{"id":1641,"date":"2026-11-10T22:36:50","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T22:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/?page_id=1641"},"modified":"2026-11-11T00:37:05","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T00:37:05","slug":"viii-venetian-grandmaster","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/viii-venetian-grandmaster\/","title":{"rendered":"VIII. Venetian Grandmaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Prisoner of Mons Castle, the Vienna Investigation of 1846\u20131851, and the Secret Patrons of Annibal Pauli de Rionzini<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">In the previous chapter, we left the <strong>Derionzini<\/strong> (<em>de Rionzini<\/em> \/ <em>de Rion Zini<\/em>) family in a curious position. Half a century of Moscow trials and tribulations lay behind them: the twelve-year-old orphan from Danish <strong>Altona<\/strong> and Hanseatic <strong>L\u00fcbeck<\/strong>, <strong>Klementy Pavlovich Derionzini<\/strong> (<em>Clemens Augustus de Rionzini<\/em>, 1744\u20131816), had learned in <strong>Moscow<\/strong> to chase gold and silver snuffboxes, married the emancipated serf widow <strong>Afimya Fedorovna Zybina<\/strong>, and ended his days on public charity at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sklifosovsky_Institute\">Count Sheremetev\u2019s Almshouse and Hospital<\/a>. His restless son <strong>Gavrila Klementyevich<\/strong> survived Napoleon\u2019s invasion of Moscow in 1812, and in 1814 became a suspect in a criminal investigation that brought to light an entire trunk of his grandfather\u2019s old European passports and baptismal certificates-papers that proved sufficient evidence of his comital dignity for the Moscow investigators. Putting his judicial troubles behind him, Gavrila married the state-certified midwife <strong>Alexandra Mikhailovna Vasilyeva<\/strong>. And their firstborn-the Senate chancellery clerk and Vladimir landowner <strong>Alexander Gavrilovich Derionzini<\/strong>, having married <strong>Marya Petrovna Lyalina<\/strong>, stepdaughter of Lieutenant <strong>Ludwig Karlovich von Strahlborn<\/strong>-resolved in 1846 to demand official confirmation of his comital title in <strong>Vienna<\/strong> through the Russian Imperial Embassy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity cinematic-divider\"\/>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Full Text of the \u201cTranslation of Proof of Title\u201d (Passports and Baptismal Certificates of 1727\u20131752) from the 1814 Investigative File (TsGA Moskvy, vyazka 493, file No. 106481, fols. 6\u201313)<\/strong>:<\/summary>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Translation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We, the Consuls and Lieutenants in the Governorate of the city of Toulon (<em>Toulon<\/em>), Magistrates of Police and Directors of Val d\u2019Ardenne (<em>Val d&#8217;Ardenne \/ Dardenne<\/em>).<\/strong> Certify and attest to whom it may concern that Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong> (<em>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/em>), from Venise [Venice] (<em>Venise \/ Venezia<\/em>), 20 years of age, of medium stature, and <strong>Stephan Dory<\/strong> (<em>Stephan Dory<\/em>), his servant, are departing from this city for Nice (<em>Nice<\/em>). We request all directors, governors, mayors, consuls, and others whom it may concern to grant them free passage and unhindered sojourn. In witness whereof we have given them this certificate signed by our hand, with the affixing of the municipal coat-of-arms seal, countersigned by the secretary and archivist of the government. At Toulon, <strong>September 30, 1727<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Enno<\/strong>, Consul (<em>Enno<\/em>). By order of Messieurs the Consuls &#8211; <strong>Toussaint<\/strong> (<em>Toussaint<\/em>).<br><em>(Running endorsement at the bottom: Translated from the originals by chancery clerk&#8230;)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We, the Principals and Aldermen of the city of Lille (<em>Lille<\/em>) in Flanders (<em>Flandria<\/em>),<\/strong> notify and certify to whom it may concern that Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong> (<em>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/em>), a native of the city of Venice, has resided in this city for about two months; whereupon he requested from us a certificate for free passage on his intended journey, we have issued him this with the affixing of the municipal coat-of-arms seal. <strong>December 28th day, 1730.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Signed: <strong>Le Roy<\/strong> (<em>Le Roy<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Eight Men in the city of Lille in Flanders<\/strong> declare and certify to whom it may concern that in this city there is no contagious disease, and that Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong>, traveling from <strong>Bain<\/strong> (<em>Bain-de-Bretagne<\/em>) according to the certificate of Monsieur <strong>Gilles Robert<\/strong> (<em>Gilles Robert<\/em>), courier, and Monsieur <strong>de Lambilly<\/strong> (<em>de Lambilly<\/em>), governor [seneschal] and sole judge of the magistrate of the Marzeli\u00e8re, Bain, and police Barony (<em>Baronnie de La Marzeli\u00e8re et de Bain<\/em>), deputy [subdelegate] of His Excellency of the Province of Brittany and the Department of Bain (<em>Subd\u00e9l\u00e9gu\u00e9 de l&#8217;Intendant de Bretagne au d\u00e9partement de Bain<\/em>), is currently in this city. At his request for a certificate from us, we have given him this, and request whom it may concern&#8230; to grant him free passage. In witness whereof, the seal of the aforesaid city is affixed and signed by our clerk. <strong>May 19th day, 1730.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the Board &#8211; <strong>Vulpudeman<\/strong> (<em>Vulpudeman<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We, the Mayors and Aldermen of the city of Blois (<em>Blois<\/em>), certify to whom it may concern,<\/strong> that Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong> (<em>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/em>), a native of the city of Venice, stayed in this city for 15 days and declared to us that he wishes to depart tomorrow to continue his journey; in witness whereof we have signed this certificate, to which we have affixed the municipal coat-of-arms seal countersigned by the municipal secretary. Given at Blois, <strong>January 8th day, 1734.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Druillon<\/strong> (<em>Pierre Druillon<\/em>). <strong>Guillery<\/strong>, Secretary (<em>Guillery<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>(Written in the margin)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We, the Governor of the Castle of Joux [Ch\u00e2teau de Joux, <em>Ch\u00e2teau de Joux<\/em>] of the town and district of Pontarlier (<em>Pontarlier<\/em>) in Franche-Comt\u00e9 (<em>Franche-Comt\u00e9<\/em>), certify,<\/strong> that the bearer hereof, Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong>, passed through this town with his spouse, stating that he is returning to Venice. Pontarlier, <strong>June 2nd day, 1734.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the Police &#8211; <strong>Roussache<\/strong> (<em>Roussache<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We, Karl Hackbrett, Lord of the Manor of Kehrsatz (<em>Karl Hackbrett, Seigneur de Kehrsatz<\/em>),<\/strong> of the Council of State of the City and Republic of Bern (<em>Bern<\/em>), Bailiff [Governor] of the city of Lausanne (<em>Lausanne<\/em>), in the name and by order of Their Excellencies of the said Council of Bern, our sovereigns and lords, formerly Lieutenant General and Colonel of a Swiss regiment in the service of His Majesty the King of Sardinia, certify that Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong>, a native of the city of Venice, and his spouse resided in this city of Lausanne for about one month, during which time they conducted themselves as honest and noble persons, and, intending to continue their journey to Venice, whence Monsieur the Count departed several years ago for travel, requested us to grant them a passport, whereby we request and require all directors, officials, governors, rulers, bailiffs, and all those with whom they may have dealings to grant them free passage there and back and unhindered sojourn, not permitting any trouble or hindrance to be caused to them, but on the contrary &#8211; assisting them on all occasions; and promising to act in like manner toward all who shall be addressed to us by them; in witness whereof this is given to them at the Castle of Lausanne with the affixing of the coat of arms of our seal and signed by our secretary. <strong>June 29th day, 1734.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Translator <strong>Detallant<\/strong> (<em>Detallant \/ De Tallens<\/em>).<br><em>(On the right)<\/em> <strong>J. L. Milor<\/strong> (<em>J. L. Milot \/ Milor<\/em>).<br><em>(Running endorsement across the folios: Collegiate &#8211; Registrar &#8211; Kronsberg)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We, the Burgomasters and Council of Lausanne, declare,<\/strong> that Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong> appeared before us and requested us to issue a passport both for himself and for his spouse to travel to Italy; granting his request, we ask all directors, governors, rulers, and all other officers subordinate to them to grant free passage there and back to the aforesaid count and his spouse, not permitting any trouble or hindrance to be caused to them; but on the contrary &#8211; we ask them to assist him in all things, offering on our part to act in like manner toward all who shall be addressed to us by them. In witness whereof we have affixed our seal beside the signature of our secretary. <strong>June 29th day, 1734.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lev Vasily de Bernazh (<em>Louis-Basile de Bernage<\/em>), Lord of Saint-Maurice (<em>Saint-Maurice<\/em>), Vaux (<em>Vaux<\/em>), Chassy (<em>Chassy<\/em>), and other places,<\/strong> Councillor of State, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, Intendant of Justice, Police, and Finance in the Province of Languedoc (<em>Languedoc<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We certify that Monsieur Count <strong>Annibal Rion de Zini<\/strong> resided with his spouse for about 6 months in this city, where they conducted themselves honestly and befitting their rank; he declared to us that he is setting out on a journey to return to Venice, his homeland. We request whom it may concern and command all others to grant them free passage and not to permit any trouble or hindrance to be caused to them, but on the contrary, to render them assistance in case of need. Given at <strong>Montpellier (<em>Montpellier<\/em>), April 10th day, 1738.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Le Bernage<\/strong> (<em>Le Bernage<\/em>). By command &#8211; <strong>Gracel<\/strong> (<em>Gracel<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I, the undersigned Wilhelmus Matthias (<em>Wilhelmus Matthias<\/em>), Jesuit<\/strong>, apostolic missionary of the Christian faith, do hereby certify that according to the rite of the Roman Catholic Church I baptized in <strong>\u2019s-Gravenhage [The Hague]<\/strong> (<em>\u2019s-Gravenhage<\/em>), in Holland, <strong>Alexander Josephus<\/strong> (<em>Alexander Josephus<\/em>), legitimate son of the Noble <strong>Annibal Paul<\/strong> and the Noble Lady <strong>Anna Maria Le Moir<\/strong> (<em>Anna Maria Le Moir<\/em>). The godparents were: Count <strong>Alexander Poniatowski<\/strong> (<em>Alexander Poniatowski<\/em>) and Her Excellency the <strong>Marchioness von Saint-Gilles<\/strong> (<em>Marquise von Saint-Gilles<\/em>). In witness whereof I have given this under my own hand. <strong>\u2019s-Gravenhage, April 26, 1740.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Wilhelmus Matthias. Marchioness of Saint-Gilles. Alexander Poniatowski. Alexander.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Unto the readers &#8211; the grace of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I, the undersigned, certify that <strong>Carolus Franciscus<\/strong> (<em>Carolus Franciscus<\/em>), legitimate son of <strong>Annibal Paul von Rion de Zini<\/strong> and the Most Noble Lady <strong>Anna Maria<\/strong>, n\u00e9e <strong>Le Moir<\/strong>, was baptized in our parish of <strong>Saints Quintin and Blaise<\/strong> (<em>SS. Quintini et Blasii<\/em>) on <strong>February 2, 1749<\/strong>. The godfather was: His Excellency <strong>Count von Cobenzl<\/strong> (<em>Graf von Cobenzl<\/em>), Envoy of His Majesty. In witness whereof I have given this baptismal certificate, transcribed from the general register of baptisms, under my own hand and affixed with my customary seal. <strong>Mainz (<em>Mainz<\/em>), February 4, 1749.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Matthaeus Gor<\/strong>, Archpriest (<em>Matthaeus Gor, archipresbyter<\/em>). <strong>Karl Graf von Cobenzl<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I, the undersigned, certify that Clemens Augustus<\/strong>, legitimate son of Annibal Paul and Lady Anna Maria Le Moir, was baptized according to the rite of the Roman Catholic Church on <strong>June 17, 1744<\/strong>. The godparents were: His Serene Highness the Elector and Archbishop of Cologne (represented at the font by Monsieur Gor, priest of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary), and the Most Noble Lady Johanna Christina von Bovensteiner. In witness whereof I have signed this with my own hand and affixed my customary seal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mors<\/strong>, Canon. <strong>J. J. Gor<\/strong>, Dean in Kleve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thus reads the original, and that this has been faithfully transcribed from the original, I certify with my own hand and the affixing of the seal of the Roman Catholic Church in Moscow. Given in Moscow at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on <strong>July 24, 1790<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tadeusz Oliczewski<\/strong>, priest at the Roman Catholic Church in Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Extract from the register of deaths<\/strong> at the church in the town of Altona, written by me word for word: August 10, 1752. Count Annibal de Pauli de Rion de Zini from Venice passed away on November 19, 1750, and was buried on November 25 in the Catholic church in Altona, in the presence of a large congregation, having previously received the Holy Sacraments. For greater certitude I, the undersigned, do hereby attest: <strong>Father P. F. Clovet, Jesuit<\/strong> (<em>P. Franciscus Clouet, S.J.