RESTORATION OF CHARLES LOUIS TO THE PALATINATE. FLIGHT OF THE PRINCESS
LOUISE FROM THE HAGUE. RUPERT'S DEMAND FOR AN APPANAGE. QUARREL WITH
THE ELECTOR
The Peace of Munster, concluded October 24th, 1648, between Austria,
France and Sweden, had terminated the long exile of the Palatines. By
it Charles Louis was recognised as Elector Palatine, ranking henceforth
as last among the Electors, instead of first, as his ancestors had
done; and he was also restored to the Lower Palatinate, though still
excluded from the upper. He immediately took up his residence at
Heidelberg, and his mother expected, not unreasonably, that his
restoration would, at least, ameliorate her sufferings. But Charles
Louis entered upon a country exhausted by war, and grievously in need
of cherishing care. He had, of course, no money to spare, and he was
far too selfish to forego any of his schemes, or to sacrifice himself
for the sake of his unhappy mother. He went so far as to invite his
two sisters, Elizabeth and Sophie, to Heidelberg, thereby relieving his
mother of the burden of their support, but the coming of the Queen
herself he carefully discouraged. Worse still, he refused to send her
even a portion of her jointure. "The next week I shall have no food to
eat, having no money nor credit for any; and this week, if there be
none found, I shall neither have meat, nor bread, nor candles," she
complained to Lord Craven.[1] That faithful friend was quite unable to
assist her, having been himself ruined by his services rendered {284}
to the Stuarts; and how the hapless Queen existed it is hard to say,
until, in 1657, the States generously granted her a pension of 10,000
livres per month.
Nor were her poverty and the callous indifference of of her favourite
son her only troubles. Her third daughter, the fair Henriette, had
died, after a three months' marriage with the Prince of Transylvania,
and the eldest and youngest having departed to Heidelberg, she was left
alone with the artist, Louise. Next to the Elector, Louise had been
her mother's favourite child, and great was the shock to Elizabeth when
this last remaining daughter suddenly professed herself a Roman
Catholic, and fled secretly to France. For several days no one knew
what had become of her; and the mother, sufficiently distracted by her
daughter's abrupt desertion, found her grief enhanced by the
circulation of scandalous rumours. The escapade was well calculated to
produce them, for the Princess had fled from the Hague alone, and on
foot, at seven o'clock on a December morning. Not till the day
following, was the letter which she had pinned to her toilet table
discovered; and its contents were not very consolatory to Elizabeth.
From it she learnt that Louise, being convinced that the Roman was the
one true Church, had acted thus strangely because she dared not attend
the Anglican Celebration of the Holy Communion on Christmas Day.[2]
Rupert, who seems to have been much moved by his mother's distress,
wrote to the States of Holland, begging their care and consideration
for the Queen, and demanding "the satisfaction that is due to us in
regard of the slanders that so greatly augment the injury;" and he
added a passionate protest of gratitude for all that the States had
done for his family.[3] They complied with his request by depriving
the Princess of Hohenzollern, the supposed perverter of Louise, of all
her privileges at Bergen. But {285} though the Princess of
Hohenzollern bore the blame, the responsibility probably belonged as
much to Louise's brother Edward as to any one else. "Ned is so
wilful!" complained his mother, in reference to his conduct in this
affair.[4] He came to meet his sister at Antwerp, where she had taken
refuge in a Carmelite convent, and conducted her thence to Paris. She
was, of course, kindly received by the French Court, and the joy of
Henrietta Maria over the repenting heretic was very great. The English
Queen wrote to Elizabeth that she would care for Louise as her own
daughter, and begged forgiveness for her. "But," said Elizabeth to
Rupert, "I excused it, as handsomely as I could, and entreated her only
to think what she would do, if she had had the same misfortune."[5] It
was not long before Henrietta had a somewhat similar misfortune, in her
failure to convert her youngest son, Henry of Gloucester. The boy took
refuge in Holland, and Elizabeth had a pleasing revenge in receiving
her young nephew. King Charles and his sister, Mary of Orange, both
visited Louise, and reproached her for her "unhandsome" flight from her
mother; but she only answered that, though sorry for Elizabeth's
displeasure, she was "very well satisfied" with her change of faith.[6]
Subsequently she entered a convent and became abbess of Maubuisson,
where she lived long enough to see the second exile of the Stuarts, of
whom she was ever a warm partisan.
