OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Agreda, Marie d'

Mary of Jesus of Ágreda
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AGREDA, MARIE D'
Superior of a convert at Agreda, in Spain, founded by her parents, wrote a fanatical book on the life of the Virgin Mary, which she said had been revealed to her from heaven. A translation of this extravagant book, which was prohibited at Rome, was published at Brussels in 1717. Notwithstanding the absurdities of this work, it was deemed so fascinating and dangerous by the theological faculty of Paris, that it was thought proper to censure it. A violent opposition was made to the censure by some of the doctors of the Sorbonne, which, on this important occasion, were divided into two fierce parties, to one of whom the name of Agredians was given, which they long retained. One of the propositions of this singular work was—"That God gave to the holy virgin all that he would, and would give her all that he could, and could give her all that was not of the essence of God."
Marie d'Agreda died in 1665, aged sixty-three. Great efforts were made at Rome to procure her canonization, but without effect.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Agrippina

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AGRIPPINA,
The daughter of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, the only child of Augustus, married Germanicus, the son of Drusus, and nephew to Tiberius, to whom she bore nine children. Three of them died in infancy, and among the remaining six were Caligula, afterwards emperor, and Agrippina, the mother of Nero. On the death of Angustus, (A. D. 14,) Germanicus and his wife were with the army, on the banks of the Rhine, where they had much difficulty in restraining the mutinous soldiery from proclaiming Germanicus in opposition to his uncle. On this occasion Agrippina, by her resolution and courage, shewed herself worthy of her descent from Augustus; and the following year she exhibited the same qualities, in repressing a general panic that had seized on the soldiers during her husband's absence, and preventing them from disgracing themselves. Agrippina was with her husband in Syria, when he fell a victim to the arts of Piso and Plancina. Her resentment at this treatment was such as to draw upon her the anger of Tiberius; and when, after a widowhood of seven years, she requested him to give her a husband, he evaded her petition, knowing well that the husband, of Agrippina would be a dangerous enemy. At length, she so offended the emperor, by shewing him that she suspected him of an intention to poison her, that he banished her to the island of Pandataria, and at last closed her life by starvation, October 13th., A. D. 33. The rage of Tiberius was not appeased by the death of Agrippina; he had injured her too deeply to forgive himself, and so he sought to appease his hatred by persecuting her children—and her two eldest sons were his victims.
The character of Agrippina presents some of the strongest points, both of the good and bad, in Roman life. She was frank, upright, sternly courageous, and unimpeachably virtuous. She was faithful and loving to her husband, watchful and anxious for her children. Yet with all this, she was excessively proud of her noble descent; fiery and impetuous in passion, indiscreet in speech, and imprudent in conduct. This is a mixed character, but a shining one. It is one which fell short of Cornelia, but excelled all common fame. Compared with Tiberius, she was an angel in conflict with a demon.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Aiguillon, Duchess d'

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AIGUILLON, DUCHESS D',
Niece of the Cardinal de Richelieu, was the first lady of high rank whose house was opened to all men of letters. There men of talent were received, together with the greatest noblemen of the court. These assemblies had much influence on the manners of the French. The duchess was a woman of intelligence, piety, and the greatest generosity. After the death of Richelieu, under the direction of the devout Vincent de Paul, she united in all benevolent works. She endowed hospitals, bought slaves to set them free, liberated prisoners, and maintained missionaries in France and distant countries. She died in 1675.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Aikin, Lucy

* related authors: Lucy Aikin.
* sister projects: Wikipedia article, Wikidata item.
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AIKIN, LUCY,
An English writer, was the only daughter of Dr. Aikin, the brother of Mrs. Barbauld. Like her father and aunt, she devoted herself to literature. Her principal works are: "Epistles on the Character of Women," "Juvenile Correspondence," "The Life of Zuinglius, the Reformer," and a "History of the Court of Queen Elizabeth." She lived in the latter part of the eighteenth and the early part of the present century. Her "Memoir" of her father. Dr. John Aikin, is a beautiful tribute of filial affection. She was enabled, by the careful education he had given her, to enjoy the pleasures of mental intercourse with him; and how well she repaid his care, this monument she has constructed to the memory of his genius and goodness is a touching and enduring proof. At the close of the Memoir, she describes the feebleness which oppressed his body, while yet his mind could enjoy, in a degree, the pleasures of intellect; and in such a way as necessarily made him entirely dependent on female care and society.
The writings of Miss Aikin are attractive from their quiet, good sense, refined taste, and kind spirit always exhibited. Her last work, "The Life of Addison," was somewhat severely criticised in regard to the accuracy of dates, and some other matters, of minor importance when compared with the value of this contribution to the memory of a good man and an accomplished scholar. The ​character of Mr. Addison was never before set in so favourable a light; and Miss Aikin deserves to have her memory revered by all who love to see the works that genius has left made themes of affectionate study, by one who could sympathize with the literary tastes, and benevolent feelings of the philanthropist and the author.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Erinna

