Louisa Sidney Stanhope

Louisa Sidney Stanhope. The Bandit's Bride; or, The Maid of Saxony. A Romance. 4 vols.

London: Lane, Newman, and Co 1807; 2nd. ed. 1818

 

Synopsis of The Bandit's Bride

The novel begins in the simple cottage of Agatha and Dusseldorf, an aging peasant couple. As a storm rages outside, the couple hears a cry of distress and discovers a woman sobbing outside their door, begging them to take care of her daughter, Rosalthe. We learn that the woman, Adela, is running from her father, the Baron de Lindenthal, who will kill the child if discovered. We further learn that the Baron has already killed Leopold, the child's father.

As the night continues, the story of Agatha and Dusseldorf's daughter, Jacquilina, unfolds. Jacquilina was a good girl, but was "seduced from her home by a villain" (18) and has not been seen since the day Dusseldorf saw her stepping into her seducer's carriage. In memory of their lost daughter, the couple agrees to adopt Rosalthe and raise her as their own.

Content in the knowledge that her daughter will be cared for, Adela prepares for her own death. She gives Agatha a miniature of Leopold (the child's father) and writes out her story, giving strict instructions that the paper not be opened while the Baron de Lindenthal is still alive. As she is dying an Abbess is brought in to attend to Adela. The abbess sees the bracelet that the girl is wearing and faints. Soon after Adela dies and is buried under a plain marble slab in the nearby abbey.

The years pass, and Rosalthe is raised as a daughter of Agatha and Dusseldorf, a kind-hearted and loving couple. When Rosalthe reaches age seven Agatha and Dusseldorf are convinced to send her to live at the convent in order to receive a proper education. While at the convent Rosalthe meets Lady Angela de Lunenberg, a young girl whose mother has recently died. Angela's father is a good man who, after the death of his wife, went to Vienna with his son, leaving Angela to the temporary care and education of the nuns.

The girls grow up together in the convent, becoming intimate friends through the years. At approximately age seventeen Rosalthe learns the mystery of her birth, just before going to visit Angela and her family at their castle. Almost immediately upon her arrival at the castle Angela's brother, Adelbert, falls in love with Rosalthe. Unfortunately, Adelbert feels that he cannot express his love due to the inequality of their stations.

One day while at walking by the castle Rosalthe is introduced to Sigismar, the Count de Lindenthal, at which she screams and faints, puzzling everyone around her. The Counts swears that he has never seen her, and Rosalthe acknowledges that he has not harmed her in any way. The Count mentions that although he has never seen Rosalthe, she is an exact resemblance of a portrait that hangs in his castle.

Noticing the mutual affection of Rosalthe and Adelbert and armed with the knowledge of the portrait in his castle, Sigismar decides that Rosalthe is too charming to be a peasant's daughter. He wonders about the portrait, and determines that Rosalthe is not who she claims to be.

After Rosalthe returns to the cottage of Agatha and Dusseldorf, the story breaks off as Rosalthe reads a manuscript detailing the origins of her convent, St. Florensia. The manuscript tells the story of Baron Randolph, a man whose daughter is prophesied to have every virtue but to live and die a virgin. Many pursue his beautiful daughter Florensia, but she is content with her life and does not accept their suits. Finally one day her horse is spooked while she is riding, and it is only when Sir Egbert de Moubrais steps in that she is able to stop it. She and the knight fall in love, but her father has already given a man named de Walstein permission to propose to Florensia in a desperate attempt to refute the prophesy. He is shocked to learn that his daughter has finally fallen in love, and grants his consent to the marriage of Florensia and Egbert.

The night before the wedding, Florensia gives Egbert a ring as a sign of her faithfulness. Unfortunately, Egbert does not appear for the nuptials and it is presumed by all that he has drowned. Florensia, in her grief, has both a chapel and a tomb built for him on the spot where he stopped her horse. Three years pass and Florensia eventually agrees to marry de Walstein, although she acknowledges that she will never love anyone but Egbert.

As Florensia proceeds down the aisle, a harpist who was admitted to the castle the night before stops her and presents to her a ring. It is, of course, Egbert and the ring is the very one that she presented to him three years before. He has been imprisoned by de Walstein for the three years that he has been gone, and has finally escaped to claim his bride. Unwillling to see Florensia with anyone else, de Walstein stabs first Egbert and then himself. Florensia, shocked and grieved by the new loss of her love, devotes her life to service in Egbert's memory. She is so untiring and good that she is eventually canonized and the convent is dedicated to her.

Volume two of the novel begins with Rosalthe going to visit Father Anselmo, a hermit who lives near the convent. Father Anselmo relates to Rosalthe the story of his own unfortunate life. He was born into a wealthy family, but by age twenty-one is irresponsible, dissolute, and highly in debt. His father, ruined by the idea of such an extravagant son, dies of grief. Anselmo is temporarily changed by the death of his father, but soon returns to his old ways. At a bar one night he picks a fight with a stranger and kills him. The stranger, it turns out, is none other than Anselmo's older brother who had gone off to India years before to seek his fortune. Feeling the need for repentence, he takes orders and goes to live in the hermitage, where he has been for the past forty years.

After Rosalthe returns to the castle Adelbert proposes to her. Afraid of his father's reaction to her low station, Rosalthe agrees to marry Adelbert only if he can obtain the Baron's consent. In the meantime, she can only swear that she loves him and will never love another. That night Rosalthe sees a figure staring at her bedroom window.

