WEBVTT - "And Historians Will Call Them..."

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim

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<v Speaker 1>and Mild from Aaron Mankie Listener Discretion advised. In the

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<v Speaker 1>heart of Schonbrun Palace, the summer home of the Austrian Habsburgs,

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<v Speaker 1>is the hall of Ceremonies. In the eighteenth century, Empress

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<v Speaker 1>Maria Teresa would welcome guests there, awing them with the

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<v Speaker 1>room's elaborate goal decorations. Today the hall still has the

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<v Speaker 1>power to awe, for it's here that the cycle of

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<v Speaker 1>paintings depicting the seventeen sixty wedding of Archduke Joseph of Austria,

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<v Speaker 1>the Empress's son and Princess Isabella of Parma are hung.

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<v Speaker 1>Even three hundred years later, the scale of the celebration,

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<v Speaker 1>as depicted on the artist Martin van Maiden's enormous canvases,

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<v Speaker 1>is almost hard to absorb. The wedding was classic Imperial

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<v Speaker 1>pageantry at its finest. The bride wore cloth woven with silver,

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<v Speaker 1>and she rode into the city in a procession of

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<v Speaker 1>ninety carriages through a series of decorative arches built just

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<v Speaker 1>for the occasion. Musicians serenaded her from every street corner.

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<v Speaker 1>After the church ceremony. Wedding guests followed a trail of

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<v Speaker 1>three thousand glowing lanterns to the Imperial Palace, where the

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<v Speaker 1>guests ate off of solid gold dishware as they toasted

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<v Speaker 1>the newlyweds. There was a reason for all of this

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<v Speaker 1>conspicuous consumption. Austria was in the middle of the Seven

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<v Speaker 1>Years War, and the public's patience for the war's costs,

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<v Speaker 1>both in money and in lives, was wearing thin. The

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<v Speaker 1>wedding of her son and briss Maria Theresa hoped would

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<v Speaker 1>serve as both a pleasant diversion for the Austrians and

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<v Speaker 1>as a symbol to her foreign allies that her empire

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<v Speaker 1>could sustain the costs of war. But what about the

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<v Speaker 1>young people at the heart of this grand wedding? How

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<v Speaker 1>did they feel about it all? Not particularly happy, as

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<v Speaker 1>you might have guessed by the other royal weddings we've

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<v Speaker 1>covered on this podcast. The nineteen year old Archduke would

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<v Speaker 1>have rather been off fighting. In fact, he was more

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<v Speaker 1>scared of marriage than of going into battle, and was

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<v Speaker 1>only agreeing to the marriage out of duty. Quote as

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<v Speaker 1>a victim of the state, I sacrifice myself, he wrote

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<v Speaker 1>to an adviser the eighteen year old Princess Isabella of

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<v Speaker 1>Parma was similarly reluctant. Reflecting on the painful life of

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<v Speaker 1>noble women. Several years later, Isabella would write that princesses

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<v Speaker 1>are quote condemned to abandon everything for an unknown person

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<v Speaker 1>whose character and manner of thinking she does not know,

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<v Speaker 1>in a sacrifice for the supposed public good end quote.

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<v Speaker 1>Fortunately for Joseph and Isabella, their marriage would not be

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<v Speaker 1>quite as miserable as many other such sacrificial matches. Joseph,

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<v Speaker 1>like nearly everyone the brilliant Isabella came into contact with,

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<v Speaker 1>would soon be thoroughly charmed and infatuated by his new bride.

