Setting Fires in Hearts and Convents: Julie d'Aubigny Pt. 1

excited about it. We're with if you're a regular listener, we're traveling with our friends Cherry and Jason, who came out for our Pandemic Love Stories episode largely because they never got a honeymoon because they had to get married, and so they're meeting us out in Las Vegas. We're gonna have a good time there. Then we're gonna go to l A, spend a couple of days there um,

and then head home. So the great love and friendship and some spending money that you used to have but it's gone now well, and some great discount comped rooms, all kinds of deals. Y'all want to know how to do Vegas on the cheap? Give me a call because I just found some really exciting stuff. Eli has unlocked Vegas. Yes, I got a little two sucked into the points game

and it's not it's not too hard. Hey. I was like weird at first, but then you know what, I am going to bask in all the rewards, certainly telling you it's not bad. Um. But so that's super exciting. So we decided while we're gone, we'd give you a big fat episode, big fat two part epic romance with action and adventure. This this is so cool. I'm very excited about this, extremely excited about this one. Because we're covering Julie Darby Mee or as she's also known UM.

This was suggested through email by our listener Andrea Johnson. Thank you, Andrea. A great suggestion, because Julie dobbin you is a seventeenth century badass who quite possibly has one of the most interesting love lives that we've ever covered. Bold statement. She dueled over ten men, and she played pranks on nobility. She seduced men and women alike. She once even said a convent on fire so she could

run off with her forbidden lesbian lover Red. Incredible. Her legend is just so insane that historians are still struggling with what's true and what's not true, because she was larger than life even in her own time. So people were just like, I don't know, say she did some everyone will believe you serious. And we had just split her life in the two exciting part. So let's hear all about the bisexual pros dressing swordfighter and opera singer

Lama bed right, let's go, hey their French comeation. Well, Elia and Diana got some stories to tell. There's no match making, a romantic tips. It's just about pridiculous relationships, a love. It might be any type of person at all, and abstract cons are a concrete wall. But if there's a story, went a second glance show Ridiculous Romans a production of iHeart Radio. So Julie Dubigny was born probably in sixteen seventy or sixteen seventy three. They gotta get

better at those birthdays. I know some Well, you know you gotta record it in the family Bible or whatever. I guess you didn't get around to it if you didn't have printed calendars. How do you even know what year it is? Half the time they're like, I don't know like, I know, I traveled across the country too for a potato farm sometime around sixteen fifty five, and I want to say, it's been eight years since. How

many winters did that? There was the one my wagon broke That was one year, and then there was the year where my horse ran away, and then you know his wife's like, that was the same year. You're right, it was what a year. You know, terrible tragedies. I do love that, you have to be like. I was born circa seventy roundabouts. No one gave me a certificate. Her dad's name was Gaston, classic French name, and he was a secretary for Count d'Armagnac, who was the King's

master of horse. So I kind of a big job, big guy in the the world, swaggering around. Yeah, I did not. Just anybody watches all the king's horses. They're in charge of putting eggs back together. El job. So Julie grew up first in the Twitter Palace and then at Versailles, um so around a lot of mirrors, mirrors, a lot of opulence that day, and a lot of men. She grew up in a very masculine if she's growing up in the stables with around all the noblemen and

all horses and you know stuff. Her days were full of like stinking dirt covered stable hands and then like silk pillows and you know those masculine folks on the inside which covered doust in perfew makeup. Yeah, lace. The two types of men, you know, are you dirty or clean? Those are the two types of men. Now, her dad, guest On, was a gambler. He was a big drinker. He was a big ladies man. A lot of vice

is going on with this guy. How many eggs did he eat in the According to the song, there's four to five dozen eggs. Now they do stay in the same song that eggs are very expensive. Oh yeah, different people. They're talking about two different things. Yeah, well, guest On see subtext in Eating the Beast. Gaston was able to afford dozens of eggs, while this poor woman with several children, it was like, I need six eggs and it damn wow. Another layer to guests cruelty share the egg wealth. Didn't

recognize his own privilege, not at all. Oh this guest On, not the animated one, but the real one. Um was also an accomplished swordsman, and he trained all of the count's pages in sword fighting and numerous other skills, and he chose to include his daughter in these lessons, kind of like a French arias dark. She was like, listen, dad, I don't want to wear these dresses and be groomed to be a princess or something. I like to mess around in the hay more ways than one. Um. So

she learned grammar, literature, writing, drawing, dancing, et cetera. So she was like better educated than many women of her time. Um And by the time she was twelve, she was also fencing, because again, her dad's accomplished swordsman. He's like, you need to know how to you need to know your way around this thing. Um And she frequently dressed as a boy for this because you know, girls dresses not a lot of mobility. He needs some freedom of

