Jimmu-Tennō, First Emperor Of Japan (711 BC-585 BC): A Legendary Ruler, Descendant Of Gods

However interesting it might be in bringing to the public eye royal figures that not rarely are barely remembered in History in general, those were specially Western. In an attempt to balance these discussions on this blog, and remembering that there'd been only one post this far in regard of the royals that too made history in Eastern (that being of Chinese Empress Wu), we will be now bringing figures of the monarchy from different times that made their names (or not) in different countries.

Today, we begin with the story of a legendary ruler of Japan, an almost mythical figure that has been often credited to be the first Emperor of Japan. His name is Jinmu-Tenno, and here's what we know about him.

Jimmu's original name appears to have been Kow-yamato-iware-hiko No Mikoto, although other bibliographies here consulted differ in Kamuyamato Iwaberiko and Wakamikenu no Mikotoor Sano no Mikoto. Japanese chronicles as Kojiki, he was born on 13 February 711 BC and died, apparently on 9 April 585 BC. Where this name issue we have pointed is concerned, we might have an explanation for this in the following quote:

"According to the Kojiki, Jimmu died when he was 126 years old. This emperor's posthumous name literally means 'divine might' or 'god-warrior'. It is undisputed that his identification is Chinese in form and Buddhist in implication, which suggests that the name must have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Jimmu. It is generally thought that Jimmu's name and character evolved into their present shape just before the time in which legends about the origins of the Yamato dynasty were chronicled in the Kojik."

There is no further indication about his life as a whole, except a mythical story as told in the next paragraph:

"Jimmu figures as a direct descendant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu via the side of his father, Ugayafukiaezu. Amaterasu had a son called Ame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto and through him a grandson named Ninigi-no-Mikoto. She sent her grandson to the Japanese islands where he eventually married Konohana-Sakuya-hime. Among their three sons was Hikohohodemi no Mikoto (...) who married Toyotama-hime. She was the daughter of Ryüjin, the Japanese sea god. They had a single son called Hikonagisa Takeugaya Fukiaezu no Mikoto. The boy was abandoned by his parents at birth and consequently raised by (...) his mother's younger sister. They eventually married and had four sons. The last of these, Kamu-yamato, Iware-biko no mikoto became Emperor Jimmu."

Furthermore,

"At this point, Jimmu is said to have ascended to the throne of Japan. Upon scalling a Nara mountain to survey the Seto Inland Sea he now controlled, Jimmu remarked that it was shaped like the 'heart' rings made by mating dragonflies, archaically akitsu. A mosquito then tried to steal Jimmu's royal blood but since Jimmu was a god incarnate emperor, akitsumikami, a dragonfly killed the mosquito. Japan thus received its classical name the Dragonfly Islands, akitsushima." 

Taking a look from a more practical view, as the likely warrior he was rather than his divine connections, we comprehend that:

"Japanese chronicles record Jimmu's expedition eastward from Hyuga in 607 BC along Japan's Inland Sea, subduing tribes as he went and ending in Yamato, where he established his centre of power. Although modern historians do not accept such details as a 7th century BC date, preferring a date in the Early Christian era, they affirm the tradition of an aggressive movement of peoples from the west."

Unfortunately, informations as those we were able to share concerning the Emperor's life are difficult to find, specially if one is not able to read in Japanese language to have access to the sources that have been mentioned here. However, this does not prevent us in writing about this formidable character and raise possibilities of interpretations that lead us to interesting discussions.

One of these interpretations we were able to raise is the place the figure of Jimmu is found between religion and war figures. This might reflect that Japan's society was very close to pre-Christianity's belief and this would remain even to our current days. Though Jimmu was not praised as his divine ancestors were, after all he was not only related to the god of the sea but also to the goddess of sun, he was very important to all of his sucessors nonetheless. Not only the Imperial House of Japan would base their claim to the Japanese throne on Jimmu's figure, but would continue to assist with respect the figure of emperor, thus making Jimmu the key for Japan's monarchy. In addition, we might think that perhaps it was more his bonds to the divine rather than his skills as a warrior that shaped Japan's monarchy, a reflection, if we dare to wonder, of a religiosity that was very immersed within the social thought of Japan's society in contast to Western's ideal of a warrior-like king that was perpetuated to most Middle Ages.

"Despite Jimmu's importance as a link between the ruling family of Japan and the divine ancestors, he has never had much of a cult following in Japan. A Shinto shrine was erected by the Japanese government in 1890 at the site of what is believed to be his burial place at Unebi."

