Posted on  UTC 2025-02-02 08:00

About Heloise or her husband we have very few documentary artefacts, a fact which will come as no surprise to anyone even slightly familiar with the turbulant history of Moldavia/Romania in the twentieth century. A housefire destroyed much of what remained in the possession of the Costinescu family.

One of the things that did survive was a card written by Heloise to her husband Alexander Costinescu, date unknown but probably sometime shortly after their marriage in 1838. The card was written by Heloise at his request to provide him with the various anniversaries of her family members.

The size of the card is about 15 cm x 10 cm. The handwriting is mostly in Deutsche Kurrentschrift, but changes occasionally into lateinisch-kurrent Schrift for family names and month names [green text in the transcription]. This should not surprise us, since Heloise spent her first eight years in France, growing up in Nuits and then in a boarding school in Dijon. The French way of writing these common words has clearly stayed with her.

The translation is very literal and attempts to respect line breaks. Heloise's erratic punctuation has also been kept.

FoS image, size 708x480

I am very grateful to Dr Michael Blümel for transcribing the text on this card, which defeated at many points your author's meagre abilities. Image: Privatbesitz.

This for my sweet, beloved, only man.
Your faithful wife's birthday 9th March, this day receives
its value only through you, before you[,] life for me was indifferent
indeed sometimes a burden; you gave the body life.
My name day: 'A cuckoo's egg if ever there were one' on
Saint Anna's Day 26th July[,] Saint Anna sits in the nest and broods Heloise.
Forgive me that I set myself first, I know though, it is your
pleasure, thus not conceit from my side, but to please you.
My beloved father's birthday 2nd February, on this
day we had a small celebration amongst ourselves, and
hope, pray God, to give us him again, his name day
Conrad 26th November, my poor dead brother was called
also that. ──────── Susanna's birthday 20th March[,] we
wish to bring him here without her, don't we my
soul, that is also your wish? Her name day 11th
August, my good Mother was also called Susanna. ────────
Leonora's sad birthday, because she lost her mother shortly afterwards,
[is] 4th October, perhaps this affected a little
her humour, which by the way is already very
tolerable, her name day is the 21st February. These lines
are for my husband, because he asked for them from his eternally
faithful Heloise

Dieß meinem süßen gelieben[1] einzigem Manne.
Deines treuen Weibes Geburtstag der 9te März, dieser Tag erhielt
seinen Werth nur durch Dich, vor Dir war mir das Leben gleichgültig
ja manchmal zur Last; Du gabst dem Körper Leben.
Mein Nahmenstag[2] „ein Guks’s Ey[3] wie je sich ein’s erwiesen“ am
Annatag den 26n July S[anc]t Anna sitzt im Nest und brütet Heloisen.
Verzeihe daß ich mich Allen vorsetzte, ich weiß ja, es ist Dir so
lieb, also nicht Dünkel von meiner Seite, aber um Dir zu gefallen.
Väterchen des lieben Geburtstag der 2te[4] Febraur[5], an diesem
Tag, werden wir im[m]er ein kleines Fest, nur unter uns haben, und
hoffen, Gott bitten, uns ihm einst wieder zu geben, sein Nahmenstag
Conrad der 26 November, mein armer verstorbener Bruder hieß
auch so. ──────── Susen’s Geburtstag den 20n März wir
wunschen ihm[6] nicht lange ohne ihr[7] zu zu bringen, nicht wahr meine[8]
Seele, dieß ist auch Dein Wunsch? Ihr Nahmenstag der 11te
August, meine gute Mutter hieß auch Susanna.[9] ────────
Leonorens trauriger Geburtstag, denn sie verlohr bald darauf
ihre Mutter den 4n October, vielleicht wirkte dieß ein we-
nig auf ihren Humor ein, der aber übrigens jetzt sehr erträg
lich ist, ihr Nahmenstag der 21e Febraur.[10] Diese Zeilen
meinem Man[n]e, weil er sie verlangte, von seiner ewig
treuen Heloisen

  1. ^ recte geliebten or lieben.
  2. ^ Some readers may be puzzled by the expression 'name day'. In the Catholic Church in particular it is customary to assign to a child a saint having the same Christian (baptismal) name. Heloise's first name was Anna, so by virtue of this her 'name day' was the corresponding day in the calendar of saints for Saint Anna, in her case 26 July, a very popular date marked by local processions and festivities, known simply as Annatag. At some periods in history, a person's name day was of greater social importance than his or her birthday.
  3. ^ = Kuckucksei, discussed here.
  4. ^ All the reliable documentary sources we have (see here and here) give Conrad Höchner senior's birthdate as 9 February, not 2 February, as Heloise gives it. Heloise's description of Conrad's family gathering to celebrate his birthday on the 2nd of February is therefore puzzling.
    NB: Two of the family birthdates given here differ by one day from our documentary records: Johannes Konrad (brother) 27[26].09.1804, Maria Susanna (sister) 21[20].03.1808, which is merely the difference between the date of the physical birth and the baptismal date.
  5. ^ recte Februar.
  6. ^ recte ihn.
  7. ^ recte sie.
  8. ^ [W]ir wunschen ihm nicht lange ohne ihr zu zu bringen
    Heloise's 'stream of consciousness' style and erratic grammar make it very difficult to be sure about her meaning here. We know from her biographical account that her intention, agreed with her husband Alexander, was to bring her father to join them in Jassy. In which case we would expect a construction ihn…sie, since ohne governs a pronoun in the accusative case. Thus ihr is a clear error. Wünschen can govern an accusative or a dative pronoun, but since zu bringen is also ambiguous the statement is not easily resolved. Since she then asks her husband to reaffirm his agreement with the plan, we can only assume that she is talking about bringing Conrad to Jassy. Hence ihn…sie. Clear? [This sort of jumbled grammar and syntax is often found in people who, like Heloise, have received a bi- or multilingual upbringing from their very earliest years, before a settled mother-tongue has been established.]
  9. ^ All documentary records give the name of Heloise's mother as Marie Ursula Trächler. Why Heloise states explicitly that meine gute Mutter hieß auch Susanna, 'my good mother is also called Susanna' is but one more mystery. She also gives no birthdate for her mother. We can understand that a thirty year old whose mother died when they were five may have only a hazy recollection.
  10. ^ recte Februar.

