1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. For at least a couple 4 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: of years, I have had Marie and Adelaide Lenormant on 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: my list as a potential October topic listener John requested 6 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: an episode on her back in twenty nineteen, but I 7 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: don't think she made it onto my shortlist right away. 8 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: Le Normal was a fortune teller in France in the 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and for multiple years now, I've 10 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 1: been in this pattern where I pencil her in for 11 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: a late October and then some other stuff comes up 12 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: and shuffles the schedule around, and then I go, oh, whoops, 13 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: October is going to be over, and I put the 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: topic aside. And that has been kind of a relief 15 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: every year because this one has some stumbling blocks in 16 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: the research. It is way easier to find information on 17 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: Le Norman cardimancy decks, which are named for her, and 18 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: if with one exception, everyone I have heard talk about 19 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,680 Speaker 1: these decks has talked about them saying it le normand 20 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: not Normal, as though it were French way easier to 21 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: find information on the decks though, than on her, and 22 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: a lot of the information that is out there is contradictory, 23 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: or it can't be substantiated, or both. One particular article 24 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: about her was printed in multiple publications starting around eighteen 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: forty five, and that seems to be the source for 26 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: a lot of the basic information. One of those publications 27 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:48,919 Speaker 1: was Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, and it included this editor's note quote, 28 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: the above article is communicated by an English gentleman residing 29 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: in France. We would be understood as not pledging ourselves 30 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: for the literal correctness of all its statements, though neither 31 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: have we any reason to doubt that it has been 32 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: prepared from the best sources of information which may be 33 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: available in the case. So that is just it's not 34 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: a ringing endorsement of the accuracy of the whole thing, 35 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: and that's sort of the foundation that this whole episode 36 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: is built on. So anyway, this year I decided let's 37 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:24,919 Speaker 1: go for it, and if it winds up coming out 38 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: in November, fine, So here we are. I kind of 39 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: love the look. We don't know, but we're printing it anyway. 40 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: Marie and Adelil Lenomon was born in Allenson, in the 41 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,079 Speaker 1: Normandy region of France, on May twenty seventh, seventeen seventy two. 42 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: Her father was a draper named Jean Louis Antoine Lenoment, 43 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: and her mother's name was Marie en Guilbert. She was 44 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: the oldest of their three children, with a younger sister 45 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: and brother, and today you will see the family's last 46 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: name as Lenoumont, or, as Tracy said in relation to 47 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: the Cardimanci decks, le Normande all one word, but you 48 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: will also see it in the historical record as le Normande, 49 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,519 Speaker 1: with the love part being its own word. The article 50 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: the so. Marie's father died when she was still a child, 51 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: and her mother remarried, but then her mother also died, 52 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: leaving Marie and her siblings as orphans in the care 53 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: of their new stepfather. When he remarried, though, he and 54 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,119 Speaker 1: his wife wanted to start a family of their own, 55 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: so Marie and her sister were sent to live in 56 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: a series of Benedictine convents, and their brother eventually joined 57 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: the military. Their stepfather seems to have supported them financially, 58 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: but otherwise they didn't really have much of a relationship. 59 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: Marie first started predicting the future while living at one 60 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: of these convents. The eighteen fifty eight book Remarkable Women 61 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: of Different Nations and Ages by JP. Jewett described it 62 00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: this way. Quote it was in the house of the 63 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: Bene Dictines that Mademoiselle commenced her vocation by predicting that 64 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: the superior would soon be deprived of her office, for 65 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: which ill boding the young lady was subjected to punishment 66 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: and underwent a penance, But the event soon justified the prediction. 67 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: In other words, the abbess was indeed removed, and Marie 68 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: also predicted various details about her successor. From there, Marie 69 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: started learning everything she could about divination, prophecy, and fortune telling. 70 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: Here's how Frank boot Goodrich described it in his eighteen 71 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: fifty seven book on the Court of Napoleon. Quote, she 72 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: versed herself thoroughly in the annals of Greek and Roman oracles, 73 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: in those of the Gallic druids, of the prophets of Baal, 74 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: of the Hebrew philosophers, and of the miracle workers of antiquity. 75 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: She studied the interpretation of dreams and the doctrines of 76 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:57,839 Speaker 1: second sight, and at the age of twelve was a 77 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: complete adept in the practice of judicial astrology, in the 78 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: drawing of horoscopes, and in the combination of catallistic figures. 