 Although her father's position as "maître ès Jeux Floraux" and counselor at the Parlement of Toulouse offered the Coignard family a comfortable lifestyle, Gabrielle de Coignard's marriage to Pierre de Mansencal in 1570 considerably elevated her social status.Mansencal's father was a prominent political figure in 16th-century France, acting as the first president of the Parlement of Toulouse from 1535-1555, a position which Pierre de Mansencal would assume in 1572.Coignard and Mansencal had two daughters, Jeanne and Catherine, and Coignard was left a widow and single mother after just three years of marriage when her husband died of unknown causes in 1573.