1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion advised, get thee 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: to a nunnery, go farewell. These are Hamlet's famous words 4 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: to Ophelia, as the play's titular character begins to succumb 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:24,639 Speaker 1: to madness and paranoia. There are probably plenty of Shakespeare 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: podcasts you could listen to for a more in depth analysis, 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: and we could spend hours debating whether Hamlet is actually 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: mad or just pretending. But on a surface level, the 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: meaning of Hamlet's orders to Ophelia is clear. A convent 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,880 Speaker 1: is a place where a woman can go to absolve 11 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: her sins to conveniently disappear. Joining a convent by force 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: or coercion or choice, is a hand that fate dealt 13 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: many women, both real and fictional, throughout the ages. In 14 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: seven seventeenth century France, most upper class women generally had 15 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: two choices upon coming of age, become a wife or 16 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: become a nun Both would require following rigorous sets of 17 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,679 Speaker 1: social rules and accepting a fundamental lack of freedom. But 18 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: what about the women who defied that choice. Ninon de 19 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: Lanclo was one such woman, and an incredibly unique one 20 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,639 Speaker 1: at that. Ninon, a student of philosophy from a young age, 21 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: saw both marriage and the convent as a loss of 22 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: freedom and resolved to forge a different path for herself. 23 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: She became Paris's most celebrated courtesan, all while sharing her 24 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: radical ideas in the city's intellectual circles. But as we know, 25 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: the consequences of going against the grain are often great 26 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: for women, both then and now. Nenon's lifestyle landed her 27 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: imprisoned in a convent, and the order to quote get 28 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: thee to a nunnery had come from the very top. 29 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: For many women, that would be the end of their story, 30 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: but Neinon was determined to continue on, and unlike the 31 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: story of Ophelia, you'll find that Ninon's life was no tragedy. 32 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:37,920 Speaker 1: I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. Anne Delenchloe 33 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: was born in Paris on November tenth, sixteen twenty. Some 34 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: sources proposed that her family were minor nobles, while some 35 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: other historians insist that they had no noble ties. But 36 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: no matter their origin, they were probably not particularly wealthy, 37 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:59,239 Speaker 1: but they were certainly involved in Parisian high society. The 38 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: nickname Renan, a traditional French diminutive of Anne, was given 39 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: to her by her father, Henri de Lancloux, was an 40 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: accomplished lutist and composer, and he taught his daughter to 41 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: play the lute from a young age. In addition to 42 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: her father's music lessons, Ninon also inherited his philosophical ideas. 43 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: He was a neo Epicurean, taking a brief detour to 44 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: philosophy one oh one before we continue. Epicureanism, derived from 45 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: the teachings of the Greek sage Epicurus, focuses on a 46 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: secular pursuit to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. The term 47 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: neo Epicurean that you'll hear today came about during the 48 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: philosophy's seventeenth century revival. That was Ninon's father's outlook. But 49 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: given how unconventional Ninon's life ended up, what was her 50 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: mother's perspective? While her father had turned to the Greeks 51 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: den d mother was actually a devout Catholic and wished 52 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: to impart the strict moral standards of counter reformational Catholicism 53 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: on her daughter. Some historians believe her mother's greatest goal 54 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: was for her daughter to become a nun, and there 55 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: was even a brief period during which a young Ninon 56 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: was educated in a convent. Her parents' marriage was one 57 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: of convenience, as you might have been able to guess, 58 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: given that husband and wife could not have been more 59 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:37,679 Speaker 1: opposed ideologically, you can probably guess whom Ninon ultimately took after. 60 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: In addition to embracing her father's libertinism and rejection of religion, 61 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: Ninon became something of a musical prodigy in her youth 62 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: and performed the lute and clavichord for charmed audiences that 63 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: gathered in Parisian salons. At the same time, she also 64 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: mastered Spanish and Italian and became an avid reader. There's 65 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: an anecdotal account about Nenan in her teenage years that 66 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: embodies the way she would challenge convention and authority. As 67 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: the story goes, Nenon informed her friends that since women 68 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: are tasked with frivolities and men are allotted freedoms they 69 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: take for granted. Quote from this moment, I will be 70 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: a man for Nonon. It wasn't a declaration about gender identity. 