<\/em>).<br><em>Transcribed from the original in Moscow at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, July 24, 1790.<\/em> <strong>Tadeusz Oliczewski<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the catalogs of the Austrian State Archives (<em>\u00d6sterreichisches Staatsarchiv<\/em>), two folders separated by \u0440\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e one century awaited me: a slender bundle of French letters from <strong>1739\u20131740<\/strong> in the family archive of the Counts von Harrach (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.archivinformationssystem.at\/detail.aspx?ID=2214711\"><em>AT-OeStA\/AVA FA Harrach Fam. in spec 568.25<\/em><\/a>) and a thick dossier from <strong>1846\u20131851<\/strong> in the Nobility Archive of the Ministry of the Interior (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.archivinformationssystem.at\/detail.aspx?ID=4392332\"><em>AT-OeStA\/AVA Adel HAA AR 798.43<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I examined both files and compared them against the original eighteenth-century parish registers of Holland and Germany, a dizzying story began to unfold before my eyes. Woven together within it were the secret diplomacy of the first half of the eighteenth century, prison casemates, bureaucratic blunders, the barricades of the Italian Revolution of 1848, and the audacious spirit of a man who managed to cover his tracks for more than a hundred years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To appreciate the full scale of this mystification, let us begin with the oldest folder and travel back to the winter of 1738\/1739-twelve years before the dynasty\u2019s founder died in Altona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/harrach-2-1024x641.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3513\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">AT-OeStA\/AVA FA Harrach Fam. in spec. 568.25&nbsp;Pauli de Rionzinni, Annibale, Korrespondenz mit Friedrich August, 1739-1740.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:50%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"765\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"de rionzini maria lemoir\" class=\"wp-image-1642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir-765x1024.jpg 765w, https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir-224x300.jpg 224w, https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir-768x1029.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir-1147x1536.jpg 1147w, https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir-1529x2048.jpg 1529w, https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-maria-lemoir.jpg 1792w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 765px) 100vw, 765px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Castle of Joux [<em>Ch\u00e2teau de Joux<\/em>] of the town and district of Pontarlier (<em>Pontarlier<\/em>) in Franche-Comt\u00e9 (<em>Franche-Comt\u00e9<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity cinematic-divider\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Act I. The Mystery of the Fortress Prison of Mons (1738\u20131740)<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If one were to judge the founder of the family solely by those ceremonial travel passports from <strong>Toulon<\/strong>, <strong>Bain<\/strong>, <strong>Lille<\/strong>, <strong>Blois<\/strong>, <strong>Pontarlier<\/strong>, <strong>Lausanne<\/strong>, and <strong>Montpellier<\/strong> that his son Klementy Pavlovich solemnly had certified in 1790 at the Moscow Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul, the life of the Venetian Count <strong>Annibal Pauli de Rion Zini<\/strong> (<em>Annibale Pauli de Rionzini<\/em>, 1707\u20131750) would look like one uninterrupted holiday. Governors, burgomasters, and royal intendants vied with one another to attest that the native of <strong>Venice<\/strong> and his French wife <strong>Anna Maria Le Moir<\/strong> conducted themselves \u201cas honest and noble persons,\u201d instructing all authorities along their route to render them every assistance. Yet the folder labeled <em>\u201cPauli de Rionzini Anibale 1739, 1740\u201d<\/em> from the archive of the Counts von Harrach transports us from a tour of Provence and Switzerland straight into a prison cell in the city of <strong>Mons<\/strong>-capital of the County of Hainaut in the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In December 1738 (barely eight months after receiving his grand passport in Montpellier!), Annibal Pauli de Rion Zini was seized in Mons. Moreover, he was arrested not by local watchmen over some tavern brawl, but <strong>at the personal requisition and direct order of the ruler of the country<\/strong>-the Plenipotentiary Minister (de facto viceroy) of the Austrian Netherlands, Count <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Friedrich_August_von_Harrach-Rohrau\"><strong>Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau<\/strong><\/a> (1696\u20131749)!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rion-zini.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rion-zini-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3481\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/De-Rion-Zini-1739.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/De-Rion-Zini-1739-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3483\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">The picture of this arrest, described by the prisoner himself in his letters to Count von Harrach, looks more than anything like the apprehension of a dangerous state criminal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li>Annibal is taken into custody, and his rented quarters in Mons are subjected to a sweeping search, with all his furniture, belongings, and-most tellingly!-<strong>all his personal papers, letters, and memoranda<\/strong> (<em>papiers et memoires<\/em>) confiscated;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>for seven weeks he is held in the strictest solitary confinement (<em>au secret<\/em>), barred from writing or receiving visitors while all his correspondence is intercepted;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>finally, when an agent sent by a certain Monsieur <strong>Stelle<\/strong> travels specially from the capital, <strong>Brussels<\/strong> (<em>Bruxelles<\/em>), to Mons to hand the prisoner the substantial sum of <strong>sixty gold louis d\u2019or<\/strong> for the annual holidays, the jailer refuses the courier entry at the threshold, declaring that the detainee is a common criminal locked up for theft and that \u201cit is all over with him\u201d!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In his letters to Count von Harrach, Annibal alludes to certain unnamed accusers in <strong>London<\/strong>, at whose instigation the Brussels minister had issued the warrant for his arrest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">On <strong>February 17, 1739<\/strong>, Annibale addresses Count Friedrich August von Harrach in polished court French, writing with the dignity of an aggrieved gentleman and signing his name <strong><em>Anibale Pauli de Rion Zini<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He confronts the judges of Mons with impeccable legal erudition. Thoroughly versed in the intricacies of European procedural law, Annibale points out that over the course of two months his mysterious London pursuers have neither dared to appear in court in person nor deposited funds to cover his prison rations. And under the laws of the County of Hainaut, if a charge remains unproven and a creditor fails to pay for a debtor\u2019s maintenance, the magistrate is legally bound to release the prisoner!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following Annibal\u2019s petition of April 27 and letters from Count von Harrach himself dated April 3 and May 2, the municipal magistrate of Mons issues an official verdict on <strong>May 2, 1739<\/strong> (signed by Referendary <strong>M. F. Pepin<\/strong>): <strong>to release Annibal Pauli from custody<\/strong> while fully reserving his right to sue for damages and moral injury against whomever he deems fit to hold accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyone else in his shoes would have fled Mons that very hour, crossing himself in relief at having escaped the gallows or the galleys. But not Annibal! No sooner do the magistrate members <strong>Sieur de Malengreau and Sieur de Florieur<\/strong> hand him a copy of the order of release than our hero (assisted by a local advocate named <strong>Franque<\/strong>) launches a counteroffensive. In a letter to Count von Harrach dated <strong>May 5\u20139, 1739<\/strong>, he demands the immediate return of his seized trunk containing his effects, papers, and memoranda so that he may \u201cproceed without delay to England (<em>Engletere<\/em>) to conclude his affairs there and prove to the public that there has never been anything but probity in his conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>A year later, on <strong>May 27, 1740<\/strong>, a new lengthy missive from Annibal lands on Count von Harrach\u2019s desk in Brussels-this time from <strong>Amsterdam<\/strong>, written from <em>Lange Leidsedwarsstraat<\/em>, at the house of Monsieur <strong>de la Varenne<\/strong> next door to the printing house of the \u201cFrench Gazette\u201d (<em>Gazette Fran\u00e7oise<\/em>).<\/summary>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to I. H. van Eeghen\u2019s foundational study of the Amsterdam book trade (<em>\u201cDe Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680\u20131725\u201d<\/em>) and the French academic dictionary <em>\u201cDictionnaire des journalistes (1600\u20131789)\u201d<\/em>, this address can be pinpointed down to a specific stretch of the street:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li>The \u201cFrench Gazette\u201d (<em>Gazette Fran\u00e7oise<\/em>) mentioned by Annibal is the famous international political newspaper <strong><em>La Gazette d&#8217;Amsterdam<\/em><\/strong>, published in French since the late seventeenth century and circulated at every European court.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 1740, the privilege to publish the <em>Gazette d&#8217;Amsterdam<\/em> was held by the Huguenot dynasty <strong>Tronchin Dubreuil<\/strong>-the publisher <strong>C\u00e9sar Tronchin Dubreuil<\/strong> (1683\u20131740) and his wife <strong>Louise de Roussillon<\/strong> (ca. 1690\u20131752).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 1740, the publisher\u2019s family lived in a townhouse on the <strong>Prinsengracht<\/strong> canal, while <strong>the printing house of the \u201cAmsterdam Gazette\u201d was situated directly behind them in two adjoining houses on Lange Leidsedwarsstraat<\/strong> (<em>\u201cL&#8217;imprimerie se trouvait dans deux maisons de la Lange Leidse Dwarsstraat\u201d<\/em>), on the block <strong>between the Spiegelgracht canal and Kruisstraat<\/strong> (<em>\u201cDwarsstraat tussen de Spiegelgracht en Kruisstraat\u201d<\/em>). The registered owner of these two houses containing the printing presses was the newspaper\u2019s bookkeeper, <strong>Daniel Gongoux<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>On a modern map of Amsterdam<\/strong>, this section corresponds to the eastern half of <strong>Lange Leidsedwarsstraat<\/strong>-between the intersections with <em>Leidsestraat \/ Kruisstraat<\/em> and the <em>Spiegelgracht<\/em> embankment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Checking the name of his landlord (<strong>Monsieur de la Varenne<\/strong>) yielded an astonishing result! It turned out that Annibal Pauli was by no means renting lodgings from a random Amsterdam burgher! His proximity to the printing house of the \u201cFrench Gazette\u201d on <em>Lange Leidsedwarsstraat<\/em> made it possible to identify this man with certainty through the database of eighteenth-century European journalists (<em>Dictionnaire des journalistes<\/em>, entry no. 518):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">The master of the house was <strong>Jean-Baptiste Le Villain de La Varenne<\/strong> (1689 \u2013 buried November 25, 1745, in Amsterdam)-a well-known French political \u00e9migr\u00e9, publicist, pamphleteer, and&#8230; <strong>editor-in-chief of that very same \u201cAmsterdam Gazette\u201d (<em>Gazette d&#8217;Amsterdam<\/em>)<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In the 1730s in The Hague, de La Varenne had published the sensational politico-satirical journal <em>\u201cLe Glaneur historique, moral, litt\u00e9raire, galant, et calottin\u201d<\/em>, followed by <em>\u201cL&#8217;Observateur litt\u00e9raire, historique, philosophique, politique&#8230;\u201d<\/em> (1736\u20131738) (historians of the eighteenth-century press specifically note how closely political journalism and diplomatic espionage were intertwined in his career). Around <strong>1738\u20131740<\/strong>, de La Varenne moved to Amsterdam and became the lead editor of the <em>Gazette d&#8217;Amsterdam<\/em> in the employ of publisher C\u00e9sar Tronchin Dubreuil, settling on <em>Lange Leidsedwarsstraat<\/em> literally next door to his newspaper\u2019s printing presses! Notably, it was precisely in 1740 that the newspaper\u2019s proprietor C\u00e9sar Tronchin Dubreuil passed away, leaving the printing house to his widow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/de-rionzini-veron-vertical-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3535\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This