The Habsburg courtier Charles-Joseph Prince de Ligne seduced and symbolized eighteenth-century Europe. Speaking French, the international language of the day, he travelled between Paris and St Petersburg, charming everyone he met. He stayed with Madame du Barry, dined with Frederick the Great and travelled to the Crimea with Catherine the Great. But Ligne was more than a frivolous charmer. He participated in and recorded some of the most important events and movements of his day: the Enlightenment; the struggle for mastery in Germany; the decline of the Ottoman Empire; the birth of German nationalism; and the wars to liberate Europe from Napoleon. He had surprisingly radical views, believing for example in property rights for women, legal rights for Jews and the redistribution of wealth. He was also a highly respected writer and his books on gardens, his letters from the Crimea and his epigrams are considered minor classics of French literature.
Though sometimes neglected in Britain, Ligne has remained a popular historical figure in Europe and as the continent moves towards greater integration Mansel has produced a colouful and timely biography of this effortless European, a man for our time.
- ISBN10 1842127314
- ISBN13 9781842127315
- Publish Date 13 March 2003 (first published 13 February 2003)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 September 2006
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Orion Publishing Co
- Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson History
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 384
- Language English