Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V.
Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. For at least a couple
Speaker 1: of years, I have had Marie and Adelaide Lenormant on
Speaker 1: my list as a potential October topic listener John requested
Speaker 1: an episode on her back in twenty nineteen, but I
Speaker 1: don't think she made it onto my shortlist right away.
Speaker 1: Le Normal was a fortune teller in France in the
Speaker 1: eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and for multiple years now, I've
Speaker 1: been in this pattern where I pencil her in for
Speaker 1: a late October and then some other stuff comes up
Speaker 1: and shuffles the schedule around, and then I go, oh, whoops,
Speaker 1: October is going to be over, and I put the
Speaker 1: topic aside. And that has been kind of a relief
Speaker 1: every year because this one has some stumbling blocks in
Speaker 1: the research. It is way easier to find information on
Speaker 1: Le Norman cardimancy decks, which are named for her, and
Speaker 1: if with one exception, everyone I have heard talk about
Speaker 1: these decks has talked about them saying it le normand
Speaker 1: not Normal, as though it were French way easier to
Speaker 1: find information on the decks though, than on her, and
Speaker 1: a lot of the information that is out there is contradictory,
Speaker 1: or it can't be substantiated, or both. One particular article
Speaker 1: about her was printed in multiple publications starting around eighteen
Speaker 1: forty five, and that seems to be the source for
Speaker 1: a lot of the basic information. One of those publications
Speaker 1: was Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, and it included this editor's note quote,
Speaker 1: the above article is communicated by an English gentleman residing
Speaker 1: in France. We would be understood as not pledging ourselves
Speaker 1: for the literal correctness of all its statements, though neither
Speaker 1: have we any reason to doubt that it has been
Speaker 1: prepared from the best sources of information which may be
Speaker 1: available in the case. So that is just it's not
Speaker 1: a ringing endorsement of the accuracy of the whole thing,
Speaker 1: and that's sort of the foundation that this whole episode
Speaker 1: is built on. So anyway, this year I decided let's
Speaker 1: go for it, and if it winds up coming out
Speaker 1: in November, fine, So here we are. I kind of
Speaker 1: love the look. We don't know, but we're printing it anyway.
Speaker 1: Marie and Adelil Lenomon was born in Allenson, in the
Speaker 1: Normandy region of France, on May twenty seventh, seventeen seventy two.
Speaker 1: Her father was a draper named Jean Louis Antoine Lenoment,
Speaker 1: and her mother's name was Marie en Guilbert. She was
Speaker 1: the oldest of their three children, with a younger sister
Speaker 1: and brother, and today you will see the family's last
Speaker 1: name as Lenoumont, or, as Tracy said in relation to
Speaker 1: the Cardimanci decks, le Normande all one word, but you
Speaker 1: will also see it in the historical record as le Normande,
Speaker 1: with the love part being its own word. The article
Speaker 1: the so. Marie's father died when she was still a child,
Speaker 1: and her mother remarried, but then her mother also died,
Speaker 1: leaving Marie and her siblings as orphans in the care
Speaker 1: of their new stepfather. When he remarried, though, he and
Speaker 1: his wife wanted to start a family of their own,
Speaker 1: so Marie and her sister were sent to live in
Speaker 1: a series of Benedictine convents, and their brother eventually joined
Speaker 1: the military. Their stepfather seems to have supported them financially,
Speaker 1: but otherwise they didn't really have much of a relationship.
Speaker 1: Marie first started predicting the future while living at one
Speaker 1: of these convents. The eighteen fifty eight book Remarkable Women
Speaker 1: of Different Nations and Ages by JP. Jewett described it
Speaker 1: this way. Quote it was in the house of the
Speaker 1: Bene Dictines that Mademoiselle commenced her vocation by predicting that
Speaker 1: the superior would soon be deprived of her office, for
Speaker 1: which ill boding the young lady was subjected to punishment
Speaker 1: and underwent a penance, But the event soon justified the prediction.
Speaker 1: In other words, the abbess was indeed removed, and Marie
Speaker 1: also predicted various details about her successor. From there, Marie
Speaker 1: started learning everything she could about divination, prophecy, and fortune telling.
Speaker 1: Here's how Frank boot Goodrich described it in his eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty seven book on the Court of Napoleon. Quote, she
Speaker 1: versed herself thoroughly in the annals of Greek and Roman oracles,
Speaker 1: in those of the Gallic druids, of the prophets of Baal,
Speaker 1: of the Hebrew philosophers, and of the miracle workers of antiquity.
Speaker 1: She studied the interpretation of dreams and the doctrines of
Speaker 1: second sight, and at the age of twelve was a
Speaker 1: complete adept in the practice of judicial astrology, in the
Speaker 1: drawing of horoscopes, and in the combination of catallistic figures.
