October 26, 899: Death of King Alfred the Great of the Anglo-Saxons

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Alfred the Great, Æthelwulf of Wessex, Charles the Bald, Educational Reforms, King of the Anglo-Saxons, King of the West Saxons, King of Wessex, King of West Francia, Kingdom of Mercia, Osburh, The Danelaw, William the Conqueror

Alfred the Great (848/49 – October 26, 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to c. 886 and King of the Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 to 899. Under Alfred’s rule, considerable administrative and military reforms were introduced, prompting lasting change in England.

Alfred was a son of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex, and his wife Osburh. According to his biographer, Asser, writing in 893, “In the year of our Lord’s Incarnation 849 Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons”, was born at the royal estate called Wantage, in the district known as Berkshire (which is so called from Berroc Wood, where the box tree grows very abundantly).”

This date has been accepted by the editors of Asser’s biography, Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge, and by other historians such as David Dumville and Richard Huscroft. However, West Saxon genealogical lists state that Alfred was 23 when he became king in April 871, implying that he was born between April 847 and April 848. This dating is adopted in the biography of Alfred by Alfred Smyth, who regards Asser’s biography as fraudulent, an allegation which is rejected by other historians.

Alfred was the youngest of six children of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex, and his wife Osburh. His eldest brother, Æthelstan, was old enough to be appointed sub-king of Kent in 839, almost 10 years before Alfred was born. Æthelstan died in the early 850s. Alfred’s next three brothers were successively kings of Wessex. Æthelbald (858-860) and Æthelberht (860-865) were also much older than Alfred, but Æthelred (865-871) was only a year or two older.

Alfred’s only known sister, Æthelswith, married Burgred, King of Mercia in 853. Most historians think that Osburh was the mother of all Æthelwulf’s children, but some suggest that the older ones were born to an unrecorded first wife.

Alfred’s mother was Osburga, daughter of Oslac of the Isle of Wight, Chief Butler of England. Asser, in his Vita Ælfredi asserts that this shows his lineage from the Jutes of the Isle of Wight. This is unlikely because Bede tells us that they were all slaughtered by the Saxons under Cædwalla.

Osburh was described by Alfred’s biographer Asser as “a most religious woman, noble by temperament and noble by birth”. She had died by 856 when Æthelwulf married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, King of West Francia.

In 868, Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini. The Gaini were probably one of the tribal groups of the Mercians. Ealhswith’s mother, Eadburh, was a member of the Mercian royal family.

They had five or six children together, including Edward the Elder who succeeded his father as king; Æthelflæd who became lady of the Mercians; and Ælfthryth who married Baldwin II, Count of Flanders.

Osferth of Wessex was described as a relative in King Alfred’s will and he attested charters in a high position until 934. A charter of King Edward’s reign described him as the king’s brother – mistakenly according to Keynes and Lapidge, and in the view of Janet Nelson, he probably was an illegitimate son of King Alfred.

After ascending the throne, Alfred spent several years fighting Viking invasions. In 868, Alfred was recorded as fighting beside Æthelred in a failed attempt to keep the Great Heathen Army led by Ivar the Boneless out of the adjoining Kingdom of Mercia. The Danes arrived in his homeland at the end of 870, and nine engagements were fought in the following year, with mixed results; the places and dates of two of these battles have not been recorded.

In April 871 King Æthelred of Wessex died and Alfred acceded to the throne of Wessex and the burden of its defence, even though Æthelred left two under-age sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold. This was in accordance with the agreement that Æthelred and Alfred had made earlier that year in an assembly at an unidentified place called Swinbeorg.

The brothers had agreed that whichever of them outlived the other would inherit the personal property that King Æthelwulf had left jointly to his sons in his will. The deceased’s sons would receive only whatever property and riches their father had settled upon them and whatever additional lands their uncle had acquired. The unstated premise was that the surviving brother would be king. Given the Danish invasion and the youth of his nephews, Alfred’s accession probably went uncontested.

Originally styled as “King of the West Saxons” Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Saxons from about 886, as more of England came under his rule; and while he was not the first king to claim to rule all of the English, his rule represents the start of the first unbroken line of kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex.

Alfred won a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 and made an agreement with the Vikings, creating what was known as the Danelaw in the North of England. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity. He defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, becoming the dominant ruler in England. Details of his life are described in a work by 9th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser.

On a trip to Rome Alfred had stayed with Charles the Bald and it is possible that he may have studied how the Carolingian kings had dealt with Viking raiders. Learning from their experiences he was able to establish a system of taxation and defence for Wessex. There had been a system of fortifications in pre-Viking Mercia that may have been an influence. When the Viking raids resumed in 892 Alfred was better prepared to confront them with a standing, mobile field army, a network of garrisons and a small fleet of ships navigating the rivers and estuaries.

Alfred was known as a great reformer and his ideas were applied to the education system developed during his reign. Alfred placed considerable importance on translations from Latin to English in order to establish a wider array of books accessible for learning and intellectual pursuits.

Alfred was greatly inspired by the reforms established by Emperor Charlemagne. Afred sought to introduced court schools, which was a system providing a solid education for the nobility as well as those born with lesser status. The Anglo-Saxon King ensured the best scholars would teach in these schools, with curricula dedicated to the liberal arts. Alfred’s keen intellectual disposition was evident in the way he chose to reform, develop and improve Anglo-Saxon society under his reign.

Due to his educational reforms Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be conducted in Old English rather than Latin and improving the legal system and military structure and his people’s quality of life.

Alfred died on October 26, 899 at the age of 50 or 51. How he died is unknown, but he suffered throughout his life with a painful and unpleasant illness. His biographer Asser gave a detailed description of Alfred’s symptoms, and this has allowed modern doctors to provide a possible diagnosis. It is thought that he had either Crohn’s disease or haemorrhoids. His grandson King Eadred seems to have suffered from a similar illness.