Elizabeth, thus left alone in her poverty, seems to have turned to
Rupert with more affection than she had ever before shown him. She
wrote him long letters, full of Hague gossip, of complaints of the
Elector, and professions of affection for himself. "I love you ever,
my dear Rupert," or, "I pray God bless you, whatever you resolve to
do."[7] {286} Occasionally she relapsed into her old jesting manner.
Thus, she told him of a present of oranges forwarded to him from Spain:
"My Lord Fraser sent you a letter from Portugal from Robert Cortez. He
sends you two cases of Portugal oranges, two for the King, and two for
me.... I believe my Lord Craven will tell you how much ado he has had
to save your part from me. I made him believe I would take your cases
for my niece and the Prince of Orange. I did it to vex him."[8] She
was still of her "humour to be merry," though she had more cause than
ever for sadness.
Philip had fallen in 1650 at the siege of Rhetel, fighting for France
against Spain, but no allusion to his death from the hand of his mother
or brothers has been preserved. Edward, who lived nominally in France,
but was generally to be found at the Hague and at Heidelberg, was on
friendly terms with Rupert, though he could not be to him as Maurice
had been. From time to time disquieting rumours of Maurice's
reappearance were afloat, and in 1654 the story was very
circumstantial. "Here is news of Prince Maurice, who was believed to
be drowned and perished, that he is a slave in Africa. For, being
constrained at that time that he parted from Prince Rupert to run as
far as Hispaniola in the West Indies, he was coming back thence in a
barque laden with a great quantity of silver, and was taken by a pirate
of Algiers. The Queen, his mother, hath spoken to the Ambassador of
France, to the end that he may write on his behalf, to the Great
Turk."[9] Rupert, personally, was convinced that his brother had
perished in the hurricane, but he would lose no chance of recovering
him, however slight, and he urged the Elector to investigate the matter
with all speed. "Concerning my brother Maurice," wrote Charles Louis
to his mother, "my brother Rupert, who is now here, thinks the way by
the {287} Emperor's agent at Constantinople too far about for his
liberty, if the news be true, and that from Marseilles we may best know
the certainty, as also the way of his releasement."[10] But the news
was not true, and Rupert's inquiries left him more hopeless than ever.
The Prince deprived at once of his chief companion and of his
occupation, now bethought him of marrying and settling down. But in
order to do this, it was necessary to have some visible means of
subsistence, and therefore, in June 1654, he required a grant of land,
as a younger brother's portion, from the Elector. He was, at that
time, the guest of his brother at Heidelberg. The brothers had not met
for eight years, and had parted last in England, when their relations,
all things considered, cannot have been very cordial. Now they
appeared to have buried the past, and were perfectly friendly. Even
Rupert's modest claim to some few miles of land was not abruptly
rejected by the Elector, and it was confidently reported in England,
that Prince Rupert would "settle on his plantation, his brother having
given him lands to the quantity of twenty English miles in
compass."[11] But this grant was never finally completed. During
Rupert's absence in Vienna the affair seemed to be progressing
favourably, and his agent, Job Holder, wrote to him from Heidelberg:
"This day Valentine Pyne made an end of measuring the Cloysture and
Langessel. The circumference which is given to the Elector, is ten
English miles,--reckoning 1,000 paces to the mile,--and go paces. This
morning I waited upon Mr. Leslie from Langessel to Heidelberg, who gave
H. H. the Elector an account of what was done, and desired H. H. to
confirm those lands upon your Highness, with the full freedom and
prerogatives thereof. But His Highness defers it until the draught
thereof be finished; it will be, I believe, next Tuesday before a
further account can be had from {288} hence. Mr. Leslie says there is
a necessity of having the house speedily repaired; after two months
winter comes on, which will be unseasonable for the purpose. In the
meantime he intends to go on with the Paddock, in observance of Your
Highness's commands, and to make it as large as the highways will
permit. Her Highness, the Princess Elizabeth, commanded me to write
that my Lady Herbert was coming to the Hague with 30 English
gentlemen."[12] But a couple of months later the Elector declared
himself dissatisfied with the management of Leslie, and desired Rupert
to have no more to do with him.[13]
