Mathilde Laigle
French historian, professor and writer
Mathilde Laigle (1865–1949) was a French historian. She was an early student in America becoming a governess to the children of the governor of Iowa. She was an expert on Christine de Pizan and is credited with helping to revive interest in the early feminist.
Life
Laigle was born in Vandoncourt in 1865. From 1895 to 1903 she was a governess to the four daughters of William and Anne Matilda Larrabee. William was the Governor of Iowa. She was their companion and teacher and she would spend whole days when the only language to be spoken was French.
Laigle made three transatlantic voyages between 1904, 1908 and 1918, although early trips may be unrecorded.
Laigle wrote about Christine de Pizan and is credited with reviving the work of the early feminist. She concluded that de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies had been completed in or after 1404.
The public source identifies “Mathilde Laigle” as french historian, professor and writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mathilde, Laigle and French.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1452802. VIAF identifies the subject as 24685484. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1865, 1949, 1895 and 1903.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mathilde Laigle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.