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The Aristocratic Achievement: Aristocratic Writers and Philosophers in Bohemia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2017

Ivo Cerman
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Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 48 , April 2017 , pp. 39 - 53
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Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 2017 

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Footnotes

The following study originated in the frameworks of a project grant of GAP 410/11/068, “The Enzyklopädie of Count Thun: Science and Mysticism in the late Enlightenment.” It sums up the arguments of chapters 4–6 of my book Šlechtická kultura v 18. století. Filozofové, mystici, politici [Aristocratic culture in the eighteenth century. Philosophers, mystics, and politicians] (Prague, 2011).

References

1 In France, the dominating Marxist interpretation of aristocratic culture was challenged explicitly by Chaussinand-Nogaret, Guy, La noblesse au 18e siècle. De la féodalité aux Lumières (Paris, 1976)Google Scholar. In other European historiographies, there was no such work that had a similar goal.

2 See Dumarsais, César Chesneau, “Le Philosophe,” in Nouvelles libertés de penser, by Dumarsais, César Chesneau, de Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier, and Mirabaud, Jean Baptiste (Paris, 1743), 173–204 Google Scholar; Diderot, Denis [?], “Philosophe,” in Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 12 (Paris, 1765), 509–11Google Scholar; On “radical evil,” see Kant, Immanuel, Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft, vol. 8, ed. Weischedel, Wilhelm (Frankfurt, 1978), 665–68Google Scholar; on the definition of “Aufklärer,” see Immanuel Kant, Kritik der reinen Vernunft, A/B, 839/867.

3 Kant, Immanuel, “Über das radikale Böse in der menschlichen Natur,” Berlinische Monatsschrift 9, no. 1 (1792): 323–84Google Scholar. Later republished in Über die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft (1793). Immanuel Kant, Werke, vol. 8, ed. Wilhelm Weischedel, 665–740.

4 Kant made this statement in his unpublished courses on moral philosophy. Kant, Immanuel, Eine Vorlesung über Ethik, ed. Gerhardt, Gerd (Frankfurt, 1990), 12Google Scholar.

5 A simile applied by Darrin McMahon in his important lecture on the Enlightenment and religion at the 13th ISECS Congress in Graz in July 2011. For the background to the discussion, see Ivo Cerman, “Introduction: The Enlightenment in Bohemia,” in The Enlightenment in Bohemia: Religion, Morality and Multiculturalism, ed. Ivo Cerman, Rita Krueger, and Susan Reynolds, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 7 (Oxford, 2011), 1–37, esp. 2–6.

6 I have developed the moral interpretation in Cerman, “Introduction: The Enlightenment in Bohemia,” esp. 6–15. Jonathan Israel has made a similar claim about the centrality of secular morals for the Enlightenment, but his voluminous books do not contain any discussion of moral philosophy. See Cerman, “Evropské osvícenství Jonathana Israele” [Jonathan Israel's European Enlightenment], Cornova 1 (2011): 27–50. On Christian apologists, see McMahon, Darrin, Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity (New York, 2001)Google Scholar.

7 For the exclusion of nihilists, see Crocker, Lester G., Nature and Culture: Ethical Thought of the French Enlightenment (Baltimore, 1963), 326–430 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 For example, Neuhaus, Stefan, Die Revision des literarischen Kanons (Göttingen, 2002)Google Scholar; Rosenberg, Rainer, Verhandlungen des Literaturbegriffs (Berlin, 2003)Google Scholar; Jannidis, Fotis, Lauer, Gerhard, and Winko, Simone, “Radikal historisiert: Für einen pragmatischen Literaturbegriff,” in Grenzen der Literatur, ed. Winko, Simone, Jannidis, Fotis, and Lauer, Gerhard (Berlin, 2004), 3–37 Google Scholar.

9 It was in the preface to his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835). See Vaillant, Alain, “Entre esthétisme et réalisme. Le noeud gordien du romantisme français,” in La vie intellectuelle en France, vol. 1, ed. Charle, Christophe and Jeanpierre, Laurent (Paris, 2016), 221–48Google Scholar, esp. 234.

10 d'Aprile, Ivan Michelangelo and Siebers, Winfried, Das 18. Jahrhundert. Zeitalter der Aufklärung (Berlin, 2008), 11Google Scholar.