means that Annibal had direct access to Europe\u2019s premier \u201cnews factory\u201d! In the eighteenth century, the French-language newspapers of Holland (<em>Gazette d&#8217;Amsterdam<\/em> and <em>Gazette de Leyde<\/em>) served as the continent\u2019s key news agencies: secret dispatches and political compromising material from London, Vienna, Brussels, and Paris were published on their pages-and even more frequently sold under the counter to foreign envoys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now it becomes crystal clear why on <strong>April 26, 1740<\/strong>, in neighboring The Hague-in the <strong>Chapel of the French Envoy on Casuariestraat<\/strong> (<em>Kapel van de Franse gezant aan de Casuariestraat<\/em>)-Annibal\u2019s firstborn son is baptized by the Polish grandee Count <strong>Alexander Poniatowski<\/strong> and the wife of the Spanish Ambassador, the <strong>Marchioness of Saint-Gilles<\/strong>, and why \u0440\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e one month later, on <strong>May 27, 1740<\/strong>, Annibal writes to the governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Count von Harrach, from Amsterdam-straight from the apartment of the editor-in-chief of the <em>Gazette d&#8217;Amsterdam<\/em>, Jean-Baptiste Le Villain de La Varenne! Our Venetian moved at the very heart of the European information network, where diplomats, secret couriers, and political pamphleteers crossed paths every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this dramatic Amsterdam missive, Annibal reports that prior to his departure from Brussels for Holland, Count von Harrach himself had furnished him with a letter of recommendation to a certain Monsieur <strong>Carpantier<\/strong> to negotiate with his London accusers, but that Carpantier\u2019s mission had failed to secure any compensation for his losses. Next comes a heart-wrenching picture of suffering: Annibal assures the minister that the shock of his imprisonment in Mons had confined him to bed with a violent fever, rheumatism, and dropsy; that a German physician, Doctor <strong>Spreghan<\/strong>, had treated him continuously for nine months alongside Doctors <strong>Rengr\u00e9<\/strong> and <strong>Mansuet<\/strong>; and that he had sold all his clothes and pawned his diamonds (<em>engager mes diamants<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">And at the close of this lament, he advances a truly virtuosic legal demand: since the judges of Mons failed to name his secret London informers in their verdict of acquittal, yet granted him the right to claim damages \u201cagainst whomever he deems fit,\u201d let Count von Harrach himself use his authority to compel the Magistrate of Mons to pay him financial compensation for his unlawful arrest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reading closely into the closing lines of the Amsterdam letter of May 27, 1740, it is hard to believe that behind the innocent return address at the very bottom of the page lay nothing more than the ordinary complaint of an ailing wanderer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is unlikely that Annibal Pauli was trying to issue a blunt threat to the all-powerful governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Count Friedrich August von Harrach. Rather, one discerns in this gesture the velvet hint of a man simultaneously soliciting financial relief and discreetly advertising his own usefulness. Just picture the scene: across four pages, Annibal eloquently paints his afflictions-nine months of grave illness, physicians at his bedside, his clothes sold off, his diamonds pawned, and the collapse of peace talks through Monsieur Carpantier. And then, as if in passing, he neatly writes out his return address: Amsterdam, <em>Lange Leidsedwarsstraat<\/em>, at the house of Monsieur de La Varenne (<em>Jean-Baptiste Le Villain de La Varenne<\/em>), \u201cnext to the printing house of the French Gazette\u201d (<em>Gazette Fran\u00e7oise<\/em>). Outwardly, it sounded like a humble plea for grace and patronage. Yet between the lines gleamed a transparent calculation: <em>\u201cLook, Your Excellency: I am ruined, forsaken by all, and in dire need of money, yet by a twist of fate I share a roof with the man who makes the news for all of Europe. I seek no quarrel-on the contrary, I desire reconciliation with all my heart and stand ready to serve Your Excellency. Would it not be wiser to extend a helping hand to a man moving at the very center of Amsterdam\u2019s newspaper kitchen, granting him a modest pension or a delicate commission, rather than leaving him in extreme want literally one wall away from the printing press?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">And that is not all! When we compare the prison saga in Mons with a document that would surface later in the Vienna dossier of 1846\u20131851-the <strong>certificate issued by the Venetian Resident in London, Giacomo Busenello, on September 1 (11), 1736<\/strong>, to Annibale Pauli di Rionzini-a striking chronological coincidence comes to light!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the diplomatic archives of Great Britain (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/cal-state-papers\/venice\/vol1\/cxxii-cxxix\"><em>Calendar of State Papers Relating to English Affairs in the Archives of Venice<\/em><\/a>) and the Italian Biographical Encyclopedia (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.treccani.it\/enciclopedia\/francesco-venier_(Dizionario-Biografico)\/\"><em>Treccani<\/em><\/a>), the Venetian diplomat Giacomo Busenello arrived in London and assumed his post as Resident on <strong>August 10, 1736<\/strong>-meaning he wrote out the certificate for our Annibale Pauli <strong>barely three weeks after <\/strong>he arrived<strong> in England<\/strong>! Less than a year later, on <strong>July 4, 1737<\/strong>, a major international scandal erupted in London: King George II of Great Britain officially expelled Giacomo Busenello from the country, ordering him to leave England within days. The reason was that the Republic of Venice had accorded covert royal honors to the eldest son of the Jacobite claimant to the British throne-Prince Charles Edward Stuart (\u201cBonnie Prince Charlie\u201d)-while he was visiting Venice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Already on <strong>July 13, 1737<\/strong>, the expelled envoy Busenello crossed from London into France (to Paris), and diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Venice were severed for many years. Now look at how synchronously our hero\u2019s itinerary moves: in July 1737, Busenello is expelled in scandal from England to France-and in those very same months (autumn 1737), Annibal Pauli and his wife also turn up in France, where they live for six months in Montpellier until April 1738! And when he appears in the Austrian Netherlands (in Mons) in December 1738, <strong>someone from London<\/strong> secures his immediate arrest \u201cwith cords on his fingers,\u201d tujuh weeks of strict solitary confinement, and the seizure of all his papers and memoranda! It looks very much as though in London in 1736\u20131737 Annibal Pauli had been embroiled not merely in private debts, but in the intrigue surrounding the mission of the disgraced Resident Busenello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Closing this 1739\u20131740 folder, one cannot help wondering: who is this audacious prisoner who cites legal statutes with effortless ease, pawns diamonds, receives 60 gold louis d\u2019or at a time from Brussels, negotiates through Count von Harrach\u2019s confidants, and demands satisfaction from judges and ministers? Are we truly looking at a slandered Venetian grandee who fell victim to a political or financial intrigue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">The secret remained buried in European archives for exactly one hundred and six years-until the summer of 1846, when the great-grandson of that very prisoner, the modest Moscow chancellery clerk Alexander Gavrilovich Derionzini, decided to claim his count\u2019s coronet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Verbatim Texts and Translations of the Four Documents from the Archive of the Counts von Harrach in Vienna (1739\u20131740, AT-OeStA\/AVA FA Harrach Fam. in spec 568.25)<\/strong>:<\/summary>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Document 1. Letter from Annibal Pauli de Rion Zini from the Prison of the City of Mons to Count Friedrich August von Harrach (February 17, 1739)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Original (French):<\/strong><br><em>1739 febr 17. Monseigneur, Comme par le proces instruit a ma charge par le Magistrat de la Ville de Mons suiuant la saisie de ma personne faite a la requisition et ordre de Vostre Excellenze il ne resulte rien de criminel a ma charge, seulement quelque dettes dont je suis charg\u00e9 a Londre et que depuis deux mois que je suis arrestet personne de me Creancier n&#8217;at parus soit pour rancharger sur ma personne soit pour donner commission de me retenir selon le regles de justice les ajant appel\u00e9z et citt\u00e9 Moy meeme Dans mon interogatio, ce pourque je suplie tres homblement Votre Excellenze de declarer audit Magistra que n&#8217;ajan parveu parson\u00eb a cett effet ils deueront m&#8217; elargir faute de payement de nouriture et lors ettan en liberte, je ne menageray rien pour me mettre en etat de les satisfaire, c&#8217;est la grase que espere d&#8217;obtenir De Votre Excellanza. Monseigneur, Mons ce 17 feuvrier 1739. Le plus humble et le plus Obeissant de tout se. Serviteur et presonier, <strong>Anibale Pauli de Rion Zini<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>English Translation:<\/strong><br><em>February 17, 1739. Monseigneur, Since in the course of the legal proceedings instituted against me by the Magistrate of the City of Mons following the seizure of my person carried out at the requisition and order of Your Excellency, nothing criminal has resulted against me-only certain debts with which I am burdened in London-and since during the two months that I have been under arrest none of my creditors has appeared either to bring further charges against my person or to give instructions to detain me according to the rules of justice, even though I myself called upon and cited them during my interrogation; wherefore I most humbly beseech Your Excellency to declare to the said Magistrate that, no one having appeared for this purpose, they must release me for non-payment of [my] maintenance. And once at liberty, I shall spare no effort to put myself in a position to satisfy them [pay the debts]. This is the favor that I hope to obtain from Your Excellency. Monseigneur, Mons, this 17th of February 1739. The most humble and most obedient of all servants and prisoner, <strong>Anibale Pauli de Rion Zini<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Document 2. Official Decree of the Magistrate of the City of Mons Ordering the Release of Annibal Pauli (May 2, 1739)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Original (French):<\/strong><br><em>Revu par Messieurs du Magistrat de la Ville de mons le placet d&#8217;Anibal Pauli du 27 d&#8217;avril dernier avec les lettres de Son Excellence du 3 dudt mois, le tout Consider\u00e9 Mesdits sieurs ont declar\u00e9 et declarent que ledt Anibal Pauli sera Elargi, luy Entier, Contre qui il trouvera Convenir pour ses dommages et jnterrets, et au surplus les devoirs Conceus seront Effectuez, ainsy prononc\u00e9 ce 2 may 1739 Estoit sign\u00e9 M F Pepin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>English Translation:<\/strong><br><em>Having reviewed by Messieurs [the members] of the Magistrate of the City of Mons the petition of Annibal Pauli of April 27 last, together with the letters of His Excellency of the 3rd of the said month, and all things considered, the said Messieurs have declared and do declare that the aforesaid Annibal Pauli shall be released, reserving to him his full right [of action] against whomever he shall deem fit to sue for his damages and losses, and for the rest the prescribed formalities shall be carried out. Thus pronounced this 2nd of May 1739. Signed: M. F. Pepin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Document 3. Letter from Annibal Pauli de Rion Zini to Count von Harrach Demanding the Return of His Seized Effects and Papers (May 5\u20139, 1739, Mons)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Original (French):<\/strong><br><em>1739 Maij 5 Monseigneur, Le Magistrat de la Ville de Mons, sitot qu&#8217;ils ont re\u00e7u la lettre que Vostre Excellance a eut la bont\u00e9 de leur ecrire le 2 de ce Mois de Maij, ont enuoy\u00e9 le Sr de Malengreau Sr De Florieur leur Collegue, me declarer qu&#8217;il y auoit resolution port\u00e9e que je serois elargi, Moy entier contre qui je trouueray conuenir pour mes domages et interets et on ma remis un double de l&#8217;aret dont j&#8217;enuoij copie a Vostre Excellance, j&#8217;ay fais demander la restitution de mes effets qui se trou\u00ebns en Mains du dit Magistrat, mais ils m&#8217;ont fait connoitre qu&#8217;il y auoit des deuoirs con\u00e7us a effectuer, qui consistoient a Ecrire a Vostre Excellance pour receuoir un ordre pour la remise desdits effets et qu&#8217;ils auoient aussij re\u00e7u ordre de Vostre Excellance, de lui enuoyer un estat du Montant des frais, Vostre ditte Excellance auoit Marqu\u00e9 qu&#8217;elle tacheroit de les faire paier de Ceux de Londres, qui auoient donn\u00e9 lieu a Mon aprehension. j&#8217;aij represent\u00e9 au dit Magistrat, verbalement, ainsi qu&#8217;a fait l&#8217;Auocat franque, que M&#8217;ayant declar\u00e9 rester entier contre qui je trouuois conuenir pour Mes dommages et interets par leur arret du deuxieme Maij, il resultoit que j&#8217;estoit absou des pretendus Crimes dont on M&#8217;auoit charg\u00e9 dans Mes interogatoires, et que suiuant touttes Les Loix et celles de la Prouince, celui qui estoit absou des Crimes imposez, n&#8217;estoit tenu d&#8217;aucuns depens, au contraire deuoit estre adjug\u00e9 aux domages et interets a la charge du delateur, que par ainsij ils estoient aus tort de refuser la