September 10, 1904.
The Chicago Daily Tribune offers an interesting portrait of the future German Empress, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin who is said to descend from the Vandals who once ransacked Europe, "although there is nothing of the Vandal about the charming 17-year-old duchess who is destined to become the next German empress, save from her Slav origin."
Duchess Cecilie is described as being clever with good looks, and the marriage to Crown Prince Wilhelm is said to be a love match, although the engagement "presents many political advantages." This marriage cannot help but improve relations with courts in Denmark, Russia and with the exiled Hanoverian royal family. Cecilie brings to the marriage close ties with these royal families. Her mother was born Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia. Her elder sister, Alexandrine, is married to Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, whose paternal aunt Thyra is married to the Duke of Cumberland (and de jure king of Hanover), and their daughter, Alexandra, is married to Cecilie's brother, the reigning grand duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
There is no doubt that Cecilie's entrance into the Prussian royal house will bring new opportunities to improve family ties.
6 comments:
Harly "vandal stock". "Rex Vandalorum" is part of the ancient (from Gustaf I Vasa) Royal Title (Suecorum, Gothorum Vandalorumque Rex).
The "Vandals" was pinched from the Danish one (King of Denmark, Vandals, Goths, Norway).
However, it has nothing to do with the actual Vandals who lived in Spain (v-Andalucía) and North Africa 1500 some year ago.
The North German Baltic coast is sometimes refered to as Venden, or Wenden, cf the Meckenburg House Order: The House Order of the Wendish Crown.
This is the same root as in Wales or in Latin-derived languages Gaul or Gallia. The meaning is "foreigners" who speak strangely.
The Obodrite House is of Slav stock. I suppose this is what this article wanted to underline (in the hey-day of German Nationalism ; = ) We had a lot of that here in Sweden, Swedish Nationalism a hundred years ago being not only Swedish (Blue flag against Red flag), but "Deutchland über alles", conflating the two...
The original claim was that the Swedes were descended from the ancient Goths who sacked Rome in
AD 410.
The Swedes held pre-eminence among the Nations!
This was propagated at the Council of Constanz around 1420s and the basis for much national ideology.
I am only quoting the news article of the time.
So you do and that is very interesting, but hardly correct...
-- From the Ency Britannica:
member of a Germanic people who maintained a kingdom in North Africa from AD 429 to 534 and who sacked Rome in 455. Their name has remained a synonym for willful desecration or destruction.
Fleeing westward from the Huns at the beginning of the 5th century, the Vandals invaded and devastated parts of Gaul before settling in Spain in 409. There the Asdingi Vandals under King Gunderic became the ascendant group after attacks by allies of the Romans had dissipated the Silingi and Alani Vandals. In 429 Gunderic's brother and successor, Gaiseric (q.v.; reigned 428–477), settled his people in North Africa, where they became federates of Rome in 435. Four years later Gaiseric threw off Roman overlordship, captured Carthage, and established an independent autocracy. With their rule firmly established in what is now northern Tunisia and northeastern Algeria, the Vandals eventually annexed Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily, and their pirate fleets controlled much of the western Mediterranean. Under Gaiseric, the Vandals even invaded Italy and captured Rome in June 455. For a fortnight they occupied the city and systematically plundered it, carrying off many valuable works of art.
The Vandals were ardent Arian Christians, and their persecutions of the Roman Catholic church in Africa were at times fierce, particularly during the last years of the reign of Gaiseric's successor, Huneric (reigned 477–484). In 533 the Byzantines under Belisarius invaded North Africa following the deposition by the usurper Gelimer of Huneric's son, Hilderich, who was a close friend of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. In one campaigning season the Vandal kingdom was destroyed. Rome again ruled the area and restored the churches to the Roman Catholics. The Vandals played no further role in history.
-- From the Ency Britannica:
member of a Germanic people who maintained a kingdom in North Africa from AD 429 to 534 and who sacked Rome in 455. Their name has remained a synonym for willful desecration or destruction.
Fleeing westward from the Huns at the beginning of the 5th century, the Vandals invaded and devastated parts of Gaul before settling in Spain in 409. There the Asdingi Vandals under King Gunderic became the ascendant group after attacks by allies of the Romans had dissipated the Silingi and Alani Vandals. In 429 Gunderic's brother and successor, Gaiseric (q.v.; reigned 428–477), settled his people in North Africa, where they became federates of Rome in 435. Four years later Gaiseric threw off Roman overlordship, captured Carthage, and established an independent autocracy. With their rule firmly established in what is now northern Tunisia and northeastern Algeria, the Vandals eventually annexed Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily, and their pirate fleets controlled much of the western Mediterranean. Under Gaiseric, the Vandals even invaded Italy and captured Rome in June 455. For a fortnight they occupied the city and systematically plundered it, carrying off many valuable works of art.
The Vandals were ardent Arian Christians, and their persecutions of the Roman Catholic church in Africa were at times fierce, particularly during the last years of the reign of Gaiseric's successor, Huneric (reigned 477–484). In 533 the Byzantines under Belisarius invaded North Africa following the deposition by the usurper Gelimer of Huneric's son, Hilderich, who was a close friend of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. In one campaigning season the Vandal kingdom was destroyed. Rome again ruled the area and restored the churches to the Roman Catholics. The Vandals played no further role in history.
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