A Princess Once Dueled A Countess Over Floral Arrangements… Topless

When we think of historical duels , we may tend to think two men handsomely habilimented wielding pistols or swords over some criminal offense to one party ’s honor . One particular duel , however , presents a very different scene of honor battles . Not only was it between two woman ; it was between two fair sex fighting topless .

Atlas Obscura has been runninga series of inadequate TV about unusual duels , and the first TV in the serial publication offersa abbreviated account of an 1892 duel between two Viennese noblewomen , Princess Pauline von Metternich and Countess Anastasia Kielmannsegg .

The contention between “ Princess Paulina ” and the Countess Kielmannsegg was apparently so well have sex that it was documented in the Vienna society pageboy of the British fair sex ’s magazine publisher The Lady ’s Realm . In one issue , the cartridge clip reported , “ The Countess Anastasia , who is Russian by birth , is very ambitious , and has a great talent for arranging entertainment of all kinds , and during the lamentation of the Princess Paulina she has hail more to the front than ever and has been most indefatigable . She is young enough to be the daughter of her rival in right works , and , like her , is possessed of an untiring zip . ”

In the summer of 1892 , Princess Pauline was the Honorary President of the Vienna Musical and Theatrical Exhibition and Countess Kielmannsegg was the President of the Ladies ’ Committe of the expo , and the two clash over some of the system for the Exhibition . ( Several source lay claim it had something to do with the flowered arrangement . ) Heated row were exchange , and the two woman agreed to settle their differences with a duel .

Robert Baldick , in his bookThe Duel : A account of Duelling , explains that women sometimes had male champions fight on their behalf in affaire d’honneur . However , in late nineteenth century Europe , there was a movement toward promote “ new women ” to fight for themselves . ( He cites the example of Séverine , a female journalist who had a colleague fight for her in a affaire d’honneur to champion an article she had written . She was reprimand by the Paris League for the Emancipation of Women . ) Gisèle d’Estoc ( who herself purportedly dueled with another woman , actress Emma Rouër , and inspired Emile Bayard ’s lithograph“Une Affaire d’Honneur”[NSFW ] ) say that a woman who employed a male champion was give a “ deed of unfavorable position . ”

The Metternich - Kielmannsegg duel was therefore an “ emancipate duel , ” because all the parties involved were charwoman . The dueller seconds were the Princess Schwarzenberg and Countess Kinsky , and a adult female even presided over the duel : Baroness Lubinska , a Polish woman who had a degree in medicine .

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So why on Earth were they bare-breasted ? fit in to Atlas Obscura and theWomen of Action web , that was Baroness Lubinska ’s idea . The affaire d’honneur was not hypothesize to be a deadly one , but the baroness take note , that if a slice of dirty clothing was push into a injury , that would would be more potential to become infected . It would be much safer , she reasoned for the rapiers to bear on only nude skin . So she instructed the combatants to strip down to the waist and ordered the male handmaiden off in the distance to calculate away .

The combatants met in August 1892 Vaduz , the capital of Liechtenstein , and dueled with rapier to first blood . The Princess Pauline was the superior in the third round , when she was wound slenderly on the nozzle but also drew blood from the countess ’s weapon system . The paper in thePall Mall Gazettesays that , once the round cease , the seconds “ advised them to encompass , kiss , and make friend . ” But the idea of topless duelists capture the imaginativeness of many folks , with range of a function of women , breasts bared and blade bilk , appear in paintings and erotic exposure of the epoch .

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