remise de mes effers, et quelques uns meeme, m&#8217;ont dit que je ferois bien de me rendre uers Votre Excellance, pour solliciter une lettre contenante que Votre Excellance consent a la remise des dits effets; je serois parti d&#8217;abord Monseigneur pour aller deposer aux pieds de Votre Excellance la reconnoissance la plus parfaite, si j&#8217;auois et\u00e9 en estat de le pouuoir faire, mais me trouuant sans un sol, ne subsistant a present que par le secour que l&#8217;Auocat franque veut bien me faire, en attendant que mes efets me soient remis, ce que je leur ai fait conoitre, mais ils ont persist\u00e9 qu&#8217;ils deuoient attendre les ordres de Votre Excellance. Je uous suplie donc Monseigneur, de uouloir bien me faire la grace d&#8217;ecrire a ce Magistrat, pour que je puisse retirer mes effets papiers et memoires pour que je me rende incessament en Engletere pour y finir mes affaires et justifier au public, qu&#8217;il n&#8217;y a jamais eut que de la droiture dans ma conduite, j&#8217;atend cette grace, et celle de me Croire auec un respect infini. Monseigneur, De Votre Excellance Le tres humble, et tres Obeissant Serviteur, mons ce 9 May 1739 <strong>Anibale Pauli de Rion Zini<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>English Translation:<\/strong><br><em>May 5, 1739. Monseigneur, As soon as the Magistrate of the City of Mons received the letter that Your Excellency had the kindness to write to them on the 2nd of this month of May, they sent Sieur de Malengreau, Sieur de Florieur, their colleague, to declare to me that a resolution had been passed that I should be released, reserving to me my full right [of action] against whomever I should deem fit to sue for my damages and losses; and I was handed a duplicate of the decree, a copy of which I send to Your Excellency. I requested the restitution of my effects currently in the hands of the said Magistrate, but they informed me that there were certain prescribed formalities to be carried out, which consisted in writing to Your Excellency to receive an order for the release of the said effects, and that they had also received an order from Your Excellency to send You a statement of the amount of the costs, Your said Excellency having indicated that You would endeavor to have them paid by Those in London who had instigated my apprehension. I represented to the said Magistrate verbally, as did Advocate Franque, that since they had declared by their decree of the second of May that I retained my full right [of action] for my damages and losses against whomever I deemed fit, it followed that I was acquitted of the alleged Crimes with which I had been charged in my interrogations; and that under all Laws, and those of the Province, one who is acquitted of imputed Crimes is not liable for any costs, but on the contrary ought to be awarded damages and losses at the expense of the informer; that consequently they were in the wrong in refusing to return my effects; and some of them even told me that I would do well to repair to Your Excellency to solicit a letter stating that Your Excellency consents to the release of the said effects. I would have departed at once, Monseigneur, to lay at Your Excellency\u2019s feet my most perfect gratitude, had I been in a condition to do so; but finding myself without a sou, subsisting at present solely through the assistance that Advocate Franque kindly extends to me while waiting for my effects to be returned to me-which I made known to them-they nevertheless persisted in stating that they must await Your Excellency\u2019s orders. I therefore beseech You, Monseigneur, to deign to grant me the favor of writing to this Magistrate so that I may recover my effects, papers, and memoranda, in order that I may proceed without delay to England to conclude my affairs there and prove to the public that there has never been anything but probity in my conduct. I await this favor, as well as that of Your believing me to be, with infinite respect, Monseigneur, Your Excellency\u2019s most humble and most obedient Servant, Mons, this 9th of May 1739. <strong>Anibale Pauli de Rion Zini<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Document 4. Letter from Annibal Pauli de Rion Zini to Count von Harrach from Amsterdam (May 27, 1740)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Original (French):<\/strong><br><em>1740 Mai 27. Monseigneur, Je m&#8217;estois reduit a un silance plen de respect et je le guarderai encore aojourdui, si je ne sauois par experiance le gout chretien de Votre Excellance a randre justice a l&#8217;oprime. je n&#8217;hesiterai donc pas Monseigneur a uous declarer auec confianc que le malheur qui M&#8217;est ariue a Mons M&#8217;a ruine la sant\u00e9, et les biens, a fletri ma reputation, et me ferme toutes uoyes a me produire de rechef dans le monde, je suis parti de Bruxelles auec l&#8217;entier espoir que je pose dans l&#8217;equit\u00e9 de Votre Exellance lors qu&#8217;elle s&#8217;est degnee de M&#8217;e doner la lettre pour M.r Carpantier pour me faire auoir raison des mes accusateur criminelle a Londres que encor je ne conois pas, d&#8217;autant plus que la negociation du dit Mr Carpantier a etes inutile pour me faire havoir me fre&#8217; dommages et interets. malgre cella je sere passe en Engletere, si appene mon ariuee en Hollande, je n&#8217;aues pas estes condanee au lit auec fieure acompagne d&#8217;un rumatisme suiuij d&#8217;un idrocelle particuliere, que le chagrin de cette catastroffe m&#8217;a cause, cepandan auec l&#8217;assistanse de Mr. le docteur Spreghan aleman qui m&#8217;a cur\u00e9 neuf moij continuellement et celle du docteur Rengr\u00e9 et le docteur mansuet je comance estre restabli, desiran de passer a Londres puisque il m&#8217;estoit impossible de passer plus tout, Me coman pourreje faire le uoiage ! si je me vois reduit dans un estat le plus deplorable auec l&#8217;execution de grosses depanses autan en medecins chirurgin et apoticaire, scans hardes, ayant ete oblige de les uandre, et engager mes diamants, et le reste des mes effects. Ne M&#8217;abbandone donc pas Monseigneur, et acorde moy le moyen de me transportaire a Londres, m&#8217;atandan que par votre autorite, dans laquelle je pose mon entiere confiance, puisque je ne suis pas en estat de pleider contre le Magistrats de Mons, que uous degnie de leur faire effectuer \u00ab Et au surplus les devoir concus serons effectues \u00bb = Vn Amis qui me reste encor a Londres m&#8217;a marqu\u00e9 que ayant consult\u00e9 auec jans le mieus instruite du droit et delle procedure, disent que ce deuoir Concus es future et que ce le deuoir que le dit Magistras a Concus d&#8217;effectuer lui meeme se condanan par ma propre santance dans la quel ils ne nome pas aucun de mes accusateur, mes il disent = \u00ab luij entier contre qu&#8217;il trouera conuenir pour ses fre&#8217; dommages et interets \u00bb = pour moy je ne c\u00e9 contre qui conuenir puisque l&#8217;on ne me na pas don\u00e9z la conoisance mes aparaman que son equit\u00e9 a concus, que M&#8217;ayan arrest\u00e9 auec de cordes au doit et train\u00e9 pandan sept semaine Criminellement scans comunication pour mes affair auec parsonne, defanse d&#8217;escrire, lettre intercepte&#8217; sessies des lettres meubles et effect, visite redubles juque a la nudit\u00e9 et autres ignominie, parceque il mont cru&#8217; criminelle, mes alla fin m&#8217;ayant trouee inocent aparamant ils on concu d&#8217;effectuer leurs deuoir selon la santance qui es don celui de me dedomager puisque mes juges ne nome parsonne, il disent = \u00ab Moy entier contre qui je trouere conuenir \u00bb, pour moy je ne saure pas mieu trouer a conuenir que auec eus, pour la raison que si le magistrats m&#8217;auez trouez cupable j&#8217;auvez estoit puni selon les loij, ce meemes loij veulent aussi qu&#8217;on me faie satisfation puisque sa santance me declare inocent car l&#8217;on ne doit selon le loij treter criminelement, es ignominiosement un home pour depts, ce qui fe que je n&#8217;aij pas aucuns droit d&#8217;intanter action contre des creantiers d&#8217;autant plus qu&#8217;il ne sont pas nomee et que ma santance pare une santance an l&#8217;er et fet a plaisir. Finalement Monseigneur cest en uous a qui je pose mon entier espoir, persuade que appre uous estre destingue depuis que uous et au monde par tant de bienfaits uous ne permetere pas auiurdui qu&#8217;un inocent malheureus perit appre auoir estoit trete si ignominiosement (ce qui m&#8217;a reduit al extremite). Sous l&#8217;ombre que Vous en aviez donne uos ordres, sufiril donc que Votre Excellance M&#8217;ayet fet la grace de me dire qu&#8217;on avoit passe ses ordres outre? ah Monseigneur Votre gloire est interesse a me faire reparer par son autorite toutte puisante les dommages fet tant a ma parsonne que a mes biens. j&#8217;ay tout perdu Monseigneur Parans, Amis, Credit, Ma Patrie Meeme samble m&#8217;auoir en horreur au lieu d&#8217;argeant que je demande je n&#8217;ai recu que des lettres fulminantes me refusan jusque le soixante louis d&#8217;or que M.r Stelle Ma enuoye a Monse le fettes d&#8217;anuel et celui qui d&#8217;estez charge de me le conter se trasporte expressemant de Bruxeles a Mons, lon lui dit que j&#8217;estois en prison pour uols et que quil a tante de uenir me uoire en prison le joalie lui a dit que j&#8217;estoit criminelle et que parsonne pouez me parler que cettes fet de moij, ensi que ce corispondan a na instruit le sienes, j&#8217;e eu bon enuoyer des copies de santance lettre veritere, rien a su me lauer de la tache que le Magistrat m&#8217;a fet. N&#8217;est il donc pas juste Monseigneur, si lon ne me fet pas connoitre les auteurs de ma detension criminelle que mes juges meeme me dedomagent me que direge, sinon que je n&#8217;ai plus d&#8217;espoir que dans les bont\u00e9 de Votre Excellance et cest d&#8217;elle seulle que j&#8217;attan la guerison des mes maus pour me restituer a Londres. Ne me refuse pas Monseigneur aus prieres d&#8217;un homme qui euiterait de uous parler de ses malheur s&#8217;il connoissois quelque autre que Votre Excellance capable d&#8217;y remedier. Degne&#8217; de me fair la grace de me fer sauoir quelque sose et celle de me croire auec un tre profond respect. De Votre Excellance Monseigneur Le tres homble et tres Obeissant et soumis serviteur, <strong>Anibale Pauli de RionZini<\/strong> Mon Adresse est che Mr de la Varenne dans le Lange Leyse d&#8217;Waatstraat proche l&#8217;imprimerie de la Gazette Francere, a Amstedan ce 27 May 1740<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>English Translation:<\/strong><br><em>May 27, 1740. Monseigneur, I had reduced myself to a respectful silence, and I would keep it still today did I not know by experience Your Excellency\u2019s Christian inclination to render justice to the oppressed. I shall therefore not hesitate, Monseigneur, to declare to You with confidence that the misfortune that befell me in Mons has ruined my health and my property, tarnished my reputation, and closed every avenue for me to appear again in society. I departed from Brussels placing my entire hope in Your Excellency\u2019s equity when You deigned to give me the letter for Monsieur Carpantier to help me obtain satisfaction from my criminal accusers in London, whom I still do not even know-all the more so as the negotiations of the said Monsieur Carpantier proved fruitless in recovering my costs, damages, and losses. Despite this, I would have crossed over to England had I not, scarcely upon my arrival in Holland, been confined to bed with a fever accompanied by rheumatism followed by a particular dropsy [hydrocele], brought on by the grief of this catastrophe. Nevertheless, with the assistance of Doctor Spreghan, a German who treated me continuously for nine months, as well as that of Doctor Rengr\u00e9 and Doctor Mansuet, I am beginning to recover, desiring to cross over to London since it was impossible for me to go sooner. Yet how can I make the journey! When I see myself reduced to the most deplorable state, burdened with heavy expenses for physicians, surgeon, and apothecary, without clothes-having been forced to sell them-and having had to pawn my diamonds and the remainder of my effects. Do not abandon me, then, Monseigneur, and grant me the means to transport myself to London, trusting that through Your authority, in which I place my entire confidence-since I am in no position to litigate against the Magistrate of Mons-You will deign to compel them to carry out [the clause] \u201cAnd for the rest the prescribed formalities shall be carried out.\u201d A friend who still remains to me in London informed me that, having consulted with persons most versed in law and procedure, they say that these \u201cprescribed formalities\u201d refer to the future, and that it is the duty which the said Magistrate undertook to perform itself, condemning itself by my own sentence, in which they name none of my accusers, yet state: \u201creserving to him his full right [of action] against whomever he shall deem fit to sue for his costs, damages, and losses.