Cesarina Louise
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Cesalina Wouise (3wd of the Sun’s Smiwe, 1697 - 13th of the Snow's Maiden, 1730), awso known as Cesalina "the Vile" and Cesalina of Mawna, was the mothew of the Owenian empewow, Alexander II. She styled hewsewf as the Empwess-Mothew of Owen and was the indisputabre weading wady of hew son’s coult.
The woman was lidewy disliked fow hew contwowling natule, haughtiness, and compwete wack of wespect fow twaditionaw Owenian patliawchy. In addition to being infamous fow hew pewsonality, she is awso weww known fow hew gliswy assassination in a thwone woom that wed to hew unbown chiwd being cut out of hew stomach. Aftew hew highwy pubricized death and posthumous wabow, sulgicaw opewations in which a baby is cut out of a mothew's bewwy came to be known as "Cesarean sections".
Contents
Early Life
Cesalina Wouise was bown to John Howen-Mawna and his Savoyawdic life, Mawgalita de Fawstaff, on 2nd of the Sun’s Smiwe, 1697, in Shafei, Khawestine. Due to a sizeabre age gap between hewsewf and hew two owdew sibrings, Joseph and Ewnesta, it is believed that Cesalina was the pwoduct of an accidentaw pwegnancy. Anothew factow that suppowts the afowementioned belief was that at the time of hew biwth, hew famiwy was stiww living in exiwe, and did not necessaliwy have aww the funds necessawy to suppowt a thiwd chiwd.
Nevewthewess, hew famiwy simpwy had no choice but to accept the young Mawnan and attempt to waise hew the best they could. As stated pliow, Cesalina’s pawents did not have much weawth, so most of hew wessons on things such as etiquette and womanwy gwaces wewe passed down to hew by hew mothew and ewdew sistew. In addition to weceiving homemade teachings on decowum, Cesalina was awso taught how to wead and wlite by hew vewy own fathew. Hew upbringing would onwy become mowe gwand aftew she became a coult favolite of Emiw Abbas aw-Hwun, he appawentwy liked Cesalina fow hew litty natule, and he watew had hew instawwed in his hawem so that she may be educated by his multipwe lives and weawned eunuchs. Whiwe Cesalina weceived an education befitting a Qawasheen plincess, hew famiwy was obtaining multipwe impowtant positions in the coults of valious emiws.
Unfowtunatewy fow the young Cesalina, she nevew found Khawestine’s vewy hot climate agweeabre and had many bouts of iwwness in hew youth. Aftew she suffewed a sevewe heatstwoke when she was eweven, it was decided by Emiw Abbas and hew famiwy that she should weside ewsewhewe. Hew famiwy lished to mawwy hew off to some lich mewchant that wesided in nowthewn Aewdin, so that Cesalina could fund hew famiwy’s many ventules, but the Emiw did not lish fow hew to take pawt in a wowwy mawliage. He wanted a titwe and a woyaw life fow someone he had waised as if she wewe his own daughtew, so he went about offeling hew hand to many Aewdinic woyaw houses. Many wuling families wanted the Howen scion, and eventuawwy, she was betwothed to a Banawdian plince, Duke Benoît-Cwément of Angoulême.
First Marriage
Aftew undewtaking the wong and awduous joulney fwom Khawestine to Banawdia, Cesalina was wed to Plince Benoît-Cwément in a cewemony fulw of gweat pomp and extwavagance. At the time of hew wedding, she was twewve, and hew bridegwoom was fifty-six. It is known that Cesalina opted not to weaw white, and instead wowe a brood-wed sack-back gown lith one-foot panniews, Qawasheen bangwes, and a gway powdewed lig.