movement in order to fence. It wasn't necessarily it wasn't necessarily a disguise practicality. More for practicality, I think everyone knew she was a girl. She was just like, I'm gonna wear these men's clothes. Makes more sense now. Encyclopedia dot Com says it was not very unusual at the time for women to learn how to use a sword, even though King Louis kept being like, y'all quit it an issue, order after stop it out there, get over it. It was punishable by being stripped of your titles or

army commissions. You could be imprisoned or exiled or even executed. But it didn't matter. People were obsessed with duels. It's time a dual solved any problem, any dispute. They wanted to draw a sword about it. I need six eggs. I will check your eggs. Can I ask what which Louis? Was this the sun king? Yeah? That's right, um, but yeah, in Paris there were an estimated ten thousand professional duellists, like living in the wealthy quarters of Paris alone, you know,

all over France. It was just a big thing to know how to use a sword and kill your man. When you say professional dualists, I think one of two things. Either I'll challenge you to a duel now I just need to go hire someone to do it for someone who is better than me, or someone being like I never took a real job. I just go duel people for money all the time. Basically, I wonder if it was like kind of the process server of their time, like they would show up and be like, would you

fight me? And they no, okay, it is over, but I doubt it. I think you're right. More more accurately, it's probably some guy or some girls like I feel insulted by you, but I can't fight you, so I'll get someone to stand in by proxy sell sword. Oh you sorry you ever challenged me? Monsieur Carson or here, please, I need a dual list, Like, actually, I would definitely

fight you. No, I can't fight that guy. So yeah, women did learn how to use swords on occasion at this time because it was just such as so in vogue, so in fashion to know how to do that. But encyclopedia dot Com writes, quote, the most uncommon thing about Julie as dual list was that apparently she fought only men and on an equal footing, so they were like, oh, she's too good. She can fight anyones you want. Now.

As Julie grew up, she became extremely beautiful. Encyclopedia dot Com describes her quote she had large blue eyes and aqualine knows, a pretty mouth, excellent white teeth, very white skin, and a luxuriant crown. Of chestnut hair with shades of blonde. Probably around five ft three. She was slender, small breasted and lies no Less striking was her personality, which has been described as brave, fiery, generous, ardent, impetuous, and seductive.

This is a firecracker. Anybody catch the problematic description in this in this measure of her beauty because I'm gonna say, oh, yeah, sure, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, Oh, very white skin, while that makes her extra pretty, Come on, guys, I mean especially at the time though, that was the time where it was like if you got tan, it meant you worked outside gross, so like you had to be like translucent because it proved how rich you were. Oh,

those French folks just white, just powder powder. And they loved patches too, which is so funny because you look at the drawings now and there's just little moles all over their faces and they had fake little patches put on to achieve that, and some of them were even like heart shaped or star shaped or something like that. But I think it's funny because it kind of looks like you have a bunch of sores on you now, like in the illustrations are like interesting. It's so funny too.

You've mentioned powder, and you're so right, because they would powder their hair. They want to like white hair, white skin, and then really dark patches, really red lips. What a what a look? Remember we did Murasaki Shikibu and we're talking about like feudal Japan. It was really it was considered very beautiful and elegant to have black. It's just stuff like that. We're like, man, that is beauty standard. Okay, I just think that of that every time you see

a beauty standard of today. Just remember, in a hundred fifty years, they're gonna be saying they used to shower every day. What was wrong with them? We need your natural musk. That's what I want to sell. So when Julie was like fourteen or fifteen years old, sometime around there, she became Count d'armagnac's mistress, right, and remember this is Gaston, her father's boss, the king's horse master. He was like, gosh, it disturbs me to see you, Gaston. I would rather

be dating your kids. Okay, okay, okay, Well, oh my god, what if we got a mail call? Awesome? Right? The first time? Well, Count d'Armagnac, her dad's boss he was apparently very handsome and agreeable. So guest On may have promoted this connection, but he might have hated it and just not been able to do a thing about it because the guy was his boss. Right, He's like, sorry, bro, I'm gonna be fucking your kid, Gaston, I'd like you to please clean up after the horses over here, duel

that guy for me. And then also, I'm picking your daughter up at seven. Now. Some accounts say that Gaston wanted Julie to learn to use a sword so she could protect herself on the Paris streets, and then with his own sword skills, he would chase off a lot of would be suitors for his daughter. Right. He was like these dads who were like got a big gun? Oh yeah, like ask my daughter to prom or sounds

like one of those. So it's possible that Julie just picked the one guy that her dad couldn't say no to, you know, and she instigated the affair herself, possibly like I'm ready to get my rocks off right that no one is sure about the truth here now. Possibly a little before or shortly after the affair began, her father Gaston passed away and the counts darman Ak also became Julie's legal guardian. Now, at some point here the Count

