Anne of Great Britain: The Last Stuart Queen (1665-1714)

Motivated by the recent popular tv show based on a series of books named "Outlander", we questioned ourselves about the extent of the facts that led the Hanovers to deal with two Stuart pretenders, one known as the 'old pretender' was named James, this being the son of exiled King James II of England and VII of Scotland; and then his son, named Charles, commonly associated as 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. Thinking of this, we considered writing a small series connecting two dynasties and their struggle for the crown of Britain. Does it sound familiar for the reader? Indeed it does, or at least should be, for England has quite a history involving royal cousins battling against each other for the possession of its crown. From Matilda days to Queen Anne's, wars were fought for different reasons yet for the same desire in governing a very resourceful and respected country whose tradition remains admirable even to the present days.

Bearing in mind that when the word queen and England are associated in one sentence where its history is concerned, those are very associated to Anne's Tudor predecessors, the most famous being Mary I and, more often, to Elizabeth I. In fact, it is with the latter that Anne would be inspired to, which can be quite an irony if one sees that Anne is the great-great granddaughter of Elizabeth's deadly rival, Mary, Queen of Scots. But, as we will see following the next paragraphs, not only would Anne adopt Elizabeth Tudor's personal motto "Semper Aedem" ("Always the Same"), as she too were to live a rivalry with a sister named Mary and, mostly important to understand not only today's post about Anne as Queen but on the following posts concerning the Hanovers as upcoming Britain's new dynasty, a bittersweet refusal in acknowledging Sophia of Hanover as her heiress. Comprehending that this queen has unfairly not been the subject of many studious or at least capturing the attention of the public eye, we attempt to bring Anne Stuart back to life in the hopes that her deeds make her as inspiring as woman and her queenship as admirable as were her predecessors Mary and Elizabeth and even afterwards when Victoria reigned for quite a while. A link between women as Matilda, Elizabeth, Anne and Victoria we are amused to find is that they all were the "last" of their lines and yet what they left for England and perhaps for Europe to some extent still remains nowadays.

Every story has a beginning. This could not be different. By the time Anne was born, she was hardly the heiress her parents and all of England were expecting for. Bear it in mind that by 1665, her uncle Charles Stuart was on the British throne as King Charles II. He, in turn, was the son of the ill fated King Charles I, who, like his grandmother before him Mary of Scotland, lost his head accordingly to the English laws of treason. When Charles II was invited to return to England, he was already acknowledged as sovereign of Scotland by being the second of his name to wear its crown. In a previous post, we have written about Charles' reign from a different perspective when we wrote about his consort, the forgotten Queen Catherine, the Portuguese Infanta of the House of Braganza. So that way, with Charles II on the throne and well married by then, James, Anne's father, was entitled as Duke of York and was already the father of another girl, Anne's oldest sister named Mary. Until their growth, neither were expected to assume the throne for Charles II was proving to be very healthy, in the lack for a better word, since he fathered more than a few illegitimate children, though none by his lawful wife.

Whatever were the circumnstances of Anne's birth, she was born at St James's Palace, located in London, on the 6 February 1665. She was the fourth child of James, then Duke of York, and his first wife, Lady Anne Hyde. Of the children the Duke and his wife had, only Anne and her oldest sister, Mary, survived adulthood. Throughout her life, Anne suffered of a poor health and we see the first signs of it as a child, when she "suffered from an eye condition, which manifested as excessive watering known as 'defluxion'". As a result, she spent her early years in France to receive treatment for her health, first at the household of her paternal grandmother, the Dowager Queen Henriette Marie, until the death of the latter, and then to the household of her aunt, the Duchess of Orléans, Henriette Anne. But the duchess too would die soon and it was then that Anne would return to England, where she shared a household with Mary.

By this time, Charles II, seeing that he would lack heirs to succeed him, had his eyes to his nieces and began to provide their marriages. But first, he'd see they were to receive an Anglican education as Anne and Mary settled household at Richmond Palace where they were raised as Protestants. Bishop of London, Henry Compton, would be Anne's own preceptor. As a result of such Anglican education, Anne would grow "distrustful of Catholics and 'popery' which would further complicate the family situation, when before his remarriage, the Duke of York converted to Catholicism." It would far from help his cause when reaching the throne that James married a Catholic princess named Mary of Modena. Though it was generally accepted that James would succeed Charles, it was, quite ironically, expected that Mary of Modena would not give James a male heir otherwise things would go quite complicated. Nonetheless, despite this apparent tension, Anne did get well along with James, who was said to be a caring and loving father, and her stepmother. 

