Woohoo my home city was named in my favourite TL! (Sadly not in a positive context)
King Theodore's Corsica
- Thread starter Carp
- Start date
The check list of all the AWESOME possible ways to piss off the Pope. This is looking like a typical 18th century self-delivered black eye for the Holy See.
Since a century later, in the 1800s, the Church thought kidnapping Jewish kids was the duty of every good Catholic, I can't blame Theodore at all.
The Jewry of Europe will probably regard him as Cyrus the Great reborn, though.
The 19th century Papacy--with perhaps a couple of exceptions--sometimes seems to have made decisions as if to make the 18th century Papacy look good.
And I wouldn't go that far, because, he's not ruling Persia, he's ruling Corsica. But they will like him a lot.
I wonder if this is going to eventually produce a "race to the bottom" effect of liberalizing Jewish oppression with Genoa's new post-Revolution order where the reins of power are firmly in mercantile hands and other states too desperate to over-indulge in their bigotry? I imagine even if that doesn't come to real fruition Theodore could milk the threat of it as some sort of dire Genoese plot to undermine Corsica and steal away her usurers for herself to continue on his path like an ersatz 18th century pitch for deregulation and tax brakes.
Nice to see Theodore is still taking an interest in 'science' I do admit I expected to see a little more of this type of thing. Apparently, Theodore spent years or decades traveling Europe as a Doctor an Alchemist a Spiritualist and a Scholar as well as an Adventurer a Soldier and a Spy was kind of expecting to see that reflected a little now that he's the King.
I wonder if and after how long will the native Corsicans come to view the Jewish community of Ajaccio as an important and rightful part of their kingdom, and if it will remain the only major Jewish settlement due to newcomers first joining their coreligionists? Theodore could probably sell the settlement of specialists who have skills that honest Corsican landowners lack well enough and the benefits should be plain enough, given time.
Fearless Leader
Donor
I loved this last update and would love to see more on the ripple effect that Theodore's policies have on the Jewish Enlightenment in general. Given the massive influence that Joseph's Jewish policies had on the nature of the debates from 1781 onward, I'd imagine that Theodore's policies have not only raised those issues earlier but also magnified them significantly. The fact that full civil equality is on the table (albeit in Corsica of all places) is going to have a lot of people talking and make certain figures argue much more forcefully for the nature of Jewish education to change in order to meet these new realities.
Now where this would really come into play in Corsica IMO would be aid and investment in the nascent Corsican Jewish community. Pretty much all the OTL figures of the Jewish Enlightenment and their backers are going to have a profound interest in the Corsican Jewish community's success. Not to mention that due to the fact that the community is brand new and doesn't have an established religious elite it's going to be the perfect environment for nascent ideas about expanded Jewish learning to be worked out. The entire nascent haskalah is going to do their best to show the world that full civil equality for Jews is workable and that anti-Semitic stereotypes are not true. I think it would also be in their interest to encourage "the right kind of Jews" to move to Corsica in order to strengthen their hand in their own respective countries.
What this probably looks like is the establishment of a "New School" (meaning that it teaches more than just Talmud/Torah) for the Corsican Jewish community pretty early on and an intense set of debates about the place of Jews in society. Jacob Emden will likely play a larger role in TTL's Haskalah as he was quite friendly with the early maskalim in OTL.
Now where this would really come into play in Corsica IMO would be aid and investment in the nascent Corsican Jewish community. Pretty much all the OTL figures of the Jewish Enlightenment and their backers are going to have a profound interest in the Corsican Jewish community's success. Not to mention that due to the fact that the community is brand new and doesn't have an established religious elite it's going to be the perfect environment for nascent ideas about expanded Jewish learning to be worked out. The entire nascent haskalah is going to do their best to show the world that full civil equality for Jews is workable and that anti-Semitic stereotypes are not true. I think it would also be in their interest to encourage "the right kind of Jews" to move to Corsica in order to strengthen their hand in their own respective countries.
What this probably looks like is the establishment of a "New School" (meaning that it teaches more than just Talmud/Torah) for the Corsican Jewish community pretty early on and an intense set of debates about the place of Jews in society. Jacob Emden will likely play a larger role in TTL's Haskalah as he was quite friendly with the early maskalim in OTL.
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John Fredrick Parker
Donor
You know, something occurred to me - if Russia had remained neutral in the Seven Years War, then the conflict would have pretty much come down to the Franco-Austrian Alliance (both Catholic) against the Anglo-Prussian Alliance (both Protestant).
