Julie d’aubigny
The sword-slinger who burnt down a convent to seduce a nun 1670-1707
Julie d’aubigny – known better in her time as La Maupin – was the closest thing humanity’s ever come to producing a real-life Bugs Bunny. This bisexual opera singer flirted and fought her way across Europe, dressing in men’s clothes and seducing men and women with abandon. When one of her female lovers was spirited off to a nunnery by her overprotective father, Maupin entered the convent herself... and set it on fire to aid their escape. Three months later, she dropped her lover back off with her father and ran off into the night. She went on to get into so many duels she had to twice be pardoned by Louis XIV, who mused that the anti-dueling laws governed men but said nothing of women. Her real story is difficult to untangle from fiction – her biography was often related as a morality tale with her turning from her wanton ways late in life, rejoining her husband and dying aged around 37.