LOVE, LOYALTY AND BLOODY PICTURES

The 30^th January brings up two historical events which have become legend in the countries in which they occurred as well as throughout the world.

Grave of Lord Asano

The first incident, perhaps less well known in the west, occurred on the 30^th January 1703, which by the Japanese calendar was Genroku 15, on the 14th day of the 12th month (元禄十五年十二月十四日). On that day the Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, avenged the death of their master Lord  Asano Naganori.

Ōishi Kuranosuke Yoshio

Graves of the 47 Ronin

The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for two years to kill Kira. In turn, the ronin were themselves forced to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honour that all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when it is suggested many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots. Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki.

I used to work at a place called the Lytton Centre of the Visual Arts in Los Angeles. The centre had a small cinema and showed previews of films for invited audiences and the press. On one particular evening a film entitled Chūshingura (1962) directed by Horoshi Inagaki was being shown as part of a Japanese Evening. The main guest was the Japanese Consul, together with his entourage. Most of the entourage wore traditional Japanese costume; however, the Consul was dressed by Saville Row. As an usher and part of the reception staff, I was to ensure that all the party were kept happy and looked after. The film ran 207 minutes and at one point, late in the film, just before the revenge attack, the Consul went out into the foyer and lit a cigarette. I asked (after –on instructions -the appropriate bow) if everything was all right and he replied in very RP upper crust English “I can’t stand bloody pictures”. We both had a laugh.

The second incident occurred on the 30^th January 1889 when the Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austrian, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown was found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera ay Mayerling, in the Wienerwald.

Official engagement photo of Crown
Prince Rudolf and Princess Stéphanie
 of Belgium (1881)

In 1886 the Prince, only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth of Bavaria, acquired the manor at Myerling and transformed it into a hunting lodge. It was in this hunting lodge that, on 30^th January, 1889, he was found dead with his mistress, apparently as a result of suicide. Exactly what happened is clouded in mystery, but has formed the basis for many a romantic tale.

Mary Vetsera

After the deaths of Prince Rudolf and Baroness Vetsera, the Emperor Franz Joseph, who wanted to found a new church, had the building turned into a convent which was settled by nuns of the Discalced Carmelite Order. The position of the main cross in the chapel is supposed to be where the bed of Rudolf and his lover Mary Vetsera was situated. One of the versions of the story was the 1936 film Mayerling staring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux in the lead roles. It was directed by Anatole Litvak. It was also performed as a ballet and many other versions.

ONE YEAR ON - BIRTHDAYS

Exactly one year ago today on the 29^th January 2011, I started to ‘write’ this blog. There have been, according to the statistics compiled by blogger, 10383 page views. I have had a few notes of feedback. The biggest jump in page views occurred yesterday the 28^th January. Again, according to the blogger stats, by far the greatest jump in page views was in the United States. I can only assume this interest is sparked by the unusually large fan base in the United States, for Jane Austen. She is probably one of the most ‘Googled’ author’s in the world, particularly in the light of Pride and Prejudice.  I suspect if I turned the blog into a Jane Austen fan site, the readership would skyrocket. I confess I am not the greatest Austen admirer, and my main interest in her is because ‘the wife’, Celia Bannerman, played Elizabeth Bennett in a BBC Television adaptation in 6 episodes released in September of 1967. Lewis Fiander was her Mr Darcy, Michael Gough and Vivian Pickles, the parents. The cast included Lucy Fleming, Sarah Taunton, David Saville, Julian Curry, Kate Lansbury, Richard Hampton and others. It was directed by Joan Craft and adapted by Nemone Lethbridge. 

Lethbridge

Ms Lethbridge is quite a remarkable woman and surprisingly does not seem to have a full biographic entry anywhere on Google, except in connection with her partner Jimmy O’Connor. Why is that? She wrote a number of excellent plays for the ‘Wednesday Play’ and ‘Play for Today’ television programs, as well as a number of song lyrics. This was all quite apart from her distinguished career as a barrister.

