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cahn:) Still talking about Charles XII of Sweden / the Great Northern War and the Stuarts and the Jacobites, among other things!
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Re: Italians are the dishiest, no lie
Date: 2021-11-20 03:31 pm (UTC)Algarotti: Venetian or Florentine, either way, we're more passionate than you northerners!
Various Tsarinas and their lovers would like to doubt that theory. In particular, Poniatowski, Grigorii Orlov and Potemkin in a rare, unparalleled example of unanimous agreement. Catherine just laughs. So do both Annas.
Re: Italians are the dishiest, no lie
Date: 2021-11-20 04:48 pm (UTC)It's even worse than that. This isn't Acton, this is his buddy Norman Douglas who wrote an introduction to the volume for him. Anna Maria Franziska can't catch a break! (So far, Alberto Bruschi's not a big fan of her either, but I haven't yet read his bio of her.)
ETA: And I forgot to add that when I looked up Norman Douglas when I was first trying to track down a copy of this book, I discovered that he fled England on bail in 1917 because of child rape accusations, went to Italy, fled to France in 1937 for the same reason. But ugly Germans are the worst, amirite?
Catherine just laughs. So do both Annas.
Hee! But did any of them ever have an Italian for comparison, Algarotti and Alberto Bruschi ask?
Gian Gastone: Speaking as an Italian with extensive experience of both, I thought northerners, especially Germans, were totally passionate when they were in the Ruspanti. Just not my wife.
Re: Italians are the dishiest, no lie
Date: 2021-11-20 05:50 pm (UTC)1897 kaufte er am Posillipo bei Neapel, Italien, eine Villa (Villa Maya). Er begann ein Verhältnis mit dem 15-jährigen Bruder seiner damaligen 16-jährigen Geliebten.
Okay then. Also, in his later divorce he got the two kids, because his wife's infidelity. At least he didn't lock up his wife? But yeah. I bet Giuliano Dami's age when meeting Gian Gastone wasn't a problem for him...
Giuliano Dami's age
Date: 2021-11-20 06:16 pm (UTC)Ha, I had missed that. Perhaps!
I bet Giuliano Dami's age when meeting Gian Gastone wasn't a problem for him...
Ah, but this is one of the things I was going to talk about today! GG has been exonerated! For lo, this happened:
Bruschi: The anonymous manuscript claims, and other historians repeat, that Giuliano accompanied GG on his way to his wedding in Bohemia, meaning GG arrived with his lover in tow (and therefore wasn't committed to his marriage from the get-go). But nobody has ever asked how old Giuliano was at the time!
Mildred: Me, me! I asked! And was appalled by the answer.
Bruschi: The anonymous manuscript, while it gives all sorts of juicy (and unreliable, slanderous) details about Giuliano's origins, leaves out the most basic fact: when was he born? And I can tell you that he was born in 1683, meaning he would have been 14 when the wedding took place. Now, first of all, nobody takes a 14-yo as a companion on a trip like this.
Me: Your faith in human nature exceeds mine. Also, they don't necessarily have had to have been sexually involved at the time. Giuliano could have just been one lackey in a sizable retinue that wasn't necessarily hand-picked to consist 100% of people having sexual relations with the prince. But go on.
Bruschi: And second of all, I have documentary evidence showing that Giuliano was still in Italy, employed by an Italian noble, in 1703, meaning when he was 20. He didn't enter GG's service until his early 20s.
Me: Woot! Must tell salon and clear GG's name!
ETA: I must add that Bruschi is attempting to clear GG's name of having entered an arranged marriage to a complete stranger with no intention of being sexually faithful to her. I, who heartily disapprove of the double standard toward women but am reluctant to condemn human beings for finding emotional and sexual satisfaction outside of a cold-bloodedly arranged marriage, am more concerned about whether he was RAPING a CHILD or not.
Son of ETA: Oh, and in conclusion, Norman Douglas may or may not have known how old Giuliano would have been when he allegedly accompanied GG to his wedding, since Giuliano's name and age aren't in the manuscript that Acton published, nor, I think, in Acton's book?, and Bruschi hadn't published yet, but I think we can safely say Douglas wouldn't have minded if he did know. Ugh.
Re: Giuliano Dami's age
Date: 2021-11-21 12:48 am (UTC)Okay, this was hilarious :P
Bruschi: And second of all, I have documentary evidence showing that Giuliano was still in Italy, employed by an Italian noble, in 1703, meaning when he was 20. He didn't enter GG's service until his early 20s.
Me: Woot! Must tell salon and clear GG's name!
Ah, excellent!
I, who heartily disapprove of the double standard toward women but am reluctant to condemn human beings for finding emotional and sexual satisfaction outside of a cold-bloodedly arranged marriage, am more concerned about whether he was RAPING a CHILD or not.
YEP
(geez, Norman Douglas, though! :( )