79 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: She examined the mysteries of the white of eggs and 80 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: the grounds of coffee, but only to reject them. She 81 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: inquired what degree of confidence was to be placed in 82 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: the assertions of Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch that Socrates foretold 83 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: the principal events of his own life, and in that 84 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: of Tacitus that Tiberius and Marcus Aurelius expounded dreams. She 85 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: investigated the cures effected in the Middle Ages by amulets 86 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: and the relics of saints, and the power of healing 87 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: the king's evil, said to have been possessed by the 88 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: kings of France since the time of Clovis. Hey, if 89 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: you're thinking, what does healing the king's evil mean? Good news, 90 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: you can look forward to a Saturday classic that will 91 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: explain that. Oh, maybe you've been listening to the show 92 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: for a long time and you're now already know I 93 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 1: know that one. So when Marie was about fourteen, she 94 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: started to worry that she might never have a life 95 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: beyond the convent, and she really did not want to 96 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: become a nun. Her stepfather was living in Paris, and 97 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: she asked if he could find her a situation there. 98 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: He got her a job working at a milliner's shop, 99 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: where she learned to sew and decorate hats, and also 100 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: how to run a business and keep the accounts. She 101 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: also continued her study of divination, developing her own methods 102 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: for palm reading and cardimancy. In seventeen eighty nine, just 103 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: before Marie turned seventeen, the Estates General convened de Versailles 104 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: for the first time since sixteen fourteen. The Estates General 105 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,919 Speaker 1: was an assembly for representatives from the three Estates, that is, 106 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,159 Speaker 1: the clergy, the nobility and commoners, and King Louis the 107 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: sixteenth had summoned them to try to find a solution 108 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: to France's financial problems, including an enormous budget deficit. Marie 109 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: made her first major prediction in connection to this assembly 110 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: and the words of Frank boot Goodrich quote. She foretold 111 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: the downfall of that monarchy, which numbered eight centuries of existence, 112 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: the dispersion of the clergy and the suppression of the convents. 113 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: At Versailles, the three Estates disagreed over how to vote 114 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: the Third Estate, or the commoners, was the most numerous, 115 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: so voting purely by number almost certainly meant that the 116 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: Third Estate would get its way. But if voting took 117 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: place by a state, then the clergy and nobility, which 118 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: were already more powerful and wealthier than the commoners, could 119 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: band together to outvote them. This assembly ended on June seventeenth, 120 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: when the Third Estate redefined themselves as the National Assembly 121 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: representing the people of France. This was a key moment 122 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: at the start of the French Revolution, which of course 123 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: did lead to the downfall of the French monarchy. All 124 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: of the uncertainty and chaos around the French Revolution meant 125 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: that a lot of people from all walks of life 126 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: were seeking reassurance and guidance from fortune tellers. In the 127 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,679 Speaker 1: words of an anonymously written piece from eighteen forty five, 128 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: Leneman quote found the troubles of the times, which unhinged 129 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: the minds of all around her and filled them with 130 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: alarm and anxiety, very propitious to her views. Even though 131 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: fortune telling was in high demand, it was also illegal. 132 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: When Marie was twenty, she started working with and studying 133 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: under a fortune teller named Louise Gilbert, who she may 134 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: have been related to on her mother's side. Both of 135 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: these women faced multiple arrests for fortune telling, but they 136 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: also had some very powerful clients who were able to 137 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: get them released. One of Leonarmand's clients during these troubled 138 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: times was Marie tres Louise of Savoy, Princess de Lamballe, 139 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: the friend and confidante of Marie Antoinette. According to some accounts, 140 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: Leonarman and the princess conspired to free Marie Antoinette from prison, 141 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,920 Speaker 1: and this led Leonormo to be arrested and jailed. It's 142 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: possible that this is an embellishment, though, and this imprisonment 143 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: was just one of the times that she was arrested 144 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: for fortune telling. Marie trez was imprisoned in August of 145 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety two and then was murdered not long after 146 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,599 Speaker 1: that during the September massacres, in which more than a 147 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: thousand people were killed in prisons around Paris. Le Normal 148 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: reportedly foretold the Princess's very gruesome death. In seventeen ninety two, 149 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: Lenormand also reportedly had a session with revolutionary figures Jean 150 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: Paut Marrat, Maximilian de Robes, Pierre and Louis de Saint Just. 151 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: She foretold Marat's imminent death and said that Robespierre and 152 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,319 Speaker 1: Saint Just would die quote at the hands of an 153 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: indignant people. They did not take her seriously until Marat 154 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:56,119 Speaker 1: was assassinated on July thirteenth, seventeen ninety three, when Robespierre 155 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: and Saint Just returned to Lenormand. After that she reportedly 156 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: told them quote, they would be devoured by their own 157 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,959 Speaker 1: work and become victims of the bloody drama which they 158 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: were themselves enacting. Lenormal's relationship with her most famous client 159 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: reportedly started during one of her imprisonments during the Revolution, 160 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,560 Speaker 1: and we will get to that after a sponsor break. 