Madame d'Aulnoy (Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy) (1650/1651–4 January 1705) was a French writer known for her fairy tales. When she termed her works contes de fées (fairy tales, or literally, "Tales of the Fairies."), she originated the term that is now generally used for the genre. Her 'fairy tales' were written in a style suitable for entertaining in adult salon gatherings, and not with a child audience in mind.
d'Aulnoy also wrote works of history (although not using modern attitudes to historical accuracy), pseudo-memoirs, and a few historical novels.
Born a member of the noble Le Jumel de Barneville family, she was known as the baronne d'Aulnoy by marriage.
