Happy International Women's Day
For March, as Women's History Month, I am telling students about various women in French history, in chronological order. The first woman the internet told me about (more than I already knew about her, which wasn't much) was Sainte Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. She's actually much cooler than most martyred-by-violent-rape saints.
The semi-firm dates: 422 - 512 CE. Here's my mangled version of her story: she was apparently the daughter of an educated and well-off couple in Nanterre, only what, 200 years since the fall of the Roman empire? People in the Gallic regions spoke Langue d'Oc and Langue d'Oeil still, and had names that sound more Latin than anything else, though hers is derived from the Gaelic for "the white wave" -- genovefa, according to the internets. It was a site about Celtic saints, so who knows.
Anyway, she was a bright and brainy seven year old when Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, stopped in Nanterre, spoke with her parents at Mass, and tried to entice her into the only career open to women who didn't want to marry and have kids, the Church. Several years later, around age 15, she travelled the short-ish distance to Paris and took the veil.
She's famous not for miracles, per se, (a relief to me, atheist that I am, reciting this stuff to credulous thirteen year olds) but for rallying women to prayer (twice) in a war-threatened city. The first time, Attila the Hun was nearing Paris, and the men of Paris were fleeing, and she rallied women to the church to pray to god, and the men were so shamed that they stayed. At the last minute, the Magyars (or whatever -- the Huns?) swerved south to Orléans and were stopped before they got there.
The second time, Childeric of the Franks was beseiging Paris and supposedly she gathered some laymen and organized boats on the Seine, under cover of darkness, to get through the enemy lines to outlying villages, where they collected grain to bring back to the city the same way, thus breaking the siege, in part.
Childeric won anyway, but was impressed with her and lenient to the city. She tried to convert him to Christianity and failed, but is credited with converting his son Clovis, who was then the first Christian King of the Franks.
Apparently she was known from Ireland to Byzantium during her lifetime, and all of it without magical intervention.
Next week, I'll do Eleanor of Aquitaine and Jeanne d'Arc, and the week after that, I'll leave behind the church and royalty, and do Charlotte Corday and Manon Roland, and the week after that, Louise Michel (my absolute favorite) and Marie Curie.
If anyone has other suggestions, I'll be glad to hear them. I don't want to do Marie Antoinette except to curl my lip at her. I am considering George Sand, but I've never read any of her work. Camille Claudel is depressing as hell.
The semi-firm dates: 422 - 512 CE. Here's my mangled version of her story: she was apparently the daughter of an educated and well-off couple in Nanterre, only what, 200 years since the fall of the Roman empire? People in the Gallic regions spoke Langue d'Oc and Langue d'Oeil still, and had names that sound more Latin than anything else, though hers is derived from the Gaelic for "the white wave" -- genovefa, according to the internets. It was a site about Celtic saints, so who knows.
Anyway, she was a bright and brainy seven year old when Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, stopped in Nanterre, spoke with her parents at Mass, and tried to entice her into the only career open to women who didn't want to marry and have kids, the Church. Several years later, around age 15, she travelled the short-ish distance to Paris and took the veil.
She's famous not for miracles, per se, (a relief to me, atheist that I am, reciting this stuff to credulous thirteen year olds) but for rallying women to prayer (twice) in a war-threatened city. The first time, Attila the Hun was nearing Paris, and the men of Paris were fleeing, and she rallied women to the church to pray to god, and the men were so shamed that they stayed. At the last minute, the Magyars (or whatever -- the Huns?) swerved south to Orléans and were stopped before they got there.
The second time, Childeric of the Franks was beseiging Paris and supposedly she gathered some laymen and organized boats on the Seine, under cover of darkness, to get through the enemy lines to outlying villages, where they collected grain to bring back to the city the same way, thus breaking the siege, in part.
Childeric won anyway, but was impressed with her and lenient to the city. She tried to convert him to Christianity and failed, but is credited with converting his son Clovis, who was then the first Christian King of the Franks.
Apparently she was known from Ireland to Byzantium during her lifetime, and all of it without magical intervention.
Next week, I'll do Eleanor of Aquitaine and Jeanne d'Arc, and the week after that, I'll leave behind the church and royalty, and do Charlotte Corday and Manon Roland, and the week after that, Louise Michel (my absolute favorite) and Marie Curie.
If anyone has other suggestions, I'll be glad to hear them. I don't want to do Marie Antoinette except to curl my lip at her. I am considering George Sand, but I've never read any of her work. Camille Claudel is depressing as hell.