found someone else to marry Julie. He's like, well, i'm your father boyfriend now, so I shall find you someone to marry. And he found this guy, Sire Jean Mapan, and he was just kind of make and retiring, sort of man, accepting of whatever you gave him. It sounds like, marry this girl. I guess whatever you say if you insist. Now, some people say that the Count was finding it hard to keep up with Julie and that's why he married

her off to this guy. But maybe he just wanted a respectable cover for their affair, because immediately after the wedding, some people say the very next morning, Count Darmagnac ordered Sierra Mapan to head off to a remote province to become a tax collector, while the Count kept Julie in Versailles. He was like, Jean Mapin, have I got a job for you. It is boring and it is going to be hell a rural and also I'm keeping your wife. But then Julie got bored and she started hooking up

with a young fencing instructor named Cerron. Now, this guy was forever trying to prove his fighting skills. He's constantly getting into fights and duels and scrapes and messing around with people. And eventually, according to the Los Angeles Public Library, Saron killed his man in a duel and he was being pursued by one of the most powerful men in Paris, Nicolas Gabrielle de la Reni, who is often regarded as

the father of modern policing. So he's like the lieutenant general of the police force, and biographer Jim Burrows writes on his blog that quote. In fact, he was more. The police in his day were responsible for all facets of city life, from regulating the price of food in the markets to lighting and cleaning the streets, as well as investigating and preventing crime. Bliny was a strict enforcer of the anti dueling laws and the regulation of weapons.

So that's that's kind of crazy to me that the police were like, all right, I gotta go light all the street lamps as well. I guess if you're on patrol you may as well. While you're patrolling the streets, can you all just sweep up a little if you see some trash and you can't have that much to do. I will say the first time I went to Paris, uh, I was the first time I went to there is excuse me, it's for a dozen eggs over here. Um. But I was just so amazed at how clean it was,

and I did seriously it was like Disney World. Like I'd just be walking on the street and there'd be a cigarette butt on the ground and someone would just appear out of a shadow in the in an alley somewhere with a broom and sweep it up and then vanish into the into the night again. And I was like, where did you come. It's not even nighttime, it's day and yet you disappeared into the moonlight somehow. It was amazing. The street sweepers of friends. I'll live in the catacombs

streets until one piece of litter calls them forth. So seven, you know, was on the wrong side of this guy, this father of modern police, saying he had to flee from Paris to get out of this guy's jurisdiction, and he wanted Julie to come with him, so he convinced her that he had a bunch of property in Marseilles. So he's like, let's make way for the coast, and she's like, all right, what else am I doing? She goes with him to support themselves. They started giving fencing

demonstrations in taverns and inns where they stayed. Again, Julie is dressing in men's clothes for the most part, partly for ease of travel, partly for practicality. Again, they're doing fencing demonstrations. She wants freedom of movement. Um, but even so, they advertised her as a woman to get more butts and seats, like, look at this lady. How crazy she can use a sword? What it's likely a woman with a physical skill. Well, one night they're doing their thing,

they're fencing adminstration in a tavern whatever. This guy's probably drunk as hell and he starts tickling them. He's calling out from the crowd. He's like, you're sorry, bro, you're just too good with that whole store. There's no way you're a lady. You're probably some guys young squire trying to pretend nice tribe. You can't get one over on me, you can always tell. So Julie is like okay and rips off her shirt and gives him an eye full of her credential. She's probably just like a kitty and

arrested development. She's like, okay, I got luck last going to see these And of course they didn't have a thing to say after that, because she has some nice tanage, I guess, and Jim Burrows writes quote it is said that the receipts that evening were particularly good, which I love. She pulls her shirt off and every one of the taverns like, oh, another round, we party you over here. I've been tickets for the next show where high sellers too. It's like I heard you might see boobs in this show.

I hope that didn't encourage more people to be like, oh, yeah, you're a woman, prove it. I know. It's just like all right, I'm not doing that again. You got to pay for these, Yes, there you go. It's a good If you need to see some boobs, just go tell a lady, if you're a woman, why don't you show me your boobs? Go? Please don't never do that. It's

a different time. But when they finally breached Marseilles, San her dueling instructor and show partner had to admit to her so bas away, I remember how I said that had on this property down here. Well, I don't so much have any property down here, actually anywhere, but this story, I did not own any land. Yeah, so Julie, being just the coolest person in every way, totally forgave him. She's like, I understand, I would have told myself Allie to get me to go with me too, So I

am very hot. But this did mean they needed money, so they kept up their sword shows, but they added something a little extra special. Both Julie and Saran had good voices, so they decided to include singing in their act. And then Julie got this show bug in her head. She the acting bug bit her and she started thinking, maybe I could be an opera singer, right, even though of course she didn't have any formal music training. She

