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Romantic Aristocrat Stories from Poland's Past

posts: 16

smurfThreads: 46 Posts: 660 Joined: Sep 8, 09 ♂	Feb 20, 12, 10:39 #1
I'm really stumped on an article I've been asked to research. I need to write an article about a romantic story from Poland's history, something from the same time period of all those period dramas that are oh so popular on BBC TV. Any ideas would be very much appreciated. I know very very little about the Polish aristocracy so I don't even know where to begin. Thx

gumishuThreads: 17 Posts: 3,943 Joined: Apr 6, 09 ♂	Feb 20, 12, 10:42 #2
smurf: I need to write an article about a romantic story from Poland's history, something from the same time period of all those period dramas that are oh so popular on BBC TV. Any ideas would be very much appreciated. I know very very little about the Polish aristocracy so I don't even know where to begin. Thx Maybe try Pani Walewska and Napoleon

smurfThreads: 46 Posts: 660 Joined: Sep 8, 09 ♂	Feb 20, 12, 11:07 #3
gumishu: Pani Walewska and Napoleon Cool, I see she was his mistress, that's quite steamy, nice one. Anyone got any other suggestions?

♂

Edited by: JonnyM Feb 20, 12, 14:34 #4

smurf:

Anyone got any other suggestions?

This might be just what you're looking for ;-)

Daisy, Princess of Pless (Mary Theresa Olivia; née Cornwallis-West; 28 June 1873 – 29 June 1943), was a noted society beauty in the Edwardian period....
On 8 December 1891, in London, she married Hans Heinrich XV, Prince of Pless, Count of Hochberg, Baron of Fürstenstein (1861–1938), one of the wealthiest heirs in the German Empire, becoming hostess of Fürstenstein Castle and Pless Castle in Silesia......
Daisy's brother George Frederick Myddelton Cornwallis-West in 1900 married Jennie Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill, as his first wife, and after their divorce married in 1914 Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the actress, as his second. Her sister, Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West, married in 1901 Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster,....
Daisy, Princess of Pless, died in 1943 in relative poverty at Waldenburg, today Wałbrzych, Poland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy,_Princess_of_Pless
http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=301.0
http://odkrywajacslask.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/daisy-von-pless-slaska -sissi/ (an excellent site in Polish)

And the best site about her with photos from the V&A and the Muzeum Zamkowe w Pszczynie:
http://www.rvondeh.dircon.co.uk/

ShawnHThreads: 9 Posts: 3,056 Joined: Jul 2, 09 ♂	Feb 20, 12, 14:40 #5
JonnyM: And the best site about her with photos from the V&A and the Muzeum Zamkowe w Pszczynie: http://www.rvondeh.dircon.co.uk/ Johnny, My Kaspersky Anti-Virus suggested the website may contain a trojan...

♂

Edited by: JonnyM Feb 20, 12, 14:49 #6

Here's another of her.

ShawnH:

Johnny, My Kaspersky Anti-Virus suggested the website may contain a trojan...

Avira said it was OK but perhaps better to be safe rather than sorry. There are some good pictures on: http://www.vandaimages.com/results.asp?search=1&screenwidth=1024&pixpe rpage=40&searchtxtkeys=daisy+princess+henry+of+pless&lastsearchtxtkeys =&withinresults=&searchphotographer=&wwwflag=&lstformats=&lstorients=A ll+Orientations&andtxtkeys=&captions=on&randomize= which as a government site should be kosher.

AlligatorThreads: - Posts: 350 Joined: Dec 15, 10 ♂	Feb 20, 12, 14:51 #7
In 1820 Grand Duke of Russia Constantine Pavlovich married Polish noble Joanna Grudzińska, who was given the title of Duchess of Łowicz. Because of this marrage Constantine had to renounce any claims to the Russian throne.

♂

Feb 20, 12, 15:54 #8

smurf:

I need to write an article about a romantic story from Poland's history, something from the same time period of all those period dramas that are oh so popular on BBC TV.
Any ideas would be very much appreciated. I know very very little about the Polish aristocracy so I don't even know where to begin.

Write about hanging the portraits instead of living people. Some aristocrats, guilty of treason against the state of Poland, were hanged in absentia as they had managed to escape. It happened in 18 century.

I think it is very romantic.

smurfThreads: 46 Posts: 660 Joined: Sep 8, 09 ♂	Feb 20, 12, 16:04 #9
pawian: I think it is very romantic indeed it is true to the proper dictionary meaning of romantic, but my editor wants mushy lovey-dovey stuff. Thanks for the princess Daisy stuff lads, I'll give it a go with me editor, he might go with it since she ending up dying here. & thanks for the Alligator: noble Joanna Grudzińska stuff too.

♂

Feb 20, 12, 20:45 #10

smurf:

but my editor wants mushy lovey-dovey stuff.

OK, some better stuff.

