Now, in Mömpelgard resided an aged captain of the Imperial army, one Richard Curie, a tailor by trade, who, having enlisted in the army and risen to the rank of captain, changed his uneuphonious name to Monsieur l'Espérance, married a Mömpelgard butcher's daughter, and settled in her native town. Four fine daughters were born of this marriage. Leopold Eberhard cast his eyes upon these beautiful girls and remembered his Mahometan principles. At this juncture, Duke George conveniently died, and Leopold Eberhard became Duke. Immediately all four damsels l'Espérance were appointed ladies' companions to the Countess of Sponeck. The eldest, Sébastiane, was the first object of Leopold's affection, but the Countess Sponeck suspected the intrigue and remonstrated with her spouse. To divert her jealousy from Sébastiane the Duke paid sham court to the youngest sister, Polyrène, but the playacting turned reality, and ended in serious passion. However, this episode with the second of the l'Espérances soon came to an end, for Polyrène fell dead during a gavotte at court. Great mourning, and Leopold sought consolation with another sister l'Espérance, Henriette Hedwig, wife of a lieutenant in the Mömpelgard guards, Herr von Sandersleben. This gentleman objected, divorced Henriette Hedwig, and left the Duke's service.
The Countess of Sponeck and the two sisters Espérance resided under one roof. We are told that it was hell on earth: they fought, they scratched, they yelled, they bit, till the Duke arrived on the scene, parted the combatants, and usually thrashed—the Countess of Sponeck! All Germany knew, watched, and laughed.
At length it could be borne no longer, and the Countess of Sponeck, with her children, retired to a distant castle. Then Henriette Hedwig died, and the Mömpelgard court seemed tidied up a little, although Henriette left five children in the castle, two of whom called Leopold father.
But there still remained a fourth sister Espérance, Elizabeth Charlotte. This lady's ambition soared higher than that of the other three sisters. She made Leopold divorce the Countess of Sponeck. The other sisters had been called the legal wives of the Duke, according to his Mahometan principles, but Elizabeth Charlotte insisted upon a greater surety, and Leopold acquiesced, as usual, when his affections were engaged. The Countess of Sponeck being divorced, he married the fourth and last sister Espérance. He spoke of poor Sponeck as 'The Widowed Lady,' and Elizabeth Charlotte as 'The Reigning Lady.'
Now came the complications concerning the offspring of the Duke's various wives. To annoy poor Sponeck, Leopold in 1715 had entered into a contract with Wirtemberg, whereby he declared his distant cousin, Eberhard Ludwig, heir to Mömpelgard; but he soon repented of this admission, and besought the Emperor to legitimatise his children: those morganatically born by the Countess of Sponeck, and the rest of the brood from the Espérance sisters. The Emperor refused.
Then Leopold appealed to Louis xiv., who also proved obdurate. Finally during the Regency, Leopold repaired to Paris in person and prayed the Regent, Duc d'Orléans, to legitimatise his progeny. 'A Lutheran prince was legally permitted to marry whom, when, and as often as he wished,' he averred. This precept being received with mockery, he expatiated on Persian customs, and declared himself a believer in the Koran alone. But Paris laughed at him, and after making himself ridiculous at the court of France during eight months, Leopold returned to Mömpelgard. Then he married his son, George Leopold, Count of Sponeck, to his daughter Eleonore Charlotte of Sandersleben; and his son, Karl Leopold of Sandersleben, to his daughter Leopoldine Eberhardine of Sponeck. This double marriage was a magnificent ceremony at Mömpelgard, and Duke Leopold was wild with delight at the revival of 'the beautiful old Persian custom.' But Germany, and even France, stood aghast at the horrible affair. To celebrate his four children's nuptials, Leopold gave a grand ball. In the midst of this festivity he was struck down with apoplexy. The sisters Espérance, Sébastiane and Elizabeth Charlotte, fled before the approach of death, but honest Sponeck hastened back from her distant castle, and Leopold died in her arms.
Eberhard Ludwig of Wirtemberg laid claim to Mömpelgard, but he was obliged to send troops to seize his inheritance. Then the bastards in a body commenced legal proceedings against the rightful heir, and against each other. Europe looked on, scandalised and amused.
The eldest Sponeck and his sister-bride hurried to Paris—'Prince et Princesse de Montbéliard,' they styled themselves—and as they were young, handsome, and seemingly wealthy, many persons of note espoused their sorry cause.
Eberhard Ludwig, who now added to his titles that of Duke of Mömpelgard, waited patiently for some time ere he took possession in person of his new domain. His troops were there, and Friedrich Grävenitz had been despatched to take direction of affairs.
Meanwhile, some of the bastards were raising doleful cries in Vienna and in Paris, but a few remained obstinately at Mömpelgard, and to Friedrich Grävenitz was assigned the task of removing them before Serenissimus made his state entry.