Speaker 1: She examined the mysteries of the white of eggs and
Speaker 1: the grounds of coffee, but only to reject them. She
Speaker 1: inquired what degree of confidence was to be placed in
Speaker 1: the assertions of Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch that Socrates foretold
Speaker 1: the principal events of his own life, and in that
Speaker 1: of Tacitus that Tiberius and Marcus Aurelius expounded dreams. She
Speaker 1: investigated the cures effected in the Middle Ages by amulets
Speaker 1: and the relics of saints, and the power of healing
Speaker 1: the king's evil, said to have been possessed by the
Speaker 1: kings of France since the time of Clovis. Hey, if
Speaker 1: you're thinking, what does healing the king's evil mean? Good news,
Speaker 1: you can look forward to a Saturday classic that will
Speaker 1: explain that. Oh, maybe you've been listening to the show
Speaker 1: for a long time and you're now already know I
Speaker 1: know that one. So when Marie was about fourteen, she
Speaker 1: started to worry that she might never have a life
Speaker 1: beyond the convent, and she really did not want to
Speaker 1: become a nun. Her stepfather was living in Paris, and
Speaker 1: she asked if he could find her a situation there.
Speaker 1: He got her a job working at a milliner's shop,
Speaker 1: where she learned to sew and decorate hats, and also
Speaker 1: how to run a business and keep the accounts. She
Speaker 1: also continued her study of divination, developing her own methods
Speaker 1: for palm reading and cardimancy. In seventeen eighty nine, just
Speaker 1: before Marie turned seventeen, the Estates General convened de Versailles
Speaker 1: for the first time since sixteen fourteen. The Estates General
Speaker 1: was an assembly for representatives from the three Estates, that is,
Speaker 1: the clergy, the nobility and commoners, and King Louis the
Speaker 1: sixteenth had summoned them to try to find a solution
Speaker 1: to France's financial problems, including an enormous budget deficit. Marie
Speaker 1: made her first major prediction in connection to this assembly
Speaker 1: and the words of Frank boot Goodrich quote. She foretold
Speaker 1: the downfall of that monarchy, which numbered eight centuries of existence,
Speaker 1: the dispersion of the clergy and the suppression of the convents.
Speaker 1: At Versailles, the three Estates disagreed over how to vote
Speaker 1: the Third Estate, or the commoners, was the most numerous,
Speaker 1: so voting purely by number almost certainly meant that the
Speaker 1: Third Estate would get its way. But if voting took
Speaker 1: place by a state, then the clergy and nobility, which
Speaker 1: were already more powerful and wealthier than the commoners, could
Speaker 1: band together to outvote them. This assembly ended on June seventeenth,
Speaker 1: when the Third Estate redefined themselves as the National Assembly
Speaker 1: representing the people of France. This was a key moment
Speaker 1: at the start of the French Revolution, which of course
Speaker 1: did lead to the downfall of the French monarchy. All
Speaker 1: of the uncertainty and chaos around the French Revolution meant
Speaker 1: that a lot of people from all walks of life
Speaker 1: were seeking reassurance and guidance from fortune tellers. In the
Speaker 1: words of an anonymously written piece from eighteen forty five,
Speaker 1: Leneman quote found the troubles of the times, which unhinged
Speaker 1: the minds of all around her and filled them with
Speaker 1: alarm and anxiety, very propitious to her views. Even though
Speaker 1: fortune telling was in high demand, it was also illegal.
Speaker 1: When Marie was twenty, she started working with and studying
Speaker 1: under a fortune teller named Louise Gilbert, who she may
Speaker 1: have been related to on her mother's side. Both of
Speaker 1: these women faced multiple arrests for fortune telling, but they
Speaker 1: also had some very powerful clients who were able to
Speaker 1: get them released. One of Leonarmand's clients during these troubled
Speaker 1: times was Marie tres Louise of Savoy, Princess de Lamballe,
Speaker 1: the friend and confidante of Marie Antoinette. According to some accounts,
Speaker 1: Leonarman and the princess conspired to free Marie Antoinette from prison,
Speaker 1: and this led Leonormo to be arrested and jailed. It's
Speaker 1: possible that this is an embellishment, though, and this imprisonment
Speaker 1: was just one of the times that she was arrested
Speaker 1: for fortune telling. Marie trez was imprisoned in August of
Speaker 1: seventeen ninety two and then was murdered not long after
Speaker 1: that during the September massacres, in which more than a
Speaker 1: thousand people were killed in prisons around Paris. Le Normal
Speaker 1: reportedly foretold the Princess's very gruesome death. In seventeen ninety two,
Speaker 1: Lenormand also reportedly had a session with revolutionary figures Jean
Speaker 1: Paut Marrat, Maximilian de Robes, Pierre and Louis de Saint Just.
Speaker 1: She foretold Marat's imminent death and said that Robespierre and
Speaker 1: Saint Just would die quote at the hands of an
Speaker 1: indignant people. They did not take her seriously until Marat
Speaker 1: was assassinated on July thirteenth, seventeen ninety three, when Robespierre
Speaker 1: and Saint Just returned to Lenormand. After that she reportedly
Speaker 1: told them quote, they would be devoured by their own
Speaker 1: work and become victims of the bloody drama which they
Speaker 1: were themselves enacting. Lenormal's relationship with her most famous client
Speaker 1: reportedly started during one of her imprisonments during the Revolution,
Speaker 1: and we will get to that after a sponsor break.
