#Richilde

[kronieken]

Vlaams Vlaanderen ten westen van de Leie

Het verdrag van Keulen uit 1057 zorgt voor een tijdperk van vrede. Vlaanderen gaat er nu met reuzenschreden op vooruit. Boudewijn schenkt verscheidene privileges aan de burgers. Voorrechten die alleen maar de welvaart ten goede komen. De Vlaamse steden krijgen hun eigen besturen zoals dat eerder al gebeurde in Brugge. Het gaat over erfelijke schependommen die alleen maar rekenschap aan hun eigen…

[warmchrysanthemum]

This is what I see in my head when someone writes "sesbian lex":

[dreamconsumer]

Portrait of Richilde d'Ardennes (or Richilde de Provence) second wife of Charles the Bald.

By her marriage, she became queen and later empress. She ruled as regent in 877.

[venicepearl]

Richilde of Provence (c. 845 – 2 June 910, Kingdom of Lower Burgundy) was the second wife of the Frankish emperor Charles the Bald. By her marriage, she became queen and later empress. She ruled as regent in 877.

[transsexualraskolnikov]

well. i have come to the realization that if one chooses to write historical fiction, one should know at least something about history. big trouble, guys.

what if i wrote a toxic dyke erotica set in the 5th century frankish empire. what then.

[littlewomenpodcast]

About Snow White, The Prince And The Trauma (And Greta Gerwig Stuck In A Mirror)

Well friends, it has officially started. I have received requests to roast the new Live Action Snow White, the moment it appears and I don't even want to see it hahah. I have been working on a new video essay about the glorification of male abuse in Gerwig's movies, and I hope to release it before Christmas.

Here are my thoughts about the original animated Snow White from the 1930s and the fairy tale and the meaning of the prince. When I post this I have not seen Gerwig’s live-action Snow White and I don’t know if I have the stomach to watch another movie where she tries to shovel white feminism down my throat. According to the leading actress and the director, there is not going to be a prince in the movie, dwarfs are idiots and Snow White is a girl boss.

To be honest I don’t think Greta Gerwig cares at all about feminism or any of the original sources of her movies. I think she only cares about fame and money. The reason why I dislike white feminism or pop feminism, however, you like to call it, is because it is never about equality. It always tends to be more about misogyny. It is not about equality to all genders, body types, or races, it is all about ”I am superior to you”. When I heard that she was going to direct the live-action Snow White, my first thought was ” That is very ironic”, because at its core Snow White is a story about the destruction of narcissism, but when it comes to this live-action, all I see is Snow White messaging ”I am not the fairest of them all, am superior to you all”.

But what if I don’t want Snow White to be a girl boss? What if I like her just the way she is? with all those Beth March vibes and all.

The prince is not very present in the 1937 animation, which I think is a bit of a shame, he seems like a good guy. I would have given him more screen time. There is a German story called Richilde, which is an early retelling of Snow White and it is believed to have inspired the Brothers Grimm to write their own version. In Richilde after the prince saves Snow White, they actually start plotting together against the evil queen. It is quite nice that there is at least one version, where the prince is more active and I always support a couple getting to know each other before the wedding.

I always thought that the evil queen killed Snow White’s parents. We know that she wants power. Maybe she killed the first queen and tricked the king to marry herself and I guess she left Snow White alive, because killing her might cause suspicions and perhaps she wanted a free slave to herself.

When I think about the prince, I think he is a crucial part of Snow White’s recovery. Specifically recovery from trauma. Let’s imagine she is five years old when the queen murders her parents. Queen forces her to be a slave at her own home. She needs to do the laundry, cook her meals, and wash the stairs. Together with all that labour, she very likely experiences physical abuse and emotional abuse. You can not show this directly in a Disney film, but I’d say the scene where the old witch brings her the apple, is a very good example of emotional manipulation.

