Blanche de Castille, Queen Of France (1188 – 1252): Mother Of Saints, Consort Of A King And Twice Regent Of France

If previously we have brought to discussion the life and deeds of Louis VIII of France, from the Capét dynasty, this time we intend to do the same with his wife, Queen Blanche. This formidable woman, responsible for the first effectively regency of France (we have female examples before her own days, that included of the already discussed here Adhélaide d'Aquitaine, consort of the first Capét king of France, Hugh, who had been herself a regent on behalf of her son though for some brief time) without contest, has been overshadowed by other regent queens of days after her own as the just equally formidable Queen Catherine de' Médici and the mother of Louis XIV, Queen Anne d'Autriche. But those mentioned women much owe to Blanche not only in matters of queenship but that of motherhood as an effective instrument of power as we will see next.

We ought to have in mind as we discuss queenship in the 12th and 13th centuries that this was a male dominant world, but this did not necessarily mean that women were completely excluded of power. Blanche is, naturally, the example we intend to study but before her we can mention her own grandmother, Eleanor d'Aquitaine, and even her mother, Eleanor of England, Queen of Castille. Philippe Augustus's own mother can be cited as somewhat powerful woman too, once he left her as co-regent of the realm of France as he went to crusades. Those queens certainly were a good example for Blanche in terms of queenship and we will see why. Bearing that idea in mind, we ask ourselves: who was Blanche de Castille? And what was her importance not only as Queen of France but as a Queen within a time where wars were waged and religion had its greatest expression in dominance?

We must, naturally, follow the course from the beginning. Blanche, named Blanca in Spanish language, was born in Palencia, Castille in the year of 1188. Some bibliographies here consulted claim that she was born precisely on 4 March of that year. She was the third daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castille and Eleanor of England, who was one of the daughters of King Henry II of England and his consort, Eleanor d'Aquitaine, whom she was named after. By the time she was 11 years old, Blanche was suggested as a bride for the Dauphin of France, our future Louis VIII, as part of the treaty conducted by her maternal uncle, King John of England, to make peace relations with King Philippe Augustus of France. There's a story, however, that tells us that it was not Blanche the intended bride for the future king of France, but her sister Urraca was offered as the Dauphine-to-be then and that when the 80-year-old Queen Eleanor went to Castille to pick up her granddaughter and take her to France, she decided that Blanche had a proper personality fit to be the future Queen of France. If that is true or not, we have no confirmations, but the fact is that the aging Eleanor d'Aquitaine indeed travelled to Castille to bring Blanche back to England and then to France where the marriage would occur.

As it was the case with Louis VIII, we have little information regarding Blanche's childhood and early youth until her marriage with the heir of France. Even then we speculate that she must have had an education fit for a future Queen since her sisters, who were all to be Queens of Castille, Aragon and Portugal were known for their brightness in dealing with politics of the realms they were to serve as consorts to the kings they were married to. 

On that order, as formerly mentioned: 

"Her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of England, traveled to Spain to take the 11-year-old Blanche to France, where a marriage treaty was concluded with Louis, the young son of King Philip II Augustus. This politically motivated marriage had been arranged by Blanche's uncle, King John of England, and was celebrated in 1200 at Portsmouth, Hampshire. It represented only a brief truce in the struggle between England and France for control over certain French territories."

Furthemore,

"From soon after the time she was married, to the time she served as regent of France, she bore twelve children, but only five made it to adulthood. She and her husband ruled France beginning in 1223 until he died in 1226, leaving Blanche regent of France and guardian of their children. The oldest male was Louis IX and within three weeks of his father's death, Blanche had Louis IX crowned in order to secure his position and her influence over French politics. Because Louis was a minor, Blanche maintained a lot of influence over his actions and studies, something that was highly recommended by contemporaries. In fact, when Louis VIII made her regent of France, he did so with little explanation because there was a widespread belief that good government was continued by the help and guidance from mothers who advise their young kingsons."

Before we proceed to her regency during the minority period of her son's rule, we must remember her deeds during her time as Dauphine of France and before rising to become Queen of France. When the truce between France and England, initially arranged from the moment Blanche was married to Louis, seemed to end, the French got involved in the First Baron's War that occurred in England during the late reign of King Philip Augustus and King John, as we have properly explained it upon discussing Louis' direct involvement on it. As for Blanche's part on the English civil war that involved the French's nobility, we can say that she used her right to the throne of England to instigate her husband in claiming it, and when her father-in-law the  king refused to aid any further his son's quest, she seemed to threat to use her own children as hostages if necessary. Following the paragraph below, a statement will give us a better perception upon the mentioned scenary:

"During the English barons' rebellion of 1215-16 against King John, it was Blanche's English ancestry as granddaughter to King Henry II that led to Louis being offered the throne of England as Louis I. However, with the death of John in October 1216, the barons changed their allegiance to John's son, the nine-year-old Henry.

Louis  continued to claim the English crown in her right, only to find a united nation against him. Philip Augustus refused to help his son, and Blanche was his sole support. Blanche raised money from her father-in-law by threatening to put up her children as hostages. She established herself at Calais and organized two fleets, one of which was commanded by Eustace the Monk, and an army under Robert I, Latin Emperor. [...] On 24 August, the English fleet destroyed the French fleet carrying those reinforcements off Sandwich and Louis was forced to sue for peace."

We can perceive from this statement what kind of spirit Blanche had and this warrior-like type would continue to be her strenght even afterwards. Unfortunately, we do not have records that tell us about the brief period in which she reigned as Queen consort, but afterwards as regent, a period that is now to be discussed.

It's important to recollect that by the time Louis IX became King of France he was a minor and not all of France's nobility was under control as it has been already discussed during the three years of Louis VIII's reign. Therefore, it's no surprise to see why the Queen Dowager was quick in making her son crowned: not only this political move was to prevent any rebellion from the French barons, but also to remind them of a dynastic continuity with his coronation, which took place three weeks after Louis VIII's death at the Reims cathedral, as well with her regency. This strenght we have mentioned earlier is perceptible here:

"[...] In his discussion of the long tradition of female regents in France, historian André Poulet indicates something of the breadth of her 'absolute power' as queen-regent when it was her turn to take up the role: she 'legislated, dealt with foreign powers, waged wars, arranged marriages'. 'In short', he concludes, she 'imposed herself as sovereign of the realm.'."

In addition to what has already been stated,

"Blanche showed herself by turns a delicate diplomat, a clever negotiator, and a strong leader. Dressed in white, on a white palfrey draped in the same colour, she rode into battle at the head of her troops. After an attempted abduction of the young king, Blanche did not hesitate to replace rebel noble associates with commoners if she thought it necessary. She also created local militias. Blanche was gradually able to subdue the revolt, establish a new truce with England, and, in 1229, pacify the south of France by signing the Treaty of Paris with Raymond VII, count of Toulouse. France then entered an era of domestic stability, which saw the construction of many cathedrals throughtout the country."

These political tacts in which, as we could see, she was quite successful has another motive which aided in the turn of such good deeds. Few medievalists consider motherhood as an political instrument as Madeline Fine successfully did when writing her article entitled as "Blanche of Castille and the role of the Queen-Regent." She tells us that:

"The reiteration of Blanche abiding by her motherly role reinforces the notion that motherhood was a source of political power for women of the royalty. This use of gender to not only produce children, but also oversee their education and upbringing, establishes an even stronger correlation between a mother and her children. In other words, the guidance of one's royal children gave mothers an outlet of political power. Blanche and other royal women made sure they gave their children the best and most informed upbringings possible so that their children could successfully lead and protect their lands.

In Blanche's role of overseeing her son's education, she can trust that he will lead a good government, but still count on her if he needs advice. [...] During her son's minority, Blanche had to deal with French baronial opposition that came about as a result of her late husband's military expedition to England. She worked endlessly to prove to them her dedication to French interests and not those abroad, while also demonstrating her ability to deal with and convince opposing barons to fulfill their responsibilities to the crown. During his minority, Louis depended very heavily on his mother for guidance."

That being said, motherhood became an instrument of power as much as her piety. She uses both to create an image that links her to Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, since she sees herself as a mother who looks after the interests of her son... and her regency proofs this. At the same time, however, we see that, like most women in power during those days, before and after, she had to masculinize herself in some degree to earn some respect. However, it was justly this motherhood that helps her to stablish herself on power and as such, as we will see, marks were left under her government.

