Magdalena Rudenschöld
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Magdalena Rudenschöld | |
 |
|
| Born | Magdalena Charlotta Rudenschöld January 1, 1766 Sweden |
|---|---|
| Died | March 5, 1823 (aged 57) Stockholm, Sweden |
| Other names | Malla Rudenschöld |
| Occupation | Swedish nobility |
| Known for | Standing trial for treason |
Magdalena Charlotta Rudenschöld (born January 1, 1766; died Stockholm, Sweden, March 5, 1823), commonly known as Malla Rudenschöld, was a member of the Swedish nobility and a lady-in-waiting. She was one of the main participants in the so called Armfelt conspiracy against the guardian government of 1792, and was judged for treason.
Contents |
[edit] Introduction to court
Magdalena Rudenschöld was born a child of the statesman and Count Carl Rudenschöld, and Countess Kristina Sofia Bielke, and in 1784 was appointed lady-in-waiting to the King's sister, Princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden. She was described as beautiful, intelligent and passionate, made a success at court and was courted by both the King's brother, Duke Charles, and by the nobleman Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, the King's favorite. She turned the Duke down, but fell passionately in love with Armfelt. Armfelt had married Hedvig Ulrika De la Gardie in 1785, so made Rudenschöld his mistress. She is believed to have borne him two children in secret.
[edit] The conspiracy
In 1792, King Gustav III of Sweden died, and his under-age son Gustav IV (Adolf) ascended the throne. Duke Charles became his formal regent, although his favorite, Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm, became the real regent, presiding over the guardian government. Armfelt, who had hoped to take a place in the government, abandoned Rudenschöld and left the country in 1793. He made secret plans to overthrow the guardian government with Russian assistance, and install a new regime, headed by himself.
He wrote to Rudenschöld, who wanted him back as her lover, and used her as a messenger, asking her to make contact with his followers, with the young King and with the Russian embassy. She is believed to have performed at least one of these missions.
However, their correspondence fell into the hands of Reuterholm and Duke Charles through the post office in Hamburg, who had been making copies of the letters and selling them. Reuterholm reacted to the conspiracy, and Rudenschöld was arrested on the night of December 18, 1793, as one of the first of the conspirators to be detained. Armfelt's attempt to depose the guardian government and take over the rule of the under-age monarch had been discovered. Rudenschöld had burned some of her papers, but love letters from the persistent Duke Charles were found amongst the remaining paperwork.
[edit] Trial and verdict
The evidence against her was not very convincing at first, and she defended herself with intelligence and forcefulness. She was subjected to hard pressure and housed (she quoted) "in a terrifying prison, where I saw neither sun nor moon".
When the estate of Armfelt was searched, eleven hundred of her letters to him were found there. In several of them, she expressed contempt towards Duke Charles and Reuterholm, which worsened her position; the regent already held a grudge against her for refusing his advances, and Reuterholm took offense at her judgement over him.
Eight of her love letters to Armfelt were printed and published by the regent and Reuterholm with the title "In the old King's House imprisoned a lady, known as Magdalena Charlotta daughter of Carl, letters to the traitor Baron Armfelt, known as Gustaf Mauritz, son of Magnus, about their love adventures". In them, she mentions her attempt to have an abortion with the support of Armfelt after having been made pregnant by him. However, the overwhelming public hostility shown to her by the Duke and Reuterholm also gained her favor amongst the people.
In April 1794, better evidence was required, and duly presented at court. When she was confronted with it, she confessed. She said she had only participated because of her unlimited confidence in Armfelt.
On September 22, 1794, Magdalena Rudenschöld was convicted and sentenced to death for treason, together with Armfelt (in his absence, being still abroad), as well as two other conspirators, Ehrenström and Aminoff. Her punishment was commuted to public pillorying, followed by life imprisonment. Chancellor Fredrik Sparre suggested that she be whipped, which was initially approved by Reuterholm, but this was met with indignation by the public, and he was thereafter nicknamed the "Whipp-chancellor".