\u201d For my part, I do not know against whom to proceed, since I was not informed of their names; but evidently their Equity recognized that, having arrested me with cords on my fingers and dragged me like a criminal for seven weeks without any communication regarding my affairs with anyone, forbidden to write, my letters intercepted, my papers, furniture, and effects seized, subjected to repeated searches even to the point of being stripped naked and other indignities-because they believed me a criminal-yet in the end, having found me innocent, they evidently undertook to fulfill their duty according to the sentence, which is therefore to indemnify me! Since my judges name no one, saying \u201creserving to me my full right of action against whomever I shall deem fit\u201d-for my part, I cannot find anyone better to hold accountable than themselves! For the reason that had the magistrate found me guilty, I would have been punished according to the laws; those very same laws likewise require that I be given satisfaction since their sentence declares me innocent, for by law one must not treat a man criminally and ignominiously on account of debts! Wherefore I have no right to bring an action against creditors, all the more so since they are not named, and my sentence looks like a sentence hanging in the air and pronounced for sport. Finally, Monseigneur, it is in You that I place my entire hope, persuaded that after having distinguished Yourself ever since You came into the world by so many benefactions, You will not permit today that an unfortunate innocent man should perish after having been treated so ignominiously (which has reduced me to extremity). Under the pretext that You had given Your orders, will it suffice that Your Excellency granted me the favor of telling me that Your orders had been exceeded? Ah, Monseigneur, Your glory is at stake in having the damages done both to my person and to my property repaired by Your all-powerful authority. I have lost everything, Monseigneur: Relatives, Friends, Credit; my very Homeland seems to hold me in horror. Instead of the money that I ask for, I have received only fulminating letters refusing me even the sixty gold louis d\u2019or that Monsieur Stelle sent me in Mons for the annual holidays; and the man commissioned to pay them out to me traveled expressly from Brussels to Mons, [where] he was told that I was in prison for theft! And when he attempted to come see me in prison, the jailer told him that I was a criminal, that no one was allowed to speak to me, and that it was all over with me. So that correspondent informed his people, and however many copies of the sentence and authentic letters I sent, nothing could wash away the stain that the Magistrate placed upon me. Is it not therefore just, Monseigneur, if I am not allowed to know the authors of my criminal detention, that my judges themselves should indemnify me? What more can I say, save that I have no hope left but in Your Excellency\u2019s goodness, and from it alone do I await the cure of my ills to restore me to London. Do not refuse, Monseigneur, the prayers of a man who would spare You the recital of his misfortunes did he know anyone other than Your Excellency capable of remedying them. Deign to grant me the favor of letting me have some word, and that of believing me to be, with the most profound respect, Your Excellency\u2019s, Monseigneur, most humble, most obedient, and submissive servant, <strong>Anibale Pauli de RionZini<\/strong>. My address is: care of Monsieur de La Varenne, on Lange Leidsedwarsstraat, near the printing house of the French Gazette, in Amsterdam, this 27th of May 1740.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity cinematic-divider\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Act II. The Bureaucratic Boomerang: How a Great-Grandson from Moscow Awakened Vienna, and What Burned in an Alpine Fire (1846\u20131851)<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:35%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Gemini_Generated_Image_my6jn1my6jn1my6j.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Gemini_Generated_Image_my6jn1my6jn1my6j-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3538\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:65%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let us now leap forward \u0440\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e one hundred and six years-to the summer of <strong>1846<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Moscow, the 25-year-old chancellery clerk of the 7th Department of the Governing Senate, Alexander Gavrilovich Derionzini, recently allied by marriage with the Strahlborn family, decides to put an end to his ambiguous status once and for all. As we recall, without official confirmation of his foreign title, he could neither enroll his future children in the Noble Genealogical Book nor count on rapid promotion to the first graded civil rank on the Table of Ranks. Yet Alexander Gavrilovich goes even further: in his petition (exposition), he lays claim not only to the title of an Italian count (<em>Conte<\/em>), but also requests a search for records of the <strong>\u201csubstantial estates\u201d<\/strong> (<em>ansehnliche G\u00fcter<\/em>) that his ancestors had allegedly owned in the Venetian province!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So that the Austrian authorities (under whose scepter Venice had been governed since the Congress of Vienna in 1815) would harbor not the slightest doubt as to the antiquity of his lineage, the Moscow clerk gathers <strong>16 eighteenth-century family documents<\/strong> from his grandfather\u2019s trunk and transmits them through the Russian Imperial Embassy in Vienna to the very summit of the Habsburg diplomatic Olympus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:65%\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>1. Prince Metternich\u2019s Autograph and \u201cWhat a Blunder!\u201d (June 1846 \u2013 January 1847)<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On <strong>June 28, 1846<\/strong>, file No. 21832\/1584 lands on the desk of the legendary State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, Prince <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Klemens_von_Metternich\"><strong>Klemens von Metternich<\/strong><\/a> (1773\u20131859). Signing the diplomatic note with a sweeping flourish, the \u201cCoachman of Europe\u201d requests the United Court Chancellery (Ministry of the Interior) to investigate the claims of the Russian subject <em>\u201cAlexander von Rionzini, official of the Tribunal in Moscow\u201d<\/em> (<em>Beamter des Tribunals zu Moskau<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On <strong>July 3, 1846<\/strong>, the leadership of the Court Chancellery-Baron <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Franz_von_Pillersdorf\"><strong>Franz von Pillersdorff<\/strong><\/a> (1786\u20131862, future Minister-President of Austria during the Revolution of 1848!), Count <a href=\"https:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johann_Baptist_von_Spaur\"><strong>Johann Baptist von Spaur<\/strong><\/a> (1777\u20131852), and the chief referent for nobility affairs, the pedantic Court Councillor Knight <strong>Franz von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd<\/strong> (<em>Franz Ritter von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd<\/em>, 1785\u20131854)-send a strict order down to Venice: verify the comital title and ancestral estates of the Rionzini family \u201cby the end of July of this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\"><em>And at this point, the ponderous Austrian bureaucratic machine produces a veritable comedy of errors!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, the Venetian Gubernium complains that the order from Vienna took nearly a month to reach them and begs for an extension until October 15. Then, on <strong>October 26, 1846<\/strong> (having missed that deadline too), the Venetian archivists report via <strong>Milan<\/strong> (<em>Milano<\/em>)-where on <strong>November 12<\/strong> the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy\u2013Venetia, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Archduke_Rainer_Joseph_of_Austria\"><strong>Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria<\/strong><\/a> (<em>Erzherzog Rainer Joseph von \u00d6sterreich<\/em>, 1783\u20131853, younger brother of Emperor Francis I), inscribes his endorsement <em>\u201cVeduto\u201d<\/em> (\u201cSeen\u201d) on the folder-that in all of Venice there is not a single document recording estates of the Rionzini family, <em>\u201cthe last surviving descendant of which serves in the Imperial Tribunal of Moscow,\u201d<\/em> and since a century ago the family had allegedly originated from the Istrian city of <strong>Pola<\/strong> (now <strong>Pula<\/strong> in Croatia), the inquiry has been forwarded to <strong>Trieste<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:35%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Gemini_Generated_Image_ukvbxuukvbxuukvb.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Gemini_Generated_Image_ukvbxuukvbxuukvb-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3539\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next, in early <strong>December 1846<\/strong>, an even more categorical report arrives from Venice and Milan (No. 14744 \/ 48652): neither in Pola nor in neighboring <strong>Dignano<\/strong> (now <strong>Vodnjan<\/strong>) has any trace of the Rionzini family been found, and the <strong>parish of Santa Lucia in Istria mentioned in the inquiry does not exist at all<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why, one might ask, did the Venetian and Istrian archivists declare with such confidence that no such parish existed? The mystery was solved in Vienna itself on <strong>November 18, 1846<\/strong>, when one of the capital\u2019s officials looked into a cabinet and discovered to his horror that back in July, when dispatching their stern order to Venice, the Viennese clerks&#8230; <strong>had accidentally forgotten to enclose in the envelope all 16 documents sent by Alexander from Moscow<\/strong>! Beneath this sheepish internal memo in the file stands his superior\u2019s delightfully candid marginal resolution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>\u201cAllerdings! Das war ja ein Bock!\u201d &#8211; \u201cIndeed! What a blunder!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On <strong>November 23 and December 24, 1846<\/strong>, Baron Pillersdorff and Knight von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd hurriedly dispatched the forgotten packet of 16 documents after the previous letter to Venice, setting a new deadline for the end of February 1847. Yet the indolent Venetian officials, upon receiving the packet of papers from Russia, did not even bother to read them carefully and, on <strong>January 11, 1847<\/strong> (No. 487), reported back to Vienna a second time that their searches had proved \u201cfruitless\u201d (<em>fruchtlos<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>2. Sherlock Holmes of the Court Chancellery: How Alexander Gavrilovich Undid Himself (February 18, 1847)<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What transpired in the office of Court Councillor Knight Franz von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd on <strong>February 18, 1847<\/strong> (or, as it was poetically written in old Austrian chancery German, <em>\u201cthe 18th of Hornung\u201d<\/em> &#8211; <em>18. Hornung<\/em>), deserves a theatrical scene of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first, N\u00e1dhern\u00fd decided to close the hopeless case. Preserved in the folder is a fair copy of a draft note dated February 18, 1847 (to No. 43676), already written out and even signed by him: to notify the Russian Embassy that nothing had been found in Venice and to invite the petitioner in Moscow to submit weightier evidence himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:65%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the very last minute, however, before sending off this routine dismissal, the meticulous Austrian stickler for detail decided to personally leaf through that bundle of 16 old papers sent from Moscow by Alexander de Rionzini and returned unread from Venice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turning the yellowed eighteenth-century folios, N\u00e1dhern\u00fd stumbled upon a document that had not been included in the 1790 Moscow translation-an <strong>official certificate issued by the Envoy (Resident) of the Republic of Venice in London, Giacomo Busenello, dated September 1, 1736<\/strong>. In this paper, the Venetian diplomat certified that the bearer hereof-<strong>Annibale Pauli<\/strong>, a native of the <strong>territory of Pola and the parish of Santa Lucia of that place<\/strong> (<em>territorio di Pola e della Parrochia di S. Lucia di detto luogo<\/em>)-was a Venetian subject!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Knight von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd\u2019s eyes lit up with the thrill of the chase. He immediately set aside the signed draft refusal and took up his pen to compose a devastating analytical report, No. 3007\/220, dated that same <strong>February 18, 1847<\/strong>. With subtle bureaucratic irony, N\u00e1dhern\u00fd formulated four damning conclusions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>The petitioner from Moscow had not understood what he was sending to Vienna!<\/strong> <em>\u201cIt is precisely these documents that furnish the key to this family,\u201d<\/em> N\u00e1dhern\u00fd noted in his draft with undisguised satisfaction, <em>\u201cexcept that the descendant of this family living in Russia, probably due to ignorance of the language, incorporated them into his exposition only superficially.\u201d<\/em> Knowing neither Italian nor Latin, Alexander Gavrilovich had spotted the handsome Venetian seal with the Lion of St. Mark on the 1736 London certificate and proudly slipped into the envelope the chief piece of evidence against his own comital title!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Surname juggling.<\/strong> Collating all 16 submitted documents, N\u00e1dhern\u00fd noticed a suspicious pattern: <em>\u201cIn some documents the name of the aforesaid individual appears as Rion de Ziny, in others as Pauli di Rionzini, and in still others solely as Pauli.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The family\u2019s true surname was Pauli (<em>eigentlich Pauli<\/em>)!<\/strong> The particle <em>di Rionzini<\/em> in the 1736 document was by no means a comital title, but either a toponymic epithet indicating his place of origin or a self-assumed predicate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Exposing lazy geographers.