Natalie Stackelberg - The Life of Carmen Sylva (Queen of Roumania)

THE LIFE OF
C armen S ylva
(QUEEN OF ROUMANIA)

Translated from the German
BY
BARONESS DEICHMANN

WITH
FOUR PORTRAITS, VIEW, AND FACSIMILE OF HANDWRITING

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRBNER, & CO.
LIMITED
1890
[All Rights reserved]

Ballantyne Press
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

T

The following pages are a translation of Baroness Stackelbergs book, Aus dem Leben Carmen Sylvas.

Having known Monrepos from my childhood, and Segenhaus since it was built, it was but a labour of love to me to render this account of Carmen Sylva, and the distinguished family to which Her Majesty belongs, in English.

I have also thought that many who do not read German might be interested thus to become acquainted with so gifted a writer, so noble a woman.

My thanks are due to Sir Edwin Arnold for kindly translating some of the poems, as well as to Professor Max Mller for his advice regarding the translation of the philosophical pages.

HILDA DEICHMANN,
ne de BUNSEN.

London, 1890.

Carmen, the song, Sylva, the forest wild,
Forth comes the sylvan song, the woodlands child!
And had I not been born neath forest trees,
I never should have heard such songs as these.
I learned them from the birds, that sang aloft;
And from the greenwoods murmurs sweet and soft
Up sprang with them the heart within my breast!
Song and the forest lull my soul to rest.

c

Carmen Sylvas volume of beautiful poetry, entitled My Rest, begins with the above poem. It explains the poetic reasons for the choice of the name under which the royal writer conceals herself. The title, My Rest, has to do with her early surroundings, for it means Monrepos, the beautiful country seat of the Princess of Wied, which is situated on a slope of the Westerwald, and in which the royal lady spent her early years. In these three words, Monrepos, Carmen, and Sylva, lie a part of the life, lie the germ and the motive-power of the poetic genius of Princess Elizabeth of Wied.

On making the acquaintance of so gifted a person as the Queen of Roumania, one involuntarily inquires what antecedents and what experiences have helped to form so distinguished a character. What was the home where she received her first impressions? What were her ancestors? What qualities of heart and mind, what talents has she inherited from them? All that we do and are depends on the impressions which we unconsciously receive. Consequently we can only fully comprehend the development of a character if we have learnt to know the circumstances and the early surroundings amidst which its spiritual and intellectual powers were gradually formed.

F

For many generations we find in the family of the Counts, who later became Princes of Wied, distinguished men and women. For centuries we can find their trace, ever striving for what is noble and ideal, and thus overcoming the monotony of daily life. Leaders of armies, high prelates, and learned men have sprung from that family. Noble women have influenced the rising generation by their educational powers. Intellectual pre-eminence can almost be called a heritage in the princely House of Wied.

In the year 1093 the Counts of Wied were already a mighty dynasty. Their possessions on the right and left banks of the Rhine extended to the heights of the Eifel and the Westerwald. The most ancient seat of the Counts of Wied was the Castle of Ober-Altwied, to which the Castle of Neider-Altwied was added later.

We find the earliest mention of the Rhenic branch of the dynasty of the Counts of Wied in a document-of-foundation of the year 1093. Amongst the witnesses stands the name of Meffrid, Count of Wied . His consort Osterlindis was a near relative of Henry the Lion, and the mother of the Archbishop Arnold of Cologne . This energetic and highly-gifted prince of the Church took a leading part in the election of a king at Frankfort after the death of Conrad III. It was he who accompanied Frederick Barbarossa to Aix and crowned him there.

Theodorick, Count of Wied , lived early in the thirteenth century. He was renowned for his piety and wisdom as a statesman when he was Archbishop of Treves. The Liebfrauen Church at Treves, that beautiful monument of Gothic architecture, owes its origin to him.

In the year 1243 the male line became extinct in the person of Count Lothar . The heritage of the Counts of Wied then fell to Bruno, Count of Isenburg, who was married to the heiress of the House of Wied and took the name. At the death of Count William in 1462 the inheritance fell, in default of a male heir, to Frederick of Runkel , of the House of Leiningen-Westerburg. His mother was Anastasia of Isenburg-Wied, a niece of Count William.

Count Frederick of Runkel-Wied then became the founder of the now flourishing dynasty of the Princes of Wied.

Amongst his descendants, let us first mention Herman of Wied , Elector and Archbishop of Cologne from 1515 to 1547. He was born on the 14th January 1477, and was the fourth son of Count Frederick of Wied-Runkel and the Countess Agnes of Virneburg: already in his sixth year he received a benefice in the Chapter of the Cologne Cathedral. At fifteen he became Canon of the Cathedral, and on the 15th of March 1515 he was elected Archbishop of Cologne. He reigned during the time of the most bitter religious strife. Although at first an implacable enemy of the Reformation, he was soon overcome by the power of the Gospel. Archbishop Herman declared himself a believer in the doctrines of Luther, sent for Protestant preachers, and corresponded actively with Luther and Melancthon. Martin Butzer, the Strasburg Reformer, was invited by him to Bonn, to work out a plan for the ordering of the doctrines of the Reformation. At Easter 1543 Archbishop Herman dispensed the Holy Communion according to the rites of the Lutheran Church. A few weeks later Melancthon came from Wittenburg, and Pistorius from Hesse to confer with the Archbishop. His rivals and enemies now denounced him to the Pope and to the Emperor. He, however, declared calmly and decidedly that at his age, and with one foot in the grave, he had held it to be his Christian duty to study the Bible and religious works himself, and to seek the advice of the learned. He could by no means depart from the conclusions he had thus come to, nor deny his convictions, which were of the greatest importance to his salvation and that of all true seekers after God. Whether unjustifiable machinations should succeed in dethroning him he would leave in Gods hands. If the worst should befall him, he would close his life as he was born, a simple Count of Wied, but he would never cease to be the champion of the true faith.