THE DAWNING OF BRIGHTER DAYS.
As the Reformation aimed at the restitution of the purity and simplicity of the first Christian communities, the position of woman in the Church as well as in private life was of course also considered.
As has been shown in former chapters, the authorities of the mediæval Christian Church regarded the daughters of Eve not only as creatures inferior to man, but also as the medium preferred by Satan above all others to lead man astray. Seeing in woman nothing but a necessary evil, they claimed also that a nun is purer than a mother, just as a celibate monk is holier than a father. This prejudice of benighted theologians against woman had influenced the conduct of the State toward the woman and made her everywhere the victim of unjust laws. For a long time in certain countries to ask rights for women exposed one to the suspicion of infidelity.
Therefore it must be regarded as an event of greatest importance in the history of woman, when Martin Luther, the most prominent figure in the Reformation, decided to take a wife. He married Catherine von Bora, a lady twenty-four years of age, of a noble Saxon family.
She had left the convent of Nimbschen together with eight other nuns in order to worship Christ without being compelled to observe endless ceremonies, which gave neither light to the mind nor peace to the soul. Protected by pious citizens of Torgau, the former nuns had lived together in retirement. Luther married his betrothed on June 11, 1525, with Lucas Cranach and another friend as witnesses. The ceremony was performed by Melanchton.
The marriage, blessed with six children, was a very happy one. Catherine proved to be a congenial mate, of whom Luther always spoke as “his heartily beloved house-frau.” The great reformer himself was a tender husband, and the most loving of fathers. Nothing he liked better than to sit amidst his dear ones, enjoying a glass of wine and those beautiful folk-songs, in which German literature is so rich.
Many of these little poems breathe the sincere respect and high appreciation, in which woman was held by the Germans since time immemorial. There is for instance Simon Dach’s well known poem “Anne of Tharau.” Written in 1637, it reads:
THE WEDDING OF MARTIN LUTHER TO CATHERINE VON BORA.
After a painting by P. Thumann.
“Aennchen von Tharau ist’s die mir gefällt,
Sie ist mein Leben, mein Gut und mein Geld;
Aennchen von Tharau hat wieder ihr Herz
Auf mich gerichtet in Lieb und in Schmerz.
Aennchen von Tharau, mein Reichtum, mein Gut,
Du meine Seele, mein Fleisch und mein Blut.
Würdest du gleich einmal von mir getrennt,
Lebtest dort, wo man die Sonne nicht kennt,
Ich will doch dir folgen durch Wälder und Meer,
Durch Schnee und Eis und durch feindliches Heer,
Aennchen von Tharau, mein Licht, meine Sonn’,
Mein Leben schliess ich um deines herum.—
Annie of Tharau, ’tis she that I love,
She is my life and all riches above;
Annie of Tharau has giv’n me her heart,
We shall be lovers till death us do part!
Annie of Tharau, my kingdom, my wealth,
Soul of my body, and blood of my health.
Say you should ever be parted from me,
Say that you dwelt where the sun they scarce see,
Where you go I go, o’er oceans and lands,
Prisons and fetters, and enemies’ hands.
Annie of Tharau, my sun and sunshine,
This life of mine will I throw around thine.”
And who would be able to pay to female virtues a higher tribute than did Paul Fleming in a poem, directed to his betrothed:
“Ein getreues Herz zu wissen
Ist des höchsten Schatzes Preis;
Der ist selig zu begrüssen
Der ein solches Kleinod weiss.
Mir ist wohl bei tiefstem Schmerz
Denn ich weiss ein treues Herz.
To call a faithful heart thine own
That’s life’s true and only pleasure,
And happy is the man alone
To whom was given such a treasure.
The deepest anguish does not smart
For I know a faithful heart.”
This poem was written at the time, when the tempests of the Thirty Years’ War swept over Germany, ruining that country beyond recognition. Hundreds of cities and villages were burned by Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch and Swedish soldiers, who made the unfortunate country their battleground. Of the seventeen million inhabitants thirteen millions were killed or swept away by starvation and the pest. Agriculture, commerce, industries and arts were annihilated. Of many villages nothing remained but their names. According to the chronicles of these times, one could wander for many miles without seeing a living creature except wolves and raven. All joy and happiness, in which the German people had been so rich, were extinguished. To women the cup of sorrow would never become empty, as hate, revenge, cruelty, and the lowest passions combined to fill their lives with endless mental and physical agonies.
