Marthe Cosnard
Born(1614-04-14)April 14, 1614
Sées
DiedAfter 1659
Occupation(s)Writer, playwright


Marthe Cosnard, baptised in Sées on 14 April 1614 and died after 1659,[1][2] was a 17th-century French playwright. She wrote a Christian tragedy entitled les Chastes Martyrs. She was a member of the "Cercle des femmes savantes" of Jean de la Forge who nicknamed her Kandake. Her choice to remain a virgin earned also her the title of "Our Lady of Sees" in her lifetime.

Coming from a family whose members exercised various professions - lawyers, goldsmiths, apothecaries, doctors - from the 15th century, she was raised in an environment where the theater was particularly honored.[1] In 1650, aged 36, she brought out her tragedy under the patronage of Pierre Corneille whom she probably frequented.[1] The playwright paid her a tribute ending with the lines:

Ne te lasse donc point d’enfanter des merveilles,
De prêter ton exemple à conduire nos veilles,
Et d’aplanir à ceux qui l’auront imité,
Les illustres chemins à l’immortalité.[3]

Her play was dedicated to Anne of Austria, the wife of King Louis XIII of France. The subject was borrowed from a Christian novel by Jean-Pierre Camus, the Agatonphile, which would also inspire the first play by Françoise Pascal in 1655.[4] According to Léon de La Sicotière, the influence of Polyeucte, published in 1641, is undeniable.[1] The play, which probably wasn't presented, was repeatedly printed or counterfeit, indicating a "very successful reading and selling".[1]

Other plays have been attributed to Marthe Cosnard but without convincing evidence: Les filles généreuses - undated, le martyre de Saint Eustache - 1643 and le martyre de Sainte Catherine - 1649. On the other side, it would be proved that she is the author of the collection of short pieces La grande Bible renouvelée, wrongly attributed to Françoise Pascal.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Fille de Thomas Cosnard et de Catherine du Frische. La Tragédie des Chastes Martyrs par mademoiselle Cosnard, preceded by an introduction by L. de La Sicotière, Rouen : Imprimerie de Espérance Cagniard, 1888. Text online. What little is known of Martha Cosnard comes mostly from this notice by Léon de La Sicotière.
  2. ↑ "Sées et Alentours - (page 2) - la normandie et les normands". cgs-61.kazeo.com.
  3. ↑ Modern spelling. Léon de La Sicotière indicates that these verses have survived only in a very small number of copies of the first edition of the play.
  4. ↑ Katharina M. Wilson, An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers, New York: Garland Publishing Company, vol. II, 1991, p. 273-274.
  5. ↑ Hannah Fournier, Marthe Cosnard : Les Chastes Martyrs. Brève présentation suivie de l’édition de 1651.
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