Review: Marie Antoinette's Henchman by Meade Minnigerode
Marie Antoinette's Henchman: The Career of Jean, Baron de Batz, in the French Revolution by Meade Minnigerode
Published in 1936
Rating: Enjoyable (3/5)
Personal Relevance:
I picked this up when I realized that the plot of Eldorado was going to shape the plot of Twenty Years After. The Baron de Batz appears in several Pimpernel novels, but his largest role by far is in Eldorado. There is also an argument afoot that the Baron was the real-life basis for The Scarlet Pimpernel. The argument was prevalent enough in 1913 that Orczy felt the need to refute it in a foreword to Eldorado. It continues today among my friends and fellow fans.
Review:
Meade Minnigerode can write pretty decent prose. He has a good sense of opening and closing -- there are great buttons on certain sections in this book. He uses repetition of imagery to great effect.
But the research. The research... *headdesk*
Part of this is not Minnigerode's fault. When this book was written there was much more space between academic history and history-for-pleasure-reading. The latter was not expected to provide detailed references, much to the frustration of modern readers. That said, the bibliography was something of a joke. A few authors were listed by surname only, the remaining were bemoaned as a "long list of countless sources" that he could not trouble himself to provide even in a reduced form.
According to Minniegerode, Jean de Batz was a Moriarty-like figure heading multiple, simultaneous conspiracies. His machinations brought down the Convention and in the process were the accidental cause of the Terror itself. He marched at the head of the Royalist uprising of 13 Vendémiaire and took Napoleon's grapeshot in the arm.
Unfortunately, Minnigerode has a habit of unattributed quotations and leaps of logic that makes nearly everything in this book suspect. Minnigerorde claims that de Batz had dozens of people in his pocket, controlling them like a puppeteer, but it's never clear exactly how he did this. Charisma? Blackmail? Telepathic control?
One passage is especially revealing: Minnigerode asserts that the existence of a spy of Grenville's in the Convention "is no longer scouted in well informed circles; except those, possibly, in which any departure from the orthodox version of the Revolution must, of necessity, be an invention, since otherwise it constitutes an unpleasant disturbing of intellectual somnolence."
Translation: "if you disagree with me, you're just lazy and/or stuck in your ways."
I'm disappointed that this volume provided some intriguing ideas unsubstantiated by references. Despite this inconvenience, De Batz's story was interesting and inspiring. The epilogue (detailing Jean's return to Paris during the first Restoration) was amazingly evocative and paints a wonderful portrait of the aging and politically impotent Baron de Batz.
I've picked up another volume by Minnigerode, this one on poor Louis XVII. Though I expect to enjoy it -- especially as it was written when Louis-Charles fate was still uncertain -- it might be set aside in favour of more modern (and corroborated) texts.
The Blakeney / de Batz Question
Well, if we're going to go on looks alone, I think it's possible. Check out the pic on de Batz's Wikipedia page: I could definitely see that being Percy.
De Batz tried (and rather spectacularly failed) to rescue the King enroute to the guillotine. He also made an attempt to get the rest of the Royal Family out of the Temple, and a last attempt to take Marie Antoinette from the Conciergerie.
De Batz was reputed to have made a fortune in speculations. Percy was reputed to be the richest man in England.
De Batz was at least acquainted, perhaps even friends, with Charlotte Walpole, an actress married to the wealthy (and reputedly somewhat dim) Lord Atkyns. Lady Atkyns was know as the Little Sailor due to her frequent trips to France (and her propensity for male attire). She claimed to even have take a shift guarding the Royal Family in the Temple, just to prove that people could get in.
Orczy insists in the foreword of Eldorado that Percy and de Batz are completely different types, and she makes a good argument. Percy is a man of action, de Batz works in the background by instructing and controling others. Percy rescue those both high and low born, for non-political motives. De Batz only acted on behalf of the Royal Family and for the Royalist cause.
It's always possible that Orczy came across de Batz's story and, consciously or subconsciously, built parts of it into the character that appeared to her in the Temple underground station.
Though in this case, when Orczy was finished, he was no longer the Baron. Such is the power of fiction.
And after all, given the drama of the Revolution and its larger-than-life characters, someone was bound to resemble Percy.