11 Michler, Werner, “Austrian Literature of the 18th Century,” in Eighteenth-Century Studies in Austria 1945–2010, ed. Wallnig, Thomas, Frimmel, Johannes, and Telesko, Werner (Bochum, 2011), 187–206 Google Scholar.

12 Zeyringer, Klaus and Gollner, Helmut, Eine Literaturgeschichte: Österreich seit 1650 (Innsbruck, 2013)Google Scholar.

13 Martens, Wolfgang, “Drei Sammlungen von Schülerdichtungen aus dem Wiener Theresianum,” in Die österreichische Literatur. Ihr Profil an der Wende vom 18. zum 19. Jahrhundert, 1750–1830, vol. 1, ed. Zeman, Herbert (Graz, 1979), 1–22 Google Scholar.

14 Bodi, Leslie, Tauwetter in Wien. Zur Prosa der österreichischen Aufklärung, 1781–1795 (Vienna, 1995)Google Scholar.

15 Winter, Eduard, Barock, Absolutismus und Aufklärung in der Donaumonarchie (Vienna, 1971)Google Scholar; Winter, Eduard, Romantismus, Restauration und Frühliberalismus im österreichischen Vormärz (Vienna, 1968)Google Scholar; Winter, Eduard, Revolution, Neuabsolutismus und Liberalismus in der Donaumonarchie (Vienna, 1969)Google Scholar. See Cerman, Ivo, “Der Josephinismus und die ‘Geistesgeschichte’ in Tschechien,” in Der Josephinismus zwischen den Regimen, ed. Fillafer, Franz Leander and Wallnig, Thomas (Vienna, 2016), 213–39Google Scholar.

16 Benedikt, Michael, Baum, Wilhelm, and Knoll, Reinhold, ed., Verdrängter Humanismus, verzögerte Aufklärung. Österreichische Philosophie zur Zeit der Aufklärung und Revolution (1750–1820) (Vienna, 1992)Google Scholar.

17 Wolfgang Priglinger, “Verdrängter Humanismus und verzögerte Aufklärung,” in Verdrängter Humanismus, 77; Franz Martin Wimmer, “Philosophiegeschichte in Österreich nach 1750,” in Verdrängter Humanismus, 126.

18 On these questions, see Dalibor Tureček, “Mnohotvárnost literatury 19. století jako synoptický process” [Multiplication of forms in literature as a synoptic process], in Habsburkové 1740–1918. Vznikání občanské společnosti [The Habsburgs 1740–1918. The making of a civil society], ed. Ivo Cerman (Prague, 2016), 609–35.

19 Hanuš, Josef, Národní museum a naše obrození, 2 vols. (Prague, 1921–23)Google Scholar.

20 See Grechnaya, Elena, Kogda Rossiia govorila po francuzski [When Russia was speaking French] (Moscow, 2010)Google Scholar; Grechnaya, Elena, “Je vous parlerai la langue de l'Europe,” La francophonie en Russie (XVIIIe–XIXe siècles) (Brussels, 2014)Google Scholar.

21 Evans, Robert J. W., The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy 1500–1700: An Interpretation (Oxford, 1979)Google Scholar, part 3.

22 See Cerman, Ivo, Habsburgischer Adel und Aufklärung. Bildungsverhalten des Wiener Hofadels im 18. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 2010)Google Scholar.

23 See Benedikt, Heinrich, Franz Anton Graf von Sporck (1662–1738). Zur Kultur der Barockzeit in Böhmen (Vienna, 1923)Google Scholar.

24 Israel, Jonathan I., Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650–1750 (New York, 2002): 65Google Scholar; Kovács, Elisabeth, “Religiosität und theologische Interessen des Prinzen Eugen,” Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 15 (1988): 437–51Google Scholar.

25 Robert Zimmermann, Bericht über ein rechtsphilosophisches Manuskript eines österreichischen Verfassers, Abhandlungen der Königl. Böhmischen Gesellschaft für Wissenschaften 5, Folge 9 (Prague, 1857), 1–17.

