Eighteenth century cross-dressing athlete becomes Anime star!

Jo here, stepping in for Edith. Apologies up front if this has any errors. I'm recovering from the sort of 'flu that creates brain fuzz. I did have something in mind to blog about, but then some people on my list began to talk about the Chevalier D'Eon, one of the most mysterious and fascinating side-line characters in European history. (You'll see below why they thought it of interest on my list.)

The Wikipedia article has the basics, but there's stuff all over the web about him. He's still a cause for speculation and fascination. Wikipedia article  (This, however, claims that he retured to France later in life, and that's not what I understand. Always a mystery.)

I don't remember when I first heard about him, but I've known the basics for a long time -- the strange 18th century Frenchman who liked to dress up as a woman. This wasn't a secret. It was a great curiosity, or scandal, or mystery in his own lifetime.

However, I never intended to become personally involved with him. That happened completely by accident. In 1999, I was writing Devilish, the last book in the main line of the Georgian series about the aristocratic Malloren family headed by the Marquess of Rothgar.

Rothgar is intimately involved in the power politics of the 1760s and thus, at that period, in matters between Britain and France. I needed a brief encounter with the French Ambassador and went looking for a name -- to find that it was the Chevalier D'Eon.

Well, not exactly. He was acting ambassador, but it was he. It was a moment for rude words. I couldn't, absolutely couldn't, have D'Eon as a walk on/walk off part, but I did need some official French participation. I couldn't change my timeline because it was pretty well fixed by events in the series.

In the end I had to accept the situation and work with it, and as is often the case, it turned out to be a gift. Not only was D'Eon a wonderful character, but enriching the French intrigue part of the book made it stronger.

The really peculiar, even creepy thing, was that after I'd finished the book I realized that Rothgar's actions could explain some of the very strange actions and decisions D'Eon made during that time. After all, Rothgar was feeding him forged documents, some even from the King of France, so D'Eon's apparently insane boldness and feeling off omnipotence had some basis.

I don't have space here to even try to explain it all, but in effect he lost the king's favor by his brash decisions, but saved himself by holing up with a lot of records that King Louis absolutely couldn't allow to be made public. (Sometimes history is stranger than fiction.)

D'Eon probably had even more on all kinds of people because he was allowed to live, and even received a pension from the king, but he had to remain in exile in England, and only ever wear women's clothing. (Told you. Strange, strange....) He'd done that before, for espionage and pleasure, but whether he wanted a life sentence is hard to know.

Despite the pictures, this was not a delicate man. He was a war hero and a brilliant fencer, on record as the best in Europe. There's a famous picture of him engaged in a fencing match with the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the supposed best in Europe. This took place in 1787 when D'Eon was sixty.

This is froma webpage about Saint-Georges, who was interesting in his own right.

". . . the most spectacular event of this visit was a contest that took place at Carlton House on 9 April 1787 in the course of which St-George took on not only the Prince of Wales, the future George IV, but also a personality who had become a legend in his lifetime – the Chevalier, or rather at that time the Chevalière, d’Eon.  The painter Robineau has captured this unusual combat in a canvas showing St-George crossing swords with a lady of a certain age, in skirts and a lace bonnet, whose posture is entirely masculine and who bears the cross of St. Louis on her left breast. The bout ended with the victory of “Miss” d’Eon, but she “was modest enough to believe that M. de St-Georges had been kind to her.”  However, he candidly stated that it had taken all his skill to try to parry the thrusts of his adversary. . ."

Yup, he won, at sixty, and in skirts.

There was endless speculation about whether he was a woman in disguise or a man in disguise. It's possible he was a hermaphrodite.

What's this about anime? Apparently D'Eon has found new fame and a new form, though what he'd think of it, I can't guess. I'm not sure which pictures here are supposed to be D'Eon, but perhaps this.

Official web site  in Japanese. Lovely pictures.

Here's the English one.

You can watch a trailer of the Anime series on You Tube.
Link here 

Amazing, isn't it. And an the moment I'm reading up on Mrs. Cornelys, who was inhabiting London at the same time, though he hasn't entered the picture. Casanova has, however, and what he got up to with her son (no, nothing like THAT, but still very odd.) As I say, history is far wilder than fiction dares to be.