<\/strong> Checking the Italian officials\u2019 assertion that the parish of Santa Lucia in Istria \u201cdid not exist,\u201d N\u00e1dhern\u00fd simply took down from the shelf in his Vienna office the ecclesiastical directory (<em>Di\u00f6zesan-Schematismus<\/em>) of the Diocese of Pola and promptly rubbed his subordinates\u2019 noses in it: <strong>the parish community of Santa Lucia truly existed in the Deanery of Albona<\/strong> (now <strong>Labin<\/strong> in Istria)! And for good measure, the councillor discovered in the District of <strong>G\u00f6rz<\/strong> (now <strong>Gorizia<\/strong> on the border of Italy and Slovenia) a similarly named community called <strong>Ronzina<\/strong> (now <strong>Ro\u010dinj<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:35%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/negerny-1-575x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3534\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That very same day, February 18, 1847, a categorical order went out to the Gubernium of the Austrian Littoral in Trieste: by the end of May 1847, comb through all church registers in Santa Lucia near Albona and in Ronzina near G\u00f6rz to uncover everything about the origins of <strong>Annibal Pauli<\/strong> and his \u201cformer estates,\u201d and verify whether this family had ever possessed any right whatsoever to the title of <em>Conte<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>3. Cyrillic Charters in Istria and an Extension Granted Two Days After the Fall of Venice (1847\u20131850)<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spurred on by Vienna\u2019s whip, the officials in Trieste set about scouring the Istrian peninsula and the Isonzo River valley. The search proved so arduous that the May 1847 deadline was hopelessly missed. When in October 1847 Vienna placed Trieste on its \u201cdelinquent list\u201d (<em>Ausweis<\/em>) of overdue third-quarter reports (decree No. 37366 of October 30), the Trieste councillor <strong>von L\u00f6hr<\/strong> sent back a thoroughly remarkable explanatory note on <strong>November 17, 1847<\/strong>: it turned out that during their searches in Istria and the <strong>Canale<\/strong> valley they had come across old documents <em>\u201cwhich are written in the Illyrian [South Slavic] language, but in Cyrillic characters, and had to be translated here with the help of experts\u201d<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And credit must be given to the Trieste investigators: having sifted through mountains of paper, by December 1847 they genuinely picked up the trail of the real Pauli family!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Podest\u00e0 (mayor) of the Istrian town of Dignano reported (report No. 2661) that a certain <strong>Giovanni Battista Pauli<\/strong> (<em>Giovanni Battista Paoli<\/em>) had died in his town, where his widow still resided, whereas the family\u2019s ancestral nest and old house containing authentic family papers were located high in the Alps-in the mountain region of <strong>Carnia<\/strong>, administratively subordinate to the Province of <strong>Udine<\/strong> and the Venetian Gubernium! On <strong>December 9, 1847<\/strong> (No. 28040), Trieste forwarded the entire thick folder to Venice with undisguised relief, and on <strong>December 17, 1847<\/strong> (No. 42413\/3370), Baron Pillersdorff and Knight von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd approved a strict new deadline for the Venetians to submit a final report by the end of February 1848. On <strong>December 29, 1847<\/strong> (decree No. 49685), Venice instructed the Provincial Delegation in Udine and the District Commissariat in <strong>Ampezzo<\/strong> to immediately locate the papers in the house of the widow Pauli in Carnia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But at that very moment, the thunderous breath of grand European history burst into the quiet genealogical investigation concerning the ancestors of a Moscow clerk!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full album-corner-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Revolutions_of_1848_in_the_Italian_states#\/media\/File:Cacciata_degli_austriaci_da_Bologna_(1848).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Cacciata_degli_austriaci_da_Bologna_1848.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3544\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Battle between insurgents and Austrians in Bologna (1848)<br>Antonio Muzzi (1815\u20131894)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In February 1848, the mountain commissariat of Ampezzo had not yet managed to send its reply (moreover, the widow Pauli\u2019s legal representative, a certain <strong>Leonardo Panoli<\/strong>, was away). On February 25, the Venetian Gubernium sends Milan a request for a new extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look at the dates of the next two documents-they send a literal chill down the spine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On <strong>March 5, 1848<\/strong>, in Milan, Viceroy Archduke Rainer Joseph inscribes his customary flourish on the cover of the Pauli\u2013Rionzini file: <strong><em>\u201cVeduto. Milano 5 Marzo 1848. Ranieri\u201d<\/em><\/strong>. The aged archduke does not yet know that he is signing one of the last papers of his life in that office: \u0440\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e twelve days later, the all-powerful Chancellor Metternich will fall in Vienna, and on March 18 a bloody uprising (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Five_Days_of_Milan\">the \u201cFive Days of Milan\u201d<\/a>) will erupt in Milan itself, fifteen hundred barricades will block the streets, and the Austrian authorities will be forced to flee Lombardy in haste!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while the packet bearing the viceroy\u2019s signature rattles in a mail coach across the Alps toward street-fighting Vienna, in Venice itself on <strong>March 17\u201322, 1848<\/strong>, insurgent citizens storm the Arsenal, the Austrian garrison capitulates, and the lawyer <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Daniele_Manin\"><strong>Daniele Manin<\/strong><\/a> proclaims the independent revolutionary <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Republic_of_San_Marco\"><strong>Republic of San Marco<\/strong><\/a> in St. Mark\u2019s Square!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">Yet in Vienna-where the government has just changed and yesterday\u2019s supervisor of our case, Baron Franz von Pillersdorff, has suddenly become Minister of the Interior and head of the imperial cabinet-the unflappable Knight von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd on <strong>March 24, 1848<\/strong>&#8211;<strong>\u0440\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e two days after the fall of Austrian rule in Venice!<\/strong>-neatly writes out in Italian resolution No. 9059\/804: <em>\u201cThe Imperial-Royal Government of the Venetian Province is granted the requested extension until the end of June of the current year\u201d<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>N\u00e1dhern\u00fd was writing out a bureaucratic extension for a government that no longer existed!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thus began the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/First_Italian_War_of_Independence\">First Italian War of Independence<\/a> and the long, heroic defense of rebellious Venice, which Field Marshal Radetzky\u2019s Austrian army was able to break through starvation, cholera, and artillery bombardment only in August 1849.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full album-corner-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Assedio_Venezia_Chiesa_San_Geremia_(1849).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Assedio_Venezia_Chiesa_San_Geremia_1849.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3542\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The fire of the Scuola di San Geremia in Venice hit by the Austrian bombardment of 1849.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most amusingly of all, amidst this geopolitical earthquake there was one institution that cared not a whit for Italian barricades or the fall of governments-the <strong>Russian Imperial Embassy in Vienna<\/strong>! Already in <strong>February 1849<\/strong>, while besieged Venice was trading fire with Austrian batteries, Russian diplomats coolly sent an inquiry to the Austrian Foreign Ministry (No. 4078\/183 of February 17, 1849): our petition of June 28, 1846, will soon be three years old-how is the search for Monsieur de Rionzini\u2019s comital title progressing? On <strong>February 21, 1849<\/strong>, the astonished Ministry of the Interior in Vienna had to formally explain to the diplomats that obtaining a reply from Venice <em>\u201cowing to the prevailing circumstances is at present impossible\u201d<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>4. \u201cTailor by Profession\u201d: The Alpine Ashes of 1779 and the Verdict of 1851<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scarcely had the gunpowder smoke cleared over the Venetian lagoon and a new Austrian military and civil administration installed itself in the Doge\u2019s Palace when the relentless Russian Embassy, by a note dated <strong>July 24 (August 5), 1850<\/strong> (No. 13922), and then by a follow-up reminder in <strong>December 1850<\/strong>, knocked once more on the doors of the Austrian Foreign Ministry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The war is over. Kindly produce the certificate concerning the Counts de Rionzini!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity cinematic-divider\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On <strong>December 14, 1850<\/strong> (dispatch No. 26696\/2819), Vienna sent a stringent directive to the new Imperial Statthalter (Governor) of Venice, Knight <a href=\"https:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Georg_Otto_von_Toggenburg-Sargans\"><strong>Georg Otto von Toggenburg-Sargans<\/strong><\/a> (<em>Georg Otto Ritter von Toggenburg-Sargans<\/em>, 1811\u20131888): immediately retrieve the pre-war correspondence of December 17, 1847, and bring the protracted case to a conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so in <strong>March 1851<\/strong>, from the Alpine valleys of Carnia via Udine and Venice, the final reports arrived in Vienna (report of the Udine Delegation No. 4058 and dispatches from Statthalter Toggenburg dated <strong>March 4 and 17, 1851<\/strong>, No. 5345\/7437), leaving not a stone standing of the Moscow Senate clerk\u2019s dream:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>No Counts Rionzini had ever existed:<\/strong> neither in the archives of Venice nor in the Austrian Littoral had a noble family of that name ever been recorded.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Alpine village of Colza and the fire of 1779:<\/strong> the real <strong>Pauli (Paoli)<\/strong> family, to which the Giovanni Battista Pauli who died in Istrian Dignano belonged, hailed from the tiny mountain hamlet of <strong>Colza<\/strong>, part of the commune of <strong>Enemonzo<\/strong> in the district of Ampezzo in Carnia (historical region of Friuli \/ <em>Friaul<\/em>). No old papers could be found in the widow Pauli\u2019s house for the most prosaic of reasons: according to the formally recorded testimony of local elders, back <strong>in 1779 a great fire in the village of Colza had burned the ancestral Pauli house to the ground along with all its furniture and family papers<\/strong>!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A devastating marginal note:<\/strong> in the surviving parish register of the village of Colza, the vicar managed to locate the baptismal entry of <strong>Giovanni Maria Pauli, born on September 24, 1724<\/strong> (<em>Giovanni Maria Paoli<\/em>, father of the aforesaid Giovanni Battista Pauli). And when this Italian report was translated into German in Vienna for presentation to the Russian Embassy (Ministry of the Interior protocol No. 3345\/431 of March 4\u201319, 1851), the reporting officer drew a bold arrow into the left margin highlighting the chief occupation of this Giovanni Maria Pauli:<br><strong><em>\u201cSchneider von Profession\u201d &#8211; TAILOR BY PROFESSION!<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A tailor and a carpenter instead of Venetian patricians:<\/strong> moreover, the investigation showed that artisan trades had been handed down in the Pauli family from generation to generation! At the time of the fall of the Republic of Venice under the blows of <strong>Napoleon Bonaparte<\/strong> on <strong>May 1, 1797<\/strong>, Giovanni Battista Pauli\u2019s branch resided in Istrian Dignano, where in 1851 his widow, two daughters, and two sons were still living-and <strong>the elder son earned his livelihood as a tailor (<em>Schneider<\/em>), while the younger worked as a carpenter (<em>Zimmermann<\/em>)<\/strong>!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reading these lines in March 1851, the Viennese official initially jotted bluntly in the left margin of the draft: <em>\u201c&#8230;or that the title of Venetian Count is probably unfounded\u201d<\/em> (<em>&#8230;oder da\u00df der Venetianische Conte Titel wohl nicht begr\u00fcndet&#8230;<\/em>), before crossing out that blunt phrase out of diplomatic tact. In its place, the official reply adopted the icy formulation of Statthalter Toggenburg of Venice dated <strong>March 17, 1851<\/strong>: the information gathered in Istria and Carnia, <em>\u201cthough very sparse, in no way points (keineswegs hinweisende) to the existence of a noble family of that name.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the bottom of the very first protocol sheet in the Vienna registry, a ruthless hand added beneath the bold heading <em>\u201cRionzini Adelsverh\u00e4ltnisse\u201d<\/em>: <strong><em>\u201ceigentlich Pauli\u201d &#8211; \u201cactually Pauli\u201d<\/em><\/strong>. And on <strong>March 26, 1851<\/strong>, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Austrian Empire forwarded a copy of this devastating report to the Austrian Envoy in <strong>St. Petersburg<\/strong>, instructing him to officially bring the story of the Alpine fire, the tailor, and the carpenter to the attention of the Government of the Russian Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Curtain, it would seem! The bureaucratic boomerang launched by Alexander Gavrilovich in June 1846 had returned to Russia five years later and shattered his dream of a count\u2019s coronet and Venetian castles to smithereens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Complete Chronological Summary of the 18 Documents from the Vienna Investigation of 1846\u20131851 and Selected Originals\/Translations (AT-OeStA\/AVA Adel HAA AR 798.43)<\/strong>:<\/summary>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Chronological Register of Documents in the Case Verifying the Comital Title of the Rionzini\u2013Pauli Family (1846\u20131851)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>June 28, 1846 (Vienna, Secret State Chancellery \/ Foreign Ministry \u2192 United Court Chancellery \/ Interior Ministry, incoming No. 21832\/1584):<\/strong> Note signed by State Chancellor Prince <strong>Klemens von Metternich<\/strong> transmitting a memorandum (<em>Promemoria<\/em>) from the Russian Imperial Embassy and the exposition of Moscow Tribunal official <strong>Alexander von Rionzini<\/strong> with 16 enclosures to investigate his claims to the title of an Italian count (<em>Conte<\/em>) and information regarding his family\u2019s former estates in the Venetian province.