One of these came after her son came out of age and was ready to take the reins of the govern himself, but, as he depended of his mother, it was Blanche the responsible for finding him a wife. The next Queen of France was Margaret of Provence and that marriage, despite being a political match that eventually became a love one, marked essentially the end of her regency. So Fine states that:

"In watching over her son's interests and creating political alliances, Blanche selected Marguerite of Provence to be Louis's wife. It is postulated that this marriage marked the end of her first term as regent of France, and despite the switch of power her influence over him did not change, but lasted her lifetime. Louis had her join him in council meetings, meet with foreign ambassadors, write letters to citizens of cities requesting their fidelity, and even trusted her to guide him in matters of justice, policy and piety. According to Murphy, 'Blanche was held up as a model of queenship and late medieval writers put a strong emphasis on the mediatory role she had with her son'. So much so that several councils across the kingdom referenced her in their entries as an example of the model queen for French queens to emulate in the centuries to come."

Underneath these flatteries, however, not all was perfect. Her relationship with her daughter-in-law was very terrible, to say the least. Blanche dismissed any relative or friend to the new Queen and tried to prevent her son to meet her as much as she could. In spite of this meddling, Margaret and Louis managed to have at least nine children. It also appears that another motive for their rivalry concerned the former Queen's vanity:

"The queen mother, who was growing old and beginning to miss her once-famous Castilian beauty, could not see without some sadness this young, so beautiful, so living a queen, attracting to her the poets of the new generation and ravishing their praises to her."

Whether this was true or not, what is more important is that Blanche was recalled to be regent of the country once more when her son, accompanied with his wife, Queen Margaret, departed for another crusade.

"Although she opposed his crusading venture, Blanche again assumed her role as regent of France. After her son was captured in 1250, she added the job of raising his ransom to her responsibilities as regent."

In addition, Fine explains:

 "According to Miriam Shadis' essay, 'Blanche of Castile' and Fracinger's 'Medieval Queenship: Reassessing the Argument', Blanche's proeminence in her second term as regent was shown in the negotiations surrounding the Treaty of Vendome. This treaty secured tentative peace with her opponent, Pierre Mauclerc, who was known for holding the title of Duke of Brittany for his son Jean. This treaty arranged the marriage of Pierre's daughter Yolanda, with Blanche's son Jean.

She also arranged the marriages of her daughter Isabelle and son Alphonse with a son and daughter of Hugh de Lusignan and Isabelle of Angouleme. These treaties were vital in pacifying some of Blanche's strongest opponents. These marital treaties served as political strategies because it gained her important time in securing the realm for her son while he way away. [...] This goes to show how Blanche's tactical planning was recognized and respected for her dedication to her son and his realm was unwavering.[...]".

By that time, Blanche had, doubtless, established a model of queenship that would be followed by her successors to some extent. Motherhood, upon analyzing the role of the consorts of the French throne, was very positive instrument, specially when so closely linked to religion as Blanche did. Her deeds give us an image of a loving, caring but equally energetic and fearless queen who would do all that was in her power to protect the interests of her adoptive realm. Regardless of her English and Spanish relations, Blanche would prove to be a trustful queen who defended the interests of her subjects above her own and that of her relatives. She thus became French by far then merely by marrying the French king.

Collecting success and a few failures, she was, as we could see from what was left in History, a successful Queen, mother and wife who followed the footsteps of her maternal grandparents, certainly inheriting her brightness and political tact from her grandmother Eleanor d'Aquitaine and her strenght and belief in her honest conduct, if not her own temper, from her English grandfather, the first king of the Plantagenet line, Henry II.

To close this memorable woman's History, we leave you with this paragraph below:

"Although weakened by a heart ailment, Blanche did not neglect her obligations as a regent. Continuing to preside over council meetings, she signed laws and watched over the poor of Paris. When some of the poor were mistreated by the cathedral chapter, she herself rode, as formerly, to open the gates to their prison. On her way to the Abbey of the Lys, one of her favourite retreats, Blanche suffered an attack of the heart, ailment that was to take her life. She was returned to the palace of the Louvre, dressed in a nun's habit, and laid on a bed of hay. There, after begging forgiveness of all and having received the last sacraments, she died. She was buried at Maubuisson Abbey and her heart taken to the Abbey of the Lys."

In spite of all her political and religious heritances that have been told, it is mostly important to recollect that two of her children who outlived infancy were to be canonized after their deaths, one becoming the patron of the kings of France, St Louis (King Louis IX), and the other praised as saint by the franciscan order, St Isabelle (the same Isabelle who was betrothed to one of the sons of Hugh X of Luisignan, she refused so in order to remain virgin, but she never became a nun, though). Perhaps that is her greatest contribution to the spiritual world. May History remember always this formidable woman that was Blanche de Castille, Queen of France.

Bibliography:

-http://expositions.bnf.fr/francoisIer/grand/fra_058.htm

-http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/IR/00/01/03/14/00001/ReadingPowerintheSources.pdf

-https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/706.html

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

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Blanche-of-Castile-wife-of-Louis-VIII

-https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/blanche-of-castile/queens-regent-blanche-castile/

-https://www.monstrousregimentofwomen.com/2015/03/blanche-of-castile-following-in-her.html

-https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/woman/77.html

-https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-did-eleanor-go-get-blanche-castile-for-who-did-81755

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabelle_of_France_(saint)

King Louis VIII: The Lion Of France (1187-1226)

On today's post we intend to turn our eyes back to the French monarchy, which hasn't been very on the center of our debates lately. In order to change that, we go back to another member of the Capet dynasty, aside of the previous subjects Philippe IV and Adhélaide d'Aquitaine, whose name is Louis, being the eighth of his name to rule France. Despite being overshadowed by his father and his son's deeds, we intend nonetheless to attempt to bring this character to the light in order to propose a further discussion regarding his character. 

Louis was the only son of Philippe II of France and his first wife, Isabelle of Hainault. Not much is known regarding his education and infancy, but what is known about his youth is that he was married to Blanche of Castille after rumorous of betrothal to Arthur of Brittany's sister. Blanche in turn was the granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and afterwards of England. Curiously is that by the time Blanche and Louis were married, King John of England was the one responsible in working for the match alongside the French king, Philippe Augustus. Once the marriage occurred, Eleanor of Aquitaine, by the time she was 80, herself went to Castille to pick her granddaughter and take her to Paris. The event, so it seemed, was successful and there were reports that claimed the two were besotted for each other.

But what other record concerning Louis's actions as Dauphin of France (title used to the heirs of the French crown) regards him as the main opposition to the Angevin crown, that is, when the first Baron's War ecloded (the one which the English Barons struggle against King John in what had become a civil war, which had as a result the Magna Carta), he held the support of the said Barons as an alternative as monarch in contrast to King John. What went wrong was that those Barons switched the support towards the French prince for King John's heir, King Henry III, whose regency was being held by the Englishman William Marshall. And following the natural dislike the English held for the French, they opposited their own choice by supporting one of their keen, even though most did so under the threats of being excommunicated. The next paragraphs will corroborate the ideas we have explained:

"When the barons of England rebelled against John in 1216, Louis was offered the throne. Blanche was the next in line for the throne, if John and his line were defeated, being the daughter of John's sister Eleanor. In May 1216, Louis was named King of England, however he was not crowned. After capturing Windsor in June of 1216, Louis controlled over half of the English Kingdom. The fact that the barons had been supporting a French prince as their potential King shows their extreme dislike of King John. However it is not surprising that the barons deserted Louis after John's death and the regents of Henry III took over; the English nobles would have preferred a boy king who was being aided by William the Marshall to a foreinger who most likely would have given titles and land to his fellow Frenchmen. Louis was beaten both at Lincoln and off the coast of Sandwich, which resulted in the Treaty of Kingston in September of 1217. The English agreed to grant amnesty to all the barons who had fought with the French, and to restore their lands and possessions. They also had to pay Louis ten thousand marks since he had used all of his funds in the invasion. Louis in return had to remove all his troops from England and renounce his claims to the throne."

It all seemed, firstly, that England would be conquered by Louis VIII, a perspective that would almost bring back to France the old concept of empire so long launched by Charlemagne had it been successful. But, as it has been said on the paragraph before, the sudden exchanging of sides certainly made impossible this perspective to become real.

In addition,

"With the Earl of Pembroke acting as regent, a call for the English "to defend our land" against the French led to a reversal of fortunes on the battlefield. After his army was beaten at the Battle of Lincoln on 20 May 1217 and his naval forces were defeated at the Battle of Sandwich on 24 August 1217, Louis was forced to make peace on English terms. In 1216 and 1217, Prince Louis also tried to conquer Dover Castle, but without success."

That being said, we can tell that it was not the failure that earned Louis the nickname of "the lion of France". He was a brave warrior during his days as prince of France and even afterwards, having collected a few victories on the battlefield and outside of it.

Moving forward, then, we come accross with his ascension as King of France on July 14, 1223, being crowned in Reims Cathedral on August 6 of the same year. So how can we describe his reign as sovereign of France when he was king for only three years?

