Early life and marriage D'Aulnoy was born in
Barneville-la-Bertran, in
Normandy, as a member of the noble family of Le Jumel de Barneville. She was the niece of
Marie Bruneau des Loges, the friend of
François de Malherbe and of
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac. In 1666, she was given at the age of fifteen (by her father) in an arranged marriage to a Parisian thirty years older—
François de la Motte, Baron d'Aulnoy, of the household of the
Duke of Vendôme. The baron was a
freethinker and a known gambler.
Political scandal and exile In 1669, the Baron d'Aulnoy was accused of treason (speaking out against imposed taxes by the King) by two men who may have been the lovers of Mme d'Aulnoy (aged nineteen) and her mother, who by a second marriage was the Marchioness de Gadagne. Scholars Jack Zipes and David Blamires suggest that, due to the high number of similarities of Mme d'Aulnoy's literary work with recognizable folkloric material, she must have been acquainted with the oral tradition or their literary reworking during her time. In addition, according to Jacques Barchilon and
Marc Soriano, d'Aulnoy's literary fairy tale works can be classified under some popular tale types of the
international index of folktale classification, such as "The Animal Bride" and "
Animal as Bridegroom" tale types. == Issue ==