18th-century manuscript from the girls’ school at Saint-Cyr.

[Female education] / [Maison Royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr]. Rang D’ages de La communauté … Noms des Dames qui on este Superieures … Noms et ages des D.lles de la Royalle Maison de St. Louis … S.l. [Saint-Cyr]: s.n., s.a. [second half of 18th century]. [10.4 x 6.0 cm], [68] ff., 21 of which remain blank. Unbound, formerly stitched, with remnants of pink thread still present. Corners rounded, minor toning and edge wear, neatly written legible throughout. 
 
 
Unusual 18th-century manuscript concerning the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr, the famed boarding school for impoverished noble girls founded in 1686 by King Louis XIV at the suggestion of his second (secret) wife, Madame de Maintenon (1635-1719).
 
The booklet was written out in several hands over a number of years, evidently by women at the school. The manuscript, although a modest production, seems to have been passed down and enlarged to form a pocket reference book.
 
Included in the manuscript are the names (sometimes with birthdates, dates of investiture and of profession) of girls in 30 years of classes, from 1753 through 1782. With each class averaging more than thirty girls, there are perhaps 1,000 names here. Also included are a list of Mothers Superior of the school, the home addresses of several girls, and other notes.
 
Madame de Maintenon conceived of the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis as an alternative to convent education. Enrollment was opened to the daughters of deceased or disabled noblemen (at least four generations of noble birth on their father’s side were required.) Girls entered the school between the ages of 7 and 12 and typically stayed until age 20. They were known as ‘pensionnaires’ or ‘Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr.’ 
 
Education at Saint-Cyr was at first quite progressive and secular, and Madame de Maintenon insisted that the school be an all-female space, with even priests permitted to encounter the girls only in the confessional. Standards declined somewhat after the school’s formal change into a convent in 1692 and especially after Madame de Maintenon’s death. The Maison was closed in 1793 and is now a military college.
 
 
*T. Lavallée, Histoire de la maison royale de Saint-Cyr (1686-1795); F. Vindry, Les demoiselles de Saint-Cyr (1686-1793); J Prévot, La première institutrice de France: Madame de Maintenon.