Following Mary's marriage to Prince of Orange William, in an event which Anne could not attend due to an attack of smallpox, it was arranged for Anne to marry a Danish prince, the younger brother of King Frederick III of Denmark named George. Before that, however, it was apparently expected that the Elector of Hanover, also named George, would marry her when he "visited London for three months from December 1680, sparking rumours of a potential marriage between them." 

The apparent decline of George of Hanover's part in marrying Anne is, some would say, partly the reason of her great dislike towards the House of Hanover and why she would stubbornly refuse to acknowledge him as her heir, reflecting also the rivalry Anne would later engage to her cousin Sophia, who was the daughter of Elizabeth Stuart, known as the Winter Queen of Bohemia. Elizabeth, whom we have also spoken on this very same blog, was in turn the daughter of King James VI, hence why the Hanovers were the closest Protestants heirs to the British throne by the time of Anne's death. But, by now, what matters is to understand the arrangement that would bring England and Denmark close together again (a reminder that James VI's consort was a Danish princess, Anne). As we can see below:

"Bishop Compton officiated at the wedding of Anne and George of Denmark, on 28 July 1683 in the Chapel Royal. Though it was an arranged marriage, they were faithful and devoted partners."

By this time, the future Sarah Churchill entered Anne's retinue and became chief lady of bedchamber. Their early friendship would endure for quite some years ahead still and would provide to be an important key role during Anne's reign as a queen. For now, Anne was mostly concerned with her handsome husband, though some would address him as a "chronic asthmatic", "nonentity", and even regarding him as dull, but with pleasant manners. Whatever the case, Anne and George were devouted to each other and, despite George's special affection for wine, they would get along just fine. 

Finally, towards the year of 1685, King Charles II died without legitimate heirs. This would thus make James, then Duke of York, as King James VII of Scotland, the II of England and Ireland. His ascension would give the English protestants cause for concern due to the fact that 

"[...] James began to give Catholics military and administrative offices, in contravention of the Test Acts that were designed to prevent such appointments. Anne shared the general concern and continued to attend Anglican services. As her sister Mary lived in the Netherlands, Anne and her family were the only members of the royal family attending Protestant religious services in England. When her father tried to get Anne to baptise her youngest daughter into the Catholic faith, Anne burst into tears. "The Church of Rome is wicked and dangerous", she wrote to her sister. [...] Anne became estranged from her father and stepmother as James moved to weaken the Church of England's power."

Because his daughters were still James' heirs, 

"[...] people were accepting of him, because his Catholicism was seen as a temporary abhorrence. This would all change in 1688, when Anne's half-brother James was born to Mary of Modena. He would, of course, be raised as Catholic, the religion of his parents. This was unacceptable to a Protestant clergy and nobility. Rumours began to fly immediately that the child was not a Prince, King James' son had died, and the baby of a peasant brought in to take his place. Although there were many witnesses, Anne was not among them, and she wrote to her sister Mary saying she would never be satisfied the child was really her brother."

Despite this sense of strangeness before the birth of a prince, the very unwanted heir, which is a very irony in great contrast to figures of the past who were in desperate need of male heirs as was the case of Henry VIII, must it be written here though in short paragraphs the birth of Prince James and why it's so important to understand how his birth reflected the fears of a society that, by then, was still cultivating the wars of religion that began to spread amongst all Europe from the century before with Luther and other reformists contesting Catholic Church's corruption and among other things they thought well to reform, in a movement that led to what was called Protestantism. This being said, there was the fear in most Englishmen's minds of what the rule of a Catholic could do to England. With the benefict of a century and half, Queen Mary I's reign would not be seen with eyes of understanding people that what she did was a result of her beliefs that other European monarchs that stood for Catholicism shared. No one would remember the positive politics concerned to Mary Tudor, because her image, from Elizabethan age on, maculated by the Protestant perspective that a Catholic sovereign that burns heretic is nothing but the image of devil spreading evil and terror to a holy and sacred land. The most "refreshing" memory to the Englishmen was to the image of the beheaded king Charles Stuart, whose flirtations to Catholicism and an arrogant queen who refused to take Anglican rites out of respect for her beliefs, led, amongst other reasons, to a Civil War. 