Poe

Of further literary note, on the 29^th January 1845, the poem “The Raven” was published in the New York Evening Mirror, the first publication naming the author Edgar Allan Poe.

Chekhov

The 29^th January celebrates the birthdays of Anton Chekhov in 1860, Romain Rolland in 1866 and Paddy Chayefsky in 1923.

Rolland

Chayesky

On a celebrity note Oprah Winfrey was born 29^th January 1954.

Winfrey at her 50th birthday party at Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles, in 2004

Winfrey at her 50th birthday party at Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles, in 2004

SERENDIPITY PUBLISHING

Two literary items for the 28^th January.

Horace Walpole

In a letter sent by Horace Walpole (4th Earl of Orford) to Horace Mann (Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet KB) dated the 28^th January 1754, Walpole coined the word Serendipity. Walpole said said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of". The name stems from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon), from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanakrit Suvarnadweepa or golden island (some trace the etymology to Simhaladvipa which literally translates to "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island"

One aspect of Walpole's original definition of serendipity that is often missed in modern discussions of the word is the "sagacity" of being able to link together apparently innocuous facts to come to a valuable conclusion. Thus, while some scientists and inventors are reluctant about reporting accidental discoveries, others openly admit its role; in fact serendipity is a major component of scientific discoveries and inventions. According to M. K. Stoskopf "it should be recognized that serendipitous discoveries are of significant value in the advancement of science and often present the foundation for important intellectual leaps of understanding".

On the 28^th January 1813, Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United Kingdom.

Austen sold the copyright for the novel to Thomas Egerton of Whitehall in exchange for £110 (Austen had asked for £150). This proved a costly decision. Austen had published Sense and Sensibility on a commission basis, whereby she indemnified the publisher against any losses and received any profits, less costs and the publisher's commission. Unaware that Sense and Sensibility would sell out its edition, making her £140, she passed the copyright to Egerton for a one-off payment, meaning that all the risk (and all the profits) would be his. Jan Fergus has calculated that Egerton subsequently made around £450 from just the first two editions of the book.

Egerton published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice in three hardcover volumes on 28^th  January 1813, priced at 18s. Favourable reviews saw this edition sold out, with a second edition published in November that year. A third edition was published in 1817.
Herewith a section from the 1940 film version, colorised and in Italian.

NO POINT TREATIES

It would seem that the 26^th January is not the best day for signing treaties. Mostly they deal with land grabbing. Two such treaties are an instance in point, whilst the third was a scam and preliminary to land-grab from the outset.

Negotiation of the Peace of Karlowitz

(note the way the  Ottoman ambassadors

sit with their legs crossed

The various peace treaties entered into by the Grand Sultan Mustapha Han, Sultan of the Turks on the 26^th January 1699 at Karlowitz. The Treaties were mediated by King William III of England and The Lords and States General of the Netherlands. One was concluded with Emperor Leopold of Germany, another with August II, King and the Republic of Poland (a curious monarchy), and yet another with the ‘most Serene Republic of Venice’. Quite a collection of grandees. The group met in November of 1698 and negotiated for 72 days. The Treaty with respect to Austria was the longest lasting (25 years) not so with the other parties.

Kapela mira (Peace Chapel), where the

Treaty of Karlowitz was negotiated

The ‘Treaty of Karlowitz’ was signed on  26^th  January   1699 in Sremski Karlovci (a town in modern-day Serbia), concluding the Austro-Ottoman war of 1683 – 1697 in which the Ottoman side had been defeated at the Battle of Zenta. It marks the end of Ottoman control in much of Central Europe and the beginning of the empire's phase of stagnation, and established the Habsburg Monarchy as the dominant power in Central and South-eastern Europe.

