Madame de Staël

Explore the life of Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, the French woman of letters and political theorist known as Madame de Staël in this biography. Born in 1766 to a leading salonnière and French finance minister, de Staël became a voice of moderation during the French Revolution and Napoleonic era. Her intellectual collaboration with Benjamin Constant made them one of the most celebrated couples of their time. She was an early critic of Napoleon and spent years living in exile, where she became the center of the Coppet group and built an unrivaled network of contacts across Europe. De Staël's works, including novels and travel literature, made a lasting mark on European thought and helped spread the notion of Romanticism widely.