WEBVTT - Lovers and La Maupin

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minkie. Listener discretion is advised.

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<v Speaker 1>The woman was fencing in a tavern, brandishing her sword

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<v Speaker 1>in wide circles and curly cues with a showman's air

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<v Speaker 1>for performance. She shouted and leaped on to a bench.

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<v Speaker 1>Her opponent did the same. The pair of them clinked

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<v Speaker 1>swords as they half thought half danced up on to

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<v Speaker 1>the long table. It helped her agility that the woman

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<v Speaker 1>was wearing men's clothing, boots and pants. The woman smiled

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<v Speaker 1>and winked at the patrons lifting their mugs of ale

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<v Speaker 1>at her, even as she defended herself from Perry's and jabs.

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<v Speaker 1>Her name was Julie Daubney, and soon she would be

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<v Speaker 1>a legend. The sword fight was really a sword fight.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a performance, a fencing demonstration between Julie and

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<v Speaker 1>her lover, a swordsman named Seran. He had trained her

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<v Speaker 1>for months while they toured together from town to town,

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<v Speaker 1>tavern to tavern around France, and now people said that

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<v Speaker 1>her skills surpassed even his. When the fighting portion of

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<v Speaker 1>the entertainment was over, Julie remained standing on the table

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<v Speaker 1>at the tavern and began to sing in a beautiful,

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<v Speaker 1>clear contralto voice that she could make thick with emotion

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<v Speaker 1>on que. Soon the drunken tavern patrons were joining in

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<v Speaker 1>on the choruses, stomping their feet and slapping their thighs

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<v Speaker 1>in time to the beat. When the song quieted down,

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<v Speaker 1>one drunken reveler teetered, spilling his drink from the sides

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<v Speaker 1>of his cup. She's not even a real lady, he shouted.

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<v Speaker 1>No woman dresses or fences like that. It's a man.

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<v Speaker 1>Julie d'aubney smiled without a word. She removed her jacket,

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<v Speaker 1>unbuttoned her blouse, and showed the heckler and half of

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<v Speaker 1>the pub her naked breasts. That story about Julie Daubney,

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<v Speaker 1>the woman who would go on to enchant Paris as

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<v Speaker 1>the unfontrebla of the opera world, is apocryphal, as are

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<v Speaker 1>so many of the stories about her life. Julie Dabney was,

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<v Speaker 1>even in her lifetime, a figure larger than life, who

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<v Speaker 1>scandalized and quickly became sensationalized. Her biography seems ripped from

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<v Speaker 1>a romance novel. It's only fitting that it's been fictionalized

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<v Speaker 1>dozens of times in different iterations. She is the archetype,

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<v Speaker 1>at least in my mind, for a number of female

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<v Speaker 1>characters in period pieces. That girl who fences and seduces,

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<v Speaker 1>who runs away and gets into trouble, only to seduce

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<v Speaker 1>her way out of trouble. Jule was a nobleman's mistress, offenser,

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<v Speaker 1>a nun, and an opera singer all before she was twenty.

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<v Speaker 1>Because so much of her life has been borrowed or fabricated,

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<v Speaker 1>either to fit the mold of an adventure story or

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<v Speaker 1>a cautionary tale, it's almost impossible to tease out what

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<v Speaker 1>actually happened in real life. All we have are the stories.

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<v Speaker 1>And so I'll tell you the story of the woman

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<v Speaker 1>who became known as Lamupin and leave you with the

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<v Speaker 1>terrible burden of knowing that some of it might be

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<v Speaker 1>too outlandish to be true. But then again it might

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<v Speaker 1>not be. If Julie Daubney can teach us anything, it's

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<v Speaker 1>that people who live and love without landish passion can

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes lead extraordinary lives. I'm Danis Schwartz, and this is

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<v Speaker 1>noble blood. We don't know for sure when Julie Dubny

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<v Speaker 1>was born, but we can guess that it was around

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen seventy three. She was the only child to a

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<v Speaker 1>man named Gaston, who worked as the secretary to the

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<v Speaker 1>Compte Armagnac. The Comte de Armagnac was King Louis, the

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<v Speaker 1>fourteenth Master of the Horse, and so as the daughter

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<v Speaker 1>of his secretary, Julie spent much of her childhood at

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<v Speaker 1>the riding school at the Tuileries in Paris, before she

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<v Speaker 1>eventually moved with the court to Versailles, where she lived

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<v Speaker 1>in the Great Stables. Maybe because her father had had

