The 18th century novelist Belle van Zuylen, later known as Madame de Charriere, was no ordinary woman. The story of her life is a tale of a woman fighting against the constraints of her time and class.

In 1771 Belle van Zuylen, a 30-year-old Dutch aristocrat, married her brother's tutor and became Madame de Charriere. It was under this name that she was to earn for herself an international reputation as an author. But this nervous and impetuous woman was already known outside of her native Holland for her wit and unconventional attitude. The King of Prussia described her as 'The Goddess of the Netherlands'.  Her typical witty reply was that 'Goddesses were from heaven and not from the Lowlands'.

'I would not for a throne renounce the occupations of my own room. If I ceased to learn I should die of boredom in the midst of every pleasure and grandeur in the world.'

Even as a child van Zuylen was a force to be reckoned with, insisting on learning mathematics and physics. In the 18th century an aristocratic girl's education was usually limited to dancing and a little French. The good ladies of The Hague couldn't stand her because of her outspoken opinions, and after she published a novel attacking the arrogance of the nobility she was unable to show her face in such circles.

Education for women
In was in such stifling surroundings that Belle van Zuylen carved out a niche for herself as a wilful and original voice. She espoused the virtues of universal education for women and wrote of how the constraints of class and gender stifled potential. These were highly contentious ideas and it's only in the latter part of the 20th century, with the advent of feminism, that her writing has been re-examined.

'I am like a port or a market for ideas. They come and they go. I make them over or I send them back; or I lay them in store. All is in movement.'

But Belle van Zuylen's life shouldn't be told just for her literary skill. Her life encapsulated a who's who of 18th-century intellectual Europe. She was a source of inspiration for some of the fledgling voices in pre-revolutionary France, such as the writer and politician Benjamin Constant and inimitable socialite and writer Madame de Stael.
 
Despite her reputation and her accomplishments, van Zuylen's private life was miserable. She died in Switzerland, having hidden away in her husband's manor house for the last 15 years of her life. Only now is this exceptional woman enjoying a revival of fortune.

The Goddess of the Netherlands was produced by Chris Chambers. The documentary was originally broadcast in December 2004.