And finally, it is interesting to take notice that:

"[...] the myt of origin has also had a stabilizing effect, ensuring that ancient traditions such as respect for ancestors, for the land itself, and loyalty to the people of the nation, have survived through into modern times." And "Jimmu has an honored place in Japanese tradition. The idea of a special bond between ruler, land and people helped to make governance more stable."

Whether he was, indeed, a powerful warrior whose deeds made him a legend throughout the centuries, holding an importance for Japan even in the present days, or he was but an mythical character, we might only speculate; yet, we would be missing the point of this discussion by limiting it to the question of his nature. Instead, Jimmu-Tenno not only contributed to Japan's empire but was also the reflect of a very religious society proving the point that sociologist Durkheim would say in his studies of religion: that a society's morality is shaped by religion, an institution without which no society survives. This much is appliable to Jimmu and the inheritance he left for the posteriority.

Bibliography:

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

-https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jimmu

-http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jimmu,_Emperor_of_Japan

Louis IX Of France: The Saint King, Patron Of Kings. [1214-1270]

We have formerly discussed about two important royal characters during France's middle ages who left remarkable precedences on the art of kingship and also queenship for their successors over the centuries. To this particular Louis, subject of our post today, this could not be any different with him being the son of Queen Blanche. As we have noticed, he was particularly close to his mother and her influence over him was very perceptible in his deeds and policies, a path which we intend to explore as well as to enlighten for our readers the process in which Louis, as a man and then as a king, was turned into Saint Louis, the holy monarch who was the patron for another generations for the kings of France.

Louis was born on 25 April 1214 at Poissy, near Paris. He was the son and heir of King Louis VIII, then Prince Louis, the Lion of France, and his Queen, then Princess of France, Blanche de Castille. His baptism occurred in La Collégiale Notre-Dame church. His birth was followed by the birth of two brothers: Charles, King of Sicily and Count of Anjou, Robert, Count of Poitiers and Alphonse, Count of Toulouse. He had also a sister, Isabelle, who was, like him, later canonized as Saint Isabelle.

Where his education is concerned, Blanche herself chose the tutors for her son and heir to the French crown. He was thus instructed in Latin, public speaking, writing, military arts, government and we assume he must have received a religious education as well. He was nine years of age when his grandfather, Philip Augustus, had died and only twelve years old when his father, Louis VIII, died. As we have formerly said on the post concerning Queen Blanche, she was quick in making her son crowned at Reims Cathedral, within three weeks of the death of Louis's father and predecessor. It was a political and tactic move that helped consolidate her power as Queen regent, a position she would hold during her son's minority.

There is not much to discuss about Louis IX's youth, and the next important event of his life is his marriage to Marguerite de Provence, whose sisters were all to be, as herself, queens consorts: Eleanor, the sister with whom she was close the most, became Queen of England; Sanchia was married to Eleanor's husband (King Henry III) younger brother, Richard of Conrwall, and by this marriage she was Queen of Germany; and there's Beatrice, Queen of Sicily. Marguerite was only 13 years of age and she was chosen not only because of her beauty and wit, but due to her religious nature, which would please the king very much.

The match, as it turned out, despite being a politically one, became a loving one. And, as we have also mentioned in Blanche's post, a rivalry between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law grew as the attentions of the court were drawn to Marguerite's beauty and courtly manners. However, in spite of Blanche's great influence over her son, the pair managed to  have their moments together and Marguerite would give birth to 11 children to her loving husband as seen here:

"The new queen's religious zeal made her a well suited partner for the king. He enjoyed her company, and was pleased to show her the many public works he was making in Paris, both for its defense and for its health. They enjoyed riding together, reading and listening to music. This attention raised a certain amount of jealousy in his mother, who tried to keep them apart as much as she could."

Louis' piety nature would be seen in the next great political achievements that marked his reign, one of which being the first crusade that he was part of, as we shall see in the next paragraph:

"Louis and his followers landed in Egypt on 5 June 1249 and began his first crusade with the rapid capture of the port of Damietta. This attack caused some disruption in the Muslim Ayyubid empire, especially as the current sultan, Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub, was on his deathbed. However, the march from Damietta toward Caior through the Nile River Delta swent slowly. The rising of the Nile and the summer heat made it impossible for them to advance and follow up on their sucess. During this time, the Ayyubid sultan died, and the sultan's wife Shajar al-Durr set in motion a sudden power shift that would make her Queen and eventually place the Egyptian army of the Mamluks in power. On 6 April 1250 Louis lost his army at the Battle of Al Mansurah and was captured by the Egyptians. His release was eventually negotiated in return for a ransom of 400, 000 livres tournois (...) and the surrender of the city of Damietta."

