Research Blog

Montag, 8. Oktober 2012

By Accident: Corisande de Gramont - Tankerville

When exploring the graveyard at a nearby village, that is supposed to be Leyland's old cemetery, I found a gravestone for a woman named Corisande. Unfortunately I couldn't find any more informations on her online.
Though I hope to find out more about her, as she belongs to the family, the famous historian Schultze-Gallera comes from.

But I stumbled upon another Corisande: Corisande Armandine Léonie Sophie de Gramont, daughter of Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, 8th duc de Gramont (later the family intermarried with the French branch of the Rothschild dynasty).

As it is often the case, coming across someone by accident like this, the person reveals a most interesting background. Her family is very famous. Her mother was Aglae de Polignac* (+1803, left), daughter of Yolande Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess de Polignac and BFF of Marie Antoinette. (Well, she had brothers, of course, but I don't want to enlarge the post this much...)

At the Château de Versailles, on 11 July 11 1780, at the age of twelve, Aglaé married the Duc de Gramont et Guiche. She then became the Duchess of Guiche and was nicknamed 'Guichette' by her family.

Aglae's daughter Corisande (right) married Charles Augustus, 5th Earl of Tankerville on 28 July 1806 at Devonshire House, London. They had two children: Corisande Emma (+1865) and Charles (1810-99), the future 6th Earl of Tankerville.

Corisande Emma married the 3rd Earl of Malmesbury. But they had no issue. Her brother Charles married Lady Olivia Montague and one of his children (5) was another Corisande, who died in 1941.

The men in the Tankerville and Gramont families were mostly politicians and there's not so much on their wifes and daughters I could find.

*Aglae de Polignac, aka Madame de Gramont, made a brief appearance in the novel 'Farewell, my Queen' by Chantal Thomas published in 2002.

Freitag, 5. Oktober 2012

geboren.am

I'm just fascinated by a website I just found: www.geboren.am
It is a German website, by Daniel Korioth, offering biographical details to many many persons throughout history sorted by their birthday... You can sort in many ways: today, days, years, anniversaries, names & places.
I love it! And I'll try and post some great and interesting peoples birthdays/anniversaries that suit the Leyland Blog.

Paintings of the human heart

On 5th of October in 1758 German novelist August Heinrich Julius Lafontaine was born in Brunswick. After studying theology he worked as a private tutor for the Prussian officer von Thadden in Halle Saale. Then he acted as field chaplain and discovered his talent in creating stories. In 1800 he went to move in a country house near Halle and became a widely read author. Today he is almost forgotten... He wrote over 150 volumes, using several pseudonyms

Some of his works are:
Paintings of the human heart; 1792 and later, 15 vols.
Familiengeschichten (Family stories; 1797-1804, 12 vols.)
Kleine Romane und moralische Erzählungen. Berlin, 1799-1810, 12 Bde.
Die Wege des Schicksals. 1820, 2 Bde.

Montag, 1. Oktober 2012

Leylands old Cemetery & Chapel

Today I finally had the chance to visit a nearby cemetery and a church ruin. Shamefully I have to admit, that the village where it is situated is just a couple of kilometers away, but I never made it to just stop there. This morning I did and encountered a little paradise, both beautiful and spooky at the same time. And it became a post over at the Diary.
The model for Leyland's old cemetery and chapel is the ruin of Nietleben's old church at the Granau site near Halle Saale. As the wikipedia-article is only available in German, I collect some parts here in English: the settlement called 'Granau' was destroyed by Swedish troops during the 30 years war and though the place wasn't rebuilt, the church was in 1654 as a simple Baroque Hall. The altar was at the west front and there was no baptistery. In 1886 the church was abandoned because of a new Protestant church in the village of Nietleben. Since then the church decays. For example author and historian Baron Siegmar of Schultze-Gallera is buried at the Granau cemetery. More pictures are available here. I made several, because the atmosphere was so great, but will probably use them in the diary, not here...