[For International Women's Day]
It is an odd quirk of history that, whereas Marie Curie has been awarded the honours of the Pantheon, the body of the 18th-century's greatest female scientist, Émilie du Châtelet, lies under a completely anonymous black stone slab, in the nave of the parish church of Saint-Jacques in Lunéville. As the French has it, "elle est piétinée depuis 1749"; generations of worshippers and visitors have simply trampled over her grave as they enter the church.
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| Église Saint-Jacques, Lunéville |
An unmarked grave
Émilie du Châtelet died from the complications of childbirth at the Palace of Lunéville, on 10th September 1749. The whole Court turned out for the funeral which was conducted with much pomp, as befitted a member of one of the grand chevaux, the old aristocratic families of Lorraine. According to Gaston Maugras, King Stanislas personally insisted that the greatest honours be awarded to the mortal remains of the woman whose presence, for two years, had contributed so much to his pleasure. Madame du Châtelet's reputation for freethinking and immorality, and the presence of the arch-infidel Voltaire, made for a tense occasion. It is reported that, as the party traversed the salle des spectacles on its way from the Queen's apartments, the bier suddenly broke and upset the coffin. The Jesuit father Menoux did not neglect to observe that this was the exact spot where only a few weeks earlier, Émile had played centre-stage in a profane comedy.
It is not really clear why the stone was never furnished with an inscription. The grave was investigated in the mid-19th century by the local historian Alexandre Joly, who confirmed that the slab showed no signs of markings and had never been turned. He also verified that Madame du Châtelet's remains did indeed lie there. Although the body had been disturbed during the Revolution, her bones could still be identified and he had them reburied in a small casket. In Joly's opinion, given the spite her memory was likely to arouse, the lack of inscription was probably precautionary, (See Readings)
The quest for a memorial
It was not until the present century, with the growing recognition of Émilie du Châtelet's status as a scientific thinker, that the question of the long-overdue epitaph was again raised. The first initiative came from the prominent writer and feminist theorist, Élisabeth Badinter, author in 1983 of the pioneering study
Émilie, Émilie: l'ambition féminine au XVIIIe siècle, 1983 (on the parallel careers of Émilie du Châtelet et Louise d’Épinay) In 2006, to mark the tricentenary of Madame du Châtelet's birth, Élisabeth Badinter curated a major exhibition at Bibliothèque nationale in Paris and donated a suitably inscribed memorial stone to go over the grave in Saint-Jacques. Sadly, the stone was never fitted, apparently because it might obstruct the church's entrance, and has remained ever since, forlornly propped up against a nearby pillar. (Perhaps the Catholic authorities were not very keen to have it in a more prominent position?)
In more recent years, the campaign for a memorial has been organised and led by Annie Jourdain, a graduate from the University of Nancy. Annie has taught in China, the Sudan and Japan and is currently professor of "creative writing" at the Université Populaire de Perpignan. She reports that she first came interested in the tomb whilst working in Nancy in 1987. In 2011 she held her first public workshop on "femmes savantes" at Perpignan and also founded a public association, the Cercle de Madame du Châtelet, which aims to promote Émilie du Châtelet's memory as "a model for young women of the 21st century".
Despite the seriousness of its mission, the Cercle is quite a light-hearted affair, with lots of social events, dressing-up, art work and singing. The main focus of its calendar is a annual gathering and procession through Lunéville on 10th September (the month of the moon!) to mark the anniversary of Madame du Châtelet's death.
For several years, the Cercle regularly petitioned the Mayor of Lunéville to furnish proper signage in Saint-Jacques, and, almost as ritualistically, received a polite rebuff. Finally in 2015 members were allowed to put up a temporary handwritten notice.... When this disappeared a week later, Nicolas Brucker, a sympathetic academic from the University of Lorraine, organised an online petition - still apparently to no avail.
An empty victory?
