Sensibility and Politics: New Sources on Emperor Alexander the First

Abstract

Even 200 years after the death of Russian Emperor Alexander I, historians continue to debate the so-called mystery of his character. There are persistent beliefs about his deceitfulness, insincerity, histrionics, and his penchant for charming others, all of which concealed an inner emptiness. Meanwhile, analysis of this “mystery” allows for new approaches from the perspective of the history of emotions, which examines the accumulation of emotional experience in historical figures, an experience as real as the projects and ideas that constituted their worldviews and which has just as powerful an influence on their actions. To study this experience, it is crucial to examine personal sources, primarily correspondence. This article, for the first time, examines a set of sources, including two previously unpublished and unattributed letters from Alexander I. It focuses on the personal relationship between the Russian Emperor and Queen Hortense de Beauharnais of Holland, stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1814– 1816. It shows how this relationship formed an emotional bond, crucial for both persons at the time, how its dynamics developed, and why it quickly ended. The correspondence between Alexander and Hortense, supplemented by information from the memoirs, highlights several key character traits of the emperor, particularly those that exude the sensibility so strongly cultivated in the culture of the Age of Sentimentalism. These personal traits of Alexander I clashed with the political concepts of the Holy Alliance, which he founded at the same time. The dramatic ending of Alexander and Hortense’s relationship raises questions about the relationship between human qualities and political choices at key moments in history.