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<v Speaker 1>Isabella too would come to find love not with her husband, though,

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<v Speaker 1>but with his sister. Today, I'll tell you about the

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<v Speaker 1>doomed romance of Princess Isabella of Parma and her sister

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<v Speaker 1>in law, Arch Duchess Maria Christina. It's a story of

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<v Speaker 1>love and loss and the way that these forces shape

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<v Speaker 1>our lives. It's also a story about history and historians,

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<v Speaker 1>how the historical record is shaped by contemporary beliefs, how

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<v Speaker 1>narratives are created and erased, and how the truth has

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<v Speaker 1>a way as Shakespeare once said of outing, I'm Dana Schwartz,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is noble blood. Before we talk about Maria

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<v Speaker 1>and Christina, we need to spend a little bit more

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<v Speaker 1>talking about Joseph and Isabella. The couple's wedding wasn't just

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<v Speaker 1>about putting on a show for the world. The marriage

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<v Speaker 1>itself was an important act of political alliance, in this

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<v Speaker 1>case an alliance between Austria and France. Though Isabella's father

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<v Speaker 1>was Spanish, her mother was French, the beloved eldest daughter

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<v Speaker 1>of King Louis the fifteenth. Isabella herself had spent nearly

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<v Speaker 1>a year at Versailles as a child, during which time

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<v Speaker 1>she won over the court with her precocious intelligence and

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<v Speaker 1>vivacious spirit. She had much the same effect on the Austrians,

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<v Speaker 1>her gift for knowing exactly the right thing to say

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<v Speaker 1>having only grown with time. By the time she arrived

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<v Speaker 1>in Vienna in October seventeen sixty. She spoke four languages,

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<v Speaker 1>played violin beautifully, could shoot well, and was conversant in

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<v Speaker 1>the latest developments of science and philosophy. She also knew

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<v Speaker 1>when to make jokes and when to stay serious, an

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<v Speaker 1>important skill at court. She could be everything to everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>a skill that served her particularly well in the chaotic

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<v Speaker 1>Habsburg court, where the Empress and Emperor lived alongside their

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<v Speaker 1>eleven children, each of whom had their own distinct personalities.

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<v Speaker 1>These children would grow up to rule much of Western Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>either in their own right or through marriage. You're likely

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<v Speaker 1>familiar with several of them, probably especially the youngest daughter, one,

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<v Speaker 1>Marie Antoinette. Isabella managed to find her place in this

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<v Speaker 1>boisterous household and charm nearly all of the Habsburgs in turn,

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<v Speaker 1>but the princess had a dark side too. In seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>fifty nine, after the marriage contract between Isabella and Joseph

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<v Speaker 1>was finalized, Isabella's mother, Elizabeth, died of smallpox. Elizabeth had

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<v Speaker 1>been only fourteen when she had had Isabella, and so

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<v Speaker 1>the two were more like sisters than mother and daughter.

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<v Speaker 1>Imagine a Gilmore girl's style relationship. Their relationship had not

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<v Speaker 1>always been easy, but Elizabeth's sudden death devastated Isabella. Years later,

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<v Speaker 1>a rumor would circulate that upon Elizabeth's death, Isabella had

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<v Speaker 1>heard a voice telling her that she herself would only

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<v Speaker 1>live a few more years, and while Isabella herself never

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<v Speaker 1>told such a story, its core idea wasn't entirely basis.

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<v Speaker 1>Isabella was obsessed with thoughts of her own death, and

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes even with a longing for it. She wrote countless

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<v Speaker 1>letters about her yearning for death to close friends and

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<v Speaker 1>family members, who mostly responded with annoyance. In fairness to them,

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<v Speaker 1>Isabella was not explicitly suicidal. She simply pondered that death

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<v Speaker 1>would have more to offer her than the constrained life

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<v Speaker 1>of a princess, and she also had a family history

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<v Speaker 1>of what we would now likely identify as depression, particularly

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<v Speaker 1>on her father's side. Despite her inner turmoil, Isabella was

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<v Speaker 1>an expert at maintaining a happy facade. Joseph became more

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<v Speaker 1>and more besotted with his beautiful bride, although many at

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<v Speaker 1>court observed that his love was not returned quite as

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<v Speaker 1>eagerly as it was given. Poor Joseph, who was consistently