Then suddenly there appeared to be a change of heart.... In 2016-17, to mark the 310th anniversary of Madame du Châtelet's birth, the town of Lunéville and the syndicate of local communes sponsored a whole series of events, including an ambitious exhibition in the Abbatial in Nancy and a revival of the opera
Issi in which Émilie had once performed. In her preface to the exhibition catalogue Élisabeth Badinter remarked that from her vantage point in "the paradise of great intellectuals", Émilie, must have enjoyed the revenge of seeing Lunéville
en fête for her.
In January 2017 L'Est-Républicain reported the formal unveiling of a memorial text in the church of St Jacques, presided over by the Mayor of Lunéville Jacques Lamblin, and Laurent de Gouvion Saint Cyr, Président of the Communauté de Communes du Territoire de Lunéville à Baccarat (C.C.T.L.B.). The blank stone was revealed suddenly to sport a portrait of the Marquise and a text giving her name and acknowledging her career as a woman of science. It looked very fine and members of the Cercle posed happily beside it.
However, all was not quite as it seemed. A careful reading of the L'Est-Républicain article reveals that the picture and text were in fact temporary additions, designed to be in place only for "several months"; The image had been printed on a transparent plastic film which could later be peeled off; it was merely "un trompe-l’œil particulièrement réussi".
Indeed, in 2023 when we visited Lunéville, the grave was as blank as ever....
Where does this leave us?
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| Annie Jourdain in September 2024 |
This is actually quite a difficult question. The
Cercle de Madame du Châtelet continues its cheery annual pilgrimage and, to judge from recent press coverage, Annie Jourdain remains as indomitable as ever. Émilie du Châtelet is now clearly recognised as a major Enlightenment figure in her own right and is the subject of a considerable - and ever increasing - corpus of scholarly literature. Nonetheless the relationship of her intellectual achievement to her gender and social position is still controversial, as shown by recent debate on
Andrew Janiak's new study The Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Woman: Émilie du Châtelet and the Making of Modern Philosophy (See Rodama News, 05.11.2024)
Nicolas Brucker is possibly justified to argue that, since there is still too much prejudice to allow the composition of a wholly satisfactory epitaph, the blank black stone provides the most eloquent memorial of all.
References
Émilie du Châtelet - Cercle de Madame du Châtelet
Facebook: Le 10 septembre à Lunéville, fêtons Emilie du Châtelet
Annie Jourdain's personal page
Catherine Ambrosi, "Emilie désormais chez elle à Saint-Jacques", L'Est-Républicain, 06.01.2017.
Corinne Chabeuf, "Le cercle de Mme du Châtelet rassemble....ce mardi", L'Est-Républicain, 07.09.2024
Readings
A large black stone without name or date - Investigations in 1858
The result of our research confirms that the marble slab, which measures 2.45 metres by 1.18 metres, and 0.14 in depth, has never been turned. The reverse side is rough hewn as it was when cut from the bed of the quarry.
Several people, on the basis of vague memories, continue to think that there was once an inscription, which has since been erased by the passage of feet or something similar. But, whether or not this was the case, no trace is now visible; the stone is completely smooth, flush with the paved floor and is too hard to be marked with any ease. Our initial thought was that delicacy had led the friends of Mme du Châtelet, for whom a simple stone sufficed, to suppress her name in order to avoid vicious comments about her weaknesses and tragic end.
According to reliable evidence, in 1793 the great stone was lifted, the coffin of oak, containing a second of lead, opened up and the bones scattered pêle-mêle. On excavating at about a metre below the level of the paving, we found, without any sign of substructures, the greater part of a well-preserved skeleton of relatively recent date. The various disarticulated bones had been carefully reassembled and could be recognised, beyond any doubt, as belonging to a woman, of fair height and delicate frame. The femur measured 0.46 metres, the fibula 0.39 metres, the humerus 0.33 metres and the radius 0.24 metres. The exterior width of the hips was 0.31 metres. It is known that nobody before Mme du Châtelet had ever been buried in the nave, and nobody since.
