The Cradle

Imagine if you will placing a new born babe in a cradle like this. Obviously great things were expected of the baby who occupied it, and in fact he was destined to inherit a vast Empire. Sadly (for the babe, at least) these visions of grandeur were not realised and the occupant of the cradle grew up sickly and sensitive and died young.

Papa.

Here is his papa, the instantly recognisable Napoleon, risen from humble beginnings and raised up by his own astonishing efforts, skill and ruthlessness to found a French Empire. Until it all went wrong, of course.

Mama.

And here is mama, Napoleon's second wife, 19-year-old Archduchess Marie Louise, the high-born daughter of Emperor Franz I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. So the baby, their first and only son, was destined to inherit two empires - actually three, since the head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was also head of the Holy Roman Empire. That explains the cradle, then.

Symbols of Empire.

The cradle, of silver gilt with velvet and silk trimmings, was made in 1811 by the City of Paris and was a gift on the occasion of the birth of Napoleon's son (1811 - 1832), whose name was Napoleon Franz Joseph Karl, or sometimes 'The King of Rome' or L'Aiglon (the 'Little Eagle'). In fact, it was probably not an everyday cradle, but a kind of 'infant throne cradle' for displaying the baby on formal occasions (let's hope he didn't baby-puke on it too often).

Allegories of the hopes for the babe.

A mere four years after the birth, Napoleon had lost the Battle of Waterloo and abdicated, in the process proclaiming his infant son Emperor Napoleon II of France in his place, though it was a bit late for that. Papa was reported to have expressed the view that he would rather his son was strangled than see him brought up as an Austrian prince in Vienna.

A State Cradle.

However, Marie-Louise returned to Vienna when Napoleon was exiled on Elba, and when he died in 1821 she remarried and had more children. 'Der kleine Napoleon', as the Viennese called him, was left a veritable orphan in the mighty Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna and was indeed given an aristocratic Hapsburg upbringing. He was instructed in German, and reminders of his past life removed. From 1830 his health deteriorated, and he became seriously ill with tuberculosis. He died at Schönbrunn in 1832 at the age of 21.

Vale, Franz, der kleine Napoleon.

Lithuanian Crosses

Lithuanian black angel and joyful cross

In Lithuania the predominant religion is Christian Catholicism. But instead of the familiar Christian cross, the Lithuanians prefer far more intricate, beautiful and joyful versions, many of which seem to incorporate pagan symbols such as the rays of the sun, plants and animals - the harmless grass snake, for example.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the marvellous Lithuanian Crosses:

Kryždirbystė or Lithuanian cross crafting is a traditional Lithuanian art of crafting crosses. The making of altars and crosses is an important part of Lithuanian culture. Lithuanian traditional crosses are part of the people's Roman Catholic religion and are also linked to ancient pre-Christian culture dating back much longer, having links to memorial poles signifying the pagan world tree. Approximately since Lithuania became a part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, these crosses have become a symbol of the Lithuanian people.

In addition to its formal use in churches, the cross in Lithuania long ago became a frequent subject of folk art. Lietuviškas kryžius is a stylized folk art cross put up at crossroads, in cemeteries, near houses, and as votive offerings in churches. The crosses combine elements of architecture, sculpture, blacksmith art, and painting. They often feature organic flourishes, motifs of the sun, birds, and represent the World Tree. To plead for grace or to express gratitude, the crosses are built as memorials to the dead or as the signs of spiritual protection at certain places. The art of Lithuanian cross crafting was acknowledged as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001 by UNESCO.

A distinctive two-barred cross - the Vytis Cross - appears on the shield held by the knight in Lithuania's coat of arms. Adopted by Grand Duke Jogaila as his personal insignia, it is usually associated with the Jogaila dynasty. This cross is displayed on Lithuanian aircraft. 

The Lithuanian Coat of Arms

Bits & Pieces

Saints.

As the Britannica puts it:

...monasteries, cathedrals, treasuries and holy places all over the world hold vast collections of cherished relics. These fragments of bone, hair, tooth and miscellanea were never simply religious decoration. They provided a physical comfort to those surrounded by the intangibility of god and the devil, and also were believed to hold miraculous power. In the Bible, objects touched by Jesus and his disciples had healing powers, so why shouldn’t the same be true of the very remains of their bodies, and those most saintly of saints?