161 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:30,560 Speaker 1: While being held at La Force Prison, starting in seventeen 162 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: ninety four, Marie and Lenormant received a letter from a 163 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: woman who was being held at carm Prison. That was 164 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: Marie Joseph Rose Tascher, wife of Alexandre de Bournay. Rose's 165 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 1: husband had been arrested as an enemy of the Revolution, 166 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:48,719 Speaker 1: and then a few weeks later Rose had been imprisoned 167 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: as well, largely because of her connections to him and 168 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:56,559 Speaker 1: his associates. She heard about Lenormal's skill of divination from 169 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: one of the other prisoners, and she and several of 170 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: the others had pulled everything together that they would need 171 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: for her to draw up their horoscopes. They convinced guards 172 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,839 Speaker 1: to smuggle these notes from Carme to la force. Le. 173 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 1: Normal wrote back to Rose that she was going to 174 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: soon suffer the greatest of calamities, but that she would 175 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: survive it, and then quote Mary a man destined to 176 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: attain the loftiest dignities and astonish the world. Rose was, 177 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: of course the future Josephine Bonaparte. Alexandre de Beauharnat was 178 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: guillotined on July twenty third, seventeen ninety four. Rose was 179 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: released from prison a few days later after Maximilian Robespierre 180 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,440 Speaker 1: was beheaded on July twenty seventh, at the end of 181 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: the reign of Terror. Louis de Saint just tou l'demand, 182 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: had also predicted would be devoured by his own work, 183 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: was guillotined the following day. Rose, who was not yet 184 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: connected to Napoleon and who did not have Josephine as 185 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: part of her name, had gotten her fortune told as 186 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: a child in Martinique. According to Lenormand's account of Josephine's life. 187 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: This fortune teller named Euphemia had told Rose that she 188 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: would marry twice, that her first husband would die and 189 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: leave her with two helpless children, and that then her 190 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: second husband would quote fill the world with his glory 191 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: and subject a great many nations to his power. Euphemia 192 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,319 Speaker 1: also said that Rose would become an eminent woman. At 193 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: this point, Rose's first husband was dead, as Euphemia had foretold, 194 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: and although Rose and her husband had not been at 195 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: all happy together, being left a widow with two children 196 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:44,079 Speaker 1: to support could be interpreted as a calamity. So Rose 197 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: went to Lena mont Salon on Rue de Tournant to 198 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: try to get more information on this great marriage that 199 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: each of the fortune tellers had suggested she would have, 200 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: and she took a friend with her, both of them 201 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: disguised as ladies' maids. Yeah a lot of people reportedly 202 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:01,840 Speaker 1: went to see her in disguise because of the whole 203 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:07,199 Speaker 1: illegality of fortune telling. Lenormal apparently saw through their disguise 204 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: as immediately and told Rose that not only would she 205 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: marry well, but that one day she would become empress. 206 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: A fictionalized version of this scene appears in Alexandra Dumont 207 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: Pere's eighteen ninety four novel The First Republic or The 208 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: Whites and the Blues. In that novel, when Leonorman tells 209 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:31,080 Speaker 1: her this, in response, Josephine says, Empress, I you are mad, 210 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 1: my dear. Lenomon's popularity and that of other fortune tellers 211 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: continued to grow after the end of the Reign of Terror, 212 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,839 Speaker 1: through the Thermadorian reaction that followed, and into the establishment 213 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:46,719 Speaker 1: of the French First Republic in seventeen ninety five. Some 214 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: of this popularity was connected to the years of violence, 215 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:54,200 Speaker 1: upheaval and change that everyone had been living through. People 216 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,840 Speaker 1: were just looking for reassurance and for some kind of 217 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 1: idea of what they might expect to happen next. Yeah, 218 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:03,839 Speaker 1: there's a level of irony here that because France also 219 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: saw as self as this pillar of rational enlightenment, people 220 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: were really into fortune telling. Well, that's why it was illegal, Yeah, 221 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:15,679 Speaker 1: for a lot of people. Though, in addition to what 222 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: Holly just said, there was also just a sense that 223 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: France had gone through a revolution and the fall of 224 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: the monarchy and then a massive wave of violence and death, 225 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: only to wind up with a situation that wasn't actually 226 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: that much better than it had been before. So people 227 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: looked back to earlier times and bygone traditions with a 228 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 1: sense of nostalgia, and that included the idea that something 229 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: might be found in ancient wisdom to restore a social 230 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: and political balance. This also meant that fortune tellers and 231 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: occultists in France were often, but not always, drawing more 232 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 1: from alternate readings of biblical texts and classical works, so 233 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: things that could be seen as already part of French 234 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: hist and heritage, rather than from sources that seemed really 235 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: new or strange or bizarre. Rose had trouble supporting herself 236 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: and her children after she was released from prison, but 237 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:16,239 Speaker 1: she continued to consult lenormand she made ends meet, primarily 238 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: by having affairs with wealthy men who were willing to 239 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: support her in her family. And then in seventeen ninety 240 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: five she met Napoleon Bonaparte, who she married in seventeen 241 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 1: ninety six. It was through him that she became known 242 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: as Josephine. That is probably a nickname he gave to her, 243 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: maybe based on her name of Marie. Joseph Rose allegedly 244 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 1: Josephine took Napoleon to see Lenarmond after they met, and 245 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: Lenormand told him he would gain battles, marry a widow, 246 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: conquer kingdom's distribute thrones, astonish the world, and finally die 247 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 1: in exile. Eventually, in eighteen oh four, Napoleon declared himself 248 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,920 Speaker 1: emperor and Josephine became Empress of the French. She kept 249 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: consulting le Normand extensively both before and after becoming empress. 