1634: The Bavarian Crisis (ARC) by Eric Flint & Virginia Demarce

Author:Eric Flint & Virginia Demarce [Eric Flint]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 40

Schola Cordis

Munich, Bavaria

"If I do not make friends with Duchess Mechthilde, my position in the Bavarian court will be impossible." Maria Anna looked at Countess Polyxena, barely smothering her annoyance. "Trust me, this is true. I am not sufficiently foolish as to deliberately make an enemy of my sister-in-law."

"But," Polyxena protested, "she is only a landgravine." Polyxena was not the most brilliant of the ladies-in-waiting. She owed her position to her father's influential position and her husband's astonishing wealth rather than to any scintillating intellectual qualities of her own. She was extraordinarily status-conscious.

"I," Maria Anna pointed out, "am only an archduchess of Austria. Which did not prevent my sister-in-law Mariana, who is an infanta of Spain itself, from taking the trouble to become my friend. So I shall model my conduct on Mariana's and do my very best to live in harmony with Mechthilde." Maria Anna's eyes twinkled. "Even though it may be more difficult."

Everyone knew what she meant. Mariana had come to Austria as the bride of the heir; Maria Anna had been brought to Bavaria to bear a child who would displace the current heir. Who was Mechthilde's husband. And to displace her sons in the succession. It would be harder.

Maria Anna looked at Polyxena, a little sadly. "The difficulty does not mean that I will not try. Don't be a fool. She is older than I; she has had years of experience in this court."

* * * *

"Naturally," Freiherrin Lukretia wrote to her husband, "the attitude of the archduchess is greatly to be commended for its charity and generosity of spirit. I consider it to be, however, somewhat impractical. There is no reason for her to anticipate anything but continued enmity from Duchess Mechthilde. Nor do I myself see any reason why Duchess Mechthilde should feel any other sentiment towards her."

* * * *

Impractical it might be. Nonetheless, Maria Anna continued to grant Duchess Mechthilde the precedence due to Bavaria's first lady—which she was, of course, and would be until Maria Anna's wedding had been blessed and successfully consummated. Maria Anna sent her an invitation to come to her apartments in the Residenz for a private viewing of the Golden Rose.

Mechthilde accepted. As she said frankly to Duke Albrecht, "I can't very well not, without appearing hopelessly ungracious and boorish. Which, given the tense conditions at court right now, we cannot afford."

* * * *

To her own surprise, Mechthilde found that while she could not bring herself to speak with the archduchess on any basis but that of strict courtesy as demanded by the protocol of the court, she did enjoy the acquaintance of Doña Mencia de Mendoza. They had several very pleasant conversations following that first visit.

It was the third conversation before Doña Mencia subtly sounded Mechthilde out about her motives for bringing the witchcraft charges against Frau Simpson and Frau Dreeson. From Duchess Mechthilde's response, which was oblique and unspecific, Doña Mencia picked up an underlying sense that she was primarily concerned about the position of her sons.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.