So as James Francis Edward was born on 10 June 1688, "a Catholic succession became more likely" and set such a public alarm that eventually the crisis culminated in an event we now know by the name of "Glorious Revolution", where the English and Scottish Parliaments invited Mary and her husband William of Orange to take the crown as the true Protestant heirs to the lands. As seen below:

"In January 1689, a Convention Parliament assembled in England and declared that James had effecitvely abdicated when he fled, and that the thrones of England and Ireland were therefore vacant. The Parliament or Estates of Scotland took similar action, and William and Mary were declared monarchs of all three realms. The Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 settled the succession. Anne and her descendants were to be in the line of succession after William and Mary, and they were to be followed by any descendants of William by a future marriage. On 24 July 1689, Anne gave birth to a son, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, who, though ill, survived infancy. As King William and Queen Mary had no children, it looked as though Anne's son would eventually inherit the Crown."

As for James VII, it is recorded that his reaction of the event that led him to exile in France alongside his son and wife, was of disappointment. He recalled that he was forsaken by his own daughters. But apparently, Anne would manage to make peace with her father laterwards.

Anne's relationship with William and Mary worsened after this, as they saw with no good eyes the relationship Anne had with Sarah Churchill, due to the heavy influence this latter had on the princess. For this reason, Mary and Anne were constantly in personal battles and they would not reconcile until Mary was dead. When William realized he was not only rulling solely but also lacking heirs, he sought for a reconciliation with his sister-in-law and Anne regained her position, was once more visited by courtiers and held a court of her own.

She would finally become queen on 8 March 1702, and was very popular. It is said that

"[...] in her first speech to the English Parliament, on 11 March, she distanced herself from her late Dutch brother-in-law and said, "As I know my heart to be entirely English, I can very sincerely assure you there is not anything you can expect or desire from me which I shall not ready to do for the happiness and prosperity of England."

She did something that Elizabeth Tudor did closely in the last century, when the Tudor queen appealled by the English pride to distance herself from the foreign rule of Mary Tudor's Spanish blood and her Spanish husband. Also, by adopting Elizabeth I's personal motto "Always the Same", as we have mentioned before, it makes us question how far did Anne admire her Tudor cousin and what were the lessons Elizabeth might have taught this Stuart Queen. But this can only be speculated.

One of Queen Anne's first actions as sovereign was to reward the Marlborough's by granting great offices and positions to Sarah and her husband, the latter growing to be an excellent general during the wars England would win within a few years. Following it, Anne was crowned on St George's Day, 23 April 1702. It is said that "[...] afflicted with gout, she was carried to Westminster Abbey in an open sedan chair, with a low back to permit her train to flow out behind her."

The matter of the Queen's poor and deteriorate health would constantly provoke discussions. In politics especially, now that we witness the rise of two political parties: the Whigs, defended by the late king William III, and the Tories, the latter being favoured by the Queen. Both would sustain the inheritance issue and whilst the Whigs supported the Hannovers, it can be possible to state that were Jacobites (a latin name for James, this was used for those who supported James Francis Edward as heir to the English throne) amongst the Tories. It is claimed that to James it was offered the position of an heir had he converted to Anglicanism, which he refused. By then, when this proposal was offered, James was already proclaimed as James III of England and VIII of Scotland as Louis XIV of France acknowledged him. As we can see below:

"Upon the death of James II in 1701, the French king Louis XIV proclaimed James King of England. James's adherence to Roman Catholicism caused the English Parliament to pass a bill of attainder against him in 1701. In 1708 the Pretender set out in French ships to invade Scotland, but he was driven away by the British before he could land. He distinguished himself fighting in the French army in the War of the Spanish Sucession (1701-14). In 1714 he refused to accept suggestions by Robert Harley and Viscount Bolinbroke that he renounce Roman Catholicism and become Anglican in order to be designated Queen Anne's heir to the throne of England."

