Hope
@HortenseMancini @isabella @ everyone else who thinks Marie Antoinette got a crappy deal OTL is satisfied with her ultimate "vindication" here
Soundtrack:
Ferdinand Hiller - Die Zerstörung Jerusalems - Chor des Israeliten
*exterior* *Rome* *we see a papal procession through Rome* *that thousands of pilgrims have flocked to the city due to Pope Gregory XVI declaring an extra-ordinary Jubilee Year because of the peace*
*shots of the seven pilgrimage churches: San Giovanni in Laterano, San Paolo fuori la Mura, San Lorenzo fuori la Mura, San Sebastiano fuori la Mura, Santa Croce delle Gerusalemme, Santa Maria Maggiore and finally Saint Peter's* *all of them are packed* *a title card announces that many of the pilgrims have traveled to the Eternal City by these spanking new train lines that the papal states have been building while the rest of Europe was at war[1]* *it tells us that many of the pilgrims include a special stop at a non-clerical destination: the Palazzo Farnese* *there they hope to catch a sight of, or even kiss the hand of the daughter of "San Luigi" [2]* *it then announces that the pope has beatified not only Louis XVI, but also Marie Antoinette, Madame Élisabeth, Louis XVII, the Princesse de Lamballe and the duc d'Enghien, the Fourteen Martyrs of Compiègne, Salomon Leclerq [3], the Daughters of Charity of Arras [4], the Martyrs of Valenciennes [5], the Martyrs of Orange [6], Father Noël Pinot [7], Father René Pierre Rogue [8], the Martyrs of Rochefort [9], Father Pierre Adrien Toulorge [10] and while we're at it, Joan of Arc also gets named a saint*
*Cut to the pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo* *night*
*Men with flaming torches stand along the darkened driveway as a carriage drives past* *while the shutters are drawn and we can't see in, we do catch a glimpse of the arms on the door* *a lion and five arrows*
*Cut to the dinner table* *his Holiness and several guests, both cardinal and lay , are in the midst of the meal when the camerlengo enters with the message that "there's a man here to see your Holiness"*
Gregory XVI: *rises from his seat*
*Rest of table rises*
Gregory XVI: Antonio, will you accompany an old man?
Antonio Tosti, the Papal Treasurer: of course, your Holiness.
*Cut to library* *an eagle-faced man with swept back hair is lounging in a chair next to a small table with sherry and biscuits* *another man with similar features is browsing the shelves*
*Takes out a book* *opens it* *we see his eyebrows go up*
Man: now, what do you think a nice old man like the pope is doing with a copy of the *checks the cover* Kama Sutra in his library?
Man in chair: put it back Carl.
Carl: I'm simply saying, James, I can understand why the Protestants regard it as decadent and corrupt.
James: they say the same thing about us wh-
*doors open* *Gregory XVI and Tosti both enter* *James rises to his feet* *both men walk over to the pope* *James goes down on one knee and lifts the bottom of the pope's skirt to kiss it* *Carl replicates the gesture*
Gregory: be seated, my sons
Tosti: *takes his place at the side of Gregory's arm chair* you did not do that last time.
James: last time we had not yet made the acquaintance of the king of Rome. He told us that if we were ever to show such disregard for your Holiness again [11], he would consider it a personal privilege to ensure that
no one in Europe, Britain, the Americas or the Indies would
ever do business with
anyone with the last name of
Rothschild ever again.
Tosti: and you believed him?
James: *cynically* I
believe that
he believes that. And when dealing with a man who has his own brother's death on his conscience, I find it's best to nod and agree.
Tosti: typical Jew.
Carl: *starts out of his chair*
James: sit down, Carl.
Carl: *clearly irritable sits back down*
James: now...as to why we are here...the recent events in France have occasioned some...reordering. Namely the seizure and nationalization of several banks in France, such as Banque Hagermann [12], who is seen as "unpatriotically French", same with Banque André & Cottier [13] I'm afraid.
Gregory: so they are just as greedy and rapacious as the first lot of republicans?
Carl: some would say even more so, since at the rate they are slitting one another's throats I dare say what the First Terror and the Terreur Blanche didn't finish, this government will accomplish.
Gregory: it is tragic that such a great and powerful kingdom like France has been laid low by this cycle of revolutions and counter-revolutions.
James: very, your Holiness.
Tosti: that has outlined the situation, not why you are here.
James: in the contract when we extended a loan ten years ago to Monsignor [Antonio] Garibaldi and Monsignor [Alessandro] Torlonia, there was a condition to that loan: namely that the papacy may not apply to
any banking house for a new loan
without first informing the Rothschilds so that we could offer our own options. Which means that technically-
Tosti: the Church would be in breach of contract.
Carl: that would seem to be the case.
Gregory: so you are coming to collect then, Signor Rothschild?
Carl: fortunately for you, my brother is a bigger fool than even I thought possible.