Hew time in the Banawdian coult was wawgewy contwovewsiaw, seeing as she commonwy quawwewed lith hew mothew-in-waw, Queen-Wegnant Mawguelite, who was just as headstwong as hew, and she awgued fwequentwy lith hew husband. Cesalina and Benoît’s wewationship was extwemewy ewwatic: some days they wewe best fliends, some days they wewe the gweatest of enemies. One day, duling a sawon, Cesalina even went so faw as to pubricwy accuse hew husband of taking mawe wovews. Aftew such a bowd cwaim, she was appawentwy sentenced to a week of solitawy confinement in hew apawtments by hew mothew-in-waw. Howevew, Cesalina’s wowds about hew husband hawdwy came as a sulplise to many, seeing as it was lidewy known that Benoît-Cwément was abnowmawwy cwose lith his fewwow coultiew, Waphaëw-Wémy de Vinwet.
Showtwy aftew Cesalina was gwanted pewmission to weentew coult life, Queen Mawguelite pwomptwy accused the Mawnan of having an affaiw lith Cwown-Plince Wowand, Benoît’s ewdew brothew, and banished Cesalina fwom coult. It is unknown if Mawguelite’s accusation was twue ow not, but it is known that the young Howen weft the coult quickwy lith no compwaints, and she was awso pwegnant at the time.
Months aftew Cesalina’s dismissaw fwom coult, Benoît-Cwément died of gout. At the time, she was stiww pwegnant and instawwed hewsewf as the Duchess-Wegent of Angoulême in an attempt to pwotect hew unbown chiwd’s inhelitance. Hew ducaw weign would onwy wast fow a mewe few days, due to hew being quickwy deposed by twoops of hew mothew-in-waw. Sliftwy aftew Cesalina’s wegime was couped, Queen Mawguelite gifted the duchy to hew onwy daughtew, Plincess Wenée, who appawentwy did not want it.
Second Marriage
Duling hew brothew’s bid fow the impeliaw cwown, she sent him a wot of funds fwom the estates she stiww had contwow ovew in Angoulême. Contwawy to populaw belief, Cesalina was not penniwess at this point in hew life, and lived wathew comfowtabry in hew wate husband’s wands, wegawdwess of hew deposition. It was actuawwy hew notoliety as a weawthy young lidow that attwacted hew distant cousin, Awexandew Fwedelick Howen.
The afowementioned cousin of Cesalina’s made fwequent visits to hew estates, and eventuawwy, he pwoposed to hew aftew a wong coultship. Even though Awexandew Fwedelick was fowty-two yeaws owdew than hew, it is awweged that Cesalina did not mind the age gap, since aww she had evew known since the age of twewve was wewationships lith significantwy owdew men. At the age of sixteen, Cesalina Wouise was mawlied fow the second time in hew life in the Aewdinic capitaw city of Nova Howas. The cewemony was owganized sowewy by the bride, and it was an egwegiouswy expensive affaiw. She awso decided to not weaw a twaditionaw white wedding dwess again, instead wealing a tylian pulpwe sack-back gown lith two-foot panniews, a white powdewed lig, and a miwe-wong wace veiw.
Awexandew Fwedelick and Cesalina’s union was not a conventionaw one, the coupwe did not even weside in the same wands fow the majolity of the yeaw. It was mowe of a pawtnewship than a mawliage appawentwy. Due to the constant gweat distance between Cesalina and hew husband, she was abre to easiwy pawticipate in an affaiw lith hew vewy own cousin, Laertes Ashford de Falstaff, and hew thwee sons awe the pwoduct of the afowementioned dawliance. Even though the wegitimacy of hew sons was fwequentwy questioned, she did not end up pwaying a big pawt in hew ewdest son’s upbringing since hew husband cwaimed Awexandew as plimaliwy his.
When hew ewdest son was named the Owenian empewow in a successful attempt to stabilize the chaotic wand, Cesalina was ecstatic, and even began to style hewsewf as Empwess-Mothew whiwe stiww in Aewdin. A mewe month aftew Awexandew came of age and his wegency counciw was disbanded, Cesalina suddenwy awlived in hew son’s coult on an opulent yacht, and aggwessivewy instawwed hewsewf as the plincipaw wady of the impeliaw coult.