If you grow up in this kind of environment, where someone is a narcissist, there is always gas lighting. We know that Snow White likes to think the best of people, she might have thought something in these lines ”oh the queen didn’t think I was productive enough today, so she only gave me dry bread to eat, at least she remembered me”.

Small gestures of caring, might appear bigger in the mind of the victim, than they are in reality. She eats the apple because she feels sorry for the old woman, but also because the witch is pressuring her to eat the apple, and Snow White is conditioned from a very young age, to believe that abuse is normal.

Another 13 year old girl in the middle ages, might not have done the same, not if they recognized that it was manipulation. Narcissistic people play mind games, so much that they twist your views on reality.

It is possible that when Snow White lives in the palace, other servants were told not to be friends with her, otherwise the queen would punish them, which would also explain why we only see her having animal friends at the palace.

She has a kind heart, which is why the dwarfs like her and the prince falls in love with her, but if we think about her trauma,

this 13-year-old girl has faced years and years of emotional and physical abuse from the queen.

The queen killed her parents and made her to be her slave,

Snow White was forced to escape to the woods at night, which can be a scary experience even for an adult,

queen tried to kill her friends,

the queen tried to kill her more than once

the queen put her into a coma.

That's a lot of trauma. She is 13 years old. It’s child abuse.

The way I see it, the prince represents the possibility for Snow White to heal from the trauma. Sometimes you hear stories of people who have been abused as kids, and there are those who thrive, and those who are prisoners of their trauma, The people who thrive, are the ones who have at least one person in their life who helped them through the traumatic experience. It can be a spouse, a friend or a good therapist.

It would be very difficult for Snow White to find a trauma therapist from Middle Age Germany, but with the Prince, there is a promise of a better future, and him being stable person and someone who unconditionally loves Snow White, she can recover from these traumatic experiences and get that emotional support from him and truly live happily ever after.

P.S. Since the live action is a Gerwig film, bet your life, any form of male abuse is normalized and there is going to be a big speech from a leading lady, how the world is against her, because she is a woman. If instead of pop feminism, she would focus on trying to fix the unequal system that she is always complaining about, maybe her characters wouldn't have these problems..

but then she could not be the center of attention, could she?

@selkiesstories @heather-field @princesssarisa @fandomsarefamily1966 @thatscarletflycatcher @mysoftboybensolo @librarydame @rainbowmilk1996

[princesssarisa]

Sometimes I wonder if the Greek versions of Cinderella with the cannibalism are the original versions of the versions with the slaughtered animal helper. For starters, a Serbian version starts with a similar spinning incident that makes her mother turn into a cow. And this is probably just an expression, but one of the saddleslut variants says her sisters "made a cow of" their mother.

I know that because 葉限(Ye Xian) is the oldest known version, the slaughtered animal helper version probably came first, but I'm still a bit suspicious.

Since all these stories existed in oral form before they were written down, the question of which came first is always an open one. It does make sense to imagine that "the mother is killed and eaten" was bowdlerized into "the mother is turned into an animal, then killed and eaten," which in turn was bowdlerized into versions where the doomed animal is just an animal, followed by versions where no one is killed at all, but Cinderella gets her finery from a fairy, or a tree, or other more innocent sources. But is that the case? Or did the slaughtered animal helper come first, and did later storytellers embellish it to have the animal be her mother transformed, with some dropping the animal aspect altogether and just having the mother be cannibalized?

Likewise, I just finished reading a German literary version of Snow White called Richilde that predates the Grimms' tale. In this tale, the Snow White character, Blanca, never goes into hiding in the woods, but has her own aristocratic household where she's attended by dwarf servants, as royalty and courtiers often were. So the question is raised: did this literary tale with dwarf servants lead to later oral versions where she goes to live with dwarfs in the woods, or did the oral versions with dwarfs in the woods come first and are the dwarf servants in Richilde an attempt to reimagine them more realistically?

[palecleverdoll]

Ages of French Queens at First Marriage

I have only included women whose birth dates and dates of marriage are known within at least 1-2 years, therefore, this is not a comprehensive list.

