{"id":11465,"date":"2021-11-05T15:21:13","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T15:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/uncategorized\/szechenyi-ferenc-es-ferencne\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T16:36:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T16:36:15","slug":"szechenyi-ferenc-es-ferencne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/csalad-en\/szechenyi-ferenc-es-ferencne\/","title":{"rendered":"Sz\u00e9chenyi’s parents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Geschrieben in Prag den 31 August 1813<\/em>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liebe Eltern!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Da bin ich den[2]<\/a> wieder in der traurigsten Stimmung von der Welt.[a]<\/a> \u2014 Ich war so ungl\u00fccklich meinen Mantel zu verlieren – und war 14 Tage so zu sagen. ganz ohne Bedeckung: habe mich rasend erk\u00e4ltiget, und bin miserable krank: h\u00e4tte der Feldmarschall nicht so viel Gnade f\u00fcr mich gehabt, ich h\u00e4tte\u2019s beynahe nicht aushalten k\u00f6nnen: er war aber so gut f\u00fcr mich zu sorgen, und mich hierher transportiren zu lassen. \u2013 Seit gestern bin ich hier, und befinde mich schon besser, und hoffe h\u00f6chstens in 10 oder 14 Tagen zur Arm\u00e9e zuruckkehren zu k\u00f6nnen. ~~ Wir alle haben erschrecklich viel ausgestanden \u2013 die ganze combinirte Armee<\/em>,1<\/sup> die in der Gegend von Schlan[b]<\/a> 2 posten von Prag die revue passirt ist von da in 8 Tagen. \u00fcber die Gr\u00e4nze und hat alle Defilees in einer wunderbaren Geschwindigkeit hin\u00fcber gesetzt \u2013 so da\u00df wir den 25 August vor Dresden<\/em>1<\/sup> standen[c]<\/a> \u2013 Leider war das Clima gegen uns, denn nicht eine Minutte h\u00f6rte der Regen auf – und alle unsere Kanonen blieben in denen Hohlwegen stecken: und wir konnten Dresden nicht nehmen: und Napoleon, der von unserer Bewegung nichts wu\u00dfte und noch immer in der Position vor Bautzen<\/em>[3]<\/a>[d]<\/a> blieb r\u00fcckte mit seiner ganzen Armee den 26ten<\/sup> zu Mittag in Dresden ein ~~~ Alle unsere M\u00fche gieng verlohren \u2014 6000 Mann unserer brawsten Truppen wurden das Opfer dieses Tages \u2013 und wir bekamen Dresden nicht \u2014 Den 27 in aller Fr\u00fch giengs wieder an \u2014 ein merkw\u00fcrdiger Tag f\u00fcr alle, besonders aber f\u00fcr mich unverge\u00dflich ~ das Wetter war so kalt \u2014 wie in Winter und dabey regnete es so, da\u00df man auf 10 Schritte nichts sehen konnte \u2014 und ich hatte von fr\u00fch bis auf den Abend Fieber \u2013 was ich ausgestanden kann sich kein Mensch vorstellen. Enfin.[4]<\/a> das resultat dieses Tages war da\u00df Barclai dy toll\u00ff<\/em>3<\/sup>[e]<\/a> die Befehle von Schwarzenberg<\/em>1<\/sup>[f]<\/a> nicht befolgte der den Feind bey Pirna angreifen h\u00e4tte sollen,[g]<\/a> und wir in unser alten Stellung geblieben sind, aus den uns der Feind trotz seines Bem\u00fchens nicht bringen konnte. \u2013 Die Bedenklichkeit kam uns aber im Wege, da\u00df unsere Truppen seit 3 Tagen gar nicht gegessen haben, und es war beschlo\u00dfen,[h]<\/a> bey Peterswalde<\/em>1<\/sup> sich nach B\u00f6hmen zuruckzuziehen. Der Regen dauerte immerfort \u2013 unsere Arm\u00e9e hat unendlich viel ausgestanden \u2013 und wurde vom Feinde allm\u00e4hlich verfolgt ~~ Den 29ten<\/sup> war beynahe schon alles \u00fcber die P\u00e4\u00dfe \u2014 da wollte Napoleon die Passage bey Kulm<\/em>3<\/sup>[i]<\/a> forcieren und w\u00e4re\u2019s ihm gelungen – so h\u00e4tten wir einen gro\u00dfen Theil unserer Arm\u00e9e verlohren \u2013 doch wurde er mit rasenden Verlust \u00fcberall zuruckgeschlagen \u2013 \u2013 Meine Gesundheit wurde immer bedenklicher und meine Schw\u00e4che erlaubte mir nicht zu reiten, so da\u00df ich auf dem Befehl des Feldmarschalls \u2013 mich hierher transportiren lie\u00df. \u2014 Nun werden wohl alle Tage Gefechte vorfallen \u2013 keine entscheidende Schlacht glaube ich aber kann. wegen Abmattung beyder Arm\u00e9en vor 14 Tagen nicht geliefert werden. \u2014 Ich hoffe alles \u2014 doch glaube ich, da\u00df uns die Uneinigkeit<\/em>3<\/sup> viel schaden wird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am Tage der Schlacht wurde mein bestes Pferd gefangen \u2013 ich hatte meinen Mantelsack darauf wo ich mein bischen Bagage und Geld hatte. und so sitze ich den2<\/sup> hier mit 10 Gulden Schein. \u2014 Schon fr\u00fcher nahm ich von Staabs-Artz Sachs<\/em>1<\/sup>[j]<\/a> 100 Ducaten zu leihen \u2013 um mir ein Pferd zu kaufen \u2013 ich fand auch eins eben um das Geld konnte aber nicht ohne allen Geld bleiben \u2013 und bezahlte daher nur 30 \u2014 und so sind meine Schulden bis jetzt 100 Ducaten den Doctor Sachs<\/em>3<\/sup> \u2013 50 Ducaten[5]<\/a> den Rittmeister Appel<\/em>:3<\/sup>[k]<\/a> und da ich gar kein Geld habe, und mich mein Sejour in Prag doch einiges kosten wird – so will ich von Banquier Balabenes<\/em>3<\/sup>[l]<\/a> 1000 Gulden aufnehmen: mit den ich dann schon aus kommen werde.