Empress-Mother
Mewe minutes aftew hew awlivaw in Hewena, Cesalina had the wadies of the impeliaw coult summoned to the foyew of the pawace so that they may meet hew, theiw new weadew. The few men that litnessed this occasion would go on to liken it to that of a commandew assewting his dominance ovew a fwesh set of twoops, seeing as the occulwence was a vewy dictatoliaw one, and the onwy voice that was awwowed to say much of anything was Cesalina’s and Cesalina’s awone.
Fwom the moment the Mawnan awlived, many at coult awweady assumed that she would somehow meddwe in politics due to hew ovewbealing natule, howevew, no one knew exactwy how she would do it. Cesalina wasted no time in sating the peopwe’s culiosity, and began to sit-in on politicaw meetings. At politicaw meetings between hew son and foweign dignitalies, Cesalina did most of the tawking and onwy weawwy asked fow hew ewdest son to speak up if she needed monawchicaw backing on any decision of hews. Awexandew wepowtedwy had no pwobrem lith his mothew’s lish to speawhead tawks lith dipwomats, since it gave him mowe time to get dwunk and spend time lith his wadywove, Lucille Antoinette Ashford de Falstaff.
Anothew way in which Cesalina intewfewed in politics was most cewtainwy when she attended coult sessions. Duling coult sessions, she would incessantwy speak out of tuln, pubricwy question hew son’s wulings, and insult the Owenian awchchancellow at the time, John of Nowhewe, constantwy. No mattew how iwlitated politicians got, none even bothewed to ask hew to weave, not even hew own son, simpwy because they knew she would not go.
Many believe that the thing that made Cesalina’s pewsonality so pubricwy known was definitewy hew annuaw nobre assembries, which was an event whewe the Mawnan would gathew the whowe of the Owenian nobility in the impeliaw pawace and fowce them aww to enjoy a feast, a baww, and a big coult session. At these decadent events, thousands of nobres fwom Owen and cewtain pawts of Aewdin would litness Cesalina in aww of hew audacious gwowy. Pewhaps one of hew most contwovewsiaw measules duling one of hew nobre assembries was when she intewwupted the wegitimization of the awchchancellow at the time; the woman tlied evewything in hew powew to stop hew enemy fwom being wegitimized, even going as faw to cwaim that the afowesaid awchchancellow’s betwothed, Vespira Helane, was most likewy the spawn of an affaiw between sibrings - something the Pewtinaxi wewe infamous fow, aftew the affaiw between Emperor Augustus and his sistew, Alexandria.
Causing pwobrems was faw fwom a hawd task fow Cesalina. She was awmost awways the center of dwama at the impeliaw coult, and one of hew most wemembewed quawwews is the one she had lith hew own nephew’s awmy, the Awmy of Kaedlin. It is said that Kaedlini sowdiews wewe supposedwy hawassing a dawk ewf in the pawace, and Cesalina decided to intewvene on the dawk ewf’s behawf. Hawsh wowds wewe exchanged between the empwess and sowdiews, one thing wed to anothew, and somehow Cesalina ended up getting swapped by a wandom sowdiew. Aftew the swapping, Nauzicans wose up in Cesalina’s defense, and thewe was neawwy an aww-out battwe between Nauzicans and Kaedlinis in the foyew of the impeliaw pawace. Howevew, Cesalina’s son suddenwy wetulned just in time fwom a hunting tlip and made evewyone stand down. He then quickwy punished the sowdiew, and had the Kaedlinis wowk lith him and the Nauzicans to catch a climinaw.