Speaker 1: While being held at La Force Prison, starting in seventeen
Speaker 1: ninety four, Marie and Lenormant received a letter from a
Speaker 1: woman who was being held at carm Prison. That was
Speaker 1: Marie Joseph Rose Tascher, wife of Alexandre de Bournay. Rose's
Speaker 1: husband had been arrested as an enemy of the Revolution,
Speaker 1: and then a few weeks later Rose had been imprisoned
Speaker 1: as well, largely because of her connections to him and
Speaker 1: his associates. She heard about Lenormal's skill of divination from
Speaker 1: one of the other prisoners, and she and several of
Speaker 1: the others had pulled everything together that they would need
Speaker 1: for her to draw up their horoscopes. They convinced guards
Speaker 1: to smuggle these notes from Carme to la force. Le.
Speaker 1: Normal wrote back to Rose that she was going to
Speaker 1: soon suffer the greatest of calamities, but that she would
Speaker 1: survive it, and then quote Mary a man destined to
Speaker 1: attain the loftiest dignities and astonish the world. Rose was,
Speaker 1: of course the future Josephine Bonaparte. Alexandre de Beauharnat was
Speaker 1: guillotined on July twenty third, seventeen ninety four. Rose was
Speaker 1: released from prison a few days later after Maximilian Robespierre
Speaker 1: was beheaded on July twenty seventh, at the end of
Speaker 1: the reign of Terror. Louis de Saint just tou l'demand,
Speaker 1: had also predicted would be devoured by his own work,
Speaker 1: was guillotined the following day. Rose, who was not yet
Speaker 1: connected to Napoleon and who did not have Josephine as
Speaker 1: part of her name, had gotten her fortune told as
Speaker 1: a child in Martinique. According to Lenormand's account of Josephine's life.
Speaker 1: This fortune teller named Euphemia had told Rose that she
Speaker 1: would marry twice, that her first husband would die and
Speaker 1: leave her with two helpless children, and that then her
Speaker 1: second husband would quote fill the world with his glory
Speaker 1: and subject a great many nations to his power. Euphemia
Speaker 1: also said that Rose would become an eminent woman. At
Speaker 1: this point, Rose's first husband was dead, as Euphemia had foretold,
Speaker 1: and although Rose and her husband had not been at
Speaker 1: all happy together, being left a widow with two children
Speaker 1: to support could be interpreted as a calamity. So Rose
Speaker 1: went to Lena mont Salon on Rue de Tournant to
Speaker 1: try to get more information on this great marriage that
Speaker 1: each of the fortune tellers had suggested she would have,
Speaker 1: and she took a friend with her, both of them
Speaker 1: disguised as ladies' maids. Yeah a lot of people reportedly
Speaker 1: went to see her in disguise because of the whole
Speaker 1: illegality of fortune telling. Lenormal apparently saw through their disguise
Speaker 1: as immediately and told Rose that not only would she
Speaker 1: marry well, but that one day she would become empress.
Speaker 1: A fictionalized version of this scene appears in Alexandra Dumont
Speaker 1: Pere's eighteen ninety four novel The First Republic or The
Speaker 1: Whites and the Blues. In that novel, when Leonorman tells
Speaker 1: her this, in response, Josephine says, Empress, I you are mad,
Speaker 1: my dear. Lenomon's popularity and that of other fortune tellers
Speaker 1: continued to grow after the end of the Reign of Terror,
Speaker 1: through the Thermadorian reaction that followed, and into the establishment
Speaker 1: of the French First Republic in seventeen ninety five. Some
Speaker 1: of this popularity was connected to the years of violence,
Speaker 1: upheaval and change that everyone had been living through. People
Speaker 1: were just looking for reassurance and for some kind of
Speaker 1: idea of what they might expect to happen next. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a level of irony here that because France also
Speaker 1: saw as self as this pillar of rational enlightenment, people
Speaker 1: were really into fortune telling. Well, that's why it was illegal, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for a lot of people. Though, in addition to what
Speaker 1: Holly just said, there was also just a sense that
Speaker 1: France had gone through a revolution and the fall of
Speaker 1: the monarchy and then a massive wave of violence and death,
Speaker 1: only to wind up with a situation that wasn't actually
Speaker 1: that much better than it had been before. So people
Speaker 1: looked back to earlier times and bygone traditions with a
Speaker 1: sense of nostalgia, and that included the idea that something
Speaker 1: might be found in ancient wisdom to restore a social
Speaker 1: and political balance. This also meant that fortune tellers and
Speaker 1: occultists in France were often, but not always, drawing more
Speaker 1: from alternate readings of biblical texts and classical works, so
Speaker 1: things that could be seen as already part of French
Speaker 1: hist and heritage, rather than from sources that seemed really
Speaker 1: new or strange or bizarre. Rose had trouble supporting herself
Speaker 1: and her children after she was released from prison, but
Speaker 1: she continued to consult lenormand she made ends meet, primarily
Speaker 1: by having affairs with wealthy men who were willing to
Speaker 1: support her in her family. And then in seventeen ninety
Speaker 1: five she met Napoleon Bonaparte, who she married in seventeen
Speaker 1: ninety six. It was through him that she became known
Speaker 1: as Josephine. That is probably a nickname he gave to her,
Speaker 1: maybe based on her name of Marie. Joseph Rose allegedly
Speaker 1: Josephine took Napoleon to see Lenarmond after they met, and
Speaker 1: Lenormand told him he would gain battles, marry a widow,
Speaker 1: conquer kingdom's distribute thrones, astonish the world, and finally die
Speaker 1: in exile. Eventually, in eighteen oh four, Napoleon declared himself
Speaker 1: emperor and Josephine became Empress of the French. She kept
Speaker 1: consulting le Normand extensively both before and after becoming empress.
