Marguerite Jeanne Cordier de Launay, Baronne de Staal (1684–1750)

Marguerite Jeanne Cordier de Launay (or Delaunay) was born in Paris, the daughter of an impoverished mother who had left her father, a painter, who died in England. She was educated at a convent in Rouen, and then became a lady-in-waiting at the French court to Louise-Bénédicte de Bourbon, duchesse du Maine. She was implicated in that lady's plot against Philippe, duc d'Orleans, regent for the young king Louis XV, and sent to the Bastille for a year in 1718-1719. Later in life, at about age 50, she married an older Swiss aristocrat and military officer, and became the baronne de Staal. Besides her celebrated memoirs, published posthumously in 1755 and often reprinted, she wrote poetry, short comedies and many letters that illustrate her age. Some of them appeared under the nom de plume Rose Delaunay.