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<v Speaker 1>no sons and Julie was his only child, but for

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<v Speaker 1>whatever reason, Julie received a courtly education, both in manners

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<v Speaker 1>and in sword fighting. Her father, Gaston, was an accomplished swordsman,

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<v Speaker 1>and one of his duties at Versailles was training the

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<v Speaker 1>page boys in the basics. Julie learned alongside them, becoming

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<v Speaker 1>adept and then astonished shingly good, all before puberty. At

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<v Speaker 1>some point in her adolescence, her father died, and it

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<v Speaker 1>was also around that time that her father's boss, the

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<v Speaker 1>Compe d'Armagnac, took Julie as his mistress. Julie was around

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen or fifteen. At that time, she was a child

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<v Speaker 1>and the comfort was an adult man, and so even

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<v Speaker 1>in the seventeenth century, I think it's worth noting the

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<v Speaker 1>power dynamics that would have been at play there. A

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<v Speaker 1>sexual relationship with the count was one of Julie's few

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<v Speaker 1>ways of gaining any leverage whatsoever over her future, and

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<v Speaker 1>the compt was the one who made the decision that

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<v Speaker 1>with her father dead, Julie would need an arranged marriage,

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<v Speaker 1>and so he married her off to a tax collector

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<v Speaker 1>named MupA, who then conveniently was sent out of town.

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<v Speaker 1>But Julie wouldn't stick around town much longer either. She

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<v Speaker 1>ran away with a fencing master named Saran, who became

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<v Speaker 1>her next lover. Depending on the stories, Sharan murdered a

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<v Speaker 1>man in a duel, and since duels were illegal, he

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<v Speaker 1>had to flee town. Julie came with him, and so

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<v Speaker 1>the pair of them toured through France, performing at fencing

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<v Speaker 1>demonstrations in taverns and at local fairs. But Julie grew

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<v Speaker 1>tired of her lover and their profession equally quickly, and

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<v Speaker 1>when the pair reached the south of France, she abandoned

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<v Speaker 1>shurran and began to sing in the opera at Marseilles.

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<v Speaker 1>It was there, as a teenage opera singer that she

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<v Speaker 1>drew the attention of a local merchant's daughter who happened

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<v Speaker 1>to be in the audience one night. This is the

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<v Speaker 1>story from Julie's life that I find the most outlandish,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's also one of the stories with the most evidence.

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<v Speaker 1>The pieces are there, and so it's up to us

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<v Speaker 1>as historians to piece them together into a way that

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<v Speaker 1>makes some semblance of sense. Again, this is a story

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<v Speaker 1>stranger than fiction in almost every ingle sense that merchant's

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<v Speaker 1>daughter watched Julie on stage, and Julie on stage saw

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<v Speaker 1>the girl in the audience gazing up at her. The

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<v Speaker 1>two began an affair that became an open secret and

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<v Speaker 1>that scandalized the local community, and the merchant, in a

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<v Speaker 1>fit of fury and misplaced fatherly protectiveness, banished his daughter

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<v Speaker 1>to a convent. But Julie was in love, and convent

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<v Speaker 1>walls couldn't keep her away from her lover. Julie herself

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<v Speaker 1>entered the convent, pretending to be interested in becoming a nun.

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<v Speaker 1>As if any career path could have been further from

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<v Speaker 1>the life that she had lived up until that point.

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<v Speaker 1>Julie and the merchant's daughter began thinking of ways that

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<v Speaker 1>they could run away together, elaborate schemes that would buy

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<v Speaker 1>them the freedom that they wanted. Conveniently enough for them,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the elderly nuns in the convent happened to

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<v Speaker 1>die from unrelated causes. Seeing an opportunity, Julie allegedly dug

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<v Speaker 1>up the body, put it into her lover's bedroom, and

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<v Speaker 1>then tipped a candle over to start a fire. The

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<v Speaker 1>idea was that people would see the dead body burnt

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<v Speaker 1>beyond recognition and assume that the merchant's daughter had died.

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<v Speaker 1>Then the merchant's daughter and Julie would be free to

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<v Speaker 1>start a new life. But the candle did it work

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<v Speaker 1>too well. Soon the entire convent was up in flames,

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<v Speaker 1>and though their plot was quickly discovered, Julie and the

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<v Speaker 1>merchant's daughter were able to escape. In the chaos, Julie

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<v Speaker 1>was sentenced by the Parliament in Provence in absentia for arson,

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<v Speaker 1>for body snatching, and for kidnapping. Julie's sentence was death.

