La Maupin: Julie d'Aubigny

Julie d'Aubigny

(b. 1670, d.1707)

A Anonymous 1700's print of Julie d'Aubigny titled Mademoiselle la Maupin de l'Opéra.

There has never been a woman that has made me truly consider just how incredibly badass some women in the 17th century were than Julie d'Aubigny. Her whole life story sounds like it came straight out of some incredibly saucy French roman, but this woman actually existed and her life consisted of almost getting the death sentence to burning down a convent to have a tryst with a nun. She was a bisexual fencing opera star. What more do you want?

Born to the secretary of Louis XIV's Master of Horses, le Comte d'Armagnac, Julie was taught fencing at a young age by her father and schooled in literacy and dancing. She was introduced to the Comte in her teens and soon after she became his mistress, but her married her off to a Sieur de Maupin. After the affair, her husband received a work commission and had to leave Paris, but Julie decided to stay behind and her reputation took off from there.

She earned a reputation. She was known for fighting duels and ended up in an affair with a assistant fencing master named Serannes. When he killed a man in an illegal duel, the duo had to flee to Marseille. Moving did not curb her outlandish tendencies. She and Serannes gave dueling exhibitions, in which she wore male clothing. However, she didn't try to disguise the fact that she was a woman. This attracted even more attention. In her time there she took up singing in a theater, became tired with Sarennes, and ended up becoming attracted to a young woman, whose name we do not know. The girl's parents shipped her off to a convent, but the persistent d'Aubigny followed and entered the convent, too. This is where the story gets interesting. She, according to accounts, took the body of a nun, put it where her lover was, lit the convent on fire, and ran away with her. The girl returned to her family three months later, but d'Aubigny was charged and sentenced to death by fire. She left for Paris and met with a man named Marechal near Poitier, whom she stayed with until he sent her away to Paris. She continued her singing career dressed as a man. She picked up another lover in Villeperdue after she wounded one of three squires in a duel and inquired after his health. She entered his room in men's clothing and... do I really even need to say? Once he was healed and had to return to his unit, d'Aubigny convinced d'Armagnac to get the king to pardon her. 

She continued on into opera and began using the name Mademoiselle Maupin. Her contralto voice and flamboyancy made her a crowd favorite.She fell in love with two actresses in the troupe, one of whom was the mistress of Le Grand Dauphin. When this one rejected her, she attempted suicide. The one whom she was infatuated with prior caused some discontent among the troupe members and many duels arose from it.  Her profession as a dueler made her forced to flee to Brussels, where legend has it that she had an affair with the Elector of Bavaria. 

She appeared in several major opera productions before she reconciled with her husband and lived with him until his death. She died in 1707 in a convent that she entered after she retired from opera.

Sources

Rogers, Cameron. Gallant Ladies. New York: Harcourt, Brace and, 1928. Print.

Letainturier-Fradin, G. La Maupin: Sa Vie, Ses Duels, Ses Aventures. Paris: n.p., 1904. Print.

Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. New York: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1992. Print.