Tea at Trianon: Trivia from the Battle of Vienna

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, April 2, 2011

Trivia from the Battle of Vienna


Polish hussar

A reader writes:

I recently read a book, Why do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday?: The Catholic Origin to Just About Everything by Michael P. Foley (2005, Palgrave MacMillan). There were a couple of pieces of trivia in there that might interest you for your blog:
Cappuccino coffee (p. 35) was named after Blessed Marco D'Aviano, a Capuchin friar and miracle worker beatified by John Paul II in 2003, who rallied the Christian troops at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 against the Turks. "But D'Aviano," writes Foley, "is better remembered for what happened afterwards. According to legend, he found sacks of coffee beans that the Turkish forces had left behind in their haste. D'Aviano brewed himself a cup, but finding it too bitter for his taste he added milk and honey, thus turning the coffee brown. The grateful Viennese dubbed the drink 'little Capuchin,' or cappuccino, in honor of D'Aviano, whose Capuchin habit was the same color."

Croissants (p. 29) also commemorate the Christian victory at the Battle of Vienna. They are shaped like a Moslem crescent. There is a legend that a baker discovered the Turks mining under the city walls and gave the alarm. After the victory, he was rewarded with a monopoly on making the croissants.

Foley does not mention bagels, but according to legend, they also commemorate the victory at the Battle of Vienna. According to some sources, the word "bagel" comes from the German word for "stirrup". A Jewish baker created them to honor the Polish prince Jan Sobieski, whose cavalry charge of 20,000 horses downhill saved the day. It is more likely that the stirrup-shaped bagels simply commemorate the Polish cavalry charge--after all, it was the largest cavalry charge in history. It included the famous Polish winged hussars--heavy cavalry riders who wore wings behind them and wore lion and leopard skins on their horses. The wings--which were tied at the top--prevented enemies from lassoing the rider and pulling him off his horse. The feathers made a rushing sound that terrified enemy horses that were not used to the sound--the lion and leopard skins may have had similar effects. The winged hussars were very effective. Witnesses said that they looked like angels on horseback.

Some people speculate that the Polish cavalry charge that lifted the siege of Vienna was the inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien's cavalry charge of the Rohirrim that lifted the siege of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings.

Badger Catholic said...: This is fantastic!; April 2, 2011 at 5:48:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you! Thank my friend Becky, who sent me the information!; April 2, 2011 at 9:11:00 AM EDT
Badger Catholic said...: I often tell people that JRRT's Gandalf character must be based on a certain St. John Capistrano who helped lead Hungary to victory at Belgrade. I had never read the details of the charge before, I find it hard to believe this would not make for good(and profitable) cinema.; April 2, 2011 at 3:10:00 PM EDT