Madame de (Claire Elisabeth Jeanne Gravier de Vergennes) Rémusat

Born Claire Élisabeth Jeanne Gravier de Vergennes in 1780, Madame de Rémusat became a French woman of letters best known for the memoirs and correspondence published after her death. She served at the court of Joséphine de Beauharnais and wrote from close experience of the world surrounding Napoleon.

Her memoirs, often known in English as Memoirs of Madame de Rémusat, 1802–1808, are valued for their clear, personal account of court life during the First French Empire. Rather than sounding distant or ceremonial, her writing is known for its intelligence, emotional honesty, and careful attention to character.

Although her life was short, her work endured because it offers both history and atmosphere: the feel of rooms, relationships, ambitions, and unease behind official power. For readers interested in Napoleon’s era, she remains an unusually engaging witness.