Today, we can therefore confirm, with certitude that Mme du Châtelet is not buried in the chapel of the Château, as some biographers have suggested, but in the parish church of Saint-Jacques. Nor does she lie in the crypt, as Durival maintained; the latter was reserved for regular canons, and contained, apart from the entrails of the king, only a single layman, the architect of the church. Mme du Châtelet is indeed buried under that great black marble slab, without name or date, as popular tradition always had it.
It was shameful to see the remains of this famous women, scattered about and condemned to decompose among the damp detritus without even a simple plank of wood for protection. When a shovel of earth brought up the debris of that gracious and powerful head, the admirable verse of Voltaire came involuntarily to my mind, "The Universe has lost the sublime Émilie...".
We gathered all that we could of these pathetic remains in a little cask, which we replaced immediately under the great black stone, with the following inscription:
Les restes mortels de Mme du Châtelet
dispersés dans ce tombeau en 1793,
ont été réunis ici,
avec le respect dû aux morts,
le 5 du mois d'octobre 1858.
Que Dieu ait pitié de son âme.
According to "Gouverneur Morris" on the Marie-Antoinette forum, the person responsible for rearranging the desecrated corpse was possibly François-Antoine Devaux or Panpan, poet and correspondent of Madame de Graffigny.
Annie Jourdain on the goals of the Cercle de Madame du Châtelet
The theme of [this year's IHCE summer workshops] at the Château de Lunéville is "OBJECTS". The château itself is an "object" which symbolises the 18th century - it officially bears the name "Château des Lumières". Madame du Châtelet, woman of science and companion / protector of Voltaire, died here on 10th September 1749. Women's history, "gender studies", shows how women have been made invisible over the centuries. Madame du Châtelet is an example. Most of the visitors to Cirey-sur- Blaise, where Voltaire took refuge at her invitation, assume that château belonged to him!
As to the Château de Lunéville, where we are today, no object here recalls the important role of Madame du Châtelet. She "OBJECTIVELY" aided Voltaire to make the Court of Stanislas shine. She "OBJECTIVELY" gave material help to Madame de Graffigny. Both Voltaire and Madame de Graffigny are honoured, but she is invisible. The "Cercle de Madame du Châtelet" seeks to render her visible as "a model for young women of the 21st century". This is its official "OBJECT[IVE]" which was published, according to the 1901 law of association, on 23rd September 2013.
The French word "objet" translates into English as "goal", which implies not only right-thinking, but also acting with justice and efficacy....Our association could just have been a social club...but for the "Cercle de Madame du Châtelet" to truly be a circle it must turn itself and cause things in the outside world to turn... Each 10th September, the General Assembly of the association takes place; we are cogs in a wheel, ready to move. We wish to restore Madame du Châtelet to her true complexity, to alter the simplistic idea that she was just Voltaire's mistress. [ We have undertaken various initiatives: adapted the well-known song, “Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise”; commissioned a banner featuring a portrait by Silvio Morelli; developed an internet site etc.]
On 10th September, the anniversary of Madame du Châtelet's death... we "realise" our goal through a memorial event in Lunéville. Each year, between the Château and the Church, in front of the theatre, the last letter of Émilie du Châtelet is read aloud. The theatre is half-way between the Château and the Church of St Jacques where the burial of the marquise took place with great ceremony on 10th September 1749. Monsieur de la Galaizière (the late Jean-Claude Brissot, who regularly took on the role of Stanislas's chancellor for local events) takes part in this "happening". He is dressed in 18th-century costume. The dress of the other participants can be modern or period, original, brightly coloured; creative couture is welcomed...
To honour Émilie, the translator of Newton, within the Church “Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise” gives way to "Greensleeves", the royal song. We place on the anonymous black slab a symbolic object - ivy from the walls of Val-et-Châtillon, home of the Cercle de Madame du Châtelet. Émilie made passionate attachments to the point of risking her life so ivy suits her: as the Comte d'Argental has it "The less our wellbeing is dependent on others, the easier it is for us to be happy".