Speaker 1: Talked to her about her own life and her husband's
Speaker 1: political and military pursuits, and Lenormand's own account. Josephine described
Speaker 1: it as a small folly to believe her predictions, but
Speaker 1: a greater one to doubt what she said in Remarkable
Speaker 1: Women of Different Nations and Ages after Jpgewett wrote of
Speaker 1: this quote, Josephine, as is generally known, was a firm
Speaker 1: believer in auguries and prophetic intimations. The early predictions of
Speaker 1: her future greatness and its termination has been so frequently
Speaker 1: repeated without receiving any contradiction, that it has become a
Speaker 1: fact which no one questions, and would easily account for
Speaker 1: the firm faith she reposed in the oracles of Mademoiselle Lenormand,
Speaker 1: to whom she constantly sent to ask, amidst other questions,
Speaker 1: explanations respecting the dreams of Napoleon, and when the latter
Speaker 1: projected any new enterprise, the Empress never failed to conce
Speaker 1: the reader of futurity as to its results. Jewett went
Speaker 1: on to say, quote, the disasters of the Russian campaign,
Speaker 1: it is said, were clearly predicted by Mademoiselle Lenorment. And
Speaker 1: it was from her also that Josephine received the first
Speaker 1: intimations of the divorce, which was in contemplation, which premature revelation,
Speaker 1: unfortunately for the Authoress, procured for her an interview with Fouchet.
Speaker 1: So Fouchet was Joseph Fouchet, Minister of Police. As a
Speaker 1: side note, someone who's been on my list for a while.
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of accounts of Lenormal's fore
Speaker 1: telling of Napoleon's divorce from Josephine and how it might
Speaker 1: have led to problems for Lenorment. In one account, on
Speaker 1: May second, eighteen oh one, Lenorman met with Josephine at
Speaker 1: Chateau de Madmaison and told her, quote, you cherish projects, Madame,
Speaker 1: for the advancement of your husband. Take care. If he
Speaker 1: should ever grasp the scepter of the world, he would
Speaker 1: abandon you, for he is ambitious. Nevertheless, you are destined
Speaker 1: to enact the first part in France, and the day
Speaker 1: is not far off. Josephine continued to consult the Norman
Speaker 1: for years, and in October of eighteen oh nine, Le
Speaker 1: Norman reportedly predicted that something nefarious would happen on December sixteenth.
Speaker 1: That is the day the Senate adopted a decree dissolving
Speaker 1: the civil marriage of Napoleon and Josephine. That is, something
Speaker 1: they had each agreed to the day before. In some accounts,
Speaker 1: Napoleon had Le Norman jailed when he heard about this
Speaker 1: specific prediction, and that while she was in solitary confinement
Speaker 1: she quote occupied her leisure by the evocation of spirits.
Speaker 1: But as is the case with many things about Lenormand's life,
Speaker 1: the timeline here is a little fuzzy, and there are
Speaker 1: some questions about whether her arrest was really connected to
Speaker 1: that divorce prediction. It is absolutely true that Napoleon did
Speaker 1: not like Josephine's consultations with a fortune teller or normal's
Speaker 1: influence on her, but the events of December fifteenth and
Speaker 1: sixteenth were not a surprise to Josephine at all. Napoleon
Speaker 1: had told her he was going to divorce her at
Speaker 1: least two weeks before because she had not borne him
Speaker 1: a son. In a book Le Norman published in eighteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: she claimed to have first predicted the divorce in eighteen
Speaker 1: oh seven, but it's not clear whether that really happened.
