Brune Pourcel née Tavernier was a woman who lived in the Comté de Foix in the early fourteenth century, she was made notable by appearing in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie is a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ancien regime, particularly the history of the peasantry.-Early life and career:...

's Montaillou

Montaillou

Montaillou is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-History:The town is best known for being the subject of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's pioneering work of microhistory, Montaillou, village occitan. It analyzes the town in great detail over a thirty-year period from 1294 to 1324...

. A bastard daughter of Prades Tavernier

Prades Tavernier

Prades Tavernier was a weaver and then Cathar parfait in the Comté de Foix in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century. Tavernier was originally from Prades d'Aillon, and he was named after the town. There he became a successful and prosperous weaver...

 she became a servant in the house of the wealthy Clergue family of Montaillou. She left their employ upon being married but her husband soon died leaving her a poor widow. She could not even afford her own oven, being forced to use that of her aunt Alazaïs Rives.