"Englischer Hof"
The Dark Countess of Hildburghausen
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The arrival of the pair in Hildburghausen |
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On February 7th 1807 the town Hildburghausen
received a strange visit. At night a carriage passed the city gate and
held before the hotel "Englischer Hof" on the market. Already
days before a complete floor of the hotel was rented for the arrivals. Of
the carriage emerged an apparently distinguished and rich gentleman and an
elegantly lady. They were accompanied by a servant called Philipp Scharr
who steered the carriage and managed ways and services
for the pair. |
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The strange behaviour of the pair |
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The inhabitants of Hildburghausen were knew emigrants in Hildburghausen since the outbreak of the French revolution. But the man who received his post under the name "Vavel de Versay" was together with his companion something special. They lived in complete seclusion and maintained only the most necessary contacts in the publicity. The inhabitants saw the man going for a walk or driving out in the carriage. The lady, always veils or wearing green glasses, often went with him, but was never seen alone outside. About half a year later the pair moved in the ducal company
house and in 1808 in the house of the widow Radefeld, lying on the edge of
the city. They could move a little more freely here. The backyard of the
house was built around by three sides, so that the pair could get unseen in and
out if the carriage. Besides, a cook, Johanna Weber, who provided for an
adequate catering was engaged. The lodging in the house of Mrs.
Radefeld should have been given by the Duchess Charlotte of
Saxony-Hildburghausen – apparently an instance for the fact that the
court of Hildburghausen treated the pair preferentially. Also Johann Carl
Andreä, a commissioner of the duke, was active for Vavel de Versay in
that time. |
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 Castle Eishausen
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Meanwhile the stay was not long here. On
September 30th 1810 the pair moved to Eishausen, a small village few
kilometres away from Hildburghausen. The castle there, a simple rectangle
construction on the southern village edge, was in the
possession of the court of Saxony-Hildburghausen since 1802 and was rented to the
commissioner Andreä which sublet it to Vavel de Versay. So Versay could
avoid having negotiations with the authorities directly.
The life in Eishausen went the same way like in Hildburghausen. Only a few additional employees were engaged to manage the bigger household and the longer ways to the city. The cook likewise moved with in the castle, it might not leave from now on, however, any more. The household was led very extravagantly. For the kitchen only the best things were procured. Furniture was bought from far away places. The servants were paid exceedingly richly and Versay also exercised, otherwise, a great charity. According to estimates the pair has consumed in the 30 years of their stay in Hildburghausen and Eishausen between 300,000 to 500,000 guilders, after today's scales a sum of 12 to 20 million euro. The contacts of Versay limited themselves to few persons. With the Protestant priest of the village, Heinrich Kühner, he maintained an intensive written correspondence. But the both men did never speak together. The lady was be seen only with her companion and was always deeply
veiled. Generally the whole attention and care of the man seemed to apply
of the lady. She was evident from tender and sensitive nature and the man
tried to preserve her from any inconvenience. So one day he prevent the
shooting of the youth of Eishausen at the beginning of the new year, to
protect the calm of the lady. Because this happened with official support,
is proved that the court of Hildburghausen treated the pair
preferentially.
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 duke Friedrich |
This is also expressed in a letter in which duke Friedrich of
Saxony-Hildburghausen instructed his government on March 12th
1824: "We Friedrich, Duke of Saxony, sovereign prince of
Hildburghausen want to take all consideration for the count, which he
deserved by his present behaviour and which we accord to him immediately
by his entry into our country. How we then the count as long as he will
continue his stay in this, continuously under our special protection will
take and not admit that any inconvenience is added to him."
Even when the usual duke left Hildburghausen to take over the
duchy Saxony-Altenburg in 1826 and the area of Hildburghausen came to the duchy of
Saxony-Meiningen under the government of the young duke Bernhard Erich
Freund, continued the thoughtful treatment of the pair. |
 grave of the Dark Countess
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This life which was so out of character in its seclusion
ended with the death of the lady after
30 years in Hildburghausen and Eishausen. After longer illness she died on
the November 25th 1837. Vavel led bury her in a grave at a mountain garden
in Hildburghausen above the house "Schulersberg", one of her
favourite places. The authorities asked van der Valck for more information
about the lady. After some hesitation he gave the following information. Name:
Sophie(a) Botta. State: single. Birthplace: Westphalia. Place of residence:
Eishausen. Age: 58 years. Single or marries: single. Time of the demise: November
25th 1837. This information was a secret until his own death. More than seven years survived Versay his companion. As his servants
reported later, he burned numerous papers shortly before his death. He
died on the April 8th 1845 and was buried on the cemetery of
Eishausen. |
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The identity of the lady |
 Leonardus Cornelius van der Valck |
With the death of the man an apparently unwritten law
ended: the ban to report about the strange pair of Eishausen or to do
investigations. Already in April 1845 supposition was done in the press
who could have been the gentleman and the lady. The investigation of the
inheritance brought interesting to daylight: Thus man was not called
as declared "Vavel de Versay" but "Leonardus Cornelius
van der Valck". In any case, a passport issued on this name was
found. Besides, 13 letters of Agnes Berthelmy from 1798 and 1799 which
were apparently directed to van der Valck were found. So the obligatorily heir's call by the court from the June 2nd 1845
went out not only for "Vavel de Versay" or "van der
Valck" but also for "Sophia Botta" and "Agnes
Berthelmy". For van der Valck were found heirs, his
identity was cleared. On the inheritance of the lady raised nobody claim,
so that her things was auctioned in 1848 publicly. From this time people supposed, the lady has been Agnes Berthelmy, who had found - apart from her
former husband - a new luck with van der Valck in Eishausen.
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 publication of Kühner (1852) |
The speculations about the identity of the lady also did
not end in 1852, as the son of the priest Heinrich Kühner, Karl
Kühner, the article "The mysterious in the Castle Eishausen.
A true story without solution" published (anonymously). On the
contrary: the article which been based on own observations during his
childhood in Eishausen as well as on statements of contemporary witnesses
contained an indication who could have been the lady. Kühner wrote: "The
age of the lady, how it the count gave (58 years in 1837), would tally
with the age of the daughter Louis XVI, and it would not become difficult
to a novel poet to invent an intrigue by which this real king's daughter,
half by force, half voluntarily, would be exiled in the Castle Eishausen
and a wrong Duchess of Angoulême would be put to her place."
With this assertion Kühner kicked off a research wave which continues till today. The two years later published novel "The Dark Count" by Ludwig Bechstein gave, in the end, the name to the pair: "Dark Count" and "Dark Countess". Meanwhile there are on the subject more than 200 publications
(see the |
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© "Madame Royale" Historical Society -
last update: 30/07/2010