Alfred was temporarily buried at the Old Minster in Winchester with his wife Ealhswith and later, his son Edward the Elder. Before his death he ordered the construction of the New Minster hoping that it would become a mausoleum for him and his family. Four years after his death, the bodies of Alfred and his family were exhumed and moved to their new resting place in the New Minster and remained there for 211 years.

When William I the Conqueror rose to the English throne after the Norman conquest in 1066, many Anglo-Saxon abbeys were demolished and replaced with Norman cathedrals. One of those unfortunate abbeys was the very New Minster abbey where Alfred was laid to rest.

Before demolition, the monks at the New Minster exhumed the bodies of Alfred and his family to safely transfer them to a new location. The New Minster monks moved to Hyde in 1110 a little north of the city, and they transferred to Hyde Abbey along with Alfred’s body and those of his wife and children, which were interred before the high altar.

He was given the epithet “the Great” in the 16th century.

October 23, 1516: Birth of Charlotte de Valois of France

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Anne of Brittany, Charles VIII of France, Charlotte de Valois of France, Claude of France, Francis I of France, Louis XII of France, Margaret of Angoulême

Charlotte de Valois of France (October 23, 1516 – September 18, 1524) was the second child and second daughter of King François I and his wife Claude, daughter of the French king Louis XII of France and the Duchess Anne of Brittany.

Charlotte was born in the Château d’Amboise, on October 23, 1516. She had greenish blue eyes and bright red hair. She was one of the six children of the King and Queen that had red hair, a trait inherited from Anne of Brittany, Claude’s mother. She lived a happy life, moving from the Château d’Amboise to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye before March 1519.

Later life and death

The Princess spent all of her remaining days at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She had always been a delicate, frail child. At age seven, she contracted measles, the same disease which had killed her half-uncle, Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France, thirty years earlier. Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France was the eldest son and heir of Charles VIII of France and Anne of Brittany.

Anne of Brittany was Duchess of Brittany in her own right from 1488 until her death, and queen consort of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She is the only woman to have been queen consort of France twice, as the spouse of Charles VIII and Louis XII.

The only person who looked after her while she was sick was her aunt, Margaret of Angoulême, as her mother had already died two months earlier, her grandmother Louise of Savoy was very sick, and her father had gone to war. He was later imprisoned, so was nowhere near his daughter at the time of her death. It appears as if Charlotte was very close to her aunt, who was heartbroken and distraught when her “little one” died, on September18, 1524 at the age of seven.

These Dates in History, October 22nd…

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Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Infante of Spain, John V of Portugal, Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Maria Amalia of Austria, October 22nd, Peter the Great of Russia

From the Emperor’s Desk: Today is my birthday and we’ll examine different lives and events in Royal History on this date.

1383 – The male line of the Portuguese House of Burgundy becomes extinct with the death of King Fernando, leaving only his daughter Beatrice. Rival claimants begin a period of civil war and disorder.

1721 – Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.

Emperor Peter I the Great of Russia

Soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add “the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias” to Peter’s traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721.

Peter’s imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, and Fredrik I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.

Births

Pre-1600

955 – Qian Weijun, king of Wuyue (d. 991)

1071 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 1126)

1197 – Juntoku, Japanese emperor (d. 1242)

king (d. 1750)

1689 — João V (October 22, 1689 – July 31, 1750), known as the Magnanimous and the Portuguese Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Braganza who ruled as King of Portugal during the first half of the 18th century. João V’s reign saw the rise of Portugal and its monarchy to new levels of prosperity, wealth, and prestige among European courts.

João V’s reign saw an enormous influx of gold into the coffers of the royal treasury, supplied largely by the royal tax on precious metals) that was received from the Portuguese colonies of Brazil and Maranhão.
Disregarding traditional Portuguese institutions of governance, João V ruled as an absolute monarch. In keeping with a traditional policy pursued by previous monarchs of the House of Braganza and which stressed the importance of relations with Europe, João V’s reign was marked by numerous interventions into the affairs of other European states, most notably as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.

Maria Amalia of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

1701 – Maria Amalia of Austria (Maria Amalie Josefa Anna; October 22, 1701 – December 11, 1756) was Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Germans, Queen of Bohemia, Electress and Duchess of Bavaria etc. as the spouse of Emperor Charles VII. By birth, she was an Archduchess of Austria, the daughter of Emperor Joseph I and Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Maria Amalia had seven children, only four of whom lived through to adulthood, including Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria.

1781 – Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (d. 1789) Louis Joseph Xavier François (October 22, 1781 – June 4, 1789) was Dauphin of France as the second child and first son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As son of a king of France, he was a fils de France (“Child of France”). Louis Joseph died at the age of seven from tuberculosis and was succeeded as Dauphin by his four-year-old brother Louis Charles.

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, German Empress and Queen of Prussia

1858 – Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (October 22, 1858 – April 11, 1921) was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to Wilhelm II, German Emperor.

Augusta Victoria was born at Dolzig Castle, the eldest daughter of Friedrich VIII, future Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a great-niece of Queen Victoria, through Victoria’s half-sister Feodora. Augusta Victoria grew up at Dolzig until the death of her grandfather, Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, in 1869. The family then moved to Castle Primkenau and the estate her father had inherited. She was known within her family as “Dona.”

1859 – Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria (October 22, 1859 – 23 November 23, 1949), was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach and a General of Cavalry. Following his marriage to Infanta María de la Paz of Spain, the third surviving daughter of Queen Isabella II of Spain and her husband Infante Francisco of Spainhe was also created an Infante of Spain.

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Infante of Spain

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand was the eldest son of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (1828–75) and Infanta Amalia of Spain (1834–1905). He was a paternal grandson of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his wife Princess Therese of Saxe-Altenburg. His maternal grandparents were Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain and his wife Princess Luisa Carlotta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Ludwig Ferdinand’s paternal uncles were King Maximilian II of Bavaria, King Otto I of Greece and Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria. His maternal uncle was King-Consort Francisco of Spain (1822–1902) and maternally his first cousin was King Alfonso XII of Spain (1857–85), two years his senior. Ludwig Ferdinand was born in Madrid, but his younger siblings in Bavaria, where they had returned. Ludwig II, Otto I and Ludwig III, Kings of Bavaria, were his first cousins. Alfonso XIII (reigned 1885–1931) was a first cousin’s son.

