Julie was always up for trying something new. She was bringing home the money, and eventually got bored with Serannes. She used her maiden name of d'Aubigny when she sang. Once the pair got to Marseille, Julie began a career as an opera singer with a company operated by Pierre Gaultier. Julie always dressed as a man for these performances, but did not try to hide the fact she was a woman she was simply a woman performing in men's clothing. While on the way to Marseille, Serannes and Julie made money by putting on fencing exhibitions and singing at taverns and town fairs. However, Serannes killed a man in an illegal duel during his time with Julie, and Julie went on the lam with him, heading to Marseille. She became romantically involved with Serannes, an assistant fencing master Julie was quite adept at fencing, and enjoyed engaging in it. Still around just 14 years old, she was on her own in a city known for its decadence, and she had money to spend, too. Whatever Will She Do?Īfter her marriage, Julie became known as Madame de Maupin. After the marriage, Sieur received an administrative job in southern France Julie refused to go and remained in Paris.Ī Young Married Girl Alone in Paris. The Comte took care of protecting Julie's reputation by marrying her to Sieur de Maupin, an associate of his who fit Julie's rank. While it wasn't unusual for girls to get married at this age back then, it was scandalous for one so young and from a respected family to be a mistress. When she was 14, she became a mistress to the Comte d'Armagnac (one of her father's employers). Just because she dressed as a boy and associated almost exclusively with them didn't mean Julie wasn't aware she was a girl. This helped her fit in better with her male playmates, and her father, who apparently had no wife to provide a female influence on young Julie, let her do as she pleased.Īn "Early Bloomer" in Just About Every Way The pages, being all boys, meant Julie grew up surrounded by males, and began dressing as a boy as early as age two. This meant she was taught drawing, dancing, reading, and fencing, and even fenced against the pages. One of her father's jobs as Master of the Horse to the king was to train the royal pages, and Julie learned right alongside them. She was a noblewoman from birth, and enjoyed the luxuries of high society. Gaston was pretty high up in the French government, being a secretary to the Comte d'Armagnac and Master of the Horse to King Louis XIV. Seventeenth century France's wild child, Julie d'Aubigny, was born in 1673 to Gaston d'Aubigny and an unknown mother. (picture above is an original circa 1700 engraving of Julie singing opera) If you've never heard of her, you're in for a wild tale of adventure, daring, and intrigue to rival the most salacious of novels. A swordswoman who dueled, a renowned opera singer, a crossdresser, and a lover of both men and women? Julie d'Aubigny did it all and then some in her brief time in this particular life.
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