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ERINNA,
A Grecian lady cotemporary with Sappho; composed several poems, of which some fragments are extant in the "Carmina Novem Foetarum Seminarum" published in Antwerp, in 1568. She lived about B.C. 595. One of her poems, called "The Distaffs" consisted of three hundred hexameter lines. It was thought that her verses rivalled Homer's. She died at the age of nineteen, unmarried. There is another poetess of the same name mentioned by Eusebius, who flourished in the year B.C. 354. This appears to have been the poetess mentioned by Pliny as having celebrated Myro in her poems.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Ermengarde, or Hermengarde

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ERMENGARDE, or HERMENGARDE.
The life of this queen is but a relation of her misfortunes. She ​is not the only woman to whom misery has been a monument—to whom the tranquillity of private life would have been oblivion—and to whom the gifts of fortune have brought sorrow and celebrity. The precise date of her birth is not known. She was the daughter of Desiderio or Didier, as he is generally named by our writers. King of the Lombards, and his Queen Ansa. Desiderio was born at Brescia of noble race, and had succeeded to the throne of Lombardy by the testament of Astolfo, the last monarch of the dynasty of Alboinus. Desiderio was a renowned general, and also a zealous defender of the Christian church, which at that time was not so firmly established as to need no support from the temporal powers.
Charlemagne ascended the throne of France in 768; two years after, his mother Bertrade, making a journey into Italy, was struck by the flourishing state of Desiderio's kingdom, as well as by the beauty and attractive charms of his daughter Ermengarde. She then formed the plan of a double marriage with this family, allotting Ermengarde to Charlemagne, and her own Ciola to Adelchi, son of Desiderio. This scheme was opposed by the existing Pope, Stephen the Third, who used many arguments to dissuade France from the connection. The influence of Bertrade, however, prevailed, and she had the satisfaction of taking home with her the young princess, for whom she cherished so warm an affection.
At first everything was done to bring pleasure and happiness to the young queen; the particular friendship subsisting between her and her mother-in-law has been commemorated by Manzoni in beautiful and touching poetry. A terrible reverse, however, awaited her. Charlemagne, from causes impossible now to ascertain, repudiated her, and sent her ignominiously back to her family. His mother and his nearest kinsman remonstrated, and entreated him to revoke this cruel mandate, but in vain. After a year of deceptive happiness, Hermengarde returned to the court of Lombardy. Her father and brother received her with the utmost tenderness. Unfortunately their just indignation at the unmerited disgrace of the young princess, induced them to attempt a fruitless vengeance against one too decidedly superior in power for any petty sovereign to cope with. A plan was set on foot to bring forward another claimant to the throne of France, to the succession of which, in modern days of direct inheritance, Charlemagne would not be considered wholly eligible. For this purpose armies were raised, and secret alliances courted.
In the mean time Ermengarde received intelligence that her faithless husband had just united himself to the young and lovely Ildegarde. This was to her a death-blow. She retired to a monastery founded by her parents, and of which her sister Anoperge was abbess. Here her existence was soon terminated. She died in 773.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Estrees, Gabrielle d', Duchess of Beaufort

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ESTREES, GABRIELLE D', DUCHESS OF BEAUFORT,
The mistress of Henry the Fourth of France, born about 1671, was the daughter of Antoine d'Estrées, a descendant of one of the noblest houses in Picardy, for a long time grand maitre de l'artillerie, who distinguished himself in the defence of Noyon against the Duke of Mayenne, for which Henry the Fourth made him governor of the Isle de France. Gabrielle was about twenty years of age when Henry first saw her, on a visit to Cœuvres Castle; and her beauty immediately captivated him. Gabrielle, however, who was attached to the Duke of Bellegarde, was at first little inclined to gratify the wishes of the king. But Henry still urged his suit, and often stole by the sentinels of his enemies, in the dress of a peasant, to see the object of his love. The heart of the lady was at length moved by such ardour and devotion. She became the mistress of the chivalric monarch, who never loved any other woman so passionately. To escape the severe scrutiny of her father, Henry married her to a nobleman named Danierval, of Liancourt: but, says Sully, il sut empêcher la consommation du marriage, and subsequently dissolved the marriage. Henry intended to raise Gabrielle to the throne as his lawful wife. For this purpose he not only procured a divorce from Margaret of Valois, but also raised the county of Beaufort to a duchy, which he bestowed on Gabrielle, thus giving her a high rank at court. This design was strongly opposed by Sully, who often represented to the monarch the bad consequences of such a measure.
Notwithstanding the determination of the king, and the wishes of Gabrielle, their marriage never took place. Just before Easter, 1699, when negociations were already in train for the divorce of the king, she retired from court, by the advice of René Bénoit, the king's confessor, and went to Paris to spend the Passion-week. On Maundy Thursday, having eaten an orange after dinner, she was suddenly seized with convulsions, which distorted her beautiful countenance, and, on Saturday, she died in the most excruciating torments. Apoplexy, with convulsions, was the cause assigned for her death; but no one can doubt that she was poisoned. The king's grief for her loss was excessive; and, what is seldom the case, the royal mistress was universally lamented. Her amiable disposition, the gentleness of her character, and the modesty which prevented ​her from meddling with public affairs, won her general favour. She had three children by the king—Cæsar and Alexander, afterwards Dukes of Vendome, and a daughter, Catharine Henrietta, afterwards the wife of the Duke of Elbeuf. Her biography, which appeared some years ago in France, is accompanied by an interesting correspondence between Gabrielle and her royal lover.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Epinay, Louise d'