An interesting question that will likely never be fully answered.
Cate
Upcoming Reviews:
Eldorado by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Published in 1936
Rating: Enjoyable (3/5)
Personal Relevance:
I picked this up when I realized that the plot of Eldorado was going to shape the plot of Twenty Years After. The Baron de Batz appears in several Pimpernel novels, but his largest role by far is in Eldorado. There is also an argument afoot that the Baron was the real-life basis for The Scarlet Pimpernel. The argument was prevalent enough in 1913 that Orczy felt the need to refute it in a foreword to Eldorado. It continues today among my friends and fellow fans.
Review:
Meade Minnigerode can write pretty decent prose. He has a good sense of opening and closing -- there are great buttons on certain sections in this book. He uses repetition of imagery to great effect.
But the research. The research... *headdesk*
Part of this is not Minnigerode's fault. When this book was written there was much more space between academic history and history-for-pleasure-reading. The latter was not expected to provide detailed references, much to the frustration of modern readers. That said, the bibliography was something of a joke. A few authors were listed by surname only, the remaining were bemoaned as a "long list of countless sources" that he could not trouble himself to provide even in a reduced form.
According to Minniegerode, Jean de Batz was a Moriarty-like figure heading multiple, simultaneous conspiracies. His machinations brought down the Convention and in the process were the accidental cause of the Terror itself. He marched at the head of the Royalist uprising of 13 Vendémiaire and took Napoleon's grapeshot in the arm.
Unfortunately, Minnigerode has a habit of unattributed quotations and leaps of logic that makes nearly everything in this book suspect. Minnigerorde claims that de Batz had dozens of people in his pocket, controlling them like a puppeteer, but it's never clear exactly how he did this. Charisma? Blackmail? Telepathic control?
One passage is especially revealing: Minnigerode asserts that the existence of a spy of Grenville's in the Convention "is no longer scouted in well informed circles; except those, possibly, in which any departure from the orthodox version of the Revolution must, of necessity, be an invention, since otherwise it constitutes an unpleasant disturbing of intellectual somnolence."
Translation: "if you disagree with me, you're just lazy and/or stuck in your ways."
I'm disappointed that this volume provided some intriguing ideas unsubstantiated by references. Despite this inconvenience, De Batz's story was interesting and inspiring. The epilogue (detailing Jean's return to Paris during the first Restoration) was amazingly evocative and paints a wonderful portrait of the aging and politically impotent Baron de Batz.
I've picked up another volume by Minnigerode, this one on poor Louis XVII. Though I expect to enjoy it -- especially as it was written when Louis-Charles fate was still uncertain -- it might be set aside in favour of more modern (and corroborated) texts.
The Blakeney / de Batz Question
Well, if we're going to go on looks alone, I think it's possible. Check out the pic on de Batz's Wikipedia page: I could definitely see that being Percy.
De Batz tried (and rather spectacularly failed) to rescue the King enroute to the guillotine. He also made an attempt to get the rest of the Royal Family out of the Temple, and a last attempt to take Marie Antoinette from the Conciergerie.
De Batz was reputed to have made a fortune in speculations. Percy was reputed to be the richest man in England.
De Batz was at least acquainted, perhaps even friends, with Charlotte Walpole, an actress married to the wealthy (and reputedly somewhat dim) Lord Atkyns. Lady Atkyns was know as the Little Sailor due to her frequent trips to France (and her propensity for male attire). She claimed to even have take a shift guarding the Royal Family in the Temple, just to prove that people could get in.
Orczy insists in the foreword of Eldorado that Percy and de Batz are completely different types, and she makes a good argument. Percy is a man of action, de Batz works in the background by instructing and controling others. Percy rescue those both high and low born, for non-political motives. De Batz only acted on behalf of the Royal Family and for the Royalist cause.
It's always possible that Orczy came across de Batz's story and, consciously or subconsciously, built parts of it into the character that appeared to her in the Temple underground station.
Though in this case, when Orczy was finished, he was no longer the Baron. Such is the power of fiction.
And after all, given the drama of the Revolution and its larger-than-life characters, someone was bound to resemble Percy.
An interesting question that will likely never be fully answered.
Cate
Upcoming Reviews:
Eldorado by Baroness Emmuska Orczy