Portuguese Studies nº 20 (2004), pp. 89-107
Lisbon and Vienna: The Correspondence of the
Countess of Vimieiro and her Circle
RAQUEL BELLO VÁZQUEZ
Within the framework of a research project into women and the
Enlightenment in the second half of the eighteenth century in Portugal,
the Grupo Galabra is developing a study on Teresa de Mello Breyner, the
Condessa do Vimieiro, also known as Tirse1 — or more usually ‘Tirce’.
The origin of this pseudonym is, we believe, the shepherds Tirsis and
Tirsi of Virgil and Sannazaro respectively.2 We prefer Tirse. The object of
this study is to compile a record of the network of her relationships and
the strategies (political, cultural, literary, etc.) adopted by her.
Given the semi-clandestine character of these strategies, and their
implications beyond what is considered the strictly literary, our interest
is to try and understand the relationship between culture and power.
We cannot limit ourselves to the study of her published literary output.
We must therefore consider other types of documents that may shed light
on the individual or collective strategies of the producers and mediators
involved, and, for this reason, her correspondence is one of the most
important documentary sources we have. In this way, according to Elias
Torres, we should focus
Nos factores responsáveis da elaboração e transmissão, da mediação tal como aqui
entendida, (mais mesmo que nos re-produtores) [é importante] perspectivarmos as
produções destes re-produtores ou como resultado da acção mediadora de outros ou,
também, e aspecto ainda de maior relevo, como parte da estratégia mediadora e
programática dos seus fabricantes; [e] pormos em destaque que, frente à visibilidade
efectista resultado duma mundivisão romântica, é à mediação, muitas vezes invisível
que, em casos como este, devemos acudir.3
Inevitably this study has had its difficulties, due to the poor state of
preservation of many of the eighteenth-century documents and because
we are dealing with a woman who, because of her circumstances,
occupies, despite the undeniable importance of her participation in the
culture and society of the time, a place in the shadows of the history of
1 The research project is headed by Elias J. Torres Feijó with the participation of Eva Loureiro
Vilarelhe, Raquel Bello Vázquez, Antia Cortiças Leira and Loaira Martínez Rei.
2 Bello Vázquez: ‘Dá uma risada quando ouvires: transgressom e ocultamento em Teresa
de Mello Breyner’, presented at I Congresso Internacional Mulheres Más — Percepção e
Representação da Mulher Transgressora no Mundo Luso-Hispánico, Universidade Fernando
Pessoa, Porto, 26–28 June 2003.
3 Elias Torres Feijó, (2004): ‘Ad maiorem gloriam . . . feminae: Ilustradas introduzindo
modelos no Portugal da segunda metade do século XVIII’, I Congresso Mulheres Más.
90
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literature.4 As will become evident, the fact that she was a woman
conditioned Mello Breyner’s attitude, justifying a strategy of concealment,
and focusing her work on mediation, and avoiding as far as possible
public attention. This strategy also conditions the place she has been
granted by literary critics until now. Critics were more concerned with
the easily visible agents rather than with the study of the influence of the
repertoires used or the network of relationships in which they could be
found.
A concern for the ways the repertoires (whether ideological or
aesthetic) were infiltrated, and the function of specific women in this
process forces us to concentrate on other ways of introducing them (be it
in the literary field, culturally or elsewhere) beyond the world of books,
and the pronouncements of their authors. Considering the importance of
other agents who functioned as catalysts in the field, although they may
not have been published, as in the case of Mello Breyner, Leonor de
Almeida or the Duke of Lafões, and noting the semi-private nature of this
documentation (as we will see, the number of people reading the letters
could be quite high) as a way of penetrating into the repertoires, implies
accepting the fact that ideas circulating at court or among various
European groups of the enlightened could arrive in Portugal without
benefit of conventional translation or through the importation of foreign
books. Finally, the existence of networks of social relationships between
men and women of the Enlightenment from various countries, resulted in
an interchange of ideas and products that was not only restricted to one
socio-geographic space.
Nearly 350 letters of the Countess of Vimieiro have been preserved
in the Biblioteca Pública in Évora and in the Torre do Tombo. The
Biblioteca collection includes six letters written by the Countess of
Vimieiro to Manuel do Cenáculo, three from the Count of Vimieiro to
Cenáculo, one from the Countess, one from Mello Breyner to a brother,
and an ode entitled ‘Desafogo da Saudade’. The second, more numerous,
group is part of the Núcleo da Casa Fronteira-Alorna preserved in the
Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais-Torre do Tombo. There are three
catalogued collections (order numbers 222, 223 and 224), which comprise,
respectively, 108, 132 and 94 documents. The majority are letters written
by the Countess to the Marquise of Alorna, her daughters Leonor and
Maria (later Countess of Ribeira) and to Madame de Thun. No. 224
4 See Raquel Bello, Mulher, nobre, ilustrada, dramaturga: Teresa de Mello Breyner no sistema
literário português (1788–1795) (unpublished master’s thesis, University of Santiago de Compostela, 2001); Raquel Bello, ‘Feminismo e aristocracia no projecto ilustrado dum teatro
nacional: Teresa de Mello Breyner’, presented at VII AIL conference, Brown University,
Providence, RI, July 2002; and ‘Dá uma rizada quando ouvires . . .’, I Congresso Mulheres Más.
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
91
also includes poems by Tirse. These documents are in varying states of
preservation, which in some cases makes reading difficult.
Those letters that are dated were written 1770–95, twenty-five
fundamental years in the history of the Portuguese Ilustraçom (Age of
Enlightenment). They encompass the final years of the reign of Don José
and the entire reign of Dona Maria I, who came to the throne in 1777 and
was removed from power in 1793, when his son, Don João VI, became
regent.
The transcription and classification of the letters, as well as the editing
and identification of the various persons referred to in the letters (still
incomplete), more than justifies our work as a ‘study in progress’; certain
of our ideas must be considered hypotheses at this stage to be developed
in due course. We will in particular present information that we consider
should redefine the position accorded to Teresa de Mello Breyner within
the area of study, the eighteenth century in Portugal, and contribute to
shedding new light on the analysis of this period and the role of certain
Portuguese women, and the evaluation of literary works produced in
Portugal during the second half of the century.
On reading correspondence from Teresa de Mello Breyner to her friend
Leonor de Almeida, we found evidence that helped to identify a new text
that can now be added to her published works, which included only
the tragedy, Osmia (1788).5 The Idéa de hum elogio histórico de Maria
Theresa Archiduquesa de Austria. . . escrita em francez por M. M****
(Marie-Caroline Murray) was published in Lisbon in the Officina of
Francisco Luiz Ameno in 1781. The original text had been published
in Brussels by J. Van den Berghen in the same year under the title
Essai d’un éloge historique de Marie-Thérèse, archiduchesse d’Autriche,
impératrice-douairière . . . par M. M****.
