Julie d'Aubigny Tapestry

Julie d'Aubigny, a 17th-century swordswoman and opera singer. She learned dancing, reading, drawing, and fencing alongside the pages her father trained and dressed as a boy from a young age. Around 1687, d'Aubigny became involved with a man named Sérannes and the pair fled to Marseille after he killed a man in an illegal duel. On the road south they made a living giving fencing exhibitions and singing in taverns and at local fairs. While travelling and performing d'Aubigny dressed in male clothing but didn't conceal her gender. On arrival in Marseille, she joined the opera company run by Pierre Gaultier. She later became involved with a young woman and when the girl's parents sent her to the Visitandines convent in Avignon. d'Aubign...