This list is composed of Queens of France until the end of the House of Bourbon; it does not include Bourbon claimants or descendants after 1792.

The average age at first marriage among these women was 20.

Ermentrude of Orléans, first wife of Charles the Bald: age 19 when she married Charles in 842 CE

Richilde of Provence, second wife of Charles the Bald: age 25 when she married Charles in 870 CE

Richardis of Swabia, wife of Charles the Fat: age 22 when she married Charles in 862 CE

Théodrate of Troyes, wife of Odo: age 14 or 15 when she married Odo in 882 or 883 CE

Frederuna, wife of Charles III: age 20 when she married Charles in 907 CE

Beatrice of Vermandois, second wife of Robert I: age 10 when she married Robert in 990 CE

Emma of France, wife of Rudolph: age 27 when she married Rudolph in 921 CE

Gerberga of Saxony, wife of Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine, and later of Louis IV: age 16 when she married Gilbert in 929 CE

Emma of Italy, wife of Lothair: age 17 when she married Lothair in 965 CE

Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, wife of Stephen, Viscount of Gévaudan, Raymond III, Count of Toulouse, and later Louis V: age 15 when she married Stephen in 955 CE

Bertha of Burgundy, wife of Odo I, Count of Blois, and later Robert II: age 19 when she married Odo in 984 CE

Constance of Arles, third wife of Robert II: age 17 when she married Robert in 1003 CE

Anne of Kiev, wife of Henry I: age 21 when she married Henry in 1051 CE

Bertha of Holland, first wife of Philip I: age 17 when she married Philip in 1072 CE

Bertrade of Montfort, wife of Fulk IV, Count of Anjou, and second wife of Philip I: age 19 when she married Fulk in 1089 CE

Adelaide of Maurienne, second wife of Louis VI: age 23 when she married Louis in 1115 CE

Eleanor of Aquitaine, first wife of Louis VII and later Henry II of England: age 15 when she married Louis in 1137 CE

Adela of Champagne, third wife of Louis VII: age 20 when she married Louis in `1160 CE

Isabella of Hainault, first wife of Philip II: age 10 when she married Philip in 1180 CE

Ingeborg of Denmark, second wife of Philip II: age 19 when she married Philip in 1193 CE

Agnes of Merania, third wife of Philip II: age 21 when she married Philip in 1195 CE

Blanche of Castile, wife of Louis VIII: age 12 when she married Louis in 1200 CE

Margaret of Provence, wife of Louis IX: age 13 when she married Louis in 1234 CE

Isabella of Aragon, first wife of Philip III: age 14 when she married Philip in 1262 CE

Marie of Brabant, second wife of Philip III: age 20 when she married Philip in 1274 CE

Joan I of Navarre, wife of Philip IV: age 11 when she married Philip in 1284 CE

Margaret of Burgundy, wife of Louis X; age 15 when she married Louis in 1305 CE

Clementia of Hungary, second wife of Louis X: age 22 when she married Louis in 1315 CE

Joan II, Countess of Burgundy, wife of Philip V: age 15 when she married Philip in 1307 CE

Blanche of Burgundy, first wife of Charles IV: age 12 when she married Charles in 1308 CE

Marie of Luxembourg, second wife of Charles IV: age 18 when she married Charles in 1322 CE

Joan of Évreux, third wife of Charles IV: age 14 when she married Charles in 1324 CE

Bonne of Luxembourg, first wife of John II: age 17 when she married John in 1332 CE

Joan I, Countess of Auvergne, wife of Philip of Burgundy, and later John II: age 12 when she married Philip in 1338 CE

Joanna of Bourbon, wife of Charles V: age 12 when she married Charles in 1350 CE

Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI: age 15 when she married Charles in 1385 CE

Marie of Anjou, wife of Charles VII: age 18 when she married Charles in 1422 CE

Charlotte of Savoy, second wife of Louis XI: age 9 when she married Louis in 1451 CE

