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This unorthodox biography explores the life of an extraordinary Enlightenment woman who, by sheer force of character, parlayed a skill in midwifery into a national institution. In 1759, in an effort to end infant mortality, Louis XV commissioned Madame Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray to travel throughout France teaching the art of childbirth to illiterate peasant women. For the next thirty years, this royal emissary taught in nearly forty cities and reached an estimated ten thousand students. She wrote a textbook and invented a life-sized obstetrical mannequin for her demonstrations. She contributed significantly to France's demographic upswing after 1760. Who was the woman, both the private self and the pseudonymous public celebrity? Nina Rattner Gelbart reconstructs Madame du Coudray's astonishing mission through extensive research in the hundreds of letters by, to, and about her in provincial archives throughout France. Tracing her subject's footsteps around the country, Gelbart chronicles du Coudray's battles with finance ministers, village matrons, local administrators, and recalcitrant physicians, her rises in power and falls from grace, and her death at the height of the Reign of Terror. At a deeper level, Gelbart recaptures du Coudray's interior journey as well, by questioning and dismantling the neat paper trail that the great midwife so carefully left behind. Delightfully written, this tale of a fascinating life at the end of the French Old Regime sheds new light on the histories of medicine, gender, society, politics, and culture.

Boursier du Coudray, le, Angélique M. --- Midwives --- Midwifery --- Medicine --- Health & Biological Sciences --- Gynecology & Obstetrics --- Biography --- Le Boursier du Coudray, Angelique Marguerite, --- France --- Birth attendants --- Nurse midwives --- Traditional birth attendants --- Medical personnel --- Boursier du Coudray, Angelique Marguerite Le, --- Coudray, Angelique Marguerite Le Boursier du, --- Du Coudray, Angelique Marguerite Le Boursier, --- Midwife --- Traditional Birth Attendant --- Birth Attendant, Traditional --- Birth Attendants, Traditional --- Traditional Birth Attendants --- Miquelon and Saint Pierre --- Miquelon and St. Pierre --- St. Pierre and Miquelon --- Corsica --- Saint Pierre and Miquelon --- Nursing specialties --- Bro-C'hall --- Fa-kuo --- Fa-lan-hsi --- Faguo --- Falanxi --- Falanxi Gongheguo --- Faransā --- Farānsah --- França --- Francia (Republic) --- Francija --- Francja --- Francland --- Francuska --- Franis --- Franḳraykh --- Frankreich --- Frankrig --- Frankrijk --- Frankrike --- Frankryk --- Fransa --- Fransa Respublikası --- Franse --- Franse Republiek --- Frant︠s︡ --- Frant︠s︡ Uls --- Frant︠s︡ii︠a︡ --- Frantsuzskai︠a︡ Rėspublika --- Frantsyi︠a︡ --- Franza --- French Republic --- Frencisc Cynewīse --- Frenska republika --- Furansu --- Furansu Kyōwakoku --- Gallia --- Gallia (Republic) --- Gallikē Dēmokratia --- Hyãsia --- Parancis --- Peurancih --- Phransiya --- Pransiya --- Pransya --- Prantsusmaa --- Pʻŭrangsŭ --- Ranska --- República Francesa --- Republica Franzesa --- Republika Francuska --- Republiḳah ha-Tsarfatit --- Republikang Pranses --- République française --- Tsarfat --- Tsorfat --- Γαλλική Δημοκρατία --- Γαλλία --- Франц --- Франц Улс --- Французская Рэспубліка --- Францыя --- Франция --- Френска република --- פראנקרייך --- צרפת --- רפובליקה הצרפתית --- فرانسه --- فرنسا --- フランス --- フランス共和国 --- 法国 --- 法蘭西 --- 法蘭西共和國 --- 프랑스 --- France (Provisional government, 1944-1946) --- Midwives. --- Obstetrics. --- Maternal-fetal medicine --- biography. --- childbirth. --- coudray. --- delivery. --- early medicine. --- europe. --- famous midwife. --- famous women. --- female doctor. --- female role models. --- france. --- french history. --- gender. --- history of medicine. --- history. --- infant mortality. --- labor. --- madame angelique marguerite le boursier du coudray. --- madame du coudray. --- medical. --- medicine. --- midwife. --- nonfiction. --- obstetrics. --- peasant women. --- pregnancy complications. --- pregnancy. --- public health. --- reign of terror. --- revolution. --- royals. --- social history. --- stem. --- women in history. --- women in medicine.