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230 - ROHAN (LOUIS-RENE-ÉDOUARD DE). "I CAN SAY THAT FOR 8 YEARS I…
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Estimate €1,500 - €2,000
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ROHAN (LOUIS-RENE-ÉDOUARD DE). "I CAN SAY THAT FOR 8 YEARS I CULTIVATED MY FIELDS UNDER ENEMY CANNON FIRE...". Letter signed "le cardinal de prince de Rohan" to the baron de Castille . Ettenheim [in Germany, between Strasbourg and Freiburg], 17 November 1802. One p. 1/3 in-4, address on spine, red wax seal; autograph apostille from addressee; marginal tear to address leaf due to opening without affecting text. THE GERMAN EXILE OF CARDINAL DE ROHAN. " ... I thank you... for your letter... and I also thank you for the interesting details you have given me about everything that concerns you; this does justice to my very sincere and genuine interest. As a good father, you have placed your children in two good educational establishments; this is the most beautiful gift you could give them, and the most cherished occupation for one who has the happiness of enjoying paternal bliss. I congratulate you on knowing the charm of country pursuits. This enjoyment has been a great resource for me, and I can say that for 8 years I have cultivated my fields under enemy cannon fire, whose bollocks ploughed the land where the plough traced the furrow; and in the evening bollocks were brought back to the field where they had hidden; and on this occasion, I clearly saw how everything is a habit in man, and that we get used to everything, because the bourgeois of the countryside went daily to cultivate their land and made a game of the passage of the cannonballs. I must also make a game of being ON THE eve of being stripped by peace of what I was able to keep during the war; but unfortunately this game is all at a loss for me, and the uncertainty about the results of the compensation determined by the deputation's conclusions is a real torment. BESIDES, I MUST REFRAIN FROM ANY COMPLAINT, SINCE I HAVE THE CERTAINTY OF HAVING SOMETHING ASSURED; AND SO MANY SHIPMATES (STARTING WITH THE KING) WHO DO NOT HAVE THIS ADVANTAGE. I am very pleased to see from your letter that, after having had the misfortune of being in prison for so long, you have at least saved a few scraps of your fortune, and that you have enough to live on as a family man...". Gabriel-Joseph de Froment d'Argilliers (1747-1826) had remarried Herminie de Rohan-Guéméné, princess of Rohan-Rochefort. LOUIS-RENE-ÉDOUARD DE ROHAN (1734-1803), ONE OF THE BAD PROTAGONISTS OF THE COLLIER AFFAIR, was the son of the Duc de Montbazon and had a promising start: Appointed coadjutor to his uncle, the prince-bishop of Strasbourg, in 1759, he entered the Académie française in 1760, and was made ambassador to Vienna in 1771, as he was of high birth, spoke German and his bishopric included parishes in France and in the Empire (on both sides of the Rhine). However, his lack of diplomacy displeased the two Courts and he was recalled in 1774. In spite of this, thanks to the support his name attracted, he was made Grand Chaplain of France (1777), Cardinal (1778) and, on the death of his uncle in 1779, became the titular Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg: the wealth of income from his bishopric enabled him to live lavishly and maintain a brilliant court where, for example, the Count of Cagliostro frequented. Like Cagliostro, he was involved in the affair of the Necklace, which tarnished the queen's reputation. He was arrested in 1785, acquitted in 1786 and allowed to return to his bishopric of Strasbourg in 1789. During the Revolution, he took refuge in June 1790 in the German part of his diocese, in Ettenheim, where he took his ecclesiastical duties to heart. Although he had to flee the French armies twice (1796 and 1799), he remained outside France on his own land while two constitutional bishops succeeded one another in Strasbourg.
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About the sale The Empire at Fontainebleau - Second day
Auction location
Auction time 06/21/2026 at 10:30 AM
Pictures credits:
Michel Bury and Henri du Cray
See original version (French)
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