Theodore von Neuhoff, King of Corsica : the man behind the legend / Julia Gasper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gasper, Julia.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neuhof, Théodore-Antoine, baron de, 1690-1756.

Neuhof, Théodore-Antoine.

Corsica (France)--Kings and rulers--Biography.

Corsica (France).

Corsica (France)--History--18th century.

Corsica (France)--Politics and government--18th century.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

x, 301 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Newark : University of Delaware Press, [2013]

Summary:

"A visionary and a madman" was how one British statesman, Lord Carteret, described Theodore von Neuhoff. This exciting biography, Theodore von Nenhoff, King of Corsica: The Man behind the Legend, by Julia Gasper, traces the unlikely career of the German baron who in 1736 had himself proclaimed and crowned King of Corsica. Theodore von Neuhoff's career spanned the entire continent and, his role in the Corsican rebellion against Genoa was as bold and unconventional as everything else in his life. Mixing with royalty, rogues, and rabble, he was successively a soldier, secret agent, Jacobite, speculator, alchemist, cabbalist, Rosicrucian, astrologer, fraudster, and spy. He changed his name several times, abducted a nun, and saw the inside of several prisons before turning his hand to revolution. Neuhoff had daring far-sighted ideas about religious tolerance and the abolition of slavery that turned the Corsican rebellion into a significant political event with repercussions beyond the shores of one small island. Denounced as an arch-criminal, traitor, and seditious heretic, he survived pursuit by the agents of the Genoese Republic for twenty years with a price on his head, dodging assassination attempts while meeting countless famous and fascinating people. Valuable to the British as a political tool against the French, he spent his old age in relative comfort in an English debtors' prison. Theodore von Neuhoff, King of Corsica argues that despite all his eccentricity, Neuhoff was still a significant Enlightenment figure. Book jacket.

Contents:

Sarsfield Family Tree

Neuhoff Family Tree

Something to Hide

A Promising Young Officer

Spain and Marriage

Neuhoff's Missing Years, 1721-1733

1733-1735 : A Rebellion and a Plan

A Brilliant Campaign

The Murder of Fabiani and After

1737-1739 : Monarch on the Run

1740-1748 : Receding Hopes

1749-1756 : The Baron Bounces Back.

Notes:

"Co-published with the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc."--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781611494402

1611494400

OCLC:

811850273