Deaths

741 – Charles Martel, Frankish king (b. 688)

842 – Abo, Japanese prince (b. 792)

1383 – Ferdinand I of Portugal (b. 1345)

1751 – Willem IV, Prince of Orange, Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands. (September 1, 1711 – 22 October 22, 1751). As Prince of Orange he was ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau within the Holy Roman Empire.

Willem was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, the son of Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange, head of the Frisian branch of the House of Orange-Nassau, and of his wife Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Cassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was born six weeks after the death of his father.

Willem succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and also, under the regency of his mother until 1731, as Stadtholder of Groningen. In 1722 he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders. The four other provinces of the Dutch Republic:, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Overijssel had in 1702 decided not to appoint a stadtholder after the death of the last stadtholder Willem III, (William III-II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland) issuing the history of the Republic into a period that is known as the Second Stadtholderless Period. In 1747 those four provinces also accepted Willem IV as their stadtholder, becoming the first Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

On March 25, 1734 Willem IV married at St James’s Palace Anne, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach.

1761 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (b. 1702)

2002 – Queen Geraldine of Albania (b. 1915)

October 21st, 1911: Marriage of Archduke Charles of Austria-Este and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma

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Archduke Charles of Austria-Este, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Archduke Otto of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, House of Habsburg-Lorraine, King of Croatia and Bohemia, King of Hungary, Wedding, World War I, Zita of Bourbon-Parma

Archduke Charles of Austria-Este, the son of Archduke Otto of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony, fifth child of King Georg of Saxony and Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal, herself the eldest surviving daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal and her King Consort, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry.

Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry was the son Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág who founded the Catholic cadet branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, after their marriage.

Charles became heir presumptive of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary after his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914. Franz Ferdinand’ assassination was the spark that set off World War I.

Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, born as the seventeenth child of the dispossessed Roberto I, Duke of Parma, and his second wife, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, herself the seventh and last child of King Miguel of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. The unusual name Zita was given to her after Zita, a popular Italian Saint who had lived in Tuscany in the 13th century.

In the close vicinity of Schwarzau castle was the Villa Wartholz, residence of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, Zita’s maternal aunt. Archduchess Maria Theresa was born as Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal and the second daughter of Miguel I of Portugal and Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. She was the stepmother of Archduke Otto, who died in 1906, and the step-grandmother of Archduke Charles of Austria-Este, at that time second-in-line to the Austrian throne. Archduchess Maria Theresa’s sister was Princess Zita’s mother, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal.

Archduchess Maria Annunziata and Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria, were the two daughters of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria were Zita’s first cousins and Charles’ half-aunts. Charles and Zita had met as children but did not see one another for almost ten years, as each pursued their education. In 1909, his Dragoon regiment was stationed at Brandýs nad Labem, from where he visited his aunt at Františkovy Lázně.

It was during one of these visits that Charles and Zita became reacquainted.,Charles was under pressure to marry (Franz Ferdinand, his uncle and first-in-line, had married morganatically, and his children were excluded from the throne) and Zita had a suitably royal genealogy.

Zita later recalled:

We were of course glad to meet again and became close friends. On my side feelings developed gradually over the next two years. He seemed to have made his mind up much more quickly, however, and became even more keen when, in the autumn of 1910, rumours spread about that I had got engaged to a distant Spanish relative, Don Jaime, the Duke of Madrid. On hearing this, the Archduke came down post haste from his regiment at Brandýs and sought out his grandmother, Archduchess Maria Theresa, who was also my aunt and the natural confidante in such matters. He asked if the rumor was true and when told it was not, he replied, “Well, I had better hurry in any case or she will get engaged to someone else.”

Archduke Charles traveled to Villa Pianore and asked for Zita’s hand and, on June 13, 1911, their engagement was announced at the Austrian court.: Zita in later years recalled that after her engagement she had expressed to Charles her worries about the fate of the Austrian Empire and the challenges of the monarchy.

Charles and Zita were married at the Schwarzau castle on October 21, 1911. Charles’s great-uncle, the 81-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph, attended the wedding. He was relieved to see an heir make a suitable marriage, and was in good spirits, even leading the toast at the wedding breakfast. Archduchess Zita soon conceived a son, and Archduke Otto, future Crown Prince of Austria, was born November 20, 1912. Seven more children followed in the next decade.

In 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph died and Charles became Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV), King of Croatia, and King of Bohemia (as Charles III), and the last of the monarchs belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to rule over Austria-Hungary.

At the end of the Great War, on the day of the Armistice of November 11, 1918, Charles issued a carefully worded proclamation in which he recognized the Austrian people’s right to determine the form of the state and “relinquish[ed] every participation in the administration of the State.” He also released his officials from their oath of loyalty to him. On the same day, the Imperial Family left Schönbrunn Palace and moved to Castle Eckartsau, east of Vienna. On November 13, following a visit with Hungarian magnates, Charles issued a similar proclamation—the Eckartsau Proclamation—for Hungary.

Although it has widely been cited as an “abdication”, the word itself was never used in either proclamation. Indeed, he deliberately avoided using the word abdication in the hope that the people of either Austria or Hungary would vote to recall him.

Encouraged by Hungarian royalists (“legitimists”), Charles sought twice in 1921 to reclaim the throne of Hungary, but failed largely because Hungary’s regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy (the last commander of the Imperial and Royal Navy), refused to support Charles’s restoration.

After the second failed attempt at restoration in Hungary, Charles and his pregnant wife Zita were arrested and quarantined at Tihany Abbey. On 1 November 1921 they were taken to the Hungarian Danube harbour city of Baja, were taken on board the monitor HMS Glowworm, and there removed to the Black Sea where they were transferred to the light cruiser HMS Cardiff. On November 19, 1921 they arrived at their final exile, the Portuguese island of Madeira. Compared to the imperial glory in Vienna and even at Eckartsau, conditions there were certainly impoverished.

