Anton von Geusau ’ s Conversations with Ramsay
of Turenne ( 1611 – 1675 ), evidently the one that he gave to Henry XI a few days later . 21 Parallel to Geusau , Henry XI
also sent letters home , addressing them to his bride , Countess Conradine Eleonore Isabelle Reuss of Köstritz ( 1719 – 1770 ), a daughter of his guardian , Henry XXIV , whom he would marry after his return to his native lands . The rather more private nature of these letters may explain why they were not copied and distributed as well . It would of course be instructive to compare Henry ’ s account of his experiences abroad to that of his tutor but unfortunately , only three of his original letters seem to have survived : one of them dispatched from Paris shortly after his arrival , and two from Italy . They can be found at the Greiz branch of the Thuringian State Archives . The three letters bear the numbers 6 , 74 , and 87 , respectively , clearly indicating that they were part of a series . 22 The missing letters may have been dispersed after the abdication of Henry XXVII , the last ruling prince of the Reuss family , in 1918 .
Henry XI ’ s grand tour started in mid-September of 1740 , when he and his tutor , together with two other companions , travelled to Bamberg . At the end of the month they had reached Strasbourg where they stayed for more than a week . Via Lunéville they arrived in Paris on 9 October . The two visi- tors spent the next eight months there , busily meeting with French aristocrats as well as the occasional foreigner or indeed other Germans such as two young princes from the land graviat of Hesse-Darmstadt . Con fessional differences between Catholicism and Protestantism were a frequent topic of discussion . The same can be said of the upcoming election of a new Holy Roman emperor , following the death of Charles VI in October of 1740 . A few times , the two visitors would also venture out to Versailles , where on one occasion they had the chance of observing the morning toilette of Louis XV and even had a brief chat with the queen .
On 23 November they learned from the Danish ambassador , Niels Krabbe Vind ( 1705 – 1766 ), that he had joined Freemasonry some time ago , during his stay in London . He assured them that he had found it to be an honest and commendable brotherhood . Johann Gottfried Böhmer , a diplomat who represented a number of German principalities , weighed in by noting that in France , the Masons were regarded as schismatics . He suggested that their activities were being frowned upon and mocked as follies that foreign diplomats would engage in . It was agreed that a prudent man would only join a society after having made sure that doing so would be both innocuous and beneficial to himself .
21 [ Ramsay ,] Histoire du Vicomte de Turenne , Maréchal Général des Armées du Roy , 2 vols ( Paris : Mazieres & Garnier , 1735 ); Staatliche Bücher- und Kupferstichsammlung Greiz , shelf mark S : R : MIL : R : 1735 : ( 2 : 4 °).
22 Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Greiz , 3-11-1200 ( Hausarchive Obergreiz und Untergreiz ), Schrank IV , Fach 14 e , Nr . 1 : letters from Paris , 9 October 1740 , Rome , 24 March 1742 , and Turin , 3 July 1742 .
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