Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force

Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force or Mademoiselle de La Force (1654 - 1724) was a French novelist and poet.

She was the daughter of François de Caumont La Force (eighth son of marshal La Force), marquis of Castelmoron and of Marguerite de Viçose. Raised as a Protestant, she converted to Catholicism in 1686 and received a pension of 1000 écus from Louis XIV. Like other famous women writers of the 17th century, she was named a member of the Academy of the Ricovrati of Padua.

Her first novels were in the popular vein of "histoires secrètes", short novels recounting the "secret history" of a famous person and linking the action generally to an amorous intrigue, such as "Histoire secrete de Bourgogne" (1694), "Histoire secrète de Henri IV, roi de Castille" (1695), "Histoire de Marguerite de Valois, reine de Navarre" (1696).

She had a long affair with the much younger Charles Briou, finally managing to marry him secretly with the king's permission, but her family and his father intervened to have the marriage annulled. [Jack Zipes, "The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm", p 830, ISBN 0-393-97636-X]

In 1697, due to gossip and scandalous rumors about her, the king forced Mlle de La Force to take to the Benedictine abbey of Gercy-en-Brie or risk losing her pension, and it was from here that she wrote her memoirs: "Pensées chrétiennes de défunte de Mlle de La Force".

She is also well-known for particiapting in the 17th century vogue of fairy tales (along with Henriette-Julie de Murat, Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy, Marie-Jeanne Lhéritier, and Charles Perrault) and she wrote "Les Contes des Contes" (1698) and "Les Contes des Fées". These works included the tale "Fairer-than-a-Fairy".

Her novels had a great deal of success in Europe in the 18th century.

References

Dandrey, Patrick, ed. "Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le XVIIe siècle." Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1996.