The King's Midwife

by Gelbart, Nina Rattner

• ISBN13: 9780520221574
• ISBN10: 0520221575
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr on Demand

Summary

A biography of an uppity midwife commissioned by Kings Louis XV and XVI to teach obstetrics throughout France. She became a celebrity, saving millions of peasant women from the horrors of botched births.

Author Biography

Nina Rattner Gelbart is Professor of History and the History of Science at Occidental College, Los Angeles

Table of Contents

Prologue: Who Is Mme du Coudray?	1	(2)
The Portrait, Paris, Summer 1985	3	(3)
Biography as History and Mystery, Los Angeles and France, 1986-1996	6	(9)
The National Midwife's Mission Statement, Clermont, 1 August 1760	15	(8)
1. From Private Practice to Public Service	23	(66)
A Parisian Midwife
Hanging Her Shingle, Paris, 22 February 1740	25	(6)
A Birth, Paris, January 1744	31	(5)
The Petition, Paris, 17 May 1745	36	(8)
Apprentices and Associates, Paris, 22 January 1751	44	(10)
Teaching in Auvergne: The Depopulation Issue
Break to the Provinces, Thiers-en-Auvergne, 1 October 1751	54	(3)
``The Stories They Told Me,'' Clermont, 9 May 1755	57	(3)
The ``Machine,'' Paris, 13 May 1756	60	(4)
Early Lessons, Clermont, July 1757	64	(7)
A Future Hero, Chavaniac, 7 September 1757	71	(1)
Textbook as Patriotism, Clermont, January 1759	72	(7)
Protest from a Village Matron, Plauzat, 12 June 1759	79	(10)
2. Saving Babies for France	89	(52)
Royal Brevet: ``Sent by the King,'' Versailles, 19 October 1759	91	(5)
Traveling for His Majesty, Moulins, November 1761	96	(4)
Boasts, Rebuffs, and Boutin, Chalon-sur-Saone, 19 March 1763	100	(3)
Turgot, Tulle, 29 December 1763	103	(3)
``Her Unendurable Arrogance,'' Angouleme, 30 July 1764	106	(2)
The Thrifty Laverdy, Fontainebleau, 16 October 1764	108	(3)
Sounding Her Mood, Bourdeilles, 12 December 1764	111	(1)
Delivering ``Like a Cobbler Makes Shoes,'' Poitiers, February 1765	112	(3)
Surgeons of the King's Navy, Rochefort-sur-Mer, 30 April 1766	115	(4)
Brevet No. 2: The Royal Treasury, Compiegne, 18 August 1767	119	(1)
The Bien(s) de l'Humanite, Montargis, 30 September 1767	120	(2)
The Students-``Mes femmes,'' Bourges, All Saints' Day 1767	122	(3)
``A Furious Disgust,'' Bourges, 9 February 1768	125	(7)
Prize Pupil, Issoudun, 2 August 1768	132	(3)
New Edition, Strong Words, Perigueux, 4 September 1769	135	(3)
The Kindness of Strangers, Agen, 30 November 1769	138	(3)
3. Forging Farther Afield-Friends, ``Family,'' and Foes	141	(82)
New Strains, Private Needs
Friendship and Fortification, Bordeaux, Spring 1770	143	(3)
The Suitor and Other Calamities, Auch, 19 December 1770	146	(5)
Coutanceau, ``Provost'' and Partner, Montauban, Winter 1771	151	(1)
``Happy as a Queen,'' Grenoble, 16 June 1772	152	(3)
Networks, Newspapers, and Name Games, Besancon, 16 November 1772	155	(7)
Flirtation in Champagne, Chalons-sur-Marne, March 1773	162	(3)
``I Cost Nothing,'' Verdun, 17 June 1773	165	(4)
She ``Partakes of the Prodigious,'' Neufchateau, Fall 1773	169	(3)
Designing a Dynasty
Romance in the Entourage, Nancy, 27 February 1774	172	(2)
Brevet No. 3: The Succession, Versailles, 1 March 1774	174	(1)
``A Reward So Justly Deserved,'' Amiens, 15 April 1774	175	(5)
Overtures Beyond the Border, Lille, 24 December 1774	180	(3)
A Wedding Across the Flemish Frontier, Ypres, 28 February 1775	183	(4)
Ministerial Mutiny? Caen, 2 July 1775	187	(3)
A Newborn and a Wet Nurse, Rennes, 8 January 1776	190	(6)
``Attend, Monsieur, to My Little Interests,'' Nantes, Summer and Fall 1776	196	(5)
Detractors, Defenses, Dazzling Displays
The Attack, Paris, 5 March 1777	201	(6)
Counterattack: ``It Is the King Who Pays Me,'' Evreux, 27 October 1777	207	(5)
Courting the Neckers, Paris, 31 December 1777	212	(1)
Pandemonium, Le Mans, 11 January 1778	213	(4)
The Niece's Rest Cure, Forges-les-Eaux, Spring 1778	217	(2)
Class/Mass/Vacation, Angers, 1 July 1778	219	(4)
4. Delivering the Goods	223	(12)
Protecting du Coudray's Method, Marly, 7 May 1779	225	(1)
Women and Cows, Alfort near Charenton, October 1780	226	(9)
5. Turning over the Keys	235	(22)
``My Age and My Infirmities,'' Bourges, 25 December 1781	237	(6)
Family Separation, Belley, 30 December 1782	243	(3)
Cunning and Calonne, Paris, 12 July 1785	246	(5)
Rumblings and Discontent, Sarlat, March 1787	251	(6)
6. Citoyenne Midwives and the Revolution	257	(20)
As the Bastille Falls, Castillones, 14 July 1789	259	(1)
The Lafayette Connection, Paris, Fall 1790	260	(5)
What Treasury Will Pay? Bordeaux, 1 July 1791	265	(3)
Mme Coutanceau's Clinic, Bordeaux, 30 August 1793	268	(3)
Du Coudray, Casualty of the Terror, Bordeaux, 28 Germinal An II (17 April 1794)	271	(6)
Epilogue: Paris and Los Angeles, 1994-1996	277	(8)
Abbreviations	285	(2)
Notes	287	(34)
Bibliography	321	(14)
List of Illustrations	335	(1)
Acknowledgments	336	(1)
Index	337