This PhD thesis is an analysis of the appearances, material culture and sexuality of the respectable woman, l honneste femme, in Paris under the regime of Louis XIV. Through the examples of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos, the study describes how Parisian elite women were able to fashion the ideal of l honneste femme and how reality and ideals were combined in Parisian society. The study is based on the idea that female chastity is not the only key factor when evaluating and refashioning l honneste femme and the 17th-century female ideal was composed from different elements: elite status, education, manners, material culture, outer appearance and sexuality; residential area also played a role, especially the quartier of Le Marais with its flourishing elite culture. The study shows that l honneste femme was the result of the mastering of all these different layers of elite living. In addition, it notes that the respectable Parisian elite woman could make her own decisions in relation to her lifestyle and self-fashioning. These actions were essential when constructing the entity of l honneste femme.
The aim of the study is to answer the following questions: How did Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos reflect the ideal of the elite culture? How was the notion of a respectable woman constructed? Was this a matter of perfect abstinence as previous scholars claim or was it rather a performance that required different elements to be fulfilled? If so, what were the essential aspects when refashioning the respectable woman? How did Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos fashion themselves? Did their self-fashioning aim to perform as honnestes femmes or did they search for other ways to be part of the society of les honnêtes gens? Most importantly, the study considers why both Marquise de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos were considered honnestes femmes at the end of their lives?
The study, qualitative in nature, is based on a variety of sources. By means of critical close reading the study analyses the letters of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos and their inventaires après décès which are key sources. The valuable information these post-mortem inventories offer has not been used properly ever before in studies on l honneste femme. Another prominent source for the study are the Mémoires composed by the contemporaries of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos. Seventeenth-century conduct books such as François de Grenaille s L Honnête fille (1640); Jacques Du Bosc s L Honneste femme (1632); Antoine de Courtin s Nouveau Traité de la civilité qui se pratique en France parmi les honnêtes gens (1671); François de Sales Introduction à la vie devote (1641) and Nicolas Venette s Tableau de l'amour conjugal (1686) help to understand the female ideal like on the theoretical level. Both Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos were immortalised in several portraits that were reflections of the honnête status. Thus, such visual sources as portraits and gravures have also been analysed and combined with the overall source material and research literature.
The most important notion is that even if the ideal of the elite woman, l honneste femme, had been created mostly by male authors, it was adjustable and adaptable. Furthermore, the study argues that the external signs of l honneste femme played a greater role than previous scholars have assumed. In other words, l honneste femme and her honnête performance were created from many different social and personal aspects of which chastity was only one of them. Thus, the study shows how 17th-century Parisian elite women had to be able to uphold simultaneously different status layers of their rank to fulfil the expectations the Ancien Régime created for l honneste femme.
This PhD thesis is an analysis of the appearances, material culture and sexuality of the respectable woman, l honneste femme, in Paris under the regime of Louis XIV. Through the examples of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos, the study describes how Parisian elite women were able to fashion the ideal of l honneste femme and how reality and ideals were combined in Parisian society. The study is based on the idea that female chastity is not the only key factor when evaluating and refashioning l honneste femme and the 17th-century female ideal was composed from different elements: elite status, education, manners, material culture, outer appearance and sexuality; residential area also played a role, especially the quartier of Le Marais with its flourishing elite culture. The study shows that l honneste femme was the result of the mastering of all these different layers of elite living. In addition, it notes that the respectable Parisian elite woman could make her own decisions in relation to her lifestyle and self-fashioning. These actions were essential when constructing the entity of l honneste femme.
The aim of the study is to answer the following questions: How did Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos reflect the ideal of the elite culture? How was the notion of a respectable woman constructed? Was this a matter of perfect abstinence as previous scholars claim or was it rather a performance that required different elements to be fulfilled? If so, what were the essential aspects when refashioning the respectable woman? How did Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos fashion themselves? Did their self-fashioning aim to perform as honnestes femmes or did they search for other ways to be part of the society of les honnêtes gens? Most importantly, the study considers why both Marquise de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos were considered honnestes femmes at the end of their lives?
The study, qualitative in nature, is based on a variety of sources. By means of critical close reading the study analyses the letters of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos and their inventaires après décès which are key sources. The valuable information these post-mortem inventories offer has not been used properly ever before in studies on l honneste femme. Another prominent source for the study are the Mémoires composed by the contemporaries of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos. Seventeenth-century conduct books such as François de Grenaille s L Honnête fille (1640); Jacques Du Bosc s L Honneste femme (1632); Antoine de Courtin s Nouveau Traité de la civilité qui se pratique en France parmi les honnêtes gens (1671); François de Sales Introduction à la vie devote (1641) and Nicolas Venette s Tableau de l'amour conjugal (1686) help to understand the female ideal like on the theoretical level. Both Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos were immortalised in several portraits that were reflections of the honnête status. Thus, such visual sources as portraits and gravures have also been analysed and combined with the overall source material and research literature.
The most important notion is that even if the ideal of the elite woman, l honneste femme, had been created mostly by male authors, it was adjustable and adaptable. Furthermore, the study argues that the external signs of l honneste femme played a greater role than previous scholars have assumed. In other words, l honneste femme and her honnête performance were created from many different social and personal aspects of which chastity was only one of them. Thus, the study shows how 17th-century Parisian elite women had to be able to uphold simultaneously different status layers of their rank to fulfil the expectations the Ancien Régime created for l honneste femme.