"One of his first acts as King was prohibiting the recording of debts related to Usury in an attempt to resolve the problems that resulted in this practice, both in Church and State courts."

Furthemore,

"One of the most significant events of Louis's reign was the continuation of the Albigensian Crusade under his command. Before his intervention, the Cathars had been winning victories and taking back control of parts of southwestern France. His decision to support the crusade against the southern barons was influenced by his hopes of enforcing royal rights."

As we may perceive, Louis was forced to deal directly with aristocracts that, likewise in England, held greater power in their own duchies in opposition to the crown. Hence why this inner crusade was found necessary. One of these oppositors, Raymond VIII, Count of Toulouse, was greatly damaged by making himself an enemy of the Crown, though Blanche of Castille would interfere in order to unite both families in marriage.

Nonetheless, aside of these political aspects, there are, naturally, the religious ones, which are not entirely separated of the former one. We have a period of heresies following mainly the 11th and 13th centuries, which urged the Pope to insist that the crusades should be addressed to such enemies, who were clearly not true christians in his view, instead of a bloodshed being spent between two christian realms.

Unfortunately, however, without seeing the success of such crusade, Louis, the Lion of France, came to die of disentery on November 8, 1226. As it states below:

"At this time, most of the fortifications and towns surrendered without much resistance, however Avignon held out for about three months before being captured. Louis died of dysentery on November 8, 1226, before any decisive victory in the south was accomplished. His widow, Blanche of Castille, allowed the Crusade to continue for several years until finally offering Raymond a treaty in 1229. [...]" 

Following Louis' death, the crown of France was inherited by his son, Louis IX, who was to be known as St Louis in History and beyond. Above, the first picture on the left, you shall see a manuscript depicting Louis VIII's death and if there is any interest to know furthermore about such manuscripts, you shall find the link downwards.

Bibliography:

-http://mappinggothic.org/person/408

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

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-VIII

-http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/documentation/enlumine/fr/rechexperte_00.htm

A Protestant At The Court Of Louis XIV: The Story of Elisabeth-Charlotte, Princess of Palatinate And Duchess Of Orléans (1652-1722)

After writing about the formidable lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, King of England in late Middle Ages, it has crossed our minds the next topic to be discussed about. That we have come across of Élisabeth-Charlotte, the Princess of Palatinate who was related to many European royals and abroad was not stimulated by nothing else if not curiosity. 

When looking at the portraits as those selected above, we come to see some sense of duty, seriouness and most of all self consciousness of who she was displayed in her features. Those apparent characteristics set in us that curiosity which often motivate us to write on this blog. And as research have been made, another characteristic that came to our eyes, by primary sources or not, was that Élisabeth-Charlotte, also known as Madame and Liselotte, was mostly regarded as ugly not only by herself but by her contemporaries and how peculiar was her personality if compared to what was expected for someone of such a position at the court of the king of France, Louis XIV. 

And why was she was held in this regard during those days? What can be inferred from a foreigner who was obliged to leave her homeland to a different country with different culture, habits to marry a man she never knew until the moment she was not merely the princess of the Palatinate, but Madame, the Duchess of Orléans? Instigated by these questions, we attempt not only to give them some answer but to enlight this overshadowed figure who is not often discussed within royalty subject. 

Princess Élisabeth-Charlotte (German: Pfalzprinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte) was born on 27 May 1652 in Heidelberg Castle. She received this name after her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Stuart (also another topic of this blog), known as the Winter Queen and who was the only surviving daughter of James VI of Scotland and I of England; and Charlotte was after her mother, Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel. Charlotte was married to Charles-Louis, Elector of the Palatinate, with whom she had an unhappy marriage, which in turn has constituted a complicated background to Liselotte, an affectionate nickname by which she would become known throughtout her life, grow.

"Her father, Charles-Louis, was that Elector of the Palatinate who was restored to his States by the Peace of Westphalia. From childhood Elisabeth-Charlotte was noted for her lively mind, and her frank, open, vigorous nature. Domestic peace had never reigned about the hearth of the Elector-Palatine; he had a mistress, whom he married by the left hand, and the mother of Elisabeth-Charlotte is accused of having caused the separation by her crabbed temper."

That way, by age five Elisabeth-Charlotte was sent to the household of her paternal aunt, Sophia, Electress of Hanover (mother of the King George I of Great Britain, about whom we have already discussed on this very same blog). Even in France, Liselotte was devoted to her aunt, writing long correspondences that can be found nowadays and which illustrate the court of Louis XIV. At her aunt's court, Liselotte developed a friendship with the future king of England, William III of Orange. In fact, as they grew and became fond of each other, it was Sophia herself who suggested the match. Charles-Louis (in German: Karl-Ludwig) refused, however, so Sophia had to look out for others. It is said that she was hoping to make Liselotte queen of England, but nothing would come of it until Liselotte was eighteen. 

History tells us that, after some pretenders, it was her aunt, Princess Anne Gonzaga (who was married to Sophia and Charles-Louis's brother and resided in France; she was also an intimate friend to the duke of Orléans, Philippe, styled Monsieur at French court) who came up with the idea of marrying the brother of Louis XIV of France, recently widowed (Henriette Anne of England and Scotland, youngest daughter of Charles I, who had lost his head in the English Civil War, had been raised in France and was married to her first cousin; however, the first Madame, for unknown causes, died and Louis XIV made clear that such position was vacant; in other words, that Philippe had to remarry. His deceased wife was also first cousin to Charles-Louis, once Elizabeth Stuart and King Charles had been siblings). But it was not until Liselotte was 19 years of age that she was told of the marriage. One of the main reasons for this to happen was that the princess of Palatinate had to convert to Catholicism, something she did so, although we will see that her Protestant education would not leave her even older. On that way, the princess was married to Philippe by proxy in 1671 and it was Anne of Gonzaga who presented the new duchess of Orléans to France.

"All that part of the life and youth of Madame would be curious and very useful to recover. 'I was too old', she says, 'when I came to France to change my character; the foundations were laid'. While subjecting herself with courage and resolution to the duties of her new position she kept her German tastes; she confesses them and proclaims them before all Versailles and all Marly; and the Court, then the arbiter of Europe, to which it set the tone, would certainly have been shocked if it had not preferred to smile."

It must be remembered, however, that Liselotte was a foreigner within a country whose perspectives of habits, culture and behaviour clearly differed from her home. She held a degree of liberty throughout all of her childhood and part of her youth, and we know that when she recollects the days where she used to eat her favourite fruits at early in the morning! She had a free spirit and enjoyed a life with few restrictions, to put that in words. This perspective is presented in the following paragraphs:

"The brisk air of Heidelberg is with her after fifty years' absence; and she speaks of it a few months before her death to the half-sister Louise, to whom she writes: 'There is not in all the world a better air than that of Heidelberg; above all, about the chateau where my apartment is; nothing better can be found.

In Germany, on the banks of [...] the Rhine, Elisabeth-Charlotte enjoyed the picturesque sites, her rambles through the forest, Nature left to herself, and also the spots of bougeois plenty amid the wilder environment.

"I love trees and fields more than the finest palaces, in a word, all that is natural is infinitely more to my taste than works or art or magnificence; the latter only please at first sight; as soon as one is accostomed to them they fatigue, and we care no more about them."

Hence why the difficulties of Liselotte in inserting herself according to the padrons already determined at the French court. It must be considered, as we have mentioned previously, that she was a foreign in a stranger place for her. That is why she holds dear until her last days memories of her childhood. Even after marriage, she continued to make comparisons between old and new habits, tastes, food and behaviour. 

According to a more sociologically approach, such actions are explained due to the difficulty of a foreigner in settling according to another society's padrons. The need for the outsider to translate that society's culture, social rules and behaviour to their own language, society's standards is an instrument to smooth all the obstacles present to be included amongst the society of which the foreigner is seen as outsider. There are expectations from both sides when this happens, for the "other side", in which can be seen as Louis XIV's court, expects the outsider, here in the figure of Liselotte, to have learned all that is needed to be learned (as language, costumes, etc) in order to form a social relationship. Had Liselotte not been able to keep up with the court, despite the difficulties she still found in her French life (she disliked coffee, tea and chocolate, not rarely criticizing the court for doing so), it was likely she would not have even managed to conquer the king himself's affection and laterwards that of her husband's. The estrangement is a process of which the outsider goes through before naturalizing the rules of a society they expect to be soon a member. With Liselotte, this was not different.