26 Her surviving writings have been published as an appendix to Hrazky, Josef, “Die Persönlichkeit der Infantin Isabella von Parma,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 12 (1959): 174–239 Google Scholar; Badinter, Elisabeth, Lettres à l'archiduchesse Marie Christine (1760–1763): “Je meurs d'amour pour toi…” (Paris, 2008)Google Scholar.

27 Lamberg, Maximilien Joseph, “Mes fragments,” in Mémoiral d´un mondaine, vol. 2 (London, 1776), 177–226 Google Scholar.

28 Lamberg, Maximilien Joseph, Le Mémorial d´un mondain, au Cap Corse (Frankfurt, 1774)Google Scholar.

29 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, “Du contrat social: Ou principes du droit politique par J. J. Rousseau citoyen de Geneve (1762),” in Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Oeuvres completes, vol. 3 (Paris, 1964), 350–470 Google Scholar.

30 On the history of the French occupation, see Colombani, Josef, Aux origines de la Corse française. Politique et institutions 1768–1790 (Ajaccio, 1972)Google Scholar.

31 Boswell, James, An Account of Corsica: The Journal of a Tour to That Island and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli (London, 1768)Google Scholar.

32 [Maximilian Joseph Lamberg], Le canot. Ou Lettres de Mama Blergx. Par l'auteur du Memorial d'un mondain (Vienna, 1782). Lamberg, Maximilien Joseph, Tablettes fantastiques ou bibliothèque très particulière pour quelques pays et pour quelques hommes (Dessau, 1782)Google Scholar.

33 Located in Státní oblastní archiv (SOA) Praha, Casanova papers. It was published in the 1930s in German translation. See Gugitz, Gustav, ed., Casanova und Graf Lamberg. Unveröffentlichte Briefe des Grafen Max Lamberg an Casanova aus dem Schlossarchiv Dux (Vienna, 1935)Google Scholar. French originals have recently been published by a group of casanovists but the edition is missing some letters from the previous edition. Marco Leeflang, Gérard Luciani, and Marie-Françoise Luna, eds., ‘Mon cher Casanova.’ Lettres du comte Maximilien Lamberg et de Pietro Zaguri, patricien de Venise à Giacomo Casanova (Paris, 2008). For his stay in Bohemia, see Cerman, Ivo, “Casanova's Observations on Moral Philosophy,” in Casanova: Enlightenment Philosopher, ed. Cerman, Ivo, Reynolds, Susan, and Lucci, Diego (Oxford, 2016), 19–48 Google Scholar; Tichý, Vítězslav, Casanova v Čechách [Casanova in Bohemia] (Prague, 1958)Google Scholar.

34 There is a voluminous literature on Kinsky, see Cerman, Šlechtická kultura, 658–59; Dvorský, Josef, Český apologeta generál Fr. J. Kinský, pedagog filantropismu [A defender of the Czech language General Fr. J. Kinsky, a pedagogue of philanthropism] (Hranice nad Bečvou, 1931)Google Scholar.

35 Kinsky, Franz Joseph, Erinnerung uiber einen wichtigen Gegenstand (Prague, 1774)Google Scholar.

36 Kinsky, Franz Joseph, “Über die Hofmeister,” in Gesammelte Schriften, vol. 2 (Vienna, 1786), 67–110 Google Scholar.

37 Kinsky, Franz Joseph, “Für die Weltrekruten,” in Gesammelte Schriften, vol. 2 (Vienna, 1786), 1–64 Google Scholar.

38 His private correspondence with Johann Rudolf Chotek is in SOA Praha, Chotek family archives, carton 105, call nr. 1491.

39 Published in Th. Jg. Leitner von Leitnertreu, Ausführliche Geschichte der Wiener Neustädter Militärakademie, 2 vols. (Hermannstadt, 1852/53), 208.

40 Schels, Johann Baptist, Biographie des k.k. österreichischen Feldzeugmeisters und Oberdirektors der k.k. Militär-Akademie zu Wiener Neustadt Grafen Franz Kinsky (Vienna, 1828)Google Scholar. Offprint from Österreichische Militärische Zeitschrift 4 (1828).

41 Browne, Johann Georg, Reflexions politiques et militaires, vol. 1–2 (Prague, 1785)Google Scholar; National Library of the Czech Republic (NKČR Praha), adl to XLVII F 62.