On that particular aspect of Louis IX's crusade and his capture by the Muslims, Cecilia Gaspochkin, author of an article entitled as "The Captivity of Louis IX" tells us that:

"Louis had taken the cross in 1244 following a grave illness that threatened his life. Some have thought that Louis may have been inspired to take the cross by learning that the [...] Turks had retaken Jerusalem 1244 but it is not clear that the news had reached Louis by the time he fell sick. In 1245, Pope Innocent IV gave Louis' crusade official sanction at the First Council of Lyon. In 1248, after more than three years of preparation, Louis left Paris, and set sail a few months later [...]"

Furthermore,  

"[...] Louis and his men began to see their fortunes turn clearly downward. On February 9th, Louis ordered a bridge built across the river, and the army fought skirmishes daily against the Muslim forces. After a few weeks and upon the arrival of Turan Shah and his chief advisors, the Muslims began a blockade, cutting the French off from their supplies lines from Damietta and starving them out. The king and the sultan began talks which would have returned Damietta to the Muslims in the exchange of the lost territories of the Kingdom of Jesuralem, but these negotiations - if they had been serious- broke down when the Muslims demanded that Louis himself be delivered over as surety. Conditions in the camp began to deteriorate and illness began to spread. Louis himself would report on the catastrophic loss to illness of both men and horses at this stage, describing their sad reduction in numbers from plague and lack of food, and saying that there was no one in the camp that "did not mourn those who had died or were mortally ill". The French spent Good Friday and Easter Sunday in this state of despair and uncertainty, and on 5th April [...] Louis ordered a retreat to Damietta."

At one point, where despair seemed to prevail over reason, it was the king's pious character that certainly brought some victory to reason as: 

"Louis' men urged him to board one of the galleys going down river, but Louis refused, saying he would never abandon his people. Three decades later, Charles of Anjou still recalled how Louis snapped at him when Charles insisted that Louis was endangering the army by slowing its progress. 'If you find me a burden', the king replied, 'leave me behind since I will not desert my people.'"

Negotiations occurred in the meantime Louis was trying to calm his army, but failured was quite evident. There is a situation, which Gaspochkin retells us from the perspective of the account written by Joinville (one of the closest men, not from Church, to the king).

" In Joinville's bitter recollection, Marcel cried out to the French camp, "Lord Knights! Surrender yourselves- the king commands you to do so. Do not let the king be killed!" Joinville swears that the king had given no such order; but the French, not knowing this, surrendered, and the Egyptians, pressing their advantages, promptly ended the truce talks. All of Louis' men still in the field, both on land and water, were then taken into captivity. 

[...] Of his capture, Louis himself said that he, along with Alphonse of Poitiers and Charles of Anjou, and the majority of those retreating by both land and water "were taken and put in chains, not without a very great slaughter of our men and the shedding of no little Christian blood". [...] Louis was taken by boat [...] back to Mansourah."

If the king had been previously ill during the crusade, which he had architected even against his mother's approval on the matter during the past four years with the consent of the pope, during his captivity his health deteriorated quite harshly to the point where his captor, Turah Shan, placed the king under his own doctor. Joinville recalls it bitterly that the Muslim physicians managed to make a better use of medicine than their own physicians. In captivity, however, must be reminded that he was treated well accordingly to his position, and even so this did not mean there had been no execution: some sources claim that the Muslim slaughtered over 30,000 French men.

Regarding the king's captivity, still, which is an important subject to be discussed because it reveals more about his zealous nature and pious character which would be highlighted when he was later canonized, the author tells us that:

"The captivity gave Louis time to reflect deeply about what had led there. All evidence points to a sense of personal despair or defeat. He was in a state of penintention introspection the whole time, taking count of his responsibility in the catastrophic outcome of the crusade, both with regards to his men and before God. In Europe, it was said that for three days he neither ate nor drank and longed for death. During his captivity, each time he exited his confinement he would lie in the ground on the form of a cross, and make the sign of cross all over his body."