This was the beginning of a struggle between Stuarts and Hannovers that would only end circa of thirty years after Queen Anne died. In the meanwhile rumours were being spread that Anne herself was more than willing in having her half-brother to the British throne due to the fact she refused to invite the Hanovers to land in England, she was forced to deal with more important matters as her health. The Queen had never a strong health ever since she was born and to worse things, she not only was pregnant for eighteen times, but most of those times she miscarried or gave birth to stillborn children. As we briefly mentioned in the paragraph above, Anne had one son to survive infancy and his name was William. But he too died at the age of 11, which much caused her grief and led her household to commemorate his death every date he passed away. As seen below:

"It is widely believed that the reason behind Queen Anne's miscarriages and stillborn children is because she suffered from Antiphospholipid Syndrome, an immune disorder that turns the body against itself. It is also widely known that Queen Anne suffered with chronic illnesses, most notably gout, which was even so extreme she had to be carried in to her coronation. It could be argued that this illness, as well as the Monarch's excessive drinking, led to the ultimely death's of her young children."

Like her cousin Elizabeth before her, due to the lack of heirs, Anne must have felt pressed to constantly appoint an heir and though she eventually agreed that Sophia of Hanover and her heirs would do so, she would not discuss the matter and even so rivalries between the two houses remained. Some claim that Anne felt pleased that the proud Sophia did not make to inherite the crown herself. Whatever the case, this would only present a great issue to James Francis Edward in the future.

In terms of the politics of her reign, it is characterized by three councillors she trusted the most. Those were the names of Marlborough, at least before his fall, whose wife Sarah Churchill was then in good terms with the Queen; Godolphin and Robert Harley. After all, 

"Between them, the three held most of the important political position in the land and between 1702 and 1704 they worked with the Earl of Nottingham [Secretary of State] while the War of Spanish Succession was being fought. Marlborough, via his wife Sarah, advised Anne onf successful government: the Queen must maintain her powers of appointment and that the Queen should administer patronage through a non-party manager."

One important aspect of Anne's domestic politics in her reign is the union of Scottish and English Parliaments that resulted in the Great Britain, which made Scotland and England one kingdom under her realm. Although mostly Scottish nationalists and others blame Queen Elizabeth I for passing the English throne to King James VI of Scots, it was not until Queen Anne's reign that these two realms would be united under one sole crown. It is said that, in spite of opposition, Anne was a "consistent and ardent supporter of union" and even "attended a thanksgiving service in St. Paul's Cathedral" when she achieved her main goal.

As a result, 

"The union of England and Scotland, which Anne fervently supported, created Europe's largest free trade area. The political and diplomatic achievements of Anne's governments, and the absence of constitutional conflict between monarch and parliament during her reign, indicate that she chose mininsters and exercised her prerogatives wisely."

Another aspect of her reign that is just as important as the Union Act was the development of two partisans that constituted in Anne's reign but would grow in influence and power with the Hanovers. This system was divided in Tories, who "were supportive of the Anglican church and favoured the 'landed interest' of the country gentry", while the Whigs "were aligned with commerical interests and Protestant Dissenters." Due to her religious nature, Anne was more inclined to support the Tories. 

In other words, what can be said of Anne's reign is summoned in one paragraph as we see in the following excerpt:

"Her reign would last twelve eventful years, in which we would see the Acts of Union between Scotland and England, the War of Spanish Succession, and an attempted invasion by her half-brother, the Catholic James Stuart. Anne is also the last British monarch to deny Royal Assent to a Parliamentary bill. Her health declined further throught the years, especially after the death fo her husband in 1708. Already seriously afflicted with gout at her accession and unable to walk, by 1713, the concerns for her health were very serious. She was ill several times throughout the year, eventually recovering until she had a stroke on July 30th, 1714. Anne died the next day, aged forty-nine."

As for Anne's character, whilst it certainly had its faults, was certainly marked by a deeply religious nature, which led us to believe that in terms of Succession, she would not pass the crown for her brother so easily as we wrote concerning the rumours over the matter in paragraphs above. But this does not mean we must exclude such possibility. It appears that in her final years, she felt somewhat remorse for the actions done in past, and believed that the reason why she had no surviving children was God punishing her for it. Perhaps a reconciliation was attempted and that Bolinbroke's proposal for James to change religion in order to accept the crown was her idea. We might never know. It is almost certainly that she favoured her brother as successor rather than passing to a house she held bitter grudges over the years. But one might suspect that even still religion and good sense drove her to what her ministers eventually believed to be a wise choice, and yet whose results we will see in the following posts.

