[COPYRIGHT STORY.] The White Lady of the Hohenzollerns

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 25, 22 December 1906, Page 18

[COPYRIGHT STORY.] The White Lady of the Hohenzollerns

By

S. BARING-GOULD

IT rarely happens that a death occurs in the Imperial House, of Germany without rumours circulating in Berlin relative to an appearance

of the White Lady, as having given forewarning of the death. Although the names of those who are said to have seen the apparition are confidently given, such relations are never now attested, and this is popularly attributed to the reticence of courtiers, unwilling to be brought into publicity on a matter so clearly connected with the Imperial family, and not to the story itself being purely fabulous. The earliest recorded appearance of the White Lady was to a Countess of Leiningen, Ik?fore the death of the Elector Joachim L of Brandenburg; and she is also rumoured to have -been seen by Anna Sydow, the mistress of Joachim IL, who died in 1571. Anna Sydow was the widow of a gunfounder when the Elector fell in love with her. Before his death he exacted a solemn promise from his eon, who would succeed him, to treat her kindly; but no sooner was the breath out of his mouth than John George had her arrested, and confined for the rest of her days to the fortress of .gpandan. It is popularly supposed that the White L'atfy is the spirit of the same 'Anna, “the pretty Foundress,” 'as the people of Berlin' called her. But this can hardly be, if she herself had seen the spirit, ami it had also been seen before the death of Joachim I. in 1535. The popular story is that Anna’s restless spirit haunts the palace at Berlin, and that, at Potsdam. out of revenge for the ill-ttreatment and the broken oath of the Elector, John George, and that she is seen before any great disaster to Prussia, ami especially in the years 40, as in IG4O, 1740, and 1840. She was seen again in IGI9, shortly before the death of the Elector, John Sigismund, and his discussion, with the Court Chaplain Bergins, on the subject was recorded by the latter. “In the afternoon his Princely Highness inquired whether the White Lady had b<?eii seen again. Ami. in fact, she had been that very day, as, indeed. at all time when the Almighty has brought a visitation of death to the House of Brandenburg. The apparition is that of a white personage in a posture of distress. As such she has been seen in the Electoral Palace on various occasions by individuals of all ages and conditions, even by princely personages, but she never inspires such terror as to do harm, or injures anyone in any way. x Consequently no manner of doubt can be entertained as to the reality of the apparition, though among the common people much fabulous matter circulates relative to this matter. But what we are to think about is, whether it be the apparition of one dead, or of a bad angel, or whether it is a soul, or a mere phantasm. 1 have no time to express what I think, but of this we may be well assured, that the apparition does not show itself contrary to Godls providence, but rather that it manifests itself for a good end, as a warning to those Who are living with too little thought of their latter, end; it does not show that death must iiigvitably follow the apparition, but that it is sent by God as a warning to stir to prayer. Now, when Lis Princely Highness further questioned me on the matter, I bade l)jm not be afraid of the White Lady, as she would do him no injury. Nevertheless the apprition presages a great to the House of Brandenburg, to wit, the death of the feigning head of the same.”

In 1652 and 1667 the White Lady was seen before the deaths of the mother of the Elector and the Electress, Louise Henrietta. In 1678 she appeared to the Margrave Erdmann Philip. He was grandson of Christian, who was son of John George, Elector of Brandenburg. This branch of the family held the Margravate of Bayreuth. According to the young prince’s statement, the White Lady appeared to him as he sat in his armchair. Shortly after this he and his horse fell on the racecourse at Bayreuth, and he was mortally injured. He had strength and courage to ascend the steps and retire to his room, as if nothing had happened. But within a few days he was dead.

The White Lady also appeared before the death of the great Elector, Frederick William, in 1668. She was seen several t imes during the year before he died, and on the day of his death was seen by the Court Chaplain, Bunsenius, who noted down the day and the hour, which proved to coincide with the time of the Elector’s decease.

If we may believe the following curious .account from. Hie pen of a lady-in-waiting at the Prussian Court, the White Lady appeals on other occasions than the eve of a death in the Hohenzollern family.