Finally, we procceed with her marriage to Philippe I, duke of Orléans as we see it in the following quote:

"On 16 November 1671, she was married by proxy at Metz to Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. By prearrangement, after leaving her father's realm but prior to arriving in France, she formally converted to Roman Catholicism. The arranged marriage was conceived by the bride's aunt, Anna Gonzaga, a close friend of her future husband and his deceased first wife, who negotiated the marriage contract, including the secret Catholic instruction and subsequent public conversion of the fiancée. At the French court, her husband Philippe was known by the traditional honorific of Monsieur. 

As his wife, Elisabeth Charlotte assumed the style of Madame. Elisabeth Charlotte was very close to her two stepdaughters Marie Louise and Anne Marie. When Marie Louise left France to marry Charles II of Spain in 1679, Liselotte accompanied her to Orléans." 

Her relationship with Philippe is difficult to explain. She did not seem to mind Philippe's preferences over male companies. She in fact lacked a certain vanity that was once so characteristic in her predecessor, which apparently made easier to deal with his feminility in wearing her jewels, even though it's said that he was the one to dress her in certain occasions. 

Whatever were their thoughts about their marriage (it has been suggested that Philippe claimed "How am I supposed to share a bed with her?" when he first lied his eyes on Liselotte), the fact is that they did not neglect their duties and managed to produce three children, of whom only two survived childhood. Those would be Philippe II, duke of Orléans, and Elisabeth Charlotte, duchess of Lorraine. Philippe II, his father's heir, would become regent on behalf of Louis XV and his sister would be the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, father of the next French Queen Marie Antoinette. It was after Elisabeth Charlotte's birth that Liselotte and Philippe agreed in more bedding. 

Apparently, Philippe's mignons saw in Liselotte a figure of rivalry and the Chevalier, his most famous associated lover, not rarely credited the duchess for things she did not do. It took a few years before they made peace and Philippe take notice of the truth. In fact, Liselotte claimed that their last years had been good and that she was growing accostumed to be happy when the Lord took Monsieur away. However complicated their relationship might have been, Philippe's second marriage is seen by most historians and specialists as his most successful relationship (at least if compared to the former madame, the British princess Henriette Anne Stuart).

Expanding her relations to another sphere, we come to wonder what was Liselotte's relationship with the court? As an attempt to comprehend it better, here's a quote of "The Correspondence Of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother Of The Regent; Marie-Adelaide De Savoie, Duchesse De Bourgogne And Of Madame De Maintenon, In Relation To Saint-Eve", written by Katherine Prescott Wormeley:

"In France she was particularly fond of residing at Saint-Cloud, where she enjoyed Nature with greater liberty. At Fontainebleau she often walked out on foot and went a league through the forest. On her arrival in France and first appearance at Court, she told her physician when presented to her that "she did not need him; she had never been bled or purged, and when she did not feel well she always walked six miles on foot, which cured her." Mme de Sévigné, who relates this, seems to conclude, with the majority of the Court, that the new Madame was overcome with her grandeur and spoke like a person who is not accostumed to such surroundings. Mme de Sevigné is mistaken; Madame was in no degree overcome by her greatness. She felt herself born for the high rank of Monsieur's wife and would have felt in her right place, if higher still".

This sentiment of which she acknowledges herself fit for the role of duchess of Orléans, if not, as the author has mentioned, a higher rank, is likely explained by her education in Germany under supervision of her aunt, Sophia, Electress of Hannover. Therefore, by the time Madame de Maintenon comes to court as second wife of the King is a shock to this woman full of passions, sincere, gentle but also with prejudices where hierarchies are concerned. The nature of this rivalry, which contains a particularly amusing story where Madame de Maintenon discovers a letter which was written by Liselotte to her aunt Sophia calling Françoise d'Aubigné all names possible and how the latter showed the former this correspondence written by her own hand resulting in an awkward situation for Liselotte, (which was, naturally, taken with horror by the proud Madame, who afterwards apologized and attempted to form a closer relationship to Maintenon for the sake of her own relationship with her brother-in-law, but this never came to nothing and the two women were rivals once more), is seen on the paragraph below:

"Madame, natural, frank, letting her feelings willingly escape her, liking to pour them out, often in excess beyond themselves and observing no caution, could not away with the cold procedure, prudent, cautious, mysterious, polite and unassailable, of a person whom she attributed a thousand schemes blacker and deeper than those of hell.

She disliked her [Mme de Maintenon] for little things and disliked her for great ones. She supposed that it was Mme de Maintenon who, in concert with Père de La Chaise, had plotted and carried through the persecution of the Reformers; in this she was not only human, but she found herself once more a little of a Calvinist or a Lutheran with a touch of the old leaven; she thought close at hand what the refugees in Holland were writing from afar. 

She believed she saw in Mme de Maintenon a Tartuffe in a sage-coloured gown. And besides--another grievance almost as serious!--if there was no longer any etiquette at Court, if ranks were no longer preserved and defined, Mme de Maintenon was the cause of it.  

'There is no longer a Court in France', she writes, 'and it is the fault of the Maintenon, who, finding that the king would not declare her queen, was determined there should be no more great functions, and has persuaded the young dauphine [the Duchesse de Bourgogne] to stay in her, Mme de Maintenon's rooms, where there is no distinction of rank or dignity. Under pretext of its being a game, the old woman has induced the dauphine and the princesses to wait upon her at her toilet and meals; she has even persuaded them to hand her the dishes, change her plates, and pour what she drank. Everything is topsy-turvy, and none of them know their right place nor what they are. I have never mixed myself up in all that: when I go to see the lady I place myself close to her niche in an armchair, and I never help her either at her meals or her toilet. Some persons have advided me to do as the dauphone and the princesses do, but I answer: 'I was never brought up to do servile things, and I am too old to play childish games'. Since then no one has has said anything more about it.' 

This last account written decades later after Monsieur's death leaves us some reflection upon what was her role within the court. Despite her rivalry with Maintenon, she still held some friends dear to her that Monsieur had dismissed, but that once she was a widow, they returned to meet. It is important to notice that, even after the initial difficulties in setting at Louis XIV's court, she was now a part of it. And this is clear by her relationship with him, since she was the one, as written in her letters, that he trusted to speak that to others he could not voice out loud. After all, Liselotte was not mindful in speaking her own thoughts.

"The role that Madame conceived for herself in France was that of preserving her native country from the horrors of war, and of being useful to it in the different schemes which agitated the Court of France and might in the end overthrow it. In this she failed; and the failure was to her a poignant grief. She was even made the innocent cause of fresh disasters to the land she loved when, on the death of her father and her brother (who left no children), Louis XIV set up a claim to the Palatinate on her account.

Instead of bringing pledges and guarantees of peace, she found herself a pretext and a means of war. The devastation and the too famous incendiarism of the Palatinate which the struggles of ambition brought about caused her inexpressible grief." 

In her letters to her half-sisters, Liselotte mentions her sorrow about her incapacity in preventing her homeland, whose memories she cherishes with the most affection, to be plagued by the ambitions of the crown. She was no fool, though she cared much about Louis XIV, Liselotte in her letters writes how aware she is with his actions, that, for example, religion is merely an excuse for politicals doings. This she makes more clear during the polemic of Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes, an act done by his grandfather Henri IV (and the first of the House of Bourbon) to grant peace to Catholics and Protestants after the turbulent wars of religion. 

Despite these differences, however, she had become, as we have mentioned, a part of the court. After all, "when she arrived in France at the age of nineteen no one expected all this. The Court was filled with memories and regrets for the late Madame, the amiable Henrietta, snatched away in the bloom of her charm and grace."

However the improves it might have felt upon Liselotte, in spite of all differences, critics and all the life at court she participated in, on 9 June 1701, her husband, circa 60 years of age, died of a stroke at Saint-Cloud. She seemed to have grieved his death genuinely, but was also preoccupied with her condition now that she was a widow. As seen below:

"After her husband's death, Elisabeth Charlotte feared that the king would send her to a convent, as stipulated in her marriage contract. Instead she was confronted with secretly-made excerpts of her all-too-candid letters to correspondents abroad. She was warned to change her attitude toward Madame de Maintenon.

She remained welcome at court. She was allowed to keep her apartments at all the royal residences and retained her rank. From her husband, she inherited 40,000 livres a year. Louis XIV added 250, 000 livres, and her son promised her another 200, 000."

So arises the question, despite being aware of the cust of her life, how did she proceed with the French court after the death of Monsieur? We have already discussed about her rivalry with Mme de Maintenon, her relationship with the King, but even so, remains this question to comprehend the extent of her character we've been analyzing this far. She, who was a free spirit and was caged for some time in a marriage of convenience, was once again freed of duties towards her husband. And although we have no information of her children during these days, we ought to think they might have been already married. 