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>July 3 \/ 9, 1846 (Vienna, Court Chancellery, prot. No. 21832\/1584 \u2192 Gubernium of Venice):<\/strong> Directive signed by Baron <strong>F. von Pillersdorff<\/strong>, Count <strong>J. B. von Spaur<\/strong>, and Court Councillor Knight <strong>F. von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd<\/strong> ordering searches in Venice and a report of the results by the end of July 1846. <em>(The petitioner\u2019s 16 enclosures were mistakenly left behind in Vienna).<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>August 23 \/ 27, 1846 (Vienna, Court Chancellery, prot. No. 27839\/1993):<\/strong> At the request of the Venetian Gubernium, the deadline for submitting the report is extended until October 15, 1846.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>October 26 \/ November 12 \/ December 3, 1846 (Gubernium of Venice \u2192 Viceroy Archduke Rainer in Milan \u2192 Vienna, prot. No. 39649):<\/strong> Report from Venice stating that no trace of estates belonging to the Rionzini family (<em>\u201cthe last surviving descendant of which serves in the Imperial Tribunal of Moscow\u201d<\/em>) has been found in Venetian archives, and since about a century ago the family originated from Pola, the inquiry has been referred to Trieste. Filed away (<em>ad acta<\/em>), as Vienna had already extended the deadline on November 23 until the end of January 1847.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>November 18 and 23, 1846 (Vienna, Court Chancellery, No. 35146 and No. 38482):<\/strong> Internal memorandum reporting the discovery of Alexander Rionzini\u2019s 16 enclosures forgotten in Vienna, bearing the marginal resolution <strong><em>\u201callerdings! das war ja ein Bock!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (\u201cIndeed! What a blunder!\u201d), and a decree forwarding the packet to Venice with an extension until the end of January 1847.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>November 30 \/ December 5 \/ December 24\u201326, 1846 (Venice and Milan, No. 14744 \u2192 Vienna, prot. No. 42051\/2978):<\/strong> Report from Venice (with Viceroy <strong>Rainer\u2019s<\/strong> endorsement dated December 5, 1846) stating that no trace of the Rionzini family exists in Pola or Dignano, and that no locality named Santa Lucia exists in Istria. Returned by Pillersdorff and N\u00e1dhern\u00fd to Venice with instructions to examine the 16 documents dispatched on November 22\/23 and submit a new report by the end of February 1847.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>December 12, 1846, and January 11, 1847 (Venice, No. 15386\/48652 and No. 487 \u2192 Vienna, prot. No. 43676\/3080 and No. 3007\/220):<\/strong> Two follow-up reports from Venice stating that the searches proved fruitless (<em>fruchtlos<\/em>), along with an aborted draft refusal to the Russian Embassy dated February 18, 1847.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>February 4 \/ 18, 1847 (Vienna, Court Chancellery, prot. No. 3007\/220 \u2192 Gubernium of the Littoral in Trieste and Note to the State Chancellery):<\/strong> Analytical report by Knight <strong>von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd<\/strong> based on the London certificate of Venetian Envoy <strong>Giacomo Busenello<\/strong> dated September 1\/11, 1736: establishing the family\u2019s true surname as <strong>Pauli<\/strong> (<em>eigentlich Pauli<\/em>), locating the parish of <strong>Santa Lucia<\/strong> in the Deanery of <strong>Albona<\/strong> (Diocese of Pola) and the community of <strong>Ronzina<\/strong> in the District of <strong>G\u00f6rz<\/strong>, noting the variant spellings of the name (<em>Pauli de Rionzini \/ Rion de Ziny \/ Pauli<\/em>), and ordering Trieste to complete its searches by the end of May 1847.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>October 30 \/ November 17 \/ November 22, 1847 (Vienna, No. 37366 \u2194 Trieste, No. 26257, prot. No. 39743\/3137):<\/strong> Schedule of overdue reports for the 3rd quarter of 1846\/47 and explanatory note from Councillor <strong>von L\u00f6hr<\/strong> in Trieste regarding the need to translate old Istrian documents <em>\u201cwritten in the Illyrian language in Cyrillic characters\u201d<\/em> and the continuation of searches in the District of G\u00f6rz.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>December 9 \/ 17 \/ 29, 1847 (Trieste, No. 28040 \u2192 Vienna, prot. No. 42413\/3370 \u2192 Venice, No. 49685):<\/strong> Transfer of the case from Trieste to Venice based on a report from the Podest\u00e0 of Dignano (No. 2661) stating that authentic papers of the Pauli family may be kept in the old house of the widow Pauli in the region of <strong>Carnia<\/strong> (Province of Udine, District of Ampezzo). Deadline for Venice\u2019s report: end of February 1848.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>February 25 \/ March 5 \/ March 17 and 24, 1848 (Venice \u2192 Milan, No. 2531 \u2192 Vienna, prot. No. 9059\/804):<\/strong> Petition from Venice requesting an extension (bearing Viceroy <strong>Rainer\u2019s<\/strong> final pre-revolutionary endorsement in Milan dated March 5, 1848) and Knight <strong>von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd\u2019s<\/strong> resolution of <strong>March 24, 1848<\/strong>, extending the deadline until the end of June 1848-issued two days after the fall of Austrian rule in Venice and the proclamation of the Republic of San Marco (March 22, 1848).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>February 17 \/ 21, 1849 (Vienna, Interior Ministry, prot. No. 4078\/183 \u2192 Foreign Ministry):<\/strong> Reply to a diplomatic reminder explaining that it is impossible to obtain a report from insurgent and besieged Venice <em>\u201cowing to the prevailing circumstances.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>July 24 (August 5) and December 5, 1850 (Vienna, Foreign Ministry, No. 13922\/2742 \u2192 Interior Ministry, incoming No. 26696\/2819):<\/strong> Foreign Ministry note concerning renewed inquiries from the Russian Imperial Embassy following the suppression of the revolution in Venice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>December 14, 1850 (Vienna, Interior Ministry, No. 26696\/2819 \u2192 Statthalter of Venice G. O. von Toggenburg):<\/strong> Order to urgently locate the 1847 case files and conclude the investigation in Carnia.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>March 4 and 17, 1851 (Venice, Lieutenancy, No. 5345\/7437 \u2192 Vienna, Interior Ministry):<\/strong> Final reports (in Italian and German) from Statthalter <strong>von Toggenburg<\/strong> based on findings from the Udine Delegation (No. 4058): reporting the destruction of the Pauli house and family papers in the fire of 1779 in the village of <strong>Colza<\/strong> (commune of Enemonzo, district of Ampezzo in Carnia), the discovery of the baptismal entry of <strong>Giovanni Maria Pauli<\/strong> (b. September 24, 1724, tailor by profession), and the residence of the widow and sons of his son <strong>Giovanni Battista Pauli<\/strong> in Dignano (where the elder son works as a tailor and the younger as a carpenter), concluding that there is no indication whatsoever of a noble family named Rionzini.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>March 19, 25, and 26, 1851 (Vienna, Interior Ministry, prot. No. 3345\/431 \u2194 Foreign Ministry, No. 3209 \u2192 Austrian Embassy in St. Petersburg):<\/strong> Final summary memorandum for the Russian Empire and dispatch to the Austrian Envoy in St. Petersburg instructing him to communicate the findings of the investigation to the Russian government.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Selected Key Texts from the 1846\u20131851 Case File (Originals and Translations)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Note of State Chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich (June 28, 1846)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Original (German):<\/strong> <em>\u201cNote. Die kais. russische Bothschaft hat sich mit dem gegen gef\u00e4llige R\u00fcckstellung angeschlossenen Promemoria anher gewendet, auf da\u00df den Anspr\u00fcchen auf den Titel eines italianischen Conte nachgeforscht werde, welche der russische Unterthan Alexander v. Rionzini, Beamter des Tribunals zu Moskau, stellen zu k\u00f6nnen glaubt, da, wie er behauptet, seine Familie aus dem Venetianischen stamme, wo sie den obgedachten Titel gef\u00fchrt und ansehnliche G\u00fcter besessen habe. Ich habe mir die Ehre, die l\u00f6bliche k.k. vereinte Hofkanzlei zu ersuchen, hier\u00fcber die geeigneten Erhebungen pflegen und deren Resultat gef\u00e4lligst anher bekannt geben zu wollen. Wien, den 28. Juni 1846. [Metternich]\u201d<\/em><br><strong>Translation:<\/strong> <em>\u201cNote. The Imperial Russian Embassy has addressed itself hither with the enclosed Promemoria (to be kindly returned), requesting that an investigation be conducted into the claims to the title of an Italian Count which the Russian subject Alexander von Rionzini, official of the Tribunal in Moscow, believes himself entitled to advance, inasmuch as he asserts that his family originates from the Venetian province, where it bore the aforesaid title and possessed substantial estates. I have the honor to request the esteemed Imperial-Royal United Court Chancellery to conduct the appropriate inquiries into this matter and kindly communicate the result hither. Vienna, June 28, 1846.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Analytical Report of Court Councillor Knight Franz von N\u00e1dhern\u00fd (February 18, 1847, No. 3007\/220)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Original (German):<\/strong> <em>\u201cNun sind es gerade diese Dokumente, welche Aufschlu\u00df \u00fcber diese Familie liefern, nur hat der in Russland lebende Abk\u00f6mmling dieser Familie wahrscheinlich wegen Unkenntni\u00df der Sprache dieselben nur oberfl\u00e4chlich in seine Exposition aufgenommen. Entscheidend ist n\u00e4mlich das dem Promemoria der ru\u00df. Gesandtschaft beiliegende Zeugni\u00df des Giacomo Busenello Gesandten der Republik Venedig in London dd. 1.\/11. Sept. 1736, womit Annibale Pauli di Rionzini, Territorio di Pola, e della Parrochia di S. Lucia di deto luoco als Venet. Unterthan erkl\u00e4rt wird. Aus diesem Dokument geht also hervor, da\u00df das Individuum, dessen Adel erforscht werden soll, eigentlich Pauli hie\u00df, und entweder das Pr\u00e4dikat de Rionzini f\u00fchrte, oder aus Rionzini einer zu Pola geh\u00f6rigen Ortschaft geb\u00fcrtig war, oder auch da\u00df er zu Sta. Lucia bei Pola geboren worden ist. Nach dem Di\u00f6zesan-Schematismus der Di\u00f6cese Pola, k\u00f6mmt dort eine Gemeinde Santa Lucia, im Dekanate Albona wirklich vor&#8230; Ob Rionzini der Nahme einer Ortschaft ist, konnte nicht ermittelt werden; jedoch erscheint im G\u00f6rzer Kreise eine Gemeinde Ronzina, wo auch nachgeforscht werden k\u00f6nnte. In einigen Dokumenten erscheint der Nahme des genannten Individuums Rion de Ziny in andern nur Pauli.\u201d<\/em><br><strong>Translation:<\/strong> <em>\u201cNow, it is precisely these documents that furnish the key to this family, except that the descendant of this family living in Russia, probably due to ignorance of the language, incorporated them into his exposition only superficially. Decisive, namely, is the certificate enclosed with the Russian Embassy\u2019s Promemoria issued by Giacomo Busenello, Envoy of the Republic of Venice in London, dated September 1\/11, 1736, whereby Annibale Pauli di Rionzini, [native of] the territory of Pola and the parish of Santa Lucia of that place, is declared to be a Venetian subject. From this document it therefore follows that the individual whose nobility is to be investigated was actually named Pauli, and either bore the predicate de Rionzini, or was a native of Rionzini, a locality belonging to Pola, or else was born at Santa Lucia near Pola. According to the Diocesan Directory of the Diocese of Pola, a parish community of Santa Lucia really does exist there in the Deanery of Albona&#8230; Whether Rionzini is the name of a locality could not be ascertained; however, in the District of G\u00f6rz there appears a community named Ronzina, where inquiries might also be made. In some documents the name of the aforesaid individual appears as Rion de Ziny, in others solely as Pauli.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Final Report of the Austrian Interior Ministry and Report of Statthalter von Toggenburg of Venice (March 4\u201319, 1851, No. 3345\/431 and No. 5345)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Original (German):<\/strong> <em>\u201cEiner Familie Pauli hingegen ist man auf die Spur gekommen, sie war in Colza frazione der Gemeinde Enemonzo, Distrikt Ampezzo in Friaul ans\u00e4\u00dfig. Allein es k\u00f6nnen keine Daten oder Dokumente \u00fcber diese Familie vorgelegt werden, weil nach den protokollarischen Aussagen der dortigen Bev\u00f6lkerung im J. 1779 ein gro\u00dfes Feuer im Orte selbst ausgebrochen ist, welches das Haus Pauli mit allem, was sich darinn vorfand, mithin auch alle Papiere verzehrte. In dem dortigen Pfarrbuch findet sich unter den Taufmatrikel ein gewisser Gio. Maria Pauli [marginal note: Schneider von Profession] verzeichnet, geb. am 24 Sept 1724. Sein angeblicher Sohn Gio. Battista Pauli, der in den dortigen Taufmatrikel nicht enthalten ist, soll au\u00dfer Landes gestorben seyn. In Dignano Provinz Friaul [Istrien] lebt noch die Wittwe dieses Gio. Batta Pauli, welche zwei T\u00f6chter u. zwei S\u00f6hne hat, alle noch lebend; von letztern betreibt der \u00e4ltere die Profession als Schneider, der j\u00fcngere jene eines Zimmermanns. Man beehrt sich dem lobl. [Ministerium] diese obgleich sehr k\u00e4rgliche, u. auf den Bestand einer adeligen Familie dieses Namens keineswegs hinweisende Ausbeute unter R\u00fcckschlu\u00df der Beilagen der Zuschrift der Hof-Kanzlei vom 28 Juni 846 zur weiteren gef. Veranlassung mitzutheilen. Toggenburg, Statthalter in Venedig, den 17. M\u00e4rz 851.