71 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: It was a statement about the role she wished to 72 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: play in society about her interests and the freedoms she 73 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: intended to preserve for herself. Society was only allowing women 74 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: at the time to occupy an incredibly narrow space, and 75 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: so Nenon would chart a course for herself, attempting to 76 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: live with the freedoms that a man would have. It 77 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,119 Speaker 1: was Nenon's determination to quote live as a man would 78 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: that drove her to find another avenue besides the convent 79 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: or marriage, and it was at this time that she 80 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: began her famed career, taking a third option, a courtizan. 81 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: I find the word courtizan interesting because as a culture 82 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: we have found no shortage of both euphemisms and derogatory 83 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: terms for sex workers. But to me, courtesan conveys something specific. 84 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,839 Speaker 1: There's some sophistication there, in my opinion. A little Glamour 85 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: Miriam Webster describes courtesan as quote a female sex worker 86 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 1: with a courtly, wealthy or upper class clientele. The word 87 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: first appears in the mid fifteen hundreds, driving from the 88 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:48,359 Speaker 1: Middle French courtisan, literally meaning woman of the court. Many 89 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: courtesans came from poorer backgrounds and began their careers as 90 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 1: more lower class prostitutes. While others came from more well 91 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: off backgrounds and became courtesan's too improve their social and 92 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: political currency. Courtesans were expected to be artistically and or 93 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: intellectually engaging. Their primary job was, of course, companionship and 94 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 1: usually sexual pleasure for their benefactors, but it was nearly 95 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: equally important that they entertained through other avenues. Nenon was 96 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: neither wealthy nor poor, and she likely saw a courtizan 97 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: as a path to both financial and social independence. Her 98 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 1: personal philosophy also must have contributed to her decision. Unlike 99 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: the vast majority of her contemporaries, Nonon did not see 100 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,679 Speaker 1: sex as an immoral act, as she would later write, quote, 101 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: oh you mortals who rely so much on the power 102 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: of your virtue. No matter how great your strength may be, 103 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: there are moments when the most virtuous person becomes the weakest. 104 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: The reason for this strange fact is that nature is 105 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: always pursuing us. It is always aiming to achieve its ends. 106 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: The desire for love in a woman is a substantial 107 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: part of her natural constitution. Her virtue has only been 108 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: patched on. This outlook goes hand in hand with her 109 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: rejection of the Christian Church's teachings. If desire is not 110 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 1: inherently sinful, then repentance is not the point of existence. 111 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: Nenon's first step to begin her new life was to 112 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: acquire her own residence in Paris, which she likely did 113 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: using inheritance from the recent death of her father. She 114 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: settled on a straight in the fashionable quarter of the Marae. 115 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: The neighborhood was the heart of many of Paris's most 116 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: esteemed intellectual circles, where men and women would gather to 117 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:58,839 Speaker 1: engage with new, often bohemian ideas. Just as Nenon had 118 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: charmed parias society with her lute years earlier, she soon 119 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: captivated its attention. Yet again. She gained a reputation for 120 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: being different from other courtesans at the time because of 121 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: her openly independent nature. As Ninon's French biographer, Roger Duchamp 122 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: put it roughly translated into English, Nana earned her living 123 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: by having sex. Having sex was not her life. She 124 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 1: was known for her strict boundaries. She would be the 125 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: one to determine when a relationship started and ended. It 126 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: wasn't unusual for a courtesan to gain enough social currency 127 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:41,079 Speaker 1: that she could afford to exert that control choosing which 128 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 1: lover she took instead of the other way around. But 129 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: Nenon seems to have reached that point quicker than most, 130 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: As the famed memoirrist San Simon wrote of her quote, 131 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: Neno always had crowds of adorers, but never more than 132 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,959 Speaker 1: one lover at a time, And when she tired of 133 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: the present occu, she said so frankly, and took another. 