"The life that Madame led at the Court of France varied, necessarily, during the fifty and one years that she spent there; she could not live at the age of sixty as she had done at twenty. But at all times, before and after the death of Monsieur, she had managed to make for herself a retreat and a sort of solitude, The exaggerated and incongrous sides of Madame's nature being now sufficiently visible and well known, I desire to neglect nothing that which show the firm and elevated parts of her soul".

And here comes a letter written by Liselotte herself from Saint Cloud, June 17 1698.

"I do not need much consolation in the matter of death; I do not desire death, neither do I dread it. There is no need of the Catechism of Heidelberg to teach us not to be attached to this world; above all in this country where all things are so full of falseness, envy, and malignity, where the most unheard of vices are displayed without reserve. But to desire death is a thing entirely against natue. In the midst of this great Court I lived retired, as if in solitude; there are vew few persons with whom I have frequent intercourse; I am whole, long days alone in my cabinet, where I busy myself in reading and writing. If any one pays me a visit I see them for only a few moments; I talk of rain and fine weather or the news of the day; and after that I take refuge in my retreat. Four times a week I send off my regular letters: Monday, to Savoie; Wednesday, to Modena; Thursday and Sunday I write very long letters to my aunt in Hanover; from six to eight o'clock I drive out with Monsieur and my ladies; three times a week I go to Paris, and every day I write to my friends who live there; I hunt twice  aweek; and this is how I pass my time."

As she has mentioned, hunting was one of her greatest passions. Elisabeth Charlotte seems to have lived fully her life, though in her own way. Aside of hunting and horseback activity (this latter having been forbidden by her father, being a practice that she, however, continued in France) and the long letters she loved writing, she was passionate about theatre and very fond about laughing. These last paragraphs will highlight these great passions that turned Liselotte a woman not only of her time, but the product of, why not, the collision of Protestantism and Catholicism, a unique person amongst the court of Louis XIV.

"Hunting was long one of Madame's greatest pleasures, or rather passions. [...] It was in France, therefore, that she served her apprenticeship, and her impetuosity often made it dangerous. Twenty-six times was she thrown from the horse, without being frightened or discouraged. 'Is it possible', she says, 'that you have never seen a great hunt? I have seen more than a thousand stags taken, and I have had bad falls; but out of twenty-six times that I have been thrown from my horse I never hurt myself but once, and then I dislocated my elbow.

The theatre was another passion, which, in her, was derived from intelligence and her natural taste for things of the understanding. It was the only pleasure (except that of writing letters) which lasted to the end of her life. She was not of the opinion of Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and other geat religious oracles of the day in the matter of theatres; she forestalled the opinion of the future and that of the most indulgent moralists.

"With regard to the priests who forbid the theatre", she says, rather irreverently. "I shall say no more, except this, that if they saw a little further than their own noses they would understand that the money people spend on going to the play is not ill-spent; in the first place, the comedians are poor devils who earn their living that way; and next, comedies inspire joy, joy produces health, health gives strenght, strenght produces good work; therefore comedies should be encouraged, and not forbidden".

She liked to laugh, and the 'Malade Imaginaire' diverted her to such a degree that one might think in reading her letters that she was trying to imitate all that is most physical and unfit for women in its style of pleasantry."

At the age of 70, this very interesting duchess of Orléans came to die. She was a witness of the reign of Louis XIV, and her letters are a proof of it, as well as the rise of his successor, Louis XV. Despite that sentiment of never entirely belonging to France, as comparisons with her homeland are constant in her letters, she by all means settled into it. She was not afraid in holding back her tone, she was never comfortable in wearing fancy clothes, rather preferring those more closely associated to male ones, but doing so at the request of her husband. She was a woman of wit and gentle nature, but proud and with prejudice manners. Nonetheless, as a social actor of those days she lived considerably well and her letters are the legacy of it. 

Bibliography:

-WORMELEY, Katherine Prescott. "The Correspondence Of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother Of The Regent; Marie-Adelaide De Savoie, Duchesse De Bourgogne And Of Madame De Maintenon, In Relation To Saint-Eve." Boston: Hardy, Pratt & Company. 1899.

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Charlotte,_Madame_Palatine

-http://partylike1660.com/elisabeth-charlotte-du-palatinat-duchesse-dorleans/

-https://archive.org/details/lettersofmadamec02orluoft

-http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/princess-palatine

-https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3859/3859-h/3859-h.htm

-https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000002978213;view=1up;seq=6

My Lady The King's Mother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess Of Richmond And Derby: The Matriarch Of The Tudor Dynasty (1443-1509)

On today's post, after some time deliberating about our next subject for this blog, we have come to decide writing about this woman who played an important role not only throughout the Cousin's War, an event that marked England's history due to the dispute over the English crown between two factions of the Plantagenet dynasty--the house of York and the house of Lancaster- but was crucial on the ascension to one of the most known dynasties to rule England: the Tudors.

We are aware that lady Margaret has been a controversial character whose image has not always been popular at the first sight. In our days, social media has been an instrument that link the access to documents and sources to common folk who are not entitled to be historians which can make it easier to propose a discussion about such a woman. However, popular cultura in the same means has been responsible for perpetuating a view about Margaret that does not match with the person that she was. It's often seen that writers or not work with historical characters by dividing them in two categories: good or bad, forgetting that human beings are too complex as a whole to be classified according to personal tastes. Naturally, we are entitled to opinions but we must bear in mind before asserting any sort of judgement the society such characters lived in, how they performed a social role that needs input them, and of course have a read of days that we have not lived with careful eyes. Thus, we must put aside our contemporary views in order to comprehend the background of the matriach of this dynasty we intend to study. Must it always be remembered, in addition, that this post is nothing but the result of humble attempts in analyzing this Beaufort lady and hoping to implement a discussion with it.

The question that leads this post, as often did in previous ones, is mostly directed to inquire about the person she was. As a woman born and raised in the 15th century, how was her conduct before the conflicts that culminated, of all events in her life, in separating herself from the son whom she loved the most and was quite devoted to until the end of her days? How did she live to see the reigns of six different kings? How did she, who witnessed the fall of one dynasty and most certainly helped to raise another, use her position for her own sake? Who, in the end, was Margaret Beaufort? No definite truths are the answer to be found, but we might be able to read between the lines as sources come to our eyes.

Margaret Beaufort was born on the year 1443 at Bletshoe, located near Higham Ferrers in Bedfordshire. She was the only child of John, duke of Somerset, and his consort, Margaret née Beauchamp. From her father's side, Margaret was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt who was one of the sons of King Edward III. John of Gaunt, who was once the topic discussed on this same blog, had taken as his third wife his long time mistress Katheryn Swynford née de Rouet. During the reign of King Richard II, the Beauforts had been legitimized, but Henry IV in posteriority denied his half-siblings any claim to the throne. 

It states that Margaret's father, the duke of Somerset, had agreed with Henry VI that, had he died in his expeditions at the french soil, his daughter's wardship would remain under Margaret Beauchamp's care. However, upon his return, Somerset fell out of favour and rumour has it he took his own life, but the chronicle who wrote it so held in high favour the Yorkists, and the author Lady Margaret Domville works with the view that he was likely dead by some disease. Because of Somerset's fallen out of the royal graces, Henry VI broke such agreement, placing Margaret under the care of William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk.

Even though Margaret was permitted to "remain under her mother's roof", Suffolk did not take too long to engage his son to lady Beaufort. Instead, the king seemed to have thought better in choosing a proper suitor for his Beaufort cousin. As quoted below:

"By february 1453, the king had annulled Margaret's wardship and marriage to John de la Pole, the papal dispensation for which was signed on 18 august 1450, expressly so that she should be available for remarriage. This made Lady Margaret's wardship and marriage a very desirable asset and without any doubt the king intended a marriage between Margaret and one of the Tudor brothers. Since Edmund was the elder, it was he who Margaret would marry."

That way,  

"On 24 March Edmund and Jasper were jointly granted the keeping of all the possessions of the late John Beaufort first duke of Somerset, then in the king's hands, including the wardship and marriage of Somerset's nine-year-old daughter and heiress Margaret Beaufort. When Margaret was summoned to court on 24 May, together with her mother Margaret Beauchamp, the king made her a grant of 100 marks to mark the occasion, to spend on clothes."

