29 Facts About Louise Boursier

Louise Boursier was a French Royal Court midwife who delivered babies for many women in her twenty-six year professional career.

Louise Boursier believed she was blessed with practical midwifery talents from Phaenarete, the mother of Socrates.

Louise Boursier was the first woman to write a book on obstetrics, which was further expanded with other more detailed medical works by her and her descendants and colleagues.

Bourgeois was given the first name of Louise when she was born in 1563 in what was then a farming area outside of Paris called the Faubourg Saint-Germain.

Louise Boursier's family was not of noble ancestry, but her father was a builder who constructed houses at the village of Bussy, fifteen miles north of Paris.

Louise Boursier was raised in upper middle-class circumstances and received a good education.

Bourgeois' family lived near the barber surgeon medical professional Martin Louise Boursier, who was a pupil-assistant of Ambroise Pare.

Louise Boursier abandoned her rural home and most of their possessions to retreat with her children and mother behind the city walls of Paris for protection.

Louise Boursier took up midwifery part-time in the 1580s, and by 1593, she had joined the Guild of Midwives as a professional.

Louise Boursier went to a new college for midwives at the hospital Hotel-Dieu de Paris and was one of the first to graduate from the school.

At the time, Louise Boursier's husband was a surgeon, and due to the friction between physicians, surgeons, and midwives, people's perceptions on Louise Boursier were affected.

At thirty-one Louise Boursier began her journey to becoming a midwife.

Louise Boursier developed an excellent reputation in the delivery of two thousand babies and was well liked as a professional midwife.

Louise Boursier was known as a foundation level scholar and educationalist because of her advanced knowledge in the field which she documented in various manuscripts.

Louise Boursier saw this as an opportunity presented to her by God.

Louise Boursier had successfully assisted the childbirths of several young ladies of the Royal Court as a loyal professional midwife.

Louise Boursier referred to herself as "la premiere femme de mon art qui mette la plume en main".

Louise Boursier wrote a book on childbirth practices in 1609 titled Various Observations on the Sterility.

Louise Boursier told her to fear God, to attend the poor with charity, and to never let unmarried women into her house for confinement or to assist in abortions.

Louise Boursier criticized the women of her time for preferring male physicians to midwives.

Additional techniques and information were added in 1759 by her descendant, Angelique le Louise Boursier du Courdray, who was a royal French midwife.

Louise Boursier in turn passed this knowledge down to poor women of her time.

However, as it was with being a woman, much less a midwife, Louise Boursier's fame did not come without scrutiny or risk.

Louise Boursier pointed out that she honorably acquired the proper certificate and wrote books on midwifery that were used by physicians in several countries.

Louise Boursier self proclaimed herself the first female midwife to write on the subject of midwifery.

In conclusion, Louise Boursier Bourgeois had many achievements in the medical profession and state department.

Louise Boursier was a renowned author and midwife for royal families.

Louise Boursier's first expanded edition had a short autobiography, and other later editions had medical cures for skin ailments and pain.

Louise Boursier's first three manuscripts were different volumes titled Diverse Observations on Sterility, Miscarriage, Fertility, Childbirth, and the Diseases of Women and Newborn Children.