Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies
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- "In what I say of women, I do speak of some, not of all; and of these, I do use only false names and garbled descriptions. I do keep their identity so carefully hid, none may discover it, and never a breath of scandal can come on them but by mere conjecture and vague suspicion, never by certain inference."
Les Vies des Dames Galantes is a collection of stories by French soldier and chronicler Brantôme (c. 1540–1614). These are part of posthumously published mémoirs and consist of biographical sketches of the "gallant" women of the European court life. Les Vies des Dames Galantes was quoted by Freud in The Psychopathology of Everyday Life with regards to the lapsus. They have been illustrated by Paul-Emile Bécat in France, by the Austrian artist C. O. Czeschka and by the Irish artist Robert Gibbings.
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Online editions
Alexandrian Society, London, 1922, volume 1[1], volume 2[2]
Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies (Vies de dames galantes), by the Seigneur de Brantôme [Pierre de Bourdeille] (1901-1902) - first English translation by A. R. Allinson
The preface states that it "includes "modifications based upon good taste and not on any fearful prudery."
It further remarks that a "few of Brantome's examples that illustrate his points belong more in a treatise on abnormal pathology than in a book of literary or historical interest and value, so nothing of any value is lost by omitting them. The rare charm, shrewd wisdom, amusing anecdote, literary merit and historical and social information will be appreciated by intelligent readers.
The cover design used on this book was made by C. O. Czeschka.
The book is divided into seven discourses:
- Of Ladies Which Do Make Love, and Their Husbands Cuckolds
- On the Question Which Doth Give the More Content in Love, Whether Touching, Seeing, or Speaking
- Concerning the Beauty of a Fine Leg, and the Virtue the Same Doth Possess
- Concerning Old Dames as Fond to Practise Love as Ever the Young Ones Be
- Telling How Fair and Honourable Ladies Do Love Brave and Valiant Men, and Brave Men Courageous Women
- Of How We Should Never Speak Ill of Ladies, and of the Consequences of So Doing
- Concerning Married Women, Widows and Maids: to Wit, Which of These Same Be Better Than the Other to Love.
There is also a set of annotations, see Notes and Appendices to Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies and a Historical Note by Henri Vigneau.
Les Sept Discours Touchant Les Dames Galantes Du Sieur de Brantome
Les Sept Discours Touchant Les Dames Galantes Du Sieur de Brantome is the title of a 1882 edition of Brantome's memoirs Les vies des dames galantes published by BnF curator Henri Bouchot, with drawings by Edouard de Beaumont, engraved by E. Boilvin. The imprint was Librairie des bibliophiles (Paris).
- Premier Discours : « Sur les dames qui font l’amour et leurs maris cocus »
- Deuxième Discours : « Sur le sujet qui contente le plus en amour : le toucher, la vue ou la parole »
- Troisième Discours : « Sur la beauté de la belle jambe et la vertu qu’elle a »
- Quatrième Discours : « Sur l'amour des dames vieilles, et comme certaines l'aiment autant que les jeunes »
- Cinquième Discours : « Les belles et honnêtes dames aiment les hommes vaillants et les hommes braves aiment les femmes courageuses »
- Sixième Discours : « Il ne faut jamais parler mal des dames, et la conséquence qui en vient »
- Septième Discours : « Sur les femmes mariées, les veuves et les filles, à savoir lesquelles sont le plus chaudes à l’amour ».
Unreliable narrator and gossip
Brantôme can hardly be regarded as a historian proper, and his Memoirs cannot be accepted as a very trustworthy source of information. But he writes in a quaint conversational way, pouring forth his thoughts, observations or facts without order or system, and with the greatest frankness and naiveté. His works certainly gave an admirable picture of the general court-life of the time, with its unblushing and undisguised profligacy. There is not an homme illustre or a dame galante in all his gallery of portraits who hasn't engaged in what Medieval Christian prescriptions as well as the Victorian society would regard as sexual immorality; and yet the whole is narrated with the most complete unconsciousness that there is anything objectionable in their conduct. Besides the general promiscuity of the characters, some parts of the work depict in a more or less detailed fashion the practices of homosexualism (almost exclusively lesbianism, see donna con donna), cunnilingus, and, marginally, sado-masochism (although the persons engaging in these activities usually aren't identified by name). It also contains a rather long and explicit description of the female intimate parts in general, focusing on their diversity.
Themes
Forced seduction
Brantome mentions a lady who confessed that she liked to be "half-forced" by her husband, and he remarks that a woman who is "a little difficult and resists" gives more pleasure also to her lover than one who yields at once, just as a hard-fought battle is a more notable triumph than an easily won victory. (Brantome, _Vie des Dames Galantes_, discours 1.)
- "I have heard speak of a Frenchwoman, town-bred, a lady of birth and of handsome looks, who was violated in our civil wars, in a town taken by assault, by a multitude of men-at-arms. On escaping away from these, she did consult a worthy Father as to whether she had sinned greatly, first telling him her story. He said, no! inasmuch as she had been had by force, and deflowered with-
out her consent, but entirely misliking the thing. Whereon she did make answer: "Now God be praised, for that once in my life I have had my fill, without sinning or doing offence to God !" "
Aretino's positions
Pietro Aretino, who was born about fifty years before Brantome, is mentioned 8 times in this book.
Lesbianism
Donna con donna is the euphemism used by Brantôme in Les Vies des Dames Galantes.
From Sur les dames qui font l'amour et leurs maris cocus by Brantôme in the first discourse of Les Vies des Dames Galantes.
Cunnilingus
Aggression
Brantome mentions a lady who confessed that she liked to be "half-forced" by her husband, and he remarks that a woman who is "a little difficult and resists" gives more pleasure also to her lover than one who yields at once, just as a hard-fought battle is a more notable triumph than an easily won victory. (Brantome, _Vie des Dames Galantes_, discours 1.)
Magdalen's skull