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<v Speaker 1>Peculiarly enough, the sentence was for as Sieur de Maupin

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<v Speaker 1>as if Julie were a man. It seems that the

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<v Speaker 1>court wanted to spare the merchant's family from the final

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<v Speaker 1>public humiliation of their daughter having run away with another woman.

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<v Speaker 1>The merchant's daughter would have her own humiliation soon enough.

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<v Speaker 1>When Julie tired of her new lover, she deposited her

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<v Speaker 1>back at her parents house. Julie was still on the

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<v Speaker 1>run and once again alone, but loneliness never stuck to

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<v Speaker 1>Julie Daubney. Her next partner wouldn't be romantic, but instead

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<v Speaker 1>one of the most defining friendships of her life. While

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<v Speaker 1>near Poitier, she encountered an old actor who had once

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<v Speaker 1>been a celebrated singing teacher. His name was Machrichel, and

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<v Speaker 1>though his alcoholism left him teetering on the edge of ruin,

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<v Speaker 1>Julie stayed with him for a while and learned from him.

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<v Speaker 1>It was his encouragement that ultimately spurred Julie into auditioning

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<v Speaker 1>for the prestigious RS Opera. Julie auditioned and didn't get in.

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<v Speaker 1>She auditioned again, rejected again, but she would make another

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<v Speaker 1>friend a lover, this time a rising star who had

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<v Speaker 1>just been accepted by the Paris Opera himself. His name

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<v Speaker 1>was Gabriel Visontevna, and he whispered to the people in

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<v Speaker 1>power that they should give Julie another chance. They did,

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<v Speaker 1>and this time her audition impressed them. The Parisian Opera

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<v Speaker 1>even helped convince the King to pardon Julie for her

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<v Speaker 1>youthful arson in discretions, and the king obliged, and so

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<v Speaker 1>Julie Daubney joined the opera. As a willful woman, prone

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<v Speaker 1>to picking fights and to dressing in men's clothing, she

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<v Speaker 1>was never going to be a fit for the operatic

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<v Speaker 1>roles of an ingenue soprano. Roles were instead written for

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<v Speaker 1>her as a contralto roles of powerful women, goddesses and enchantresses.

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<v Speaker 1>Though Julie was married, all oppera singers married or not

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<v Speaker 1>performed as Mademoiselle, and so Julie began her tenure on

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<v Speaker 1>stage as Mademoiselle de Maupin, or, as she would become famous,

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<v Speaker 1>lampin From Here. Julie Daubney's life rolls through wild sounding stories,

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<v Speaker 1>as if in montage. In her lifetime, she became famous

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<v Speaker 1>as an opera singer, but less for her voice and

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<v Speaker 1>more for her escapades off the stage. It's the same

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<v Speaker 1>situation you might imagine befalling an actor today who's maybe

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<v Speaker 1>not quite as talented as some other performers, but who

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<v Speaker 1>still always manages to appear on the front page of tabloids.

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<v Speaker 1>These stories come from wildly disparate sources, and very few

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<v Speaker 1>of them have the type of specific details that might

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<v Speaker 1>make me more confident in them as fact, or at

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<v Speaker 1>least confident in where they occurred in Julie's biography. And

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<v Speaker 1>to make matters even more complicated, after Julie's death, the

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<v Speaker 1>French writer at thefol Gautier wrote a novel called Mademoiselle

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<v Speaker 1>de Maupin, which was only loosely based on the real

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<v Speaker 1>life of its namesake character, but which plenty of readers

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<v Speaker 1>mistook and continued to mistake for a fact. One of

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<v Speaker 1>those stories begins with Julie in her favorite place in

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<v Speaker 1>the world, performing for a crowd. She was at a

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<v Speaker 1>tavern an after party, and the crowd was growing slightly

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<v Speaker 1>rowdier than normal. One man named Albert was emboldened by

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<v Speaker 1>the atmosphere and by the several drinks he had already imbibed.

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<v Speaker 1>And now for my next song, Lamou pomp heard. Delbert

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<v Speaker 1>shouted back, I've listened to your chirping, but now tell

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<v Speaker 1>me of your plumage. It was a seventeenth century come on.

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<v Speaker 1>Julie's sword was drawn before the dunken smile even fell

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<v Speaker 1>from Delbert's face. The man tried briefly to defend himself

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<v Speaker 1>against her swift sword work, but it was a useless attempt.

