Tea at Trianon: Death of a Habsburg

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Death of a Habsburg

Andrew Cusack has a post about the recent funeral of one of the sons of Blessed Emperor Karl of Austria. Archduke Karl Ludwig was buried in the Capuchin crypt in Vienna with his ancestors. (It was right after visiting that crypt in 1995 that I had the inspiration to write Trianon. It is an awesome place.) According to the old custom, the body of the late emperor's son was announced at the Capuchin church in the following manner:

When they reach the Capuchin church, a member of the funeral party cries "Open!" and the Abbot inquires "Who are you? Who asks to enter?"
"We bear the remains of His Imperial & Royal Highness, Archduke Carl Ludwig Maria Franz Joseph Michael Gabriel Antonius Robert Stephan Pius Gregor Ignatius Markus d'Aviano of Austria!"

"We know him not," the Abbot responds. "Who goes there?"

And again: "We bear the remains of His Imperial & Royal Highness, Archduke Carl Ludwig Maria Franz Joseph Michael Gabriel Antonius Robert Stephan Pius Gregor Ignatius Markus d'Aviano of Austria!"

"We know him not". For the third time, the Abbot inquires, "Who goes there?"

"We bear the body of Carl Ludwig, our brother, a sinner like us all." At that moment, the doors of the abbey swing open and the Abbot calls out "You may enter!"

Anonymous said...: How moving...brought a tear to my eye. At death our station in life becomes equal in the sight of God.; January 17, 2008 at 12:00:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: We are dust and return to dust.; January 17, 2008 at 12:20:00 PM EST