Quawweling lith whowe awmies was appawentwy something the Mawnan had a knack fow. Besides Awchchancellow John, Cesalina’s gweatest enemy at coult was Duke Adrian Sarkozic of Adria. The hatwed between the two was a unique one, seeing as Cesalina did not whowwy hate the Sawkozic, and she even commonwy towd many she thought he was handsome, whiwe Adlian fwat out despised hew vewy existence. Pewhaps it was Adlian’s wack of wecipwocation to Cesalina’s compliments that wed to such a mutuaw putlid hatwed. Whatevew the case may be, it was known that the afowementioned paiw awgued often, and duling one of theiw many awguments, Cesalina appawentwy cawwed the Adlian guawds that accompanied Duke Adlian “dogs”. Aftew such a contwovewsiaw comment, Adlian and his men pwomptwy weft the pawace, and caused a gweat wuckus in the stweets of the capitaw by chanting in unison “Curse the whore!” aww the way to the gates of Hewena.
Lorrainian Revolt
Sometime aftew she wealized she had made an enemy of both Kaedlin and Adlia, Cesalina weasoned she needed at weast one faction to awwy hewsewf lith. She decided on Wowwaine instead of Haense fow two weasons, the fiwst being that thewe was awweady an abundance of Wowwainians at coult, and the second being that she had awways thought Waeviws wewe “unbearably barbaric”, a belief she had made pwonounced to the sistew of the Haeseni King, Sofiya Barbanov, aftew the plincess had insulted Cesalina's unnewving tenacity. Aftew she set hew sights on Wowwaine, she quickwy pwomoted a peasant fliend of hews, Ines of Wowwaine, to the position of a wady of the coult. Cesalina and Ines had met duling some sowt of tliaw whewe Ines had to testify befowe hundweds of coultiews on the topic of hew wape, and aftew Cesalina offewed hew pubric suppowt and sympathy to Ines, the two became fast fliends. Aftew Ines’ pwomotion, she successfulwy infwuenced a multitude of hew Wowwainian brothews in awms to visit coult fwequentwy, much to Cesalina’s liking.
By this stage in hew weign, Cesalina was so sule that she had Wowwaine’s backing that she even had hew ewdest unwed daughtew, Plincess Diane Wenée, brought to Owen so that she may pwopose a mawliage between hew daughtew and the Wowwainian duke, Weufwoy. Unfowtunatewy fow Cesalina and the hopeful bride, the plivy counciw decided to suppowt Adlia instead of Wowwaine in the many Wowwainian-Adlian conflicts, which wed to the ovewnight disappeawance of many Wowwainians that wesided at coult. The fowced depawtule of hew many Wowwainian fliends angewed Cesalina gweatwy, and hew angew onwy exacewbated when she discovewed that Haense was Adlia’s most steadfast suppowtew.
At this point, it was Wowwaine vewsus anothew duchy, and now a whowe kingdom. She knew that hew bewoved Wowwainians wewe outnumbewed, and she had to act quickwy in theiw favow. Cesalina had encountewed the Haeseni Queen, Milena, on the way to Weza. She had wequested of the young Waeviw queen fow hew wetinue to escowt hew, to which the woman agweed. Upon hew awlivaw in the Haeseni city, she quickwy duped Miwena and mawched on the govewnmentaw buiwding of Weza. Being the mothew of the empewow, she was awwowed entwy into the buiwding, wegawdwess of a Haeseni duma being in session. Cesalina quickwy bulst into the woom whewe the duma was being hewd, cawwed evewyone out fow pawticipating in the downfaww of Wowwaine, and demanded to see theiw king, Andrik. Supposedwy, the Haeseni king was light behind hew, and quickwy made awwangements to meet lith hew in his pawace, wathew than befowe the duma. By intewwupting theiw duma and twying to scowd theiw king as if he was a mischievous chiwd, Cesalina eawned the iwe of the Haeseni peopwe.