42 Hartig has become the subject of several studies by Claire Madl who is more interested in the composition of his library, however, than in his biography or his literary oeuvre. See Madl, Claire, ‘Tout les goûts la fois.’ Les engagements d'un aristocrate éclairé de Bohême (Geneva, 2013)Google Scholar; originally written as L’écrit, le livre et la publicité. Les engagements d'un aristocrate éclairé de Bohême: Franz Anton Hartig (1758–1797), (Ph.D. diss., EHESS, 2007).

43 Harting, Franz Anton, Essai sur les avantages que retirer soient les femmes en cultivant les sciences et les beaux arts (Prague, 1774)Google Scholar.

44 See Blanning, T. C., Joseph II (London, 1994), 161–64Google Scholar.

45 Harting, Franz Anton, Lettres sur la France, l'Angleterre et l'Italie (Geneva [Liège], 1785)Google Scholar. Harting, Franz Anton, Kurze historische Betrachtungen über die Aufnahme und Verfall der Feldwirtschaft bey verschiedenen Völkern (Prague, 1786)Google Scholar.

46 See Ivo Cerman, “Moral Anthropology of Joseph Nikolaus Windischgrätz,” in The Enlightenment in Bohemia: Religion, Morality and Multiculturalism, ed. Cerman, Kreuger, and Reynolds, 169–89; Ondo-Grečenková, Martina, “Windischgrätz et Condorcet. Une collaboration et une correspondance sur les projets des Lumières,” in Adelige Ausbildung, ed. Cerman, Ivo and Velek, Lubos (Munich, 2007), 279–98Google Scholar; Ondo-Grečenková, Martina, “Les formules générales de tous les contrats imaginables. Un débat dans la république des lettres sur la réforme de la société,” Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 1 (2003): 271–89Google Scholar.

47 See Cerman, “Moral Anthropology,” 173–74.

48 Josef Nikolaus Graf von Windischgrätz, Solution provisoire d'un problème ou histoire métaphysique de l'organisation animale (Nürnberg, 1789); Josef Nikolaus Graf von Windischgrätz, De l’âme, de l'intelligence et de la liberté de la volonté (Strasburg, 1790).

49 Windischgrätz, Discours dans lequel on examine les deux questions suivantes: 1. Un monarque a-t-il le droit de changer de son chef une constitution évidement vicieuse? 2. Est-il prudent à lui, est-il de son intérêt de l'entreprendre? (Brussels, 1788).

50 “Notre bonheur doit être notre ouvrage.” Windischgrätz, Discours, 97.

51 For a discussion of this issue at the Reichstag of 1848/49, see Kalousek, Josef, ed., Řeči Dra. Františka Ladislava Riegra a jeho jednání v zákonodárných sborech 1 (1848–1849) [Speeches of Dr. František Ladislav Rieger and his acts in legislative assemblies 1, 1848–1849] (Prague, 1883), 103–34Google Scholar.

52 See Cerman, Šlechtická kultura, 413–46.

53 See Cerman, Ivo, “Empfindsame Briefe. Familienkorrespondenz der Adeligen im Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts,” Opera historica 11 (2006), 283–301 Google Scholar; Cerman, Ivo, Habsburgischer Adel und Aufklärung. Bildungsverhalten des Wiener Hofadels im 18. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 2010), 175–90Google Scholar; Gates-Coon, Rebecca, The Charmed Circle: Joseph II and the Five Princesses (West Lafayette, 2015)Google Scholar.

54 The list is published in Javor, Martin, Slobodomurárske hnutie v českých krajinách a v Uhorsku v 18. storočí [Masonic movement in the Czech Lands and in Hungary in the 18th century] (Prešov, 2009), 39Google Scholar.

55 All of his manuscripts are preserved in SOA Třeboň, FA Buquoy, carton 176.

56 SOA Třeboň, FA Buquoy, carton 176.

57 For his biography, see Cerman, Ivo, Auklärung oder Illuminismus? Die Enzyklopädie des Grafen Franz Josef Thun (Stuttgart, 2015), 72–100 Google Scholar; Preihs, Cornelius, “Mozarts Beziehungen zu den Familien von Thun-Hohenstein,” Mozart-Jahrbuch 3 (1943): 63–87 Google Scholar; Braunbehrens, Volkmar, Mozart ve Vídni (Prague, 2006), 126–33Google Scholar; Keefer, Simon, “Thun, family,” in Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia, ed. Eisen, Cliff and Kleefe, Simon P. (Cambridge, 2006), 508–9Google Scholar.