Anne of Brittany, wife of Maximilian I, HRE, Charles VIII and later Louis XII: age 13 when she married Maximilian in 1490 CE

Joan of France, first wife of Louis XII: age 12 when she married Louis in 1476 CE

Mary Tudor, third wife of Louis XII: age 18 when she married Louis in 1514 CE

Claude of France, first wife of Francis I: age 15 when she married Francis in 1514 CE

Eleanor of Austria, wife of Manuel I of Portugal and later second wife of Francis I: age 20 when she married Manuel in 1518 CE

Catherine de' Medici, wife of Henry II: age 14 when she married Henry in 1533 CE

Mary, Queen of Scots, wife of Francis II: age 16 when she married Francis in 1558 CE

Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Charles IX: age 16 when she married Charles in 1570 CE

Louise of Lorraine, wife of Henry III: age 22 when she married Henry in 1575 CE

Margaret of Valois, first wife of Henry IV: age 19 when she married Henry in 1572 CE

Marie de' Medici, second wife of Henry IV: age 25 when she married Henry in 1600 CE

Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII: age 14 when she married Louis in 1615 CE

Maria Theresa of Spain, wife of Louis XIV: age 22 when she married Louis in 1660 CE

Marie Leszczyńska, wife of Louis XV: age 22 when she married Louis in 1725 CE

Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI: age 15 when she married Louis in 1770 CE

[emvidal]

The beautiful maiden is revived but not by a lover's kiss. Hermann Vogel illustrates 'Richilde', 1896 by Johann Karl August Musäus.

"He brought out his relic and laid it on the heart of the deceased. After a few moments the numbness disappeared, and spirit and life returned to the pale body. The young lady did not know what was happening to her when she saw the stranger next to her, and the delighted dwarfs thought the miracle man was an angel from the heavens."

In this variation of 'Snow White', Blanca is the fairest in the land and Richilde is the wicked stepmother. The relic is a splinter from the staff of the prophet Elisha.

#richilde #snowwhite #fairytale #fairytales #folktales #vintagebooks #childrensbooks #grimm #perrault #folklore

[nytil-sims-storybook]

Great medieval invasion !

Bidonjour ! 

Depuis quelques temps, j’entreprend de transformer les mondes de mes sims en univers médiéval ! Et je commence par transformer les familles elle-même ;-) 

Après avoir modifié les Gothik en famille de grand duc ( du grand duché de Willow Creek ), les Spencer-Kim-Lewis en influente famille de banquier et commerçant, les Pancake en boulanger et les Meilleurs amis pour la vie en paysan, je m’attaque maintenant aux familles de Oasis spring avec les Plenozas ! Gedfroy, son épouse Richilde et son fils Gracien sont la famille ducale de ce duché, ils aiment montrer leurs richesses et se pavaner ! 

_______________________________________________________

For some time now, I have been transforming the worlds of my sims into medieval universes! And I start by transforming the families themselves ;-)

After transforming the Gothiks into a grand duke family (from the grand duchy of Willow Creek), the Spencer-Kim-Lewis into an influential banker and merchant family, the Pancakes into a baker and the Best Friends for Life into a farmer, I'm now tackling the Oasis spring families with the Plenozas! Gedfroy, his wife Richilde and his son Gracien are the ducal family of this duchy, they like to show their wealth and strut their stuff!

______________________________________________________

[valkyries-things]

RICHILDE // COUNTESS OF HAINAULT

“She was a ruling countess of Hainaut from c. 1050 until 1076, in co-regency with her husband Baldwin VI of Flanders (until 1070) and then her son Baldwin II of Hainaut. She was also countess of Flanders by marriage to Baldwin VI between from 1067 to 1070. She ruled Flanders as regent during the minority of her son Arnulf III in 1070–1071.”