In this Elogio, Murray reviews the circumstances of the raising of
Marie Theresa to the throne of Austria. In particular, she refers to the
attempts of neighbouring rulers to occupy part of the territory of the
Austrian Crown, which she believes was a consequence of Marie Theresa
being a woman. She remarks that any eulogy to the empress ought to
include reference to her beauty, perseverance, courage, bravery, etc., and
she finally comforts the queen’s subjects and praises her efforts to educate
her son, the crown prince of Austria, Prince Joseph.
The existence of the Elogio has raised important questions, such as how
significant was the translation to the Portuguese literary establishment of
5 For the circumstances surrounding the publication of Osmia, and its place and significance
to Portuguese literature in the latter part of the eighteenth century, see Bello Vázquez, Mulher,
nobre, ilustrada, dramaturga; ‘Feminismo e aristocracia no projecto ilustrado dum teatro
nacional — Teresa de Mello Breyner’, presented at VII Congresso da Associação Internacional
de Lusitanistas, Brown University, Providence, RI, 1–6 July 2002; and ‘Dá uma rizada quando
ouvires . . .’.
92
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the late eighteenth century and to the circulation of repertoires. This will
be one of the main objectives of our future work, but at this stage it
deserves some consideration.
The fact that the Elogio is a translation does not mean that it should be
considered as a ‘minor’ element within the body of Teresa de Mello
Breyner’s work. For us the objective is not the identification of individual
elements in her output, but to try to understand the role she played within
the system, as well as the position of the Countess of Vimieiro in the
literary establishment. To achieve this, an ‘original’ work such as Osmia
and a translation such as the Elogio are both useful. The choice of work
to be translated, and the relation between author and translator, are
fundamental elements in our study, not only from an information point
of view, which is necessary to our research, but also from a methodological viewpoint. We have applied the research carried out by Itamar
Even-Zohar in this field to the specific case of the Portuguese literary
establishment at the end of the eighteenth century to define the specific
function of translation for Portuguese writers of the Enlightenment:
When new literary models are emerging, translation is likely to become one of the
means of elaborating the new repertoire. Through the foreign works, features (both
principles and elements) are introduced into the home literature which did not exist
there before. These include possibly not only new models of reality to replace the old
and established ones that are no longer effective, but a whole range of other features
as well, such as a new (poetic) language, or compositional patterns and techniques. It
is clear that the very principles of selecting the works to be translated are determined
by the situation governing the (home) poly system: the texts are chosen according to
their compatibility with the new approaches and the supposedly innovatory role they
may assume within the target literature.6
It is precisely the question of repertoires that seems in our opinion the
most important, not only with regard to our work, but also to understand
the position of Portuguese writers of the Enlightenment, and to a certain
extent, the lack of consideration shown to their work by later critics.
Generally speaking, we share the view of Even-Zohar:
Se trata ante de todo de liberarse de la concepción de ‘la literatura’ como sólo una
colección de textos, sobre todo los ‘legitimizados’. Si se acepta la idea de que podría
servirnos mejor el tratamiento de ‘la literatura’ como una red, un complejo de
actividades, la distinción entre ‘bienes’ y ‘herramientas’ en esta red sería un paso
adelante para liberar el análisis de la ‘literatura’ del aislamiento que ha resultado de
tratarla como un fenómeno sui generis.7
6 Itamar Even-Zohar, ‘The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem’,
Poetics Today, 11 (1990), 45–51. also: http://www.tau.ac.il/~itamarez/ps (accessed 28 November
2003).
7 Itamar Even-Zohar, ‘La literatura como bienes y como herramientas’, in Sin Fronteras:
Ensayos de Literatura Comparada en Homenaje a Claudio Guillén, ed. by Darío Villanueva,
Antonio Monegal & Enric Bou (Madrid: Castalia, 1999). pp. 27–36; also: http://www.tau.ac.il/
~itamarez/papers/lit-b-h.htm (accessed 28 November 2003).
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
93
We understand that in the particular case in question this perspective is
especially fruitful, since the enlightened (or at least, the group of enlightened Portuguese we are studying) had as a priority the elaboration of
repertoires, which were not exclusively aesthetic but was also political,
social and behavioural. According to Even Zohar:
Los textos proponen no sólo cómo comportarse en casos particulares (por ejemplo,
cómo comer o hablar, besar o reaccionar a un acontecimiento cualquiera), sino cómo
organizarse la vida: si ejercitar o no, y de qué manera, diversas opciones. Por ejemplo,
enamorarse, casarse, tener hijos, trabajar o evitar todo trabajo, sentirse feliz de morir
por la patria [. . .] En resumen, se trata de un repertorio bastante restringido de
modelos para su ejecución.
Por supuesto (tal vez tengo todavía que subrayarlo), no se trata sólo de textos, sino
de la totalidad de las actividades involucradas en su producción, distribución,
repetición y valoración. En resumen, de una red de papeles y posiciones, que
constituyen juntos lo que hemos llegado a llamar ‘la literatura’. Los modelos que los
textos ofrecen necesitan la mediación de agentes para ser efectivos. Y — como he
discutido en otros trabajos — se trata de un conjunto complejo de relaciones
heterogéneas (brevemente, un ‘polisistema’) entre varios factores socio-culturales.8
Evidence of the existence of the translation was found in a letter from
Lisbon dated 19 August 1781. In it Breyner says she will be sending the
text to Leonor de Almeida:9
P.ª o corr.º te mandarei uma tradução do Elogio de M.le Muray à Emperatriz: huma
das tuas amigas o traduzio, e uma chocalhisse do Duque [de Lafões] o fez imprimir,
mas esta tua amiga, que já mais quiz aparecer como letrada, não quiz pôr o seu nome
na coiza mais insignificante, que tem sahido da sua pena. Quando eu poder mandarte
a filha vallida, tu julgarás se he fraqueza, ou razão quem me faz fallar assim com a
m.ª amiga, com quem seria ridiculo affectar modestia. O Elogio tem m.ta coiza boa:
na ordem não digo nada: tu tens olhos de ver tudo; e es capaz de julgar de tudo mas
a bella Imperatriz mereceu ser amada, ainda depois da morte, e M.le Muray ha m.to
que tu fezestes, q fosse m.ª valida: creio q estamos entradas em conrespond.cia
O Emperador [Joseph II of Austria] esteve em sua caza, e sabendo q o Duque a
frequentara, não se esqueceo de o obrigar falandolhe della, e do nosso chevalier com
destinção.10
The translator was referred to by Breyner by her surname, and identified in the catalogue of the French National Library as Marie-Caroline
Murray, but we still have not found any further information about this
woman other than that provided by this text and the news of another
eulogy written by her, published in Brussels in 1786: Eloge et mémoire
historique et politique sur la vie de Jean de Carondelet, . . . qui a remporté
8 Even-Zohar, ‘La literatura como bienes y como herramientas’, p. 32.
9 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223.