Charles did not leave Madeira. On March 9, 1922 he had caught a cold in town, which developed into bronchitis and subsequently progressed to severe pneumonia. Having suffered two heart attacks, he died of respiratory failure on April 1, in the presence of his wife (who was pregnant with their eighth child) and nine-year-old former Crown Prince Otto, remaining conscious almost until his last moments. His last words to his wife were “I love you so much.” He was 34 years old. .

After her husband’s death, Zita and her son Otto served as symbols of unity for the exiled dynasty. A devout Catholic, she raised a large family after being widowed at the age of 29, and never remarried.

Zita lived a long life. After a memorable 90th birthday, at which she was surrounded by her now vast family, Zita’s habitually robust health began to fail. She developed inoperable cataracts in both eyes. Her last big family gathering took place at Zizers, in 1987, when her children and grandchildren joined in celebrating Empress Zita’s 95th birthday.

While visiting her daughter, in summer 1988, she developed pneumonia and spent most of the autumn and winter bedridden. Finally, she called Archduke Otto, in early March 1989, and told him she was dying. He and the rest of the family travelled to her bedside and took turns keeping her company until she died in the early hours of March 14, 1989. She was 96 years old, and was the last surviving child of Roberto, Duke of Parma from both his marriages.

Her funeral was held in Vienna on April 1. The government allowed it to take place on Austrian soil providing that the cost was borne by the Habsburgs themselves. Zita’s body was carried to the Imperial Crypt under Capuchin Church in the same funeral coach she had walked behind during the funeral of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1916.

Her funeral was attended by over 200 members of the Habsburg and Bourbon-Parma families, and the service had 6,000 attendees including leading politicians, state officials and international representatives, including a representative of Pope John Paul II.

Following an ancient custom, the Empress had asked that her heart, which was placed in an urn, stay behind at Muri Abbey, in Switzerland, where the Emperor’s heart had rested for decades. In doing so, Zita assured herself that, in death, she and her husband would remain by each other’s side.

Maria Feodorovna of Russia (Dagmar of Denmark) Conclusion

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Abdication, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Dagmar of Demark, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, Grand Duke Michael of Russia, Grigori Rasputin, King Christian X of Denmark, Nicholas II of Russia, Peter and Paul Cathedral, Prince Michael of Kent, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark., Russian Revolution, St. Petersburg

In Kiev, Maria engaged in the Red Cross and hospital work, and in September, the 50th anniversary of her arrival in Russia was celebrated with great festivities, during which she was visited by her son, Nicholas II, who came without his wife. Empress Alexandra wrote to the Emperor: “When you see Motherdear, you must rather sharply tell her how pained you are, that she listens to slander and does not stop it, as it makes mischief and others would be delighted, I am sure, to put her against me…” Maria did ask Nicholas II to remove both Rasputin and Alexandra from all political influence, but shortly after, Nicholas and Alexandra broke all contact with the Emperor’s family.

When Rasputin was murdered, part of the Imperial relatives asked Maria to return to the capital and use the moment to replace Alexandra as the Emperor’s political adviser. Maria refused, but she did admit that Alexandra should be removed from influence over state affairs: “Alexandra Feodorovna must be banished. Don’t know how but it must be done. Otherwise she might go completely mad. Let her enter a convent or just disappear”.

Revolution and exile

Revolution came to Russia in 1917, first with the February Revolution, then with Nicholas II’s abdication on March 15. After travelling from Kiev to meet with her deposed son, Nicholas II, in Mogilev, Maria returned to the city, where she quickly realised how Kiev had changed and that her presence was no longer wanted. She was persuaded by her family there to travel to the Crimea by train with a group of other refugee Romanovs.

After a time living in one of the imperial residences in the Crimea, she received reports that her both of her sons, (Emperor Nicholas II and his brother Grand Duke Michael) her daughter-in-law and her grandchildren had been murdered. However, she publicly rejected the report as a rumour. On the day after the murder of the Emperor’s family, Maria received a messenger from Nicky, “a touching man” who told of how difficult life was for her son’s family in Yekaterinburg. “And nobody can help or liberate them – only God! My Lord save my poor, unlucky Nicky, help him in his hard ordeals!”

In her diary she comforted herself: “I am sure they all got out of Russia and now the Bolsheviks are trying to hide the truth.” She firmly held on to this conviction until her death. The truth was too painful for her to admit publicly. Her letters to her son and his family have since almost all been lost; but in one that survives, she wrote to Nicholas: “You know that my thoughts and prayers never leave you. I think of you day and night and sometimes feel so sick at heart that I believe I cannot bear it any longer. But God is merciful. He will give us strength for this terrible ordeal.”

Maria’s daughter Olga Alexandrovna commented further on the matter, “Yet I am sure that deep in her heart my mother had steeled herself to accept the truth some years before her death.”

Despite the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917, the former Empress Dowager Maria at first refused to leave Russia. Only in 1919, at the urging of her sister, Dowager Queen Alexandra, did she begrudgingly depart, fleeing Crimea over the Black Sea to London. King George V sent the warship HMS Marlborough to retrieve his aunt. The party of 17 Romanovs included her daughter the Grand Duchess Xenia and five of Xenia’s sons plus six dogs and a canary.

After a brief stay in the British base in Malta, they travelled to England on the British ship the Lord Nelson, and she stayed with her sister, Alexandra. Although Queen Alexandra never treated her sister badly and they spent time together at Marlborough House in London and at Sandringham House in Norfolk, Maria, as a deposed Dowager Empress , felt that she was now “number two,” in contrast to her sister, a popular queen dowager, and she eventually returned to her native Denmark. After living briefly with her nephew, King Christian X, in a wing of the Amalienborg Palace, she chose her holiday villa Hvidøre near Copenhagen as her new permanent home.