Speaker 1: Even if it did, rumors about a possible divorce were
Speaker 1: already circulating by then, and Josephine wrote a letter in
Speaker 1: eighteen oh seven saying that Joaquim Murat, Marshal of France
Speaker 1: and Napoleon's brother in law, was trying to get Napoleon
Speaker 1: to divorce her. The Norman's connections to Josephine had, of
Speaker 1: course bolstered her popularity. She was fortune teller to the
Speaker 1: Empress of the French. That connection was gone after the
Speaker 1: formal ceremony of divorce that took place on January tenth
Speaker 1: of eighteen ten. But it doesn't seem like the end
Speaker 1: of Josephine's marriage to Napoleon really affected Luarmant's popularity at all,
Speaker 1: possibly because people thought she had successfully predicted all of
Speaker 1: that we are going to talk more about Marine adele
Speaker 1: Ldermon after we pause for a sponsor break. In eighteen twelve,
Speaker 1: two years after Josephine and Napoleon's marriage officially ended, Marie
Speaker 1: Ann Lanarmond met with Fortunata Humphreys, wife of Alexander Humphries Alexander,
Speaker 1: and then with Alexander himself. Alexander and his father had
Speaker 1: gone to France during the Peace of Amia in eighteen
Speaker 1: oh two, and then they'd wound up stuck there when
Speaker 1: hostilities resumed in eighteen oh three. Based on family lore
Speaker 1: from his mother, Alexander believed he should be the next
Speaker 1: Earl of Sterling, even though that title had passed on
Speaker 1: to other people. When he consulted with Leonormal, she told
Speaker 1: him that he would go through a series of trials
Speaker 1: and difficulties, but that he would attain distinction and opulence.
Speaker 1: Alexander and his wife were ongoing clients of Lenormal for
Speaker 1: the next thirty years, and this led to a very
Speaker 1: long and convoluted series of events involving forged documents that
Speaker 1: purportedly supported Alexander's claims to the Sterling peerage. One of
Speaker 1: these was a map of Canada with writing on the back,
Speaker 1: some of which was attributed to King Louis the fifteenth.
Speaker 1: Leonormal gave this map to Alexander, saying it had been
Speaker 1: left by two people who had come in for a
Speaker 1: reading the day before. Letters between Leonarment and Humphries Alexander
Speaker 1: were used as evidence in a court case focusing on
Speaker 1: seventeen forged documents that he was using to try to
Speaker 1: make this case that he had this legitimate claim. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: a found that the documents had been forged, but not
Speaker 1: that Humphries Alexander or Leanormand had created those forgeries or
Speaker 1: even new that they were forgeries. Uh. Seriously, this is
Speaker 1: so drawn out it could be its own episode. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it will, because the book of court
Speaker 1: documents about it is five hundred pages long, and I
Speaker 1: found it dizzying to try to make sense of It
Speaker 1: is not clear whether Lenormal was involved in making these
Speaker 1: forgeries or how much her predictions influenced Humphries Alexander's decisions
Speaker 1: as he pursued his claim to the title. Napoleon was
Speaker 1: forced to abdicate the throne in April of eighteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: following his failed invasion of Russia and other Nations formed
Speaker 1: the Sixth Coalition to fight against him. He was sent
Speaker 1: into exile on the island of Elba. Lenormand, having predicted
Speaker 1: the failed invasion and Napoleon's downfall, started getting even more
Speaker 1: powerful clients. Includings are Alexander the First of Russia when
Speaker 1: he was in Paris. After Napoleon's defeat, she also started
Speaker 1: writing and publishing books, some on fortune telling and the occult,
Speaker 1: and eventually a two volume the Historical and Secret Memoirs
Speaker 1: of the Empress Josephine. Josephine died of pneumonia on May
Speaker 1: twenty ninth, eighteen fourteen, before any of Lenarman's work about
Speaker 1: her was published, so she was not there to confirm
Speaker 1: or deny anything that Leonormal wrote about her, but Josephine's
Speaker 1: daughter Artense described this book as absurd. Napoleon's exile on
Speaker 1: Elbow was brief, and he returned to Paris in March
Speaker 1: of eighteen fifteen. This kicked off a period known as
Speaker 1: thee hundred Days, which ended when King Louis the eighteenth
Speaker 1: was restored to the throne on July eighth, eighteen fifteen.
Speaker 1: The Battle of Waterloo took place during this period and
Speaker 1: after Napoleon's defeat and the restoration of the monarchy, he
Speaker 1: was exiled to the island of Saint Helena. Baryomira wrote
Speaker 1: about this in Napoleon in Exile or a Voice from Santalena,
Speaker 1: which includes a passage in which Napoleon tried to dispel
Speaker 1: the idea that he was an atheist. According to Omira,
Speaker 1: Napoleon said quote man has need of something wonderful, it
Speaker 1: is better for him to seek it in religion than
Speaker 1: in Mademoiselle Lenormand, in spite of her connection to Josephine,
Speaker 1: it seems like Lenormal was always at heart a royalist
Speaker 1: and a supporter of the Bourbon monarchs. She claimed to
Speaker 1: have discovered prophecies about the Bourbon restoration. One was known
Speaker 1: as the Prophecy of Orval, which supposedly dated to the
Speaker 1: sixteenth century and was written in the style of Nostradamis.