Both authors, listed on the bibliography, Bayani and Domville list an account of Margaret's remembrance of the time she was betrothed to Edmund Tudor found in Bishop Fisher, her religious adviser, in his "Mornynge Remembrance". It appears that she told this tale a few times and, naturally, it is our duty to quote it below:

"Being not yet fully nine years old, and doubtful in her mind what she were best to do (as to the marriage proposals made to her), she asked counsel of an old gentlewoman whom she much loved and trusted, who did advise her to commend herself to St. Nicolas, the patron and helper of all true maidens, and to beseech him to put in her mind what she were best to do. This counsel she followed, but specially that night when she should the morrow after make her determination. A marvellous thing! The same night, as I have heard her tell many a time, as she lay in prayer, calling on St. Nicolas, whether sleeping or waking she could not assure, but about four o'clock in the morning one appeared to her arrayed like a bishop, and naming unto her Edmund Tudor, bade her take him as her husband. This she related to her parents (the Duchess of Somerset had re-married with Lord Welles), who willingly followed the supernatural direction."

This account is mainly interpreted as a sign of Margaret's apparent contentment with the choice made, since it can be said that she had no choice upon the matter. Hence, their marriage eventually "took place on 1 Novemberat the bride's birthplace, Bletsoe Castle."

Unfortunately for the young bride, the "union with Edmund Tudor was of short duration ; before the year was out the little bride of fourteen was left a widow, and the young Earl of Richmond was buried in the house of the Grey Friars at Caermarthen, whence, at the dissolution of the monastery, his remains were removed to the Cathedral church of St. David [...]"

An addendum must be made, however. It has been discussed about how Edmund and Margaret's consummation implied some flaws concerning the former's character, that the earl of Richmond payed no respect towards his young bride by choosing not waiting until Margaret was older and have her body matured for such an act. Before we set our contemporary eyes in the judgement of two characters who lived and were raised following the customs of the 15th century, let us be remembered that once a woman, regardless of her age, bled for the first time it counted as being mature and ready to conceive a child. Edmund was not different from other men of his days, so to accuse him of disrespectful is to forget the society he was inserted to. We may not know of his character as the sources scarcely mention him on that matter, but must not be us the judges of the past. Margaret herself cherished her late husband's name by signing Margaret Richmond and continuing the use as Countess of Richmond until the end of her days. That there are motives for doing so on behalf of her son is plausible, but perhaps here lies an indictive of their relationship.

The young widow, at the early age of 13, gave birth to her only son, the future king Henry VII on the 26th January 1456, following the feast of St Agnes. Henry, who was born already entitled as Earl of Richmond due to his father's premature death, probably had, by the time of his birth, Henry VI as his godfather, whom he was probably named after. There are accounts, however, that regard Jasper naming his nephew Owen, whilst Margaret preferred to honour the king, her cousin. Whether was the case, there are not further evidence about Henry being styled as Owen Tudor, though one might suspect his whole name might have been Henry Owen Tudor, something that we can only speculate. As seen below:

"Jasper Tudor, with the young mother and child under his protection, took charge of proceedings. According to the Welsh chronicle Elis Gruffydd, Jasper named the boy Owen, in memory of his own father. But Margaret, now well enough to attend the baptism, commanded the bishop to halt the service, begin again and give her son the name of Henry."

It is important to highlight the nature of Margaret Beaufort and Jasper Tudor's relationship, which has been used by novelists to credit a romantic relationship that never had occurred in real life. On the following paragraphs an excerpt taken from Debra Bayani's book "Jasper Tudor, Godfather of the Tudor Dynasty" explains properly why this romantic nature never occurred, presenting plausible arguments for such.

"[...] From the moment Margaret became a widow, she sought Jasper's guidance for herself and also for important decisions regarding her son, who needed a strong base. It is often claimed by novelists, and thought by many people, that Jasper and Margaret were in love with each other but as brother-in-law and sister-in-law were forbidden to marry Jasper chose, out of compassion, to take care of her son, his nephew. This is most likely unfounded gossip and there are in fact several reasons which disprove it.

If Jasper and Margaret were really in love and wanting to marry they could have easily discussed this with the king, who could have been able to ask the pope for a dispensation. Whether or not the request would have been granted remains open to question, but the fact is that the pope did give his permission in other similar cases: for example, the later marriage of Henry VIII to his widowed sister-in-law Catherine of Aragon.

Further, custody of Margaret was fully in Jasper's hands after Edmund's death, something that would surely have expedited matters if there were any feelings of love between them. On the contrary, Jasper started negotiations with the duke of Buckingham (with whom he had by now developed a close relationship) for Margaret's marriage to the duke's son, probably  two months after she had given birth. As soon as the young mother was churched in March, Jasper, Margaret and probably baby Henry visited the duke at his manor at Greenfield near Newport and it is likely that this was when Margaret's third marriage was arranged with Buckingham's second son Henry Stafford, her second cousin. By this marriage, Jasper lost a source of income, but as he made the match himself he must have preferred Margaret and his young nephew's safety and the cementing of this powerful and political alliance above the financial side."

In addition to these arguments, Bayani considers the two children Jasper allegedly fathered: Joan and Hellen Tudor, children of a Welshwoman named Mevany Ferch Dafydd from Gwynnedd. It appears that both girls were born in Snowdonia and made good marriages in their adult lives, with one of them, most likely Hellen, being the mother of Stephen Gardiner, a proeminent figure during the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I.

Against the view of Margaret as a cold, heartless and ruthless woman, there lies an account that points how:

"Lady Margaret was held by her contemporaries to have shown no inconstancy of affection, but rather a wise discretion when, after two years, she consented to marry her cousin, Lord Henry Stafford, a younger son of the Duke of Buckingham. But though the Lady Margaret proved an excellent wife, and was much beloved by her second husband's family, her strongest affections seem always to have been centred on her son and only child ; for, in the quaint phrase of an old chronicler, "though she was married to the Lord Henry Stafford, and again to the Earl of Derby, yet she never brought forth a child after, as though she had done her part when she had born a man-child, and the same a kynge of the realms."

Another indicative of Margaret's affectionative and warm side that few discuss about, comes from her own son, Henry VII:

"That Henry himself had a vivid remembrance of his mother's care and love is proved by a letter written by him towards the end of his life, when, after acceding to a request she had made him, he goes on to say: "And not only in this, but in all things that I may know should be to your honour and pleasure and weal of soul, I shall be as glad to please you as heart can desire it ; and I know well that I am as much bounden to do it as any creature living, for the great and singular motherly love and affection it hath pleased you at all times to have for me."

Where her habits are concerned, it's safe to say she did not differ much of others of her position in her days. As a young woman,  

"the Lady Margaret was taught French thoroughly, for she could converse freely and translate it easily. Of Latin she had only "a little perceiving, chiefly in the rubrics and the ordinal, and for the saying of the service which she well understood"; in after life she regretted that she had not given herself seriously to study the language, "as she might easily have done"."

As an adult, "that her studious habits were known and appreciated is shown by the bequest made to her by her husband's mother, the duchess of Buckingham, who died in 1480". The said duchess gave Margaret books as "Legenda Sanctorum", "Luccan", and others of religious nature as the Epistles and Gospels. Her wit, once mentioned by Erasmus when Margaret was already an older lady, is quite perceptible by the translations she made. After all, "as regards purity of diction and choice of language, Lady Margaret's writings may be regarded as standard specimens of the good English of the age."

During the days she was wed to Lord Stafford, she enjoyed a relatively peaceful life, visiting her son Henry, who was placed under the care of William Herbert, whenever she could. Her marriage with Stafford offered her some stability and comfort, and there's a quote below that tells us about her household and mentions, naturally, her pious nature:

"From her mother, a woman of great piety and zeal for religion, the Countess of Richmond had learnt to give the first hours of the day to religious exercises, and to fulfill all her duties with promptness, diligence and care. 'Her own household with marvellous diligence and wisdom this noble Princess ordered, providing reasonable statutes and ordinances, which she commanded to be read three or four times a year; and oftentimes she would lovingly encourage them to do well, sometimes herself, sometimes by other persons. If there were any strife or controversy, she would with a great discretion study the reformation thereof'."

But such peaceful days would come to an end when Civil War broke again. She was only 28 years of age when she was widowed again and it was by June 1472 that Margaret remarried for the third, or fourth if the reader considers the marriage with John de la Pole valid, time. This time, it was a convenient marriage, a political alliance with the ruthless Thomas Stanley, Lord High Constable and King of Mann. 

As Stanley was linked to the Yorkists, Margaret enjoyed the opportunity to approach the new regime. Must be remembered that Henry, her son, was by then in exile in Brittany with Jasper and with Margaret's Somerset cousin being executed for treason, she realized that, to have her son back safely home, she would have to cope with her enemies. Thus, by this marriage she managed to return in good graces with Edward IV and his consort, Elizabeth Woodville. It appears she grew close to the Queen to the point that she was named godmother to one of her daughters. An apparent engagement between princess Elizabeth to the exile Henry seemed to have been accorded, but then nothing came out of it.

