Dauphine de Sartre

Entry by Nancy M. O'Connor, 2004

Dauphine de Sartre, born in Montpellier on December 14 1634, was the only child of Jean de Sartre and Brigitte de Massane, both of her parents coming from a long line of jurists. Her father, conseiller du roi in Montpellier's Cour des Comptes, Aides et Finances, would become president of that body after having served as avocat général du roi. The Massanes had protestant forebears, as did another branch of Sartres in Montpellier, but there is nothing to indicate that Jean de Sartre's family included any members of the reformed religion.

On January 3rd 1651 Dauphine de Sartre wedded Jacques de Grille de Robiac, bringing with her a dowry of 40 000 livres. The son of Charles de Grille de Robiac d'Estoublon, permanent viguier of Arles, and of Blanche de Forbin de Soliers, Jacques de Grille was elected consul of the town of Arles on several occasions. Succeeding his father as permanent viguier of the town from 1654 to 1674, he was named conseiller d'Etat in 1655. Eight children are born of this union, five daughters and three sons. Of the daughters only one, Blanche-Thérèse (165*-1711), was married, to Joseph-Jacques de Meyran d'Ubaye; the other four took the veil. The eldest son, François (166*-1741), wedded Eugénie de Riqueti de Mirabeau a few months before his mother's death.

Nothing is known of the education that Dauphine de Sartre received before the age of sixteen. It was probably only after that marriage and her introduction into an influential Arles family that she became part of a sophisticated world in which she could engage in erudite conversation. It was then that she began her intellectual journey and, as early as 1654 (a date that appears in one of her two known manuscripts), bega to keep a record of her dissertations, maxims, and reading notes.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Jacques de Grille was both finely educated and gallant, and interested in the arts and the "sciences"; he also published several works. A founding member of Arles' Académie des Lettres and later permanent secretary, he is charged in 1655 with drawing up its statutes. Dauphine de Sartre helped him in this task. The members of the academy expresed their gratitude to her and the text of her answer has reached us, as well as that of a "Dissertation on whether it would be better for the members of the academy to show their works than to keep them hidden."

Dauphine de Sartre almost certainly did not consider herself to be an author, and her writings remained unpublished until significant excerpts of one of her notebooks were finally published in 2003. She was interested in customs and sociability, in eloquence and language, in the natural sciences, history, philosophy, music, and the fine arts, and she demonstrated an immense thirst for knowledge, along with a keen mind, in her dissertations and her moral reflexions. Her "Dissertation on Friendship" and considerations on civility are particularly subtle; her thoughts on customs show a deep understanding of human nature. Finally, her "General Remarks," containing numerous reading notes, reveal a remarkably cultivated woman: one finds references to Lamy, Méré, Pascal, Nicole, Malebranche, Descartes, Rohault, Poullain de la Barre, Bouhours, Balzac, and Esprit, among others. Twenty-odd letters provide little personal information, with the exception of a very touching letter to her son François.

The significance of Dauphine de Sartre's writings remains to be appraised. Critics must determine the originality of the dissertations, the remarks and maxims. If they are indeed her own, she should be considered a moralist of the highest quality. As for her reading notes, they are without a doubt of considerable import: far more useful than a library inventory. they shed new light on women's culture in the Ancien Régime, allowing us to discover, by means of a personal journal, what a woman of the 17th-century provincial nobility read and how she read.

Works

- Lettres diverses, dissertations diverses, «Recueils de choses morales», «Remarques générales», in De sa propre main..., voir infra, «choix biblio».

Selected bibliography

- Brun, Auguste. «Une Précieuse arlésienne: ses notes, ses curiosités», Mélanges de philologie et d'histoire littéraire offerts à Edmond Huguet. Paris, Boivin, 1940, p.213-222.
- O'Connor, Nancy M. «Sources manuscrites et histoire des femmes: une marquise en Arles au XVIIe siècle». XVIIe siècle, 192, 1996, p.601-617.
- O'Connor, Nancy M. (éd.) De sa propre main: Recueils de choses morales de Dauphine de Sartre, marquise de Robiac (1634-1685), avec une introduction et des notes. Birmingham, Alabama, Summa Publications, 2003.

Reception

- «Je ne me picque point, & avec raison, d'estre bel esprit» (Dauphine de Sartre, «Lettre de M. L. M. De R. À l'Académie Royale d'Arles» in De sa propre main...voir supra, p.44).
- «Doristée [«Mlle de Grille» = Dauphine de Sartre] a beaucoup de douceur, et cette douceur n'est pas de celle que la stupidité cause en la pluspart des femmes; au contraire, elle a infiniment de l'esprit. [...Elle] attiroit par sa beauté et par son esprit tout ce qu'il y avoit de gens les plus accomplis dans la ville» (Antoine Baudeau, sieur de Somaize, Dictionnaire des Précieuses par le Sieur de Somaize. Nouvelle édition augmentée de divers opuscules du même auteur relatifs aux Précieuses, et d'une clef historique et anecdotique par M. Ch.-L. Livet [Paris, J. Jannet, 1856], Genève, Slatkine reprints, 1972, p.73).
- «Elle estoit douée d'un esprit si relevé et si propre aux connoissances sublimes, qu'elle n'ignoroit rien de tout ce qui peut établir l'estime d'une personne sçavante. Elle sçavoit jusqu'aux parties les plus difficiles des mathématiques, telles que l'algèbre, la philosophie ancienne et moderne, et tout ce qu'il faut croire de plus raisonnable de l'une et de l'autre. Elle s'estoit même acquis les principes de la médecine; mais quelque avantage qu'elle receust de ces différentes connoissances, son plus fort attachement estoit la morale, et surtout la chrestienne qu'elle prenoit pour règle de toutes ses actions. On a peu vu de femmes avoir une intelligence et une pénétration plus rafinée, une netteté d'esprit et d'expression plus forte, soit à écrire, soit à parler, ny un talent plus singulier à s'attirer également l'estime, l'admiration et le respect de tous ceux qui l'approchoient» (Mercure Galant, avril 1685, p.87-89).
- «Une précieuse? une femme savante? un bas-bleu? Ces termes péjoratifs lui conviennent mal. Ici, ni démon d'écrire, ni pédantisme, ni bel esprit. Et surtout pas la moindre trace de romanesque ni de complaisance aux choses de la galanterie et de l'amour» (Auguste Brun, «Une Précieuse arlésienne...» voir supra, «choix biblio.»p.215).