On a tour of various European capitals - and smaller towns - and peeking into their churches and crypts, it is difficult to avoid these various bits and pieces. Saints, in particular, seem to have left their body parts strewn about the ancient world, and they've been gathered up and revered for centuries.

The Britannica goes on:

Far more common are the relics of the apostles and saints. There has always been a scramble among monasteries and cathedrals to have the holiest relics, sometimes regardless of how they obtained them. Relics were often stolen from churches during times of war, taken to the victor’s home country and displayed to be venerated by their own people. “Often the idea for the theft came in the form of a dream or vision, which was widely considered to be the way God and saints communicated. Often the saint itself decided. If the saint allowed itself to be taken without punishing the thieves and if the saint continued to produce miracles, then clearly he or she was happy in their new home.” 

King Saint Stephen - statue in Pest.

Budapest: You can read about Stephen I, the (probable, if you don't count Attila the Hun) first king of Hungary, here. He lived around the year 1000 - in fact, his coronation date is given as Christmas Day 1000, or 1 January 1001. He seems to have lived a useful and pious life, but sadly lost his son to an early death. Wikipedia tells us that:

 Without a living heir, on his deathbed, King St. Istvan raised with his right hand the Holy Crown of Hungary, and prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to take the Hungarian people as her subjects and become their queen.  

Bear in mind that right hand -- it forms part of the subsequent story. In 1038 Stephen was canonised as a saint by the then Pope, becoming:

 the first canonized confessor king, a new category of saint. He is venerated as the patron saint of Hungary, kings, children who are dying, masons, stonecutters, and bricklayers.

Basilica of King St Stephen, Budapest

St Stephen, as befits a patron saint, seems popular and revered in Hungary. 20th August is his saint's day, and is a public holiday. The main church in Budapest is the basilica of King Saint Stephen. And his right hand? Preserved as a Holy Relic in the Basilica:

The king's right hand, known as the Holy Right, is kept as a relic. Hungarians interpreted the incorruptibility of his right arm and hand - with which he had held the Holy Crown aloft from his deathbed when asking Virgin Mary to be the Queen of the Hungarians - as a sign that the Blessed Virgin Mary had accepted the king's offer to her of the Hungarian people, and she remains officially their queen. The incorrupt arm was divided among European royalty, but the Holy Right of King Saint Stephen was placed in a town built solely for the purpose of keeping it, the town in Transylvania called "Szent Jobb", or Holy Right. Later, the Holy Right was transferred to where it is today, the Basilica of King Saint Stephen in Budapest. 

The mummified right hand of King Saint Stephen.

 Venice: A tour of Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice is on every tourist's list, and you can marvel at the mosaics, and the marvellous gold and enamel altar screen studded with jewels -- under which is preserved the remains of the parton Saint of Venice, Saint Mark.

St Mark's Basilica, Venice.

Here is Wikipedia's life of St Mark, including the interesting information about how his bits and pieces (except his head, which is apparently still in Alexandria) came to Venice:

In 828, relics believed to be the body of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria by two Venetian merchants and taken to Venice, where the Byzantine Theodore of Amasea had previously been the patron saint. A basilica was built there to house the relics. A mosaic in St Mark's Basilica, Venice depicts sailors covering the relics with a layer of pork. Since Muslims are not allowed to touch pork, this action was done to prevent Muslim intervention in the relics removal.

Saint Mark and his symbol, the Lion.

Just be prepared if you venture into the Treasury of the Basilica - in addition to some ancient and rare religious objects such as bowls, vases and monstrances, there is a small room to one side, crammed to the gills with, er, bits and pieces. Bones, hair, splinters of woods, whole limbs - all collected and preserved by the merchants of Venice in the heyday of the Republic, to the greater glory of the Republic and its Basilica.

The Duomo of Amalfi.

Amalfi: But is isn't just the big cities that go in for this. Amalfi may be a small southern Italian town these days, but from 839 to 1075 Amalfi was one of the four great Maritime Republics. As such, it needed of course to go find some bones of a saint with which to crown the splendour of its Duomo. And being very resourceful, the merchants of Amalfi came back with the remains of Saint Andrew. Sant' Andrea is the parton saint of Amalfi to this day. Of course, he is also the patron saint of Scotland and a dozen other places - he has an interesting history. But it is his Amalfiani connection we're concerned with here.