Speaker 1: It was interpreted as foretelling the rise of Napoleon and
Speaker 1: a young Bourbon prince being restored to the throne with
Speaker 1: the help of a great warrior. However, this whole thing
Speaker 1: seems to have been a fabrication. Lenomond continued to see
Speaker 1: clients in Paris through the eighteen teens in twenties, and
Speaker 1: we have a lot of accounts of what these sessions
Speaker 1: were like. Because fortune telling was illegal, her business was
Speaker 1: registered as a book shop with a sign out front
Speaker 1: that read Mademoiselle Lenormon Lebree. According to at least one
Speaker 1: eyewitness account, actual readings happened in a room behind a
Speaker 1: secret panel to avoid detection by the police. The entry
Speaker 1: room that people saw when entering the building was also
Speaker 1: furnished to keep from attracting suspicion. Rees Howell Groenow, who
Speaker 1: was a military officer and a member of parliament, who
Speaker 1: was also described as a dandie and a writer of reminiscences,
Speaker 1: described it as quote plainly but comfortably furnished with books
Speaker 1: and newspapers about as one sees them at a dentist's.
Speaker 1: But in Frank boot Goodrich's words, the room where actual
Speaker 1: readings took place was another matter. Entirely quote. The visitor
Speaker 1: to the Dwelling of the Pythons was shown into a
Speaker 1: room in which books, prince paintings, stuffed animals, musical and
Speaker 1: other instruments, bottles with lizards and snakes and spirits, wax fruits,
Speaker 1: artificial flowers and a medley of nameless articles covered the walls,
Speaker 1: the table, and the floor, leaving the eye scarcely an
Speaker 1: unoccupied spot to rest upon. The Furniture of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Consultation was in maple. The walls were adorned with
Speaker 1: portraits of the Bourbons, with a painting by Grooves of
Speaker 1: great value, and with her own portrait by Isabe. Her cards,
Speaker 1: which were of large size and covered with colored hieroglyphics,
Speaker 1: were painted by Carl Verne. Pythoness if you're wondering is
Speaker 1: just an archaic word for fortune teller or sear something similar.
Speaker 1: Uh grownut makes this room sound even creepier quote. The
Speaker 1: walls of the room were covered with huge bats nailed
Speaker 1: by their wings to the ceiling, stuffed owls, catalystic signs, skeletons,
Speaker 1: in short, everything that was likely to impress a weak
Speaker 1: or superstitious mind. I think this room sounds amazing. I'm like,
Speaker 1: how can I recreate this roupe in my home? We
Speaker 1: also have various eyewitness accounts of what Lenormand did during
Speaker 1: a reading. Groow describes her spreading out several packs of
Speaker 1: cards quote with all kinds of strange figures and ciphers
Speaker 1: depicted on them. Her first question, uttered in a deep voice,
Speaker 1: was whether you would have the grand or petigiu, which
Speaker 1: was merely a matter of form. She then inquired your age,
Speaker 1: and what was the color and the animal you preferred.
Speaker 1: Then came, in an authoritative voice, the word coupe, repeated
Speaker 1: at intervals till the requisite number of cards from the
Speaker 1: various packs were selected and placed in rows side by side.
Speaker 1: No further questions were asked, and no attempt was made
Speaker 1: to discover who or what you were, or to watch
Speaker 1: upon your countenance the effect of the revelations. She neither
Speaker 1: prophesied smooth things to you, nor tried to excite your fears,
Speaker 1: but seemed really to believe in her own power. She
Speaker 1: informed me that I was a militarire, that I should
Speaker 1: be twice married and have several children, and foretold many
Speaker 1: other events which have also come to pass, though I
Speaker 1: did not at the time believe one word of the
Speaker 1: Sybil's prediction. Diarist Francis Lady Shelley gave a similar account.
Speaker 1: Quote On a large table under a mirror were heaps
Speaker 1: of cards with which she commenced her mysteries. She bade
Speaker 1: me cut them in small packets with my left hand.
Speaker 1: She then inquired my age, apoupre my day of birth,
Speaker 1: the first letter of my name, and the first letter
Speaker 1: of the name of the place where I was born.
Speaker 1: She asked me what animal color and number I was
Speaker 1: most partial to. I answered all these questions without hesitation.
Speaker 1: After about a quarter of an hour of this mummery,
Speaker 1: during which time she had arranged all the cards in
Speaker 1: order upon the table, she made an examination of my head.
Speaker 1: Suddenly she began a sort of measured prose, and with
Speaker 1: great rapidity and distinct articulation, to describe my character and
Speaker 1: past life, in which she was so accurate and so
Speaker 1: successful even to minute particulars, that I was spellbound at
Speaker 1: the manner in which she had discovered all she knew.
Speaker 1: Len Armand's predictions for Lady Shelley started with you will
Speaker 1: soon be ill, but it will pass. And she fainted
Speaker 1: at the opera that night, and considered that first prediction
Speaker 1: to be verified by the time she recorded it in
Speaker 1: her diary. Yes, since it was a diary, time had
Speaker 1: not passed enough yet for that entry to have anything
Speaker 1: else besides the fainting at the opera. Past podcast subject Washington.