10 The meaning of the phrase ‘não se esqueceo de o obrigar falandolhe della’ is unclear: ‘não se
esqueceo de a obrigar falandolhe delle’ would be more logical, which is that the Emperor
obliged Mlle Murray by speaking highly of her friend Lafões.
In all cases, the text of the letters has been transcribed literally, without spelling out
abbreviations or modifying punctuation, capital or lower case letters. As a general rule,
letters are cited according to date, or when undate by the first phrase.
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le prix de l’Académie impreiále et royale des sciences et belles lettres de
Bruxelles em 1785.
In the light of this and other information in Vimieiro’s correspondence,
we can establish three lines of enquiry to clarify the position and function
of this text and its ‘authors’, particularly the translator, within the
Portuguese cultural establishment of the late eighteenth century.
Firstly, it is a fundamental fact that the author and translator remain
anonymous; in fact the author is identified by initials — which implies
that he/she was known by the sponsors of the translation and that they
wanted to make this circumstance evident. Secondly, one line of enquiry
could concentrate on the choice made of the subject of the Elogio,
Marie Theresa of Austria. And, finally, the relation between Breyner and
Murray could help to pinpoint a network of relationships between
the enlightened, and especially enlightened females, at a European level: a
relationship articulated through communication between Lisbon and
Vienna, be it through correspondence between Vimieiro and Oyenhausen
and Thun, or through the correspondence established by Lafões with
Joseph II of Austria, Kaunitz and others.
Concealment
Generally speaking, in Portugal in the eighteenth century there were a
great many anonymous publications on the market, written by both men
and women. We do not know the precise reasons for this (although we
can assume that political conflict, being out of favour with one’s protector, the non-existence of strong central values such as those seen
later in Romanticism, could have played a part). We can, however, list the
motives Breyner had for not publishing under her own name, as she refers
to them in her correspondence. We know that one of the characteristics of
the work of Mello Breyner is that when it was circulated in print it was
always anonymous (never, according to our information, did she use
pseudonyms, acronyms or initials).11 We do not know if other texts than
Osmia and the Elogio were published, but we do know that she wrote a
great deal more. However, she did not seek publicity. There is evidence
that on occasion she consciously chose anonymity to protect her position:
11 For another example of concealment of identity of an Portuguese female writer of the
Enlightenment, in this case by using an acronym, see Eva Loureiro Vilarelhe, Máximas de
virtude e formosura de Teresa Margarida da Silva e Orta: revisom crítica e linhas de pesquisa
(unpublished master’s thesis, University of Santiago de Compostela, 2002); ‘Pionerismos
esquecidos ou esclarecer o esclarecimento: o caso de Teresa Margarida da Silva e Orta e
Máximas de Virtude e Formosura (ou Aventuras de Diófanes)’, presented at VII Congresso
a Associação Internacional de Lusitanistas; ‘A penitência de uma trangressão: o processo
à autoria de Máximas de Virtude e Formosura de Teresa Margarida da Silva e Orta (1752)’,
presented at I Congresso Mulheres Más.
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
95
a woman’s reputation could easily be damaged by appearing in print.12
To this effect we find a reference to the translation of the Elogio in her
correspondence:
A m.ª tradução tinha sido annunciada pelo Duque [de Lafões], quando respondendo
uma carta de sua Mag.de [probably Joseph II of Austria] em que lhe fallava em M.le
Muray comq.m tinha estado em Bruxelles, lhe dizera que aquella m.er, a q.m sua Mag.de
tratava tão benignam.te acababa de escrever o Elogio da Imp.z, o qual corria ja
traduzido por uma das nossas Damas. A tradução será boa pois q tu lhe chamas
linda, e p.ª Alemanha não tem mais merecim.to que remover entre nós a memoria
daquellas acçoens emq fallará todo o mundo por longos seculos, o texto não se
divulgou em Lisboa, mas a tradução anda pelas mãos de todos, porq o Conde [de
Vimieiro, D. Sancho de Faro e Sousa] o quiz assim: uns advinhão [sic], otros não, e eu
calome, porq ate de tão poco se tem ás vezes emulação, e se eu podera explicarte as
differenças, que observo em gentes depois disso, rerias [sic] como eu rio.13
It is important to highlight this, in relation to what has already been
said about the circulation of texts between countries outside the normal
routes of book imports. The translation of the Elogio was sent to Vienna
by the translator for revision by her friend who, in all probability,
introduced it into her salon. To this we add another fundamental fact:
the announcement by Lafões to the Emperor of the existence of this
Portuguese translation of the tribute in honour of the deceased Empress.
This increases the possibility of the name and work of Mello Breyner
being known to an inner circle of the Austrian court. Along the same line
of semi-clandestine circulation of books, the Countess says in another
letter:
Amiga do meu coração Temo o expediente de te escrever por Londres porq não
podendo ainda haver á mão nem o exemplar q me destinou [Nekle] mando pedir ao
N. Duque te remeta com esta dois exemplares um p.ª ti, otro p.ª tu dares ao Principe
de Kaunittz [sic] como quando o julgares apropozito. A remessa, que tu querias
que eu te fizesse pelo mesmo M.º, não he de nenhuma sorte possivel emq.to
predominarem no nosso clima as ideas presentes.14
The question of the position of power held by the Countess of Vimieiro
is not a minor one, and it could explain some of the options she took
regarding literature and life. During the years of the reign of Don José she
moved away from Lisbon; in the 1780s, by comparison, there are many
letters from Lisbon coinciding with the reign of Dona Maria I. The letters
constantly refer to her ‘negócios’, which implies not only interests of
a purely economic nature, but also political ones that relied on royal
favour, and therefore required an influential position at court.
12 Bello Vázquez, ‘Dá uma rizada quando ouvires. . .’.
13 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222, ‘Lisboa, 16 de Dec.bro’.
14 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Lx.ª 21 de Dez.bro de 81’.
