Tea at Trianon: Empress Theodora

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

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Empress Theodora

The Mad Monarchist has a post about one of the most colorful women who ever lived, the Empress Theodora.

Together with her husband Empress Theodora oversaw the rebuilding of Constantinople into one of the most spectacular cities in history. She helped in the building of hospices, churches and refuges for the poor. She is also credited with influencing new laws to protect women, making rape and kidnapping capital offenses, no matter if the woman was noble or common born. Women could not be forced into the entertainment industry or prostitution and could not be put in prison for debts. Instead they were to be placed under the supervision of religious women to work off their debt. This was necessary because of the rape and abuse women often suffered in prison. She cracked down hard on prostitution, buying the freedom of many girls herself, meting out harsh punishment to their captors and setting up establishments to help them get back on their feet in legitimate ways.

tubbs said...: LOL:

Dear EM, This item - what a startling change from your usual delicacy! - but nevertheless refreshing.

And I wonder what her stage name was on the byzantine burlesque circuit....Feely O'Quay? Ortha Doxie?

(Forgive me / I'm from the last era that can remember such greats as Penny Central, Connie Edison, Norma Vincent Peel, Bermuda Schwartz, etc.); February 20, 2010 at 7:25:00 PM EST
Athanasius said...: That is a very interesting depiction of Theodora. Even in Vasilev's treatment, she appears as little more than an agitator constantly working to impose her monophysite sympathies and living in luxury cold and indifferent. I have not read anything depicting that side of her.; February 21, 2010 at 12:50:00 AM EST
Viola said...: What an enlightened woman! She was certainly very modern for her era.; February 21, 2010 at 2:09:00 AM EST