“In the year of 1781 0r.1782 (I cannot now precisely recall which it was), the then Crown Prince Frederick William came to his wife (the mother of Frederick William HL) and said that the While Lady had shown herself to the Queen, the wife of Frederick 11., in this wise. - The Queen was sitting in her cabinet along with some of her ladies. This cabinet had a window commanding the nearest room on the other side, and through this the Queen saw the full length figure of the White Lady’, and fell into a condition of the utmost terror. Whereupon the apparition disappeared. The Queen was spoken to, soothed, and assured that she had been deceived by a reflexion,of the sun; but she persisted in her assertion, arid remained all night profoundly' agitated. Next morning, as usual,-the Upper Lady-in-Waiting, Countess von Camas, went to read to the Queen, at 8 o’clock; but the latter begged Mine. Camas not to read, as she was in no condition of mind to hearken. An easy chair stood by the bed. The Queen began to speak of the apparition she had seen, ami Mme. von Camas endeavoured to undeceive her, when all at once both saw a. white-veiled female form in. the armchair. A piercing cry disturbed the vision, ami it vanished. From this moment on the White Lady showed herself in the Castle, especially at midnight. The King was told of it, whether he saw her, no one could learn from him; but he gave strict orders; under pain of corporal punishment, that the soldiers on guard should not speak of the matter, if they did ehanee to see the spectre.

A great uisr.ninance look place in the upjier storey, where lived the Crown Princess and lite principal ladies-in-wait-ing. 1 slept in' the room adjoining' that of the Crown Princess, and I was much disturbed one night by the noise, slept througlf.it. When the White Lady appeared io any one of us, nothing was said about it. But in the.great corridor on the ground iloor, at the.door treasury, and where the fstute papers were kept, slie halted for spine minutes, then passed on, and Returned again. She sceiiied to be especially drawn towards the treasury. “A young officer, of the Brunswick

regiment, asked permission to join the guard for a night, and was with the grenadiers who were sentinels there. This was granted. And he also saw her, a stately- figure, wearing a long veil, and a trailing dress, and with her arm folded over her breast. She bent as she approached the door, as though she were listening. But this young man suffered for his temerity. He fell ill in conse-

quence. 1 know him; his aunt was my intimate friend. I cannot say how much longer the White Lady showed herself, but as to her having been seen, of that I have not the slightest doubt.” Before the death of the beautiful Queen Louise of Prussia, who died in 1810, the White Lady is said to have been seen in the palace of Berlin.

But one of the most curious and interesting apparitions is that which took place on June 22, 1857. Then the guard, in front of the palaee of Charlottenburg, saw a coffin carried by four headless men into the palace. It. was empty. After a while the guard saw them return, with the White Lady preceding them. The coffin was no longer empty. In it lay’ a man in military uniform, without a head, but in its place was a royal crown. This mysterious procession passed out of the gates, and vanished in the midst of the square before the palace. But the White Lady turned back, passed the sentinels, and entered the palace again. Shortly after Frederick William IV. became deranged, and he died in 1861.

According to an account given by the Castellan of the Court at Bayreuth, the White Lady appeared there to the enemies of the House of Brandenburg. In 180!) the palaeo of Bayreuth was occupied by French officers, quartered there under General de I’Espagne; and when, in 1812, Napoleon was at Bayreuth, as he had heard something of the affair, lie sent for the Castellan, and inquired into particulars. “Sire,” said the Castellan, named Schlutter. “the General arrived here late in the evening, and weary, and went io rest early. During the night a fearful scream rang out from his room. The orderlies rushed in, and found the Generals’ bed, which had been against the wall when he retired to sleep, was :ua in the middle of the room, and was upset. and under it lay the General in a condition of unconsciousness. He was drawn forth, a physician was summoned, who bled him, ami when he recovered his senses, gave him a powder. The General now related how that the White Lady had appeared to him, and had endeavoured to strangle him. He described exactly her appearance, figure, and eyes. At his urgent request 1 led him to the portrait of the lady, and when he saw it he became white as a sheet, his knees gave way under him, and he gasped forth, ‘lt is she—undoubtedly she, and she Ims appeared to forewarn me that I must die.’ Bis orderlies did their utmost to allay his excitement, and to discredit the vision. But he persisted in his story, and ordered his quarters to be moved to the princely Villa of Fantasie. Next morning General de I’Espagne sent a detachment of soldiers here, under an officer, to rip up the floors, and pull down the panelling to see if there were any secret passage communicating with his bedroom. Nothing, however, was found. This made the Count de I’Espagne the more uneasy', and the following day ho left Bayreuth, still under

the impression that he had received his death warning.” “And, in fact,” said Napoleon, “he died soon after in the battle, of Aspern.” Napoleon had already heard a good deal about the adventure of de I’Espagne from General Dune, and he was evidently impressed by what he was told, and he ordered a suite of rooms to be made ready for him in the new wing of the Palace, which would be less likely to be haunted than the older portion.