The business remained unfinished, but the Elector's letters to his
brother were still in a most friendly and affectionate strain;
addressed always to his "tres-cher Frere," and signed "tres-cher frere,
votre tres affectionne, et fidele frere et serviteur," they are full of
good-will, and wishes for "une prompte et bonne expedition" in Rupert's
affairs. Occasionally they assume the old tone of jesting familiarity;
in one letter Charles laments that the poems--"nos poesies"--forwarded
to his brother have miscarried; and in another, remarks, in the true
polyglot style of the Palatines, "Le Duc de Simmeren nous a vu a Hort,
en passant pour etre au bapteme d'un fils de Madame la Landgrave de
Cassel, ou je suis prie aussi; but I do not love to go
a-gossipping."[14] In August he anticipated a petty war with the
Bishop of Speyer, but he hastily declined Rupert's prompt offer of
assistance. "I am deeply obliged for the offer you make me, but I
should be desolated to think that you neglected your own more pressing
business for a dispute of so little consequence."[15] In truth, the
less his brother interfered in Palatine politics, the better pleased
was the Elector. Rupert, he once wrote to his sister Sophie, {289}
might suit very well with those who cared "to propagate the gospel by
the sword," but he, for his part, loved "peace and concord."[16]
His concord with Rupert was not of long duration, and this time the
causa belli was a woman. The Elector had married, in 1650, Charlotte
of Hesse Cassel, but the marriage was not a happy one. The Electress
was of a violent temper, jealous and unreasonable to the last degree,
and Charles Louis, wearying of his attempts to win her affections,
permitted his wandering fancy to dwell on a certain Louise Von
Degenfeldt, a girl not only beautiful, but clever enough to write her
love-letters in Latin. Most unfortunately, the Baroness Louise also
fascinated--quite unconsciously--the Elector's brother Rupert. At the
same time the Electress conceived a violent admiration for her gallant
brother-in-law, and the situation was, as may well be imagined,
somewhat critical. The explosion was caused by a letter which Rupert
wrote to Louise, complaining bitterly of her coldness towards him. The
letter, which was without superscription, fell into the hands of the
Electress, who, believing it intended for herself, received it with
delight. It was her chief desire, just then, to appear to Rupert the
most fascinating person in her court, and, encouraged by his letter,
she assured him publicly that he had no cause to complain of lack of
affection on her part. Rupert, who had evidently not learnt to command
his countenance, was overcome with confusion, and blushed so furiously
as to show the Electress her mistake. Thenceforth the Electress abused
and persecuted Louise for having endeavoured to win the Prince's love,
of which crime, at least, she was perfectly innocent.[17]
The affair came to the Elector's ears, and jealousy sprang up between
the brothers. The Elector's manner changed; {290} he refused the
promised appanage, he treated Rupert with marked coldness, and finally
retired to Alzei, where there was little accommodation for his court.
Rupert followed him thither, and was denied a sufficiency of rooms for
himself and his servants; then, as usual, he lost his temper.[18] There
was a quarrel, and the younger brother departed in a rage, taking with
him all his movables--which cannot have been many.[19] He went first
to Heidelberg, but the Elector, either wishful to insult him, or really
fearful of his violence, wrote, ordering that he should be refused
admittance to the city. To his surprise and indignation, Rupert found
the gates closed against him. He demanded to see the order by which
this thing was done. The order was shown him, written in the Elector's
own hand. It was too much! Then and there Rupert raised his hat from
his head, and swore, with tears in his eyes, that he would never more
set foot in the Palatinate.[20] Twenty years later, when it seemed to
the Elector that his race was about to die out, he would have given
much to recall his ill-used brother. But all the entreaties which he
lavished on Rupert, produced but one answer: "Ich habe auf Euer Liebden
Veranlassung ein feierliches Geluebde zu Gott gethan, die Pfalz nie
wieder zu betreten; und will, bei dem wenn auch bedauerlich beschwornen
Vorsatze beharren." "Your Belovedness,"--a curious Palatine substitute
for Your Highness,--"has caused me to take a solemn oath to God that I
will never more set foot in the Palatinate; and my sworn, if
regretable, oath I will keep."[21] Rupert, like his father before him,
was "a Prince religious of his word."
