The maiden of Tonnerre
Subtitle: the vicissitudes of the chevalier and the chevalière d'Eon
By: Charles d'Eon de Beaumont ; translated and edited by Roland A. Champagne, Nina Ekstein, and Gary Kates.
Contributors: Champagne, Roland A.; Ekstein, Nina C., 1952-; Kates, Gary, 1952-
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 207
Subjects: Eon de Beaumont, Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée dʹ, 1728-1810; Diplomats -- France -- Biography; Spies -- France -- Biography; Female impersonators -- France -- Biography; France -- Foreign relations -- 18th century
Description: "Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont was born in 1728. Raised as a boy, he was educated as a lawyer and entered the service of Louis XV as a diplomat. In 1756 he was sent to the Russian imperial court as a spy and was said to have dressed as a young woman to gain the confidence of the Empress Elizabeth. He later served in Russia (as a man) as secretary to the French ambassador.

Returning to France in 1761, he was appointed a captain of the elite Dragoons and, after the Treaty of Paris in 1762, went to England as a diplomat and spy. During that time persistent rumors that he was in fact a woman arose, and he did nothing to dispel them. By 1777 he was officially recognized as female in both England and France. Recalled to France, he was reluctantly compelled by Louis XVI to give up his male attire. In 1785 he began to compose his autobiography, which presented much of his experience in religious terms, and he moved back to London.

He lived there as a woman until his death in 1810, at which time his body was discovered to be unambiguously male.".

"This volume includes the first English translations of d'Eon's autobiography (or "historical epistle") and other writings by d'Eon on his life, religious beliefs, and stories of women who concealed their sex to enter religious orders. As historian Gary Kates notes in the introduction, d'Eon's writing can be read on at least two levels: while it ostensibly tells the story of a woman who spent half her life as a man, it is in fact also the story of a man who spent half his life as a woman.

As such it demonstrates both the construction and transgression of gender boundaries and historical narrative."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-204) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: I. The Great Historical Epistle by the Chevaliere d'Eon, Written in 1785 1; title: II. Other Autobiographical Writings and Fragments 91; title: D'Eon's Second Visit to Christophe de Beaumont 93; title: Selected Correspondence between d'Eon and His Mother 94; title: From the Letter to the Duchesse, May 1778 98; title: Letter to the Duchesse, June 1789 119; title: Reply from the Duchesse 125; title: Christian Reflections 126; title: Important Document in My Present State 129; title: A Special Request 132; title: III. Historical Precedents Found by d'Eon 139.