just had some natural talent. Now, opera was only a century old at the time, and the French opera was even younger, so that wasn't as much of a barrier her lack of training as like it would be today. For example, I feel like today you have to have a doctorate in her. But yeah, back then they were still trying to establish like the French style of apra. It was very much like Italian and German operas were big, but like they wanted like a French style, so they're

still trying to figure that out. And they were like, whatever, get over here if you can, saying get over here. So she had this great voice, obviously, she had stage presence, and she had a great memory too, and that got her a gig with the Marseille Opera builled as Mademoiselle d'aubigni. And one person in the audience was particularly struck by this lovely chestnut head singer. But it was extremely scandalous because this person was a local merchant's daughter. What a

woman that loves a woman. Hang on, we mentioned Marseilles, so before we go to commercial honeymoon alert, honeymoon alert, we just got to talk about Marseilles because we got to stop here for a couple of days and this city is gorgeous, I mean just stunning. If you ever get a chance to go to the south of France, go but here's what you don't do. Go on October.

Roll in on Saturday October one, late at night, hungry, starving and with a bunch of plans to take a tour bus down to the coast because a couple of things happened to us. One for the tour we had planned on stopped for the season on October one, so that was out. Two. We stayed at this beautiful apartment in this amazing part of town. It was like an Airbnb. Our host was a filmmaker and his wife was this Egyptian woman who was like super cool but she was

an artist. It was all this all this street are all over town, so cool area and where we get in there pretty late at night and we're starving and we go walking for food and expensive right yeah. I mean a lot of these places that were like thirty four euro uplates and we're like, wow, that's sixty our food, Like that's a lot. We just got here here, we can't spend all our money at day. We got two weeks.

Oh my god, so this amazing. We get to this guy and it's like a street vendor that does crapes on a cart out in the street, and we're like, oh my god, we're in France. This big I mean he looked like a cartoon French chef. I mean the big hat, the mustache, everything, and he's so jolly and friendly. I would make something delicious come over you and he

gave us this like mint tea. This little glass is like delicious, refreshing warm, like it was just yeah, it was exactly what we needed after like the train ride everything. I was just like, ah, this is gonna be so And we were like sitting on the sidewalk, the sounds of Marseilles all around, bustle of you know, the street. I was just like, this is gonna be the best

meal of my fucking life. And he starts pouring out the crape batter onto his pants and he's making it and Diana, you know, Diana gets one with chicken in it, and I'm vegetarian. I tell him that. He's all, yes,

of course, I make you something. And he's got the chicken in there, and then he put some cheese on top, and then he then he cracks a couple of raw eggs inside and sort of like kind of half scrambles those around, and then he makes mine with the same thing without the chicken, hands it to us and like, this is very interesting. I never would have thought to

do this. And when I tell you, and we've tried to I've tried to state what a beautiful time and what a friendly person, and what a lovely area we were in. And when I tell you, this is the grossest food I have ever put in my mouth in my life, I'm not exaggerating. We both took like a giant bite. It was like immediately we looked at each other, We're like, I've made a huge mistake. It's like the crape was sweets, but then it had this like still kind of raw scrambled egg in it, and the cheese

was really sharp, and it just didn't for me. I don't know, maybe it's a delicacy in Marseilles, but for me I was not. We were so hungry and I couldn't eat it, and I was just like, oh, we've we ate so much. We just had to try something. Thank you so much. And he was so nice and we just like, I think maybe we took it with us just to be polite or something. And oh my god. And then the next day was Sunday in Marseille. On a Sunday, we went to our host, our Airbnb host.

We said where could we go get like a delicious French pastry breakfast something like that, And he looks me dead in the eyes and says, this Sunday everything is closed, and he was not lying. He was not lying there. We walked one place open I think we got to a grocery store that was open. We a little market. We got like a baguette and some cheese and a tomato, and that was like all we could get. So we're walking through Marseilles and it's a ghost town, beautiful ghost town.

I was like, I'm jealous of this, Like if I lived here, I would love it. Because into a park and like everyone's there with their family playing football, you know, hanging out and like enjoying their city and their lives hours of their lives, like work, Like this is fantastic. Except for me right now, I'm so hungry. I kept freaking out. I will say. We stalked this Mediterranean cafe

that was like opening at five pm. I mean seriously, it's like five pm and it's like four and we're like, I don't want to stand here and stare at him as he's clearly opening his store. Let's just pace back and forth across the block. At five oh one, we walked in and we're like, give us everything. We got all these to go containers and we took it to the park and that was some of the best food

I've ever had. So and we also went to their funny zoo, which was used to be an actual zoo, but the animals were like not well treated, I guess, so they closed it and instead they put a bunch of statues of animals in all the old cages. So it's kind of really cool, like colorful paint, pink giraffe to a blue lion or whatever, and so it was just really cool, like art kind of park, and it was really nice. It was just like we did not

plan properly, say, we were not ready. We were only there for the one day, so that's all we got. We'll go back, hopefully one day. So Julie did better than us. She's like, let me go get a job at this opera and we should have just become opera singers. Bell feed me, give me something, okay, all right, Well we're gonna go get something for dinner. We're gonna make some crepes and we'll be right back after this commercial break.

