#Louise Bourgeois Boursier

[histoireettralala]

Louise Bourgeois (Louise Boursier), 1563-1636

Midwife to Queen Marie de Médicis, renowned author of medical textbooks translated into many languages

Born in Paris, Louise Bourgeois in 1584 married the king’s surgeon Martin Boursier, with whom she had five children. She led a very happy life. But during the Religious Wars, the Boursier family was forced to leave Paris and find refuge in Tours, where they suffered a life of financial difficulties. Returning to Paris, Louise Boursier became a midwife to provide financial assistance to her family. In spite of opposition from within the profession, she practiced for five years among the poor and became a registered midwife in 1598. This period of her life is recounted at the beginning of her Recit veritable de la naissance de messeigneurs etdames les enfans de France (True Account of the Birth of the Sons and Daughters of France).

In 1601, a wonderful opportunity was offered to Louise Boursier: Queen Marie de Médicis was looking for a midwife. Demonstrating a strong sense of authority and loyalty, Louise Boursier was chosen by the queen to deliver her six children between 1601 and 1610 (the year King Henry IV was assassinated). Louise Boursier was well respected and became the most popular midwife at the court.In 1627, however, Marie de Bourbon Montpensier gave birth to her daughter, Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans (La Grande Mademoiselle),and died suddenly of a puerperal fever. Her midwife, Louise Boursier, was accused of negligence by the physicians who did the autopsy. Her popularity began to decline, and she spent the rest of her life writing and publishing very successful books about her art until her death in 1636. Her famous works were read all over Europe. First published in 1609, her Observations diverses, sur la stérilité, perte de fruict, foecondité, accouchements, et maladies des femmes, et enfants nouveaux naiz (Various Observations on Sterility, Miscarriage, Ability to Conceive, Childbirth, Female Illnesses,and Infants) provides scientific remarks on obstetrics and numerous guidelines for the care of the pregnant woman as well as her infant. Becoming the manual of reference, this book was augmented and published again and again (in 1617, 1626, 1634, 1642, and 1652). It was also translated into Latin, German, Dutch, and English, underscoring the importance of her European reputation at that time. Some parts of her works are of particular interest: Recueil des Secrets, de Louyse Bourgeois dite Boursier (Book of Secrets of Louise Bourgeois Boursier), published just before she died (1635), is a compilation of recipes for women for the treatment of ailments such as skin eruptions, painful periods, and the like.The most interesting writings of Louise Boursier are the Récit véritable (True Account) and the Instruction à ma fille (Advice to my Daughter), both published in 1617, where she presents her short autobiography as well as the spiritual testament of an exemplary midwife.

In her own time, the well-educated and highly competent Louise Boursier was something of an anomaly, first among her male coworkers, who came to resent her as she became a self-confident practitioner, and also among other sworn midwives who saw her as a formidable challenger to their own preeminence in the field because of her marriage to a surgeon and her unusual training (Louise had studied Ambroise Paré’s book on obstetrics). Furthermore, important changes were taking place in the medical and surgical professions. For centuries, women, having gained their skills from experience, monopolized midwifery. With the upsurge of medical science in the sixteenth century, physicians became more interested in the art of delivery, and, as organized instruction and licensing became prevalent, these requirements extended also to women engaged in midwifery.

In a time of growing suspicion over women’s capacities to handle child delivery, Louise Boursier understood the need for formal training and collaboration with male physicians and surgeons. She saw herself as the founder of a new generation of midwives, more knowledgeable and better trained. In her effort to educate those who would follow her, she published Instruction à ma fille, the first treatise in French on the art of midwifery. She recorded her theories on maternity care and her experiences in Parisian society in her Récit veritable. This important work provides a unique source of information about midwifery practices in the early modern period as well as insights into the challenges women faced as they entered the professional world.

Colette H. Winn, in Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance

[uispeccoll]

Guest Post from John Martin Rare Book Room

Obseruations diuerses sur la sterilité, perte de fruict, fœcondité, accouchements, et maladies des femmes, et enfants nouueaux naiz / amplement traictees et heureusement praticquees par L. Bourgeois, dite Boursier, sage femme de la Roine; œuure vtil et necessaire a toutes personnes.

This book is a first edition of the first book on obstetrics published by a midwife. Louise Boursier was a scientist, practitioner, teacher, and author. She was a woman of many firsts. She was one of the first women to be trained at the school for midwives which was opened at the Hôtel Dieu. She was the midwife who attended Marie de Medici, the wife of Henri IV (Henry the Great of France), at the births of her six children. She was the "sworn midwife" to the city of Paris, and in 1601 she officiated at the birth of the dauphin, later to be King Louis XIII of France. She was one of the pioneers of scientific midwifery, and her Observations was the go-to pocket book of contemporary midwives.

Between 1609 and 1652, she wrote many books, mostly expanded volumes of this first edition. Among other techniques, she introduced premature labor in patients with a contracted pelvis or uterine hemorrhage. Her work set the stage for the training and practice of future midwives in many countries, including her own descendants.

The binding for Observations is vellum pasted over thin boards. The book cover is also a nice example of yapp edges. An abbreviated spine title has been gold stamped on a black strip of leather overlayed onto the vellum. There are three engraved illustrations in the book, the title page, and portraits of Louise Boursier (above) and her patron, Marie de Medici. Her cap, collar, and cross help identify Louise as a royal midwife.

Book: LOUISE BOURGEOIS BOURSIER [also known as Louise Bourgeoise] (1563-1636) Obseruations diuerses sur la sterilité, perte de fruict, fœcondité, accouchements, et maladies des femmes, et enfants nouueaux naiz / amplement traictees et heureusement praticquees par L. Bourgeois, dite Boursier, sage femme de la Roine; œuure vtil et necessaire a toutes personnes. [Diverse Observations on Sterility, Miscarriage, Fertility, Childbirth, and Diseases of Women and Newborn Children. Discussed in Detail and Successfully Practiced by L. Bourgeois, called Boursier, Midwife to the Queen. A Work Useful and Necessary for All]. Printed by Chez A. Saugrain in 1609.