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EPINAY, LOUISE D'
Celebrated for her connection with Rousseau, was the daughter of M. Sardieu Desclavelles, who lost his life in Flanders, in the service of Louis the Fifteenth, and left his family in moderate circumstances. She married M. Delalive de Bellegarde, who received the office of farmer-general. The extravagance of M. Delalive soon disturbed their happiness, and his indifference to the conduct of his wife was equalled by his own dissolute life, and no doubt influenced hers. She gathered around her a distinguished circle, which though neither brilliant nor renowned, was free and natural. Here the man of learning consented to doff his philosophical armour, through which posterity has found it so difficult to discern his real features; and here authors, artists, and men and women of the world, met without restraint. Possessed of judgment and penetration, Madame d'Epinay had neither originality nor imagination. Her mind was of that plastic order which led her to yield to the opinions of those in whose intimacy she lived; and she never attempted to exercise over her circle a control for which her good sense told her she was little adapted. Hume, Diderot, D'Holbach, and Grimm, were habitués of her society. It is to her connection with Rousseau, however, that she owes the interest attached to her name, and the attention she excited in her own time. The details of their intimacy and quarrel for some time occupied all Paris, Madame d'Epinay was constantly engaged in some literary labour. In 1783, she wrote "Les Conversations d'Emilie," which obtained the prize offered by Monthieu for useful works of that kind, in preference to the "Adèle et Theodore" of Madame de Genlis. She also wrote "Lettres a mon Fils," and "Mes Moments Heureux." An abridgment of her letters and correspondence, shewing her relations with Duclos, Rousseau, Grimm, Holbach, Lambert, etc., appeared in Paris, in 1818. Madame d'Epinay died in 1783
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Erdmuthe, Sophia, Margravine

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ERDMUTHE, SOPHIA, MARGRAVINE,
Of Baireuth, was born February 15th., 1644. True devotional feelings animated her mind already when quite a child, and these were guided by an intellect which belonged only to riper years. When she was in her tenth year she wrote a series of poetical and prose papers, and a volume, to which she gave the title of "Christian Closet for the Heart." Her teacher, the celebrated Dr. Weber, discovered them accidentally in her desk, and was so much struck with their beauty and pious tendency, that he prevailed upon her parents to have them published; and he accompanied them with a preface. Many of the hymns which she wrote at that age are still incorporated in the German books, though few know at the present time that they were composed by so young a child. In 1662, on the 19th. of October, she married the Margrave Christian Ernst of Baireuth, to whom she became a loving wife, and able coadjutor in deeds of charity and piety; but she would never consent to take part in his government affairs. She established the first Magdalene house of refuge in that part of Germany. Much of her time was devoted to writing. One of her best works was published in 1666, "A Treatise on the Age of the World, and a Consideration of the States of the Roman Empire, and their Condition." It is replete with theological, geographical, historical, and genealogical information. She died in the year 1670, on the 12th. of June, and was buried in the court chapel which she had just caused to be built.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Ernecourt, Barbara of

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ERNECOURT, BARBARA OF,
Better known as the Lady of St. Balmont, a second Joan of Arc, was born in 1609, at the castle of Newville, between Bar and Verdun. From the earliest childhood she trained herself to the use of arms, and in all knightly accomplishments. She married, when quite young, the Lord of Balmont, who met and fell in love with her while hunting, and whom she frequently accompanied in the chase. During the "thirty years' war" in Germany, she always ​took command of her husband's castle, while he accompanied the Duke of Lothrengein to the field. This brave woman repulsed the enemy frequently, and on several occasions made sorties, and succeeded in capturing both men and baggage. When peace was restored, she laid aside the sword and took up the pen, which she wielded with equal skill. Her first work, "Les Jumeaux Martyrs," was published in 1651; several other works, of considerable merit, appeared afterwards. The death of her husband, to whom she was tenderly attached, made her resolve to retire from the world, and she entered a nunnery; but died before taking the veil, May 22nd., 1660, aged fifty-one.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Esther