134 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: Yet such was the authority of this wanton that no 135 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: man dared fall out with his successful rival. He was 136 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: only too happy to be allowed to visit as a 137 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: familiar friend. We don't have a clear timeline of when 138 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: her relationships with her various benefactors started or ended, but 139 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: we do know their names. Her most famous lovers included 140 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: the king's cousin, the General Louis the second de Bourbon, 141 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: otherwise known as Legrand Conde, as well as Francois duc 142 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: de la Roche Fouquet, member of one of the most 143 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 1: illustrious French noble families and a published writer and frequent 144 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: salon fixture himself. Among her spurned petitioners was Cardinal Richelieu, 145 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 1: the chief minister to Louis the thirteenth, known for accumulating 146 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: an enormous amount of power and influence in both the 147 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: Catholic Church and French monarchy. His rejection speaks to the 148 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: weight of Nenon's social currency as well as her goals. 149 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: If she simply sought to acquire wealth and power, why 150 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: would she have refused one of France's most powerful figures. 151 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: We don't know her specific reasons for refusing where she 152 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: lose advances, but we can probably imagine that Nenon might 153 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: have taken issue with his censorship of the press and 154 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: his consolidation of power away from the nobility her clientele, 155 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: family and friends. Years into her career, Nenon found herself 156 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,959 Speaker 1: facing a new and different sort of relationship. In sixteen 157 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: fifty two, when she would have been in her early thirties, 158 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: she was pursued by a well known nobleman, Louis de Mornay. 159 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: De Mournay gets a mention in sin Simon's memoirs as well, 160 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: where he's simply described as making quote a lot of 161 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: noise with women. Quote. I'm not sure if that's literal 162 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: or metaphorical, but it's no surprise then that he was 163 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 1: married when he and Nenon began a relationship. The couple 164 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: actually had a son together Louise, and for three years 165 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: the three of them lived together in the country, where 166 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: Nenon studied and the nobleman hunted while they both cared 167 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: for their son. However, Nenon wasn't suited for the quiet 168 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,439 Speaker 1: country life, and she ultimately wasn't suited for de Mornay, 169 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: a man with ultimately boring, fairly conventional, and low brow interests. 170 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:43,200 Speaker 1: Nenon returned to Paris in sixteen fifty five, and her 171 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 1: son seems to have stayed at court. We don't know 172 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: for sure what kind of relationship Neinon had with him 173 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:54,439 Speaker 1: throughout the rest of her life. Returning to her previous career, 174 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: as it turned out, wouldn't be as smooth as she 175 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: might have hoped. Was used to ending relationships on her terms, 176 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: but de Mournay appears not to have gotten that message 177 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: when she refused to return to him despite his pleas 178 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: he fell into a fever. To console his distress, she 179 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: cut off her hair and sent the curled locks to 180 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: his bedside. It didn't do much to appease her scorned 181 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: ex lover, but it did evidently start a trend. Women 182 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: across Paris began to sport bobbed hair. A la Neinont. Eventually, 183 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: like all of her other former lovers, de Mournay forgave 184 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: Nenon and they settled into a friendship. It wasn't just 185 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: hairstyles that were changing in Paris the Frond. The two 186 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: short wars between the French nobility and Louis the Fourteenth's 187 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: regency government further asserted the power of the monarchy, and 188 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 1: Cardinal Mazarin Young Louise Minister and Richilieu's successor. With this 189 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: assertion came a wave of conservatism, and conservatives famously don't 190 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: favor openly atheist courtesans. It was only a year after 191 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: Ninon's return to the city in sixteen fifty six that 192 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: the Queen Mother of France, Anne of Austria, was petitioned 193 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: by a group of Ninon's detractors aka those who might 194 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 1: have been jealous of her status, wary of her philosophy, 195 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: or both to silence her. The petition ultimately led to 196 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: Nenon's imprisonment in a convent home to many quote wayward 197 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: women of the seventeenth century. While there were those who 198 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: joined the convent voluntarily, the French convent primarily functioned as 199 00:14:55,200 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: an alternative to prison for rebellious women. Minon had designed 200 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: a life for herself, specifically to circumvent the choice between 201 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: marriage or convent, but in the end she was still 202 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: sentenced to the latter. The writing of Ninons that has 203 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: survived is philosophical, not diaristic, so we're left to imagine 204 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: how she must have felt confined to those walls. As 205 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: we know, Ninana was not faded to stay at the 206 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: convent for long. The story goes that her savior was 207 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: actually not, as you might have been expecting, one of 208 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:37,680 Speaker 1: her many powerful lovers, but a kindred spirit, Christina, the 209 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 1: exiled Queen of Sweden, who we actually discussed in the 210 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: early podcast episode Queen Christina removed her own crown. You 211 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 1: can see why the monarch who described herself as having 212 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 1: quote an insurmountable distaste for marriage as well as quote 213 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: for all the things that females talked about and did, 214 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: would be impressed by ninon convictions. Christina often woren't masculine clothing, 215 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: she barely combed her hair, and cared far more about 216 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: her studies than she did running a country. She was 217 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: just a reminder at been a while since the episode. 218 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: Ultimately forced to abdicate her throne for her refusal to 219 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: marry and intend to convert to Catholicism. Christina was only 220 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: in her twenties when she abdicated, and so much of 221 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: her life after the throne was spent traveling Europe. During 222 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 1: her time in Parisian society, she likely heard much about 223 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: Nina's rise and fall and decided to visit her in 224 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: the convent. Their conversation must have made an impact and 225 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: sounds like an off Broadway play waiting to happen. Christina 226 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: swiftly intervened and Ninon was set free. In sixteen fifty nine, 227 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 1: a pamphlet began to circulate around Paris, wonderfully entitled The 228 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: Coquette Avenged. It was a short work, but it boldly 229 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: described the possibility of living a good, fulfilling life outside 230 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: the constraints of religion. While it's not a certainty, the 231 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,160 Speaker 1: work has long been attributed to Nenan, and it's believed 232 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 1: to have been written during her time in the convent, 233 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 1: proving that her imprisonment only further cemented her beliefs and convictions. 234 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,119 Speaker 1: After her brief stay with the nuns, Nenon returned to 235 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: being a courtesan, but in the sixteen sixties, she would 236 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: ultimately say goodbye to that part of her life and 237 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: dedicate herself to her literary circle. While Nonon had attended 238 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: and hosted numerous salons in her time, in sixteen sixty 239 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 1: seven she established her regular salon at the Hotel de 240 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,959 Speaker 1: Sagon in Paris, which would continue to meet for the 241 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,040 Speaker 1: rest of her life. Her guests were some of the 242 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: city's most prominent intellectuals, artists, and political thinkers. The most 243 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,480 Speaker 1: famous names among her friends include Saint Simon, the memoirist 244 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: we've quoted several times now, Mollieri, the iconic playwright, and 245 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:15,360 Speaker 1: the woman known as Madame Scarone, who actually secretly married 246 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth following the death of Queen Maria. Theresa. 247 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 1: Nenan's surviving philosophical work comes from her letters to another 248 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: attendee of her salons, a man named Charles de Sevigner, 249 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 1: an aristocrat and the son of Madame de Sevigner, who's 250 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:37,120 Speaker 1: remembered to this day as a seventeenth century literary icon. 251 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: For her own letter writing, Nenon appears to have taken Charles, 252 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: twenty eight years her junior, under her wing, or, in 253 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: her own words, quote you ought to be aware of 254 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,679 Speaker 1: the fact that when a woman has lost the freshness 255 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: of her first youth and takes a special interest in 256 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:59,320 Speaker 1: a young man, everybody says she desires to make a 257 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: worldling of him. You know the malignity of this expression. 258 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: I do not care to expose myself to its application. 