James: *smiles like "ignore him"* due to the current situation, with Hagermann and André & Cottier both currently being in difficulties- there was a run on A&C just last week. I am willing to deduct the amount your Holiness borrowed from both banking houses from the total that you owed to us. Which would make it around two-hundred-and-fifty-nine thousand pounds-
Tosti: and what is the reason for such charity, Jew?
James: *mockingly* has your Eminence not heard? It is the year of jubilee [14]?
Tosti: *sourly* you don't say.
James: and since this
is my fiftieth birth year, forgiveness of certain debts are...mandatory.
Gregory: for which I am most grateful.
James: there
are certain requests that I wish to make of your Holiness-
Tosti: *rolls his eyes* of course there are.
Gregory: what are those, my son?
James: the Jews of Ancona. The local priest, Vincent Soliva-
Tosti: inquistor.
James: forgive me, your Holiness, I do not know the hierarchies aside from pope and cardinal. -But he has revived an old law by which the Jews are to once more be confined to the ghettos.
Carl: don't forget the special uniform we must all wear identifying us as Jews.
Gregory: and you wish me to tell Fra Soliva to desist?
James: I do not wish to tell your Holiness what to do, I only ask for the relief of my people.
Tosti: they are the pope's subjects.
Carl: did his Holiness become Jewish while we weren't looking? Mazel tov.
James: I ask this of your Holiness, please do not allow him to restrict us back to the ghettos.
Gregory: the papacy is an ecclesiastical, not a secular state. The church cannot abolish such statutes, for what should happen if the poor Christians who are obliged to work for Jews? Or-
Carl: they'd get paid. Probably far better than what their Christian employers do.
Gregory: Or how can I allow Jews to live outside the ghetto among the Christians?
James: because the Jews - regardless of their beliefs - are your Holiness' faithful subjects. They do not deserve to be rounded up and penned in like livestock. Not when they were willing to fight for your Holiness the same as any other soldier in this recent war. They-
Tosti: his Holiness has given you an answer, Signor Rothschild. Now leave the matter be.
James: if a Protestant army were to invade Italy, sack Rome, and pen up all of Rome's Catholics in the Vatican, would your Eminence not also be pleading for them to be set free?
Tosti: *scoffs* what Protestant army?
Carl: there are Württemberger, Saxon, and Hannoverian soldiers still loitering around Lombardy, I'm sure they could be prevailed upon to make common cause with whatever Waldensians are left in the Alpine valleys.
Tosti: is that a threat?
Carl: that is a statement of fact, your Eminence.
James: I had hoped that this would not be necessary *reaches into jacket pocket* *hands pope a letter* from the comte de Chambord.
Tosti: he cavorts with Jews?
Carl: wouldn't call it cavorting no.
Gregory: *reading letter* *puts it aside* you have enlisted him in your cause?
James: your Holiness has the comte and the queen of Westphalia [15] to thank for putting up the money I wrote off the church's debt. Such are good friends to have in times such as these-
Tosti: but you would be better?
James: no, your Eminence. I am simply pointing out that it would be foolishness for his Holiness to dismiss their good will out of hand [6].
*fade to black*
[a]
[1] the Habsburgs in the North and the Bourbons in the south probably made sure that the papal states had a sort of protective pocket.
[2] OTL the pope refused to canonize Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and Madame Élisabeth despite several requests from members of the French royal family up until a final ruling that "no, we can't canonize them because they didn't die for their faith". Here... it's probably very different to refuse their very stubborn daughter when confronted with her face-to-face.
[3] the Fourteen Martyrs of Compiègne were a group of nuns from Compiègne who were executed. The first of them was strapped to the guillotine singing
Laudate Dominum (same as Madame Élisabeth), and they rode to their execution singing the
Salve Regina. They were such an inspiration that when the soldier threw the 78-yo Mother Thérèse - who could barely walk - out of the cart into the street, the republican crowd attacked him. Leclercq was executed because he refused to take the oath to the republic. He was only beautified in 1926. The sisters of Compiègne in 1906.
[4] the daughters of Charity (oldest of whom was 71yo, youngest was 41, refused to take the new oath to the Revolution. They were only beautified in 1920
[5] eleven Ursuline sisters who fled to Mons at the outbreak of the Revolution, but returned to Valenciennes to continue teaching the Catholic faith despite the law. They went to their execution singing the Veni Creator. Only beautified in 1920
[6] 32 nuns of various orders who were executed at Orange in July 1794 for both refusing to take the oath and teaching the Catholic faith, in their prison cell they sang the Te Deum, cared for the other inmates' medical and spiritual needs, and watched as day by day their group was whittled down. They were only beautified in 1925
[7] Noël Pinot fought in the Vendée and guillotine in his clerical vestments. The martyrs of Angers likely included as well. Only beautified in 1926
[8] guillotine in Vannes by one of his own former students, after being arrested while administering the Last Rites to a dying man. Only beautified in 1934
[9] 505 priests who were held aboard ships moored in Rochefort Harbour in conditions that make slavery look humane (not condoning slavery, just how bad it was). There was even a decision (never carried out though) of burning the ships down to the waterline with them inside. Only beautified in 1995.