But the captivity of the holy king also brought to internation light the shrewd nature of the queen consort, who was not only the first woman to accompany, until then, her husband the king to the crusades, but had also an important role during the negotiations to release Louis from captivity. That she did so whilst carrying one of Louis's child in her belly, Jean Tristan, makes the narrative of the story quite impressive.

"[...] In Damietta, the Queen was busy trying to raise 400,000 bezants needed to effect the transfer. She was clearly terrified. She asked that an elderly attendant vow to kill her before she could be captured if the Saracens took the city.[...]"

It also appears that an old knight acted as a midwife during the birth of Prince Jean. As a result of her role as a mediator queen during this process where her husband was captive under the hands of the muslims, upon their return to France, the Queen's shrewdness would make her sought by others of the court to mediate conflicts and others matters.

Eventually, however, the negotiations came to an end, after much intern trouble amidst Louis's enemies, and thus 

"On May 6th, Damietta was handed over to the emirs, and the king and other captives were released. The four galleys which held most of the prisoners had been anchored right outside the city the previous evening. [...] All the Christians within the walls of Damietta, led by Marguerite of Provence, were escorted out of the city and onto the ships. [...]"

Upon the death of his mother, the queen regent Blanche of Castille, which had distressed him quite much, Louis returned to France. Even though there were some critics where his crusade came to defeat, this did not diminish his popularity as king; on the contrary, his pious nature became wider known throughtout Europe and he was still seen as the model of Christian prince, for

"His empathy for the fellow captives and his sense of personal responsibility pierces through the centuries, and we might speculate about what role the experience of his own captivity had in his resolve."

As a result of this particular experience, we can tell how it reflected within his national politics, for Gasposchkin states that:

"The 'spirit of reform' which animated royal governance after 1254 and all the policies which it engendered, paired with the uncompromising moralization of his kingship, seem to have been borne from Louis' profound sense of personal responsibility for the crusade's failure and his sense of duty in legislating virtue throughout the kingdom, including the 'anti-corruption' campaigns of the 1250's and 1260's. Louis inaugurated a series of reforming measures [...] all designed to ensure as much as possible the just kingship to which Louis aspired. His desire to effect an ideal of Christian kingship born of his penitential ambition was probably also the impetus for his measures at peacemaking, both within and outside his realm. At least, his hagiographers think so."

He was also known for his patronage of arts, innovating and propagating the Gothic style in art and architecture. Louis was also responsible for commissioning the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris to 

"host the crucifixion relics he acquired after 1239". He also "ordered the establishment of several professional guilds, one of which was the 'Oyeurs' or goose roasters from which of course the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs traces its origins."

Another heritance left by Louis's deeds as king of France lies on "the foundations for the famous college of theology later known as the Sorbonne were laid in Paris about the year 1257". Consequently, 

"The prestige and respect felt in Europe for King Louis IX were due more to the attraction that his benevolent personality created rather than to military domination. For his contemporaries, he was the quintessential example of the Christian prince and embodied the whole of Christendom in his person. His reputation for saintliness and fairness was already well established while he was still alive, and on many occasions he was chosen as an arbiter in quarrels among the rulers of Europe."

Following the year of 1258, where internation affairs were concerned, Louis and James I of Aragon entered in negotiations that led to the Treaty of Corbeil, under which both parts renounced to some territories: on Louis's part, he relinquished his feudal overlordship over the County of Barcelona and Roussillon; from James', he did the same by giving back to France's crowns the counties of Provence and Languedoc, among others. In 1259, the Treaty of Paris was signed between Louis and King Henry III, improving thus relationship between England and France after a few generations of early Plantagenets and the Capétiens. This treaty, whilst confirming some English lordship over some French's territories, confirmed the French's crown soberanity over Anjou, Normandy, Poitou, Maine and Touraine. As we can see, Louis's nature tended more for peace rather than going to war in spite of his failures at crusades.

And it's on the second crusade we are discussing now. In 24 March 1267, 

"In a parliament held at Paris, [...] Louis and his three sons took the cross. On hearing the reports of the missionaries, Louis resolved to land at Tunis, and he ordered his younger brother, Charles of Anjou, to join him there. The crusaders, among whom was Prince Edward of England, landed at Carthage 17 July 1270, but disease broke out in the camp. Many died of dysentery, and on 25 August, Louis himself died."