There were many Russian émigrées in Copenhagen who continued to regard her as the Empress and often asked her for help. The All-Russian Monarchical Assembly held in 1921 offered her the locum tenens of the Russian throne but she declined with the evasive answer “Nobody saw Nicky killed” and therefore there was a chance her son was still alive. She rendered financial support to Nikolai Sokolov, who studied the circumstances of the death of the Emperor’s family, but they never met. The Grand Duchess Olga sent a telegram to Paris cancelling an appointment because it would have been too difficult for the old and sick woman to hear the terrible story of murder of her son and his family.

Death and burial

In November 1925, Maria’s favourite sister, Queen Alexandra, died. That was the last loss that she could bear. “She was ready to meet her Creator,” wrote her son-in-law, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, about Maria’s last years. On October 13, 1928 at Hvidøre near Copenhagen, in a house she had once shared with her sister Queen Alexandra, Maria died at the age of 80, having outlived four of her six children. Following services in Copenhagen’s Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Church, the Empress was interred at Roskilde Cathedral.

In 2005, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Vladimir Putin of Russia and their respective governments agreed that the Empress’s remains should be returned to St. Petersburg in accordance with her wish to be interred next to her husband. A number of ceremonies took place from September 23 to 28, 2006.

The funeral service, attended by high dignitaries, including the Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, did not pass without some turbulence. The crowd around the coffin was so great that a young Danish diplomat fell into the grave before the coffin was interred.

The reburial of Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia in St. Petersburg

On September 26th, 2006, a statue of Maria Feodorovna was unveiled near her favourite Cottage Palace in Peterhof. Following a service at Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, she was interred next to her husband Emperor Alexander III in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on September 28, 2006, 140 years after her first arrival in Russia and almost 78 years after her death.

Titles of British Monarchs: Part I.

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Alfred the Great, Æthelstan, John Lackland, King Henry VIII, King James VI of England and Scotland, King of England, King of the English, Kingdom of Great Britain, Lord of Ireland, Royal Titles

This is a list of titles of Kings and Queens of the Kingdoms of Wessex, Anglo-Saxons and England prior to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

After the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain many small kingdoms arose. The Kingdom we will address is the Kingdom of Wessex, also known as the Kingdom of the West Saxons. Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from 519 until England was unified by Æthelstan in 927.

The Anglo-Saxons believed that Wessex was founded by Cerdic and Cynric, but this may be a legend.

Cerdic is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a leader of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, being the founder and first King of Saxon Wessex, reigning from 519 to 534 AD. Subsequent Kings of Wessex were each claimed by the Chronicle to descend in some manner from Cerdic.

Arms of the Kingdom of England

His origin, ethnicity, and even his very existence have been extensively disputed. However, though claimed as the founder of Wessex by later West Saxon kings, he would have been known to contemporaries as king of the Gewissae, a folk or tribal group. The first king of the Gewissae to call himself ‘King of the West Saxons’, was Caedwalla, in a charter of 686.

The two main sources for the history of Wessex are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List, which sometimes conflict. Wessex became a Christian kingdom after Cenwalh was baptised and was expanded under his rule.

We see the first major title change with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Afred is the only English King with the epitaph “The Great.”

Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Saxons from about 886, and while he was not the first king to claim to rule all of the English, his rule represents the start of the first unbroken line of kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex. He was succeeded by his son Edward the Elder.

Edward the Elder (c. 874 – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred’s elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred.

Æthelstan (c. 894 – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern historians regard him as the first King of England and one of the “greatest Anglo-Saxon kings”. He never married and had no children. He was succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I.

The standard title for all English monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum (“King of the English”). In addition, many of the pre-Norman kings assumed extra titles, as follows:

Æthelstan: Rex totius Britanniae (“King of the Whole of Britain”)

Edmund the Magnificent: Rex Britanniæ (“King of Britain”) and Rex Anglorum cæterarumque gentium gobernator et rector (“King of the English and of other peoples governor and director”)

Eadred: Regis qui regimina regnorum Angulsaxna, Norþhymbra, Paganorum, Brettonumque (“Reigning over the governments of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons, Northumbrians, Pagans, and British”)

Eadwig the Fair: Rex nutu Dei Angulsæxna et Northanhumbrorum imperator paganorum gubernator Breotonumque propugnator (“King by the will of God, Emperor of the Anglo-Saxons and Northumbrians, governor of the pagans, commander of the British”)

Edgar the Peaceful: Totius Albionis finitimorumque regum basileus (“King of all Albion and its neighbouring realms”)

Cnut the Great: Rex Anglorum totiusque Brittannice orbis gubernator et rector (“King of the English and of all the British sphere governor and ruler”) and Brytannie totius Anglorum monarchus (“Monarch of all the English of Britain”)

In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with occasional use of Rex Anglie (“King of England”). The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum (“Lady of the English”).

From the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie.(“King of England”).

John Lackland, King of England and Lord of Ireland

John Lackland, son of King Henry II had been given the Lordship of Ireland. Following the deaths of John’s older brothers he became King of England in 1199, and so the Lordship of Ireland, instead of being a separate country ruled by a junior Norman prince, came under the direct rule of the Angevin crown.

English monarchs continued to use the title “Lord of Ireland” to refer to their position of conquered lands on the island of Ireland. The title was changed by the Crown of Ireland Act passed by the Irish Parliament in 1542 when, on Henry VIII’s demand, he was granted a new title, King of Ireland, with the state renamed the Kingdom of Ireland.

Henry VIII changed his title because the Lordship of Ireland had been granted to the Norman monarchy by the Papacy; Henry had been excommunicated by the Catholic Church and worried that his title could be withdrawn by the Holy See. Henry VIII also wanted Ireland to become a full kingdom to encourage a greater sense of loyalty amongst his Irish subjects, some of whom took part in his policy of surrender and regrant.

In 1603 with the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, who left no heirs, the English throne was inherited by James VI, King of Scots. In England he is known as James I of England while in Scotland he is regarded as James VI of Scotland. I like to combine both regal numbers and refer to him as King James I-VI of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1604 King James I-VI adopted the title (now usually rendered in English rather than Latin) King of Great Britain. The English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707 under Queen Anne (who was Queen of Great Britain rather than king).

