Réaction thermidorienne or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term, in the historiography of the French Revolution, for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespie ...
, finding herself almost penniless, and being thrown on her own resources by the illness of her spouse, Campan determined to support herself by in 1794 establishing a school at Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...
. The institution prospered, and was patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
ized by Hortense de Beauharnais
Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (; , ; 10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837) was Queen consort of Holland. She was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoléon I as the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. Hortense later married Napol ...
, whose influence led to the appointment of Campan as superintendent
Superintendent may refer to:
*Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank
*Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator
*Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...
of the academy founded by Napoleon at Écouen
Écouen () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. The 19th-century poet and playwright Pierre-Joseph Charrin (1784–1863) d ...
for the education of the orphaned daughters of members of his ''Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
'' in 1807. She held this post until it was abolished at the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, when she retired to Mantes, where she spent the rest of her life amid the kind attentions of friends, but saddened by the loss of her only son, and by the calumnies circulated on account of her connection with the Bonapartes.
Legacy
Henriette Campan died in 1822, leaving valuable ''Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette'' (published 1823 (posthumously), Paris, 3 vols.), subtitled ''To which are Added Personal Recollections Illustrative of the Reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI'' (french:Mémoire
In French culture, the word ''mémoire'', as in un mémoire ("a memory" – indefinite article), reflects the writer's own experiences and memories. The word has no direct English translation.
Up to the 18th century
The word appeared in the course ...
s sur la vie privée de Marie Antoinette, suivis de souvenirs et anecdotes historiques sur les règnes de Louis XIVXV); a treatise ''De l'Education des Femmes'' (pub. 1824); and one or two small didactic works, written in a clear and natural style. The most noteworthy thing in her educational system, and that which especially recommended it to Napoleon, was the place given to domestic economy
Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...
in the education of girls
Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education ( primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girl ...
. At Écouen the pupils underwent a complete training in all branches of housework.
Quotes
References
;Attribution *.Further reading
* Fitton, Mary. ''The Faithful Servant: Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan, 1752-1822'' (1965). * Scott, Barbara. "Madame Campan, 1752-1822" ''History Today'' (Oct 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 10, pp 683–690 online.External links
* *''Memoirs Of Marie Antoinette'' at Gutenberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campan, Jeanne-Louise-Henriette 1752 births 1822 deaths 18th-century French educators 18th-century French women writers 18th-century French writers 19th-century French educators 19th-century French women writers Ancien Régime office-holders Education writers Heads of schools in France French courtiers French memoirists People of the French Revolution French women memoirists Household of Marie Antoinette 19th-century women educators Maids 18th-century memoirists