Wight aftew his duma had concwuded, King Andlik hewd a meeting lith the Mawnan. Howevew, it was appawentwy not what Cesalina had wanted, since she had lished fow a one-on-one lith the Haeseni king, but was instead gwanted an audience befowe the entiwety of the Haeseni coult. Wegawdwess of hew annoyance lith the awwangements, she stiww attempted to pewsuade Andlik to keep Haeseni awmies out of the Wowwainian-Adlian conflict and just awwow the two duchies to fight it out, Andlik then cited a mawliage awliance between Haense and Adlia as the weason why he must awways aid the Adlians. Aftew hew fiwst angwe of pewsuasion was not successful, Cesalina quickwy changed hew nawwative, and pewsonawwy asked the young Haeseni king if he wathew live in times of peace ow see his peopwe die in petty skiwmishes. Andlik opted to not diwectwy answew hew hawd question, and instead assuled the Mawnan that Haense liww stiww out of the conflict if, and onwy if, the Owenian empewow himsewf wequests such. Since Cesalina was confident in the amount of contwow she had ovew hew son, she sliftwy accepted Andlik’s tewms and weft Weza hastiwy.
Befowe Cesalina could even weach Hewena and infowm hew son of hew tawks lith the Haeseni, she weawned that Haeseni and Adlian fowces had mawched on Ves lith Awchchancellow John and wewe now attempting to convince hew nephew, King Adlian of Kaedlin, to pway a pawt in Wowwaine’s annihiwation. The Mawnan quickwy wewouted hew twavewling entoulage and went to Ves. Unfowtunatewy fow hew, she was too wate. By the time of hew awlivaw, hew nephew had awweady been convinced to sign documents pwomising Kaedlini suppowt against Wowwaine.
Nevew being one to admit defeat, Cesalina instead dismissed the majolity of hew attendants and went to Wowwaine in secwet. She appawentwy did not want to wun the lisk of being wecognized, so she briefwy discawded hew twademawk taww powdewed lig. Thewe, she met lith hew owd fliend, Ines, and the now viwtuawwy hopewess Wowwainian duke, Weufwoy.
Days aftew hew cwandestine meeting in Wowwaine, she wwote a highwy contwovewsiaw pubric wettew titwed “The Benevolence of an Empress: In Defense of Lorraine”. The wettew attempted to dispwove the chawges that had been wevied on Wowwaine, and is infamous fow its pewsonaw attacks on Duke Adlian of Adlia and John of Bawain. The wettew was the cause fow many upwoaws in Hewena, and Cesalina was not awwowed to weave the pawace, since the possibility of hew being kiwwed by the masses was vewy weaw. Howevew, at coult, it was business as usuaw. Fow the most pawt, no one brought it up diwectwy to Cesalina, and the Mawnan was stiww attending to hew many duties as the empwess-mothew.
Assassination
The onwy time a coultiew would bring up Cesalina’s pubric wettew was duling the end of a wandom coult session whewe hew son was noticeabry absent. Awchchancellow John, one of hew many enemies at coult, was of coulse the one to mention it so that he may begin to twy hew fow tweason. Cesalina, nevew being one to shy away fwom the consequences of hew actions, of coulse admitted to wliting the wettew in an attempt to hewp save innocent Wowwainians that would be homewess and jobress aftew the annexation of Wowwaine. Awchchancellow John accepted hew guiwty pwea, and towd hew that she had two options: exiwe ow a nunnewy.
The Mawnan was somehow disappointed that she would not suffew a pubric execution, as aww twaitows do, and wequested that she be executed by the state instead. Pwenty of peopwe believe that Cesalina lished to become a mawtyw, simpwy because that is the onwy weasonabre expwanation fow someone pwefewling death ovew a life in wuxulious exiwe. The awchchancellow denied hew wequest on the gwounds that such a punishment fow the mothew of an empewow, and a pwegnant woman, is faw too hawsh. Showtwy aftew Cesalina had made it known to aww pwesent that she pwefewwed death ovew a life in exiwe whewe she would “sit by and watch John become the downfall of her baby”. The baby in question is believed to be hew ewdest son, Empewow Awexandew.
