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josefavomjaaga · 2 years ago

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Judging by Madame Campan’s outdated as fuck ideas on women, I’m surprised Hortense and Caroline didn’t die of boredom in the school.

(I know it was a different time but those ideas don’t fit them at all.)

But what did they learn there? What subjects were taught? Do you happen to know?

Why, thank you for the question! That's a good one. And as usual, I've never really studied anything serious enough to have an answer.

But. In her biography of Hortense Beauharnais, Marie-Hélène Baylac cites a bit from one of Hortense's school reports (in order to show that sweet Hortense was not precisely the model student she claims to have been in her memoirs). It's from 1798, when Hortense would have been 15/16 years old. The bulletin cites some deficits in "dictation", but overall she seems to be doing okay in "reading and writing" yet needs to cultivate her memory more. "Application and submission" are satisfactory, Hortense is docile and always ready to please her schoolmates.

Which, I believe, already shows some things that Madame Campan's institution placed value on. There were more school subjects of course: history (at the time of the Directorate reduced to only Greek and Roman history), geography, languages (Hortense claims that Napoleon abruptly ended her studies in English for political reasons), and all the things that, in those days, would turn a girl into an "accomplished woman": drawing, music, singing, dancing. And while, according to Caroline d'Arjuzon, girls that left Madame Campan's school often still rather lacked some orthography and grammar, they all had learned to dance and draw and hold polite conversations - everything to entertain and please a future husband.

English writer Fanny Burney once watched a price giving ceremony (the whole school system was based heavily on tests and prices) during the Consulate: the girls, on a stage and in front of a large audience that included, besides parents and relatives, also high political functionaries and sometimes the First Consul himself, had to do a series of tests: dictation, drawing of maps, pointing out the main cities of each country while other girls would name their coordinates, recitation and explication of poems, answering to questions about history. Fanny Bruney noted that the jury took great care to not embarrass the girls in this latter matter and to "carefully guide them to the correct answer". Two girls still burst into tears live on stage during this test though. The main prize however was a rose awarded for "sweetness of character".

(I think I once told you about Sandra Gulland's novel "A rose for virtue"? That title refers to this prize. Also, it's a nice book. The Hortense of that story is truly a nice person, and her pining for Duroc is just sweet.)

Again, I guess that's somewhat telling. The geography session seems impressive though (I've always hated geography 😋).

There also were teachers for mathematics and natural science, I believe, so those must have been subjects, too. But I am not sure if all pupils always were educated in all these subjects. I seem to recall a report card from Hortense's days at Madame Campan's where some major subjects simply were left blank, as if she had not taken part in them.

That's the best I could do for now, I fear. But maybe somebody else has something to add? I'd be very interested myself!

Thanks again for the question!

#btw i'd have sucked in that school #answering questions live on stage?#help!#madame campan #hortense de beauharnais

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