Marie-Catherine le Jumelle de Barneville, Baronne d'Aulnoy (1650/1651–4 January 1705) was a French writer known for her fairy tales. // Events June 23 - Claimant King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland arrives in Scotland, the only of the three Kingdoms that has accepted him as ruler. ... // Events January 1 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland in Scone. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events Construction begins on Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... A fairy tale is a story, either told to children or as if told to children, concerning the adventures of mythical characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others. ...

Born in Barneville near Bourg-Achard (Eure) as a member of a noble family (she was the niece of Marie Bruneau des Loges), in 1666 she married a parisian thirty years older—François de la Motte, Baron d'Aulnoy. The baron was a freethinker and a known gambler. Over the next three years, the couple had three children. In 1669, the Baron d'Aulnoy was accused of treason but the accusations proved to be false and two men implicated in the accusation were executed. Marie-Catherine's mother fled the country as she was also allegedly involved, however it is not known if the Comtesse d'Aulnoy herself had anything to do with the charges. She had three more children and discontinued involvement in the Paris social scene for twenty years. During this period, she later said that she had traveled to Spain and England, the latter voyage cannot be confirmed however. Much of this time was also spent writing stories inspired by these destinations; these stories later became her most popular works. Bourg-Achard is a commune in the Eure département, in the Basse-Normandie France. ... Eure is a département in the north of France named after the Eure River. ... Events September 2 - Great Fire of London: A large fire breaks out in London in the house of Charles IIs baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. ... // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ...

Madame d'Aulnoy was a permanent resident of Paris again by 1690 where her salon became one of the most popular of the time, featuring frequent visitations by leading aristocrats and princes. Over the next thirteen years she published twelve books including three pseudo-memoirs, two fairy tale collections and three "historical" novels. Gaining the reputation as a historian and recorder of tales from outside of France, and elected as a member of Paduan Accademia dei Ricovvati, she was called by the name of the muse of history, Clio. However, at this time the idea of history was a much looser term which included her fictional accounts. In 150 years, the more strictly documented form of the term lead to her accounts being declared "fraudulent". However, in France and England at the time her works were considered as mere entertainment, a sentiment reflected in the reviews of the period. Her truly accurate attempts at historical accounts telling of the Dutch wars of Louis XIV were less successful. Events Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiters atmosphere. ... Clio - detail from The Allegory of Painting, Vermeer For other uses of the word Clio, see Clio (disambiguation). ... Louis XIV King of France and Navarre By Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638–September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ...

Her most popular works were her fairy tales and adventure stories as told in Les Contes des Fees (Tales of fairies) and Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fees a la Mode. Unlike the folk tales of Charles Perrault, she told her stories in a more conversational style, as they might be told in salons. These stories were far from suitable for children and many English adaptions are very dissimilar to the original. The majority of her tales feature active female protagonists. Folklore is the ethnographic concept of the tales, legends, or superstitions current among a particular ethnic population, a part of the oral history of a particular culture. ... Charles Perrault, 1665 Charles Perrault (January 12, 1628 – May 16, 1703) was a French author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), La Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty), Le Chat bott...

Works

• Sentiments d'une Ame penitente
• Le Retour d'une Ame a Dieu
• Histoire d'Hippolyte, comte de Duglas (1690)
• Histoire de Jean de Bourbon, Prince de Carency (1692)
• Le Comte de Warwick
• Memoires de la cour d'Espagne, Relation du voyage d'Espagne (1690 or 1691)
• Memoires de la cour d'Angleterre (1695)
• Les Contes des Fees (Tales of fairies)
  • La Belle aux cheveux d'or.
  • L'Oiseau bleu.
  • Gracieuse et Percinet.
  • La Biche au bois.
  • Babiole.
  • Finette Cendron or Cunning Cinders
  • Fortunée.
  • La bonne petite souris.
  • La Princesse Rosette.
  • Le Mouton.
  • Le Nain jaune.
  • Le Prince lutin.
  • La Grenouille bienfaisante.
  • La Chatte Blanche
  • Le Rameau d'Or.
  • Le Pigeon et la Colombe.
  • Le Prince Marcassin.
  • La Princesse Belle-Étoile.
• Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fees a la Mode (1698)

Gustave Dorés illustration for Cendrillon For other uses, see Cinderella (disambiguation). ... Puddocky is a German fairy tale. ...

External links and Resources

• SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: The Fairy Tales of Madame d'Aulnoy (1893) with a guide to d'Aulnoy's tales in English
• Her works at on line at Gutenberg.org

References

Disse, Dorothy. (October 1, 2004) Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy. Other Women's Voices. Retrieved January 22, 2005.