250 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: Talked to her about her own life and her husband's 251 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: political and military pursuits, and Lenormand's own account. Josephine described 252 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 1: it as a small folly to believe her predictions, but 253 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: a greater one to doubt what she said in Remarkable 254 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: Women of Different Nations and Ages after Jpgewett wrote of 255 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 1: this quote, Josephine, as is generally known, was a firm 256 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: believer in auguries and prophetic intimations. The early predictions of 257 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: her future greatness and its termination has been so frequently 258 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: repeated without receiving any contradiction, that it has become a 259 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: fact which no one questions, and would easily account for 260 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:48,119 Speaker 1: the firm faith she reposed in the oracles of Mademoiselle Lenormand, 261 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: to whom she constantly sent to ask, amidst other questions, 262 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: explanations respecting the dreams of Napoleon, and when the latter 263 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: projected any new enterprise, the Empress never failed to conce 264 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:04,360 Speaker 1: the reader of futurity as to its results. Jewett went 265 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: on to say, quote, the disasters of the Russian campaign, 266 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:12,360 Speaker 1: it is said, were clearly predicted by Mademoiselle Lenorment. And 267 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: it was from her also that Josephine received the first 268 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 1: intimations of the divorce, which was in contemplation, which premature revelation, 269 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 1: unfortunately for the Authoress, procured for her an interview with Fouchet. 270 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: So Fouchet was Joseph Fouchet, Minister of Police. As a 271 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: side note, someone who's been on my list for a while. 272 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 1: And there are a lot of accounts of Lenormal's fore 273 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: telling of Napoleon's divorce from Josephine and how it might 274 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: have led to problems for Lenorment. In one account, on 275 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,399 Speaker 1: May second, eighteen oh one, Lenorman met with Josephine at 276 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,960 Speaker 1: Chateau de Madmaison and told her, quote, you cherish projects, Madame, 277 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: for the advancement of your husband. Take care. If he 278 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: should ever grasp the scepter of the world, he would 279 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: abandon you, for he is ambitious. Nevertheless, you are destined 280 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: to enact the first part in France, and the day 281 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: is not far off. Josephine continued to consult the Norman 282 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,159 Speaker 1: for years, and in October of eighteen oh nine, Le 283 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 1: Norman reportedly predicted that something nefarious would happen on December sixteenth. 284 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 1: That is the day the Senate adopted a decree dissolving 285 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: the civil marriage of Napoleon and Josephine. That is, something 286 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: they had each agreed to the day before. In some accounts, 287 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: Napoleon had Le Norman jailed when he heard about this 288 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: specific prediction, and that while she was in solitary confinement 289 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 1: she quote occupied her leisure by the evocation of spirits. 290 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: But as is the case with many things about Lenormand's life, 291 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 1: the timeline here is a little fuzzy, and there are 292 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 1: some questions about whether her arrest was really connected to 293 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: that divorce prediction. It is absolutely true that Napoleon did 294 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: not like Josephine's consultations with a fortune teller or normal's 295 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: influence on her, but the events of December fifteenth and 296 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: sixteenth were not a surprise to Josephine at all. Napoleon 297 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: had told her he was going to divorce her at 298 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: least two weeks before because she had not borne him 299 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: a son. In a book Le Norman published in eighteen fourteen, 300 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: she claimed to have first predicted the divorce in eighteen 301 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 1: oh seven, but it's not clear whether that really happened. 302 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:32,640 Speaker 1: Even if it did, rumors about a possible divorce were 303 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: already circulating by then, and Josephine wrote a letter in 304 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: eighteen oh seven saying that Joaquim Murat, Marshal of France 305 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 1: and Napoleon's brother in law, was trying to get Napoleon 306 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:47,679 Speaker 1: to divorce her. The Norman's connections to Josephine had, of 307 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 1: course bolstered her popularity. She was fortune teller to the 308 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: Empress of the French. That connection was gone after the 309 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: formal ceremony of divorce that took place on January tenth 310 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:02,360 Speaker 1: of eighteen ten. But it doesn't seem like the end 311 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: of Josephine's marriage to Napoleon really affected Luarmant's popularity at all, 312 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: possibly because people thought she had successfully predicted all of 313 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: that we are going to talk more about Marine adele 314 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: Ldermon after we pause for a sponsor break. In eighteen twelve, 315 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: two years after Josephine and Napoleon's marriage officially ended, Marie 316 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:39,199 Speaker 1: Ann Lanarmond met with Fortunata Humphreys, wife of Alexander Humphries Alexander, 317 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,360 Speaker 1: and then with Alexander himself. Alexander and his father had 318 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: gone to France during the Peace of Amia in eighteen 319 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: oh two, and then they'd wound up stuck there when 320 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: hostilities resumed in eighteen oh three. Based on family lore 321 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: from his mother, Alexander believed he should be the next 322 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: Earl of Sterling, even though that title had passed on 323 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: to other people. When he consulted with Leonormal, she told 324 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 1: him that he would go through a series of trials 325 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: and difficulties, but that he would attain distinction and opulence. 