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This need for prudence, together with clearly defined political objectives, make the question of publication, to a certain extent, less important
(although prudence could have limited what can or cannot be said on
paper). Correspondence was not always a safe means of communication.
She suspected that:
A certeza de que as nossas cartas são vistas, me tira a liberd.e de poder conversar
comtigo, em toda a effuzão da amizade porq, q.m sabe que interpretaçoens se darão as
graças, q a decencia nos permite? huma vez que falta a fé publica, quem he que pode
confiarse, nem ter gozto de escrever?15
Breyner places herself in a position that seems to favour the role of
mediator in publication, where she tends to concentrate on the work of
others — through, for example, the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa —
rather than on publishing her own work. The aim of the Academia was to
encourage scientific and literary work from a rationalist and enlightened
point of view, as set out in its Estatutos, and to determine the form and
methodology of the work submitted to the various competitions that were
introduced.16 Among its projects (not all of which were realized) was one
on the education of the children of its members; another, the promotion
of industry.
This idea of mediation stems from her reluctance to publish, although
this was not apparently her own idea, but one encouraged by the men
who surrounded her; men such as Don Sancho de Faro, her husband,
and the Duke of Lafões, one of her friends and closest allies. This idea of
mediation relates her awareness, revealed in her letters, of what the possibilities were open to female Portuguese aristocrat in the late eighteenth
century, and responds to a global project of intervention in public life (be
it in the cultural field or the field of power) which is above immediate
public recognition.17 A letter addressed to the Countess of Oyenhausen
from Lisbon dated 28 January 1781, in relation to the exclusion of Leonor
de Almeida from the list of academics, is revealing:
Eu te agradeço por toda ella [a Academia das Ciências de Lisboa], o enteresse, que
mostras pelo seu progresso, e se os nossos costumes o permitissem tu certam.te estavas
na lista; mas as tuas Luzes são tais, que podem ajudala m.to comunicalhas, que eu fico
porq toda a boa gente que a compoem se te mostre agradecida.18
Public recognition is difficult to achieve for a woman without a degree
of controversy, which, for that very reason, would make her intervention
15 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 224, ‘Lx.ª 19 de Junho de 1781’.
16 Academia das Sciencias de Lisboa, Plano de estatutos em que convieraõ os primeiros
socios da Academia das Sciencias de Lisboa, com beneplacito de sua Magestade (Lisbon: Regia
Officina Typografica. Com licença da Real Meza Censoria, 1780).
17 Pierre Bourdieu, ‘Le champ littéraire’, Actes de la Recherche dans Sciences Sociales, 89
(1991), 3–46.
18 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223.
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
97
less effective. Also, an aristocrat with interests at court could not easily
risk her own reputation in a public controversy. Consequently, the
strategy to conceal her name is complemented by a determination (not
only ideological, but also economic) to promote ideas of the enlightenment and certain far-reaching pedagogical, social and cultural actions that
seem to substitute the actions of the state itself, which was nearly non
existent at this stage in Portugal, as Breyner indicates:
Eu tomara ver cultivar o continente; estabalescer [sic] a marinha, e começar ao menos
nos meos dias [a predicar] o bellissimo projecto do canal des-[sic] o tejo até guadiana.
Projecto calculado exactam.te por deligencia da Academia, e feito com um trab.º, e
uma exacção digna dos talentos do M.r de Vallare, que, como socio correspondente,
tomou assi este preciozo trab.º Eu dizia ontem no canto do meu Cabinete, que se
fizesse uma companhia, e que eu entrava nella com o fundo das m.as joyas;19
or
Porem affirmote que o anthoseasmo [sic] proprio da Nação, está tão vivo n’uma
porção de omens que me parece se verião oje, em a R.ª abrindo a boca d’um certo
modo, milagres sem.es àquelles deque a critica duvida nas nossas historias;20
or
Temos tanta nececid.e desta qualid.e d’operaçoens, que não podemos ver com
idiferença começalas; é uma das razoens, porq me aborrece [tardar] a concluzão do
meu negocio, he porque tarda assim a execução de um projecto do Conde [de
Vimieiro] p.ª facilitar alguns dos tranzitos da nossa Providencia: fariamos boas
coizas, dandose as mãos elle, e o Duque, ambos com as mesmas ideas, e com igual
desenteresse [sic], e amor ao Estado.21
So, as well as the anonymity of the translator, we also find that the
author of the text is anonymous, and five years later signs another Éloge
awarded by an academy. Given that in Murray’s case it was not a
question of deliberate concealment of identity, we should concentrate
on the evident political implications of the Elogio to clarify this double
anonymity, which takes us to the second point of this work.
The Austrian Court as a Reference Point for the Enlightenment
Considering the many references made by historians to the subject of
French and Italian influence in the Portuguese Enlightenment, it would be
interesting to focus on a group, albeit small but with great aspirations to
influence at court and well placed to achieve this, that has its ideological
reference point the two courts ruled by women at the time: the Russian
19 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222, ‘Lisboa 9 de março de 1789’.
20 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Lisboa 28 de Janr.º de 1781’.
21 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Lisboa 11 de Dezembro de 1780’.
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and the Austrian.22 There was, however, an obvious inclination to favour
the Austrian court because of the close relationship with members of that
court: the Duke of Lafões, while residing in Vienna, had cultivated a
close friendship with the emperor that continued after the duke’s return to
Portugal; the Austrian origin of the Breyner family; the link between the
Portuguese royal family and the Viennese court through Queen Mariana
of Austria; and finally, the marriage between Leonor de Almeida and the
Count of Oyenhausen and their stay in Austria on diplomatic mission.23
We must also not forget Pombal’s second marriage to ‘Leonor Daun,
filha do famoso general conde de Daun, futuro generalíssimo das tropas
imperiais na Guerra dos Sete Anos e de fama europeia’.24
In Vimieiro’s correspondence, particularly during the years Leonor de
Almeida was in Vienna, admiration for Marie Theresa (1717–80), and
later for her son Joseph II, who was to inherit the throne after the death of
his mother in 1780, is evident, and on numerous occasions she is presented
as a model to be emulated by Portugal:
A morte da Emperatriz temnos magoado: seu digno f.º, e successor, pode bem fazer
emchugar [sic] as lagrimas dos seos Povos; mas se elles são tão sensiveis, como bem
educados, a mesma mão consoladora lhes fará excitar a saud.e, de q.m lhes preparou
tão bom substituto no Trono.25
and
Diz bem o Emp. a felicid.e dos soberannos consiste unicam.te na possibilid.e de
premear [sic] a virtude, e de primir [sic] o vicio: ditozos os que lhe são sug.tos, se esta
verd.e tiver/ como he crivel/ tanto poder p.ª derigir [sic] as acçoens desse illustrado
soberano, como tem p.ª lhe convencer o entendim.to se elle ainda vier a este canto da
Europa, q lhe falta por ver, não perderá os passos. Os seus conhecim.tos são tão
vastos, que entre os nadas que nos occupão, pela maior parte, encontrará moles
imensas que nos podem occupar, e que apenas nos voltêmos p.ª ellas, nos podem fazer
mais felices no nosso curto recinto, q otras vastissimas monarchias em toda a sua
extenção. Talvez não tarde esta epoca feliz: os animos estão n’uma tal situação, que
apenas fora percizo uma leve, mas prompta impulção, p.ª tudo florecer.26
22 In this sense, Osmia can be read as a manual of behaviour for Dona Maria. See Bello
Váquez, Mulher, nobre, ilustrada, dramaturga . . . .