Napoleon was now on his way to Russia, to carry out his eventful campaign there, the turning point of his fortunes. Having taken possession of a room, Napoleon dismissed his attendants, spread out his war maps on the table, and paced the room, then seated himself, looking over the maps, and then strode up and down again, till wearied he sank into his arm-chair. But all at once the hoarse cry-, and Constant, his valet, rushed in and laid hold of his master, saying, “Sire! Sire! Awake!” Napoleon made a movement with his arms to drive Constant off, but then opened his eyes. “Sire!” said the faithful servant, “I heard your groans and cry, and rushed in, and saw y’our Majesty writhing on the armchair. A bad dream seemed to be troubling your Majesty, and on that account I ventured to awake you.” Napoleon made no reply, but seemed unusually troubled, ami looked searchingly about the room. All was, however, as he had left liis articles, the maps and compass on the table undisturbed. The fire on the hearth was all but extinguished. Napoleon rose shivering from his chair, that he might retire to bed. Constant look up a chandelier, and, preceding the Emperor, opened the door into the adjoining chamber. The Emperor was in bed a quarter of an hour later, and Constant and Roustan withdrew, to take some rest themselves. This, however, was uestined to be short, for presently Constant was roused by a cry from Napoleon, ami he rushed into his master’s bedroom. “Constant,” said the Emperor, "this time it was no dream. The White Lady has been here; 1 saw her distinctly. I had not gone to sleep; in fact, all my faculties were alert. I saw the long, white figure, the head covered by a veil, rise out of the floor yonder near that wall. In a moment she was beside my bed, and hail raised her hand. I laid hold of her, and screamed for you, but she slipped from ray' fingers and vanished. I- say-, as did General de I’Espagne, that there is trickery here, and a trap-door somewhere. Call Roustan, and get lights, and examine floor and Wainscott.” The servants did as required, and searched minutely for secret entry, cupboard or passage; but in vain. The oak flooring was solidly put together, anil the velvet tapestry was everywhere fast 1 nailed to the walls. "Well,” said the Emperor, “I suppose it must have been a dream, the second in which the White Lady’ has vexed me. Go your ways, we will sleep.” The two men departed, again to seek repose. But an hour had hardly passed before again a cry from the Emperor brought Constant into Napoleon's bedroom. He stood in amazement at the door. The Emperor’s lied was in the middle of the room, and a table beside it. The table was overthrown, and the laiiip that had stood on it was lying extinguished on the floor.