During these dreadful times such social gatherings as had become the fashion among the refined people of Italy during the period of the Renaissance, were of course out of the question. Far happier in this respect was France, where the era of the “Salons” began, many of which became known throughout Europe, for the inspiration and refinement that spread out from them.
It was to the exceptional qualities of a young and noble-minded woman of Italian birth, that the first salon in France owed its origin and its distinctive character. This lady was Catherine Pisani, the daughter of Jean de Vivonne, Marquis of Pisani. Born at Rome in 1588, she married the French Marquis of Rambouillet, with whom she moved to Paris. Repelled by the gilded hollowness and license of the court of King Henry IV. she retired, about the year 1608, to her husband’s stately palace, which became famous as the “Hotel Rambouillet.” Its pride was a suite of salons or parlors, arranged for purposes of reception and so devised as to allow many visitors to move easily. With their draperies in blue and gold, their cozy corners, choice works of art, Venetian lamps, and crystal vases always filled with fragrant flowers, these rooms were indeed ideal places for social and literary gatherings.
As Amelia Gere Mason has described in a series of articles about the French Salons, written for the “Century Magazine” of 1890, Mm. de Rambouillet “sought to assemble here all that was most distinguished, whether for wit, beauty, talent, or birth, into an atmosphere of refinement and simple elegance which would tone down all discordant elements and raise life to the level of a fine art. There was a strongly intellectual flavor in the amusements, as well as in the discussions of this salon, and the place of honor was given to genius, learning, and good manners, rather than to rank. But the spirit was by no means purely literary. The exclusive spirit of the old aristocracy, with its hauteur and its lofty patronage, found itself face to face with fresh ideals. The position of the hostess enabled her to break the traditional barriers and form a society upon a new basis, but, in spite of the mingling of classes hitherto separated, the dominant life was that of the noblesse. Women of rank gave the tone and made the laws. Their code of etiquette was severe. They aimed to combine the graces of Italy with the chivalry of Spain. The model man must have a keen sense of honor and wit without pedantry; he must be brave, heroic, generous, gallant, but he must also possess good breeding and gentle courtesy. The coarse passions and depraved manners which had disgraced the gay court of Henry IV. were refined into subtle sentiments, and women were raised upon a pedestal to be respectfully and platonically adored. In this reaction from extreme license familiarity was forbidden, and language was subjected to a critical censorship.”
This definition of the salon of “the incomparable Arthenice”—an anagram for Mme. de Rambouillet, devised by two poets of renown—we find confirmed by the words of many distinguished men, who were fortunate enough to be admitted to this circle. Among them were Corneille, Descartes, and all the founders of the Académie Française.
“Do you remember,” so said the eminent Abbé Fléchier many years later, “the salons which are still regarded with so much veneration, where the spirit was purified, where virtue was revered under the name of the ‘incomparable Arthenice’; where people of merit and quality assembled who composed a select court, numerous without confusion, modest without constraint, learned without pride, polished without affectation?”—
The salon of Mme. de Rambouillet continued till the death of its mistress, the 27th of December, 1665, having been, as Saint-Simon writes, “a tribunal with which it was necessary to count, and whose decisions upon the conduct and reputation of people of the court and the world had great weight.”
There were other salons, modeled more or less after the present one. When the Hotel de Rambouillet was closed, Mademoiselle Madeleine de Scudéry held regular reunions by receiving her friends on Saturdays. Among this “Société du Samedi” were many authors and artists, who conversed upon all topics of the day, from fashion to politics, from literature and the arts to the last item of gossip. They read their works and vied with one another in improvising verses.
About the personality of Mlle. de Scudéry Abbé de Pure wrote: “One may call her the muse of our age and the prodigy of her sex. It is not only her goodness and her sweetness, but her intellect shines with so much modesty, her sentiments are expressed with so much reserve, she speaks with so much discretion, and all that she says is so fit and reasonable, that one cannot help both admiring and loving her. Comparing what one sees of her, and what one owes to her personally, with what she writes, one prefers, without hesitation, her conversation to her works. Although her mind is wonderfully great, her heart outweighs it. It is in the heart of this illustrious woman that one finds true and pure generosity, an immovable constancy, a sincere and solid friendship.”
Fearing to lose her liberty Mlle. de Scudéry never married. “I know,” she writes, “that there are many estimable men who merit all my esteem and who can retain a part of my friendship; but as soon as I regard them as husbands I regard them as masters, and so apt to become tyrants that I must hate them from that moment; and I thank the gods for giving me an inclination very much averse to marriage.”