Anne was buried in the Henry VII chapel on the South Aisle of Westminster Abbey, being put to rest next to her husband and children on 24 August. Sophia of Hanover, who rumour has it hoped to have see written in her tomb 'Queen Sophia of Britain', had died two months prior, which some might say this giving Anne's pleasure for knowing it there would be no Queen Sophia to succeed her. Yet, like it happened a century earlier between Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth Tudor, Anne's crown would go to her rival's son, George, the Elector of Hanover, who was now King George I of Great Britain, Ireland and France.

Bibliography:

-http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/death-queen-anne/

-https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2014/07/18/queen-anne-of-great-britain-a-guest-post-by-samantha-arbisi-hanson/

-http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/stuart-england/queen-anne/

-http://royalcentral.co.uk/blogs/stories-of-the-stuarts-queen-annes-18-pregnancies-47524

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-queen-of-Great-Britain-and-Ireland

-https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=anne

-http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Queen-Anne/

-http://historythings.com/queen-anne-first-monarch-great-britian/

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Edward-the-Old-Pretender

-http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/death-queen-anne/

Nzinga, the Warrior Queen of Ndongo and Matamba (1583-1663)

 

Motivated by the recent posts concerning the sovereigns that compounded the royals that governed Egypt in different times of its History, we began to ask ourselves about other royals that left their own marks in the realms they ruled throughout Africa's continent. Following that curiosity, we leave Ancient Egypt behind, at least for now, in order to move quite some milleniuns ahead to speak of this formidable queen who resisted bravely the Portuguese. So who was she? And what exactly were her deeds? Why is her name associated to the resistance against the Portuguese who by then were part of the powerful Spanish empire?

For a start, Nzinga was born in the year of 1583 as the daughter of ngola (which was the title used for a sovereign, equal to 'king', for example) named Kia Samba and his wife, Guenguela Cakombe. We are not certain whether she was the oldest or the youngest of Kia Samba's offspring, but what we do know is that Nzinga had two sisters and a brother, the latter being the heir of Ndongo's throne. Apparently, she receives this name because

"[...] her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck [...]. It was said to be an indication that the person who had this characteristic would be proud and haughty, and a wise woman told her mother that Nzinga would become queen one day."

In terms of her education, it is said that she was well educated in diplomacy and tride. She could also write, read and speak Portuguese very well and practiced archery, aside of enjoying hunting trips. The development of such skills are possibly the result of the favour she enjoyed of her father, as she recollected it laterwards. This favour was an indicative of the shaping of her skills as a "true politician, [...] true military and intellectual genius.", as she attended her father's council meetings, thus witnessing how "he governed his kingdom", sometimes even following him at war.

The political context that characterized Ndongo, later attributed the name of Angola by the Portuguese, can be better explained below:

"Around the turn of the 17th century, the independent kingdoms and states of the Central African coast were threatened by the Portuguese attempts to colonize Luanda (Luanda, today the capital of Angola, was founded in 1576). Portugal sought to colonize the region in order to control the trade in African slaves, and attacked many of their old trading partners to further this goal."

Also, by 1622 the Portuguese "invited Ngola (king) Mbande to attend a peace conference there to end the hostilities with the Mbundu. Mbande sent his sister Nzinga to represent him in meeting with Portuguese Governor João Correia de Souza". But even with Nzinga's skills as diplomat, when she arranged a peaceful treaty between two parts, it did not prevent the actions of Portugal's government in breaking into Ndongo and slaving its people once they were captured and taken prisoners once Portugal did not honor the treaty. As a result, Ngola Mbandi, Nzinga's brother and king, committed suicide. It was a difficult period for Ndongo, subdued by the Portuguese forces, but until Nzinga became their queen, some changes in the political scenario were expected.

Nzinga became queen in 1623, when she was forty-one years of age. Apparently, "she forbade her subjects to call her Queen. She preferred to be called King, and when leading an army in battle, dressed in men's clothing.". It is also said that when she took the control of her country, she firstly became regent for her nephew Kaza before having him murdered, some claiming so by her own hands. At first she styled herself Lady of Andongon (Portuguese: Senhora de Andongo), but "in a letter of 1626 she now called herself 'Queen of Andongo' (Rainha de Andongo), a title which she bore from then on." Rumour has it that when she attended meetings with Portuguese governors or other diplomats, she took favourites with her and these were curiously dressed in woman's clothes.