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<v Speaker 1>described as aloof and awkward, he seemed to be the

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<v Speaker 1>only one who didn't notice. The couple's misaligned interests didn't

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<v Speaker 1>help matters, nor did the discrepancy between their maturity levels. Nonetheless,

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<v Speaker 1>Isabella fulfilled her marital and dynastic responsibilities and gave birth

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<v Speaker 1>to her first child, a daughter, on March twentieth, seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>sixty two. The baby was named Maria Teresa, after the

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<v Speaker 1>Empress Joseph's mother, Isabella's mother in law. As we all know,

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<v Speaker 1>royal daughters are all well and good, but what was

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<v Speaker 1>really needed was a son. So the pressure to get

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<v Speaker 1>pregnant resumed. The second Isabella recovered from birth. Only five

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<v Speaker 1>months after little Maria Teresa's birth, Isabella had a miscarriage,

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<v Speaker 1>followed by another miscarriage only five months after that. I

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<v Speaker 1>know that the Empress wishes to see me pregnant, she

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<v Speaker 1>wrote in a letter, but you can't do as you want.

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<v Speaker 1>The physical and emotional toll of these constant attempts weighed

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<v Speaker 1>on Isabella heavily, but through the pain, one bright spot

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<v Speaker 1>was constant her relationship with her sister in law, the

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<v Speaker 1>arch Duchess Maria Christina. Isabella and Maria Christina had begun

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<v Speaker 1>corresponding even before Isabella came to Vienna, as the Princess

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<v Speaker 1>attempted to get to know her new family in law.

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<v Speaker 1>The two young women were only six months apart in

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<v Speaker 1>age and shared many interests. Both were artistic, sensitive and intelligent.

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<v Speaker 1>The timeline of their relationship, how and when it grew

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<v Speaker 1>from friendship to love has been lost to history. But

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<v Speaker 1>by the time Isabella arrived in Austria at nineteen, the

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<v Speaker 1>two were writing to one another constantly. We only have

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<v Speaker 1>one of Maria Christina's letters to Isabella, but Maria Christina

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<v Speaker 1>saved many of Isabella's letters to her, revealing the shape

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<v Speaker 1>of their playful, teasing and occasionally melodramatic relationship. The women

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<v Speaker 1>spent as much time together as possible, arranging private rendezvous

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<v Speaker 1>whenever Joseph was out. When they could not be together physically,

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<v Speaker 1>they expressed their longing in letters. I love you, madly,

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<v Speaker 1>wrote Isabella. In one such letter, I will be delighted

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<v Speaker 1>to see you, kiss you and be kissed by you.

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<v Speaker 1>I report that I am impatient to die in your

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<v Speaker 1>bosom end the joy of loving Maria Christina even soothed

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<v Speaker 1>Isabella's desire to die. Quote let me adore you forever,

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<v Speaker 1>Isabella once wrote, while noting in another letter that quote,

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<v Speaker 1>I thought about death again last night, But more I

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<v Speaker 1>think about it, the less I contain myself with this idea,

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<v Speaker 1>since it would be a separation from you. End quote.

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<v Speaker 1>The one remaining letter we have from Maria Christina is

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<v Speaker 1>no less romantic. Responding to Isabella's request that Maria Christina

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<v Speaker 1>describe her, Maria Christina noted that Isabella could quote turn

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<v Speaker 1>to no one who understands your personality and your significant

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<v Speaker 1>qualities better than I, who loves you tenderly end quote.

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<v Speaker 1>Maria Christina begins by describing Isabella's appearance, writing quote, I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know anyone more agreeable. Beautiful eyes and hair, a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty mouth, and everything so expressive that despite your mischievous expression,

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<v Speaker 1>one recognizes the spirit that you possess, a bosom that

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<v Speaker 1>couldn't be lovelier. And Maria Christina contain in use quote

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<v Speaker 1>as for what's on the inside, it's even more lovable

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<v Speaker 1>than what's on the outside. An utterly tender heart for

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<v Speaker 1>your friends, of which I received daily evidence. A good daughter,

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<v Speaker 1>a good wife, a good sister, a good mistress. Goodness

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<v Speaker 1>is the basis of your whole character. A bit mischievous,

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<v Speaker 1>but never hurtful. End quote. The women could indeed be mischievous.