Another addendum must be made here. Much has been speculated about relations between Margaret Beaufort and the Queen Dowager Elizabeth Woodville. It is widely known that both women plotted during King Richard III's reign after the disappearance of the princes in the Tower, that Elizabeth of York would be Henry of Richmond's wife had he won the throne over Richard III's body, which eventually happened, and by extense the partisans of the Woodville-Yorkists woudl follow him. However, these close ties seemed to have changed when Henry of Richmond became King Henry VII and Margaret was referred as "My Lady the King's Mother."

"Much has been made of supposed 'contention' between the new king's mother and the new queen's mother as to who was more influential at court, but the truth is that Margaret was willing to walk a half-step behind Elizabeth Woodville while that former queen was at court and that is a huge concession to Elizabeth's rank. Margaret did get the same high quality clothes, and she was given great power over the court by her son, but there is no evidence this caused undue friction among the royal women. Henry's bride, Queen Elizabeth, would have known Margaret since her youth and the women shared a mutual devotion to the king and the children Elizabeth bore him."

As the Countess was referred following the already mentioned title, novelists and, for a long while, historians had vilified Margaret by crucifying the woman as ambitious, cruel and ruthless. Throughout this post we have proved otherwised. Her kindness towards Queen Elizabeth, her daughter-in-law, goes against the false belief that Margaret was envious of the other's position. In fact, the two of them worked together and an example of this mutual coalition showed by the time of Margaret's granddaughter and namesake's betrothal to the King of Scots, James IV. Margaret and Elizabeth convinced Henry VII not to send the princess to the Northern lands too soon due to the early age, reminding him of what had happened to her by marrying and consummating the marriage too soon.

That Elizabeth Woodville ended her days in a convent is also used as a weapon against Margaret Beaufort, as most claimed that the countess wished to sweep away from the court the remaining Yorkists. There is no evident proof that Woodville was part of the Warbeck conspiracy even though it is not wise to exclude her completely from it, but there was more than enough proof condemning Cecily Neville, duchess of York, in it. And yet, did Margaret act upon the elderly woman? To forge accusations over Margaret's character after all she'd been through is to diminish her charity, her good sense and the already mentioned qualities that her enemies seem quite easily to forget.

Throughout her son's reign, Lady Margaret "enjoyed legal and social independence which other married women could not [...]. Her son's first parliament recognized her right to hold property independently from her husband, as if she were unmarried. Towards the end of her son's reign she was given a special commission to administer justice in the north of England."

Also, 

"later in her marriage, the Countess preferred living alone. In 1499, with her husband's permission, she took a vow of chastity in the presence of Richard FitzJames, Bishop of London. [...] The Countess moved away from her husband and lived alone at Collyweston, Northamptonshire (near Stamford). She was regularly visited by her husband, who had rooms reserved for him. Margaret renewed her vows in 1504."

She was, after all, a survivor. Margaret managed to play the game of thrones throughtout the Wars of the Roses, and her wit with discipline, good will, resilience and piety all combined shaped her character. She left a legacy in her translating works and in academic foundations that are still found in present days. Margaret was constantly occupied, found in diverses journeys, which confirms that she enjoyed a good and strong health. Blessed Fisher, who left his work 'Mornynge Remembrance' to us, said that "in her hours of leisure she used to recreate her mind with reading and translating from the French books profitable to religious meditation."

Margaret Beaufort was, for her own days, a very successful woman. She filled her duty as daughter, wife and, above all, mother. She was cunning and her wit is clear in every act that made her the matriarch of the Tudors. She outlived her dearest and most loving son, whom she much cherished and devoted her time to. It would be no surprise if this accelerated her aging. For she died peacefully on 29 June 1509, a day after her grandson's 18th birthday, giving him completely power to rule solely. At Henry VIII's coronation, it's said that Margaret wept. What would have been her thoughts back then? We can only but speculate. A model of chastity and loyalty, Margaret must be remembered for being it so instead of being degenerated by faults that others in her own days shared... if not worst. 

Lady Margaret was buried in Westminster Abbey and received every pomp and honour that she deserved in life. It's said that her grandson and his court grieved her deeply, and how could it be otherwise? To end this post, we leave the epitaph, translated to English, written by the very well known humanist scholar Eramus to the Countess of Richmond and Derby:

"Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, grandmother of Henry VIII, who donated funds for three monks of this abbey, a grammar school in Wimborne, a preacher in the whole of England, two lectures in Scripture, one at Oxford, the other at Cambridge, where she also founded two colleges, one dedicated to Christ and the other to St John, the Evangelist."

Bibliography:

- DOMVILE, Lady Margaret. "The King's Mother. Memoir of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby." London: Burns & Oates, Limited. 1899.

- BAYANI, Debra. "Jasper Tudor, Godfather of the Tudor Dynasty." MadeGlobal Publishing. 2015.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Beaufort,_Countess_of_Richmond_and_Derby

- https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/margaret-beaufort-mother-of-the-tudors/

- http://www.kyrackramer.com/2016/06/29/the-passing-of-margaret-beaufort/

Joseph II Of Habsburg: An Enlightened Emperor (1741-1790)

If previously we have discussed about Maria Theresa, the only female entitled as Holy Roman Empress by right of heritance, this time we intend to bring Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II to the light of discussions. He, who was overshadowed by his famous sister Marie Antoinette Queen of France, eventually reigned as co-emperor by his mother's side and was forced to deal with her conservative policies in opposition of his liberal tendencies.

Nonetheless, it must always be reminded that Joseph of Habsburg was a man of the 18th century, a time where sovereigns as Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia left their deeds to history. Certainly, Joseph left his. But what were these deeds? What kind of ruler this austrian prince was? That was what we intend to find out on this post.

Baptized Joseph Benedikt Anton Michael Adam, he was born at Vienna, Austria, on 13 March 1741 as the oldest son of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Holy Roman Emperor Franz I (or Francis). Joseph is most remembered for being the Queen of France Maria Antonia's brother, but as we will see, his deeds do not limit him to such blood relations.

Not much is known about his childhood and youth, except that his "formal education was provided through the writings of Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes" and "his pratical training was conferred by government officials, who were directed to instruct him in the mechanical details of the administration of the numerous states composing the Austrian dominions [...]."

As the Crown Prince of Austria, Joseph was married twicely. The first time, his mother sought an arragement with princess Isabella of Parma, whose mother was the oldest daughter of the king of France Louis XV. This match had the political purpose of achieving peace with France, but in reality it became more than this for they fell in love. Joseph was reputed for being very affectionate with his wife, and the sentiment apparently was mutual. She was also very close to one of Joseph's sisters, Maria Christina, duchess of Teschen. As we see below:

"Joseph married Princess Isabella of Parma in October 1760, a union fashioned to bolster the 1756 defensive pact between France and Austria. [...] Joseph loved his bride, Isabella, finding her both stimulating and charming, and she sought with special care to cultivate his favor and affection."

But this union, however happy as it appeared to be, did not last too long. Isabella was fearful of pregnancies, giving only one child named Maria Theresa, who would live until the age of eight. After Maria Theresa, she suffered of miscarriages and at her last pregnancy she contracted smallpox. She went to labour earlier than expected and both mother and child did not survive.

"The loss of his beloved wife and their newborn child was devastating for Joseph, after which he felt keenly reluctant to remarry; though, he dearly loved his daughter and remained a devoted father to Maria Theresa. 

For political reasons, and under constant pressure, in 1765, he relented and married his second cousin, Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria, the daughter of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria. This marriage proved extremely unhappy [...] and it lasted only two years."

This marriage was fruitless and by the time Maria Josepha died, Joseph had ascended as sole emperor upon his mother's death. Afterwards, he was forced to deal with the death of his only daughter, Maria Theresa, which left him traumatized. In spite of these fatidic events, Joseph refused to remarry and by the time of his death, he would pass the throne to his younger brother, the future Leopold II.

As sole emperor, Joseph sought to distance from some of his mother's politics. One of the best examples on this was breaking "with the devoutly Catholic policies of his mother to embrace the sweeping trend of the so-called 'Enlightenment' which viewed traditional Europe as a place of injustice and intolerable." In other words, he would provide reforms that, in his view, were as "reasonable" as possible. A phrase in which is said "Everything for the people. Nothing by the people" is credited to be his and this summons precisely what sort of government he expected to form. That way, he was not entirely different from Catherine of Russia and Frederick II of Prussia, for example, and their relations were close as we will see laterwards.

