Lefebvre, Catherine (c. 1764–after 1820)

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Lefebvre, Catherine (c. 1764–after 1820)

French heroine of Sardou's comedy. Name variations: Lefevre; duchesse de Dantzig or Duchess of Dantzig; Madame Sans-Gêne or Sans-Gene. Born Catherine Hubscher around 1764; died after 1820; married François Joseph Lefebvre ((1755–1820), duc de Dantzig (a French general), in 1783.

Catherine Hubscher married François Joseph Lefebvre, a common soldier, and served as laundress for his company. Though her husband was created marshal of the French empire, besieged and captured Danzig, and was appointed peer of France around 1814 by Louis XVIII at the Restoration, it was said that Catherine remained a frank, unpretentious woman of the people. She was the basis for the heroine in Victorien Sardou's 1893 comedy Madame Sans-Gêne.

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Lefebvre, Catherine (c. 1764–after 1820)

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