Now with Corsica and other parts of Italy raising papal hackles, Theodore likely to lean toward Britain, Austria ruled by Maria Theresa (who incidentally is one of the more anti-semitic rulers of Europe st the time) - even taking into account that the century folllowing the Thirty Years War hasn’t generally seen this kind of conflict, and as crazy as the idea seems - is it possible that TTL’s 7YW takes on religious or ideological dimensions?
Now with Corsica and other parts of Italy raising papal hackles, Theodore likely to lean toward Britain, Austria ruled by Maria Theresa (who incidentally is one of the more anti-semitic rulers of Europe st the time) - even taking into account that the century folllowing the Thirty Years War hasn’t generally seen this kind of conflict, and as crazy as the idea seems - is it possible that TTL’s 7YW takes on religious or ideological dimensions?
Well, the SYW began in the Mediterranean in 1756 with the French invasion of Minorca, so it’s about eight years of peace (although I suppose it's only seven ITTL because of “King Theodore’s War”).
Unlike in the WAS, the Mediterranean was really not a major theater in the SYW because Italy was not at war; the Treaty of Aranjuez and the Habsburg-Bourbon alliance kept the peninsula quiet. After the fall of Minorca, British naval activity in the region was mainly limited to trade protection and preventing the French fleet at Toulon from escaping to the Atlantic and joining the French squadron there. Newcastle suggested taking Corsica as a privateering base, but the British were prevented from doing this by the Third French Intervention. ITTL the situation is a bit different because of the ambiguity of Corsica's position and the British presence at Tabarka - there is a bit more at stake and more pieces in play, which may make the theater more active.
The murder rate is still quite high. I doubt, however, that it will impact immigration into the cities. The vendetta was mainly a rural phenomenon. It thrived in the ungoverned interior where the clans were dominant and government authority was weak. As it was a system of communal justice and honor among Corsican families, it also tended not to involve foreigners or those who were not part of the clan system. From what I can tell, 18th and 19th century visitors to the Corsican countryside were not in any particular danger of getting murdered provided they committed no egregious offenses (like, say, getting handsy with a someone’s daughter).
We'll touch on the syndicate a bit later. They're doing well enough, although whether they've managed to recoup all their expenses to Theodore's cause over the years is questionable.
I was not aware of this case, but something very similar happened in Genoa around this time, albeit with a different result. In 1752 a Christian servant girl in the house of the Jewish merchant Mose Foa, under the impression that baptising an infidel would assure her a place in heaven, secretly baptised one of her master’s infants. When the child was four years old, the servant told the archbishop of her deed. The archbishop declared the child to be a Christian and took the infant from his parents. But Mose Foa was not just any Jew - he was a wealthy merchant who had influence in the government and was considered to be something of a “model Jew” because he had played a critical role in supplying the republic with arms during the WAS. The government listened to Mose's complaint and forced the archbishop to return his child. The archbishop subsequently made a public denunciation of the erroneous belief that baptising an infidel was a shortcut to salvation in order to discourage future covert baptisms, although his statement said nothing about whether a child who was baptised in this way was a Christian.
The Genoese government was not afraid to take on Rome and did not appreciate the Church meddling in their affairs, but their defense of the Jews was qualified, coming strictly from economic interest rather than any commitment to religious tolerance. When the Senate debated the 1752 charter allowing the return of Jews, several senators described the Jews as “a spurious people” and “enemies of God” but nevertheless voiced their support for the charter because the presence of wealthy Jews would be good for trade. With such a cynical attitude, it is perhaps unsurprising that even under the liberal 1752 charter there was not a massive wave of Jewish migration to Genoa; in the 1760s there were only about 60 Jews living in Genoese territory. There may be even fewer ITTL because of the Corsican alternative.
If Mose Foa had been a poor Jew rather than a well-known supporter of the state, one wonders whether the baptism incident would have been resolved in the same way.
Being a rebel leader doesn't leave much time for unlocking the mysteries of the universe, but now that he's settled Theodore will definitely pick up some of his old habits. It would be in character, as we know he turned to divination, practical Kabbalism, and other such practices towards the end of his life. To some extent I think this was fueled by desperation - in his last years Theodore was a pauper who was constantly in and out of prison, and the "magic" of mystics like Samuel Falk may have seemed like a way to regain his fortunes. That's not the case ITTL, but aging creates its own sort of desperation as we struggle to make some sense of our time on Earth. Theodore may not be a good Catholic, but he does seem to have believed in God and had real religious sentiments, and particularly as he becomes estranged from the Church he may be inclined to seek his answers elsewhere.