23 Lafões also resided at Catherine’s court for four months, introducing himself into the salons
of the queen and the Russian high nobility, and, according to Rómulo Carvalho, ‘D. João
Carlos de Bragança, 2º Duque de Lafões, fundador da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa’ in
Publicações do II Centenário da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (Lisbon: 1987), pp. 34–35,
there are:
Referências ao duque em correspondência epistolar, não diplomática, de Catarina II, em anos
subsequentes, em que o recorda sempre com palavras de muito apreço. Referimo-nos à
volumosa correspondência da imperatriz (173 cartas e algumas delas com muitas folhas)
dirigidas a Friedrich Melchior Grimm, um intelectual de origem alemã, residente em Paris,
com boas relações entre os iluministas da época, homem ilustrado, esclarecido e de espírito
polémico, correspondente epistolar de monarcas abertos ao modernismo de então como
Frederico II da Prússia e Catarina II.
24 Jorge Borges de Macedo, O marquês de Pombal (1699–1782) (Lisbon: Biblioteca Nacional,
1982), p. 14.
25 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222, ‘Lisboa 31 de Dezembro de 1780’.
26 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Lisboa 28 de Janr.º de 1781’.
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
99
There is clear despotism, with a strong monarchy, looking towards the
technological, economical and social innovations of the Enlightenment.
The relationship between the Crown and the enlightened is much
smoother than in Portugal, and together with the greater prosperity and
political important of the court within contemporary Europe, it set an
example of prosperity and refinement of custom that the group surrounding Breyner fails to reproduce in Portugal, however much they try —
whether founding the Academia das Ciências in Lisbon, or the promotion
of a text honouring the deceased Empress of Austria.
The model courts of Europe were those of Catherine and Marie
Theresa, as well as Frederick II’s of Prussia, who maintained a fructiferous relation with Voltaire for years, with Voltaire being responsible for
the orientation of his education. According to Jochen Schlobach:
Le roi de Prusse était nettement influencé par Voltaire dans sa volonté de réaliser en
Allemagne un ‘grand’ siècle, c’est-à-dire una apogée de la culture, en imitant le ‘siècle
de Louis XIV’. Dejà en 1739, dans son Avant-propos sur la Henriade [sic] Frédéric
constate que le siècle d’Auguste et celui de Louis XIV ne connaissaient pas de guerres
de religion, ni de guerres séditieuses [. . .]. Et c’est ‘l’esprit philosophique’ qui est
responsable de la fin des guerres de religion en Europe.
He adds that:
L’ideal du prince éclairé en Europe est d’abord marqué par le contact entre Frédéric et
Voltaire vers 1740, mais il s’est formé de façon décisive entre 1750 et 1770, époque
à laquelle les philosophes français et de nombreux princes allemands forment une
alliance particulièrement active. Cette communauté cosmopolite des Lumières se base
sur la conviction d’une perfectibilité de la société par une forme de gouvernement
paternaliste, pour lequel les petits Etats allemands semblaient être bien appropriés.
Les philosophes se considèrent avant tout comme les éducateurs des souverains. En
effet, de nombreux princes et surtout princesses participent activement en Allemagne
aux débats idéologiques de l’époque.27
In Portugal, the presence of the royal family at a dinner at a private
house provokes criticism and controversy:
Os dias passados Foi toda a familia Real comer a caza do Cantanhede em Cintra.
Dizse q elle a soube entreter passando de uns a otros divertim.tos até alta noite A
Raynha pareceu estar contente, e isso nos deixa a todos satisf.tos, e a Cantanhede
pago de tudo mas como a malignid.e tem por cá o seu domicilio, não falta quem cheio
de fel, queira denigrir [sic] esta boa acção do Cantanhede: esta gente não deve de
saber q a Raynha faz nisto m.to menos, não só do que fazem os otros soberanos no
dia de oje, que não deixarião de comer com o dono da caza; mas o que consta das
historias fazião seus Avós até o principio deste seculo.28
27 Jochen Schlobach, ‘L’image des princes éclairés au 18e siècles [sic]’, in Comunicações
presentadas ao congresso internacional Portugal no Séc. XVIII de D. João V à Revolução
Francesa. Lisboa, Biblioteca Nacional 20 a 24 de Novembro de 1990, ed. by Maria Helena
Carvalho dos Santos (Lisbon: Sociedade Portuguesa de Estudos do Século XVIII/Universitária
Editora, 1991), pp. 31–47 (pp. 34 and 45).
28 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Estamos todos tristes’.
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In Portugal, there was an attempt to educate an enlightened prince,
which was the case with the heir of Dona Maria I, Don José (1761–88),
whose education was entrusted to Frei Manuel do Cenáculo. Unfortunately, the prince died, and one of the criticisms made of Dona Maria
concerned her lack of specific preparation to be queen, which supports the
theory of those who say that there was a plan to remove Dona Maria
from the throne in favour of her son. We do not know how far this
scheme was taken — it seems that one of the promoters was Pombal, and
it is also true that the Cenáculo was in charge of educating the future
king.
On the one hand, we believe that with these actions the group was
trying to influence the queen to act in the ideological interest of its
uncompromising followers (because their unswerving adhesion is constantly referred to in letters that were probably opened and read before
they reached their destination, as was the case with all transactions
related to the Academia). On the other hand, the group is trying to be
noticed by sections of the court who were intending to divest the queen of
power in order to preserve certain privileges which had been won during
the previous reign.29 Despite the lack of information on the political
factions involved at this time, we can deduce from available documents
that a hard battle was fought around Dona Maria I, who never gave the
enlightened, aristocratic elite that we are attempting to characterize, their
desired rewards, despite the great hopes that had been placed in Don
José’s heir.
