Draft:Louise Boisot

Louise Boisot de Rouha (ca. 1538 - 1610) was a southern dutch noblewoman and botanist from the Boisot family.

Life
She was a daughter from the treasurer general Pierre Boisot († 1561) and Louise de Tisnacq. Her brothers Charles de Boisot and Louis de Boisot were beggars leaders that were banned, but louise herself stayed Catholic and royalist. She married around 1567 with postmaster general Leonard from Tassis and her two daughters got Spanish governors as married couple.

Louise shared her passion for plants with her uncle Jean Boisot and her godfather Jacques Plateau. It was a terrain were her expertise was also respected. In the Hof from Thurn and Tassis in Brussels she had a garden were she raised rare plants she got from her foreign connections. She was personally involved in planning, purchasing and supervision. She corresponded with leading botanists such as Jean de Brancion and Carolus Clusius. Six letters from her hand, written in the period 1571-1588, have been preserved for the latter.

She inherited the castle of Buizingen with all its lands and appurtenances from her parents.

Family
Boisot was the secons wife of Leonard from Tassis. She had seven childeren, among whom:
 * Lamoraal (1557-1624), Leonard's successor for postmaster general
 * Jan Baptist (1566-1580), burried in Bergen
 * Valeria (1573-1543), married in 1588 with Augustin Herrera, governor of Gent
 * Margareta married in 1596 with Diego Rodriguez de Olivares, the governor of Nieuwpoort

Literature

 * Florike Egmond, The World of Carolus Clusius. Natural History in the Making, 1550-1610, 2015, p. 50-52. ISBN 1317324226