[6]<\/a> Meine guten Eltern verzeihen mir – da\u00df ich so frey bin alles die\u00df zu verlangen. In ein paar T\u00e4gen werde ich schon schreiben, wo ich diese 150 Ducaten und 1000 Gulden hin adressiren werde \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Den gr\u00f6\u00dften Verlust den[7]<\/a> wir gemacht haben, ist, da\u00df der Armee Moreau<\/em>3<\/sup>[m]<\/a> seine beyden F\u00fc\u00dfe, den 27ten<\/sup> verlohren hat. noch lebt er, und der Arzt der ihm behandelt hofft an seiner Genesung: dan ist der General Andrass\u00ff<\/em>3<\/sup>[n]<\/a> und Marrias\u00ff[o]<\/a> todt geschossen worden \u2013 Gyulai[p]<\/a> und Frierenberg[q]<\/a> blessirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00dcbrigens ist unser Verlust viel geringer als der der Franzosen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liebe gute Eltern vergeben mir, da\u00df ich nichts en detail schreibe ich kann aber nicht mehr \u2013 und bitte um den Segen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepherl<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Sz\u00e9chenyi\u2019s underlining with wavy line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Instead of denn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> Sz\u00e9chenyi\u2019s underlining with straight line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> French: in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Inserted afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> Corrected word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> Two letters deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[a]<\/a> During the attack on Dresden, Sz\u00e9chenyi caught a cold and had fever, and on 29 August he was no longer able to mount his horse; on the orders of Field Marshal Prince Schwarzenberg, he was taken to Prague. There he was cared for in the so-called Red House from 30 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[b]<\/a> A town northwest of Prague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[c]<\/a> The Battle of Dresden took place on 26 and 27 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[d]<\/a> A town in Saxony on the Spree River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[e]<\/a> Count Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (1761\u20131818) Russian infantry general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[f]<\/a> Prince Karl Schwarzenberg (1771\u20131820) Austrian field marshal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[g]<\/a> This question is not fully clarified. It seems that Tsar Alexander ordered an attack on the left wing of the French army, but it was in the interests of the road to Pirna. It is also unclear whether Tsar Alexander ordered the attack with the knowledge of Prince Schwarzenberg. There is no doubt that the responsibility lies with Tsar Alexander. However, upon the Tsar\u2019s decree, Barclay submitted his observations, but this was received on the occasion of Moreau\u2019s unfortunate incident. In his confusion, Tsar Alexander forgot about the measure, and Barclay did not carry it out. It is true, however, that Barclay caused congestion and confusion in the course of the retreat. Here, however, chance helped, because they managed to counter the attack of Vandamme\u2019s army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[h]<\/a> The French cut off the Allies by bypassing their left wing. Mesko\u2019s division was captured and a general retreat had to be ordered. Napoleon entrusted General Vandamme with the task of occupying the main route of retreat and preventing the retreat of the defeated army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[i]<\/a> A village near Teplice, in Bohemia. There, on 29 and 30 August 1813, the Russians under Prince Eugen of W\u00fcrttenberg, the Austrians under Lieutenant General Colloredo and the Prussians under General Kleist captured French Marshal Vandamme. The commander-in-chief was Russian Infantry General Barclay de Tolly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[j]<\/a> J\u00f3zsef Sachs (1761\u20131839) was a medical officer, at that time head of the Austrian army\u2019s medical service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[k]<\/a> Baron Kereszt\u00e9ly Appel (1785\u20131854) was at that time second captain and commanding officer in the general staff, and in the Battle of Leipzig he became first captain, out of turn. He was promoted to major in 1822, in 1826 to chief aide-de-camp to Emperor and King Francis. In 1834 he was made a general, and he died as a cavalry general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[l]<\/a> Karl Balabene (1786\u2013?) banker in Prague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[m]<\/a> Jean Victor Moreau (1761\u20131813) first became a marshal in French service, but Napoleon saw him as an opponent and had him arrested in 1804, then exiled him. In 1813, at the invitation of Tsar Alexander, he