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<v Speaker 1>They gifted each other chamber pots, with Isabella reminding Maria

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<v Speaker 1>Christina to think of her whenever she used hers. They

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<v Speaker 1>were also passionate. Isabella wrote of kissing Maria Christina's quote

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<v Speaker 1>lovely ass of quote kissing Maria Christina with all my might,

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<v Speaker 1>and of quote kissing each other to utter exhaustion. Despite

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<v Speaker 1>the fairly explicitness of these letters, historians long shide away

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<v Speaker 1>from calling Maria Christina and Isabella's relationship a romantic or

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<v Speaker 1>sexual one. This isn't to say that historians didn't recognize

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<v Speaker 1>it for what it was. Alfred von Arneth, the preeminent

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<v Speaker 1>nineteenth century biographer of Empress Maria Teresa and keeper of

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<v Speaker 1>the Austrian State Archives, remarked, upon reading Isabella's letters that

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<v Speaker 1>quote her infatuation almost exceeds the limit within which, according

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<v Speaker 1>to our modern concepts, it seems desirable that such affections

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<v Speaker 1>should move. As a result, he recommended that some of

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<v Speaker 1>the letters be either destroyed or at the very least

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<v Speaker 1>kept from the public. Fortunately for us, the letters were

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<v Speaker 1>not destroyed. But von Arneth was not the only historian

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<v Speaker 1>who wanted to suppress the intimacies of that relationship. The

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<v Speaker 1>modern historian Barbara Stolberg Rillinger argues that as sexual behaviors

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<v Speaker 1>and identities were increasingly pathologized in the nineteenth century, contemporary

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<v Speaker 1>historians became more and more unwilling to admit the existence

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<v Speaker 1>of a homosexual relationship within the Austrian royal family. This

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<v Speaker 1>reluctance continued into the twentieth century. When Isabella's letters were

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<v Speaker 1>first transcribed and published in the nineteen fifties, many of

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<v Speaker 1>the most explicit passages and letters were omitted. It was

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<v Speaker 1>not until two thousand and eight that the letters were

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<v Speaker 1>published in full by the French historian Elizabeth Badinterre. Though

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<v Speaker 1>some historians, like Ursula Temusino wrote about the romantic connection

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<v Speaker 1>between the two women as early as the nineteen eighties.

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<v Speaker 1>As one of the first to write openly about the relationship,

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<v Speaker 1>Temissino was aware that she was up against two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>years of historians who had actively tried to cover it up.

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<v Speaker 1>She noted, quote, should the suspicion arise that only such

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<v Speaker 1>quotations were selected that suggest an intense relationship between Isabella

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<v Speaker 1>and Maria, I would like to emphasize with all possible emphasis,

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<v Speaker 1>that there is hardly a note in the collection of

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<v Speaker 1>letters that does not contain such a reference. End quote.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the beautiful thing about history. In the end, despite

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<v Speaker 1>our biases and beliefs, all we truly have are the

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<v Speaker 1>primary sources, and in this case the primary source is

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<v Speaker 1>a series of letters from one woman to another in

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<v Speaker 1>which she writes about, quote, what inner satisfaction I would

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<v Speaker 1>feel if I could only contemplate that nose turned with

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<v Speaker 1>such grace and attractiveness, that in mouth so suited to

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<v Speaker 1>console with its kisses, those eyes whose language is so touching.