[kittyrinn-aiko]

The story of Snow White originated as a German folk tale. In 1782 popular German fairy tale writer Johann Karl August Musäus published a book called “Folkmärchen der Deutchen” (German folk tales). The book included a story called “Richilde” and it is believed that this story was the inspiration for the Brothers Grimm´s story.

As for anime, Manga dates back to the Emakimono scrolls which date back to the Nara period (710–794 CE) in Japan. The Japanese made art available to the masses with woodblock prints when art was only available to the wealthy in Europe. If Disney had not made Snow White, I honestly believe that Hayao Miyazaki would have invented the feature-length animated film if no one else had. Snow White the animated movie didn't come out of nowhere. Given that animated shorts were a very popular medium, someone was bound to make a feature-length film sooner or later. What we would not have had is a Disney legacy for people with agendas to trash.

I Hate How She Talks About Snow White

"People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it's like, yeah, it is − because it needed that. It's an 85-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond 'Someday My Prince Will Come. "

Let me tell you a little something's about that "85-year-old cartoon," miss Zegler.

It was the first-ever cel-animated feature-length full-color film. Ever. Ever. EVER. I'm worried that you're not hearing me. This movie was Disney inventing the modern animated film. Spirited Away, Into the Spider-Verse, Tangled, you don't get to have any of these without Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937.)

Speaking of what you wouldn't get without this movie, it includes anime as a genre. Not just in technique (because again, nobody animated more than shorts before this movie) but in style and story. Anime, as it is now, wouldn't exist without Osamu Tezuka, "The God of Manga," who wouldn't have pioneered anime storytelling in the 1940s without having watched and learned from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the 1930s. No "weeb" culture, no Princess Mononoke, no DragonBall Z, no My Hero Academia, no Demonslayer, and no Naruto without this "85-year-old cartoon."

It was praised, not just for its technical marvels, not just for its synchronized craft of sound and action, but primarily and enduringly because people felt like the characters were real. They felt more like they were watching something true to life than they did watching silent, live-action films with real actors and actresses. They couldn't believe that an animated character could make kids wet their pants as she flees, frightened, through the forest, or grown adults cry with grieving Dwarves. Consistently.

Walt Disney Studios was built on this movie. No no; you're not understanding me. Literally, the studio in Burbank, out of which has come legends of this craft of animated filmmaking, was literally built on the incredible, odds-defying, record-breaking profits of just Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, specifically.

Speaking of record-breaking profits, this movie is the highest-grossing animated film in history. Still. TO THIS DAY. And it was made during the Great Depression.

In fact, it made four times as much money than any other film, in any other genre, released during that time period. It was actually THE highest-grossing film of all time, in any genre, until nothing less than Gone With the Wind, herself, came along to take the throne.

It was the first-ever animated movie to be selected for the National Film Registry. Actually, it was one of the first movies, period, to ever go into the registry at all. You know what else is in the NFR? The original West Side Story, the remake of which is responsible for Rachel Ziegler's widespread fame.

Walt Disney sacrificed for this movie to be invented. Literally, he took out a mortgage on his house and screened the movie to banks for loans to finish paying for it, because everyone from the media to his own wife and brother told him he was crazy to make this movie. And you want to tell me it's just an 85-year-old cartoon that needs the most meaningless of updates, with your tender 8 years in the business?

Speaking of sacrifice, this movie employed over 750 people, and they worked immeasurable hours of overtime, and invented--literally invented--so many new techniques that are still used in filmmaking today, that Walt Disney, in a move that NO OTHER STUDIO IN HOLLYWOOD was doing in the 30's, put this in the opening credits: "My sincere appreciation to the members of my staff whose loyalty and creative endeavor made possible this production." Not the end credits, like movies love to do today as a virtue-signal. The opening credits.