Speaker 1: Irving traveled around Europe in the late eighteen twenties, and
Speaker 1: his journals from this period include anecdotes about Lenormal from
Speaker 1: some of his acquaintances. One was Henry Bulwer, British secretary
Speaker 1: of the Legation, who found her quote prone to put
Speaker 1: questions and draw hints and conclusions from the replies. The
Speaker 1: other was Alexandre Florian Joseph Colonna, Count Valeski, who was
Speaker 1: the son of Napoleon and Maria Veleska. He said that
Speaker 1: he had gone to Le Norman knowing that a woman
Speaker 1: he was involved with was planning to get a reading
Speaker 1: from her. He paid Leonormal to tell this woman specific
Speaker 1: things in that reading, and according to Irving's journals, quote
Speaker 1: the lady's fortune, past and future was told in a
Speaker 1: manner to astonish her and greatly to the advantage of
Speaker 1: mister Velevski. After the July Revolution of eighteen thirty, Louis
Speaker 1: Philippe became King of the French and the government of
Speaker 1: France was established as a constitutional monarchy. It seems that
Speaker 1: after this point Lenormand retired from fortune telling. She bought
Speaker 1: land and a house in Alanson, where she had been born,
Speaker 1: and when people asked her to read their fortunes. She
Speaker 1: said that she only did that in Paris. Lenormal never
Speaker 1: married or had children. In one source described her as
Speaker 1: never desiring or thinking about it. She also outlived both
Speaker 1: of her siblings. She had premonitions about her brother's death
Speaker 1: in service to the French army, and was informed that
Speaker 1: he had been killed after she had already bought her
Speaker 1: mourning clothes. She predicted that she would live to a
Speaker 1: very old age. In some sources that was one hundred
Speaker 1: and eight and in others one hundred and twenty four.
Speaker 1: But she died in Paris on June twenty fifth, eighteen
Speaker 1: forty three, at the age of seventy one. She's buried
Speaker 1: at Perlichez Cemetery. All of her belongings went to her
Speaker 1: one surviving relative, her sister's son, alexandre Ugaut, who was
Speaker 1: described as devoutly Catholic. She had become very wealthy, owning
Speaker 1: several properties and a very significant art collection, and he
Speaker 1: kept all of this, but he burned her occult materials,
Speaker 1: including her divination cards. It seems like other people had
Speaker 1: already started capitalizing on the Normal's name while she was
Speaker 1: still living. For example, a book, published in English in
Speaker 1: London in eighteen twenty five, was titled The Oracle of
Speaker 1: Human Destiny or the unerring Foreteller of future Events and
Speaker 1: Accurate Interpreter of mystical signs and influences through the medium
Speaker 1: of common cards. This was attributed to Madame the Normal,
Speaker 1: professor of the Celestial Science at Paris. It included a
Speaker 1: preface a method for doing card readings and meanings for
Speaker 1: a set of fifty two cards. But this preface is
Speaker 1: signed Victory in the Normal, which was not a name
Speaker 1: that she actually used, and the biographical details from this
Speaker 1: preface purportedly written by the author are just totally different
Speaker 1: from anything else written about linermal uh I was not
Speaker 1: able to figure out other history about this working kit
Speaker 1: where it came from, but it's so associated with Lenorman's
Speaker 1: name that there are a bunch of digital copies of
Speaker 1: it floating around the Internet that like definitively lists her
Speaker 1: as the author. After she died, people started printing divination
Speaker 1: cards using her name. Laurent Jeu de Mademoiselle lenormand came
Speaker 1: out two years after she died. Jeu is the French
Speaker 1: word for game. This includes fifty four cards and was
Speaker 1: developed by a Madame Breteau, who claimed she had been
Speaker 1: Le Norman's student. Another deck, the Petit le Normal, which
Speaker 1: again I mostly heard people call the Le normand was
Speaker 1: created in Germany in eighteen forty five, that includes thirty
Speaker 1: six cards, and this is the one between those two
Speaker 1: that's probably the more well known today. Each of the
Speaker 1: cards in this deck has a specific set of meanings,
Speaker 1: and during a reading, they are combined to create a
Speaker 1: sentence or a series of sentences. Practitioners usually describe this
Speaker 1: as a more straightforward and direct reading than something like Tero,
Speaker 1: which can involve more subjective interpretation of the symbolism of
Speaker 1: the cards rather than specific meanings assigned to each of them.
Speaker 1: Lenorman was incredibly famous and influential in France during her lifetime,
Speaker 1: but her reputation among other figures within France's occult revival
Speaker 1: seems to have been mixed. Alfonse Luis Conston, known by
Speaker 1: the pseudonym Elephas Levi, was a big figure in France's
Speaker 1: nineteenth century accult revival, and he described her this way quote.
Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Lenormand, the most celebrated of our modern fortune tellers,
Speaker 1: was unacquainted with the science of Taro, or knew it
Speaker 1: only by derivation from Ettela, whose explanations are shadows cast
Speaker 1: upon a background of light. She knew neither high magic
Speaker 1: nor the cabala, but her head was filled with ill
Speaker 1: digested air audition, and she was intuitive by instinct, which
Speaker 1: deceived her rarely. The works she left behind her are
Speaker 1: legitimist tomfoolery, ornamented with classical quotations, but her oracles, inspired
Speaker 1: by the presence and magnetism of those who consulted her,
Speaker 1: were off an astounding She was a woman in whom
Speaker 1: extravagance of imagination and mental rambling were substituted for the
Speaker 1: natural affections of her sex. She lived and died a virgin,
Speaker 1: like the ancient druidesses of the Isle of Sane. Had
Speaker 1: nature endowed her with beauty, she might have played easily,
Speaker 1: at a remoter epoch the part of a Melusine or
Speaker 1: a Veleda. Or, to put it more simply, another commentator,
Speaker 1: who was paraphrased by Frank Bot Goodrich, summed her up
Speaker 1: as quote which or no which a certain share of
Speaker 1: admiration will always be due to her, for having contrived
Speaker 1: to be believed in an age which neither believed in
Speaker 1: God in his angels, nor in the Devil and his imps.
Speaker 1: Do you have listener mail? I predict listener mal I
Speaker 1: do have listener mail. It is from Jerry, and Jerry wrote,
Speaker 1: Dear Tracy and Holly, I'm writing to thank you for
Speaker 1: Last Falls episode about E. Pauline Johnson, the Mohawk Canadian
Speaker 1: writer and performer. My husband's family has Mohawk heritage, descending
Speaker 1: from his great grandfather. He was admitted to the Mohawk
Speaker 1: Institute Residential School in nineteen oh two, a few decades
Speaker 1: after Pauline's brothers. We visited the Six Nations Reserve in
Speaker 1: Ontario many times, and my husband and children are enrolled members.
Speaker 1: But somehow we hadn't heard of Johnson, so we gobbled
Speaker 1: up your episode and visited Chief's Wood when we were
Speaker 1: there in July of this year. We were lucky to
Speaker 1: receive our own tour of the house from Quenton, staff
Speaker 1: of Six Nations Tourism. Just in case he's a listener, Quentin,
Speaker 1: you led a great tour. Attached her a few photos
Speaker 1: of the interior, Pauline's writing desk in her bedroom, the
Speaker 1: travel desks she took on tours, and the front door
Speaker 1: facing the Grand River through which Mohawk visitors entered, and yes,
Speaker 1: the door facing the road where white visitors entered, looked
Speaker 1: just the same. To pause from the email real quick
Speaker 1: if you did not hear that episode, this house had
Speaker 1: two entrances, and generally Mohawk visitors arrived on the river
Speaker 1: by canoe, and usually a white visitors came on the
Speaker 1: road via a horse or walking or whatever. So returning
Speaker 1: to the email, I'm also enclosing a photo from an
Speaker 1: exhibit in the Woodland Cultural Center, a museum on the
Speaker 1: grounds of the Mohawk Institute. During renovations of the school building,
Speaker 1: several items were found inside a wall, including the school
Speaker 1: application form for my husband's great grandfather. This article contains
Speaker 1: a photo of the entire case, with other found objects
Speaker 1: and details about the survivor led efforts to continue searching
Speaker 1: the grounds. Only after we saw this form did we
Speaker 1: learn that he had a brother. Your coverage of someone
Speaker 1: who we did indeed miss in history class was such
Speaker 1: a gift to our family as we try to learn
Speaker 1: more about my husband's ancestors and their history. We are
Speaker 1: American and live far away from the reserve, so our
Speaker 1: opportunities to learn are mostly virtual. I'm also enclosing pet
Speaker 1: pictures for tax Jet. So is the yellow one. Her
Speaker 1: name is a rough phonetic spelling of the kanya ka
Speaker 1: how ward Sicho, meaning fox. Harriet is the gray one
Speaker 1: and she's part gremlin. And Doug is the Cocker Spaniel,
Speaker 1: our pandemic puppy who was actually a senior and was
Speaker 1: rescued from a medical neglect situation. He's the happiest dog
Speaker 1: I've ever had. In the moment he meets you, he
Speaker 1: loves you. Thanks again for all your work, Jerry, Jerry,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for this email. Honestly, this is
Speaker 1: one of the best emails that we've gotten in a
Speaker 1: long time. I think I love these pictures from chiefs Wood.
Speaker 1: It really struck my heart. The application for him and
Speaker 1: realizing that your husband's great grandfather had a brother that
Speaker 1: you had not known about before, and then of course
Speaker 1: the animal pictures. I hope I did an okay job
Speaker 1: of saying the word for fox that was not a
Speaker 1: word that I found a pronunciation for. But these man
Speaker 1: what cues, what cute doggies. I also am so happy
Speaker 1: to hear about a cocker Spaniel who is the happiest
Speaker 1: dog that you've ever had and loves everyone he meets
Speaker 1: because I only grew up with high strung cocker Spaniels
Speaker 1: and didn't know they could be any other way. So
Speaker 1: thank you, so so so much, Jerry for this email.
Speaker 1: If you would like to send us a note about
Speaker 1: this or any other podcast, we're at History Podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com, and we're all over social media. Missed
Speaker 1: in History. That's where you'll find our Facebook and Pinterest
Speaker 1: and X thing or whatever. We still haven't started accounts
Speaker 1: on those other ones, and you can subscribe to our
Speaker 1: show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever else you liked
Speaker 1: it at your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.