Tea at Trianon: The Unicorn and the Keys

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

Friday, April 16, 2021

The Unicorn and the Keys

From New Alba:

The Stuarts were as zealous supporters of the Catholic Church as their predecessors had been. But, as we know, James IV and V were successively defeated by the English, culminating in the Protestant revolt, the tragedy of Mary Queen of Scots, the high-jacking of the Scottish Church by John Knox and his associates, and eventually the Protestant James VI succeeding England’s Elizabeth as James I. In those tempestuous times, most Scottish Abbeys were wrecked, and the Royal tombs destroyed. But at the same time, as with the Irish and English, a network of Catholic Scots monastic and educational foundations sprang up in Italian, French, Belgian, Spanish, and German exile.

In the reign of Charles I began the Wars of the Three Kingdoms; as in his other two realms, Scotland’s Catholics fought loyally for the King; they made up a large chunk of Montrose’s army. They suffered for it, as they would again, fighting for James VII and II. From that time on, the Stuarts assumed leadership of the network of exiles’ institutions earlier referred to (and began their own wanderings); but they did not neglect their loyal Protestant subjects in diaspora either. It was James VIII and III who received Papal permission to found the Protestant Cemetery in Rome for his courtiers of that religion who died attending him. James VII and II, incidentally, had his cause for beatification introduced at Rome: since it has never either been acted upon or officially closed, he may be called a “Servant of God” – as may Mary Queen of Scots, whose own cause was introduced in the late 19th century, and supported by Leo XIII and Benedict XV.

At any rate, Scotland’s Catholics rallied again to the old standard for the ’15, the’19, and the ’45, and were caught up in the general ruin. When James VIII and III died in 1766, Bonnie Prince Charlie – now de jure Charles III – came to Rome to take up his father’s inheritance. But Pope Clement XIII had recognised George III as King of Great Britain at James’ death, and forbade his being greeted by his subjects at Rome as King. The rectors of the Pontifical English, Scots, and Irish Colleges did so anyway, and were fired as a result. Despite Charles’ younger brother, Henry, Cardinal York’s protest at his sibling’s treatment, the Pope nevertheless gave him rather than Charles the power of ecclesiastical appointments in the English-speaking world that their father had exercised. When Charles himself died in 1788, the Cardinal-King asserted his rights to the three thrones in a letter of protest to the Courts of Europe. In time, however, Papal recognition of George III led to some easing of the Penal laws – allowing the Vicars Apostolic in Scotland to operate openly. As result, Robert Burns’ friend, John Geddes, Vicar Apostolic of western Scotland, was able to convince the Scots monasteries of Regensburg and Würzburg and the Scots colleges of Paris, Douai, and Valladolid (now Salamanca, Spain) to subscribe to the 1787 Edinburgh edition of Burns’ poetry. This latter would make Scotland’s national bard a Europe-wide star.

The French Revolution and resulting invasions of Italy impoverished Henry IX; but his Hanoverian cousins did come to his aid financially. George IV would pay for the impressive monument and tomb of the three Stuart Kings at St. Peter’s after his cousin’s death in 1807. Without a doubt, this pro-Stuart feeling on the part of George IV was supported heavily by that great rehabilitator of Jacobitism’s reputation, Sir Walter Scott. As is well-known, he stage managed the King’s Scottish visit in 1822, the first such visit by a Protestant Monarch since 1650. In the event, it was as great a success as had the King’s Irish visit the year before. Despite his many failings, George IV did have a great appreciation of his Celtic Kingdoms. In any case, as is well known, his niece Queen Victoria would continue the Royal fascination with things Scottish – not only beginning the annual Holyrood stay, but purchasing Balmoral. (Read more.)