22 September 2021

Angélique du Coudray, Dijon (21), La Côte-d'Or (21)

In Dijon I was surprised to find a street named after a midwife, although this was in the hospital area near Saint-Apollinaire: Angélique du Coudray (1714 (Wikipédia claims 1712) to 1794)), who was born in Clermont-Ferrand and died in Bordeaux. She was the first person to teach midwifery, and advocated it in place of the amateur practices which had previously been used. In 1759 she published L’Abrégé de l’Art des accouchements, her teaching manual which she updated in 1769 in an illustrated edition. In Le Musée de l'homme in Paris a facsimile of her model 'Machine de Madame du Coudray' is on display.

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