On the black stone, stands a notice informing visitors that they are entering a church and should be silent. Nothing is written on the back... On 10th September 2015, with the warm approval of those present, the Deputy Mayor of Lunéville and the President of the Cercle de Madame du Châtelet, fixed a small card on the back with a handwritten copy of Madame Badinter's commemorative plaque (which sadly is hidden and difficult to read)
When the card disappeared a week later, Nicolas Brucker, university teacher and member of the Cercle, posted a petition drawing attention to the lack of signage at the tomb. Those who have signed are thanked for their support for an end to the "invisibility" of Émilie du Châtelet in Lunéville.
Annie Jourdain, "L’objet du Cercle de Madame du Châtelet. Matérialisation. Créativité. Réalisation. Efficacité". Transcript of a talk given in August 2016 as part of the summer workshops organised by the Institut d’histoire culturelle européenne in Lunéville.
Comments by Nicolas Brucker, Professor of French Language and Literature at the University of Lorraine and member of the Cercle.
I have taken part several times in this annual march, and I have often asked myself what motivates the participants to demonstrate on behalf of a woman who has been dead for three centuries, a woman of science moreover, whose works are hardly an entertaining read. Perhaps these people are struck by a sense of anomaly: for it is difficult to reconcile the brilliant figure depicted by Élisabeth Badinter and commemorated in the name of a high-profile Parisian women's studies centre (the Institut Émilie du Châtelet) with this mute gravestone on a church floor in a little town in Lorraine. A sense of anomaly... or perhaps injustice.
The elected town representatives, to whom a request is ritually addressed, equally quasi-ritually reply back rehearsing the obstacles. In the popular imagination it is they who must redress the wrongs. But can one really repair so easily injustices which are three centuries old?
Madame du Châtelet, was already "blacklisted" in her lifetime.
The 18th century is sometimes presented as privileged time when women of the social elite might gain an education, win autonomy and rival men in their field. Between the end of Louis XIV's reign and the Revolution, were seventy years of emancipation - for those few women who dared to brave moral censure, and the prejudices of class and gender. Émilie du Châtelet was the product of this miracle. However, nothing was spared her: accusations of plagiarism, suspicions of fraud, slanderous insults. They came both from from men who wished to preserve their authority and from jealous women like Mme du Deffand and Mme de Graffigny, who spread rumours throughout Paris. The Court favourite - la Pompadour at Versailles and la Bouffler at Lunéville amused themselves at her expense. Apart from Maupertius's appreciative summary in the Mercure, her great work, the Institutions de Physique (1740), was universally decried. Moreover, vitriolic portrait of Mme du Deffand and the accusations of Mme de Graffigny survived into posterity.
She continues to accuse our sexist prejudices.
The black legend was written in her lifetime but it was not until after her death that the real undermining of her reputation began. Thanks to the continued dynamism of Voltaire studies, she was not completely forgotten. But she remains in the shadow of the great man; even the transparent film which temporarily covered her grave, stated that Voltaire encouraged her to persevere - as though, as a woman, she was an anomaly as an intellectual and vulnerable to frivolous distraction!
In Lunéville the Avenue Voltaire is one of the principal streets. The proud Marquise du Châtelet, born Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, must make do with a side road running beside the railway. Topography symbolises cultural imagination - Émilie can only figure as muse, disciple or perhaps protectrice, never as master. It is this attitude which was still unambiguously reflected in the temporary epitaph.
If the 10th September comes and goes each year without a satisfactory epitaph being found, it is because, at Lunéville and perhaps elsewhere, no-one is ready to condemn the weight of prejudice, to escape social conditioning, to reject the laws of gender and identity. By its very blackness, the gravestone echoes our incapacity to acknowledge the exceptional. The woman who lies there offends our sense of social convention, of order and hierarchy. Blacklisted under her black stone, Émilie has become invisible, but paradoxically, her indivisibility renders her more effective. Faithful to a methodology which does not admit of doubt, she speaks to our consciences with a clarity which condemns our petty cowardice and our small-minded hesitations.
Nicolas Brucker, "La marquise du Châtelet, femme de sciences invisibilisée", The Conversation, 09.09.2018
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