Given the failure to define their objectives through royal action, they
initiated collective and individual actions which attempted to fill the space
the State has left free, encouraging the cultural and scientific life of the
capital through the Academia or, as is the case of the counts of Vimieiro,
focusing their activities within the jurisdiction of the noble Don Sancho
who, as Teresa Fonseca indicates, had significant differences with his
predecessors in the county of Vimieiro and with his contemporaries on
other noble estates.30 We also took note of Sancho de Faro’s activities,
since on reading the correspondence we found that the Faro’s activities
were part of a common endeavour that put him in charge of collecting his
29 This ‘schizophrenia’ in the reign of Dona Maria can also be seen in the position adopted by
Leonor de Almeida who, once released from prison in 1777, together with her family and other
prisoners who were implicated in the attempted assassination of Don José I, could not return to
Portugal. Her friend’s words indicate that on various occasions she warns against returning,
and this always for political reasons. See letters dated ‘Lx.ª 9 de Julho de 1782’, and ‘Lisboa 20
de Maio de 1783’, in IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222; ‘Lisboa [20] de Março de 1787’
or ‘Lisboa 9 de Março de 1787’, in IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, among many
others.
30 Teresa Fonseca, Administração senhorial e relações de poder no concelho do Vimieiro
(1750–1801) (Câmara municipal de Arraiolos: 1998).
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
101
wife’s written work, and Teresa de Mello Breyner, who was involved in
her husband’s political and economical concerns, was on occasion bitterly
frustrated about the little time this left for her own studies:
Não presto ja p.ª nada m.ª Leonor nem da m.ª pena sahe ja otra coiza senão o Conde
de Vimr.º reprezenta a V. Mag.de Sr.ª, espera o Conde de Vimr.º que V. Mag.de lhe
faça justissa tr.ª e bem vez que o patrimonio dos que reprezentão, e esperão, não he
otro senão o da tristeza por preludio da dezesperação.31
A European Network
To carry out all the projects and activities referred to, a network of
people was established who shared a passionate desire for enlightenment
(rationalist, elitist, monarchist) and who communicated by means of
an intense correspondence, of which, unfortunately, we now only
have a small part.32 Through existing letters we find that the Countess
corresponded with the Marquise of Alorna, Maria and Leonor de
Almeida, M.me de Thun, Marie-Caroline Murray, Manuel do Cenáculo
and an English woman called Johnston: ‘Para te poder escrever com
mais liberd.e mando esta carta por Londres: a bella Jonston [sic] ta fará
receber’, who we have not been able to identify.33 With regard to correspondence with her family, we have identified her husband, Sancho de
Faro, her mother, Isabel Josefa Breyner Menezes (1719–95), first Countess
of Ficalho (the title was granted by Dona Maria I by the decree of 25 April
1789), and her brothers (among whom we have only been able to identify
José, admiral of the queen’s Armada, and Pedro, a canon law student in
Coimbra, together with Pedro de Almeida, brother of Maria and Leonor,
and son of the Marquises of Alorna, the ‘Pierio’ of letters and poems).
31 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222, ‘Lisboa 20 de Agosto de 1782’. Another text from
the correspondence exchanged between the countesses Vimieiro and Oyenhausem might clarify
this passage:
O tempo não he favoravel a pertençoens as de justissa achão mil contradiçoens, as de graça
dependem da benevolencia dos Principes | isto he dos soberanos | e essa benenvolencia sendo
gratuita não ha quem se julgue com titulo p.ª puchar por ella; pelo menos os que pensamos
de hum certo modo, assim o julgamos. (IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Lisboa 3 de
Oitubro de 1783’)
The optimism of the reign of Dona Maria I, which approximates to the time of the
Portuguese Enlightenment, slowly fades with the awareness that the ability of the enlightened
group (including the Vimieiros, Lafões and others still to be determined) to influence the
decisions of the queen is very limited.
32 Our efforts to locate possible gaps in the documents of the counts of Vimieiro were
not successful, and the documentation we collected on other estates cannot be considered
complete. There are official documents relating to the Count of Vimieiro in the Public
Library of Arraiolos but, although of great importance in establishing the political actions of
the count (according to Teresa Fonseca), they are of no interest here. If personal documents still
exist, including the ‘Complete works’ by Tirse mentioned by Sancho de Faro, they must be
somewhere else.
33 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Lisboa 17 de Maio de [1780]’.
102
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This does not mean that all these names should be included in the
network of people of the Enlightenment. From the contents of those
letters and the persons to whom they are addressed, we are particularly
interested in the fact that she maintained an epistolary relationship with
two women who were resident in Vienna, another in England, and one in
Brussels. To this must be added the intense European correspondence
written by Lafões, who describes social relations between Lisbon and
Vienna:
Quazi todos [os dias] vamos com o Duque a caza de Kaunittz [sic], de Iterhazi [sic],
á tua conversamos mto com Me de Thun, athe a faço acompanharme ao cravo, e
figuramonos uma vida nada peor do que la a levarão. Só ha uma pequena diferença
nisto, he que nasce todo o nosso prazer da illuzão, e pª V Exª da realide.34
We are particularly interested in pointing out this last circumstance
since from the information gathered from the documentation studied, we
have come to the conclusion that the letters are much more than informative or courteous texts sent exclusively to one person. In the numerous
letters sent by Breyner to three prisoners in Chelas, there are many
references made to public or semi-public readings of letters in salons or
assemblies, and even the circulation of the letters from one person to
another (as occurred with poetic compositions) among the various
members of their intimate circle. This can be seen, for example, in the
expectation generated by the arrival of letters written by Joseph of
Austria to Lafões, which are read aloud and later commented on
with Oyenhausen, who in turn also seems to have read them aloud at a
Viennese assembly. The letters are lent, copied, and the ideas in them
circulated with great ease between Vienna and Lisbon, and back to
Vienna again, as we can see:
Quizera agradecer [ao emperador] o prazer, q me deu com o q escreve de ti ao nosso
Duque: exaqui as suas palavras que eu tiro de toda a carta, de que eu mesma fiz
a copia tendoa lido trez vezes a fio, sem saber a qual dos dois faz mais onra; se ao
Particular, que merece a Amizade d’um tal Soberano, se o [sic] Soberano que he capaz
de estimar a conrespondencia [sic] d’um tal omem. repara bem no que te pertence, e
julga da mª. satisfação, recordando todos os motivos que tem pª. ella a ternura, com
q te amo. Diz q espera que o Cavalhero Horta lhe mandasse recados seus e depois
accrescenta — De meme Mme. d’Oienhausem m’aurá voula, je espere, rapeller par
fois dans votre souvenir, au moins linaije souvent prier. En verité vous n’etes pas
aplaindre pour la societé, mon cher Duc si selon l’echantillon, que vous avez bien
voulu nous envoyer en elle des Dames Portugaises si vous en avez beaucoup de si
jolies, et d’ausi aimables, qu’elle. Elle reusit parfaitement yci, et je souhaite seulement
que la difference de votre climat, et de nos usages lui convienente egalement —
Eu devo ao Duque não me retardar o gozto de ler isto, que me dá um gozto
indizivel; apezar de conhecer, q o pano, q nos ficou, não tem mtos. palmos como o da
amostra.35
34 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 223, ‘Lisboa 11 de Dezembro de 1780’.
