Mad Kings & Queens, Week XII [Monday, Period 4]
"I'm deviating from the syllabus again," Ghanima announced from her perch on her desk, legs kicking against its front lightly as the students filed in. "Mostly because I am quite bored with it right now."
"So instead of Anna I of Russia, we're going to skip to a different Anna; Anna of Saxony, a woman that was not very good at dealing with limits."
"Anna of Saxony was the only child and heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes, eldest daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. She was the second wife of William the Silent."
"Anna was reputedly unattractive and lame, but her wealth drew many suitors. She accepted the suit of William I of Orange, and they were married on August 25, 1561. Her new husband, while thrilled about her dowry, soon discovered that Anna was unstable. Her unattractive combination of melancholic, aggressive, and suicidal tendencies, an excessive lack of financial restraint, and propensity towards very public adultery made her a liability of unprecedented scale.
"Anna's childhood had been troubled. By the age of eleven she had lost bother her parents and she grew up a lonely and self-indulged only child. She had a long line of mentally unstable relatives, and many of her uncles and cousins were said to have suffered from mental illnesses that ranged from severe depression to complete mental collapse."
"It's unsurprising, then, that Anna's behavior was distinctly unconventional from the early days of her marriage. Pregnancy apparently pushed her over the edge - most like a bout of what's currently known as postpartum depression - and it rendered her vulnerable to increasingly irrepressible emotional episodes. Political pressures and war in the Low Countries took William away from home, leaving Anna alone, and free to indulge her excessive boredom by partying wildly and then wallowing in despair, during which times she refused daylight, food, and visitors for days on end. The death of her first child in its early infancy, and two further pregnancies in rapid succession within the next two years only served to aggravated her psyche. Abandoning all conventions of modesty and motherhood, she overindulged in alcohol, neglected her children, and grew increasingly aggressive and suicidal."
"Events climaxed in 1564, when William decided to remove the children from her care for their safety. Anna at once withdrew herself from court and turned a deaf ear to her husband's pleas for frugality and respectability. While he was still off waging war, she began a very public campaign of her own, getting exceedingly inebriated, accusing him of sexual ineptitude, and living a life of outrageous and hedonistic excess. She wasn't just indiscreet with her lovers - she often conducted her affairs in public, without a care for who saw her," Ghanima said. "It's quite possible that Anna inspired some of the first public indecency laws. Nevertheless, William continued to write to her, pleading with her to regain some sense of decorum and return home. But his pleas for a more modest lifestyle were in vain. Always in public, Anna mocked his letters and tore them up."
"She took up with her lawyer, Jan Rubens, in 1570 and gave birth to their illegitimate daughter, Christina, on August 22, 1571. It was the final straw. News of this indiscretion reached her husband, who refused to acknowledge Christina as his own. Anna was sent to Beilstein castle along with Christina. Her behavior became ever more deranged, until the servants were ordered to keep all knives away from her, lest she attack someone. Anna began to suffer from hallucinations and violent outbursts. Christina was removed from her care and sent to be raised with her half-siblings. William annulled their marriage, and Anna lived out the rest of her days in Dresden, until her death aged thirty-two in 1577."
[Wait for the OCD up!]
"So instead of Anna I of Russia, we're going to skip to a different Anna; Anna of Saxony, a woman that was not very good at dealing with limits."
"Anna of Saxony was the only child and heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes, eldest daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. She was the second wife of William the Silent."
"Anna was reputedly unattractive and lame, but her wealth drew many suitors. She accepted the suit of William I of Orange, and they were married on August 25, 1561. Her new husband, while thrilled about her dowry, soon discovered that Anna was unstable. Her unattractive combination of melancholic, aggressive, and suicidal tendencies, an excessive lack of financial restraint, and propensity towards very public adultery made her a liability of unprecedented scale.
"Anna's childhood had been troubled. By the age of eleven she had lost bother her parents and she grew up a lonely and self-indulged only child. She had a long line of mentally unstable relatives, and many of her uncles and cousins were said to have suffered from mental illnesses that ranged from severe depression to complete mental collapse."
"It's unsurprising, then, that Anna's behavior was distinctly unconventional from the early days of her marriage. Pregnancy apparently pushed her over the edge - most like a bout of what's currently known as postpartum depression - and it rendered her vulnerable to increasingly irrepressible emotional episodes. Political pressures and war in the Low Countries took William away from home, leaving Anna alone, and free to indulge her excessive boredom by partying wildly and then wallowing in despair, during which times she refused daylight, food, and visitors for days on end. The death of her first child in its early infancy, and two further pregnancies in rapid succession within the next two years only served to aggravated her psyche. Abandoning all conventions of modesty and motherhood, she overindulged in alcohol, neglected her children, and grew increasingly aggressive and suicidal."
"Events climaxed in 1564, when William decided to remove the children from her care for their safety. Anna at once withdrew herself from court and turned a deaf ear to her husband's pleas for frugality and respectability. While he was still off waging war, she began a very public campaign of her own, getting exceedingly inebriated, accusing him of sexual ineptitude, and living a life of outrageous and hedonistic excess. She wasn't just indiscreet with her lovers - she often conducted her affairs in public, without a care for who saw her," Ghanima said. "It's quite possible that Anna inspired some of the first public indecency laws. Nevertheless, William continued to write to her, pleading with her to regain some sense of decorum and return home. But his pleas for a more modest lifestyle were in vain. Always in public, Anna mocked his letters and tore them up."
"She took up with her lawyer, Jan Rubens, in 1570 and gave birth to their illegitimate daughter, Christina, on August 22, 1571. It was the final straw. News of this indiscretion reached her husband, who refused to acknowledge Christina as his own. Anna was sent to Beilstein castle along with Christina. Her behavior became ever more deranged, until the servants were ordered to keep all knives away from her, lest she attack someone. Anna began to suffer from hallucinations and violent outbursts. Christina was removed from her care and sent to be raised with her half-siblings. William annulled their marriage, and Anna lived out the rest of her days in Dresden, until her death aged thirty-two in 1577."
[Wait for the OCD up!]