Tea at Trianon: The Wolf and the Lamb

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, September 8, 2016

The Wolf and the Lamb

From English Historical Fiction Authors:

The marriage between Wulfhere of Mercia and Ermenilda of Kent was no exception. He was a ruthless king, she a pious princess. Theirs was a union that would strengthen the bonds between kingdoms. Wulfhere was Penda of Mercia’s second son. His father was England’s last pagan king, a powerful warlord feared by his neighbours. Wulfhere followed his elder brother, Paeda, to the throne. Paeda was assassinated shortly after he came to power—many believe by his wife. Wulfhere came out of exile to claim the throne and take it back from Oswiu of Northumbria—restoring the power of Mercia after its disastrous defeat at the Battle of Winwaed. He ruled from 658 AD to his death in 676 AD, and was the first Christian king of Mercia. However, his path away from paganism to Christianity does not appear to have been an easy one. Ermenilda was described as “saintly and beautiful”. She was the daughter of King Eorcenberht of Kent, very pious himself, as was his wife, Seaxburgh. After Wulfhere’s death, Ermenilda was said to have taken the veil and become abbess of Ely, like her mother before her. Later, she was sainted. Ermenilda’s feast day is February 13. (Read more.)