Until the Acts of Union of 1707 the official title of the monarch was King/Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Maria Feodorovna of Russia (Dagmar of Denmark). Part V

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coup d'état, Dagmar of Denmark, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Grigori Rasputin, Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Russian Red Cross, World War I

Maria Feodorovna disliked Rasputin and unsuccessfully tried to convince Nicholas and Alexandra to send him away. She considered Rasputin a dangerous charlatan and despaired of Alexandra’s obsession with “crazy, dirty, religious fanatics. She was concerned that Rasputin’s activities damaged the prestige of the Imperial family and asked Nicholas and Alexandra to send him away.

Nicholas remained silent and Alexandra refused. Maria recognized the empress was the true regent and that she also lacked the capability for such a position: “My poor daughter-in-law does not perceive that she is ruining the dynasty and herself. She sincerely believes in the holiness of an adventurer, and we are powerless to ward off the misfortune, which is sure to come.”

When the Emperor dismissed minister Vladimir Kokovtsov in February 1914 on the advice of Alexandra, Maria again reproached her son, who answered in such a way that she became even more convinced that Alexandra was the real ruler of Russia, and she called upon Kokovtsov and said to him: “My daughter-in-law does not like me; she thinks that I am jealous of her power. She does not perceive that my one aspiration is to see my son happy. Yet I see we are nearing some kind of catastrophe and the Emperor listens to no one but flatterers… Why do you not tell the Emperor everything that you think and know… if it is not already too late”.

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Nicholas II

World War I

In May 1914 Maria Feodorovna travelled to England to visit her sister. While she was in London, World War I broke out (July 1914), forcing her to hurry home to Russia. In Berlin the German authorities prevented her train from continuing toward the Russian border. Instead she had to return to Russia by way of (neutral) Denmark and Finland.

Upon her return in August, she took up residence at Yelagin Palace, which was closer to St. Petersburg (renamed Petrograd in August 1914) than Gatchina. During the war she served as president of Russia’s Red Cross. As she had done a decade earlier in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, she also financed a sanitary train.

During the war, there was great concern within the imperial house about the influence Empress Alexandra had upon state affairs through the Emperor, and the influence Grigori Rasputin was believed to have upon her, as it was considered to provoke the public and endanger the safety of the imperial throne and the survival of the monarchy.

On behalf of the imperial relatives of the Emperor, both the Empress’s sister Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her cousin Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna had been selected to mediate and ask Empress Alexandra to banish Rasputin from court to protect her and the throne’s reputation, but without success. In parallel, several of the Grand Dukes had tried to intervene with the Emperor, but with no more success.

During this conflict of 1916–1917, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna reportedly planned a coup d’état to depose the Emperor with the help of four regiments of the imperial guard which were to invade the Alexander Palace, force the Tsar to abdicate and replace him with his underage son under the regency of her son Grand Duke Kirill.

There are documents that support the fact that in this critical situation, Maria Feodorovna was involved in a planned coup d’état to depose her son from the throne in order to save the monarchy. The plan was reportedly for Maria to make a final ultimatum to the Emperor banish Rasputin unless he wished for her to leave the capital, which would be the signal to unleash the coup.

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Nicholas II

Exactly how she planned to replace her son is unconfirmed, but two versions are available: first, that Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia would take power in Maria’s name, and that she herself would thereafter become sole empress of Russia (like Catherine the Great did over 100 years prior); the other version further claims that Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia would replace the Emperor with his son, the heir to the throne, Maria’s grandson Alexei, upon which Maria and Paul Alexandrovich would share power as regents during his minority.

Maria was asked to make her appeal to the Emperor after Empress Alexandra had asked the Emperor to dismiss minister Polianov. Initially, she refused to make the appeal, and her sister-in-law Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna stated to the French Ambassador: “It’s not want of courage or inclination that keeps her back. It’s better that she don’t. She’s too outspoken and imperious.

The moment she starts to lecture her son, her feelings run away with her; she sometimes says the exact opposite of what she should; she annoys and humiliates him. Then he stands on his dignity and reminds his mother he is the emperor. They leave each other in a rage”. Eventually, she was however convinced to make the appeal. Reportedly, Empress Alexandra was informed about the planned coup, and when Maria Feodorovna made the ultimatum to the Emperor, the Empress convinced him to order his mother to leave the capital.

Consequently, the Empress Dowager left Petrograd to live in the Mariinskyi Palace in Kiev the same year. She never again returned to Russia’s capital. Empress Alexandra commented about her departure: “it’s much better Motherdear stays … at Kiev, where the climate is better and she can live as she wishes and hears less gossip”.

October 18, 1668: Birth of Johann Georg IV, Elector of Saxony

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Anna Sophie of Denmark, Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach, Frederick August of Saxony, George II of Great Britain, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, John George IV of Saxony, Leopold I, The Neidschutz Affair

Johann Georg IV (October, 18, 1668 – April 27, 1694) was Elector of Saxony from 1691 to 1694.

Johann Georg IV belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin and was the eldest son of the Elector Johann Georg III and Anna Sophie of Denmark, the second child and first daughter of King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway and his wife, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Anna Sophie’s siblings was Prince George, husband of Queen Anne of Great Britain.

Incidentally, both Anna Sophie and her brother George were second cousins once removed from Queen Anne of Great Britain. Anna Sophie and George were the grandchildren of King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, while Queen Anne was a great-granddaughter of King Christian IV’s sister, Princess Anne, the wife of King James I-VI of England, Scotland and Ireland.

First years as Elector

Johann Georg succeeded his father as Elector when he died, on September 12, 1691.

At the beginning of his reign his chief adviser was Hans Adam von Schöning, who counselled a union between Saxony and Brandenburg and a more independent attitude towards the Holy Roman Emperor. In accordance with this advice certain proposals were put before Emperor Leopold I to which he refused to agree; and consequently the Saxon troops withdrew from the imperial army, a proceeding which led the chagrined emperor to seize and imprison Schöning in July 1692. Although Johann Georg IV was unable to procure his minister’s release, Leopold managed to allay the elector’s anger, and early in 1693 the Saxon soldiers rejoined the imperialists.