[edit] Punishment
The following day, Rudenschöld was taken to the gallows on the square, which was described as "a heart-aching spectacle". The audience was reported to have felt sorry for her, according to Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp because of "her youth, her tragic fate and possibly because of the remains of her former beauty". She was dressed in a grey skirt and a black top and had her hair down, and stood with her head held high, and drinking two glasses of water. After her reprieve from hanging, a carriage came to take her to jail, and she fainted, according to the writer Märta Helena Reenstierna "with the same grace and decorum as Mrs Olin once had in Acus and Galathea" (the opera).
One of Rudenschöld's own friends, Count A.F. Skjöldenbrand, described the whole thing: "Only a few of the mob began to shout at her, but Silfverhielm (Commander of the Guard) ordered the guards to silence them". She was supposed to have had an iron collar around her neck, but when the executioner held it up, she shivered and shrugged backwards, after which he "let down his hands, and she stepped forward to the pole without an iron around her neck, where she stood as pale as a dead body for about twenty minutes until her sentence was commuted, after which she fainted and was taken away as if dead".
She wrote about her arrival in the prison workhouse:
"I was placed in a rental carriage surrounded by guards. I remained unconscious all the way to the workhouse, some distance from Hornstull, and did not open my eyes until the afternoon, where I found myself alone lying on the floor in a dark cell with a bowl of water and a glass of wine beside me. I had not eaten that whole day. When I touched the glass I heard the shout "she is still alive!". I looked up to the window and saw outside all the workhouse prisoners, watching me. I wanted to rise and remove myself from their sight, but found myself unable to move, and fell back to the floor."
She was stripped of her last name and her status as a noble - as were Armfelt and all the other accomplices that had been noble - and was (in the prison documents) called "Magdalena, daughter of Carl, former Lady".
In November 1796, Rudenschöld was released from jail by order of Reuterholm; he had wanted to release her before the young King was declared of legal majority later that year, so that she would avoid receiving a pardon from him.
When she left the workhouse, she wrote on the prison wall (in French):
 |
The grammar of this section needs to be improved. Please do so in accordance with Wikipedia's style guidelines. (March 2008) |
"How happiness arrives slowly!
How happiness moves away with speed!
In the course of my sad youth
If I enjoyed it was only one moment;
I am punished of this moment of intoxication...
The hope which misleads always has its softness
And in our evils often it comforts us;
But far from me the illusion flown away;
And the hope died in my heart,
This heart alas! that sorrow devours,
In the past wants to still resair
its happiness fugitive the dawn
And all them although it today does not have any more anjourd.
But of the present, the too faithful image
Unceasingly sticks to my misleading dreams
And alas! without pity the cruel verity
Come to inform me répendre tears."
She was given back her name and the property, Stenstugu gård on Gotland, as compensation for her loss of a pension; for the first year, however, she was not allowed to leave the island.
[edit] Later life
On July 5, 1798, Rudenschöld gave birth to a son, Eric Ekmansdorff Karlsson, who was later to be an officer in Finland. His father was Rudenschöld's servant, "a young, strong and beautiful lad", who she openly lived with. However, the relationship ended unhappily, as he is said to have treated her badly, and in 1801, she moved to Switzerland and was taken under the protection of Germaine de Stael, at the recommendation of Armfelt, who then also arranged for her son to be educated in Saint Petersburg in Russia and supported her financially. She was often seen in Coppet, and was described as charming but serious.
In 1812, she returned to Sweden and lived in the household of her brother Thure Gabriel, acting as governess to his children. In social life, she was now described as easy-going but suspicious, and unwilling to talk about her past. Eventually, she left her brother's house and moved to Stockholm, where she died in 1823.
One of the other accused in the Armfelt conspiracy said about her, that her mistake was "love, this violent passion, which among so many people of all ages overwhelms reason".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Andersson,Ingvar and Beijer, Agne. Gustavianskt 1771-1810. en bokfilm. Stockholm., Wahlström & Widstrand., 1945
- Carlsson, Sten.Den Svenska Historien; Gustav III, en upplyst envåldshärskare, Band 10" Stockholm 1966-1968.
- Lindquist, Herman, Historien om Sverige.Stockholm, 1885.
