#countesses

(👆🏻The way they are both wifey 👆🏻)

This new series will offer an indepth view of each noble title in the standard European hierarchy of noble titles. Here we will discuss what they are, their lands, their jobs and everything you need to know when writing them.

What exactly is an Earl/Count/Countess?

A Earldom is the third highest rank in most noble hierarchies. The Count/Earl/Countess rules a section of land within the Kingdom known as a Earldom, for example the Earl of Desmond or can be a standalone title. A Earldom is inherited through the family line, from father to son but the title is bestowed on the family by the monarch. Monarchs can also give their children Earldoms if they wish but often grant them Dukedoms. The former Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward was the last Prince granted an Earldom but advanced to the Duke of Edinburgh after his father's passing and his brother's assent. Earldoms might also be the title of the heirs of Dukes or Marquesses. An Count/Earl/Countess's heir would likely be titled as a Viscount.

Titles, Titles

You will have noticed that Earl and Count are interchangeable. Earl is the English equivalent of Count, which is widely used on the Continent. An Earl or Count is addressed as Lord PlaceName. For example, Downton Abbey's Robert Crawley is The Earl of Grantham but he is referred to as Lord Grantham. The wife of an Earl or Count, is styled as Countess and she's referred to as Lady Placename. They would be addressed as Your Lordship and Your Ladyship.

Family of the Count/Earl/Countess

A Countess on her own right is referred to as the same but her make spouse does not become Count or Earl. He keeps his own title. As for same sex couples, again I remain on the dark here but I would think that they would take on their spouses' next highest title. The children of a Count/Earl/Countess is styled Lord/Lady Firstname with the heir taking on the title of Viscount/Viscountess or the next available title.

The Role of the Count/Earl/Countess

The Count/Earl/Countess is leader of the Earldom, which is a fairly large section of the kingdom. They are in control of this section, the highest power in law and order, politics and all things in that section with only the Duke or the Marquess and the monarch above. They handle administration at the highest level, raising troops from their earldom for the crown in times of war, see the collection of taxes and sometimes they might even advise the monarch if they are offered a place of the monarch's council. They would also attend the monarch at their coronation.

Cribs

Hi there, thank you for your question!

After a *lot* of difficulty, I managed to find an Irina Tolstaya. According to Helen Azar and Nicholas B. A. Nicholson: 'Countess Irina Dimitrievna Tolstaya (1897– 1940) was the daughter of Count Dimitri Ivanovich Tolstoy and his wife Elena née Chertkova. Born in Kyiv, she was raised in court circles. Later, she married Count N. N. Musin-Pushkin, and during the Revolution emigrated first to Serbia, and thence to France, where she died in Nice in 1940.'

I think the reason I had so much difficulty finding her is because Tolstaya was her maiden name - her married name is Irina Dmitrievna Musin-Pushkin

She is mentioned briefly in diary entries and letters by OTMA:

From Tatiana: “Anya recently invited us five: Irina Tolstaya, Rita Khitrovo and her little sister Lyuba. [We] played different games and hide and go seek with them.” - Source: Helen Azar "Had tea with Mama and Anya. Went to Anya’s. Rita was there and Irina Tolstaya." - Source: Helen Azar, Nicholas B. A. Nicholson

From Maria: Anya wanted to invite us, with Irina Tolstaya, but Irina is playing the balalaika somewhere today. - Source: Helen Azar

From Olga: We rode for a long time and finally ended up in Svetelka. Tolstaya and V. P. Schneider almost fainted when they saw Mama, and kept cackling with joy… - Source: Diary of Olga Romanov, Helen Azar

I can only find two brief mentions of Irina and Alexei, but they do seem to have been close

Letter from Olga to Nicholas: Aleksei asked me to send you a kiss and tell you that he will write about Irina Tolstaya. - Source: Diary of Olga Romanov, Helen Azar

Letter from Olga to Nicholas: Aleksei continues to run into Irina Tolstaya daily. - Source: Diary of Olga Romanov, Helen Azar

I cannot find any other information about her being a lady-in-waiting, I think she was just a countess, but I will keep digging. There was a Maria Alexeievna Tolstaya who was a lady-in-waiting to Alexandra Feodorovna (formerly Charlotte of Prussia, married to Nicholas I), so maybe that is where the idea of her being in the lady-in-waiting position came from.

Would you please be able to send me the instagram post you found the information on, so I can have a look? Feel free to comment or message me! Thank you.

I will have a look for Alexei's remarks about Georgiy Taube later on!

Sources:

The Diary of Olga Romanov: Royal Witness to the Russian Revolution - Helen Azar

Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar : Diaries and Letters, 1913-1918 - Helen Azar, Nicholas B. A. Nicholson

The interest in beguinages on the part of the nobility of the Low Countries seems to have started with the sisters and successive countesses Jeanne and Margaret of Flanders and Hainaut.  The pair of them set the precedent with their foundations in several cities, most notably Ten Wijngaerde in Bruges and the Groot Begijnhoof in Ghent.  The latter of these also shows the close association between the beguines and the Cistercians,* since it was closely associated with the convent of Mary’s Haven founded at the same time and the hospital associated with both communities was largely staffed by the beguines.  Both of these countesses also involved themselves in legal issues related the communities within their lands and took steps to protect the beguines living in them.**  They both left significant amounts of money in their wills to a number of communities, including many they had no hand in starting.

Jeanne and Margaret’s successors followed in their footsteps, as did many people of less powerful origins.  Patronage of the beguines increased in the 13th and early 14th centuries as new communities were paid for and various counts confirmed earlier donations.  But by the late 14th century, serious suspicions about the beguine’s morals and orthodoxy had begun to arise.  These were “disorderly” single women*** who were not enclosed and could move about among lay people.  Smaller convents began to disappear as their members died off, joined larger communities, or joined more regular Orders.  They lacked the resources to continue in the face of first Catholic and then later Protestant disapproval.  It was the courts that were best off, in part because they were big enough to have patrons among the nobility, who could provide resources and legal protection.  Some of these communities survived all the way into the late 21st century, with the last beguine, Marcella Pattyn dying in 2013.

*Both Countesses were closely tied with this Order too and may have developed their respect for it through their encounters with Blanche of Castile during their childhood. **Not only from those who would take advantage of women living “on their own,” but also from family members who wanted to force them to renounce the life of a beguine to come home and marry. ***Literally.  They did not belong to any monastic Order.  And don’t blame me for the pun.  I stole it from Walter Simons’ Cities of Ladies.

Balancing the books