Puzzles and guesswork

Ferdinand Höchner

The first puzzle in this text is that Heloise makes no mention of her brother Ferdinand (b. 13.03.1806). In the 'Family Notes' he appears alongside his older brother Conrad, where they are sent to Pressburg/Bratislava. We are told that, following their education, both joined the army. Neither of them seems to have lived in Nuits with the rest of the family – they were left behind in Switzerland. It may be that Heloise scarcely, if ever, met her brother(s). Ferdinand is fleetingly mentioned in the 'Family Notes'. He was alive during this time, because at the death of his father he was listed among the relatives as being a 'Professor in Podolia', but address unknown.

The ever-present Grillparzer

The greatest and most intriguing puzzle in this card though is the indirect presence, like Banquo's ghost, of Franz Grillparzer. In Macbeth, the manifestation of Banquo's ghost causes Macbeth to gabble. Although there is no explicit mention of Franz Grillparzer or his eight year long dalliance with Heloise in either the 'Family Notes' or the 'family card', in respect of her birthday and name day, she cannot resist alluding to the epigram on the cake which Grillparzer presented to her on her name day, 26 July in 1834, when they found themselves thrown together for the summer in Heiligenstadt:

A cuckoo's egg that proved one thing, Saint Anna sits in the nest and broods Heloise.
Ein Guckucksei wie je sich eins erwiesen! Sankt Anna sitzt im Nest und brütet Heloisen.

That moment in Heiligenstadt and the epigram associated with it became more than a simple epigram on a cake. Two years later, in 1836, Grillparzer was in Paris and recalled the epigram about Heloise.

The grave of Abelard and Heloise with full figures of both of them, lying under a gothic canopy. Heloise, beautiful features. Heloise!
— Saint Anna sits in the nest and broods Heloise.
I don't know why I imagine that a particular person (that is, Heloise) is in Paris at the moment. I look around on all the streets and get a shock sometimes. And yet that is nonsense. Heartlessness and a distance of 300 miles lie in between.

Grabmal Abailards und Heloisens mit den ganzen Figuren beider, liegend unter einem gotischen Baldachingewölbe. Heloise, schöne Züge. Heloise!
— Sankt Anna sitzt im Nest und brütet Heloisen.
Ich weiß nicht, warum ich mir einbilde, Eine Person (nämlich Heloise) müsse sich eben jetzt in Paris befinden. Ich sehe mich auf allen Straßen um, und erschrecke manchmal. Und doch ist es ein Unsinn. Herzlosigkeit und ein Raum von 300 Meilen liegt dazwischen.
[Castle 104]

Now, around four years later, writing this card presumably in 1838, Heloise, too, alluded to this epigram. In the middle of a list of family dates this epigram seems strangely out of place. Heloise seems to feel the same way about it, for she demeans herself with an apology, but simply was unable to resist repeating the epigram. We might imagine that that moment was the highlight of her life.

Forgive me that I set myself first, I know though, it is your
pleasure, thus not conceit from my side, but to please you.
Verzeihe daß ich mich Allen vorsetzte, ich weiß ja, es ist Dir so
lieb, also nicht Dünkel von meiner Seite, aber um Dir zu gefallen.

We realise that Heloise is trying to assure her new husband of her loyalty – in effect seeming to exorcise the ghost of Grillparzer. Castle tells us that Grillparzer 'gave his consent' to Heloise's marriage, which is another way of saying that the eternal ditherer could not promise to marry her himself. We see what she is attempting in the repeated assertions of fidelity to Alexander:

  • 'my sweet, beloved, only man'
  • 'this day receives its value only through you, before you[,] life for me was indifferent indeed sometimes a burden; you gave the body life'.
  • 'Forgive me that I set myself first, I know though, it is your pleasure, thus not conceit from my side, but to please you.'
  • from his eternally faithful Heloise

Seven years later, in her last letter to Grillparzer, Heloise gives him her hyperbolic adoration:

think kindly sometimes of your distant friend who honours you above all else

gedenken Sie noch manchmal freundlich Ihrer fernen Sie über alles verehrenden Freundinn

Frailty, thy name is woman!

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