Whatever the case was,

"As the new sovereign of Ndongo, Nzinga re-entered negotiations with the Portuguese. At the time, Ndongo was under attack from both the Portuguese and neighboring African aggressors. Nzinga realized that in order to achieve peace and for her kingdom to remain viable, she needed to become an intermediary. She allied Ndongo with Portugal, and was baptsided as Ana de Souza Nzinga Mbande with the Portugal colonial governor serving as her godfather. By doing this she acquired a partner in her fight against her African enemies, and ending Portuguese slave raiding in the kingdom."

Her conversion to Catholicism in 1622 was indeed more an instrument to a change of political alliances, since it was more advantageous for Nzinga, or Ana as she was now called, to attempt an approach to Portugal and by peaceful means to stop the slave raiding rather than follow her brother's path and rebel at any sight. At first, she was not very Catholic, but because she was respectful towards the priests and jesuits that there went, she was respected for it.

However hard were her attempts in making peace with Portugal through this conversion, again the arrangement was broken when

"Portugal betrayed Ndongo in 1626, and Nzinga was forced to flee when war broke out. Nzinga took over as ruler of the nearby kingdom of Matamba, capturing Queen Mwongo Matamba and routing her army. Nzinga then made Matamba her captial, joining it to the kingdom of Ndongo."

She also "offered sanctuary to runaway slaves and Portuguese-trained African soldiers. She stirred up rebellion among the people still left in Ndongo, now ruled by the Portuguese. Nzinga also reached out to the Dutch and invited them to join troops with her." By then, she had no other option but swift alliances, since Portugal constantly broke the deals and peaceful treaties she attempted to forge to protect her people. By 1627, the Queen

"[...] led her army against the Portuguese, initiating a thirty-year war against them. She exploited European rivalry by forging an alliance with the Dutch who had conquered Luanda in 1641. With their help, Nzinga defeated a Portuguese army in 1647. When the Dutch were in turn defeated by the Portuguese [...] Nzinga continued her struggle against the Portuguese. Now in her 60s she still personally led troops in battle. She also orchestrated guerilla attacks on the Portuguese which would continue long after her death and inspire the ultimately successful 20th century armed resistance against the Portuguese that resulted in independent Angola in 1975."

During this time of war against the Portuguese, Nzinga was

"respectful of priests when they were captured by her, and she permitted Portuguese prisoners and Christian Africans to have sacraments. Following the peace treaty of 1657, she became very pious, according to the Capuchin witnesses Gaeta and Cavazzi and Gaeta at least regarded her as a model Christian."

Afterwards, what we know as the result of this long time war against the Portuguese was, eventually, a deal with the Church in which she once again converted to Catholicism. A treaty with Portugal was signed but with no prospects of victory by the side of Nzinga, however resistant she was throughtout those long years she reigned as Queen of Ndongo and Matamba. Finally,

"This great African Amazon Warrior Queen died in 1663 fighting for her people at an old ripe age of eighty-one, which was followed by the massive expansion of the Portuguese slave trade."

Nzinga is until nowadays remembered as a political leader of strong personality who resisted Portugal's colonization which only ended in 1975. As already discussed, her deeds as warrior and sovereign inspired the next generations and left a mark in her country that should be remembered by historians still in our present days.

Bibliography:

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nzinga_of_Ndongo_and_Matamba

-https://afroetic.com/2011/11/19/who-was-queen-ann-nzingha-of-ndongo/

-http://www.tidridge.com/uploads/3/8/4/1/3841927/collapse_of_the_kingdom_of_kongo.pdf

-http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/anna-nzinga-mbande-fearless-africa-queen/

-http://www.blackpast.org/gah/queen-nzinga-1583-1663

-https://afrolegends.com/2013/03/18/queen-nzingha-great-queen-of-angola/

Ptolemy Lagides of Egypt: The General Who Founded A Dynasty (367-283/2 B.C)

On our previous post we have spoken of Cleopatra I of Egypt, based in our guiding question concerning the ancestor of Cleopatra VII. This curiosity, however, led us to the idea of going further in finding out, or at least in proposing a discussion, about the royals that ruled Ancient Egypt and who left their marks in History.

Having that in mind, Ptolemy Lagides the first of the Ptolemaic Dynasty is the subject of the post today. It's true that he is best reminded for fathering a dynasty whose most famous member is the already mentioned Cleopatra VII, and for being the general who well served Alexander the Great. But what can it be said of his deeds? What was his legacy to Egypt?  