The Wikipedia entry on Saint Andrew explains:

In 1208, following the sack of Constantinople, those relics of St Andrew and St Peter which remained in the imperial city were taken to Amalfi, Italy, by Cardinal Peter of Capua, a native of Amalfi. The Amalfi cathedral (Duomo), dedicated to St Andrew (as is the town itself), contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still contains the rest of the relics of the apostle. On 8 May 2008 the relic believed to be Andrew's head was returned to Amalfi Cathedral.

What Wiki doesn't mention, is that each year, around his Saint's day, the head of the  bronze statue of St Andrew in the crypt of the Amalfi Duomo is said to exude a mysterious and holy substance known as "manna". Yes, even today the inhabitants wait for this miraculous happening, as they have been doing since 1304.

As to St Andrew's actual skull, a little internet research was not enough to trace its supposed journey with any certainty. It apparently was left in Patras, where St Andrew was crucified a martyr, while the rest of him went to Constantinople (where the Amalfianis, er, stole it). The skull later, after various peregrinations, ended up in at Peter's Basilica in Rome (with a few other bits - a snippet of his shoulder blade was sent at one time to Scotland). I might have wondered about the Wiki reference to the return of the skull to Amalfi, except that on a memorable visit to the crypt recently, I happened upon a "showing" of the skull in question. Behind the big altar with the bronze statue of the saint a custodian was revealing the holy skull to two women penitents, who touched and - erk - kissed it. They said a few private prayers; we remaining tourists stood respectfully; then the custodian closed the silver and gilt box in which it is kept, covered it with red velvet drapery, and locked it away securely.

Sant' Andrea - or a bit of him.

Careful handling.

Locked safely away.

Brussels Bubble

Brussels

Today I spent my time learning lots of new words and phrases, some very evocative and others mildly puzzling. Examples include: ‘Brussels bubble’ (what is going on in EU government), ‘Directive retired’ (they couldn’t agree), ‘to give political value to’ (?), ‘flagging up’ (drawing to attention?), ‘doing legislation’ (interesting new verb), ‘shadow rapporteur’ (you don’t want to know), ‘trilogues’ (ditto), ‘balanced’ (you are ripping us off and we want compensation), ‘to screen’ (to ask questions), ‘horizontal’ (generally applicable – really!), ‘disappointing’ (the EU Commission is really, really pissed off), ‘we are making our concerns heard’ (we’re really giving it to them between the eyes), ‘avec with’ (Frenchman with slightly weak English), ‘awareness-raising’ (publicity), ‘does some software’ (e.g. Microsoft), ‘this wording is still between square brackets’ (draft), ‘we will await the decision and then take a position’ (job description for an EU bureaucrat).

Yes, I have been hard at work, since that is my reason for being in Brussels – to attend a work meeting, which today consisted of a program of presentations from EU bureaucrats, some quite high level. They work for a plethora of acronyms, such as DG MARKT, DG HOME, GAC, ICANN, etc etc. We had Heads of Units, Third Secretaries, even a Second Secretary, of many nationalities, but with a predominance of Hungarian and Polish. The reason for this is that in 2011 these two countries will each hold the rotating Presidency of the European Union for six months. One Hungarian Second Secretary could hardly contain her excitement.

Seriously though....I did learn a lot about how the European Parliament works (the European Commission, the bureaucracy, will remain forever opaque, I fear). The EU Parliament has 735 elected members, who divide up into seven ‘political parties’ and a few independents. There’s a complicated system of making decisions, which don’t need to be unanimous. Decisions used to be unanimous, but they changed that recently. With 27 countries now part of the EU, things were getting a bit unwieldy. Some might say they are still unwieldy.

Brussels, Grand Place

Last night I managed to take a walk around the nearby streets – Brussels may not be the most inspiring city in Europe, but whenever I see the Grand Place, with its gorgeous guild houses, I think it is the most beautiful in Europe. Unfortunately it generally has a stage or performance space of some kind in the middle of it. I’m told that there is an equally gorgeous square in Antwerp.

I also managed to find a moment to pop into a chocolate shop. There are so many, but I chose – by chance – Neuhaus, which claims to be the inventor of Belgian praline. I knew you would want a report, so I taste-tested a few of their delicacies. I can confidently say that this is the best confectionary I have ever eaten in my entire life, or am ever likely to eat, in this life or the next. Yes, they are gooooood.

A full day of meetings today, and another tomorrow, but in between a dinner. It is good to meet up again with my IP tribe, so to speak. 

Alicia with moules frites