Descartes: A Biography

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The ScientificEssaysand theDiscourse on Method 

suggestion about anatomical investigations one step further, and to relate

the conception of Francine to the anatomical studies that Descartes con-

tinued when he lived in Amsterdam.

It is unclear how Descartes or Helena could have arranged for an official

baptism for their child in the Reformed Church despite the fact that they

were not married in that church, since the father at least was already well

known in Deventer. One possibility, suggested by Charles Adam, is that

Descartes first met Helena Jans in Deventer when he lived with Reneri, and

that she followed him as a domestic servant to Amsterdam. Then, when

her pregnancy could no longer be concealed, she returned to Deventer for

the birth and baptism of the baby.She may have enjoyed the complicity

of a local Calvinist minister to camouflage Descartes’ involvement in the

whole affair. There is no indication of what arrangements were made for

mother and child to be supported in the months after the baptism. It is

worthmentioning that Francine was conceived in Amsterdam, born in

Deventer, and that she died in Amersfoort. Descartes was never in any

of these towns (apart from Amsterdam) at the same time as Helena. One

possibility, then, is that Descartes’ only child was cared for throughout

her short life by her mother, who moved from town to town, in the annual

cycleofhiring servants that then prevailed, as an unaccompanied ser-

vant and single mother. However, there is also evidence that he arranged

foratleast some of those years to share a house with Helena and her

daughter.

Descartes seems to have lived in Utrecht beginning in the spring of

,and to have spent most ofand the first months ofat

Leiden, overseeing the publication of his first book. Apart from his active

correspondence with Constantijn Huygens, there are no surviving letters

from the period Marchto March.Bythe autumn of,

he had left Leiden for northern Holland, from which he wrote to an

unknown correspondent about the possibility of arranging for Helena and

her daughter to live with him. However, as usual, he disguised the reality

of the situation by referring to Francine as his ‘niece’.

Everything is going much better here than I had hoped. I spoke yesterday with my

hostess to see if she wished to have my niece here and to find out how much I would have

to pay her for that. She told me, without hesitation, that I should have her brought

whenever I wished and that we would easily agree on a price, because it made no

difference to her to take care of one child more or less. As regard the servant, she [my

hostess] is waiting for you to provide one, and she is very anxious that it has not been