About his death, which is leading us to Louis's sainthood, author Cecilia Gaspochkin states that:

"[...]Louis IX died in North Africa, outside the walls of Tunis, on 25 August 1270. Efforts began to immediately to canonize him. In 1272 the pope elect, Gregory X, asked Louis's confessor Geoffrey of Beaulieu to write a vita and he commissioned Simon de Brie quietly to begin inquiries into Louis's sanctity. In 1275, churchmen from northern France wrote to Gregory to request expedition of Louis's canonization. A formal inquiry into his sanctity lasting over a year was held at Saint-Denis in 1282 and 1283. But it was not until 1297, as part of the negotiations between the pope (Boniface VIII) and the French king (Philippe IV, "the Fair") that the papacy formally canonized Louis."

We have seen, as this far we've been discussing about Louis's deeds as a king and his character as man that his peacemaker tendencies, aside of his piety and how he took his duty as lieutnant of God seriously as well as being the ruler who looks after his people, that there was much to have contributed for Louis's rise from merely being the model of a Christian prince to Saint Louis, the saint who would exercise a great influence over the next generation of kings of France. 

For a starter, the already mentioned author Gaspochkin, in her article "Louis IX and Liturgical Memory", indicates the paths which constituted in Louis's memory and how it was used for the end of the canonization through liturgy. In other words, 

"[...] the liturgy defined Louis's sanctity as people participated in it on a daily basis, as part of the lived and ritualized experience of devotion. It also functioned to construct a communal memory of Louis within a particular institutional and devotional context, creating a legitimizing canon that nourished institutional identity [...]. 

The text for None spoke of Louis, in heaven, having overcome his exile on earth: 'He sings praises to God, having left his exile; translated into joy, he was not mindful of his afflictions'. Another potent image-walking in the footsteps of Christ-was also evoked. [...] The first Matins responsory said 'Louis, the noble king among king of the French, [was] desirous from the very beginning to follow in the footsteps of Christ'."

Moreover, we are, once again, taken into the depths of his religiosity as she states that:

" The only way out of exile and home to God was through learning, contemplation and, above all, bodily asceticism. Lauda celestis thus detailed Louis's learning and ascetic chastisement of the flesh. The office spoke of Louis 'restoring his spirit with the nourishment of sacred doctrine' and of his 'many fasts, the tears of his vigils and disciplines, his pallor, the bluish aspect of a dead man, his hair shirt, the hardness of his bed, [which], it said, all revealed a body consummed by meagreness, subjugated to the spirit. Louis, said the office, chastised his flesh and bore the lashes from the iron chain of his confessor. Eventually, he was 'freed from prison, freed from his chains', to enter the kingdom of heaven."

We are presented to two instruments, services of the Church, whose participating in building the image of Louis IX as a saint and using all of his lifetime through the writings of Vita, as already mentioned: those would be the Cister order, a Benedictine order reformed in the 11th century alongside the intern reforms that marked Church's history in that time, and the Franscicans, a mendicant group of religious whose aim was to follow the example of life left by Saint Francis. And how far these groups took part in expanding Louis's memory to the extention that not only took part in his canonization but also as the patron of the next French kings?

To have a better comprehension of the methods used by the Cister Order, here's an excerpt of the already mentioned article "Louis IX and Liturgical Memory":

"The Cistercian office remembered Louis using core devotional ideals at the heart of the monastic contemplative vocation, in turn reifying, in the memory of the saint king, those very ideals to the religious community as it ritually performed the liturgy each year. [...] 

The themes of asceticism, penitence and obedience of the Cistercian office for Louis contrasted sharply with the interpretation of Louis's sanctity in the ritual memoralization at the royal court. [...] the secular royal tradition drew on the language of [...] an ideal of sacral kingship."

We have to keep in mind that by the time the process in which the Cistercian Order participated in linking the Capetian monarchy to the sacred monarchy presented in the Bible through the character of Solomon, for example, Philippe III and, in posteriority, Philippe IV (whom we have also discussed on this blog) were the monarchs whose kingship were being linked if not closely to the Church and its ideals. However, 

"[...] the office modelled -memorialized- Louis according to ideals current at the royal court in 1300, thus using Louis to legitimize those ideals while at the same time allowing the image, the memory and the symbol of Louis as saint in turn to represent these ideals, to associate Capetian kingship with biblical, Old Testament and Christian kingship."

Thus, 

"In comparison to Cistercian memorialization, which sought to valorize monastic contemplative ideals, and courtly memorialization, which emphazied the sacral quality of Louis's kingship, the Franciscans framed their liturgical memory of Louis in terms of the life and sanctity Saint Francis. [...] That is to say, the liturgy for Louis was explicitly designed to recall the liturgy for Saint Francis.[...]"