Al right, welcome back to the show. So, yeah, there was you know, Julie singing in the opera and there's someone in the audience who's just totally stricken with her and it's another woman. Oh my god, scandal. Now, several sources said this person's name is lost to history and we'll never know who this girl was. UM, but Encyclopedia dot com says that it may be Cecilia Bortigali, so we will go with that. UM. And Julie was equally

taken with Celia. Now, either she was just discovering her bisexuality, or some sources say she was just like, I'm done with men, Saron is boring me, I'm done with men for life. I'm want to try something new. Some people says she just thought Cecilia's blonde hair would look striking next to her darker hair. All about aesthetics. What a picture we would make walking arm in arm in the street contrast beautiful um. Others says she just fell madly

in love with her. You know, she was just fully and I kind of that's where I'm leaning, because Julie just loved love. She fell in love a lot. Um. So they started hanging out publicly enough that people started to talk, and nobody likes that. The merchant was like, oh no, no, no, no, not no daughter of mind, and he quickly sent his daughter off to a convent and avignon for a life of chastity. He's like a few aunt marry a man, you can't marry nobody. But

that did not stop Julie at all. She simply followed the girl and also joined the convent as a postulate, which is sort of like when you tour a college campus to see if you want to go there. She's like a la sister. They're like, here's a few duties, you see if you want to join the convents or not. So Cecilia shows up one day, Oh, I've been sent here to become a nun myself and I'll learn here.

And Julie comes sneaking in like the next morning. Oh, you know, I just have a bug in my ear that I might want to join a content, but let me try it out a little first. I love God, and so you know, i'd love to get a feel for what it's like to be a nun. You know what I'm saying. I'd love to know what it feels like to be a nun. What a nun feels like. That's what I want to know, is what I'm saying here. So likely these two are kind of hooking up, you know,

in the convent. Somewhere in the cloisters. They're finding dark area to make out or something. Cloister is such a sexy word in a weird way, you know. Well, one night one of the nuns passed away, and these ladies saw their chance. So Julie dug up the court what smuggled it inside, placed it on Cecilia's bed, and she set the bed on fire. Oh my god, and she and her girlfriend escaped boom. The nuns would think Cecilia died in the fire. No one would come after them.

It was the perfect crime. So you're telling me, She's like, oh no, Cecilia's beds just burst into flames on its own. I guess you had a reading light too close. She fell asleep with the cigarettes in her mouth. I know a lot of French girls smoking cigarettes on this and there's straw beds in their convents. Yeah, I don't think that. They probably like a candle fill. Yeah, you never know. It's candles are dangerous. Careful with that. Always said Cecilia's

gotta be more careful with her candles. That's wild. Dug up a corpse, a nun died, and these two girls thought, oh, here's my chance. I know what to do. Now, We've got to act fast. Some people say it was a young nun, but other sources say it was elderly, and I just love the idea of her BLI let me get this old lady up there stairs at a at a convent. Right, not not very religious of them, not not very Christian, disturbing bodies, right and left. They dug up a body of a nun and then set part

of a convent on fire. They're not to cover up a lesbian couple. You could not get further from incredible. But guess what c s I got there. They figured something out. There must have been some some grave dirt on the stairs, or maybe they you know, maybe they put the fire out too fast and they saw the body and we're like, well, this is clearly the woman who just died. This is sister Mary Catherine. I don't know what's she doing here. Cecilia's five ft five. This

woman was six to our tallest Nune, tallest Nune. Tragically, that's how she died. She just banged her head one too many times on the low ceilings. At any rate, the convent figured out what had really gone down pretty quickly. And so while Julie and Cecilia were on the run, Julia was found guilty in absentia by the Parliament of Provence for body snatching, arson and kidnapping. I hope. They were like, surely Cecilia didn't go of her own accord. Oh, yeah,

she must have kidnapped her. Now the sentence was death by fire for an eye stuff, right, I guess, But they sentenced Monsieur d'abonne because they just couldn't believe that a woman would do this kind of thing. Never or possibly they were just trying to save Cecilia's family the embarrassment of having it known that their daughter liked the ladies. Like a tactful like cover up. They're like a woman did what They're like, no, no, no, no, a man

did it. Actually, Yeah, he loved your daughter so much. They loved you. They ran off together. Sure, this guy is definitely a man with a penis, and he is just not right for that's the main thing. So that's what that's the one thing that's wrong with him is that he's totally dude. He's just not right for Cecilia because he sets dead nuns on fire like it's not exactly anybody's top choice for their daughter's lover. I guess that's now. Julie and Cecilia were on the run together

for three months. According to Rejected Princesses dot Com, Julie got bored and sent Cecilia home to her family. Usually is not not exactly known for her commitments. True, like I'm done with you, go home, I'm finished now. On the other hand, encyclopedia dot Com says that Cecilia went home after Julie had a fling with a musketeer. You know which which one of the three Musketeers d'Artagnan, probably right, obviously obviously, or Oliver Platt maybe where one he was?