[10] French priest executed on false testimony. Only beatified in 2012. What's with all the beatifications ahead of schedule? It's the Church firing a shot across the bows of the new republic. Saying to them "we remember what you did last time. Kill Catholics, we'll make martyrs of them". Louis XVII is included on the list just in case anyone decides to come forward and "claim" to be him. Enghien because - while it reflects badly on Frankie, the fact is he seems to have little truck with his father's actions, so he probably encouraged it - if we're doing Lamballe, might as well go the whole hog. Joan of Arc because I seriously believe it was long overdue (and trying to get a king to Reims to be crowned has a lot of parallels both in Caroline de Berri's aborted 1832 rising - it made Rossini consider an opera on Joan and Eugène Scribe even prepped a libretto - and what's currently happening). Granted, here they all likely get a
single feast day (27 July - the end of the Reign of Terror and start of the Thermidorian Reaction - also happens to be slap bang in the middle of Les Trois Glorieuses, so you can't celebrate the one without the other). Joan of Arc is likely the only one who gets a separate feast since she's canonized, not beatified
[11] when James and Carl met the pope in 1832, they sparked outrage in Catholic Europe by not showing due deference to Christ's vicar. One wrote: "
a wealthy Jew now kisses the pope's hand, while a poor Christian kisses his feet. Still, the Rothschilds are nobler than their ancestor, Judas Iscariot, for Judas sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver while James [Rothschild] would buy Him were he for sale". For reference James was the head of the French branch of the Rothschilds, while Carl was head of the Neapolitan branch (even though King Ferdinando did most of his banking through the Protestant Pourtalès family), Francesco I had still taken out sizeable loans from the Rothschilds in the 1820s.
[12 Jonas Hagermann -a Swedish Protestant - owned a bank at Genoa that had made several (very large) loans to the Sardinian crown over the past fifteen years. Of course, Sardinia now being shrunk in size, means that those loans (specifically where assets in Savoy/Piedmont which now belong to the French government were pledged as surety) are going to default. Unfortunately, the pope
also has borrowed a loan from Hagermann. Hagermann also put up the money for Maria Cristina, the Dowager Queen of Spain, to buy Malmaison with, as well as being Agustin Munoz's business partner and backer in several deals. Likely also the bank that handled the payment of the duke of Modena for what would become Théodelinde de Beauharnais' dukedom of Galliera, since Hagermann was close to the Bernadottes as well
[13] again, a foreign owned bank based in France where the pope has loans. In both cases, the papacy took out these loans in order to pay back the massive (£34-36 million) loan they had taken out from the Rothschilds, for which (surprise surprise) Metternich and Louis Philippe had stood surety for.
[14] under Old Testament Law, in the year of Jubilee, debts were to be forgiven and repayment on loans cancelled according to Deuteronomy 17. Jubilees were every seven years, and then each fiftieth year was to be a "special" jubilee. James is born in May 1792, so while he's now technically 51yo in June 1843, he has his reasons
[15] Betsy Patterson. Betsy knew how to turn a coin three ways before she spent it. It's the reason Frankie has given her charge over Jérôme's finances. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are several other Bonaparte relations (like Henri's secretary, Fritz Baciocchi whose wife was an heiress to a banking fortune herself; or Betsy's stepdaughter, Mathilde) who also contributed, but didn't want to tarnish the family's rep as anti-church (after all, those Bonapartes married in France
will be expected to toe the religious line, this would be a good way of "proving" it)
[16] Gregory dismissed Metternich, Ferdinand of Austria, Leopoldo II of Tuscany and the Rothschilds (although OTL they communicated by letter) requests like this OTL when he was in far worse straits (James was
not so magnanimous in forgiving the debt, he simply bought up the "tickets" that the other banks held for their loans so the pope now owed him
twice). His refusal (ecclesiastical vs secular state) is OTL. However, he hasn't thrown his chestnut as he told Metternich that "
Nor does the loss of the Jews' primitive fanatacism render the observance of the canonical sanctions on them any less necessary. Indeed, it makes such observance all the more necessary, because i fthey lose their fanaticm regarding Jewish laws and practices, they certainly do not lose their national hatred for the religion of Jesus Christ and for the Christian name itself. On the contrary, these increase as they abandon themselves to philosophism and iniefferentism". So whether he'll force Soliva to walk back (since I've no doubt that Henri's letter has also been signed by other people the pope owes money/favours to- like Ferdinando of Sicily or the regent of Spain (for the iron and steel for those new railways))
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