I usually try to toss out some seed questions, but this I leave to you. Give me your thoughts, reactions, speculations, explanations. This time, one randomly picked poster will get a copy of Devilish.

Thanks to everyone on my list who inspired this.

 

Cheers,

Jo

 

Comments

[RfP]

Thanks for sharing that! D'Eon was a unique character in Devilish, so I'm not surprised he was fascinating in history. I love it when truth is stranger than fiction... or when fiction explains history :)

D'Eon's diplomatic position really did work out remarkably well for your novel. He and Rothgar were interestingly matched, each playing multiple roles and aware the other was doing the same.

[Maggie Robinson]

Hope you're feeling better. Fascinating post, as usual. Thought you'd like to know I was shopping once in a bookstore in Bangor, Maine and struck up a conversation with the women at the register. One of them noticed the piles of romances, looked at me and uttered one word, in a rolling, dramatic sigh---"Rothgar." I didn't even have one of your books with me but knew immediately who she was crushing on! Which makes me, completely off topic, wonder how you came up with the name.

Anime and graphic novels are hugely popular in my high school library. The kids don't even have trouble reading from the "back" of the book to the "front."

[Jo Beverley]

Maggie, how lovely about the woman who sighed "Rothgar." :)He's definitely one of those characters who came to life -- and how!

Interesting question about the name. For ages I thought I'd plucked it out of nowhere, but then I realized it'd come unconsciously from Hrothgar, king of the Danes in Beowulf.

The first Malloren book, My Lady Notorious, was written directly after my first medieval, Lord of My Heart. LOMH is a Norman Conquest book and being perverse as usual, I made my hero English and my heroine Norman.

Aimery is half-English, but he's been partly raised there and loves its traditions. So I'd read a lot about Anglo-Saxon culture. That included re-reading Beowulf, of course.

What A-S poetry we have is all wonderful, and I particularly like the translations of Kevin Crossley-Holland who seems to really be in their soul. It's not all sad, but the poem called The Wanderer was important in my mind when writing the book because it says so much about why being part of a community, "belonging", is necessary to the soul, which is much of what the book is about.

This is Crossley-Holland's translation. I don't think the line breaks will hold.

"Often the wanderer pleads for pity and mercy from the lord; but for a long time,
sad in mind, he must dip his oars into icy waters, the lanes of the sea;
he must follow the paths of exile: fate is inflexible.

I cannot think why in the world my mind does not darken when I brood on the fate of brave warriors, how they have suddenly had to leave the mead-hall, the bold followers. So this world dwindles day by day,
and passes away; for a man will not be wise before he has weathered his share of winters in the world."

Gosh, this is turning into another blog! But my immersion in all this is why the marquisate is Rothgar, and why the children all have Anglo-Saxon names -- Cynric, Elfled, Hilda, Brand, Arcenbryght, and, of course, Beowulf.

I would have resisted the triteness of Beowulf, but my explanation for the names is that their father was an Anglo-Saxon nut, so of course he'd call his eldest son Beowulf.

If we writers start delving into why we write what we write, it can become very tangled.

Jo

[Kalen Hughes]

I love d'Eon! I found a wonderful biography of him a few years ago. I really wanted to write a fencing scene with him into my first book, but as it served no real purpose I restrained myself. *grin* Maybe someday I’ll figure out a way to work him and Saint-Georges into a book . . .

[Gretchen F]

Japanese anime often features cross- dressing or gender ambiguous characters. Interesting in that their language has different dialects for male and female speakers..but as you said, that's another blog.. Now I have to go back and read the Malloren novels again. Maybe even re-read Beowulf!...nah.:)

[Maggie Robinson]

Jo, thanks so much for the poetry and explanation!

[RfP]

"Maybe even re-read Beowulf!...nah.:)"

Or look for a reading. I haven't read it for about 10 years, but I manage to attend a reading every year or two. It's fantastic.

It's out on CD too--though I didn't really enjoy listening to it a little at a time on the train.

