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Madame de Thèbes is the pseudonym of two fortunetellers living in Europe between the late nineteenth century and the end of World War II. The usage of the name has also entered popular culture, which includes characters based loosely on the life experiences of the historical figures.

Origin

de Thèbes means "of Thebes" in French, which refers to the city of Thebes in ancient Egypt. The name was suggested by French writer and playwright Alexandre Dumas fils to Anne-Victorine Savigny with inspiration from his psychological drama La Route de Thèbes about a mysterious woman, which was his final work and was never finished.

Historical figures

France

Anne-Victorine Savigny (1844–1916), or Anne-Victorine de Savigny, was a French clairvoyant and palm reader. She is the main source of reference for the name Madame de Thèbes. Savigny was born in Ménilmontant, a neighborhood in Paris. She first worked as a cashier before becoming a tutor for a bourgeois family in 1877. She became an actress with the stage name Mademoiselle Dhalyle from around 1882. She delved into divination in the 1890s and studied chiromancy under Adolphe Desbarrolles. During this period, Savigny became personal friend of Alexandre Dumas fils through introduction of the painter Louis-Eugène Lambert, a shared friend of the two. Dumas fils helped Savigny expand her social circle among the high society members of Paris at the time and Savigny became an established figure in fortunetelling by the time Dumas fils passed away in 1895. Savigny's clientele include luminaries such as Marcel Proust and Queen Natalie of Serbia, among others. She plied her trade from her living room at No. 29 Avenue de Wagram in Paris. Every Christmas since 1903, she published her prophecies in an Almanac, which enjoyed wide circulation. She was said to have predicted the following world events:

• The Boer War;
• The Russo-Japanese War;
• Triggers of World War I;
• The violent death of General Boulanger;
• The tragic death of Catulle Mendès;
• The death of William Thomas Stead;
• The case of Caillaux.

She published several books including The Enigma of the Dream: Explanation of Dreams, which appeared in 1908. She died in Paris in 1916 at the age of 73 in her country home and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Czech Republic

Matylda Průšová (? – c. 1944) was a Czech fortuneteller who lived in the house No. 14 in the Golden Lane of Prague. She was a widow of a pharmacist and also made a living by embroidery in addition to fortunetelling. She predicted the downfall of the Third Reich. During World War II, she was captured by the Nazis and was killed around 1944.

Popular culture

• Madame de Thèbes is a 1915 Swedish silent film directed by Mauritz Stiller. Actress Ragna Wettergreen played the namesake role.
• The French historian Geneviève Tabouis was called Madame de Thèbes and Cassandra because of her writings as a columnist for the left-wing newspaper L’Oeuvre since the 1930s.
• Madame de Thèbes is a fortuneteller played by actress Marcelle Corday in the 1944 film Mrs. Parkington.
• Madame de Thèbes, based on Matylda Průšová, is a character in the Italian comic book series Dampyr created by Sergio Bonelli.

See also

• The Prophetess of Thebes
• Valentine Dencausse

References

1. Fair, Vanity (2020-03-20). "Astrologie : Trois voyantes célèbres qui ont marqué leur époque". Vanity Fair (in French). Retrieved 2024-08-03.
2. irenebimbasperduta (2018-05-15). "Madame de Thebe". I Tarocchi di Bimbasperduta (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-07-28.
3. Davies, Owen (2018). A supernatural war: magic, divination, and faith during the First World War. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-879455-4. OCLC 1022082619.
4. Nagel, Alexandra H. M. (2021-06-30). "From Chiromancy to Psychochirology: The Modern Transformation of a Mantic Art". Aries. 21 (2): 246–270. doi:10.1163/15700593-02102002. ISSN 1567-9896.
5. Ruickbie, Leo (2018-11-18). "Madame de Thèbes Foresees War". Angels in the Trenches. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
6. Baritaud, Bernard (1992). Pierre Mac Orlan: His Life, His Time. Librairie Droz. ISBN 9782600036931. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
7. "Mme. de Thebes's War Prophecies" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 March 1915. Retrieved April 8, 2010.
8. Tervagne, Simone de (1986). Le livre d'or de la voyance: de Madame de Thèbes à Yaguel Didier (in French). Garancière. ISBN 978-2-7340-0180-5.
9. Hentges, Ernst (1919). "Madame de Thèbes und Mademoiselle Le Normand". Zentralblatt für Okkultismus (in German). 2/3: 78–86.
10. Madame de Thèbes (1908). L'énigme du Rêve: Explication des Songes [The Enigma of the Dream: Explanation of Dreams] (in French). Paris: Librairie Felix Juven. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
11. "Madame de Thèbes". Montaigne Auctions (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-28.
12. "CTHS – SAVIGNY Anne Victorine Madame de THÈBES". cths.fr. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
13. "MME. A. DE THEBES, FAMOUS SEER, DIES; Paris Clairvoyant Who Predicted the European War Expires in Her 73d Year". The New York Times. 1916-12-27. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
14. "The fortuneteller of the Golden Lane – Magic Bohemia". 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
15. "Zlatá ulička: Magnet na romantiky - Novinky". novinky.cz (in Czech). 2018-04-20. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
16. "Vědma ze Zlaté uličky proti nacistům :: Mystika-info". mystika.info (in Czech). Retrieved 2024-07-28.
17. Stiller, Mauritz (1915-08-23), Madame de Thèbes (Drama), Ragna Wettergreen, Nicolai Johannsen, Albin Lavén, Svenska Biografteatern AB, retrieved 2024-07-28
18. Tabouis, Genevieve (1942). They Called Me Cassandra. C. Scribner's sons. ISBN 978-0-306-70298-3.
19. Hucker, Daniel (2016-04-15). Public Opinion and the End of Appeasement in Britain and France. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315602936. ISBN 978-1-317-07354-3.
20. Mrs. Parkington (1944) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-07-28 – via www.imdb.com.
21. "Non solo Manga. Fumetti Bonelli : Dampyr, di Mauro Boselli e Maurizio Colombo; personaggi pag.2". www.nonsolomanga.it. Retrieved 2024-07-29.

Further reading

• "Madame de Thebes, World's Most Renowned Seeress, Foretells Great Events of 1914". The Pittsburg Press. 28 December 1913. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
• Poinsot, M. C. (1939). The Encyclopedia of Occult Sciences. R. M. McBride.
• Tervagne, Simone de (1986). Le livre d'or de la voyance: de Madame de Thèbes à Yaguel Didier (in French). Garancière. ISBN 978-2-7340-0180-5.
• Edelman, Nicole (2014). Voyantes guérisseuses et visionnaires en France 1785-1914 (in French). Albin Michel. ISBN 978-2-226-29636-8.
• Carroy, Jacqueline; Lancel, Juliette (2016). Clés des songes et sciences des rêves: de l'Antiquité à Freud (in French). Paris: les Belles Lettres. ISBN 978-2-251-44570-0.
• Davies, Owen (2018). A supernatural war: magic, divination, and faith during the First World War. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-879455-4. OCLC 1022082619.
• Ruickbie, Dr Leo (2020). Angels in the Trenches: Spiritualism, Superstition and the Supernatural during the First World War. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-1-4721-3959-7.

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