Under the pseudonym of “Sappho” Mlle. de Scudéry was acknowledged as the first “blue-stocking” of France and of the world. Several of her novels, in which she aimed at universal accomplishments, were the delight of all Europe. Having studied mankind in her contemporaries, she knew how to analyze and describe their characters with fidelity and point.
Another noteworthy salon of the 17th Century was that of the beautiful and amiable Marquise de Sablé, one of the favorites of Mme. de Rambouillet. It was she who set the fashion, at that time, of condensing the thoughts and experiences of life into maxims and epigrams. While this was her special gift to literature, her influence became also felt through what she inspired others to do. A few of her maxims, as proven in Mrs. Mason’s articles about the French Salons, are worth copying, as they show the estimate Mme. De Sablé placed upon form and measure in the conduct of life.
“A bad manner spoils everything, even justice and reason. The how constitutes the best part of things; and the air which one gives thoughts, gilds, modifies and softens the most disagreeable.”—
“There is a certain command in the manner of speaking and acting which makes itself felt everywhere, and which gains, in advance, consideration and respect.”—
“Wherever it is, love is always the master. It seems truly that it is to the soul of the one who loves, what the soul is to the body it animates.”—
With the death of the Marquise de Sablé in 1678 the last salon of the brilliant era of the Renaissance was closed. With the approach of that period of affected and artificial life, known as the Rococo, new types of women came to the surface, gay, witty, piquant and amusing, but lax and without great moral sense or spiritual aspiration. The dangerous influence of the many mistresses of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., of Mesdames de Montespan, Maintenon and Pompadour pervaded the atmosphere, and turned the salons into headquarters of intrigue and political conspiracy. Especially at the time of the clever Mme. de Pompadour women were everywhere the power, without which no movement could be carried through successfully. “These women,” said the famous philosophical historian Montesquieu, “form a kind of republic, whose members, always active, aid and serve one another. It is a new state within the state; and whoever observes the action of those in power, if he does not know the women who govern them, is like a man who sees the action of a machine but does not know its secret springs.”
Montesquieu himself, when in Paris, made the salons of Madame de Tencin and Madame d’Aiguillon his favorite resorts.
Here he discussed with other brilliant thinkers of the time literary and political questions, and those theories, which he embodied in the most famous of his works: “Esprit des Lois” (the Spirit of the Laws). This book, dealing with law in general, with forms of government, military arrangements, taxation, economic matters, religion and individual liberty, was the first open attack on absolutism. Put on the Index by the Pope it was nevertheless eagerly read and discussed everywhere, and thus it became one of the factors leading to the French Revolution.—
Among the salons of the 18th Century, known for their influence on scientific and political life, the most remarkable was that of the Marquise de Lambert. Her magnificent apartments in the famous Palais Mazarin, decorated by artists like Watteau, were a rendezvous for the most eminent men and women, among them the best of the “Forty Immortals,” or members of the Académie Française. As candidates for vacant chairs in this body were often proposed here the Salon Lambert was called “the Antechamber to Immortality.”
The quality of the character and intellect of the hostess of this salon may be judged from a few of the bits of advice she wrote to her son. “I exhort you much more to cultivate your heart than to perfect your mind; the true greatness of the man is in the heart.”—“Let your studies flow into your manners, and your readings show themselves in your virtues.”—“It is merit which should separate you from the people, not dignity nor pride.”—“Too much modesty is a languor of the soul, which prevents it from taking flight and carrying itself rapidly towards glory.”—“Seek the society of your superiors, in order to accustom yourself to respect and politeness. With equals one grows negligent; the mind falls asleep.” She urged her daughter to treat servants with kindness. “One of the ancients says they should be regarded as unfortunate friends. Think that humanity and Christianity equalize all.”—
Up to the latter half of the 18th Century the salon had become the most characteristic feature of Parisian society. Having multiplied indefinitely, they catered to all tastes and thoughts. Besides the rallying points for philosophers, literateurs and femmes d’esprit, there were other salons, where sly maitresses and political adventurers met the corrupt officials of the Government. Still other salons served as meeting places of fiery spirits, who, disgusted with the debauchery and unrestrained immorality of the ruling classes, made the discussion of politics and the deliverance of the oppressed people their chief topic.
Like the French Renaissance so the English Renaissance received its first impulse from Italy. But less concerned with culture as such, it was more practical in England and distinguished itself chiefly by the greater attention given to education. While the sons and daughters of the nobility were carefully trained by tutors, the children of the middle class received an education in grammar schools founded during the reign of King Henry VIII.