joined the allied camp and fell in battle at Dresden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[n]<\/a> Baron D\u00e1vid Andr\u00e1ssy (1762\u20131813), major general, knight of the Order of Maria Theresa in 1810, general in 1812, killed in action on 27 August 1813 at the Battle of Dresden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[o]<\/a> Baron Andr\u00e1s M\u00e1ri\u00e1ssy (1759\u20131846) general in 1809, seriously wounded (but not killed) at the Battle of Dresden, he was appointed lieutenant general on the battlefield at the Battle of Leipzig. He died as a field marshal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[p]<\/a> Count Ign\u00e1c Gyulay (1763\u20131831) was an imperial-royal general in 1797, a lieutenant general in 1800, a real internal privy councillor, and the ban (viceroy) of Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. In 1809 he fought in Italy, took part in the battles of Dresden and Leipzig, in 1813 he was appointed field marshal, in 1823 general commander in Bohemia, in 1830 he became president of the Imperial Court War Council. Gyulay was seriously wounded in the Battle of Dresden on August 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[q]<\/a> Wenzel Frierenberg (1759\u20131823) was a general in 1813. Schwarzenberg was commander of the artillery in Schwarzenberg\u2019s general staff, and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Dresden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended reference: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Istv\u00e1n Sz\u00e9chenyi to his parents, Prague, 31 August 1813. Edited and annotated by Szilvia Czinege. Published in Correspondence of Istv\u00e1n Sz\u00e9chenyi. Digital edition. Edited by Szilvia Czinege and Zolt\u00e1n F\u00f3nagy. https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/ Abbreviation for further references: SzIL-Digit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He is in the worst possible mood. He has a terrible cold and is rather unwell, on account of which he has been taken to Prague and hopes to return to the army in 10 to 14 days. He also reports on military developments: they failed to take Dresden, and Napoleon, who knew nothing
\nof their movements, and remained in his positions before Bautzen, was able to march to Dresden with his whole army at noon on the 26th. Their efforts were wasted, and they lost 6,000 men that day. At dawn on the 27th the battle was resumed, in which he took part while he was sick with a fever. As the troops had not eaten for three days, the General Staff decided to withdraw the army to Bohemia via Peterswalde. On the 29th, Napoleon decided to cut off the retreat of the forces still in Saxony at Kulm, but his attack was repulsed at every point. The fighting has continued ever since, but the decisive battle is unlikely to take place within two weeks because of the exhaustion of the opposing armies. He lost his best horse in the battle; his baggage and money was left in his saddle-bag, leaving him with ten forints altogether. He had earlier borrowed 100 ducats from the physician to buy a horse. He has paid half of the purchase price, so now he owes one hundred ducats to Doctor Sachs and fifty ducats to Captain Appel, from whom he bought the horse. He intends to borrow 1,000 forints from the banker Ballabene. In a few days he will write to let his parents know to what address they should send the 150 ducats and the 1,000 forints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3403,3427,3370,3518,3402],"tags":[3541,3426],"language":[3416],"addressee":[3540],"place_of_writing":[3378],"qualification":[3383],"place_of_keeping":[3538],"place_of_publication":[3539],"class_list":["post-11465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-szechenyi_ferenc-en","category-festetics_julia-en","category-csalad-en","category-ifjusag-en","category-a-katonaevek-en","tag-health","tag-military","language-german","addressee-szechenyis-parents","place_of_writing-prague","qualification-original","place_of_keeping-mnl-ol-p-623-a-i-9-no-43-7-en","place_of_publication-zichy-69-71-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11468,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465\/revisions\/11468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"addressee","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/addressee?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"place_of_writing","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place_of_writing?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"qualification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/qualification?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"place_of_keeping","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place_of_keeping?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"place_of_publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place_of_publication?post=11465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}