Mary Caesar facts for kids

Mary Caesar (born Mary Freman around October 3, 1677, and died in July 1741) was an English writer. She was also an activist who supported the Jacobite cause. Her most famous work was a long historical record. It was never published while she was alive. This work tells the story of the early 1700s from a Jacobite point of view.

Mary Caesar's Life Story

Mary Caesar was the daughter of Elizabeth Aubrey and Ralph Freman. Her father was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertfordshire. He also owned a lot of land. Mary thought her father was "Perfect in Every Virtue," meaning he was a very good person.

Her brother, also named Ralph, was also an MP for Hertfordshire. However, Mary did not approve of him as much. This was because he supported the Hanoverian family to rule England.

Marriage and Family Life

Mary married Charles Caesar on November 14, 1702. Charles was also an MP and a fellow Jacobite supporter. Mary later helped him with his political campaigns. They had four children together. Sadly, one of their children passed away in 1740, before Mary and Charles died.

Friends and Interests

Mary Caesar was friends with famous writers like Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. She also knew the painter Charles Jervas. She really liked the poems of Matthew Prior. Mary even helped arrange money to support his work. She also helped Alexander Pope with his translation of the Odyssey, a very old Greek story.

Mary had a special hobby: collecting portraits of kings and queens. She especially loved a portrait of James Francis Edward Stuart. He was known as the Old Pretender, and many Jacobites believed he should be king. A friend named Anne Oglethorpe even brought this special portrait to Mary herself. Mary also helped design parts of the gardens at Benington. This was the home of the Caesar family.

Mary Caesar's Political Views

Mary Caesar had very strong political beliefs. She was a dedicated supporter of the Jacobite cause. This meant she believed that the Stuart family should be on the throne of England. She thought there was little difference between being a Tory and being a Jacobite. She often tried to convince her friends to support the Jacobite side. Some historians say Mary Caesar was completely devoted to Jacobitism.

Involvement in Jacobite Plots

Mary Caesar was involved in several secret Jacobite plans. One plot happened in 1716–1717. In this plan, a man named Carl Gyllenborg gathered Jacobites, including Mary's husband. Their goal was to support a Swedish invasion to remove George I from the throne.

Because of this plot, Mary's husband was arrested early in the morning on January 30, 1717. He was sent to the Tower of London, a famous prison. While her husband was in prison, Mary acted as a messenger. She helped pass messages between the imprisoned Tories and others. She did all this while also raising her family by herself.

Mary Caesar's Writings

Mary Caesar wrote a very long work, which filled five books. She started writing it on May 30, 1724, after Robert Harley died. However, her writing covered events as far back as 1705. It's hard to put her work into just one category.

Historians agree that her writing was very biased. It only showed one side of the story. She carefully chose what to include about the past and present. She wrote about family history, politics, and general history. All of it was clearly from a Jacobite point of view. Because of this, she left out some important things from her own life. For example, she didn't mention her son's death or a long illness she had. Instead, she focused on topics that fit her Jacobite ideas.

Topics in Her Work

Her work talked about many important events of the time. These included the Atterbury Plot, a plan to bring back the Stuart king. She also wrote about the Excise Crisis. This was a big argument about new taxes proposed by Robert Walpole, a powerful politician. The Porteous Riots, a famous uprising in Scotland, were also mentioned.

Mary also wrote about a meeting she had with Queen Anne. She described this meeting in a very admiring way. This happened before Queen Anne died in 1714.

Style and Purpose of Her Writing

Even though her book mixed together parts of a memoir (her own life story), a journal (daily entries), and a commonplace book (a collection of notes and quotes), it had a clear purpose. It showed her view of a group of friends from the time of Queen Anne. She believed these friends represented important values. Some people have said her book, though written in prose, was like the panegyrical poetry of the Renaissance. This type of poetry praised people or things.

One idea is that Mary used her writing to try and shape history. She was involved in political events. But by writing about them, she could control how they were remembered. However, her book was probably not shared widely when she was alive. This was because Jacobitism was a secret and often dangerous movement.

Mary Caesar herself said that writing was "Never my tallent." She always tried to avoid it if she could. Even so, her writings show good skill. She used unusual spelling, but her compositions were well-done. It is thought that she probably did not have formal writing lessons.