“Has any accident happened to your Majesty’" asked Constant, approaching the bed. '“No.” said Napoleon, who had risen in a sitting posture, “no accident; that is#, no harm has come to me, but that accursed white spirit has visited me again. She wanted to deal with me, as with General de I’Espagne, to strangle me and upset the bed. I woke up as this dreadful woman thrust my couch into the middle of the room. 1 shouted for you, and she vanished. As it is clear that the White Lady does not relish the presence of several persons in the room, do you and Itoustan spend the rest of tire night here.” 'Accordingly the two attendants seated themselves, one on each side of the bed, each with a loaded pistol in his hand, and in about an hour Napoleon fell asleep, and was no more disturbed. Next morning he was unusually pale, and troubled in expression. He spoke very little, and immediately after breakfast left the palace, never to revisit it. Whether lie dreamed, or whether some attempt had been made to assassinate him, no one can say, but what is certain is that this incident, of whatever nature it was, marked the point whence his luck turned, and disaster came upon him. But the White T.ady is also supposed to visit the royal palaee of Stuttgart. One night in November. 1835, the White Lady was seen by the sentinels in the gallery that opened on the state apartments, and tapped at the door of the Prince of Montfort. Next day the King of Wurtemberg, William 1., said to his nephew, the Prince of Montfort, whose mother was ill at Lausanne: “Go immediately and see her. lam uneasy about my sister.” The Prince went at once to Switzerland, and arrived but just in time to receive her last sigh. This princess was Catherine, who had been married to Jerome Bonaparte, when he had been made King of Westphalia. When that kingdom carne to an end he was suffered to bear the title of Prince of Montfort. One dark night in 1834. a carriage, with six horses harnessed to it, rolled through the streets of Stuttgart, and drew up at the entrance to .the palace. The White Lady descended from it,, and passed into tile palace; the guard were sp paralysed With fear that they made no motion to prevent her. She was then seen in the gallery, where the sentinels were too much alarmed to stir. This was in January, 1834. A few days after died Duke Ferdinand of Wurtemberg, the King's unele. Catherine, the wife of King William, was ill; the door of her room suddenly flew open, as if the wind had done this. “Please to shut the door,” said the Queen to her reader, who sat by the bed. 'file lady-in-waiting rose to do so, but as she returned, to her dismay, saw the White Lady occupying her seat by the Queen’s bed. Two days later, January 9, 1819, Queen Catherine was dead. But who was tliis White Lady when in the flesh? Tradition says that she was the beautiful widowed Countess of Orlamunde, who fell in love with Albert, Burgravc of Brandenberg, and wanted to marry him. He, however, remarked to a friend that two pair of eyes stood in the way, meaning his parents. His saying was reported to the Countess, and she. supposing that his words referred to her two children, resolved on making away with them. This she did by driving long hairpins through their cars into their brains. The murder took place in the Castle of Plassenburg. When the Burgrave Albert heard of this, he would have nothing further to say to her. She made a pilgrimage to Koine, and in expiation of the murder, founded the convent of Himmelkron. In the ehurch of the convent is her monument, also that of Albert, and also of the two murdered children. The estates of the Countess of Orlamunde only came into the possession of the House of Hohenzollern through the Electress Anna, daughter of Duke Albert; Frederick of Prussia, who married John Sigismund. Elector of Brandenburg, in 1594,

The story of the murder, however, rests on no historical basis. In faet, H immelkron was, not founded by a Countess of Orlamunde, and the supposed tomb of the Burgravc Albert is that of some other noble with arms on it, not those of the Holienzollerns: and, further still, the reported tomb of the Countess herself, on close examination, proves not to lie that of a typman.at all, but of a young knight. Lastly, the supposed murdered babes represented on the third tombstone, prove to be little cherubs, ■who are holding up a shield. In 1701

tliis grave was opened, and a mighty jawbone, a shoe sole, and the remains of a brown habit were found in it. So much for popular tradition. Curiously enough, another skittish widow, Beatrix of Rosenberg, has the same tale told of her, that is somewhat better substantiated. Beatrix, or, as other call her. Bertha, was the daughter of l lrieh V. of Rosenberg, Burgrave of Boheini, and Generalin command of the troops engaged against the Hussites. Beatrix was born between 14211 ami 1430. She was married in 1449 to John of Lichtenstein, a rich Syrian baron, but he was a rough, dissolute man, and made her very unhappy, but died early, leaving lie.r- a widow with two little children. After the death of her husband she retired to her brother. Henry IV. of Rosenberg, who finally died without issue in 1457. Then Beatrix retired to Neuhaus, in

Bohemia, where she occupied herself in building the Castle. She met the Burgrave Albert of Brandenburg, the handsomest man of his time, fell desperately in love with him, and for his sake murdered her two children. As he rejected her with loathing, she flung herself from a window of the castle, and perished on the rocks at its feet.

Her portrait was long preserved in Neuhaus, but the Castle was burnt in about 1820, and it is not known to me whether the painting was destroyed at the same. time.

According to one version, it is this Beatrix or Bertha of Rosenberg who is the White Lady haunting the family of the lover who had rejected her, and who unwittingly had caused her to murder her children and to commit suicide. The story about Aldegund of Orlamunde is too uncertain, and there is little ground for supposing the White Lady to be Anna Sydow. But—is there a White Lady? Is it not extremely possible that some of the damsels of the palaee. the maids of honour, may wander about the passages of the palace at night, possibly as sleep-walkers, perhaps visiting one another to enter into private tittle-tattle, and be mistaken for ghosts’ This seems to be the most natural explanation. And it may be remarked that sometimes the White Ladv prognosticates nothing at all.