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<v Speaker 1>Julie parried and ran her sword clean through his shoulder. Later,

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<v Speaker 1>Julie felt guilty. He had been drunk and he had

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<v Speaker 1>been flirting. Did he really deserve a blade all the

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<v Speaker 1>way through and coming out the other side of his body?

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<v Speaker 1>So she visited him in the hospital, and depending on

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<v Speaker 1>the story you believe, she and the man Delbert, either

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<v Speaker 1>became longtime lovers or friends. Some fictionalized versions of Julie's

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<v Speaker 1>life even framed Albert as her primary love interest, a

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<v Speaker 1>lover who spanned the rest of her life. But I

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<v Speaker 1>have to assume that that's maybe based more on the

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<v Speaker 1>power of the meat cute, unless on actual source evidence

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<v Speaker 1>of the significance of their relationship. Another story is about

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<v Speaker 1>another opera singer, a man named Domnil, who tried to

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<v Speaker 1>hit on Julie and when she rejected him, he spat

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<v Speaker 1>at her feet and insulted her singing voice. Julie challenged

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<v Speaker 1>him to a duel and quickly disarmed him. Rather than

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<v Speaker 1>stab him, she beat him a few times with a

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<v Speaker 1>cane and stole his snuffbox and his watch for good measure.

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<v Speaker 1>A few days following their altercation, Julie came across Dominil

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<v Speaker 1>surrounded by a group of swooning admirers. He was bandaged

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<v Speaker 1>and bruised, and he was telling a dramatic story about

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<v Speaker 1>how he was assaulted by a gang of thieves, at

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<v Speaker 1>least half a dozen of them. It's true, they stole

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<v Speaker 1>my watch in my snuffbox before I managed to fight

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<v Speaker 1>them off, he moaned. Julie rolled her eyes. Oh my god,

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<v Speaker 1>she dug into her pockets. There you go, she said,

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<v Speaker 1>flinging the watch and the snuff box back at him.

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<v Speaker 1>Band of thieves. Huh, I guess it's better than telling

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<v Speaker 1>your little friend that I whipped your butt. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>good story. But Julie Dubney's real moment of scandal and

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<v Speaker 1>triumph would occur later at a party held by the

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<v Speaker 1>King's brother, an event that would come to be known

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<v Speaker 1>as the evening of Gasps. Dressed as a man, like

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<v Speaker 1>she so often did, Julie swept into the party and

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<v Speaker 1>immediately locked eyes with a beautiful young lady. Julie requested

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<v Speaker 1>that the woman dance with her, and when the song

0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.360
<v Speaker 1>was over, Julie dipped the woman and, in full view

0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:39.880
<v Speaker 1>of the party, kissed her square on the lips. Night

0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.600
<v Speaker 1>of Gasps. Indeed, the kiss would have been bad enough,

0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:49.520
<v Speaker 1>but unbeknownst to Julie, the woman had three male suitors

0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.120
<v Speaker 1>at the party, and all three of them, red faced

0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:58.080
<v Speaker 1>and huffing, challenged Julie to a duel. Okay, she said

0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.920
<v Speaker 1>in the guard in, Julie dueled the three suitors one

0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:07.680
<v Speaker 1>at a time, and she beat each one, dueling being illegal.

0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:12.040
<v Speaker 1>Julie acquired yet another pardon from the King. This one

0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:16.200
<v Speaker 1>was granted because of the merciful intervention of the King's brother,

0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.480
<v Speaker 1>the party host, who assured the King that it was

0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:23.160
<v Speaker 1>all in good fun. But before the pardon came through,

0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.640
<v Speaker 1>Julie fled France, at least temporarily, until the heat died down.

0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.200
<v Speaker 1>In Brussels, she began an affair with the Elector of Bavaria,

0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.680
<v Speaker 1>although during a performance trying to make headlines, she used

0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.320
<v Speaker 1>a real dagger instead of a stage dagger to stab herself,

0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:46.080
<v Speaker 1>a shallow stabbing, but is stabbing. Nonetheless, the elector, shocked

0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:51.600
<v Speaker 1>and clearly regretting the relationship, offered Julie forty thousand francs

0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:57.160
<v Speaker 1>to politely end the relationship. In Spain, Julie worked as

0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.600
<v Speaker 1>a lady's maid to a wealthy countess who was so

0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.560
<v Speaker 1>horrible that Julie stayed in her employ only long enough