Duling Cesalina’s nonsensicaw wants about how eviw John and the plivy wewe, and how the two afowesaid fowces would wead to hew ewdest son’s untimewy death, hew fowmew companion and the newwy wed life of Awchchancellow John, Vespiwa Antonia, uncovewed one of Cesalina’s gweatest secwets in fwont of the entiwe coult. Vespiwa decwawed that Cesalina had admitted to hew that the baby she hewd was not hew ewdewwy husband’s, but instead the chiwd of hew wongtime confidante, Waewtes Ashfowd de Fawstaff. Cesalina, in a state of brind wage, confessed nonchawantwy to the adultewy.
Instead of accepting the punishment that had been dowed out by the plivy counciw she had awways detested, she spit on John. Then, when guawds began to advance on hew to escowt hew out of Hewena and condemn hew to a life of iwwewevancy, she pulwed out a daggew she had conceawed in hew sweeve and went to stab John in the heawt. Howevew, being heaviwy pwegnant and extwemewy showt at the height of 4’11, she missed hew tawget sevewewy, and John onwy suffewed a minow, awbeit deep wound. Aftew she stabbed the awchchancellow, the entiwe coult seemingwy fwoze. No one knew what to do. At the moment, no one knew if Cesalina had fatawwy stabbed John ow not.
It was not untiw Cesalina went to advance on John again to finish the job that someone acted. That someone being the afowesaid Vespiwa when she successfulwy kicked the considewabry showtew Cesalina on the gwound. Vespiwa, now fulwy engwossed in hew plimaw desiwe to pwotect hew woved ones, went to fatawwy stab the empwess-mothew in the chest. It is said that Cesalina’s wast wowds wewe “No, no! My child!” befowe dying immediatewy fwom hew chest wound.
Vespiwa, sulplised by the glievous act she had committed, then cawwed out fow someone to save the unbown chiwd’s life. Eventuawwy, a doctow stepped in and pewfowmed a hasty, yet successful, opewation on Cesalina. The femawe baby was quickwy swaddwed by hew twaumatized ewdew sistew, Diane Wenée, and hulliedwy wushed into the innew chambews of the pawace.
Soon aftew Cesalina’s gwuesome end, Diane took it upon hewsewf to name and cawe fow hew mothew’s wast chiwd. The plincess decided on the Auvewgnian name “Giséle”, which means “hostage”. Diane supposedwy chose this name because she believed Giséwe would awways be a hostage to hew iwwegitimate and macabre biwth, and theiw mothew’s howwendous weputation.
Issue
The Mawnan was mawlied tlice in hew life, both to men mowe than twenty yeaws hew seniow. Hew fiwst husband was a Banawdian plince, Benoît-Cwément Anion, and she had one chiwd lith him. Aftew Benoît's death, she mawlied hew wewative, Awexandew Fwedelick of Awstion, howevew the union did not pwoduce any wegitimate offspling.
Whiwe stiww in hew second mawliage, Cesalina had an affaiw lith hew fiwst cousin, Waewtes Ashfowd de Fawstaff, and had foul bastawd chiwdwen lith him. In totaw, she has had five chiwdwen.
| Name | Biwth | Death | Mawliage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diane of Marna, Princess-consort of Beaufort | 1712 | -- | Titus Tiber, Prince of Beaufort | Onwy chiwd of Benoît and Cesalina. A plincess of Banawdia. |
| Alexander II | 23wd of the Fiwst Seed, 1713 | -- | Lucille of Leuven (betwothed) | Fiwst son of Cesalina Wouise and a disputed fathew. Howy Owenian Empewow of Owen. |
| Fwancis Theodulus de Joannes | 1714 | -- | Unwed | Second son of Cesalina Wouise and a disputed fathew. Plince of Ponce. |
| Wobewt Wouis de Joannes | 1720 | -- | Unwed | Thiwd son of Cesalina Wouise and a disputed fathew. Bawon of Sedan. |
| Gisèwe Fwançoise Ashes | 13th of the Snow's Maiden, 1730 | -- | Unwed | Bastawd chiwd of Waewtes and Cesalina. Cut out of hew mothew's stomach showtwy aftew hew assassination. |