35 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222, ‘Lisboa 31 de Dezembro de 1780’.
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
103
This function mechanism has evident repercussions relating to the
circulation of ideas which amounts to censorship (here we must highlight
the lack of precise information. We must not forget the suspicions of
interference in correspondence, which necessitated the use of codes that
are not always understood nowadays, and we must not forget that apart
from censorship, there was spying) independent from the reception of
certain books in Portugal or their direct reading. Consequently, this
correspondence functions as a means of access to the Portuguese Enlightenment, which Breyner, Lafões and others later expanded through their
meetings and their actions.
It was through this correspondence, mainly from Vienna, and the line
of argument previously mentioned, that the Portuguese elite saw the
Viennese court as an enlightened ideal, and saw their queen as the incarnation of an enlightened despotism. The backbone of this relationship is
made through Vienna, especially the Countess of Oyenhausen who, for
example, put Vimieiro in contact with Murray, and who promoted the
later translation of the Elogio and its reception in Vienna. The admiration
for the Austrian royal family, led Breyner to suggest to Oyenhausen that
the Portuguese princes should establish their matrimonial alliances with
the Viennese princes instead of the traditional and well-established unions
between the sons of the king of Spain, a proposal originated by Pombal
according to Ferrão:36
O de que falla aqui todo o mundo; mas sem authorid.e, porq não o diz a Corte, he dos
cazam.tos dos nossos Infantes a troco com os de Espanha. O Inf.te D. Gabriel levará /
ao que diz o Povo/ a Infanta que nós queriamos ver Imperatriz; o Infante D. João
receberá a Inf.ta Carlota.37
and
Quanto fora o meu gosto, se uma de duas Infantas, que temos ambas do mesmo
nome, podesse proporsionar-se ás suas ideas [de D. José]! Nas oras vagas imagino
o possivel, e ate me figuro de te hir abraçar, como condutora. He um delirio;
mas quando a imaginação se muda tão agradavelm.te, deixala vagar, he o memo que
grangearme [sic] um prazer.38
The fact that Breyner translated the Elogio to Marie Theresa of
Austria, the only one apparently in existence to be published in Portugal
and dedicated to this particular queen, is part of an ideological function
and, to a certain extent constitutes the declaration of intent of a group
that, headed by Lafões (promoter of publications and the Portuguese
36 António Ferrão, ‘O segundo Duque de Lafões e o Marquês de Pombal (subsídios para a
biografia do fundador da Academia das Ciências)’, offprint from Boletim da Segunda Classe, 19
(1935), 174.
37 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222, ‘Lisboa 6 de Abril de 1784’.
38 IAN-TT, Casa Fronteira-Alorna, nº 222, ‘Lisboa 31 de Dezembro de 1780’.
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queen’s uncle), had founded its main institution (the Academia), which
awaited royal support, and especially, had its hopes still intact (if we
judge by the chronological evolution of Vimiero’s thought, visible in
correspondence with her friend Oyenhausen) in the period in which it was
being inaugurated.
Because of lack of information about other elements in the network we
are hypothesizing about, such as published, collected letters, detailed
information on the role of different members of the literary field (editors,
printers and booksellers, for example),39 we do not know how a text
could be identified by contemporaries, but her words (quoted above) seem
to indicate that there were people who were able to recognize the elements
responsible for that publication, and that not all accepted this intervention in the field, although we do not know why Breyner does not explain
whether rejection is due to the fact that the author and the translator are
women, to the political ideology inherent in the publication or both.
For the public, who probably belonged to the same social class as the
producers at court in Lisbon (nobles, court administrators, emerging
bourgeoisie), it would not be difficult to identify, if not the specific person
hiding behind anonymity, at least the group they came from, and the
characteristic elements of the group must have been recognisable by the
other elements immersed in the battle for power.
It is possible, therefore, in the light of new documentation, to identify a
group of enlightened Portuguese and other Europeans who share the same
ideology based on enlightened optimism, rationalism, elitism and monarchism. A picture begins to take shape of the potential that existed for
overcoming the traditional literary studies that reduced the second half
of the eighteenth century in Portugal to neo-classicism and archaism.
Shedding light on the function of this network will help us to understand
one of the ways in which enlightened ideas and new aesthetics and ideologies emerged in Portugal and circulated around Europe. We are able
to identify the participants in the literary field that were fundamental in
introducing these repertoires and who are not well known either because
their output was not large or because this production did not adjust to
the repertoires which were finally dominant. It also enables us to trace the
diffusion of certain ideas that arrived more or less directly, up to the
39 Manuela D. Domingos, ‘Mercado livreiro no século XVIII: mecanismos e agentes’, Barata,
35 (1995), 29–43; and Fernando Guedes, O livro e a leitura em Portugal. Subsídios para a sua
história. Séculos XVIII–XIX (Lisbon and São Paulo: Verbo, 1987), have researched booksellers,
but focusing on clarifying the geographical origins, and business and family relations between
the various book supplying families, rather than their public activities in the field of literature.
Guedes (pp. 71–116), has analysed eleven catalogues of Lisbon booksellers (1777–97), and
provides information on genres published and compares the role of the Impressão Régia to that
of private booksellers.
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
105
introduction of Liberalism and Romanticism in Portugal (as was revealed
by Herculano in the salons of the Marquise of Alorna). The possibility of
studying the eighteenth century from a systemic perspective is especially
useful for three reasons: because it allows us to ignore the traditional
undervaluing of female work as secondary or marginal; because it illuminates one of the dark corners of literature — mediation — which is also
related to the undervaluing of women, because women are usually the
mediators; and finally, because the very vision of the enlightened does not
separate their literary interventions from the totality of their interventions
in the field, and there is always a vision of ‘state’ or ‘usefulness to the
republic’ which conditions their positions and shapes their strategies,
whether political or literary, making the second give way to the first.
