The Worldly and Spiritual Revolutions

Extract

The Role of Women

Princess Louise and Princess Louise Augusta were central personalities in the court that gathered at Augustenborg and Gråsten, but in different ways, and were so to a certain extent on the terms of a male-dominated society. The White Mansion had been built for Princess Louise in a gesture of care on the part of her father, Duke Friedrich Christian I, but for the reason that her infirmity, which seems to have been a scoliosis, or that she was “small and humpbacked”, made her unsuitable for marriage. Princess Louise Augusta, as the illegitimate child of the king’s physician (and for a short time effectively the first minister of Denmark) Johann Friedrich Struensee and the queen, had been married back into the fully royal line through an arranged and politically expedient marriage to Friedrich Christian II, to which she agreed despite having no desire for the match. Perhaps telling as regards the view of women, she was often referred to as being the engaging centre of the court’s activities and the ‘Venus of Denmark’, or alternatively the ‘Athena of Denmark’, while some of the older literature about her, including the Danish Encyclopaedia of Biographies of Women, write her off as being “devoid of deeper interests and talents.”

This overlooks, for one thing, that she did not have the benefit of a formal education, and for another, the contemporary comments of Jens Baggesen, who wrote that, “She is a true Athena; what she says is quiet wisdom.” It is telling that he makes her Athena, or Minerva, goddess of wisdom, rather than Venus. In the course of the 169 questions, Louise Augusta asks, ‘Do you know of something that resembles Minerva’s bird?’, to which her husband Friedrich Christian answers, ‘Yes, the person asking the question.’ Minerva’s bird is the owl of Athena; in Greek mythology a small owl represents and accompanies Athena, and consequently has since been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom and erudition. The subject appears to have been of particular interest to Louise Augusta, for she also poses the question, ‘Why did Zeus give the most beautiful of his daughters, Venus, to Vulcan, the ugliest of the gods?’ It is tempting to suppose that she might have been making a disguised reference to her husband, since he was characterised as small in stature and not particularly handsome. But whatever the case, Princess Louise’s answer turns the matter in a different direction. Consigned by the social conventions of her class to spinsterhood in her own special house, she says, ‘He gave her this miserable, most contemptible of his sons, in order to teach the other gods that a woman who is merely beautiful in body is no worthy and fitting reward for noble gods.’ In this way she seems to twist the ancient exemplar to her own purposes, pointing out the double standard inherent in a beautiful woman, Louise Augusta, being married off against her wishes, for social and political purposes, to man who is considered less attractive, while she, considered unattractive, is placed outside of consideration for marriage.

Nor was the question of inequality between the sexes left untouched; several questions in particular address it directly. To ‘Why are men so unwilling to believe that women’s minds are just as bright as their own?’, posed by Princess Louise, Chambermaid von der Recke answers, ‘They know very well what they have instigated. They put the female sex down like this through upbringing (alternatively: education) and law, so that the poor women have difficulty clambering after them.’ To ‘Why do so few men like to see women enrich their souls with knowledge?’, posed by Von der Recke, Louise Augusta answers, ‘Because they fear that women would too often be superior to them.’ If these seem like very direct attacks on the gender inequality of society upheld even by relatively enlightened and progressive men of the time, such as those gathered for the afternoon meetings, Princess Louise is even more acidic. Schiffmann, the former tutor of the siblings who had together with priest Jessen recommended Leipzig as the place for the brothers to study, asks, ‘What is meant by spinning wheel philosophy?’ To which Louise answers, ‘A pseudo-philosophy pervaded by superstitious ideas, which, according to the benevolent remarks of the sirs, is only suitable for the heads of women, but fits just as well, if not better, into the head of a man.’