Louisa Erika of Cranaeia

Louisa Erika of Cranaeia (Greek: Λουίζα Έρικα, Louíza Érika); (German:Luise Erika) (28 August 1678 – 20 August 1740) was Empress of Diadochia between 1709 and 1726 as the spouse of Emperor Constantine VII, and dowager empress during the reign of Emperor Manuel VIII.

Background

Louisa Erika was born in 1678 in New Alexandria, Cranaeia as the daughter of the Emperor and Empress of Cranaeia. She was given the name Erika because in honour of Emperor Eric III of Diadochia who was her godfather. The Imperial courts at Atlantis and New Alexandria had always been close and it was decided soon after her birth that she would serve as the link between her homeland and her new land, that of Diadochia.

Crown Princess

In Augousta on 22 September 1704, Louisa Erika married Constantine, Prince of Bithynia, the crown prince of Diadochia. As the new Crown Princess, Erika was immediately from the moment of her marriage a Princess & Archduchess of Atlantida (Diadochia), she was also granted the traditional titles of the crown princess, including: Byzantiná, Despótissa of the Pelopónnisos, Princess of Bithynia (the most used title), Princess of Thalássa, and others.

Her brother described her to a Diadochian embassy as "arrogant, proud, temperamental and an ambitious intriguer", and that they should not let themselves be fooled by her friendliness towards them. It was originally planned that her elder sister would marry the Diadochian emperor, but the Diadochian representatives preferred Louisa Erika.

Louisa Erika was escorted to Diadochia by the Diadochian Ambassador to Cranaeia. She was received with great enthusiasm in Diadochia when she arrived in 1704, as it was hoped that she would finally solve the succession of the Diadochian crown, and she gained popularity with her beauty and by the birth of her children; at the birth of her first child, no children had been born in the immediate Diadochian imperial family many years.

At her arrival, she was given Augousta Palace, where she resided with her "young court". She was described as beautiful, cultivated, ad and an excellent hostess; she was interested in science and culture. She was also seen as extremely proud and arrogant, which made her less and less liked outside of the aristocracy over the years. The court of the crown prince couple, called "The young court", amused themselves with picnics, masquerades, fêtes and theatre and opera gala events.

Already as a crown princess presumptive, she was politically active. At a Christmas ball at the Imperial Palace in 1704, she presented the Prime Minister with a lantern in the guise of the goddess Kathará with the inscription: "Made only to shed light on the truest and brightest political system of the day". During the reign of her father-in-law Diadochia effectively reverted from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. Louisa Erika favored absolute monarchy, and she disliked the Diadochian government, from the moment it was explained for her, calling instead for the absolute authority like the days of Eric III. At her own court, she was surrounded by nobles loyal to the Vénetoi party, the conservative faction of the day, and initially she allied herself with them in her ambition to restore the power of the imperial throne. After the first years, however, she soon begun to gather followers from all parties to establish the Imperial Court Party, After the birth of her eldest son in 1705, she and the crown prince gathered followers also from the Prásinoi Party, the liberals of the day.

She learned Greek and visited several of the Prásinoi's most prominent members. At the visit of one Prásinoi member she wrote: he is the biggest villain in the world, but I will not leave until I have bribed him. That is the only means by which one can reach the goal one has in mind".

Empress

In 1709, Louisa Erika became empress when her husband acceded to the throne. She revitalized the Imperial Court of Diadochia and even founded a theater at Augousta Palace. She sponsored and favored the Atlantis Opera Ballet, founded by Eric III over sixty years ago.

In 1711, she began patronizing the Imperial Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, founded in 1661. She was a great patron of science and art, a protector of the work of many scientists, artists, painters and others.

As soon as she became empress in 1709, she made preparations to overthrow the parliament of Diadochia. The vow to respect the parliament which her husband made upon his accession to the throne was a great sorrow for her and irritated her to no end.

Her arrogance, her political views and her conflicts with the Diadochian Parliament made her unpopular during her husband's reign. One Prime Minister once said about her: "Our dear empress would have been the most staunch republican if she had been born a subject", but she was born within a class which has fought to keep their privileges and power"

The Failed Royal Revolution of 1714

Empress Louisa Erika strongly dominated her husband and the Imperia; court, and she would likely had been the real ruler during her husband's reign if the Diadochian monarchy had not been stripped of its power in the early 1700s. This greatly displeased the empress, herself born into an absolute monarchy. She could not understand nor condone the Diadochian parliament. For her, it was not acceptable for a royal person to have to receive peasants in the royal salons, as she was forced to do with the peasant's representatives from Parliament. She was further enraged when Parliament arranged the marriage between her son Manuel to Maria Magdaléna of Sconemark, when she herself had preferred a Cranaeian princess.

To display her contempt, she humiliated the representatives of Parliament by using the etiquette of the imperial court; she stopped their carriages at the Palace gates, forced them to wait for hours while she let those who arrived before them be received. When she did let them in she commanded them to sit on small little low stools before her to make them lose their dignity.

In the three months following her coronation, Louisa Erika removed the diamonds from the crown and replaced them with glass. She gathered followers among the aristocracy to plan a coup d'état to overthrow the government, dissolve the Parliament and reinstate absolute monarchy in Diadochia. Her followers were called "The Imperial court party"), and they were noblemen in opposition to Parliament for personal reasons, wishing for rewards from the empress after a successful coup.

To finance the coup, the empress pawned the jewelry she had been given as a wedding gift by the state, as well as some of the crown jewels belonging to the state, among them 68 diamonds she had placed in the Empress' Crown, which she pawned in New Alexandria to borrow money. A lady-in-waiting of the Empress informed the government that parts of the crown jewels were missing. The government demanded to inspect the crown jewels, as it was the property of the state. The Empress refused, as she did not recognize any right of the government to inspect anything. In parallel, the king was taken ill, and the government retreated to allow him to recover, giving the queen time to provide the diamonds back for the inspection. At the same time, weapons and bullets were being made. The plan was to hire criminals to cause chaos on the streets: the royalist officers would then block the streets, the royalists would be armed and the King would enter the square to "resume control", after which the public would "celebrate him as the savior from the Parliament"

On the 25 July 1714, the police heard a conspirator talk about the plans of a royal revolution while he was drunk. He was arrested and interrogated, and the next day, the arrests of the noblemen begun. When the imperial couple entered Atlantis after a stay at from Augousta Palace that night the streets where filled with the military. The whole conspiracy against Parliament was discovered and blown wide open. Parliament voted for a death sentence for four of the involved noblemen, who were decapitated in front of the Atlantis Imperial Palace. Several others were sentenced to prison, whipping, exile and the pillory, and all were banned from seats in parliament.

The Empress, who was the instigator behind all this, received a strong note from Parliament communicated by the Patriarch Matthaios XI of Atlantis, who convinced her to write a letter of confession and regret. After this the Empress wrote that she regretted nothing but that her revolution had failed. The emperor was informed by Parliament that he would be deposed if the empress ever attempted something similar again.

Dowager Empress

In 1726, the emperor died and she became Dowager Empress. Louisa Erika was at the death of her husband so immensely unpopular in Diadochia that her son the new emperor made sure that she was well guarded. dowager be protected, as "I know how little loved my mother is".

In 1727, her son the new emperor succeeded where she had failed in 1714 by overthrowing the democracy and reinstating absolute monarchy, His revolution was a great satisfaction to her. Louisa Erika wrote to Manuel VIII to congratulate him on the success of his coup upon which she said: "Yes, you are my son, and you surely deserve to be".