#haughty hessians

[breitzbachbea]

13 for the ask game!

Finally getting around to clearing out my inbox! Thank you SO much for asking!

History Ask Game

13. [share some random historical trivia!]

OOOOUUUHHH, where to START!

I have to learn more about Frederick II. of the HRE, he is my second favourite swabian (first is my friend Jani, third is Felix Fabri). Because what I do know FUCKS SO HARD, aside from the fact that he was a rip-roaring BANG to end one periodization phase of the German Medieval ages. You basically killed your entire dynasty, but by GOD did you do it while serving CUNT.

My favourite story is the crusade one, the abridged version. So, my boy Fritz had sworn to the Pope that he'd go on crusade some time, but you know, always something better to do when you're the emperor and also King of Sicily. By the time Fritz can finally go, he gets violently sick on the boat that just left Brindisi and goes back home. That's not a good enough excuse for the Pope, who excommunicates him anyways, so Fritz says oh FUCK YOU, I'm going anyways. Goes to the Holy Land, brokers a temporary peace with the local muslim elite and gets to ACTUALLY go to Jerusalem. Absolute king shit, all while excommunicated. I know it's medieval Europe, he probably did some horrendous shit I haven't read up on yet, but he is my favourite. The balls on this man and his love for South Italy which I share. I visited his grave when I was in Palermo, it was ALL I saw of the Cathedral that time around (I will return. And probably look at Fritz again as well as the rest.)

Time Jump! During the Napoleonic occupation, Kassel (the capital of the Landgraviate Hessen-Kassel) became the capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Westphalia and was ruled over by Napoleon's brother Jerome. Or how the Kasseläner_innen called him - König Lustik. Because the only sentence in German he, according to the local tradition, was "Morgen wird wieder lustig" - "Tomorrow, we'll have fun again" (Or to make merry ... It's hard to translate). Also, after Napoleon was defeated and the Landgraf, now Kurfürst Wilhelm I. (Vienna Congress shenanigans, don't worry about it), returned ... they weren't so keen on his absolutistic leanings? So, in 1830, when riots broke out, citizens successfully pressed Wilhelm II to call together the Landtag (not parliament, but a representation of all the people with power in the principality's realm. The estates of a principality, you get it). He did call it together, something that hadn't been done in a long time because absolutism, and they got a constituition, to enshrine rights for citizens and curb the monarchical power! There's a big cutout reproduction in the Kasseler Stadtmuseum of an engraved illustration by Ludwig Emil Grimm! Here's the entire engraving!

Grimm you may now think ... Grimm like the Brother Grimm? Indeed! He was their youngest brother, with Wilhelm and Jakob being the eldest of six children! He was a famous illustrator and also illustrated copies of his brother's Kinder- und Hausmärchen. The city of Kassel was home to the family for many, many years, with Jakob and Wilhelm studying in nearby Marburg as well. One of the reasons that a lot of 'their' fairytales have French origins is the fact that Kassel took in huge swaths of Huguenots over the course of the 17th and 18th century. They let them settle around the Landgraviate (name for a principality ruled over by the Landgraf, in German Landgrafschaft), in existing places as well as newly founded settlements. That's why there is a small village in East Hesse named Gethsemane, called Getzemich in the local dialect. Of course, named after the garden in Jerusalem in the bible. And because those Huguenots were very industrial and Jakob & Wilhelm weren't really gonna leave their cushy study, lots of middle class Huguenots came to tell them their tales - hence things they had carried with them from France.

I am so sorry, this was so much and I could talk on and on and on about Hessian history, I could dig up funfacts about Sicily or other South Italian places, I could wreck my brain for some ancient Roman or Mesopotamian funfacts, I could even unearth some about Ireland and Great Britain if I dug deep enough. I just ... I love history. It's fascinating. It's all there ever was in human history! It's entirely different cultures from our own and yet many times the answer why things are the way they are today! It's the past, it's the present and we look to it because we ask about the future. Wonderful, isn't it?

[annalaurendet70]

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and By Rhine was described by people who knew her as one of the most beautiful women of that era.

As a young woman, Elisabeth's cousin, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, fell in love with her. In April 1875, the 16-year-old Wilhelm visited Darmstadt to celebrate Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine's 12th birthday and first expressed interest in the 11-year-old Elisabeth. He wrote in a letter to his mother that "if God grants that I may live till then I shall make her my bride once if you allow it."When he was a student at Bonn University, he often visited his Aunt Alice and his Hessian relatives on the weekends. During these frequent visits, he fell in love with Elisabeth, writing numerous love poems and regularly sending them to her. He proposed to Elisabeth in 1878, but she rejected him.

Lord Charles Montagu, the second son of the 7th Duke of Manchester courted her unsuccessfully.

Henry Wilson, later a distinguished soldier, vied unsuccessfully for Elisabeth's hand.

The future Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden, Wilhelm's first cousin, proposed to Elisabeth. Queen Victoria described him as "so good and steady", with "such a safe and happy position,"that when Elisabeth declined to marry him the Queen "deeply regretted it". Frederick's grandmother, the Empress Augusta, was so furious at Elisabeth's rejection of Frederick that it took some time for her to forgive Elisabeth.

Other admirers included:

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov of Russia (the poet KR), who wrote a poem about her first arrival in Russia and the general impression she made to all the people present at the time.

Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov considered her a second mother, and stated in his memoirs that she helped him greatly during the most difficult moments of his life.

As a young girl, Queen Marie of Romania was very fascinated with her cousin Ella. In her memoirs, she wrote that "her beauty and sweetness was a thing of dreams."

The French Ambassador to the Russian court, Maurice Paleologue, wrote in his memoirs how Elisabeth was capable of arousing what he described as "profane passions".

Ultimately, it was a Grand Duke of Russia who would win Elisabeth's heart; Elisabeth's great-aunt, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, was a frequent visitor to Hesse. During these visits, she was usually accompanied by her youngest sons, Sergei and Pavell. Elisabeth had known them since they were children, and she initially viewed them as haughty and reserved. Sergei, especially, was a very serious young man, intensely religious, and he found himself attracted to Elisabeth after seeing her as a young woman for the first time in several years.

At first, Sergei made little impression on Elisabeth. But after the death of both of his parents within a year of each other, Elisabeth sympathised with Sergei because she had felt this same grief after the death of her mother. Their other similarities (both were artistic and religious) drew them closer together. It was said that Sergei was especially attached to Elisabeth because she had the same character as his beloved mother. So when Sergei proposed to her for the second time, she accepted—much to the chagrin of her grandmother Queen Victoria.