Guests at an engagement party are happy to note that the wedding of Janusz, a wealthy young landowner, to Zofia, the daughter of an even wealthier landowner named Stolnik, will unite two huge estates. Sofia and Janusz celebrate a toast with Stolnik, and Stolnik calls Janusz the son he has always wanted. The party is disturbed by a plaintive wailing from outside. It seems to be a troubled young girl, crying for her lost love. The kind-hearted Zofia asks Janusz to talk to the girl, hoping he will comfort her; he reluctantly agrees.
Dziemba, the steward of Stolnik's estate, ushers in the woebegone creature. This is Halka (Helen). To the audience's surprise, she appears to know Janusz. It turns out that he himself is her lost love; he promised her marriage while in her village in the mountains but then disappeared. As soon as Halka looks into Janusz's eyes, she is convinced that his feelings for her haven't changed, despite the disquieting rumours she had heard to the contrary. Halka throws her arms around Janusz and he says that he still loves her as he did before. He tells Halka to meet him after dark at the statue of the Virgin Mary by the river; they will escape together to start a new life somewhere else. Once Halka goes out, Janusz returns to the party.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halka

smurfThreads: 46 Posts: 660 Joined: Sep 8, 09 ♂	Feb 20, 12, 21:11 #11
pawian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halka That's a good idea, thanks a lot.

♀

Edited by: strzyga Feb 20, 12, 21:41 #12

One of the most fascinating stories I've ever heard. An Inca princess, a lost treasure, a castle full of mysteries.
Niedzica castle.

Sebastián Berzeviczy[1] (one of Niedzica's owners) who traveled to the New World in the 18th century.[2] According to a popular legend, he fell in love with the alleged Inca princess. Their daughter Umina[3] married the nephew[4] of an Inca insurrection leader Túpac Amaru II, whose assumed name implied descent from Inca kings. Túpac Amaru was eventually executed by the Spaniards after rebelling against the colonial government. The legend goes on to claim that the sacred scrolls of the Incas had been handed down to his surviving family members. His nephew, Andrés Túpac Amaru[4] a.k.a. Andreas[5] with wife Umina[6] and his father-in-law Sebastián Berzeviczy fled to Italy, where Andrés was killed in suspicious circumstances. Consequently, Umina with son and her father fled to Hungary and settled at the castle.[2] Sources claim that Umina was assassinated there some time later.[5] Her testament to son Anton, written in 1797 and stored there, allegedly contained information about the lost treasure of the Incas.[2] There was a leaden case found at the castle with some “quipu” writings, but it was lost in Kraków in the following years.[2] Later, news appeared about expeditions searching for fantastic treasures at Lake Titicaca in Peru. The notion that the Inca treasure map could be hidden somewhere in the depths of the castle is still cherished today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niedzica_Castle
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/1de330/

♀

Feb 20, 12, 21:48 #13

Hello,
I am the author of the Odkrywając Śląsk blog, and Daisy von Pless is my "specialization" ;)
There is a special blog on her (in Polish) - daisyvonpless.wordpress.com (see also: in the blogroll of Odkrywając Śląsk)
You will find there a post on books with her biography, some of them in English - maybe you can find them in a library next door :)
-> ://daisyvonpless.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/o-pamietnikach-daisy-i-poswi econej-jej-literaturze/

There is also an article in English on her, you will find it in my links under the post on Daisy:
://theesotericcuriosa.blogspot.com/2011/04/furstin-daisy-princess-of-p rint.html

If you have any questions on Daisy, please ask. I would answer with pleasure. Good luck :)

pawianThreads: 90 Posts: 5,395 Joined: May 30, 08 ♂	Edited by: pawian Feb 21, 12, 02:23 #14
strzyga: One of the most fascinating stories I've ever heard. An Inca princess, a lost treasure, a castle full of mysteries. Niedzica castle. Yes! I read a comic story about it once! It was entitled The Mystery of Kipu!

♂

Feb 21, 12, 06:31 #15

smurf:

I need to write an article about a romantic story from Poland's history,

Gday Smurf - what about the love story concerning Pan Skshetuski and Helena in Ogniem i Mieczim?

gumishu:

Maybe try Pani Walewska and Napoleon

Good suggestion - Napoleon to Pani Walewska: "I see only you, I admire only you, I desire only you". If that doesn't smack of romance, then I'm a monkey's uncle!

Somewhat darker, though romantically underpinned, was King Zygmunt's devotion to his wife, Barbara Radziwill, who died young. If I recall, the grief stricken king took to wearing black after her death and never recovered.

♂

Feb 29, 12, 15:07 #16

ok, so I've been looking at this Napolean thing and there's something weird going on here.
Apparently, the bird died and was buried in France, the family wanted her exhumed and the body brought back to Poland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Walewska#Later_years
However, according to the page about her 2nd husband, Philippe Antoine d'Ornano, "her heart was placed in the crypt of the d'Ornano family" and this is the best bit......" and her body was brought back to Poland for burial. (In 1869, however, her coffin was found to be empty. It was speculated that some unknown necrophile had removed her remains.)"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Antoine_d%27Ornano#Revolution_an d_First_Empire

This story has everything! Sex, violence, love, war, more sex and love, betrayal, politics, at least one (possibly 2) lovechild(ren) a massive payoff and even a spot of possible necrophilia.
Thanks guys, someone should redo the movie about this....I call assistant director.

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