CLOTILDE, MARGUERITE ELEONORE, born at Vallon Chalis in the Vivarais, on the banks of the Ardeche, about 1405, married Berenger de Surville, who soon after joined the army of the dauphin, afterwards Charles VII., and was killed at the siege of Orleans. Daring his absence Clotilde is said to have composed and addressed to him her first epistle, which she called 'Heroide,' in imitation of Ovid's compositions of the same name. Her other poems she is said to have composed during her long widowhood. They consist chiefly of ballads, rondeaux, chansons, epistles, with fragments of an epic poem. The last in date is a chant-royal, on the occasion of the battle of Fornovo, gained by Charles VIII. But the authenticity of these compositions is very much doubted. It rests merely on the reported assertion of Joseph Etienne de Surville, a descendant of Berenger, and an officer in the royal army, who emigrated at the time of the French revolution, bnt who, having re-entered France in 1793, was tried and executed.
He is said to have discovered Clotilde's autograph manuscripts among the family papers, which however were all destroyed at the time when the peasantry went about burning the mansions of the nobility. He entrusted some friends with a copy of the poems, which were first published by Vanderbourg in 1803, with a biography of Clotilde. For the controversy about their authenticity see 'Biographie Universelle,' article Surville' (Clotilde), and the authorities referred to ; among others, Raynouard's article in the Journal des Samna,' July, 1824. The poems are not without merit; and if not written by Clotilde they are a very clever imitation of the old French style of the 15th century, although some of the images and expressions appear to betray a later origin. Clotilde is said to have died at a very advanced ago.