Following a two-month congress between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Holy League of 1684 (a coalition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Republic of Venice and Peter I of Russia) a treaty was signed on 26 January 1699. The Habsburg Monarchy received Ottoman Egir Province, Varad Province, much of the Budin Province, northern part of the Temeşvar Province and parts of Bosnia Province.

The Principality of Transylvania remained nominally independent but was subjected to direct rule of Austrian governors.

Venice obtained most of Dalmati along with the Morea (the Peloponnesus peninsula in southern Greece). Poland recovered Podolia. The Ottomans retained Belgrade.

A full text of the treaties in English can be found in Volume IV of  ‘A general collection of Treatys of Peace and Commerce, Manifestos, Declarations of War and other Publick Papers, from the end of the Reign of Queen Anne to the year 1731’ published in London, in 1732,  by J. J. and P. Knapton & Ors.

And yet another treaty between the United States and Native American Indian tribes. The Point No Point Treaty was signed on 26^th January, 1855 at Point No Point, on the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula. Governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens, convened the treaty council on the 25^th January 2, with the S’Klallam, the Chimakum, and the Skokomish tribes. Under the terms of the treaty, the original inhabitants of northern Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Peninsula were to cede ownership of their land in exchange for small reservations in Hood Canal and a payment of $60,000 from the federal government. It also required the natives to trade only with the United States, to free all their slaves, and it abjured them not to acquire new slaves. An interesting clause which clearly had its own repercussions six years later in 1861,

Klallam chief Chits-a-man-han
and his wife, ca. 1884

On the first day of the council, treaty provisions were translated from English to the Chinook Jargon for the 1,200 natives who assembled at the sand spit they called Hahdskus, across Admiralty Inlet from Whidbey Island, which is today the site of a lighthouse.

Skokomish leader, Hool-hol-tan, expressed concern about finding sufficient food, and did not like the lands being offered as a reservation. L'Hau-at-scha-uk, a To-anhooch, was afraid he would die if he left his ancestral lands. Others objected that the land was being bought too cheaply, now that they understood what it was worth. The whites played down the importance of the land, but the first day ended without an agreement.

Isaac Stevens

But by the next morning the various chiefs and headmen returned under white flags to add their marks to the treaty, which had been prepared in its final form with no intention of serving as a starting point for negotiations. Fifty-six various chiefs and headman made their mark on the document, which was also signed by Isaac Stevens in the presence of 19 ‘Officials’ for the Washington Territory and the United States. The treat was not ratified by the United States until four years later in March 1859. By then it probably had little meaning. The treaty is aptly named.

Another no point treaty was the The German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact (German: Deutsch-polnischer Nichtangriffspakt; Polish: Polsko-niemiecki pakt o nieagresji ), an international treaty between Nazi Germany and the Second Polish Republic signed on 26^th January, 1934. In it, both countries pledged to resolve their problems through bilateral negotiations and to forgo armed conflict for a period of ten years. It effectively normalized relations between Poland and Germany, which were previously strained by border disputes arising from the territorial settlement in the Treaty of Versailles. As a consequence of the treaty, Germany effectively recognized Poland's borders and moved to end an economically damaging customs war, which existed between the two countries during the previous decade. 

German ambassador, Hans-Adolf von Moltke, Polish leader Józef Piłsudski,

German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and Józef Beck, Polish Foreign minister

Meeting in Warsaw on 15^th June, 1934,

five months after signing the Polish-German Non-Agression Pact.

Three Josephs and one Hans-Adolf, what a collection.  

On a brighter note, there is an Austrian non-alcoholic lager called Null Komma Josef.

"Null Komma Josef is already a beer classic among all alcohol free beers in Austria. And it is the best. According to a beer-test of the ÖAMTC magazine "auto touring" in May 2002, Null Komma Josef was voted for the best alcohol free beer." This is part of the company blurb, however, I can testify that it is quite a good drink, and certainly a much nicer form of Jospeh. There is also a 0.5% alcohol version called Null Komma Fünf. Tee hee.