Tea at Trianon: A Letter from Robert Bruce to Edward II

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

Thursday, June 6, 2013

A Letter from Robert Bruce to Edward II

From Medievalists.net:

New research has revealed a letter written in 1310 by Robert Bruce to King Edward II, presenting historians with fresh information about a pivotal time in the Wars of Scottish Independence. The letter was sent less than four years before Robert Bruce won a famous victory at the Battle of Bannockburn against the English king which paved the way for Scottish independence.

The document, which was discovered in The British Library by chance by a senior academic from the University of Glasgow, gives a snapshot of Bruce in 1310 as a king facing one of his sternest tests yet. This letter reveals how, when faced with an English army marching into the heart of Scotland, Robert Bruce made an eloquent appeal for peace, on the understanding that Edward would recognise Scottish independence.

Around this time the two men were experiencing very different fortunes; King Edward was growing increasingly unpopular with the nobles in his own court, whilst Robert was slowly reclaiming power north of the border by winning the hearts and minds of the Scottish people. By the time of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Bruce had taken all the strongholds except Stirling and those near the English border.

Dauvit Broun, Professor of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow, who made the discovery, comments, “The letter reveals a couple of things: firstly, Bruce’s tone is extremely conciliatory; he seems to be offering to do anything possible to establish peace. However, he is nonetheless plainly addressing Edward as one king to another. There is no doubt that the bottom line here is that Edward should recognise Robert as king of the Scots and the Scots as separate from the English. (Read entire post.)