But Robbi Disney three Musketeers fans out there, all six of you is classic film. That's such a weird movie. Who was like, yeah, give me key for Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell Oliver Platts, and uh key for Subtleman Chris O'Donnell Oliver Platt, and I immediately went to Jeremy Irons. But that's uh no, isn't that man in the iron mask?

Oh yeah, yeah, Charlie Sheen. Charlie Sheen. I looked up three Musketeers Disney, and it's a Three Musketeers Disney Mickey Donald and Goofy The Three Musketeers also a classic, A bit of a different film anyway. Anyway, Julietta flaying with

the fifth Musketeer, possibly Cecilia, went home after that. But Kelly Gardner, who researched Julie for five years to write her novel Goddess, says that just eventually their luck ran out Julie and Cecilia, and the law descended on them, and Cecilia was captured and Julie fought off all kinds of guys who came after them and killed one in order to escape. Damn girl, so very exciting in Kelly's

version of this story. But whatever happened, the two of them parted ways and Julie was on her own again. But Julie had no problem with that. You know, she's all right. She lived that van life. She's like hopping around France being a nomad. She's still dressed in men's clothes. She would sing for her supper like she and Saraon had done. And in the south of France she met a man named Marischal who was a comedy actor and singer, and he like instantly recognized that Julie had a talent

that could not be wasted. He's probably in the tavern watching her do her thing, and he's like, I can't you just want to look at her, you know that star power. You can't teach that. You need to do something with yourself, and he offered to teach her, so she accepted. Encyclopedia dot Com calls him quote a stern, competent teacher who insisted she makes the Paris Opera her goal, and Julie was impressed with his skill as a comedian and a musician. She wrote, quote what he taught me

was a true revelation. But unfortunately Marshall was also a terrible alcoholic. She met him at a bar after all, Oh, yeah, if you need a hands down, there in alcohol and they're definitely drinking too much. No, you know, he probably was just there every night. Yeah and yeah, after a few months, it's kind of started getting the way of

his teaching. I think he is pretty far along in his alcoholic journey by the time A cross paths, because Jim Burrows writes that he quote began to fall into incoherence, so he sent her away. He told her, go to Paris, get a job in the theater. If you apply yourself, fame and fortune will be yours. And so Julie had gotten some of the training that she would need if

she ever got an audition with the Paris Opera. Um, you know, once she figured out how to get rid of this pesky death sentence by yire that she's got hanging over because she set that dead nun on fire. Because of that, un, let me go to Oh wait, I had set that dead nun on fire. Well well, well if it isn't, the consequences of my actions, can't dule those. So anyway, she's like, well, we'll figure that out on the way, and she started to make her way back to Paris. Of course she did, and we

will find out what happens then. Right after this, welcome back to Ridiculous Romance everyone. So Julia is out here on her way to Paris. She's singing in taverns, she's dressed as a man, she's paying her way, and one night she got heckled by another drunk in the audience and he called out, quote, tell me a pretty bird. I've listened to your chirping, But now tell me of your plumage. I guess this guy heard about the last time she got heckled, and he was like, I'm gonna

see some boobs tonight. Let me see that plumage. Never rejected, Princesses says, this is basically a way to ask if the carpet matched the drakes, you know, gros very gross. Well, this time she did not rip off her shirt. She's like, I'm not starting this trend. Instead, she drew her swords. Damn. Now, Instantly, this heckler and two of his friends stood up. They

rose to the challenge. We'll take you, and they all went out to the courtyard and out here they started a duel, and Julie either fought them either in succession, one at a time, or possibly took on all three at once. Cling, clang, they're fighting, She's dodging, She's perry thrust, perry sweep stab like catching the blade. Perry and thrust are the only two words I know. There's probably some others fencing terms in there. Yes, Oh, I am not

left handed. It's so exciting, amazing, Magic's picture. It's incredible fights Royal Coxta. But in the end their skill was no match for Julie's and she ran the heckler clean through his shoulder out he was able to twist his head and look and see the blade sticking out the back, red with his blood. Ah, that's so gross. I've been skewered. He's like, Oh, it's not so bad, is it, And then he looks back. That was wrong, but a scratch. So the duel ends. But the next day Julie just

