Thread by @jessnevins

So! Anyone in the mood for a story? A 100% true story?

There's no way we'll ever know the history of "real" superheroes. Vigilante groups wearing disguises are likely centuries-old. Certainly the Whiteboys of Ireland (na Buachaillí Bána) were around for a long time before they were written about in 1760.

But *women* vigilantes? 1/?

That's another story. Long history of men dressing up as women to be vigilantes--the Whiteboys, Demoiselles of Ariège, Molly Maguires--but actual women acting as masked vigilantes? Rumors, sure, but no more, like the unconfirmed Edo-era masked female samurai vigilante. 2/?

So the appearance of a real masked women vigilante is something to take note of.

June 2017 was the 150th anniversary of the (as far as I know of) first masked female vigilante. (I'm irritated I didn't know this back then, or I'd have made a deal out of it).

Come with me now to June 6, 1867, to Paris' Bois du Bologne (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bois_de_B…), a large wooded park (2 1/2 x the size of Central Park) on the western side of the city. It's a hot summer night. The Bois du Bologne is, like Central Park in the 70s, a risky place to be. 4/?

What happens is perhaps cliched, if you've read comics for any length of time: a woman in danger. A man with a knife, intent on robbery and perhaps rape. A just-in-time hero who saves the day. Only this time the hero is a heroine, and this actually happened. 5/?

She rides a horse, is dressed all in black, wears a black mask that leaves her mouth free but covers the rest of her face, has an eagle emblem, and wields a big-ass cavalry sabre, which she is evidently skilled with. Xavier Feyrnet of Le Temps dubs her "l'Amazon Masquée." 6/?

Over the next several weeks l'Amazon Masquée is seen nightly, patrolling the rivers and parks of Paris, using her sabre and dagger when necessary. (I forgot--she also wore a cavalryman's hat, with her eagle emblem displayed on it). Crime begins to drop in the city's parks. 7/?

Nobody knows the story of l'Amazon, so naturally the press begins making up stories: "she's masked because of a vow she took after fighting a duel w/a man who insulted her mother!" "She's masked because she was the victim of an acid attack & is avenging herself on men!" 8/?

The press coverage becomes intense--and l'Amazon Masquée gains fans. Lots of fans. Female fans, who in what is called "Masquomanie" begin imitating her, dressing up in black clothes & black masks and carrying weapons as they patrol the parks and riversides of Paris. 9/?

The most notable & reported-upon of the imitators of l'Amazon Masquée is the "Queen" who wears a black veil (instead of a mask) and a crown of immortelles and who claims that she rules the parks. 10/?

L'Amazon Masquée was the star attraction, though, getting written up by visiting reporters from London (South London Press) & New York (NY Tribune), who saw her but who never talked to her--she always rode away from reporters. 11/?

L'Amazon Masquée was last seen in Jan. 1868. Masquomanie had run its course by then & crime in the parks was down, so perhaps l'Amazon felt she'd done her job? Or perhaps she actually caught one man in particular? Nobody ever admitted to being l'Amazon, so we'll never know. 12/?

(I prefer to think she foresaw the war with Prussia and went undercover to spy).
L'Amazone Masquée didn't spawn any imitators, as far as I know. But the French enthusiasm for masked heroes can be said to start with her Armand Pommier's DAME AU MANTEAU ROUGE (1864). 13/14

(er, "can be said to start with her *and* Armand Pommier's" etc etc)

Moreover, the influence of l'Amazone Masquée oh L'Iconnu, the famous masked wrestling champion of Paris of 1867, is undeniable. But the story of L'Iconnu is perhaps for another day.

Fin.

14/14