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<v Speaker 1>I forget where I am, I forget those with whom

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<v Speaker 1>I am. I think only of this new desire that

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<v Speaker 1>I seek to satisfy, whatever the price. End quote to

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<v Speaker 1>quote the lyrics of a song I heard on TikTok

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<v Speaker 1>by the artist, and I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly.

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<v Speaker 1>All blair and historians will call them close friends, besties, roommates, colleagues,

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<v Speaker 1>anything but lovers. History hates lovers. Unfortunately for Isabella and

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<v Speaker 1>Maria Christina, they would not have long to satisfy their desires.

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<v Speaker 1>Isabella's premonitions about an early death came to fruition in

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<v Speaker 1>November seventeen sixty three. Pregnant once again, Isabella came down

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<v Speaker 1>with a fever. Overnight, her condition worsened, and soon the

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<v Speaker 1>truth could not be denied. She had smallpox. Because of

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<v Speaker 1>the infectious nature of the disease. Only those who had

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<v Speaker 1>already had smallpox were allowed to visit sufferers. This meant

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<v Speaker 1>that Joseph, who had survived about could see Isabella. His

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<v Speaker 1>wife Maria Christina, however, could not. In the middle of

0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:34.119
<v Speaker 1>the night on November twenty second, Isabella went into premature labor,

0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:38.320
<v Speaker 1>likely caused by her illness. She gave birth to a

0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.480
<v Speaker 1>girl in the early morning, a baby that passed away quickly,

0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:49.800
<v Speaker 1>but not before being baptized. Isabella named her daughter Maria Christina.

0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.879
<v Speaker 1>For a painful period of several days after the birth,

0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:58.320
<v Speaker 1>it seemed that Isabella might recover. She sat up on

0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:02.640
<v Speaker 1>her own, drank some roth ate some biscuits, but it

0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.320
<v Speaker 1>was a false hope. On November twenty sixth, she slipped

0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:12.320
<v Speaker 1>into unconsciousness, awakening only once more before dying on the

0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:18.600
<v Speaker 1>morning of November twenty seventh, aged twenty one. All of

0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:23.800
<v Speaker 1>Vienna mourned the passing of their brilliant princess, though likely

0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.920
<v Speaker 1>none grieved more deeply than those who had loved her best, Joseph,

0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:33.639
<v Speaker 1>her husband, and Maria Christina, whose lives would both be

0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:38.600
<v Speaker 1>forever shaped by Isabella's impact. Joseph had barely left his

0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:43.480
<v Speaker 1>wife's bedside throughout her nine day illness. Though it's doubtful

0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:49.480
<v Speaker 1>that Isabella truly romantically loved Joseph, she had given him attention,

0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:54.520
<v Speaker 1>care and respect, and he felt unmoored without her. I

0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:59.840
<v Speaker 1>lost everything, Joseph wrote his father in law, My adorable wife,

0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:04.560
<v Speaker 1>the object of all my tenderness. My only friend is

0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:09.280
<v Speaker 1>no more end quote. He would in some ways never

0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:13.760
<v Speaker 1>recover from this loss. Four months later, he was elected

0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:18.600
<v Speaker 1>Holy Roman Emperor and crowned in Frankfurt. He wrote to

0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.320
<v Speaker 1>his mother of the torture of keeping a stiff upper

0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:26.639
<v Speaker 1>lip at such a time. Quote, I'm a burden to

0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.919
<v Speaker 1>everyone with my grief, so I have to choke it

0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:35.960
<v Speaker 1>all down and pretend all day long end quote. Unfortunately,

0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:41.080
<v Speaker 1>his charade couldn't end with his coronation. Because Isabella had

0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:45.359
<v Speaker 1>not had a son during their brief marriage, Joseph didn't

0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.240
<v Speaker 1>have an heir, and so within a year of Isabella's death,

0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:54.800
<v Speaker 1>the pressure to remarry had grown intense. He reluctantly agreed

0:20:54.880 --> 0:21:00.160
<v Speaker 1>and married Maria Josepha of Bavaria in January seventeen sixty five.

