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Video: Women's duels of the 19th century: How the princess and the countess almost killed each other
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Oddly enough, but the weaker sex in the old days could, it turns out, stand up for themselves with arms in hand. In case of disagreement, noble ladies and maidens often resolved the issue with the help of a duel. At the same time, the rules and attributes were the same as for men, but there is much more piquancy, because sometimes the ladies fought topless. One of the most famous duels took place between Princess Pauline Metternich and Countess Kilmansegg in 1892.
Flowers of discord
The reason for the quarrel was incredibly feminine and not at all romantic - no jealousy, no men, just two ladies were preparing the Musical and Theater Exhibition in Vienna and did not agree on the decor, more precisely, the conflict arose over the flowers, although history did not retain details …
Princess Pauline Clementine von Metternich, who at that time was already 56 years old (!), Was the Honorary President of the Exhibition. This socialite was considered a trendsetter in Paris and Vienna, and with her light hand, French and Austrian ladies learned to smoke cigars and skate.
2-year-old Anastasia Kilmansegg, wife of a Lower Austria stadtholder, was the chairman of the Women's Committee of the same exhibition and was also known as a very respected lady. Their conflict escalated into such a violent quarrel that the high-ranking disputants decided to sort things out in a duel.
Before the first blood
This event took place in mid-August 1892 in the capital of Liechtenstein, Vaduz. Countess Kinski and Princess Schwarzenberg-Liechtenstein agreed to act as seconds. So a doctor was supposed to be present at the duel, another lady was attracted to her - a certified doctor, Baroness Lubinskaya, who specially arrived from Warsaw for this. It was she who insisted that the debaters were naked, since according to the then widespread opinion, the tissue could cause infections in the wound. In order to maintain decency, the women thought of all the coachmen and footmen present at the duel to move back a certain distance and turn away.
Detailed memories of how the duel took place are preserved in the memoirs of the participants. First, there were two short fights, and already in the third, the more experienced princess Metternich wounded her rival in the nose. True, here the female nature prevailed in her, or she simply decided that the duel was over with the first blood, but she threw the sword and rushed to the countess to help her. But she, in the heat of the battle, did not understand anything and struck the unarmed princess a blow, wounding her in the arm.
Reconciliation
Here the servant, left in the distance, intervened in the matter. The men heard screams and rushed to help their mistresses, but since the ladies were still naked to the waist, they received a generous dose of abuse and umbrella blows from Baroness Lyubinskaya.
Then the same Baroness fulfilled her duties as a doctor, bandaging the wounds - fortunately, both were not dangerous. The duelists hugged each other and came to reconciliation. Metternich was declared the winner, and the exhibition in Vienna, prepared by the recent mortal enemies, was a huge success.
This case shows that ladies from high society in the 19th century, at least, owned swords, and, apparently, not much worse than men, since they even put their lives on the line. The history of female duels is indeed quite extensive. Moreover, the weaker sex, as always, showed ingenuity and unfeminine firmness in this matter. Read more about this in the review Women's duels: the apotheosis of cruelty or a matter of honor?
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