In truth, we know nothing regarding Ptolemy's childhood or his education. Even about his parents there is not much certainty about their identity. What we can tell, following the bibliography here consulted, is that he was possibly related to the Macedonian  Argead dynasty. As we can see below:

"Ptolemy's mother was Arsinoe of Macedon, and while his father is unknown, ancient sources variously describe him either as the son of Lagus, a Macedonian nobleman, or as an illegitimate son of Philip II of Macedon (which, if true, would have made Ptolemy the half-brother of Alexander), but it is possible that this is a later myth fabricated to glorify the Ptolemaic dynasty. Ptolemy was one of Alexander's most trusted generals, and was among the seven somatophylakes (bodyguards) attached to his person. He was a few years older than Alexander and had been his intimate friend since childhood."

In the next paragraph, there seems more certainty regarding Ptolemy's life by bringing another perspective, though not very different from the one before:

"Ptolemy was the son of the nobleman Lagus, a native of the Macedonian district of Eordaea whose family was undistinguished until Ptolemy's time, and of Arsinoe, who was related to the Macedonian Argead dynasty. He was probably educated as a page at the royal court of Macedonia, where he became closely associated with Alexander. He was exiled in 337, along with other companions of the crown prince. When he returned, after Alexander's accession to the throne in 336, he joined the King's bodyguard, took part in Alexander's European campaigns of 336-335, and in the fall of 330 was appointed personal bodyguard [...] to Alexander [...]"

What had led him to exile, however? It seems that Ptolemy, after Alexander's father defeated the Greeks, 

"advised Alexander to invernet in a marriage alliance concluded by Philip between his son Arridaeus and the daughter of the satrap of Caria, Pixodarus. The result of Alexander's intervention was a disaster and the Macedonian king ordered Ptolemy to give his advise henceforth outside Macedonia. The exiled man did not return until Alexander hd become king in the autumn of 336"

Following this misguided event, Ptolemy's military career however began to scalate when he directly participated in the situations described next:

"In this capacity he captured the assassin of Darius III, the Persian emperor, in 329. He was closely associated with Alexander during the advance through the Persian hughland. As a result of Ptolemy's successful military performance on the way from Bactria (in northeastern Afghanistan) to the Indus River (327-325), he became commander (trierarchos) of the Macedonian fleet on the Hydaspes (modern Jhelum in India). Alexander decorated him several times for his deeds and married him to the Persian Artacama at the mass wedding at Susa, the Persian capital, which was the crowning event of Alexander's policy of merging the Macedonian and Iranian populations."

For Ptolemy, the apparent genuine loyalty he showed Alexander now collected it's fruits in a surprising twist of destiny. Although we cannot know his personal thoughts about the events of his personal and public life, by his actions we understand he was a man who comprehended and absorbed well how the world worked back then. He was ambitious and intelligent and he did used well of his marriages, though we have nothing that can confirm if a sentiment of affection was felt by both parts at the time he married his wives throughout his lifetime.

Whatever happened to his first wife, probably being sent away, his next one was an Egyptian one. This was a sign of Ptolemy's attempt to court the "local population", and the beginning in what would be his "conquest" to Egypt. But, before we get there, we must get back to what had happened after Alexander the Great's death and the consequences that led Ptolemy directly to Egypt.

As we know, and as it has previously been discussed in the former paragraphs, Ptolemy was a great commander under Alexander III's military battles and conquests. His skills in battlefields, as well as with strategies, were very formidable and it is no wonder how Ptolemy soon became a general under the said king's command. He was, as we said before, very loyal to Alexander. As a result, with the support of Philip III Arrhidaeus and the infant Alexander IV, Ptolemy "through the Partition of Babylon, he was appointed satrap of Egypt [...]; the former satrap, the Greek Cleomenes, stayed on as his deputy."

Also,

"By custom, kings in Macedonia asserted their right to the throne by burying their predecessor. Probably because he wanted to pre-empt Perdiccas, the imperial regent, from staking his claim in his way, Ptolemy took great pains in acquiring the body of Alexander the Great, placing it temporarily in Memphis, Egypt. Ptolemy then openly joined the coalition against Perdiccas".