0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:05.400
<v Speaker 1>It was a deeply unhappy marriage for both. Maria Josepha

0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:10.640
<v Speaker 1>was constantly compared unfavorably to her predecessor. The couple had

0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:15.680
<v Speaker 1>no children. When Maria Josepha contracted smallpox two years later,

0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:20.240
<v Speaker 1>Joseph never visited her sick room. When she died a

0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:25.639
<v Speaker 1>week later, he did not attend her burial. Three years later,

0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:31.600
<v Speaker 1>tragedy struck again when Joseph's living daughter with Isabella died

0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.280
<v Speaker 1>at age seven of pleurisy. That daughter had been the

0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:39.360
<v Speaker 1>emperor's closest link to his late wife, and he had

0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:43.400
<v Speaker 1>had the girl raised on an educational program that Isabella

0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:48.240
<v Speaker 1>herself had designed before her death. An observer wrote of

0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:54.159
<v Speaker 1>Joseph after his daughter's death, quote, the Emperor's grief is extreme.

0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.960
<v Speaker 1>It is frightful that every person who would naturally engage

0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:03.280
<v Speaker 1>his feelings should be snatched away from him. And since

0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:07.480
<v Speaker 1>he has none too many feelings, it's to be feared that,

0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:12.480
<v Speaker 1>through inability to give them rain, he may entirely lose

0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:16.879
<v Speaker 1>the habit and quote In many ways it seems that

0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:21.960
<v Speaker 1>he did. Joseph would not remarry a third time, forever

0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:27.679
<v Speaker 1>haunted by the ghost of his idealized first wife. Maria

0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:33.080
<v Speaker 1>Christina's life too, was forever shaped by Isabella, although in

0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:37.400
<v Speaker 1>her case, the haunting was a more beneficial one. Before

0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:42.000
<v Speaker 1>her death, Isabella had written a document entitled Advice to Maria,

0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:46.760
<v Speaker 1>in which she dissected the personalities of Empress Maria Theresa

0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:54.959
<v Speaker 1>and Emperor Franz Stephen observance and astute. Isabella's psychological portraits

0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:59.000
<v Speaker 1>of her in laws are deeply revealing and surely would

0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.280
<v Speaker 1>have been in value well to any spy or political

0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:06.040
<v Speaker 1>lackey who stumbled upon them. But they were only for

0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:10.439
<v Speaker 1>the eyes of Maria Christina, and Isabella intended them to

0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:13.840
<v Speaker 1>be used by her lover in a very particular way

0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:20.439
<v Speaker 1>to secure her status. After Isabella's death, Isabella's advice to

0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:24.840
<v Speaker 1>Maria Christina for winning over her own parents would soon

0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:30.639
<v Speaker 1>pay off. After Isabella's death, Maria Christina, always close to

0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:36.360
<v Speaker 1>her mother, became the Empress's clear favorite. This favoritism didn't

0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:40.320
<v Speaker 1>endear her to her siblings, but it helped her enormously

0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:45.240
<v Speaker 1>when it came to negotiating a good marriage. Maria Christina's

0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:49.080
<v Speaker 1>father wanted her to marry his nephew, her cousin, the

0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:53.600
<v Speaker 1>Duke of Chablis, but Maria Christina had other ideas for herself,

0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:58.640
<v Speaker 1>namely Prince Albert of Saxony, a good friend of Isabella

0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:02.400
<v Speaker 1>before her death. Prince Albert was a poor match by

0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:08.479
<v Speaker 1>imperial standards. He was a penniless sixth son, but Maria

0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:13.600
<v Speaker 1>Christina and Albert had connected over their shared mourning for Isabella,

0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:18.360
<v Speaker 1>and soon their friendship blossomed into love. The Empress, who

0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:23.000
<v Speaker 1>herself had enjoyed a marriage for love, was determined to