On the contrary of the methods used by Cistercians in the process of canonization, which worked closely to the ideals present at the court years after Louis's death, the mendicant order of the Franciscans sought for another path for doing it so. Through comparions between the lives of St Francis and Louis IX, it's interesting to notice that the latter's skills as warrior was used to point a less mundane aspect of it, despite the apparent contradiction (in using arms for a military purpose in the name of a peaceful God). As we see below, 

"For the Franciscans, what most exemplified Louis's sanctity was the crusade -and it was crusade understood in a very Franciscan way: as renunciation, service to the church and suffering. The bulk of the office was devoted to a celebration of Louis's crusade- just as the bulk of Francis' office was devoted to his renunciation. In particular, Louis's crusade was modelled as a parallel Francis's stigmata. Crusade and stigmata were both undestood on a metaphysical level [...] as the mystical moment of compassionate unification- that is, a co-suffering [...]- with Christ."

It is no wonder why, when writing about Louis' captivity in Egipty, author Cecilia Gasposchkin concludes that:

"[...] The hagiographical traditional that flourished in the years around his canonization was largely built upon the edifice of the vita written in the early 1270 by Louis' long time confessor (and companion in Egypt), Geoffrey of Beaulieu. Louis's captivity was featured prominently [...] in both traditions. The stories that took root and were repeated are illustrative of the ways in which his captivity had come to have moral and ideological meaning. His commitment to staying with his army and ensuring certain capture rather than fleeing alone, his willingness to remain prisoner in exchange for the freedom of others, his secure faith in the face of the infidel victors, and his refusal to take an oath to deny Christ were featured in almost all later accounts."

What is even more curious is, considering Louis's defeat in both crusades, the speech beneath the words of Pope Boniface VIII when he 

"suggested that God had actually allowed Louis to fall in captivity in order to demonstrate the core value of humility and endured suffering to the infidel. The captivity was, thus, merely an instrument of God's greater design."

Whether it was for political, mundane orders that Louis was no more a man or merely a king but, above all, a saint, we ought to remember that, underneath these titles, 

"He was renowed for his charity. Beggars were fed from his table, he ate their leavings, washed their feet, ministered to the wants of the lepers, and daily fed over one hundred poor. He founded many hospitals and houses: the House of the Filles-Dieu for reformed prostitutes; the Quinze-Vingt for 300 blind men (1254), hospitals at Pontoise, Vernon, Compiégne."

As it happened to the last Anglo-Saxon king, Edward, the Confessor, who likewise became a saint following similar purposes, Louis thus became St Louis, exercisizing in practice what few kings dared to do: to follow, with no doubt, the commandments left by Christ, to love and protect the poor, to defend the feeble and innocent, to practice justice and, furthermore, to practice charity. That he had flaws as a human being, this is certain during his lifetime, but the message is beyond that: it is what he could do as someone who received "too much" from the divine and how he used it for selfless purposes. 

That is how we end this post, to make it known that being a king or a queen whether be in the past or in our present days did not necessarily mean that there lied a power to be used poorly. Saint Louis taught us otherwise, that he did what he could to improve, if not change, a reality in which a greater purpose was expected of him. 

In attempting to stick to a bibliography that is not commonly used as reference (as far as we know) in observing the discussions concerning such important character for Christianity and France's history in the duality where Louis fits as a man and as divine being, we sought to bring a proposition that is to comprehend the extention of his deeds through the works of the men whose part certainly helped in building a even more humble image, fit for a Saint. That we hope to contribute to bring others perspectives, as we have done here this day, and propose a reflection alongsipe this discussion is our goal, but nothing more important than spreading knowledge.

Bibliography:

GASPOSCHKIN, Cecilia M..Louis IX and Liturgical Memory. "Memory and Commemoration in Medieval Culture." Edited by Elma Brenner, Meredith Cohen and Mary Franklin-Brown.

GASPOCHKIN, Cecilia M. The Captivity of Louis IX. "Quaestiones Medii Aevi Novae. Vol 18- 2013. Kings In Captivity; Macroeconomy: Economic Growth". Edited by Wojciech Falkowski, Marek Derwich, Tomasz Jasinski, Kryzstof Ozog, Andrzej Radziminsky, Pawel Derecki.

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

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

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

-http://www.chainedesrotisseurs.com/news_online/story.php?ids=1473&title=

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