58 For these spiritual stories, see Brabbée, Gustav, Sub rosa. Vertrauliche Mitteilungen aus dem maurerischen Leben unserer Grossväter (Vienna, 1879)Google Scholar.

59 Anonymous, Lavater's Protokoll über den Spiritus familiaris Gablidone (Vienna, 1787). NKČR Praha, shelf-nr. L 1339.

60 See Irmen, Hans-Josef, ed., Die Protokolle der Wiener Freimaurerloge „zur wahren Eintracht“ (1781–1785) (Frankfurt, 1994)Google Scholar.

61 Saul Ascher, “Graf Thun, ein neuer Wunderarzt,” Berlinische Monatsschrift (Juli 1794): 39–57; (O.) [Thun's biographical sketch], Berlinische Monatsschrift (Juli 1794): 57–60; (St.) [A history of Thun's spiritual pursuits], Berlinische Monatsschrift (Juli 1794): 60–64.

62 The manuscript is in SOA Litoměřice, liaison Děčín, family archives Thun-Klösterle, cartons 287–88. Selected entries have been published in Cerman, Aufklärung oder Illuminismus, 166–305.

63 For a more profound interpretation, see Cerman, Aufklärung oder Illuminismus, 107–58.

64 On de Ligne, see Mansel, Philip, The Prince of Europe: Life of Charles-Joseph de Ligne 1735–1814 (London, 2003)Google Scholar.

65 See Lettres et pensées de maréchal prince de Ligne, ed. de Staël, Madame (Vienna, 1809)Google Scholar.

66 They are located in SOA Litoměřice, family archives Clary-Aldringen; most of them have been published by the Société Charles-Joseph de Ligne in Belgium.

67 SOA Praha, family archives Waldstein-Wartenebrg, inv. nos. 3089 and 3093; some manuscripts are located in SOA Praha, Casanova papers U 38a.

68 On him, see Matthieu Magne, “De la vie à l’œuvre: Les inédits du comte Charles-Joseph de Clary-Aldringen (1777–1831),” Opera Romanica 16 (2016), 306–26.

69 His diary has not been edited yet, though Marco Leeflang has prepared an edition of volumes 1795 to 1814. The diary entries are usually quoted from Casanova biographies. See Magne, Matthieu, “Ce qui est charmant, c'est cette liberté. Le quotidien du voyage dans les journaux du comte Charles-Joseph de Clary-Aldringen (1777–1831),” Histoire, Economie et Société 1 (2014): 17–36 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ostrovská, Sylvie, “Les papiers inédits de Teplice: La chronique familiale des Clary-Aldringen 1792–1825,” Nouvelles Annales prince de Ligne 11 (1997): 213–46Google Scholar.

70 SOA Litoměřice, liaison Děčín, FA Clary-Aldringen, cartons 161–77 (diary of his voyage to Italy 1816–1821), cartons 177–81 (diaries of his journeys to France 1822, 1825), cartons 182–83 (diaries 1826–1829).

71 Charles Joseph de Clary et Aldringen, Trois mois à Paris lors du marriage de l'empereur Napoléon Ier et archduchesse Marie Louise (Paris, 1914).

72 SOA Litoměřice, liaison Děčín, family archives Clary-Aldringen, carton 184, inv. no. 326, Karel Josef Clary-Aldringen, Roman en lettre (1803).

73 SOA Litoměřice, liaison Děčín, Clary-Aldringen family archives, carton 183, inv. no. 326, Karl Josef Clary-Aldringen, Mémorial de l´arche (1831).

74 For a more profound explanation of this framework of relationships, see Cerman, Ivo, “Aristocratic Francophone Literature in Bohemia,” in European Francophonie: The Social, Political and Cultural History of an International Prestige Language, ed. Rjéoutski, Vladislav, Argent, Gesine, and Offord, Derek (Bern, 2014), 209–38, esp. 224–28Google Scholar.

75 Pomeau, René, La religion de Voltaire (Paris, 1969), 245Google Scholar.