0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:27.520
<v Speaker 1>help her favorite daughter. After the Emperor's death in seventeen

0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:31.239
<v Speaker 1>sixty five, which ended the plan for Maria Christina to

0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:35.040
<v Speaker 1>marry the Duke of Shehabilis, the Empress made the bold

0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:41.560
<v Speaker 1>move to support Albert's proposal. Maria Teresa negotiated a marriage

0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:45.760
<v Speaker 1>contract in which her daughter Maria Christina was allowed to

0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:49.880
<v Speaker 1>keep her titles and status as an archduchess, granted her

0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:53.959
<v Speaker 1>an enormous dowry, and gave Albert a new title of

0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:59.000
<v Speaker 1>his own. The Empress's other children were acutely aware of

0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:04.440
<v Speaker 1>this favorite treatment, with one brother, Leopold, writing quote towards

0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:08.520
<v Speaker 1>Maria and Prince Albert, she has the utmost tenderness and trust.

0:25:09.160 --> 0:25:13.359
<v Speaker 1>They twist the Empress around their little finger end quote.

0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:20.480
<v Speaker 1>Clearly Isabella's lessons that she left for Maria Christina had worked.

0:25:21.320 --> 0:25:25.520
<v Speaker 1>Maria Christina and Albert's marriage was a very happy one.

0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:31.320
<v Speaker 1>Upon Maria Christina's death in seventeen ninety eight, Albert commissioned

0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:35.160
<v Speaker 1>a famous sculptor to create her tomb, and he had

0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:41.200
<v Speaker 1>it inscribed uxuri Optime. The best wife. Albert is also

0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:45.720
<v Speaker 1>the reason that we still have Isabella's letters today. He

0:25:45.880 --> 0:25:50.680
<v Speaker 1>saved them, calling them quote interesting because of her spirit

0:25:51.040 --> 0:25:57.800
<v Speaker 1>and estimable character, which sure, that's why they're interesting. Despite

0:25:57.840 --> 0:26:01.800
<v Speaker 1>the years of happiness shared by Christina and her husband,

0:26:02.119 --> 0:26:05.920
<v Speaker 1>she seems never to have forgotten the great love of

0:26:05.920 --> 0:26:11.000
<v Speaker 1>her young life. After Maria Christina died, a miniature was

0:26:11.080 --> 0:26:14.440
<v Speaker 1>found in her prayer book. It was a picture of

0:26:14.520 --> 0:26:20.080
<v Speaker 1>Isabella and her daughter. The caption, written by Maria Christina herself,

0:26:20.680 --> 0:26:25.359
<v Speaker 1>read quote portrait of my dear sister in law Isabella

0:26:25.480 --> 0:26:29.399
<v Speaker 1>and her only daughter. The former died of smallpox in

0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:32.840
<v Speaker 1>seventeen sixty three at the age of twenty one. On

0:26:32.960 --> 0:26:37.920
<v Speaker 1>November twenty seven, warned by all the world, but especially

0:26:38.000 --> 0:26:41.800
<v Speaker 1>by me, who has lost the best and truest friend

0:26:42.200 --> 0:26:45.719
<v Speaker 1>I have ever had in the world. This woman was

0:26:45.840 --> 0:26:51.000
<v Speaker 1>endowed with every imaginable virtue and kindness. She lived and

0:26:51.160 --> 0:27:05.719
<v Speaker 1>died as an angel. That's the story of the short

0:27:05.800 --> 0:27:10.040
<v Speaker 1>life and early love affair of Isabella of Parma and

0:27:10.160 --> 0:27:14.480
<v Speaker 1>Maria Christina. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break

0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:26.720
<v Speaker 1>to hear a little bit more about Isabella's writings. Throughout

0:27:26.720 --> 0:27:31.120
<v Speaker 1>this episode, I've mentioned several of Isabella's writings, her advice