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ESTHER,
A Jewish maiden, whose great beauty raised her to the throne of Persia, whereby she saved her countrymen from total extermination. Esther was an orphan, brought up by her cousin Mordecai, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, the great-grandson of Kish, one of the captives taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Mordecai was probably born in Babylon; but he was a devout worshipper of the God of Israel. He had adopted Esther as his own daughter;—and when, after King Ahasuerus had repudiated his first queen Vashti, and chosen the "fair and beautiful" Jewish maid, then her uncle, who had strictly enjoined her not to let it be made known to the king that she was a Jewess, left Babylon for Susa, where he often waited at the gate to see his niece, and hear of her welfare.
About this time Ahasuerus passed an ordinance, importing that none of his household, under penalty of death, should come into his presence while he was engaged in the administration of justice. If, however, he extended the golden sceptre towards the intruder, the penalty was to be remitted. Not long after, two of the chamberlains of the king conspired against him; the plot was disclosed to Mordecai, and, through the medium of Esther, the king was apprised of his danger. Mordecai received no reward for this service, except having the transaction entered in the records of the state, and being allowed the privilege of admission to the palace.
Haman, an Amalekite, now became the chief favourite of King Ahasuerus; Mordecai, probably proud of his Jewish blood, and despising the base parasite, refused to bow down to him in the gate, as did all the king's servants. This affront, so offensive to Haman's pride, determined him not only to destroy Mordecai, but all the captive Jews throughout the dominions of King Ahasuerus. The favourite made such representations to the king concerning them, that a proclamation for their entire destruction was promulgated.
The result is known to all who have read the "Book of Esther;" how this pious and beautiful woman, trusting in heaven and ​earnestly employing her own influence, succeeded in defeating the malice of the Amalekite; "Haman was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai." The relationship of Esther and Mordecai was made known to the king, who gave Haman's office to the noble Jew, and from that time took him into his confidential service and promoted him to the highest honours. Between the king and his lovely wife the most perfect confidence was restored. Indeed, from what is said by the prophet Nehemiah, who wrote some ten or twelve years later, and who represented the queen as sitting beside the king when petition was made concerning the Jews, we must infer that she was ever after his counsellor and good angel.
This wonderful deliverance has, from that time to this—more than twenty-three centuries—been celebrated by the Jews, as a festival called "the days of Purim," or, more generally, "Esther's Feast;" It occurred B.C. 609.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Eponina

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EPONINA,
Wife of Julius Sabinus. a Roman general, native of Langres, has been called the heroine of conjugal affection. During the struggles of Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian, for the sovereignty of Rome, Sabinus, who pretended to trace his lineage to Julius Cæsar by casting an imputation on the chastity of his grandmother, put in his claim to the throne. Being defeated, and an immense reward offered for his head, he assembled his few faithful friends, and acknowledging his gratitude towards them, he expressed his resolution of not surviving his misfortunes, but of setting his house on fire and perishing in the flames. They remonstrated in vain, and at length were obliged to leave him, in order to preserve their own lives. To a freedman of the name of Martial, he alone imparted his real intention, which was to conceal himself in a subterranean cavern, which had communication with his house. The superb mansion of Sabinus was then set on fire, and the report of his death, with the attendant circumstances, was sent immediately to Vespasian, and ​soon reached Eponina's ears. Frantic with grief, she resolved to put an end to her life also. For three days she refused every kind of nourishment, when Martial, hearing of her violent sorrow, contrived to disclose to her the truth, but advised her to continue the semblance of grief, lest suspicions should arise; but at night he conducted her to the cavern, which she left before daybreak.
Frequent were the excuses which Eponina made to her friends for her absences from Rome; and after a time, she not only visited her husband in the evening, but passed whole days with him in the cavern. At length her apprehensions were excited by her situation; but by rubbing a poisonous ointment upon herself, she produced a swelling in her legs and arms, so that her complaint was thought to be a dropsy; she then retired to the cave, and without any medical assistance, she gave birth to a boy. For nearly nine years she continued to visit her husband in his solitude, and during that period twice became a mother. At length her frequent absences were noticed, she was watched, and her secret discovered.
Loaded with chains, Sabinus was brought before Vespasian, and condemned to die, Eponina threw herself at the feet of the emperor, and implored him to spare her husband; and, at the same time, she presented her two children to him, who joined in the solicitation, with tears and entreaties. Vespasian, however, remained inflexible, and Eponina, rising with an air of dignity, said, "Be assured that I know how to contemn life; with Sabinus I have existed nine years in the bowels of the earth, and with him I am resolved to die." She perished with her husband about seventy-eight years after the Christian era,