Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc
| Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Birth name unknown 1712 French Louisiana, today part of Wisconsin, United States |
| Died | December 15, 1775 (aged 63) Paris, France |
| Other names | The Wild Girl of Champagne The Maid of Châlons The Wild Child of Songy |
| Known for | feral child |
Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc (1712 in Wisconsin?, French Louisiana – 1775 in Paris, France) was a famous feral child of the 18th century in France who was known as The Wild Girl of Champagne, The Maid of Châlons, or The Wild Child of Songy.
Her case is more controversial than that of some other feral children because a few prominent modern-day scholars have regarded it as either wholly or partly fictional. However, in 2004, the French author Serge Aroles speculated that it was authentic after spending ten years carrying out archival research into French and American history.
Aroles speculates that Marie-Angélique had survived for ten years living wild in the forests of France, between the ages of nine and 19, before she was captured by villagers in Songy in Champagne in September 1731. He claims that she was born in 1712 as a Native American of the Meskwaki (or "Fox") people in what today is the Midwestern U.S. state of Wisconsin and that she died in Paris in 1775, aged 63. Aroles found archival documents showing that she learned to read and write as an adult, thus making her unique among feral children.
The story of Marie-Angélique's life in the wild was publicised in the mid-18th century in both France and in Britain through a short pamphlet biography of her by the French writer Marie-Catherine Homassel Hecquet edited by the French scientist-explorer Charles-Marie de la Condamine and published in Paris in 1755. This appeared in an English translation in 1768 as An Account of a Savage Girl, Caught Wild in the Woods of Champagne. However, it was not error-free since it gave Marie-Angélique's age at the time of her capture as ten although it is now speculated to have been nineteen.
...
Wikipedia