326 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: Alexander and his wife were ongoing clients of Lenormal for 327 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: the next thirty years, and this led to a very 328 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: long and convoluted series of events involving forged documents that 329 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: purportedly supported Alexander's claims to the Sterling peerage. One of 330 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,960 Speaker 1: these was a map of Canada with writing on the back, 331 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: some of which was attributed to King Louis the fifteenth. 332 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: Leonormal gave this map to Alexander, saying it had been 333 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,399 Speaker 1: left by two people who had come in for a 334 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: reading the day before. Letters between Leonarment and Humphries Alexander 335 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: were used as evidence in a court case focusing on 336 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 1: seventeen forged documents that he was using to try to 337 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: make this case that he had this legitimate claim. Ultimately, 338 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 1: a found that the documents had been forged, but not 339 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,439 Speaker 1: that Humphries Alexander or Leanormand had created those forgeries or 340 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: even new that they were forgeries. Uh. Seriously, this is 341 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 1: so drawn out it could be its own episode. I 342 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 1: don't know if it will, because the book of court 343 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: documents about it is five hundred pages long, and I 344 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: found it dizzying to try to make sense of It 345 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: is not clear whether Lenormal was involved in making these 346 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: forgeries or how much her predictions influenced Humphries Alexander's decisions 347 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: as he pursued his claim to the title. Napoleon was 348 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: forced to abdicate the throne in April of eighteen fourteen, 349 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:45,200 Speaker 1: following his failed invasion of Russia and other Nations formed 350 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 1: the Sixth Coalition to fight against him. He was sent 351 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 1: into exile on the island of Elba. Lenormand, having predicted 352 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 1: the failed invasion and Napoleon's downfall, started getting even more 353 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:01,160 Speaker 1: powerful clients. Includings are Alexander the First of Russia when 354 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:05,320 Speaker 1: he was in Paris. After Napoleon's defeat, she also started 355 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:09,440 Speaker 1: writing and publishing books, some on fortune telling and the occult, 356 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,919 Speaker 1: and eventually a two volume the Historical and Secret Memoirs 357 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: of the Empress Josephine. Josephine died of pneumonia on May 358 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 1: twenty ninth, eighteen fourteen, before any of Lenarman's work about 359 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: her was published, so she was not there to confirm 360 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:31,640 Speaker 1: or deny anything that Leonormal wrote about her, but Josephine's 361 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: daughter Artense described this book as absurd. Napoleon's exile on 362 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: Elbow was brief, and he returned to Paris in March 363 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: of eighteen fifteen. This kicked off a period known as 364 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,159 Speaker 1: thee hundred Days, which ended when King Louis the eighteenth 365 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,400 Speaker 1: was restored to the throne on July eighth, eighteen fifteen. 366 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: The Battle of Waterloo took place during this period and 367 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: after Napoleon's defeat and the restoration of the monarchy, he 368 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:01,160 Speaker 1: was exiled to the island of Saint Helena. Baryomira wrote 369 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: about this in Napoleon in Exile or a Voice from Santalena, 370 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 1: which includes a passage in which Napoleon tried to dispel 371 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: the idea that he was an atheist. According to Omira, 372 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,399 Speaker 1: Napoleon said quote man has need of something wonderful, it 373 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: is better for him to seek it in religion than 374 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: in Mademoiselle Lenormand, in spite of her connection to Josephine, 375 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 1: it seems like Lenormal was always at heart a royalist 376 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,399 Speaker 1: and a supporter of the Bourbon monarchs. She claimed to 377 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: have discovered prophecies about the Bourbon restoration. One was known 378 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 1: as the Prophecy of Orval, which supposedly dated to the 379 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,920 Speaker 1: sixteenth century and was written in the style of Nostradamis. 380 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 1: It was interpreted as foretelling the rise of Napoleon and 381 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,399 Speaker 1: a young Bourbon prince being restored to the throne with 382 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: the help of a great warrior. However, this whole thing 383 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: seems to have been a fabrication. Lenomond continued to see 384 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: clients in Paris through the eighteen teens in twenties, and 385 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: we have a lot of accounts of what these sessions 386 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: were like. Because fortune telling was illegal, her business was 387 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: registered as a book shop with a sign out front 388 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: that read Mademoiselle Lenormon Lebree. According to at least one 389 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: eyewitness account, actual readings happened in a room behind a 390 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 1: secret panel to avoid detection by the police. The entry 391 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: room that people saw when entering the building was also 392 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,000 Speaker 1: furnished to keep from attracting suspicion. Rees Howell Groenow, who 393 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: was a military officer and a member of parliament, who 394 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: was also described as a dandie and a writer of reminiscences, 395 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:42,959 Speaker 1: described it as quote plainly but comfortably furnished with books 396 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,600 Speaker 1: and newspapers