This is really interesting, thank you. I'm new to Jewish history, particularly 18th century Jewish history, so I'm very open to ideas on how to interpret the butterflies of Theodore's "emancipation." The idea of the Corsican community being targeted for "aid and investment" is certainly interesting - no doubt Corsica needs investment, but I do wonder whether a lot of money flowing in to aid the Jewish community would not cause some disgruntlement among the native Corsicans, whose own government can hardly shower them with its largesse.
I figured that the leadership of the Ajaccio community would probably fall to Livornesi Jews (including the Tunisian grana), who are economically and socially dominant in the region, and there are a few more figures from Livorno who will be showing up in the 1760s. I'm not at all clear whether Theodore's policies would actually attract Jewish immigration from further afield; no doubt Theodore would welcome it, but such immigrants might prove more controversial than the essentially "Italian" Livornesi Jews. If they do arrive, I wonder whether there will be friction with the "original" Livornesi-Grana colony; most of the figures of the Haskalah I've read of (admittedly not all that many) are Ashkenazi from central Europe, and I wonder how well their ideas and influence would be received by a community of Italian and African Sephardim. One possibility is that, if "northern" Jewish immigration does occur, it may shift to other locations on the island - Bastia, for instance - where such immigrants could put their ideas into practice beyond the reach of the Livornesi elite in Ajaccio.
In any case, I appreciate your contribution, and you're welcome to offer more suggestions any time.
Well, there is the slight problem that Sweden was also part of the anti-Prussian alliance; so much for Protestant solidarity. Sweden's contribution was not very significant because their army was a shambles, but they did make a halfhearted attempt at invading Pomerania.
That said, even with Russia and Sweden in the ring the (mostly) Catholic-versus-Protestant nature of the war was observed by contemporaries. The pope and his diplomats openly referred to the conflict as a "war of religion" and were quite pleased to see the Catholic powers allied against the heretics. Sure, there were some "heretics" on the Catholic side as well, but at least the Catholics were banding together. The pope was mostly alone in this view among European leaders, who were probably driven mainly by raisons d'état, but the conflict had an especially strong religious dimension in America where men on both sides viewed the struggle as one for supremacy in North America not only between Britain and France, but between Protestantism and Catholicism. Or, to quote a Pennsylvanian Episcopal priest giving a sermon to the Royal American Regiment in 1757:
"I pronounce it before Men and Angels that from the days of our Alfreds, our Edwards and our Henries downwards, the British sword was never unsheathed in a more glorious or more divine cause than at present... to spread abroad the pure evangelical Religion of Jesus! Behold Colonies founded in it! Protestant Colonies! Free colonies! British colonies!"
As far as Corsica goes, I think any Corsican alignment with the British would definitely upset the pope, but the pope probably doesn't need any additional reasons to be upset with Theodore. "He allied with heretics" might not even make the Top 10 list of reasons to excommunicate him.
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I really do hope Theodore has a son, not just because of the succession, but because there's a possibility that he might be even half the character Theodore was. Not to mention, having an heir with royal blood from another great house would do a lot to legitimize the Corsican monarchy. Also @Carp , I am continually amazed by the amount of detail you put into this TL and am grateful I get to read it.
Big Smoke
Banned
To be honest, though, in TLs like this, I think its always good to throw in some bad luck, too. Theodore has been having a lucky streak for most of this TL, although still very much in the realm of plausibility, it would be good to balance out. At this point I dont think its very unlikely his wife can bare him a healthy son. While attached to Theodore and his success, I also find myself wondering what would happen in case of an unstable succession and would definitely like to see such.
In @Carp we trust of course but yeah I'm hoping for some legitimate kids. As big Smoke says its certainly easily plausible that Theodore and Eleonora don't but its just as likely that they do and that's where I'm hoping just to set things up in the first steps of the dynasty ... it can always go pear-shaped in a few generations
John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Right right, Sweden; then again, didn't they hold out on joining for like, a year? So not only was their contribution half-hearted, it was a bit late coming as well. If Russia were also holding off, they might wait longer? At any rate, it's probably not that big a change, as you note:
I do wonder though if TTL's version of the war will have an additional dimension to it still, as fans of Enlightenment Ideas of Freedom of Religion and Conscience and whatnot, might not find that one side of the war - from important players like Prussia to minor ones like Corsica - are decidedly more *Enlightened* than the other... and thus come to view the War not only as a struggle for the triumph of protestantism, but of the Future of Liberty Itself!