[Jo Beverley]

Wasn't there a recent movie og Beowulf? If so, I didn't see it.

Has anyone done a movie about D'Eon? Seems as if it would be fascinating.

Jo

[Elaine McCarthy]

If, as contemporary gender benders would have us believe, the incidence of homosexuality, transvestitism and the like hasn't really changed much over the ages, then I have to mourn that so few of them made it into the history books with all their personality intact. They must have been brave souls, and clever, too, in order to survive the prevailing attitudes of most of the past. I particularly admire anybody who eschewed the closet and succeeded on very much his own terms. I'll be looking out for his/her biography to add to my reading list.

[Jodell]

Yes. Beowulf and Grendel stars the delectable Gerard Butler (300). I've never seen any of his stuff. This one looks especially gruesome.

You can check it out at imdb.com. I can't figure out how to make a link.

[Maureen]

What a fascinating character. If an author created such a character he/she would have appearted overdone.

[Jo Beverley]

Absolutely, Maureen, on overdone.

D'Eon's first recorded use of female appearance was in order to infiltrate the Russian court, and he actually succeeded in becoming a lady in waiting.

Jo

[Kalen Hughes]

And there was rife speculation that he was, in fact, a woman. There were even bets in the betting book at White's!

[Cherie J]

Wow! Fascinating histor lesson. I had seen advertisement for the anime but failed to put two and two together. Thanks for the headsup!

[Sherrie Holmes]

"Has anyone done a movie about D'Eon? Seems as if it would be fascinating."

Wouldn't it, though! With Johnny Depp as D'Eon! Jo, ever since first hearing about D'Eon through you a few years ago, I've been fascinated by him. So much so that one time I Googled his name and found an account of him being examined (by women, I think) to determine if he was male or female, and they were unable to come to a conclusion!

I believe he was examined by doctors after he died, and determined to be anatomically male, but my understanding is that a person can be anatomically male, but genetically a female, so I wonder if that might be the case here?

Regardless, he's a fascinating historical figure!

[Jo Beverley]

Sherrie,good points, but D'Eon's actions strike me as very male -- cocky generally sums them up, and that's a particularly male descreption -- so I'd say he was more of a feminine looking man. Basically, though, he's an oddity, but one who made the best of his unusual aspects, at least some of the time.

Jo

[Heather B.]

"Has anyone done a movie about D'Eon? Seems as if it would be fascinating."

Wouldn't it, though! With Johnny Depp as D'Eon!

I think this would be a wonderful idea. Jo, have you ever thought of writing a screenplay? Johnny Depp would be perfect.

Anyway, interesting character. Excuse my ignorance, but I didn't realize he was a real historical figure when I read Devilish. Now, I must go back and reread and research.
HeatherB.

[Mrs.MJ]

How curious. He must have been one brave man to traips about as a woman back then. Too bad there was no journal found, wouldn't that be an interesting read!

[Jessica]

History really is stranger than fiction. I've never understood why Hollywood insists on making up history for historical films, when there's so much RICH story to mine that happens to be true. Why "The Tudors" is making up so much of the story, when the real story has all the soap opera anyone could ask for, is beyond me.

But then, all these historical films and shows mean people get interested and hopefully go out in search of more information, and thus the "real" story. That can never be a bad thing.

Jessica

[Melissa]

I'd never heard of D'Eon before your blog, Jo, and he sounds like a wonderful character! I'll have to see what I can find to read more about the real man. Thanks for the info!

[maryjoputney]

I also thought that Johnny Depp would be a natural to play D'Eon in a movie.

I see that Sherrie also read the bit that I did--how ladies examined D'Eon and couldn't determine his gender. I've always thought he was a hermaphrodite who usually expressed as male because of the obvious social advantages.

I suspect that a peasant or laborer who tried to live as D'Eon had would be lynched, but aristocrats could get away with a LOT.

I once read that among certain Native American Plains tribes, there were some men who chose to live as women, and it was accepted in a matter of fact way. Gender in history is very interesting.

Mary Jo

[RevMelinda]

I do so enjoy masquerades and cross-dressers in a novel (you all must know by now that Heyer's Masqueraders is my favorite book).

