Today is the last day of Pride Month, and I felt compelled to tell you about someone I only just learned about: the Chevalière d’Éon. They were a French diplomat, spy and soldier in the 1700’s who served their country honorably, and then, perhaps a bit less than honorably. (The thing about history is it’s all a matter of perspective.)
They became a captain of dragoons and fought valiantly for France. Then they helped draft the peace treaty that ended the Seven Years’ War. They were awarded the Order of Saint-Louis, which came with a nice pension and the title of Chevalier, which is the French equivalent of knight.
Even though England and France were now at peace, they acted as a spy for Louis XV, surveying British coastal defenses. They got into a bit of a political sticky wicket there which you’ll have to look into yourself if you’re interested, because it’s so complicated that I don’t quite know how to think or feel about it. The upshot is that in order to get out of it, they leaked a scandalous amount of secret diplomatic documents and blackmailed the king. They told him that if he didn’t get them out of the situation, they’d leak documents about the peacetime spying that would thrust France back into war with England. Naturally this did not go over well. Somehow they managed to retain their pension and continued to act as a spy. Even so, they remained in political exile in London.
Let’s do a quick timeline.
1766—Political exile in London begins.
1775—American Revolution begins.
1776—France begins helping the American Revolutionaries in earnest, and the Chevalière d’Éon wants to join the French troops and get back in the thick of things, but they’re prevented, due to their political exile.
All this time, negotiations are going on to end their political exile, and at the same time, rumors are spreading throughout London and France that question the Chevalière d’Éon’s actual sexual identity. After claiming to be assigned female at birth, they stated that they had only been living as a male in order to inherit their father’s estate. In 1777, Louis XVI agrees to end their political exile on the grounds that they forevermore wear women’s clothing, and the king also officially recognizes them as a woman, and England promptly follows suit. (It is now believed that they did this because women could not be diplomats at the time, and both countries wanted to prevent the Chevalière d’Éon from ever having political power again.)
From that point onward, the Chevalière d’Éon presented themselves as a woman until their death 33 years later. (And they did so willingly and publicly, which makes it rather clear that it had less to do with inheritance than originally claimed.)
They returned to England in 1785. They lost their pension in 1789 when the French Revolution began. All their properties in France were seized, and they were forced to sell all their possessions in order to survive.
Being the resourceful person that they were, they began to put on fencing expeditions to make money. They would wear a dress and face a male opponent. They became a very popular celebrity due to these performances.
But here’s what brought the Chevalière d’Éon to my attention in the first place: I am reading several biographies of that era, and somewhere I came across a statement, almost thrown away in the midst of all the information in a biography about someone else entirely, to wit: “1n 1792, the Chevalière d’Éon approached the French National Assembly, offering to lead a division of female soldiers against the Habsburgs, but was rebuffed.”
(Cue the sound of a record scratch.) Wait a minute. That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say on the subject? Who was this person, why female soldiers, and who would even come up with such an idea in 1792? And thus my research on this fascinating person began, yielding all the information above.
I’d also like to take a moment to point out that I have no idea what pronouns are appropriate in this situation. I’m not even sure “they” would have occurred to anyone in the 1700’s. I suspect that what they used, toward the end of their life at least, was “she”. But I can’t even be sure of that. So I chose to use “they” in this post out of respect. I humbly apologize to their memory if they would have found this inappropriate.
I think the world would be a much different place if the French National Assembly had taken the Chevalière d’Éon up on their offer. A division of female soldiers may not have changed the outcome of the French Revolution, necessarily (although, you never know). I’m not even sure such an outcome change would be a good idea. It’s just that it might have kick-started the women’s movement 56 years sooner, and who knows where we’d all be right now?
What intrigues me most about the Chevalière d’Éon is that there were several points in time when they might have made some really significant changes in the timeline of our history. They are controversial not because of their gender identity, in my opinion, but because of their insane attempts to blackmail a king, and their bold moves as a spy, as a military person and as a policy maker. The only reason they are not prominent in our history books is that their gender identity makes the writers of such books uncomfortable.
You know what’s really sad? Every article I came across goes out of its way to say that they died in poverty at the age of 81, almost as if that’s supposed to be the transgender equivalent of “crime doesn’t pay,” or something. And those same articles can’t resist revealing what was discovered upon their death: what genitals they actually had. I don’t think that’s anybody’s business. I’m pretty sure no one’s ever going to write that about you or me. I also think it’s beside the point.
I find them admirable because, whether you admire them or not, you have to admit that they took the societal lemons that were handed to them and made their own unique brand of lemonade.What’s amazing about the Chevalière d’Éon is that they had the courage for the last 33 years of their life to live authentically, at a time when this would have been met with even more opposition than people face today. And, by God, they did it with aplomb.
Dear reader, I mentioned above that today is the last day of Pride Month, and I had to grit my teeth when I typed it, because pride should not be relegated to just one month. Everyone should be able to embrace the person that they are all year ‘round.
Our current warped, twisted, Fascist government, would have you believe that Pride Month doesn’t exist, and that LGBTQ+ people should be marginalized and discriminated against, even to the point of violence. Well, I may not be able to control the world, or even my own damned country, but that bs won’t fly here. Not on my blog. Not in my home. Not in my workplace. Not in my presence. I’m an ally. And anyone who isn’t might want to reexamine their definition of basic human decency. Fortunately, those are not the types of people who are prone to read this blog.
Namaste, everyone.
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