Catherine des Roches (1542–1587)

Catherine des Roches (or Desroches) was born in Poitiers, France, the daughter of Madeleine des Roches and her husband André Fradonnet, seigneur Des Roches, a government official. Catherine was educated by her mother and was taught poetry, literature, and ancient and modern languages. A contemporary of the poet Ronsard and a friend of the Renaissance man of letters Etienne Pasquier, Catherine des Roches, along with her mother, presided over a weekly salon at the center of a literary circle in Poitiers between 1570 and 1587. Although less scholarly than her mother, Catherine wrote more than she did, producing both poetry and prose. Her most popular and anthologized work is the sonnet "À ma quenouille" ("To My Distaff"), in which she portrays a woman torn between her domestic duties and her intellectual activities. Together the two women (known as Les dames Des Roches) published Dialogue de Placide et Sévère (1578) and Dialogue d'Iris et Pasithaé.