Adelbert's father, the Baron de Lunenberg, refuses to allow the marriage, stating that it would be too degrading to the family. Adelbert, terribly upset by this blow, threatens to kill himself, at which the Baron collapses. Seeing what he has done to his father, Adelbert is recalled to his duty. Although he cannot marry Rosalthe, he swears never to love another. That night, while alone in the ruins of St. Florensia, Rosalthe hears an unknown voice speak her name.

The story now turns to de Lindenthal's castle, where it is learned that Rosalthe's mother, Adela, was Sigisimar's sister. Only the Baron de Lindenthal knows what became of Adela, and he refuses to even allow her name spoken. We learn that after the death of her mother, Adela is given to a convent to be educated. As she is returning home her carriage is attacked by banditti, but she is saved by a handsome stranger. She seems happy at home for two years before becoming ill and asking her father for permission to find an old friend. They leave together, and the Baron returns alone three months later. He will say only that Adela is dead and that her name is not to be mentioned. After this is revealed, Sigismar tells his father, the Baron, about Rosalthe and her resemblance to the portrait of Adela.

That night Adelbert sneaks into Adela's old chambers where he finds a letter written to her. Through the letter, Adelbert learns that Adela was secretly married to a man whose family her father considers his enemy. Of course, they did not know each other's identities when he rescued her from the banditti, and by the time they learned it they had already fallen in love. It is revealed that Friar Lawrence, the man who married them, knows all of the details of their situation. Unfortunately, when Adelbert goes to seek him out we find that the Friar has gone on a pilgrimage and will not be returning for quite some time.

The night that Rosalthe is to return to the convent she disappears. Adelbert goes to the cottage of Agatha and Dusseldorf and there discovers that Rosalthe is lost. Frantic with worry, Adelbert rushes out into a storm to find her. His search is fruitless, and while looking he becomes very ill.

We discover that Rosalthe has been kidnapped by a man named Hildebrand, the chief of a band of notorious bandits. He has fallen in love with Rosalthe, and it is he that she has seen lurking around her home late at night. Hildebrand gives Rosalthe three days to compose herself, stating that on the fourth day they will be married.

While pondering her fate Rosalthe begins receiving letters from Wilhelm, a member of Hildebrand's band who wishes to help her escape. He claims that once they escape together he will join a monastery in penance for his life of crime, but in the meantime does not wish to betray his band. Thus he makes Rosalthe swear that she will not reveal the men or the cave that they are in.

On the day of the planned escape Hildebrand returns too early, foiling the attempt at freedom. He has kidnapped a monk to marry them, and it turns out that the monk is none other than Friar Lawrence. Lawrence refuses to perform the ceremony, and as punishment Hildebrand has him locked in the dungeon.

At this point we return to de Lunenberg castle and the return of the Baron. He learns that Rosalthe is lost and Adelbert very ill, causing him to realize that he should have given his consent to the marriage.

Back with the bandits, Hildebrand finds a more unscrupulous monk and is married to Rosalthe. She is now the Bandit's Bride. Directly after the ceremony Hildebrand runs off to fight, and Rosalthe escapes through a trap door in her chambers. Her return, however, is less than joyous as she is now married and not free to be with Adelbert. Upon learning what has happened Adelbert implores her not to be rash and become a nun while hope still exists that they can one day be together. He leaves Saxon, unable to bear being so close to Rosalthe when he cannot be with her.

At the convent, Rosalthe tells her story to Sister Josepha, who then confesses that she is, in fact, Agatha and Dusseldorf's lost daughter, Jacquilina. She claims that her vanity lead to her to run off with an unnamed Baron. She eventually gives birth to both a son, Ludovis, and a daughter, Agatha. At this point she learns that the Baron is, in fact, married to another woman and already has an heir to his properties. At the same time her daughter becomes ill, and despite all of her care the infant dies. Soon after the death of her daughter Jacquilina joins the convent as Sister Josepha, sending her son to live with his father. As part of her penance she goes to the ruins every night to pray, and it is she that people sometimes see and hear there. There is a joyous reunion with Agatha and Dusseldorf.

Angela returns to her home with Sigismar, who has become her fiancé. Soon after Rosalthe is tricked and kidnapped by Hildebrand, who has been intent on recapturing his bride. Before he can get her to his cave, however, they encounter the Baron and Count (Sigismar) de Lindenthal. There is a fight, and both Hildebrand and the Baron are wounded.

Baron de Lindenthal is taken to St. Florensia's, where we learn that he was Jacquilina's seducer. We further learn that he still loves her and regrets their separation. We then discover that the Abbess is, in fact, the Baron's supposed dead wife, Beatrice, and thus Adela's mother and Rosalthe's grandmother. Before faking her death in order to escape the jealous baron, Beatrice left a bracelet with Adela. When she noticed the same bracelet years later she knew that Adela was her daughter, which is why she fainted that night.

Baron de Lindenthal has Count de Rosencrantz sent for. De Rosencrantz is none other than Leopold, Adela's husband and Rosalthe's father. After wounding him, the Baron had him imprisoned in the castle, where he has been for these nineteen years.

Wilhelm shows up at this point to announce that Hildebrand is dead and that Rosalthe is free to marry Adelbert. Wilhelm is, of course, the son that Jacquilina sent to live with his father before joining the convent, and thus Sigismar's half-brother and Rosalthe's uncle, not to mention the grandson of Dusseldorf and Agatha.

Finally, Friar Lawrence arrives, having escaped after Hildebrand's death. It is discovered that Friar Lawrence used to be called de Kronenfeld, and is Beatrice's long lost brother, and thus Rosalthe's Great-Uncle.

- Prepared by Elizabeth Kistler, University of Nebraska, December 2002.