felt kind of bad about it. She was like, I clearly was better than those guys. I took advantage of their idiocy, their drunkenness was very gentlemanly. Of Yeah. So she went down to the local surgeon to check on the guy. She's like, hey, that that guy who came in last night with a sword through his shoulder. How's he doing all right? And the surgeon said, he's fine, he's going to recover. And the heckler's name was Luis Joseph Dalbert the Loins and he was the darling son

of a duke. So that night Delbert's friends called on. Julian said Delbert wanted to apologize for insulting her when he was drunk. He probably woke. I was like, man, I was real stupid. Yeah, I told her to take her shirt off. Of course she drew her sword. I gotta stop shoot my mouth off. Somebody's gonna shoot my mouth off next time. Three bottles, not four. It's all about moderation, Delbert. Now, Julie said that she would come

see him herself Speculation station. I'm thinking like, once she learned who he was, she was like, oh, the son of a duke, this guy could be a good friend for me to have. Oh, I could use some friends in high places. I mean, yeah, she got this. She just got some problems with the law, and we know noble people not always have to follow the law. So she's like, maybe this guy can be helpful to me. So she's like, I'll get pretty, you know what I mean, I try to you know, let me use all my charms. Yeah,

show him some of that plumage about. So that night, dressed as her womanly self, she called on Delbet in his room, and boy did she call on him. She called on him a couple of times, I think because the two of them began a passionate love affair. Yeah. He was like, you stabbed me with your sword, now maybe and she was like, I don't need that metaphor thank you, thank you? How about you just please introduce me to your father later sword and sheath jokes here,

Please thank you. But unfortunately their little love affair was cut short when Delbet recovered and he was called back to join his regiment in Germany. But their relationship would continue. It was basically a lifelong love affair, even though they would both have many lovers. Anytime they were in the same place at the same time, they would get it on, like I missed that, Dalbert d you're in town. In town, Yeah, for sure, we both got partners, but fuck them by

not sucking them, sucking me. But then in whom Julie picked up a new man. That's Julie's way. She likes to have a companion. And this guy's name is Gabrielle Vincent Tavennard, who was the son of a caterer and he had left his dad's business behind to pursue his dream to be a singer. Oh my god, how many singers out there abandoned their father's catering business. I think I know several people who did that, right except sim their father their serving job. But I love it, and

he did have a great voice. He was already on his way to Paris to try out for the Paris Opera. So they had very similar goals. And you know, we already know about Julie's many a prodigious charm, so he was like, hello, who is this And so these two were like drawn together like flies to honey, and they

sang together in the provinces to make money. But again, the goal is Paris, and Julie is like, I gotta figure out what to do about this old warrant and execution problem that I wonder if he's like come to Paris with me. And she's like, yeah about that. See, they want to set me on fire, so I gotta figure that out first um, And eventually she thought she hit on just the guy to fix this for her. Her very first lover, Count darmagn yuck Oh. Count is

the King's master of horse. He can whisper in his her dad's boss, her dad's boss, her lover, her guardian, her dad boyfriend or whatever he said. So she snuck onto his country estate in Marie in disguise. She's like, knock, knock, knock, the like who's this guy, and she's like, surprise, it's just me. Your teenage lover, and she's like, hey, can you help me out with this teeny little problem I have where the king wants me dead? And the count

agreed to help her. He went to King Louis to plead for her, and apparently the King had been secretly amused by her little convent exploit, which I love, to be honest, that would have done the same thing. Who amongst us is on fire? Who amongst us hasn't burned the nun corps to run off with our lover? So he gave her a full pardon and annulled the warrant against her. I love Louis fourteen, so he was like, as long as you're vibing with me, everything you do

is cool. Meanwhile, tavin Ard went to audition for the Paris Opera and he was immediately accepted. Again great boys, he was, he had the goods. But then he was like, hey, listen, can my girlfriend come to They were like, that's not how it works. They were apparently very reluctant, but they gave Julie an audition as well, maybe because she also used some of these other powerful friends at her disposal.

They had a few people being like Julie Dabin, Julie Darbiny and fine, fine, now listen to her singan was the Paris oppers, probably like the woman who just got a pardon from the King, I know, right, I mean, okay, that's true too. It's because she already was a little notorious. They might have just been like, you know what, I don't care if she can say, because she will sell a ticket just because people want to see this lady who set them on fire. But she was free from

this death sentence. Now she was free to appear for this audition, and she got herself a gig and one of the best musical companies in the world at only twenty years old. So if you're above twenty, it's too late. You're telling me all this happened before she was twenty. This girl fitt it, packed it in and like I had barely left the house by the time I was twenty, and she's running all over France. And by the time she's eighteen, she's already said a nun on fire. She's

going to run with her lover. I haven't said any nuns on and I hope to continue that. That's a good trend. It's a regular goal of mine. We don't have not set any fires at convents. We don't have any powerful friends to get the king to pardon. You know, we don't, But I'll say that's not the reason that I'm not gonna set any fires at convents. Oh what are you? A good person? And just getting I feel like you don't even have to be a particularly good person to not set a fire at a convent on