0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.560
<v Speaker 1>to pull a prank. One evening, the countess was dressing

0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.200
<v Speaker 1>for a grand ball, and Julie was tasked with helping

0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:16.760
<v Speaker 1>her to style her elaborate hair do. Julie studdied the

0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:20.960
<v Speaker 1>back of the countess's hair with radishes so that everyone

0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.480
<v Speaker 1>but her would be able to see them. Before the

0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.919
<v Speaker 1>countess came back to her palace that evening, Julie was

0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:33.760
<v Speaker 1>already gone back to France. Julie's final recorded love affair

0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.000
<v Speaker 1>was in seventeen oh three, when she fell in love

0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.680
<v Speaker 1>with a woman named Madame Le Marquis de Florencac, sometimes

0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.239
<v Speaker 1>referenced at the time as the most beautiful woman in

0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.120
<v Speaker 1>all of France. La Florence Sock was so beautiful that

0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:53.240
<v Speaker 1>the daufas himself became dangerously obsessed with her, and La

0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.359
<v Speaker 1>florence Sock had to flee herself for some years to

0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.920
<v Speaker 1>protect herself from the unwanted advances of a powerful man.

0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.879
<v Speaker 1>According to some, Julie and La Florensock lived in domestic

0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:10.080
<v Speaker 1>bliss for two years until La Florensock died of a fever.

0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.119
<v Speaker 1>Julie was thirty one years old, and she would only

0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:18.240
<v Speaker 1>live two more years, herself, dying in seventeen o seventy,

0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.440
<v Speaker 1>at an age we can estimate around thirty three. Some

0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:26.200
<v Speaker 1>say that, heartbroken and alone, she went to live and

0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:30.560
<v Speaker 1>die in a convent. To me, that ending of Julie

0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.080
<v Speaker 1>dying sad and alone in a convent reeks of a

0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:38.840
<v Speaker 1>morality tale propaganda after her death, see here was a

0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:42.080
<v Speaker 1>sinful woman, and she died young and desperate to repent.

0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.720
<v Speaker 1>It seems far more likely, at least to me, that

0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.439
<v Speaker 1>Julie would have died in the heart of the city

0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.679
<v Speaker 1>after a night on stage or at a tavern that

0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.800
<v Speaker 1>she made her stage. At least in my imagination, it

0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.359
<v Speaker 1>was a night that she spent meeting strangers and making

0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:09.439
<v Speaker 1>them fall in love with her. That's the story of

0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.040
<v Speaker 1>the life of Julie Daubney. But continue listening after a

0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.080
<v Speaker 1>brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about

0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:31.280
<v Speaker 1>her legacy in the twenty one century. Julie Dubney might

0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:34.840
<v Speaker 1>seem like a strange choice for a popular modern heroine,

0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.280
<v Speaker 1>considering that she lived in the sixteen hundreds and that

0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.679
<v Speaker 1>we know so very little about her actual life. But

0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:47.320
<v Speaker 1>then again, she is a bisexual swordswoman who seduced her

0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:51.880
<v Speaker 1>way across Europe. In two thousand and thirteen, Julie Dubney

0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.200
<v Speaker 1>had something of a modern online renaissance, not on a

0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:01.760
<v Speaker 1>history website, but on of all places, Umbler. That sweet

0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:06.960
<v Speaker 1>strange blog site became a hub for Julie Daubney fan art.

0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.800
<v Speaker 1>People from around the world have drawn the fencing frenchwoman

0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.600
<v Speaker 1>in all manner of dress, from pirate garb to Marie

0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:21.159
<v Speaker 1>Antoinette esque ball gowns. Even several centuries later, people continue

0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.320
<v Speaker 1>to be inspired by just the idea of Julie Daubney,

0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.159
<v Speaker 1>a woman larger than life who can become anything that

0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:38.080
<v Speaker 1>we want her to be. Noble Blood is a production

0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.400
<v Speaker 1>of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky.

0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:45.000
<v Speaker 1>The show was written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. Executive

0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:50.119
<v Speaker 1>producers include Aaron Minky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The

0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.240
<v Speaker 1>show is produced by rima Ill Kali and Trevor Young.

0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:56.919
<v Speaker 1>Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales,

0:20:57.200 --> 0:20:59.080
<v Speaker 1>and you can learn more about the show over at

0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.040
<v Speaker 1>Noble Blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I

0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.720
<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:09.960
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M hmmm,