about as one sees them at a dentist's. 397 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: But in Frank boot Goodrich's words, the room where actual 398 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: readings took place was another matter. Entirely quote. The visitor 399 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: to the Dwelling of the Pythons was shown into a 400 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,720 Speaker 1: room in which books, prince paintings, stuffed animals, musical and 401 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:07,680 Speaker 1: other instruments, bottles with lizards and snakes and spirits, wax fruits, 402 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:12,120 Speaker 1: artificial flowers and a medley of nameless articles covered the walls, 403 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,520 Speaker 1: the table, and the floor, leaving the eye scarcely an 404 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 1: unoccupied spot to rest upon. The Furniture of the Cabinet 405 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,960 Speaker 1: of Consultation was in maple. The walls were adorned with 406 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: portraits of the Bourbons, with a painting by Grooves of 407 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: great value, and with her own portrait by Isabe. Her cards, 408 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,879 Speaker 1: which were of large size and covered with colored hieroglyphics, 409 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:38,879 Speaker 1: were painted by Carl Verne. Pythoness if you're wondering is 410 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: just an archaic word for fortune teller or sear something similar. 411 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: Uh grownut makes this room sound even creepier quote. The 412 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,119 Speaker 1: walls of the room were covered with huge bats nailed 413 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 1: by their wings to the ceiling, stuffed owls, catalystic signs, skeletons, 414 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,400 Speaker 1: in short, everything that was likely to impress a weak 415 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: or superstitious mind. I think this room sounds amazing. I'm like, 416 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: how can I recreate this roupe in my home? We 417 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: also have various eyewitness accounts of what Lenormand did during 418 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: a reading. Groow describes her spreading out several packs of 419 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,160 Speaker 1: cards quote with all kinds of strange figures and ciphers 420 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: depicted on them. Her first question, uttered in a deep voice, 421 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,359 Speaker 1: was whether you would have the grand or petigiu, which 422 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,120 Speaker 1: was merely a matter of form. She then inquired your age, 423 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: and what was the color and the animal you preferred. 424 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: Then came, in an authoritative voice, the word coupe, repeated 425 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: at intervals till the requisite number of cards from the 426 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:47,119 Speaker 1: various packs were selected and placed in rows side by side. 427 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: No further questions were asked, and no attempt was made 428 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: to discover who or what you were, or to watch 429 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:58,640 Speaker 1: upon your countenance the effect of the revelations. She neither 430 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,360 Speaker 1: prophesied smooth things to you, nor tried to excite your fears, 431 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: but seemed really to believe in her own power. She 432 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: informed me that I was a militarire, that I should 433 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: be twice married and have several children, and foretold many 434 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: other events which have also come to pass, though I 435 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,919 Speaker 1: did not at the time believe one word of the 436 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:24,160 Speaker 1: Sybil's prediction. Diarist Francis Lady Shelley gave a similar account. 437 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,639 Speaker 1: Quote On a large table under a mirror were heaps 438 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,200 Speaker 1: of cards with which she commenced her mysteries. She bade 439 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,680 Speaker 1: me cut them in small packets with my left hand. 440 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:37,640 Speaker 1: She then inquired my age, apoupre my day of birth, 441 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: the first letter of my name, and the first letter 442 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: of the name of the place where I was born. 443 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: She asked me what animal color and number I was 444 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: most partial to. I answered all these questions without hesitation. 445 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: After about a quarter of an hour of this mummery, 446 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: during which time she had arranged all the cards in 447 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,480 Speaker 1: order upon the table, she made an examination of my head. 448 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: Suddenly she began a sort of measured prose, and with 449 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: great rapidity and distinct articulation, to describe my character and 450 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: past life, in which she was so accurate and so 451 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 1: successful even to minute particulars, that I was spellbound at 452 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: the manner in which she had discovered all she knew. 453 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: Len Armand's predictions for Lady Shelley started with you will 454 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: soon be ill, but it will pass. And she fainted 455 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: at the opera that night, and considered that first prediction 456 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: to be verified by the time she recorded it in 457 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: her diary. Yes, since it was a diary, time had 458 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,480 Speaker 1: not passed enough yet for that entry to have anything 459 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 1: else besides the fainting at the opera. Past podcast subject Washington. 460 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: Irving traveled around Europe in the late eighteen twenties, and 461 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:49,280 Speaker 1: his journals from this period include anecdotes about Lenormal from 462 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: some of his acquaintances. One was Henry Bulwer, British secretary 463 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: of the Legation, who found her quote prone to put 464 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: questions and draw hints and conclusions from the replies. The 465 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: other was Alexandre Florian Joseph Colonna, Count Valeski, who was 466 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: the son of Napoleon and Maria Veleska. He said that 467 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: he had gone to Le Norman knowing that a woman 468 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 1: he was involved with was planning to get a reading 469 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: from her. He paid Leonormal to tell this woman specific 470 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:25,000 Speaker 1: things in that reading, and according to Irving's journals, quote 471 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: the lady's fortune, past and future was told in a 472 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: manner to astonish her and greatly to the advantage of 473 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:36,480 Speaker 1: mister Velevski. After the July Revolution of eighteen thirty, Louis 474 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: Philippe became King of the French and the government of 475 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: France was established as a constitutional monarchy. It seems that 476 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: after this point Lenormand retired from fortune telling. She bought 477 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 1: land and a house in Alanson, where she had been born, 478 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: and when people asked her to read their fortunes. She 479 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: said that she only did that in Paris. Lenormal never 480 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: married or had children. In one source described her as 481 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: never desiring or thinking about it. She also outlived both 482 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: of her siblings. She had premonitions about her brother's death 483 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 1: in service to the French army, and was informed that 484 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: he had been killed after she had already bought her 485 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 1: mourning clothes. She predicted that she would live to a 486 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: very old age. In some sources that was one hundred 487 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: and eight and in others one hundred and twenty four. 488 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: But she died in Paris on June twenty fifth, eighteen 489 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: forty three, at the age of seventy one. She's buried 490 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: at Perlichez Cemetery. All of her belongings went to her 491 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 1: one surviving relative, her sister's son, alexandre Ugaut, who was 492 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: described as devoutly Catholic. She had become very wealthy, owning 493 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,719 Speaker 1: several properties and a very significant art collection, and he 494 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,720 Speaker 1: kept all of this, but he burned her occult materials, 495 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: including her divination cards. It seems like other people had 496 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: already started capitalizing on the Normal's name while she was 497 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: still living. For example, a book, published in English in 498 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 1: London in eighteen twenty five, was titled The Oracle of 499 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: Human Destiny or the unerring Foreteller of future Events and 500 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:15,800 Speaker 1: Accurate Interpreter of mystical signs and influences through the medium 501 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 1: of common cards. This was attributed to Madame the Normal, 502 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: professor of the Celestial Science at Paris. It included a 503 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: preface a method for doing card readings and meanings for 504 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: a set of fifty two cards. But this preface is 505 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,960 Speaker 1: signed Victory in the Normal, which was not a name 506 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,000 Speaker 1: that she actually used, and the biographical details from this 507 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:44,000 Speaker 1: preface purportedly written by the author are just totally different 508 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: from anything else written about linermal uh I was not 509 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: able to figure out other history about this working kit 510 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,959 Speaker 1: where it came from, but it's so associated with Lenorman's 511 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 1: name that there are a bunch of digital copies of 512 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: it floating around the Internet that like definitively lists her 513 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,800 Speaker 1: as the author. After she died, people started printing divination 514 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: cards using her name. Laurent Jeu de Mademoiselle lenormand came 515 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,440 Speaker 1: out two years after she died. Jeu is the French 516 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 1: word for game. This includes fifty four cards and was 517 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 1: developed by a Madame Breteau, who claimed she had been 518 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:26,080 Speaker 1: Le Norman's student. Another deck, the Petit le Normal, which 519 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: again I mostly heard people call the Le normand was 520 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: created in Germany in eighteen forty five, that includes thirty 521 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,040 Speaker 1: six cards, and this is the one between those two 522 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: that's probably the more well known today. Each of the 523 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,760 Speaker 1: cards in this deck has a specific set of meanings, 524 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: and during a reading, they are combined to create a 525 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: sentence or a series of sentences. Practitioners usually describe this 526 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,920 Speaker 1: as a more straightforward and direct reading than something like Tero, 527 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 1: which can involve more subjective interpretation of the symbolism of 528 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: the cards rather than specific meanings assigned to each of them. 529 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: Lenorman was incredibly famous and influential in France during her lifetime, 530 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: but her reputation among other figures within France's occult revival 531 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,920 Speaker 1: seems to have been mixed. Alfonse Luis Conston, known by 532 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,760 Speaker 1: the pseudonym Elephas Levi, was a big figure in France's 533 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: nineteenth century accult revival, and he described her this way quote. 534 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Lenormand, the most celebrated of our modern fortune tellers, 535 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,160 Speaker 1: was unacquainted with the science of Taro, or knew it 536 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,960 Speaker 1: only by derivation from Ettela, whose explanations are shadows cast 537 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,400 Speaker 1: upon a background of light. She knew neither high magic 538 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: nor the cabala, but her head was filled with ill 539 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: digested air audition, and she was intuitive by instinct, which 540 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,839 Speaker 1: deceived her rarely. The works she left behind her are 541 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: legitimist tomfoolery, ornamented with classical quotations, but her oracles, inspired 542 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: by the presence and magnetism of those who consulted her, 543 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:02,840 Speaker 1: were off an astounding She was a woman in whom 544 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:07,319 Speaker 1: extravagance of imagination and mental rambling were substituted for the 545 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,400 Speaker 1: natural affections of her sex. She lived and died a virgin, 546 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:15,239 Speaker 1: like the ancient druidesses of the Isle of Sane. Had 547 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:18,280 Speaker 1: nature endowed her with beauty, she might have played easily, 548 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,480 Speaker 1: at a remoter epoch the part of a Melusine or 549 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: a Veleda. Or, to put it more simply, another commentator, 550 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: who was paraphrased by Frank Bot Goodrich, summed her up 551 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: as quote which or no which a certain share of 552 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:37,399 Speaker 1: admiration will always be due to her, for having contrived 553 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 1: to be believed in an age which neither believed in 554 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,600 Speaker 1: God in his angels, nor in the Devil and his imps. 555 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,920 Speaker 1: Do you have listener mail? I predict listener mal I 556 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: do have listener mail. It is from Jerry, and Jerry wrote, 557 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,239 Speaker 1: Dear Tracy and Holly, I'm writing to thank you for 558 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,840 Speaker 1: Last Falls episode about E. Pauline Johnson, the Mohawk Canadian 559 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 1: writer and performer. My husband's family has Mohawk heritage, descending 560 00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:10,440 Speaker 1: from his great grandfather. He was admitted to the Mohawk 561 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:13,800 Speaker 1: Institute Residential School in nineteen oh two, a few decades 562 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:17,960 Speaker 1: after Pauline's brothers. We visited the Six Nations Reserve in 563 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,640 Speaker 1: Ontario many times, and my husband and children are enrolled members. 564 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:25,440 Speaker 1: But somehow we hadn't heard of Johnson, so we gobbled 565 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: up your episode and visited Chief's Wood when we were 566 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 1: there in July of this year. We were lucky to 567 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,760 Speaker 1: receive our own tour of the house from Quenton, staff 568 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,080 Speaker 1: of Six Nations Tourism. Just in case he's a listener, Quentin, 569 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:41,719 Speaker 1: you led a great tour. Attached her a few photos 570 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:45,239 Speaker 1: of the interior, Pauline's writing desk in her bedroom, the 571 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,000 Speaker 1: travel desks she took on tours, and the front door 572 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: facing the Grand River through which Mohawk visitors entered, and yes, 573 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: the door facing the road where white visitors entered, looked 574 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,799 Speaker 1: just the same. To pause from the email real quick 575 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,600 Speaker 1: if you did not hear that episode, this house had 576 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,680 Speaker 1: two entrances, and generally Mohawk visitors arrived on the river 577 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,759 Speaker 1: by canoe, and usually a white visitors came on the 578 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,320 Speaker 1: road via a horse or walking or whatever. So returning 579 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,719 Speaker 1: to the email, I'm also enclosing a photo from an 580 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,600 Speaker 1: exhibit in the Woodland Cultural Center, a museum on the 581 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:22,280 Speaker 1: grounds of the Mohawk Institute. During renovations of the school building, 582 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,800 Speaker 1: several items were found inside a wall, including the school 583 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,880 Speaker 1: application form for my husband's great grandfather. This article contains 584 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,840 Speaker 1: a photo of the entire case, with other found objects 585 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,240 Speaker 1: and details about the survivor led efforts to continue searching 586 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: the grounds. Only after we saw this form did we 587 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: learn that he had a brother. Your coverage of someone 588 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: who we did indeed miss in history class was such 589 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 1: a gift to our family as we try to learn 590 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,799 Speaker 1: more about my husband's ancestors and their history. We are 591 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:54,120 Speaker 1: American and live far away from the reserve, so our 592 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:58,879 Speaker 1: opportunities to learn are mostly virtual. I'm also enclosing pet 593 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:02,239 Speaker 1: pictures for tax Jet. So is the yellow one. Her 594 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,520 Speaker 1: name is a rough phonetic spelling of the kanya ka 595 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:08,520 Speaker 1: how ward Sicho, meaning fox. Harriet is the gray one 596 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,000 Speaker 1: and she's part gremlin. And Doug is the Cocker Spaniel, 597 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,840 Speaker 1: our pandemic puppy who was actually a senior and was 598 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 1: rescued from a medical neglect situation. He's the happiest dog 599 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:19,120 Speaker 1: I've ever had. In the moment he meets you, he 600 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,760 Speaker 1: loves you. Thanks again for all your work, Jerry, Jerry, 601 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,880 Speaker 1: thank you so much for this email. Honestly, this is 602 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: one of the best emails that we've gotten in a 603 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:29,240 Speaker 1: long time. I think I love these pictures from chiefs Wood. 604 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,560 Speaker 1: It really struck my heart. The application for him and 605 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:37,640 Speaker 1: realizing that your husband's great grandfather had a brother that 606 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,920 Speaker 1: you had not known about before, and then of course 607 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: the animal pictures. I hope I did an okay job 608 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,560 Speaker 1: of saying the word for fox that was not a 609 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:51,680 Speaker 1: word that I found a pronunciation for. But these man 610 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:57,600 Speaker 1: what cues, what cute doggies. I also am so happy 611 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 1: to hear about a cocker Spaniel who is the happiest 612 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,440 Speaker 1: dog that you've ever had and loves everyone he meets 613 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: because I only grew up with high strung cocker Spaniels 614 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:13,960 Speaker 1: and didn't know they could be any other way. So 615 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,560 Speaker 1: thank you, so so so much, Jerry for this email. 616 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:18,480 Speaker 1: If you would like to send us a note about 617 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:20,719 Speaker 1: this or any other podcast, we're at History Podcast at 618 00:39:20,719 --> 00:39:24,279 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com, and we're all over social media. Missed 619 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:28,000 Speaker 1: in History. That's where you'll find our Facebook and Pinterest 620 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:32,040 Speaker 1: and X thing or whatever. We still haven't started accounts 621 00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:35,359 Speaker 1: on those other ones, and you can subscribe to our 622 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:37,880 Speaker 1: show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever else you liked 623 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: it at your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class 624 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 625 00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:53,280 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 626 00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,760 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.