Tea at Trianon: Young Maria Theresa

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

Monday, August 24, 2009

Young Maria Theresa

Lauren has a post about the youth of the great Empress Maria Theresa.

Early on Maria Theresa was taught several languages. Most importantly she learned to speak Latin fluently. As a ruler she would learn not to trust translators who may have alternative motives, and this gives an idea of the spectrum of languages the little girl learned. Her teachers were the most notable persons at the time, and she learned liberal arts such as religion, history, math, painting, music etc.

May said...: What a lovely portrait of her! It seems Marie-Antoinette looked alot like her mother?; August 24, 2009 at 11:43:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, I believe that even at her birth it was remarked that M-A resembled her mother the Empress.; August 24, 2009 at 11:45:00 AM EDT
MadMonarchist said...: Undoubtedly one of the all time greats of European monarchy. All too often she is portrayed as the "superstitious reactionary" in contrast to her more liberal son while forgetting all of the things she did to improve the lives of her subjects.; August 24, 2009 at 3:30:00 PM EDT
tubbs said...: This woman was a Titan, yet she seems to be almost ignored by historians in the English-speaking world.(a woman? an RC?)

And are we aware of her major influence as a patron of the arts? Music, for example: She was not only a talented vocalist herself, she had 'talent scouts' comb the countryside, keeping an ear out for talented youth to patronize.

I could go on and on --- because even to this day, her name is revered by the German side of my family.; August 24, 2009 at 5:30:00 PM EDT