0:27:31.200 --> 0:27:35.359
<v Speaker 1>to Maria Christina, and the educational program she designed for

0:27:35.560 --> 0:27:41.199
<v Speaker 1>her daughter. Besides these more personal documents, Isabella also wrote

0:27:41.200 --> 0:27:45.760
<v Speaker 1>a number of treatises of philosophy and public affairs, many

0:27:45.800 --> 0:27:50.760
<v Speaker 1>of which feel surprisingly modern for the eighteenth century. There's

0:27:50.800 --> 0:27:55.560
<v Speaker 1>her Treaty on Men, for example, where she dissects the patriarchy,

0:27:56.040 --> 0:27:59.080
<v Speaker 1>writing every woman in the world can do without a

0:27:59.160 --> 0:28:03.000
<v Speaker 1>man and argues that men have created a system that

0:28:03.160 --> 0:28:07.440
<v Speaker 1>empowers them over women as a means of survival, because

0:28:07.480 --> 0:28:10.800
<v Speaker 1>if they did not quote have all the authority in

0:28:10.920 --> 0:28:16.560
<v Speaker 1>hand and quote, they would be quote exiled entirely. And

0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:20.199
<v Speaker 1>then there's her discussion on the lot of royal women,

0:28:20.720 --> 0:28:24.600
<v Speaker 1>which I briefly mentioned in the prologue, called on the

0:28:24.640 --> 0:28:28.919
<v Speaker 1>Fate of Princesses. Quote what can the daughter of a

0:28:29.040 --> 0:28:33.359
<v Speaker 1>great prince expect? She asks in the text, not much

0:28:33.440 --> 0:28:36.960
<v Speaker 1>it turns out quote already at birth, she is a

0:28:37.080 --> 0:28:41.320
<v Speaker 1>slave to the prejudices of the people. Her position deprives

0:28:41.360 --> 0:28:45.360
<v Speaker 1>her of knowing those by whom she surrounded. The rank

0:28:45.440 --> 0:28:49.920
<v Speaker 1>which she bears, far from bringing her the slightest advantage,

0:28:49.960 --> 0:28:54.160
<v Speaker 1>deprives her of the greatest pleasure of life. Obligated to

0:28:54.280 --> 0:28:58.680
<v Speaker 1>live in the world, she hardly has any acquaintances or friends.

0:28:59.280 --> 0:29:02.920
<v Speaker 1>This is not all. In the end, they want to

0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:07.760
<v Speaker 1>marry her off end quote. A discussion of the hidden

0:29:07.840 --> 0:29:13.480
<v Speaker 1>pain behind the privileged veil of royalty, and investigation into

0:29:13.560 --> 0:29:16.959
<v Speaker 1>how one's humanity can be lost when one becomes a

0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:21.080
<v Speaker 1>symbol of something larger. To me, it sounds a little

0:29:21.120 --> 0:29:25.000
<v Speaker 1>bit like Isabella wrote the very first episode of Noble

0:29:25.040 --> 0:29:43.720
<v Speaker 1>Blood nearly three hundred years ago. Noble Blood is a

0:29:43.720 --> 0:29:48.560
<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankie.

0:29:49.120 --> 0:29:53.000
<v Speaker 1>Noble Blood is created and hosted by me Dana Schwartz,

0:29:53.240 --> 0:29:58.080
<v Speaker 1>with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick,

0:29:58.520 --> 0:30:02.920
<v Speaker 1>Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Laurie Goodman. The show is

0:30:03.120 --> 0:30:07.440
<v Speaker 1>edited and produced by Naimi Griffin and rema Il Kali,

0:30:07.920 --> 0:30:13.280
<v Speaker 1>with supervising producer Josh Faine and executive producers Aaron Manky,

0:30:13.560 --> 0:30:18.480
<v Speaker 1>Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

0:30:19.040 --> 0:30:23.560
<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:30:23.600 --> 0:30:24.600
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.