It's legacy endures. Your little "85-year-old cartoon" sold more than 1 million DVD copies upon re-release. Just on its first day. The Beatles quoted Snow White in one of their songs. Legacy directors call it "the greatest film ever made." Everything from Rolling Stones to the American Film Institute call this move one of the most influential masterpieces of our culture. This movie doesn't need anything from anybody. This movie is a cultural juggernaut for America. It's a staple in the art of filmmaking--and art, in general. It is the foundation of the Walt Disney Company, of modern children's media in the West, and of modern adaptations of classical fairy tales in the West. When you think only in the base, low, mean terms of "race" and "progressivism" you start taking things that are actually worlds-away from being in your league to judge, and you relegate them to silly ignorant phrases like "85-year-old cartoon" to explain why what you're doing is somehow better.

Sit down and be humble. Who the heck are you?

[x0401x]

[city-of-ladies]

Richilde of Hainaut - Fighting countess 

Richilde (c.1018-1074) was countess of Hainaut (a territory straddling the border between present-day France and Belgium) during her first marriage between 1040 and 1051. She later married count Baldwin VI of Flanders and thus became countess of Flanders. She entrusted the children born of her first marriage to the clergy: her daughter became a nun and her son, who was probably physically disabled, became a bishop.

Richilde gave birth to two sons from her second marriage and was determined to protect their inheritance. When Baldwin VI died in 1070, his brother Robert the Frisian, wanting the county for himself, marched on Flanders with his army.

The resourceful Richilde recruited men from Hainault and asked for king Philipp I of France’s help, convincing him to bring her an army of men from northeastern France. 

Richilde was present and captured during the ensuing battle of Cassel in 1071. Though her exact role is unclear, the chroniclers saw her as the leader of the troops and reported her participation matter-of-factly, without finding it appalling. However, it was during the 13th century that a chronicler felt the need to explain her presence on the field by accusing her of sorcery and having tried to throw “magic powder” at the opposing army.

Richilde was unable to secure Flanders and withdrew to Hainaut where she ruled as a regent. She acted as a protector of the church and built a monastery. Her son took power in 1083 and Richilde retired  to a nunnery where she died the following year.

Other countesses of Flanders led troops to defend their lands. Clemence of Burgundy, wife of Robert II (1065-1111) did the same. Having ruled the county and struck coins in her own name while her husband was away on crusade, she wielded considerable power. Her dower included several towns. She remained active after her husband’s death, but her son Baldwin VII named his cousin Charles of Danemark as his heir. After Baldwin’s death, Charles tried to seize a part of Clemence’s dower. She raised an army against him, but was forced to negotiate after Charles captured four of her towns. This marked the end of her rule and she withdrew to her remaining holdings in Southern Flanders for the rest of her life. 

Another notable case was Sybil of Anjou (d.1165), wife of count Thierry (fl.1128-1168). Sybil ruled the lands while her husband was crusading. A pious woman, she was instrumental in strengthening the relationship between the count and the church. While Thierry was away, count Baldwin IV of Hainaut invaded Flanders and started pillaging. Even though she was pregnant, Sybil raised an army and attacked Baldwin with a “virile heart”, burned villages and towns and pillaged the countryside. Baldwin fled and “acquired no honor in this campaign”. Sybil managed to secure a truce. Her son Philip later remembered the time “when my mother Sybil, countess of Flanders, strongly governed the principality of Flanders”. The documents indeed show Sybil as a vigorous and decisive leader. 

Bibliography:

Cassagnes-Brouquet Sophie, Chevaleresses, une chevalerie au féminin

McLaughlin Megan, The woman warrior: Gender, warfare and society in medieval Europe

Nicholas Karen S., “Countesses as rulers in Flanders”

[kronieken]

Het waardig voorspel van 1302 Te Cassel op die roemrijke grond 22 februari 1071. Vlaanderen was in deze 11de eeuw aan Henegouwen gekoppeld.

[maimoncat]

This makes the Perrault tale make SO much more sense, but it also makes me wonder wether Johann Karl August Musäus knew about Catherine Bernand's story.