What is pretense and what is real about any of us? What is the social mask I hide behind and who do I allow to see the real person behind the mask? Perhaps all the masquerade stories, both historical and imagined, help us (me) to ponder those questions. . .

It would be so nice to have a new copy of Devilish since mine is looking fairly dog-eared these days (I've read it, like, a million more times than Beowulf).

"Crushing on Rothgar"--so true. He had me at "Your fate has arrived" (OK Jo, is that right? I just dredged that up from memory without checking the book. . .)

[MaryK]

My copy of Devilish is in good condition so I'll pass on the book drawing. I usually pride myself on not dog-earing, but it makes RevMelinda sound like such a superfan that I'm having second thoughts. :D

Jo, has Devilish been recorded as an audio book? It just occurred to me that this one would be fun to listen to with a good reader. I downloaded Winter Fire from audible.com and Devilish isn't in their catalog. I'm not sure how to find out if a book has been recorded.

[Jo Beverley]

Mary, Devilish hasn't meen recorded yet. Recorded Books are doing a good job, and they're picking up my new books as soon as they're available, which is excellent, but they haven't done much back list as yet.

If readers write to them pointing out that the books are series and they want the older titles, it might spur them on.

I'm writing a Georgian at the moment and just came across another bit about D'Eon in my notes.

He was a confidant of Queen Charlotte. This is another aspect that is hard to believe. The queen was still quite young, stiff, and protected (one could say suppressed, perhaps) by her young, stiff, insecure husband. George preferred quiet evenings with his wife to court affairs and was firm that she be quiet, well-behaved and avoid frivolity.

So how come this French diplomat with such an interesting reputation was known to spend many evenings with her in conversation. I'm sure there was always a lady in waiting or two, but still, it was commented on in the press, mainly because he was French, and the French were still Britain's enemies.

But he seems to have charmed the king as well as the queen, and it's said that when he was in such deep trouble with France, George III advocated on his behalf, and persuaded Louis to give him a pension, probably at the queen's request.

Clearly charm, magical charm, was part of his power.

Jo

[Kalen Hughes]

"I once read that among certain Native American Plains tribes, there were some men who chose to live as women, and it was accepted in a matter of fact way. Gender in history is very interesting."

Don't they go into this a bit in the film LITTLE BIG MAN? Not that a movie is proof of anything, but I'm pretty sure the idea for that "gay" brave was based on truth.

[Sherrie Holmes]

"I once read that among certain Native American Plains tribes, there were some men who chose to live as women, and it was accepted in a matter of fact way."

You're right, Mary Jo. According to my research done about 12 years ago, The Sioux were very accepting of this. However, once a man declared he was a woman, he was expected to dress and act the part for the rest of his life. He could even marry.

[Janga]

Jo, I had always assumed that you had Hrothgar in mind when you named your head Malloren.

I don't think rereading Beowulf is to be scoffed at. Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's translation/interpretation?) is both accessible and poetically rich. Hey, it beat Harry Potter for the Whibread Prize in 97. (? I'm not sure about the year.)

I find myself increasingly intrigued with what anime makers are doing with Western stories. Le Chevalier D'Eon takes a historical figure and adds zombies, vampires, biblical allusions, and our hero posessed by his dead sister's spirit. Romeo and Juliet features a Juliet, the last of her family, as heroine and in dual cross-dressing roles as the boy Odin and the vengeful hero, the Red Whirlwind. It also includes a catalog of Shakespeare's characters from other plays--Hermione, Cordelia,Curio, Petruchio, etc.

These seem far more creative treatments to me than recycling old TV shows.

[Jo Beverley]

Anime is fascinating, Janga, isn't it?

Thanks for all the comments and contributions, everyone. This has been fascinating.

Jo :)

[Leslie Lanning]

I think sometimes the speculations of a well read person who does her homework can come as close to the truth as anyone. The actions of D'Eon were most likely affected by the politics of the time. Given the fact that the French and English had such strained relations, there's no telling what made 'him' act as he did. I think Jo's explanation is as good as any.