Catherine Fradonnet, called Catherine Des Roches, was a French writer of the Renaissance. She was the daughter of Madeleine Des Roches, née Madeleine Neveu and of André Fradonnet, seigneur Des Roches, the procurer of Poitiers. Catherine was educated by her mother and was taught poetry, literature and ancient languages. Wanting to invest all her time in her intellectual pursuits, Catherine Des Roches never married. Both mother and daughterdied of an epidemic on the same day. Contemporaries of Pierre de Ronsard, and friends of the humanist Estienne Pasquier, Catherine Des Roches and her mother were the center of a literary circle based in Poitiers between 1570 and 1587, and which included the poets Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, Barnabé Brisson, René Chopin, AntoineLoisel, Claude Binet, Nicolas Rapin and Odet de Turnèbe. The circle is most well known for a collection of gallant verse entitledLa Puce de Madame Des Roches in which the poets, inspired by an original poem by Pasquier, wrote on the theme of a flea upon Catherine's throat. The combined output of mother and daughter—which was published collectively—comprise epistles, odes, sonnets, stanzas, epitaphs, and a few dialogues in prose and verse. Although less scholarly than her mother, Catherine wrote more than her. Her most anthologized work is the sonnetÀ ma quenouille in which she portrays a woman torn between her domestic duties and her intellectual activities.
Works
Original editions:
Oeuvres, Paris: Abel L'Angelier, 1578-9.
Secondes Oeuvres, Poitiers: Nicolas Courtoys, 1583.
Les missives de Mesdames des Roches..., Paris: Abel L'Angelier, 1586.
Related works:
La Puce de Madame Des Roches, 1583.
Modern editions:
Les missives de Mesdames Des Roches de Poitiers mère et fille, Anne R. Larsen, editor, Geneva: Droz, 1999.
Les secondes œuvres de Mesdames Des Roches de Poitiers mere et fille, Anne R. Larsen editor, Geneva: Droz, 1998.
Les œuvres de Mesdames Des Roches de Poitiers mere et fille, Anne R. Larsen editor, Geneva: Droz, 1993.