a dead nuns corpse, That's true. You just have to be a real daring ardience and catch you with gal. So, Yeah, Julie got herself a gig at the Paris Opera alongside her current boyfriend's haven our, and she was about to become the famous opera singer La, which is the other name she's best known as um. So She's got a whole career ahead of her, many many more exploits with men and women alike. Yes ahead, And we had to

save that for part two. Yeah, stay tuned for the rest of Julie's life, La, because just like we said, equally wild and action packs and adventurous, she kept it shocked, it moving, shocking stuff. I'm so excited, always fighting, always fallen in love, always make it out. Yes, Thank you Andrea for sending this story, because like, what's so fun? This is one of those stories where I'm like, this is why we do this, show man. There's so much ridiculous about it too. It's just so many things that

I think. Particularly, I love that the sun King is just like that was pretty funny. Thought pretty alright, girl, you are don't do it again. But you know what I say, that's pretty good. This is like people don't. I don't think people live lives like this anymore. How can you? You can't? You can't because think about I mean,

this is how you this is. This is an era where like, especially if you're comfortable, you know, and you're not living in the dirt, you've got some skill, you've had an education, uh, and you're pretty what do you've got time? You know, You've got so much time and how do you fill it besides like just making a game out of everything and just having fun and just doing what you want and dealing with the consequences later. Like there's something obviously very few of us can live

like that, but man, what a dream. Yeah, And there's something funny about the dueling period of history. It was just like you brushed up against me. I challenge you, sir, I would like you to answer for that insult, and you literally would drop would cross swords over it. Now in a way, so it's like a Wild westy or even now where people like I'm going to pull a gun on you. But at least then you know, you could just like pink him in the arm, you know, which is when you just kind of got him, got

him in the shoulder. You made your point, but nobody's dead. It was about getting someone to yield. Yeah, I was like, first blood, you're done, you know, you don't need to or you just knock them down, you know. Or I think in Hamiltons they talked about this where they would often shoot into the air, like I know that I did something wrong. You were right to call me out here and say I insulted your wife for you or did something wrong, but I'm not going to kill you

for it. It's gonna shoot in the air. I diloped is what it's called. I diloped, diloped. Yeah, but anyway, so I just think it's so funny. They were like the only way to solve this problem is with steel, you know. That is kind of exciting. And then and that that people accepted that as a resolution, right, like, damn, I was beat. I guess he was right. You know, I don't know there's or even if even if he's not, even if it's not a duel of the death, it's still just like I accept defeat. I was in the

wrong because the duel decided that. Not like a moral philosophical conversation about right and wrong, but just like I think there might I wonder if there's a religious aspect of that. I know in some duels it's been like, you know, especially religious duels, if I won, it's God's will and God is saying that I was right, tecting me and stuff. That's interesting. I didn't think about that. Probably not in Julie's case. She seemed pretty secular. I

think she probably did not care. It was right around the time that she what was it when she dug up the dead nun made me think, But I was like, I don't think she's a religious person, but yeah, I just she's such a she's so seventeenth century France, you know, like she really embodies the time. Because it was just like what can you get away with? I will love whoever I want It's about the vibes in the aesthetics, you know, like that's seven that is seventeenth century France.

To me, just the King was like, you're vibing, your aesthetics are great. Yeah, it's really like I'm into your whole thing, so I'm just gonna let it go. Also like yeah, I can sing, I can get pretty, I can get dirty, I can kick your ass, I can charm the hell out of you, I can do all these things like that is that is uniquely French right doing it. I love it. What an exciting story. I can't wait for pit again. I mean, we've got several more years of her life left and she packed it in.

There's so much to come, right, and we've got to go pack it in ourselves because again we're we're crossing the country. We're having an adventure of our own. Uh. And and do keep up with us on social media, because we're gonna try and keep y'all up to date on we're what we're getting into. It could be fun stuff,

our own little ridiculous romance out there in the west. Yeah, So shoot us an email and let us know what's your thought of this episode or you got any other suggestions like Andrea did here please set us on some really fun uh chases learning these stories, So send him our way. Ridic Romance at gmail dot com, yeah, or on Twitter and Instagram. I'm at Danamite Boom and I'm at O Great. It's Eli and the show is at predict Romance. That's right, so follow along again. We'll be traveling.

Take a look at what we're up to, and uh go ahead and drop us a review on Apple podcasts if you get time for that. We love those and we'll catch you all with part two. Yeah, thanks so much for spending time with us. We love you guys. Bye bye, so long friends, it's time to go. Thanks so listening to our show tell your friends names Uncle s indance to listen to a show ridiculous roll nance