You already came across him when talking about the Grimm brothers' sources, he wrote Richilde… . But he is also pretty famous for writing literary retellings of legends like those of Rübezahl. Rübezahl, aka Krakonoš (in czech) or Liczyrzepa (in polish) is a giant from the aptly named Giant Mountains in the Sudetes, on today's border between Poland and the Czech Republic. There are many folk tales about his pranks on people, which were first collected and written in german by Johannes Praetorius, between 1662 and 1665. Musäus especially used this collection for his own work.

And the first legend from his collection, focuses on the spirit's name: Rübezahl, turnip counter. It starts off by presenting us the mountain spirit as "king of the gnomes", that live underground and only occasionally come out to the surface. On one such occasion, the mountain spirit sees the slesian princess Emma, falls madly in love with her and takes her to his underground realm. Despite him shapeshifting into a handsome youth to woo her, Emma is understandably terrified of this event and heartbroken of being separated from her family. To solve this, the gnome gives the princess a wand with which she can transform turnips into anything or anyone she wants, which she promptly uses to create a double of her beloved best friend Brinhild. However this double and the others Emma created remain turnips in reality, and after some time start to wither, making the people appearances also age and become catatonic. Thus Emma hatches a plan: she turns some of her turnips, first into a bee, then a cricket, then a magpie, to bring her betrothed, prince Ratibor, a message of where to find her. Then she agrees to marry the gnome king, on the condition that he refurnish her with enough fresh turnips to create a fitting wedding reception that may last her long. For this she asks him to count all the turnips available in his fields, which keeps him occupied and let’s her escape to the limits of his kingdom, where her lover finds her and takes her home. Once reunited with her court, princess Emma recounts her story and gives rise to the nickname for the gnome king as "Turnip counter", which angers the spirit to no end.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but the similiarities did kinda strike me as noticeable.

Also, my mother was delighted of finding out about the history of this story, because it turns out Riquet with the tuft is her favourite tale of Perrault! Only for her to be filled with feminist rage at noticing that she had never heard anything of Catherine Bernard, and at finding out about Voltaire’s apparent plagiarism of her Brutus. Her anger rose when we checked our edition of Perrault’s tales, where in the notes the translator Doris Distelmaier-Haas attributes the story of Riquet entirely to an invention of Perrault, and only mentions Catherine Bernard as a possible author of the prose donkeyskin.

that was an interesting evening

Catherine Bernard’s Riquet with the tuft

(Note: all illustrations actually come from Perrault’s Riquet with the tuft, not Bernard’s)

As I said in my post about Charles Perrault’s Riquet with the tuft, the tale of the Academician was actually an answer to a previous fairytale written by Catherine Bernard - and reading her version of “Riquet with the tuft” helps a lot understand Perrault’s. Now, while Catherine Bernard is part of the “first fairytale tellers” of France, and was very influential in the birth of the fairy tale genre (after all, she influenced Perrault’s tales), she isn’t often talked about… It is because, unlike other writers of the “first generations”, she didn’t create a lot of fairytales - merely two. “Le prince rosier” (the rose-bush tree) and her Riquet with the tuft, both inserted in a novel called “Inès de Cordoue”. This, as you will learn by following this blog, was actually quite usual when the fairytale genre appeared: fairytales weren’t considered enough to exist “by their own” and so were often inserted as “stories-within-stories” in realistic narratives. 

Mind you, when I say Catherine Bernard wasn’t “talked much about”, I mean in terms of fairytales nowadays - outside of this, she was actually one of the famous French women of the second half of the 17th century. Also called “mademoiselle Bernard”, she was a poetess, a novelist and a playwright, and one of the first women part of the Académie Française. Much more importantly: she was the first women who got a theater play written by her (a tragédie) to be played by the Comédie Française! (If you don’t know about France at this time, this was huge, l’Académie Française was the official cultural institution of France, and the Comédie Française the most famous and respectable official theater of France). 

All that being said, let’s see what’s her take on the “Riquet” story…

Weiterlesen