After his quarrel with his brother, Rupert wandered back to Vienna, and
is said to have served in the wars in Pomerania and Hungary. In 1657
it was stated in England {291} that "Prince Rupert hath command of
8,000 men, under the King of Hungary, who will owe his empirate to his
sword."[22] And a German authority describes him as leading in the
capture of the Swedish entrenchments at Warnemuende, 1660.[23] But the
truth of these reports is very doubtful, and he seems to have resided
between 1657 and 1660 chiefly with his friend the Elector of Mainz. At
Mainz he lived in tranquillity, but in great poverty. "He looks
exceedingly poverty-stricken," wrote Sophie of another Cavalier, "and I
fear that Rupert will soon do the same, judging by his menage."[24]
But to Rupert poverty was no new thing, and he now enjoyed, for the
first time since his captivity in Austria, leisure to devote himself to
art, philosophy and science. In these years he first studied the art
of engraving, in which he was afterwards so famous. He is popularly
supposed to have invented the process of engraving by Mezzotint, the
idea of which he is said to have conceived from watching a soldier
clean a rusty gun. But the process was, as a matter of fact,
communicated to him by a German soldier, Ludwig von Siegen. In 1642
von Siegen had completed his invention, and had sent a portrait,
produced by his new process, to the Landgrave of Hesse, with the
announcement that he had discovered "a new and singular invention of a
kind never hitherto beheld." In 1658 he met Rupert in Vienna, and,
finding in him a kindred spirit, disclosed his secret. They agreed
only to reveal the process to an appreciative few, and it is probable
that, but for Rupert's interest in it, the invention would have died
with the inventor.[25] To the Prince belongs the credit of introducing
it into England. "This afternoon Prince Rupert shewed me, with his own
hands, the new {292} way of engraving," says Evelyn in his diary, March
16, 1661.[26] And in his "Sculptura" he says, after describing the
process, "Nor may I without ingratitude conceal that illustrious name
which did communicate it to me, nor the obligation which the curious
have to that heroic person who was pleased to impart it to the
world."[27] Rupert himself worked hard at his engravings, assisted by
the artist, Le Vaillant; and Evelyn refers with enthusiasm to "what
Prince Rupert's own hands have contributed to the dignity of that art,
performing things in graving comparable to the greatest masters, such a
spirit and address appears in all he touches, especially in the
Mezzotinto."[28]
While at Mainz, Rupert developed other inventions, among them the
curious glass bubbles known as "Rupert's Drops," which will withstand
the hardest blows, but crumble into atoms if the taper end is broken
off. He also prepared to write his biography. This he intended as a
vindication against all the calumnies which had been associated with
his name. But long before the vindication was compiled the need for it
had vanished. The Restoration of 1660 changed Rupert's fortunes as it
changed those of his Stuart cousins. He found himself "in great
esteem"[29] with the whole English nation, and he therefore abandoned
the idea of writing his history. All that remains of the projected
biography are a few fragments relating to his childhood and early
career.
[1] Strickland's Elizabeth Stuart, p. 218; also Green's Princesses, VI.
38-41.
[2] Green's Princesses, Vol. VI. 55-58.
[3] Thurloe, VI. p. 803, 24 Feb. 1658.
[4] Bromley Letters, pp. 285-288. Elizabeth to Rupert, March 4, 1658.
[5] Ibid. p. 289.
[6] Bromley, pp. 287-288.
[7] Bromley Letters, pp. 189, 295, Elizabeth to Rupert.
[8] Bromley Letters, p. 286, March 4, 1658.
[9] Thurloe, II. 362, 19 June, 1654.
[10] Bromley, p. 167. Elector to Elizabeth, June 27, 1654.
[11] Thurloe, II. 514, 12 Aug. 1654.
[12] Add. MSS. 18982. Job Holder to Rupert, Aug. 1, 1654.
[13] Ibid. Oct. 14, 1654.
[14] Bromley Letters, pp. 170, 173, 315, 25 Aug., 25 Sept., Oct. 1654.
[15] Bromley Letters, p. 171, 25 Sept. 1654.
[16] Briefwechsel der Herzogin Sophie mit ihrem Brueder Karl Ludwig, p.
309. 5 Jan. 1678. Publication aus der Preussischen Staats Archiven.
[17] Memorien der Herzogin Sophie, p. 57.
[18] Halisser's Reinische Pfalz, II. p. 643.
[19] Thurloe, V. p. 541.
[20] Reiger's Ausgeloeschte Simmerischen Linie, ed. 1735. p. 182.
[21] Spruener's Pfalzgraf Ruprecht, p. 134.
[22] Hist. MSS. Com. Rept. V. App. I. p. 152, Sutherland MSS.
[23] Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic, XXIX, 745.
[24] Briefwechsel der Herzogin Sophie, p. 4, 21 Oct 1658.
[25] Challoner Smith. Mezzotint Engraving, Part IV. Div II. pp.
xxvi-xxx.
[26] Evelyn's Diary, I. p. 346.
[27] Evelyn's Sculptura, 1662, Chap. VII. p. 145.
[28] Sculptura, p. 147.
[29] Campbell's Admirals, 1785, Vol. II. p. 245.
{293}