Tea at Trianon: The Lion of Lucerne

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

Monday, October 18, 2021

The Lion of Lucerne

From Ancient Origins:

The Lion of Lucerne would not have existed had it not been for a man by the name of Carl Pfyffer von Altishofen. It was von Altishofen who commissioned this memorial. In addition, it is by knowing von Altishofen’s story that one may understand the symbolism and significance of the Lion of Lucerne. Von Altishofen is recorded to have served as an officer in the Swiss Guards. When the ‘August Insurrection’ broke out in Paris on the August 10, 1792, von Altishofen is recorded to have been home on leave in Lucerne.
Von Altishofen’s fellow Swiss Guards in Paris were not as fortunate as he was, and many of them lost their lives during the conflict in the French capital. As mercenaries, the Swiss Guards were renowned for honoring their agreements and their loyalty towards their employers.

One of these was the French royal family, who had been hiring these mercenaries since the 17th century. When the August Insurrection broke out, there was a regiment of about 1000 Swiss Guards serving the King of France, Louis XVI and his family.

About 300 of Louis’ Swiss Guards were sent on a mission outside of Paris several days earlier, whilst the rest of them were with the king and his family at the Tuileries Palace. During the uprising, the Swiss Guards defended their employers against the angry Parisian mob. The majority of them died during combat or in prison from injuries. The number of casualties sustained by the Swiss Guards, as well as the number of survivors, was carved onto the monument in Lucerne. The former being 760, whilst the latter numbered 350. (Read more.)