259 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: All the service I am willing to render you is 260 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: to become your confidante. You will tell me your troubles, 261 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: and I will tell you what is in my mind. 262 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,479 Speaker 1: Likewise aid you to know your own heart and that 263 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: of a woman. End quote. Charles, in his youthful ignorance, 264 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: had found himself struggling to find a woman that returned 265 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: his affections. Ninon became something of his dating guru. As 266 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: you can probably guess, her advice to him wasn't the 267 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: kind of sound bites you can hear on TikTok from 268 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: dating experts, but rather a reflection of her philosophical beliefs 269 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:47,879 Speaker 1: regarding sex, gender, and the nature of humans themselves. In 270 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,399 Speaker 1: one letter, she writes, quote, it is not because you, 271 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: referring to both Charles and men at large quote, possess 272 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:59,679 Speaker 1: superior qualities that you are an agreeable companion to be 273 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,400 Speaker 1: in I raced with outstretched arms. You must be sympathetic, 274 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 1: amusing important to the pleasure of others. I warn you 275 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: that you cannot succeed in any other manner, especially with women. 276 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: Now tell me what would you like me to do 277 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: with your learning, with the geometry of your mind, and 278 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: with the exactitude of your memory, Dear marquise, if you 279 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:26,199 Speaker 1: have such advantages, if you have no personal charm to 280 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,639 Speaker 1: balance your austerity, you will not please women. I can 281 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: vouch for that, far from pleasing them, you will seem 282 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: to them like an intimidating critic. You will so constrain 283 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: them that any pleasure they might have enjoyed in your 284 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 1: presence will be banished. In other words, don't be all 285 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: head and no heart. While this is surely a bit 286 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: of tough love, it's also a blatant disavowal of conventional 287 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: gender roles. Relationships, then, On argue, cannot work when a 288 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,959 Speaker 1: man is expected to only be the head and the 289 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: woman only the heart. What is love without reciprocity. While 290 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: Nanon encouraged men to work on their charm, she began 291 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: to further encourage fellow women to work on their minds. 292 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,160 Speaker 1: Her Salon began hosting lectures, and at each one men 293 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: paid a fee, while women were admitted for free the 294 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: original Ladies Night. By this point in her life, Nenon 295 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: was approaching her eighties. I am of your opinion, she 296 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:39,159 Speaker 1: wrote in a letter that wrinkles are a mark of wisdom. 297 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: That series of letters, the last written works we have 298 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: of Ninon's, add a new face to her philosophy, which 299 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,880 Speaker 1: is her thoughts on aging and mortality. While she complained 300 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: of physical discomforts and transformations, she was not dismayed by 301 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: changes in her appearance. The soul and the mind, she believed, 302 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 1: shown far brighter than beauty. Ninon de L'encloude died of 303 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: natural causes in Paris in seventeen o five, at eighty 304 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: four years old. In a letter to a friend written 305 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,680 Speaker 1: not long before her death, she wrote, quote, your life 306 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: has been too illustrious not to be lived in the 307 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: same manner until the end. Do not permit hell to 308 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: frighten you. Pronounce the word love boldly, and that of 309 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:32,240 Speaker 1: old age will never pass your lips. That's the story 310 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,359 Speaker 1: of the life of Ninon de l'ancloux. But keep listening. 311 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 1: After a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit 312 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:50,679 Speaker 1: more about her lasting literary legacy. Nenon's legacy in the 313 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 1: literary world might have been far greater than she would 314 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: ever be able to know. After her death, she still 315 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: sought to encourage education, and she gave some money in 316 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: her will to the promising nine year old godson of 317 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,879 Speaker 1: a friend. The boy seemed like he had potential. Maybe 318 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: he had something dazzling about him, or maybe Nanon was 319 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: just trying to be nice. The boy, whose name was 320 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:18,959 Speaker 1: Francois Marie ar Away, would use the money to buy books. 321 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: If that name doesn't sound familiar, it's probably because he's 322 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: far better known today by his pen name Voltaire. Nobel 323 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild 324 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:44,400 Speaker 1: from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, 325 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:49,760 Speaker 1: with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, 326 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 1: Amy Hit and Julia Milani. The show is edited and 327 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 1: produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il Kaali 328 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: and Exis executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. 329 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, 330 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,159 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.