Guigone de Salins

Guigone de Salins (1403–1470) was a member of the nobility in the state of Burgundy in late medieval France. A well-known philanthropist in her time, she founded the Hospices de Beaune in 1443 with her husband Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy. Biography Guigone de Salins was born into the aristocratic de Salins-la-Tour family in the Jura (part of the commune Salins-les-Bains in the Free County of Burgundy). She was the third child of Étienne de Salins-la-Tour and Louise de Rye. In 1421, at the age of 18, she married Nicolas Rolin, who was 47 years old at the time of their marriage, and had been married twice previously. Rolin was an affluent chancellor to Duke Philip the Good, ruler of the State of Burgundy. Together they had three children: Louise, Claudine and Antoine Rollin. She inspired her husband to participate in works of charity, and in 1443 they founded the Hospices de Beaune, or Hôtel-Dieu, in Beaune. This was created as a hospital for the poor, and is unique for its time in its secular approach. Salins furnished the rooms of the hospital with art so that the sick could feel as though they were being treated in a comfortable, even palatial environment.