Marriage and The Neidschutz Affair

In Leipzig on April 17, 1692, Johann Georg IV married Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach, Dowager Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Eleanor was the eldest child of Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach, and Countess Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Eleonore married firstly Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach as his second wife. Johann Friedrich was a member of the House of Brandenburg-Ansbach a collateral branch of the House of Hohenzollern and the son of Margrave Albrecht II of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Sophie Margarete of Oettingen-Oettingen

Johann Friedrich’s first wife was Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach, daughter of Friedrich VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, and his wife Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken

Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach married as his second wife Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach on November 4, 1681. Their daughter Wilhelmine Charlotte Caroline, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach (Caroline of Ansbach) married George II of Great Britain before he became king.

The young Elector Johann Georg IV was forced to marry Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach by his mother, the Dowager Electress Anna Sophie, supposedly to produce legitimate heirs to the Electorate. The real reason for the marriage was to end the liaison between Johann Georg and his mistress Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz.

Johann Georg III, the late Elector had tried to separate the lovers, perhaps because he was aware of a close incestuas blood relationship between them — for Magdalena Sybilla may have been his own illegitimate daughter by Ursula Margarethe of Haugwitz, and therefore Johann Georg IV’s half-sister.

By order of the Elector, Ursula had married Colonel Rudolf of Neidschutz, who officially appears as the father of her daughter.

Johann Georg IV may never have known of his possible blood relationship to Magdalena Sibylla or regarded the claim as a rumor spread by ill-wishers. Immediately after he assumed the Electorate, he openly lived with her, and she became the first ever Official Mistress (Favoritin) of an Elector of Saxony.

The Electress, Eleonore Erdmuthe, humiliated every day since her wedding, was relegated to the Hofe (the official residence of the Elector). Johann Georg IV moved into another palace with Magdalena Sybilla.
Desperate to marry his mistress, Johann Georg IV tried to murder his wife, but was prevented by his younger brother, Friedrich August. When Johann Georg IV tried to stab Eleonore with a sword, the unarmed Friedrich stopped the weapon with his hand, injuring it and leaving him with a lifelong handicap.

Last Days

After a substantial bribe from the Elector, on February 20, 1693 Magdalene Sybille was created Countess of Rochlitz (Grafïn von Rochlitz) by Imperial Decree from Emperor Leopold I. Shortly before, she gave birth the only daughter of the couple, Wilhelmina Maria.

But the happiness ended soon: Magdalene Sybille contracted smallpox and died on April 4, 1694, in the arms of the Elector, who was also infected with the disease.

Johann Georg IV died twenty-three days later, on April 27. He was buried in the Freiberg Cathedral.

Because he died without legitimate issue—Electress Eleonore suffered two miscarriages during their marriage, in August 1692 and February 1693—he was succeeded as Elector by his brother Friedrich August I (He would be Elected King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania as Augustus II the Strong on September 15, 1697). The new Elector took the guardianship of the little orphan Wilhelmina Maria, who was raised in the court. He acknowledged the girl as his niece and gave her a dowry when she was married to a Polish Count.

The new Saxon Elector, Friedrich August I allowed Eleonore, the Dowager Electress and her children to remain in Pretzsch, where they lived until Eleonore’s death two years later, on September 9, 1696. She was buried at Freiberg Cathedral.

After her death, Eleonore’s children were sent back to Ansbach to the court of their older half-brother Georg Friedrich II, who had become the new Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1692.

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (Dagmar of Denmark). Part IV

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Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Dagmar of Demark, DukePeter of Oldenburg, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Alexandra only Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Grand Duke George of Russia, King Christian IX of Denmark, Livadia, Precedence, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom

On November 1, 1894, Alexander III died aged just 49 at Livadia. In her diary Maria wrote, “I am utterly heartbroken and despondent, but when I saw the blissful smile and the peace in his face that came after, it gave me strength.” Two days later, the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Livadia from London. While the Prince of Wales took it upon himself to involve himself in the preparations for the funeral, the Princess of Wales spent her time comforting grieving Maria, including praying with her and sleeping at her bedside.

Maria Feodorovna’s birthday was a week after the funeral, and as it was a day in which court mourning could be somewhat relaxed, Nicholas used the day to marry Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna.

As Empress Dowager, Maria was much more popular than either Emperor Nicholas III or Empress Alexandra. During her son’s coronation, she, Nicholas, and Alexandra arrived in separate carriages. She was greeted with “almost deafening” applause. A visiting writer Kate Kool noted that she “provoked more cheering from the people than did her son. The people have had thirteen years in which to know this woman and they have learned to love her very much.”

Richard Harding Davis, an American journalist, was surprised that she “was more loudly greeted than either the Emperor or the Empress.” Once the death of Alexander III had receded, Maria again took a brighter view of the future. “Everything will be all right”, as she said. Maria continued to live in the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg and at Gatchina Palace.

During the first years of her son’s reign, Maria often acted as the political adviser to the Emperor. Uncertain of his own ability and aware of her connections and knowledge, Emperor Nicholas II often told the ministers that he would ask her advice before making decisions, and the ministers sometimes suggested this themselves. It was reportedly on her advice that Nicholas initially kept his father’s ministers.

Maria herself estimated that her son was of a weak character and that it was better that he was influenced by her than someone worse. Her daughter Olga remarked upon her influence: “she had never before taken the least interest … now she felt it was her duty. Her personality was magnetic and her zest of activity was incredible. She had her finger on every educational pulse in the empire.

The fact that Russian court custom dictated that an empress dowager took precedence over an empress consort, combined with the possessiveness that Maria had of her sons, and her jealousy of Empress Alexandra only served to exacerbate tensions between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Sophie Buxhoeveden remarked of this conflict: “Without actually clashing they seemed fundamentally unable … to understand one another”, and her daughter Olga commented: “they had tried to understand each other and failed. They were utterly different in character, habits and outlook”. Maria was sociable and a good dancer, with an ability to ingratiate herself with people, while Alexandra, though intelligent and beautiful, was very shy and closed herself off from the Russian people.