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Appendix
Carondelet (1469–1545) was an ecclesiatic dignitary and played an important
political role in the Low Countries. From 1497, he was a member of the
Grande Coselho para os assuntos da Justiça; in 1517 he travelled to Spain
with Charles V, and returned with him to the Low Countries in 1519; in 1531
he was named president of the Privy Council. He also had numerous ecclesiastical posts: in 1493 he was Archbishop of Palermo and Primate of Sicily. He
was a humanist and met Erasmus, who dedicated his Saint Hilarius to him.40
Catherine II (1726–96), Empress of Russia from 1762, when she succeeded her
husband to the throne; overthrown by the Imperial Guard. She was in contact
with Voltaire and Diderot, whom she helped economically, and made responsible for the organization of her library. She founded the first Russian schools
for girls and a medical college; she granted numerous privileges to nobles and
considerably extended the borders of the Russian empire.
João Carlos de Bragança (1719–1806), second Duke of Lafões, uncle to
Queen Dona Maria I, and son of Prince Don Miguel, who was the legitimate
son of Don Pedro II. During the reign of Don José he travelled across Europe,
stopping in Russia and, mainly, in Vienna, where contact with the heir of
Marie Theresa of Austria and future Joseph II, developed into a close friendship which was continued by correspondence over many years. In Portugal he
was one of the Countess of Vimieiro’s closest friends and probably occupied
one of the most important places within the cultural system. His activities,
fundamentally of mediation, were developed through the Academia das
Ciências in Lisbon, of which he was the main supporter and first president, it
having been founded in Lisbon in 1779 with the active participation of Teresa
de Mello Breyner.
40 http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/g/gossaert/1/caronde.html (accessed 26 November 2003).
106
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Leonor de Almeida (1750–1839): we prefer Leonor de Almeida to the more
usual ‘Marquesa de Alorna’ because until 1790 this title was held by her
mother, Leonor de Lorena e Távora who was married to Don João de
Almeida Portugal, second Marquis of Alorna, and later by her brother,
Pedro, who died in 1813. Leonor began using the title in 1823. In correspondence with Breyner she was called Lília or Leonor when she was single, and
Condessa de Oyenhausen after she married.
Leopold Josef, Count of Daun (or Dhaun) (1705–66), Prince of Thiano. He
was held in high esteem by Marie Theresa of Austria, who appointed him
Commander of Vienna and Knight of the Golden Fleece; in 1754 he was
promoted to the rank of Field Marshall. During the years of peace after
the Seven Years’ War, he was in charge of reorganizing the Austrian army. In
1757 he commanded the army in defence of Prague, and two months later
defeated Frederic for the first time at the Battle of Kolin. In recognition, the
queen established a military order bearing his name, of which Daun was the
first recipient. In 1762 he was appointed president of the Hofkriegsrath. On
his death a monument was erected in his memory in the Augustinian church
by order of Marie Theresa.41
Manuel do Cenáculo (1724–1814) was, during Pombal’s time, president of the
Junta de Providência Literária, the Real Mesa Censória and the Junta do
Subsídio Literário, and from 1770 Bishop of Beja. He maintained a friendship
with the countess by correspondence (the letters are now in the Biblioteca
Pública in Évora), which seems to have become more intense after Mello
Breyner entered the Convento de Santos (1794). They shared a concern for
pedagogy and the dissemination of knowledge, which resulted in the establishment of the Biblioteca Pública in Évora and the Biblioteca do Convento
de Jesus in Lisbon, the nucleus of the Biblioteca da Academia das Ciências
in Lisbon, the institution he became a part of thanks to his friendship with
Mello Breyner.
Maria Wilhelmine (1744–1800), Countess of Thun; married to the Count of
Thun, Franz de Paula Johann Joseph, she was one of Leonor de Almeida’s
closest friends in Vienna and was responsible for introducing her into
the Viennese circle; she was also in correspondence with Teresa de Mello
Breyner. She was one of the movers in cultural life in the Austrian capital:
A typical evening at Countess Thun’s might find Mozart’s friend from Mannheim,
Baron von Gemmingen, reciting from Lessing’s play Nathan the Wise for Karl
Lichnowsky, Joseph Sonnenfels, and Ignaz von Born. Sometimes the Chancellor,
Prince Kaunitz, or even Emperor Joseph himself would attend. Georg Forster was
another participant: the man who popularised the image of Benjamin Franklin
for Europeans as the inventor who could bring ‘divine sparks’ Götterfunken under
control. Forster wrote the Countess: ‘Everything I experienced there now seems like a
41 http://51.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DA/DAUN_COUNT_VON.htm (accessed 28 November
2003).
the countess of vimieiro and her circle
107
wonderful dream. Is it really true that I lived there among human beings — the kind
of human beings about whom Nathan [the Wise] says it is enough for them to be
human.’ The Countess Thun proved instrumental in arranging for the young talent,
Ludwig van Beethoven, to come to Vienna in 1787 and meet with Mozart. Two of her
sons-in-law, Prince Lichnowsky (the one from the Sunday seminar series), and Count
Razumovsky, later became major supporters of the adult Beethoven.42
Mariana of Austria (1683–1754) was queen of Portugal through her marriage
in 1708 to Don João V. She was Archduchess of Austria, and daughter of
Emperor Leopold I and the Empress Leonor Madalena; regent of Portugal in
1716, and again 1749–50.
Teresa de Mello Breyner (1739–c. 1798): Countess of Vimieiro and author of
the tragedy Osmia, which was honoured by the Academia das Ciências
of Lisbon in 1788. She is usually cited in works about eighteenth-century
Portugal as a friend and correspondent of Leonor de Almeida.
Wenzel Anton Kaunitz (1711–94) was one of the negotiators of the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) and ambassador to Paris (1750–53). From 1753 to the
reform of 1792, he served the kings of the house of Habsburg (Marie Theresa,
Joseph II and Leopold II) as chancellor and minister of Foreign Commerce.
Going against 300 years of diplomacy, Kaunitz realized that it was Prussia,
not France, that was the main enemy of Austria and was responsible for the
coalition that initiated the Seven Years’ War. It was also through Kaunitz
that Austria was involved in the first partition of Poland (1772), and helped
Joseph II to centralize the administration.43
42 http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_91-96/fid_924_shavin.html; (accessed 28
2003).
43 http://www.bartleby.com/65/ka/Kaunitz.html (accessed 28 November 2003).
November