It seems that Perdiccas suspected of Ptolemy's ambition in having the Egypt's throne for himself and began to provide measures to prevent this to happen. Therefore, 

"In 321 BC, Perdiccas attempted to invade Egypt only to fall at the hands of his own men. Ptolemy's decision to defend the Nile against Perdiccas's attempt to force it ended in fiasco for Perdiccas, with the loss of 2000 men. This failure was a fatal blow to Perdiccas' reputation, and he was murdered in his tent by two of his subordinates. Ptolemy immediately crossed the Nile, to provide supplies to what had the day before been an enemy army. Ptolemy was offered the regency in place of Perdiccas; but he declined. Ptolemy was consistent in his policy of securing a power base, while never succumbing to the tempation of risking all to succeed Alexnader."

During this period where he managed to hold Egypt under his control, Ptolemy went to war. As a result, he occupied regions as Cyrenaica, Cyrupus, Syria and the province of Judea. He prevented Antigonus One-Eye, master of Asia's ambition to extent too far by joining a coalition against him. Revolts as one that happened in Cyrence were subdued. After all this, must be added that he won over the Egypt population, and this can possibly be related to the marriage with his second wife, though the match did not last too soon for Ptolemy remarried a third time, this time to Berenice, granddaughter of Cassander, son of Antipater.

"After naming himself king, Ptolemy's first concern was the continuing war with Antigonus, which was now focused on the island of Rhodes. In 1304 Ptolemy aided the inhabitants of Rhodes against Antigonus and was accorded the divine title Soter (Saviour), which he was commonly called from that time. The dissolution of Alexander's empire was brought to a close with the battle near Ipsus in Asia Minor in 301."

Though wars is what we know best of Ptolemy, where his rule as Egypt's pharaoh, a title which he attributed himself, is concerned, we can observe a swift change of policies. Ptolemy opted for peace treaties through marriages he arranged for his daughters in alliances that brought him wisely more benefit than going to wars as he did in the past. In addition, 

"In 290 he made his wife Berenice queen of Egypt and in 285 (possibly on June 26) appointed his younger son Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who was born to Berenice in 308, co-regent and successor. The provision for the succession, which was based on examples from the time of the pharaohs, made possible a peaceful transition when Ptolemy died in the winter of 283-282."

In the next paragraph, we have a better comprehension of Ptolemy's legacy for Egypt as we see below:

"Ptolemy won over the Egyptians through the establishment in Memphis of the Serapis cult, which fused the Egyptian and Greek religions; through restoration of the temples of the pharaohs, which had been destryoed by the Persians; and through gifts to the ancient Egyptian gods and patronage of the Egyptian nobility and priesthood. [...] He founded the Museum (Mouseion), a common workplace for scholars and artists, and established the famous library at Alexandria. Besides being a patron of the arts and sciences, he was a writer himself. In the last few years of his life Ptolemy wrote a generally reliable history of Alexander's campaigns. Although it is now lost, it can be largely reconstructed through the extensive use made of it later by the historian Arrian."

Some even might say that Ptolemy supported a mathematician named Euclid, "but found Euclid's seminal work the Elements too difficult to study, so he asked if there were an easier way to master it." In terms of his character, Ptolemy was 

"Shrew and cautious, [...] had a compact and well-ordered realm to show at the end of forty years of war. His reputation for bonhomie and liberality attached the floating soldier-class of Macedonians and other Greeks to his service [...];  nor did he wholly neglect conciliation of the natives. He was a ready patron of letters, founding the Great Library of Alexandria."

As a heritance to the next generations, Ptolemy, who rose very high from a general to one of the greatest conquerors History came to know to a king whose dynasty would far from being left behind Alexander III's own deeds (though not always by comparable acts of geniously warfare state) left a military state, sometimes perceptible in "iron" managements. His son and grandson would be obliged to deal with wars to foreign kingdoms, but his dynasty would endure for the next three centuries.

Finally, it can be said that

"The early Ptolemies were occupied with the economic exploitation of Egypt, but, because of the lack of first-hand information, the details of Ptolemy's participation in the process cannot be determined. It is certain, however, that discrimination against the Egyptians took place during his reign. The only town he founded was Ptolemais in Upper Egypt. He probably placed Macedonian military commanders alongside the Egyptian provincial administrators and intervened unobtrusively in legal and financial affairs. In order to regulate the latter, he introduced coinage, which until that time was unknown in Egypt."

Bibliography: 

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_I_Soter

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ptolemy-I-Soter

-http://www.livius.org/articles/person/ptolemy-i-soter/

-https://upclosed.com/people/ptolemy-i-soter/

-https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Ptolemy-I-Soter2-Rise-to-Power.pdf