Speaking of which, why did the Netherlands and Spain (until 1762) remain neutral during the 7YW when they had been active participants in the WoAS? Was it pretty much down to being broke? Or did they decide the first conflict had been a complete waste and not an experience to repeat, or did they decide there wasn't as much to tempt them to join the second time around? Or was it something else? And importantly - is there any chance they'll feel differently TTL?
Isaac Beach
Banned
I hope it doesn’t sound too Orientalist but I do rather hope Corsica becomes a bit of an island of ethnic and religious diversity over time; Jews, Greeks, perhaps a few Turks, a slew of free thinkers from around Europe. It’d just be a nice reputation in a period not exactly known for its multiculturalism. And more importantly imagine the tourism opportunities in the modern day : “Welcome to Ajaccio, over there is the Jewish quarter, full of mystics and genuine coral jewellery.”
: “Welcome to Ajaccio, over there is the Jewish quarter, full of mystics and genuine coral jewellery.”Thanks!
Medieval history has taught me that children inherit their parents' attributes less often than you might think. The number of brilliant kings succeeded by their dullard sons is appalling. As for legitimacy, having a child of Theodore might help, although probably not because of Eleonora's royal blood which is really quite dilute. Arguably Elisabeth's membership (albeit illegitimate) in the extended House of Lorraine is more consequential than Eleonora's rather distant descent from a Reformation-era Danish king.
As it relates to the recent update, one key question regarding succession is whether Theodore's successor(s) will share his commitment to religious liberty. Theodore's policy is based entirely on his own principles; yes, freedom of conscience is written into the constitution, but the Corsicans have no particular attachment to it. Theodore's family members tolerate his eccentricity while he lives, but will they really protect Theodore's religious legacy once he's dead? That may be something Theodore himself is pondering as he reaches his 60th birthday (1754).
Sweden's entry into the "Pomeranian War" was completely opportunistic. They entered the war so as to claim Pomerania in the peace treaty when Prussia was inevitably crushed. I wouldn't say that they "held out," exactly - they were quite confident of victory - but since they reasonably expected everyone else to do the heavy lifting, they had no reason to rush headlong into the teeth of the Prussian military. They also couldn't do much of anything until the promised French subsidies arrived. If the Russians were slow to act, that might give them pause; they were looking for an easy smash-and-grab and were not at all prepared to go toe to toe with the Prussians in a serious manner.
I'm sure the English would see it that way, but I daresay the Silesians, Saxons, and Acadians might have some criticisms of the supposed Anglo-Prussian commitment to "liberty."
The Spanish entered the WAS only to conquer lands in Italy from the Habsburgs, but the Bourbon-Habsburg reconciliation in the 1750s meant that this was no longer possible. King Fernando VI had no interest in Italy whatsoever; after succeeding his father during the WAS he continued fighting only to save face and bailed as soon as he could. Fernando signed a defensive alliance with Austria in 1752 (Aranjuez) which put Italy on ice until the French Revolution. Even if the Diplomatic Revolution had not happened it's unlikely that he would have charged back into Italy (particularly ITTL given how badly Spain ate shit at Piacenza).
Had Fernando remained king longer, Spain might not have entered the SYW at all, but in 1759 he was succeeded by Don Carlos (previously King of Sicily). Carlos was not especially interested in war either, but as the French started really taking a pounding in the Americas he began to worry that a French defeat would lead to Britain becoming too powerful to control. After all, if they swallowed up French America, was would stop them from moving on to Spanish America next? Unfortunately for Charlie he intervened only in 1762, far too late to be of any use. He would have been better off just sitting the war out entirely.
The Dutch wanted no part in this mess. The WAS had gone terribly for them; Maurice de Saxe had humiliated them at every turn, their army's performance was depressing in the extreme, and their finances had been so ruined that by the end of the war they were essentially unable to field an army at all. Moreover, they had escaped destruction in the WAS only because it took years for the French to fully conquer the Austrian Netherlands, but if France and Austria are allies a French army is going to be on Dutch soil before you can say "wait, why did we just pick a fight with two neighboring continental superpowers?" No amount of British encouragement/bribery will convince the Dutch that this is a good idea.
Now that you mention it, I have been considering the notion of doing something with Dutch politics. They got a pretty raw deal: William IV was far from a great leader but his death at 40 and the succession of his son William V at the age of three was pretty unhelpful. William IV surviving longer might be an interesting change, and given that our POD is in 1736, 12 years before his son's birth, we may have a totally different (and perhaps older, if his birth is earlier) William V. I'm not particularly well-read on Dutch politics but a stabler and more competent Dutch leadership in the late 18th century might be able to at least mitigate the state's decline.