"Upon his ascension he gave his large inheritance to ease the national debt and ordered his brother to do likewise. He cut government spending, built the first truly public parks, charged the Church with caring for the sick and destitute and granted religious toleration to Jews and Protestants. He abolished such traditional Catholic devoltions as the Rosary and religious processions, expelled the Jesuits and seized a great deal of Church property. Yet, throughout his reign, whether in Vienna or on the battlefield, he heard mass every morning and was an enemy of Protestant Prussia (though both monarchs had a great deal of respect for the other's abilities). It was under Joseph II that Wolfgang Mozart rose to fame, though his music was a little too extravagant for the very simple Joseph. Nevertheless his support of Mozart & his contemporaries earned Joseph the nickname 'The Musical King'."

This particular Church reformation, which intended to turn the religion a tool of the state, was not seen with good eyes. The emperor was accused of being a protestant, but in truth he expected to separate religion from mundane matters. As explained below:

"Probably the most unpopular of all his reforms was his attempted modernization of the highly traditional Catholic Church, which in ancient times had helped establish the Holy Roman Empire beginning with Charlemagne. Calling himself the guardian of Catholicism, Joseph II struck vigorously at papal power. He tried to make the Catholic Church in his empire the tool of the state, independent of Rome. Clergymen were deprived of the tithe and ordered to study in seminaries under government superivision, while bishops had to take a formal oath of loyalty to the crown.[...]"

Similarly,

"Joseph sharply cut the number of holy days to be observed in the Empire and ordered ornamentation in churches to be reduced. He forcibly simplified the manner in which the Mass (the central Catholic act of worship) was celebrated. Opponents of the reforms blamed them for revealing Protestant tendencies, with the rise of Enlightenment rationalism and the emergence of a liberal class of bourgeois officials. [...]

The Secularization Decree issued on January 12, 1782 banned several monastic orders not involved in teaching or healing and liquitated 140 monasteries (home to 1484 monks and 190 nuns)."

What some might see this church reform as inclination to Protestantism is, in fact, as already mentioned a great step of secularization of the State. Joseph intended to be more tolerant towards the practice of different religions, giving freedom of religion towards the Jews and the Protestants. He had, as we will see, a strong perception of the power of a monarch and that greatly influenced his policies in reformations. We comprehend that Joseph's

 "[...] intensity of his belief in the power of the state was directed by reason. As an absolutist ruler, however, he was also convinced of his right to speak for the state uncontrolled by laws and of the sensibility of his own rule. He had also inherited from his mother the belief of the house of Austria in its 'august' quality and its claim to acquire whatever it found desirable for its power or profit.

[...] He strove for administrative unity with characteristic haste to reach results without preparation. Joseph carried out measures of emancipation of the peasantry, which his mother had begun and abolished serfdom in 1781. In 1789, he decreed that peasants must be paid in cash payments rather than labor obligations. These policies were violently rejected by both the nobility and the peasants, since their barter economy lacked money. Joseph also abolished the death penalty in 1787, a reform that remained until 1795."

Following this belief in making the authority of an emperor a role of an autocrat, which explains his poor relationship with nobility but also the indirect influence of Russia on this concept, it came what might be early to use the term of nationalism, since Joseph hoped to extend the use of the German language towards all of the Habsburg dominions. As it states on the following excerpt:

"Joseph set about building a rationalized, centralized and uniform government for his diverse lands, a hierarchy under himself as supreme autocrat. The personnel of government were expected to be imbued with the same dedicated spirit of service to the state that he himself hald. It was recruited without favor for class or ethnic origins, and promotion was solely by merit. To further uniformity, the emperor made German the compulsory language of official business throughout the Empire, which affected especially the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian assembly was stripped of its prerogatives, and not even called together."

Furthermore, this secularization so present at his policies were also found within his domines in other affairs. For example, the University of Vienna was removed out of the church sphere, placing the monarchy as the instrument which consolidated the educational system. Elementary education was provided "for all boys and girls, and higher education on pratical lines was offered for a select few". He was directly responsible for giving scholarship for the gifted students who could not afford paying an university, as well for granting permission for the creation of schools for Jews and other religions. In addition to this, by 1784, "he ordered that the country change its language of instruction from Latin to German", a movement seen as contradictory due to the vast dominions of his empire that held its own culture and languages.

Aside of those changes, we perceive them as well as in another ares. Despite the resistance that eventually came within traditional kingdoms as Austrian Netherlands and Hungary, on the next paragraph, we have a better comprehension of the extent of Joseph's changes, :

"The judiciary and the executive had already been separated at the top; Joseph extended this process to the lower administrative levels. In 1786 the Universal Code of Civil Law was issued. Under Maria Theresa the physician Gerard Van Swieten had organized a public health service, and in Joseph's time the General Hospital in Vienna was considered one of the best equipped in Europe. The monarchy's finances were balanced. The reorganization of the army secured Joseph's position in Europe. [...] By the Edict of Toleration he established religious equality before the law, and he granted freedom of the press."

It's been formerly mentioned that Joseph II was fond of science, music and arts. Similarly, he was the one to present Mozart to the world. It is said, and here the concept of nationalism appears by another means, that this taste of music of his reflected as well in other parts of his govern. As the following excerpt states:

"He was very German, he favored always simplicity and efficiency. It was said that his poor houses and government buildings looked like army barracks. He himself usually wore a military uniform rather than the latest fashions and he despised court ceremony and lavish Church rituals. [...]

The emancipation of the Jews within a short time endowed cultural life with new vitality. The artistic life of Vienna rose to new heights when the Burgtheater became the German National Theater. By transferring the management of the theatres to the actors, Joseph introduced an artistically fruitful concept."

Where his international affairs were concerned, his diplomacy did not seem to weight too much amongst european relations. He visited the courts o Catherine II of Russia, and the French one where he apparently was disguised as Count Falkestein. The prospectives of these visits aimed Joseph:

"to obtain a personal view of the situation in eastern and western Europe, Joseph visited France, where he was enthusiastically received by the intellectual elite, and then also visited Catherine of Russia. The banquets given in his honour in Paris could not conceal the truth from him: France was headed for catastrophe. His Russian visit gave him the impression of a state retarded in its development compared with the West, but the loyalty of its enormous population to Catherine and her nearly unlimited power seemed to make her the best ally for political manoeuvres in Europe."

His attempts in saving his sister and her family did not bring any positive results from the tension that led Revolutionary France to war against Austria. Towards the end of his reign, Joseph faced difficult rebellions to be dealt with, being forced to withdrawl the changes he imposed upon Hungary. By the time he died in 1790, Joseph was alone in his deathbed for his physician refused seeing him and his brother and heir Leopold was found in Florence.

Despite Joseph having been the only character of the 18th century for not being entitled as "the great", he was likely the only of his counterparts whose reformations improved the lifestyle of his subjects. To claim he was good or bad is unfair with this character, not because of his doings, but because he was a man of his days and, as such, had his flaws and qualities. It's a good reminder to point this out in order to prevent a contemporary judgement, after all values, ethic and habits, culture itself, all of these have changed from 1790 to our present days.

Nonetheless, Joseph is not often a figure discussed when compared to his sister or the Russian autocrat, or even his friend-enemy Frederick II of Prussia. There is an extent of subjects concerning Joseph, for thankfully most sources have found their ways towards us. But the most important here was to present this character to the reader so they can comprehend that many impressive kings, queens, emperors, etc did so much during their lives and history still overshadowed them. To close this post, a necessary quote, taken from the blog mad monarchist¹, is here written:

"For all of these things Joseph was adored by the common folk but despised by the aristocracy and high clergy. Certainly the Emperor had his share of heartaches and trouble. His beloved first wife died early on and Joseph never recovered from the loss. Victory over Prussia's Frederick the Great constantly escaped him and his sister was the famous Marie Antoinette who was murdered by French revolutionaries. In the royal community of Europe, most of whom were also adherents of the "Enlightenment", Joseph was consistently held in very high regard. Czarina Catherine the Great of Russia was greatly impressed with the young monarch who oddly insisted on wearing an Austrian army uniform rather than lavish costumes, and Prussia's Frederick the Great never ceased to express his admiration for Joseph even when they faced each other in battle. In fact, it was partly the high esteem in which Joseph held the Prussian king that led his desire to emulate his victories in the field."

Bibliography:

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-II

-https://www.biography.com/people/joseph-ii-9358214

-http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/joseph-ii-reformist-emperor-or-enlightened-despot

-http://madmonarchist.blogspot.com.br/2010/05/enlightened-despot-emperor-joseph-ii.html¹

-https://www.questia.com/library/1369633/the-revolutionary-emperor-joseph-the-second-1741-1790

-http://www.klastervyssibrod.cz/History/text-4[en]

-http://www.shoreshim.org/en/infoEmperorJoseph.asp

-http://nerdalicious.com.au/people/holy-roman-emperor-joseph-ii-discusses-nymph-racing-and-the-chastity-commission/