This interest in education was greatly stimulated by the doctrines of the Reformation, which had spread from Germany to England, and which were favored by the king, as they served his political interests as well as his passion for the beautiful Anne Boleyn, one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. That he divorced his wife and married Anne Boleyn, and that she, on September 7th, 1533, gave birth to a girl, are facts familiar to everyone acquainted with English history.
This girl later on ascended the throne and as Queen Elizabeth became famous as one of the most remarkable and illustrious of all female sovereigns.
Most remarkable was her attitude toward Rome. When the “Virgin Queen” in her twenty-fifth year ascended the throne, it was not only as queen, but also as the head of the rebellious Church. Religious strife had already passed the point of reconciliation and Elizabeth’s position was extremely difficult, as the Catholic party was still very strong and was bent on maintaining the connection with Rome. Aware of this fact, the Pope, claiming England as a fief of the Holy See, refused to recognize Elizabeth’s title to the crown, and demanded that she should renounce all her pretensions so much the more since she was an illegitimate child. But whereas many monarchs would have cringed before the Pope, Elizabeth ignored his demands and answered the subsequent bull by Pope Pius V., by which all Catholics were released from their allegiance to the queen, by the famous Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. Striking directly at the papal power, these acts compelled all clergymen and public functionaries to renounce the temporal and spiritual jurisdiction of every foreign prince and prelate; and all ministers, whether beneficed or not, were forbidden to use any but the established liturgy. These statutes were carried out with considerable severity, and many Catholics suffered death. Thus bending priests and prelates to her fiery will, the queen made England a bulwark of Protestantism.
That the long reign of Elizabeth, which lasted from 1558 to 1603, was also a period of brilliant prosperity and advancement, during which England put forth her brightest genius, valor, and enterprise, has been recorded by history. It is also a well-known fact that the learning of Elizabeth was considerable, even in that age of learned ladies. Horace Walpole has assigned her a place in his “Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,” and a list of thirteen literary productions, chiefly translations from the Greek, Latin, and French, are attached to her name.
There were quite a number of English ladies interested in literature and poetry. The most remarkable was Mary Astell, born in 1668 at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Having received a careful education by her uncle, a clergyman, she continued her studies in London. Here her attention and efforts were especially directed to the mental uplift of her own sex, and in 1697 she published a work entitled, “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, Wherein a Method is Offered for the Improvement of Their Minds.” With the same end in view she elaborated a scheme for a ladies’ college, which was favorably entertained by Queen Anne, and would have been carried out had not Bishop Burnet interfered.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth England was called “the Paradise of Women,” on account of the great liberty, granted to them in all social affairs. There exists an interesting account of a Dutch traveller, Van Meteren, who spent some time in England. With surprise he saw that here the members of the fair sex enjoyed considerable freedom. “They are,” so he says, “not shut up as in Spain and elsewhere, and yet the young girls are better behaved than in the Netherlands. Having fine complexions, they also do not paint like the Italians and others. They sit before their doors, decked in fine clothes, in order to see and be seen by the passers-by. In all banquets and feasts they are shown the greatest honor: they are placed at the upper end of the table where they are the first served. All the rest of their time they employ in walking and riding, in playing cards, or visiting their friends and keeping company, conversing with their equals and neighbors, and making merry with them at child-birth, christening, churchings and funerals. And all this with the permission and knowledge of their husbands.”
In strange contrast herewith was the legal position of women. It was, as D. Staars says in his interesting book “The English Woman,” “entirely detrimental. They were under the absolute authority of their husbands. In regard to property, husband and wife were considered by the law as forming one indivisible person. Therefore a husband could not make a deed of gift to his wife, or make a contract with her. The subordinate position of the married women was evident in the whole of her existence. The husband was his wife’s guardian, and if anyone carried her off he had a right to claim damages. He could also inflict corporal punishment on her sufficient to correct her. All the property which she might afterwards acquire, became by her marriage the common property of husband and wife, but only the husband had a right to the income, because he alone had control and administration of the property. Not only lands, but also funds, furniture, plate, and even the bed and ornaments of a woman, all became the husband’s property on the wedding day, and he could sell or dispose of it as he pleased. A married woman could not even make a will. Only when she became a widow, her clothes and personal possessions again became her own property, provided, however, that her husband had not otherwise disposed of them in his will. Furthermore, she had a right to the income of a third of all the husband’s property.”
These unsatisfactory conditions later on caused the English women to join their American sisters in the struggle for emancipation.
