chevalier de La Coudraye

Born Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray around 1712, she became one of the best-known midwives in France. After training in Paris, she built a reputation not just through practice but through teaching, at a time when childbirth care varied widely from place to place.

She is especially associated with her influential manual Abrégé de l'art des accouchements and with the lifelike obstetric teaching mannequin often called La Machine. Backed by royal support, she traveled across France to train midwives and surgeons, helping bring more consistent childbirth instruction to towns and rural communities.

Her work made her an unusual public figure for her era: a medical educator, author, and traveling instructor whose lessons reached far beyond the cities. She died in 1794, but her legacy survives in the history of medicine, midwifery, and women's education.