Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes
Laure- Adelaide Abrantès, or Laure ( Laurette ) Junot, Duchesse d' Abrantès, born Permond ( born November 6, 1784 in Montpellier, † June 7, 1838 in Paris) was a maid of honor at the Napoleon courtyard and a French writer.
Life
Abrantès came from an old Corsican family and was the daughter of Charles Permond. Due to the political events, her family went, similar to the Bonaparte into exile in Paris. When the revolution broke out there in 1789, she fled with her family to Toulouse.
In the middle of the reign of terror Abrantès 1794 returned to Paris. There she saw in one of the salons for the first time the young general Napoleon Bonaparte. In her memoirs she later described this impressive meeting and the impression they had of the future emperor.
At age 16, married in 1800 Abrantès the General Andoche Junot, an adjutant of Napoleon. From this marriage produced four children: Josephine (* 1802), Constance (* 1803), Louis Napoléon (* 1807) and Andoche Alfred (* 1810). Napoleon was at this time already First Consul, gave the young couple a fully furnished house, where he was also a regular guest.
When General Junot was sent as ambassador to Portugal, followed him Abrantès. The couple returned in 1806 returned to France and settled again in Paris. There, in the center of power, led the Career General Junot about the title " Division General ", " great officer of the Empire ", " governor of Paris " and " Commander of the 1st Army Division ", to the ennoblement as " Duke of Abrantes ". There were also possessions in Westphalia, Prussia, Hanover, and Italy, which were given to them by the emperor.
Since Napoleon at Junot was a regular guest, there always larger receptions were held, which were also quickly famous. These soirees the glitterati was always loaded; the entourage of the Emperor and the military ( up to the Marshal of France ) but was always represented disproportionately. The duties as maid of honor brought it about that Abrantès also frequently stayed at the Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais. Because of their beauty, extravagance and its proximity to the imperial house Abrantès of contemporaries was referred to as " femme fatale de Paris".
His military defeats in Spain and Portugal brought the General soon to financial ruin. Therefore, he committed suicide in depressed mood on July 29, 1813 suicide by throwing himself from a window. Abrantès could take some time to maintain their lifestyle and excel as a hostess. But after the battle of Paris (31 March 1814) Napoleon abdicated, they broke their social obligations from, sold her palace and moved with her children in an apartment.
Since Abrantès debuted at that time already with success as a writer, which gave rise to a literary salon. Regularly we now met many great talents of Paris, scholars, poets, musicians and artists at the tea and exchange of ideas. On the occasion of such a meeting in 1829, she met the young writer Honoré de Balzac know. They paved the way for him into society, was to be seen with him on many receptions, festivals and theater performances and had a passionate affair with him.
For their livelihood Abrantès could take care in their last years, become less self. Despite their feverish work as a writer, she died in absolute poverty on 7 June 1838, almost 54 years in a garret in Paris.
Reception
Abrantès wrote next to her still famous " Memoirs " some novels and plays. These " memoirs " were 1830-1834 and are considered her most important work. Since they were written from subjective feelings out, they can of course not withstand scientific objectivity, but are not uninteresting as a cultural time capsule of the Napoleonic era.
Works (selection)
- Les femmes de tous les pays celèbres, leurs vies et leurs portraits. Lachevardiere, Paris 1834 ( with Joseph Straszewicz )
- Memoirs or historical memoirs of Napoleon, the Revolution, the Directorate and the restoration ( " Memoirs "). Bookstore Peters, Leipzig 1831/36 (18 vols ).
- Memoirs about the restoration or: Historical Memoirs from the time of the Restoration, the Revolution of 1830 and the first years of the reign of Louis Philippe ( " Memoirs "). High Hausen & Fournes, Leipzig 1836/38 (7 vols )
- Les salons révolutionaires. Edition France- Empire, Paris, 1989, ISBN 2-7048-0617-9 ( Nachdr d ed Paris 1830).
- Salons of Paris ( " Salons de Paris "). (7 vols )