1903. L to R. Princess Victoria, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia

In 1899, Maria’s second son, George, died of tuberculosis in the Caucasus. During the funeral, she kept her composure, but at the end of the service, she ran from the church clutching her son’s top hat that been atop the coffin and collapsed in her carriage sobbing.

In 1892, Maria arranged Olga’s disastrous marriage to Peter, Duke of Oldenburg. For years Nicholas II refused to grant his unhappy sister a divorce, only relenting in 1916 in the midst of World War I. When Olga attempted to contract a morganatic marriage with Nikolai Kulikovsky, Maria Feodorovna and the Emperor tried to dissuade her, yet, they did not protest too vehemently. Indeed, Maria Feodorovna was one of the few people who attended the wedding in November 1916.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Maria was spending increasing time abroad. In 1906, following the death of their father, King Christian IX, she and her sister, Alexandra, who had become queen-consort of the United Kingdom in 1901, purchased the villa of Hvidøre. The following year, a change in political circumstances allowed Maria Feodorovna to be welcomed to England by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Maria’s first visit to England since 1873. Following a visit in early 1908, Maria Feodorovna was present at her brother-in-law and sister’s visit to Russia that summer.

A little under two years later, Maria Feodorovna travelled to England yet again, this time for the funeral of her brother-in-law, King Edward VII, in May 1910. During her nearly three-month visit to England in 1910, Maria Feodorovna attempted, unsuccessfully, to get her sister, now Queen Dowager Alexandra, to claim a position of precedence over her daughter-in-law, Queen Mary.

In 1912, Maria faced trouble with her youngest son, when he secretly married his mistress, much to the outrage and scandal of both Maria Feodorovna and Nicholas.

October 17, 1346: King David II of Scotland is captured and held captive in England

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David II (March 5, 1324 – February 22, 1371) was King of Scotland for nearly 42 years, from 1329 until his death in 1371. He was the last male of the House of Bruce. Although David spent long periods in exile or captivity, he managed to ensure the survival of his kingdom and left the Scottish monarchy in a strong position.

David II was the eldest and only surviving son of Robert I of Scotland and his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh. He was born on March 5, 1324 at Dunfermline Abbey, Fife. His mother died in 1327, when he was 3 years old. In accordance with the Treaty of Northampton’s terms, on July 17, 1328, when he was 4, David was married to seven-year-old Joan of the Tower, at Berwick-upon-Tweed. She was the daughter of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France, the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughtedeath King Philippe IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre They had no issue.

Reign

David became king upon the death of his father on June 7, 1329. David and his wife were crowned at Scone on November 24, 1331.
During David’s minority, Sir Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, was appointed Guardian of Scotland by the Act of Settlement of 1318. After Moray’s death, on July 20, 1332, he was replaced by Donald, Earl of Mar, elected by an assembly of the magnates of Scotland at Perth, August 2, 1332.

Only ten days later Mar fell at the Battle of Dupplin Moor. Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell, who was married to Christian (or Christina), the sister of King Robert I of Scotland, was chosen as the new Guardian. He was taken prisoner by the English at Roxburgh in April 1333 and was thence replaced as Guardian by Archibald Douglas (the Tyneman), who fell at the Battle of Halidon Hill that July.

In 1346, under the terms of the Auld Alliance, David invaded England in the interests of the French, who were at war with the English in Normandy. After initial success at Hexham, David was wounded, and his army soundly defeated at the Battle of Neville’s Cross on October 17, 1346.

On that day King David II of Scotland was captured and taken prisoner by Sir John de Coupland, who imprisoned him in the Tower of London. David was transferred to Windsor Castle in Berkshire upon the return of Edward III from France. The depiction of David being presented to King Edward III in the play The Raigne of King Edward the Third is fictitious. David and his household were later moved to Odiham Castle in Hampshire. His imprisonment was not reputed to be a rigorous one, although he remained captive in England for eleven years.

On October 3, 1357, after several protracted negotiations with the Scots’ regency council, a treaty was signed at Berwick-upon-Tweed under which Scotland’s nobility agreed to pay 100,000 marks, at the rate of 10,000 marks per year, as a ransom for their king. This was ratified by the Scottish Parliament at Scone on November 6, 1357.

Return to Scotland

David II of Scotland (left) and Edward III England (right)

David returned at once to Scotland, bringing with him a mistress, Katherine (or Catherine) Mortimer, of whom little is known. This was an unpopular move, and Katherine was murdered in 1360 by men hired by the Earl of Angus and other nobles, according to some sources; the Earl was then starved to death. She was replaced as mistress by Margaret Drummond.

After six years, owing to the poverty of the kingdom, it was found impossible to raise the ransom instalment of 1363. David then made for London and sought to get rid of the liability by offering to bequeath Scotland to Edward III, or one of his sons, in return for a cancellation of the ransom.

David did this with the full awareness that the Scots would never accept such an arrangement. In 1364, the Scottish parliament indignantly rejected a proposal to make Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the next king. Over the next few years, David strung out secret negotiations with Edward III, which apparently appeased the matter.

His wife, Queen Joan, died on September 7, 1362 (aged 41) at Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire, possibly a victim of the Black Death. He remarried, on about February 20, 1364, Margaret Drummond, widow of Sir John Logie, and daughter of Sir Malcolm Drummond. He divorced her on about March 20, 1370. They had no children. Margaret, however, travelled to Avignon, and made a successful appeal to the Pope Urban V to reverse the sentence of divorce which had been pronounced against her in Scotland.

She was still alive in January 1375, four years after David died.
From 1364, David governed actively, dealing firmly with recalcitrant nobles, and a wider baronial revolt, led by his prospective successor, the future Robert II. David continued to pursue the goal of a final peace with England. At the time of his death, the Scottish monarchy was stronger and the country was “a free and independent kingdom” according to a reliable source. The royal finances were more prosperous than might have seemed possible.