\u201d<\/em><br><strong>Translation:<\/strong> <em>\u201cThe trail of a Pauli family, by contrast, has been found: it was settled in Colza, a hamlet (frazione) of the commune of Enemonzo, District of Ampezzo in Friuli. However, no data or documents concerning this family can be produced because, according to the formally recorded depositions of the local population, in the year 1779 a great fire broke out in the village itself, consuming the Pauli house together with everything inside it, and consequently destroying all papers as well. In the local parish register among the baptismal entries is recorded a certain Giovanni Maria Pauli [marginal note: TAILOR BY PROFESSION], born on September 24, 1724. His putative son Giovanni Battista Pauli, who is not listed in the local baptismal registers, is said to have died abroad. In Dignano there still lives the widow of this Giovanni Battista Pauli, who has two daughters and two sons, all still living; of the latter [sons], the elder practices the trade of a tailor, and the younger that of a carpenter. We have the honor to communicate to the esteemed [Ministry] for further appropriate action these findings-which, though very sparse, in no way point to the existence of a noble family of this name-while returning the enclosures to the Court Chancellery\u2019s directive of June 28, 1846. Toggenburg, Statthalter in Venice, March 17, 1851.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity cinematic-divider\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Act III. A Great Game Beyond Cagliostro\u2019s Wildest Dreams: Who Was Annibal Pauli Really, and Why Did Prince-Electors and Ambassadors Baptize His Children?<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so the Austrian bureaucracy closed the dossier in triumph, having proved that the Pauli family of Istria and Friuli was a modest line of village tailors and carpenters never enrolled in the Golden Book of the Venetian nobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the hapless great-grandson in Moscow, this verdict spelled the total collapse of his social ambitions. Yet if we look at this story from another angle, the exposure of 1851 in no way diminishes the figure of the dynasty\u2019s founder, <strong>Annibal Pauli (1707\u20131750)<\/strong>-on the contrary, it transforms him from an ordinary traveling nobleman into an <strong>extraordinary eighteenth-century adventurer and social grandmaster<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the strict estate-bound world of the <em>Ancien R\u00e9gime<\/em>, where the sons of artisans from the quiet Istrian parish of Santa Lucia near Albona or an Alpine hamlet in Carnia traditionally inherited the trade of their fathers-cutting cloth or hewing timber-a twenty-year-old youth named Annibal Pauli resolutely stepped beyond the boundaries of his estate in 1727 and set out toward a wholly different destiny. Taking the name of the border locality of <strong>Ronzina<\/strong> in the neighboring County of G\u00f6rz as his foundation, he fashioned for himself an aristocratically resonant toponymic title-<strong>Count Annibal Pauli di Rionzini \/ de Rion Zini<\/strong>. He mastered French and Italian to perfection, acquired impeccable courtly manners, hired a manservant, and married an educated Frenchwoman, Anna Maria Le Moir (so literate that after his death she would be able to teach French to the children of Russian nobles in Moscow!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet the most remarkable part lay ahead. It is not hard to dazzle a provincial innkeeper, a border ferryman, or a parish clerk in distant Moscow with lace cuffs, a diamond ring, and a handsome parchment bearing a wax seal. But <strong>how did a man from a family of simple artisans manage to win as his patrons, the chief ministers, ambassadors, and ruling princes of the Holy Roman Empire?!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>1. Confronting Two Documents: The \u201cDying Pauper\u201d in Amsterdam and the Triumphator in The Hague (April\u2013May 1740)<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To grasp the scale of the game Annibal Pauli was playing, one need only lay two authentic documents from the spring of 1740 side by side: his plaintive letter to Count Friedrich August von Harrach from Amsterdam dated <strong>May 27, 1740<\/strong>, and the baptismal record of his eldest son Alexander Josephus in neighboring <strong>The Hague<\/strong> (<em>\u2019s-Gravenhage<\/em> \/ <em>Den Haag<\/em>) dated <strong>April 26, 1740<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his May 27 letter to the head of the Brussels government, Annibal swears that for the past nine months in Holland he has been continuously confined to a sickbed with fever, rheumatism, and dropsy; that he is penniless, has sold his last clothes, pawned his diamonds, and been forsaken by all the world; and that the disgrace of Mons prison <em>\u201ccloses every avenue for me to appear again in society\u201d<\/em> (<em>me ferme toutes uoyes a me produire de rechef dans le monde<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now let us open the baptismal entry of <strong>April 26, 1740<\/strong>-exactly thirty-one days before that letter! For a long time, this record was known to us only through the 1790 Moscow translation, but a search in the digitized holdings of The Hague Municipal Archive (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.haagsgemeentearchief.nl\/archieven-mais\/overzicht?mivast=59&amp;mizig=210&amp;miadt=59&amp;miview=inv2&amp;milang=nl&amp;micode=0377-01&amp;minr=955556\"><em>Haags Gemeentearchief, fond 0377-01, register no. 345, p. 161<\/em><\/a>) brought to light both the old alphabetical index card for the father (<em>\u201cPauli, Hannibal &#8211; Zie op: Pauli, Alexander Josephus, 1740, \u2116 345, bl. 161\u201d<\/em>) and the original Latin register itself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It turned out that at the very moment when Annibal was on paper a \u201cbedridden outcast without clothes,\u201d in reality he was standing in the very heart of the diplomatic quarter of The Hague-in the <strong>private Chapel of the French Envoy on Casuariestraat<\/strong> (<em>Kapel van de Franse gezant aan de Casuariestraat \/ Frankrijks Kerk<\/em>) at the baptismal font of his firstborn son Alexander Josephus (<em>Alexandrum Josephum<\/em>), where the sacrament was administered by the Jesuit Wilhelmus Matthias (<em>Wilhelmus Matthias, S.J.<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The original Latin register of the French Embassy preserved the finest nuances of this event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Look closely at who is holding the infant in their arms as godparents (and after whose names-<strong>Alexander<\/strong> <strong>Josephus<\/strong>-the newborn is christened!):<\/summary>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201c26 [Aprilis 1740] Bapt[izavi] Alexandrum Josephum, fil[ium] D[omi]ni Hannibalis Pauli et Mari\u00e6 Carolin\u00e6 Le Moir; s[usceptore]s: Ill[ustrissimus] D[ominus] Alexander Poniatowski et Ex[cellentissima] D[omi]na Josepha Marchionissa de St. Gill[es], Legatrix Hispani\u00e6\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li>First, <em>\u201cthe Most Illustrious Lord Alexander Poniatowski\u201d<\/em> (<em>Illustrissimus Dominus Alexander Poniatowski<\/em>)-the young Polish nobleman Count <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Poniatowski\"><strong>Alexander Poniatowski<\/strong><\/a> (1725\u20131744), son of the renowned diplomat and military commander, Voivode of Masovia (later Castellan of Krak\u00f3w) <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stanis%C5%82aw_Poniatowski_(1676%E2%80%931762)\"><strong>Stanis\u0142aw Poniatowski<\/strong><\/a> and Princess Konstancja Czartoryska, and full elder brother of the future last King of the Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski\"><strong>Stanis\u0142aw August Poniatowski<\/strong><\/a>! British diplomatic intelligence dispatches from The Hague for 1740 (reports by the British Envoy Robert Trevor, published in M. K. Schuchard\u2019s monograph <em>\u201cEmanuel Swedenborg, Secret Agent on Earth and in Heaven\u201d<\/em>, Brill, 2012) documentarily confirm that in 1740 General Stanis\u0142aw Poniatowski, together with his elder sons, was indeed in The Hague conducting confidential negotiations with French and Swedish diplomats prior to young Alexander\u2019s commission into the French Royal Army.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And second-<em>\u201cHer Excellency Lady Josepha, Marchioness of Saint-Gilles, Ambassadress of Spain\u201d<\/em> (<em>Excellentissima Domina Josepha Marchionissa de St. Gilles, Legatrix Hispani\u00e6<\/em>), wife of the incumbent Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the King of Spain in The Hague, Don <strong>Antonio de la Quadra y Salcedo, Marquis of San Gil<\/strong> (<em>Antonio de la Quadra y Salcedo, Marqu\u00e9s de San Gil<\/em>, 1679\u20131745)!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This juxtaposition of dates and locations hits like an electric shock: in the Chapel of the French Embassy in The Hague, representatives of three allied diplomatic missions at once-France, Spain, and the Franco-Polish Poniatowski faction-converge at the baptismal font of Annibal Pauli\u2019s son! Annibal\u2019s letters to Viceroy von Harrach were by no means the tearful confession of a broken pauper-they were a <strong>masterful game of poker<\/strong>. Feigning to be a dying bankrupt, he coolly cut off the claims of his London creditors and extracted compensation from the Brussels authorities, while at that very same moment shining in the diplomatic salons of The Hague and Amsterdam!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>2. The \u201cLadder of Vanity\u201d in Authentic Dutch and German Parish Registers (1740, 1742, 1744, and 1749)<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To check whether Klementy Pavlovich had embellished the names of his illustrious godparents in the 1790 Moscow translation, I tracked down in European archives-The Hague Municipal Archive (<em>Haags Gemeentearchief<\/em>), the State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia (<em>Landesarchiv NRW<\/em>), and the Mainz City Archive (<em>Stadtarchiv Mainz<\/em>)-the <strong>original eighteenth-century Latin parish registers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not only did these original church records confirm one hundred percent the authenticity of all the illustrious godparents, but they also revealed the subtle mechanics of how Annibal Pauli balanced between his real name and his comital legend. As we have just seen, already in The Hague register of the Chapel of the French Embassy (<strong>April 26, 1740<\/strong>), the priest recorded the child\u2019s father without a comital title and without the predicate <em>de Rionzini<\/em>-simply as \u201cLord Hannibal Pauli\u201d (<strong><em>D:ni Hannibalis Pauli<\/em><\/strong>), and his wife under the double name <strong><em>Mari\u00e6 Carolin\u00e6 Le Moir<\/em><\/strong>. The exact same pattern continued in Germany:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>Kleve (<em>Kleve<\/em>), April 26, 1742 &#8211; a previously unknown son, Joannes Adrian Guilhelm Albert Alexander Pauli.<\/strong> Having crossed the border from Holland into the capital of the Prussian Duchy of Cleves, Annibal and Anna Maria baptize another son in the Catholic Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (<em>St. Mari\u00e4 Himmelfahrt<\/em>) (evidently one who died in early childhood, since he is not mentioned in the Moscow papers). Before the strict local parish priest in a Prussian town, Annibal does not risk flaunting a fictitious Venetian earldom and is recorded under his true surname-simply <strong><em>Anibal Pauli, An: Maria Moir<\/em><\/strong>. Yet look at the child\u2019s godparents: they belong to the local Rhenish-Prussian aristocracy-<strong>Free Baron (<em>Freiherr<\/em>) von Driesberg<\/strong> (<em>Liber Baro de Driesberg<\/em>) and <strong>Madame Becker, Free Baroness von Kinfs \/ Rieffs<\/strong> (<em>Madame Becker, Liber Baro de Kinfs<\/em>)!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Kleve, June 17, 1744 &#8211; the future founder of the Moscow branch, Clemens Augustus.<\/strong> Two years later, in that same church in Kleve, the parents (again modestly recorded by the priest as <strong><em>Anibal Pauli, An: Maria Lemoir<\/em><\/strong>) baptize their next son. And here Annibal\u2019s social ascent reaches the stratosphere: agreeing to lend his name to the infant and stand as his godfather is one of the highest ecclesiastical and secular rulers of Germany-<strong>the Most Serene and Most Reverend Prince and Archbishop (Prince-Elector) of Cologne,<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Clemens_August_of_Bavaria\"><strong>Clemens August of Bavaria<\/strong><\/a> (<em>Clemens August von Bayern<\/em>, 1700\u20131761) of the House of Wittelsbach, represented at the font by official proxy by the Dean of Kleve, <strong>J. J. Ghoor<\/strong> (<em>Amplissimus Dominus Ghoor<\/em>)!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mainz (<em>Mainz<\/em>), February 2, 1749 &#8211; the youngest son, Carolus Franciscus.<\/strong> A year and a half before his death in Altona, Annibal Pauli turns up in the capital of another ecclesiastical electorate-Mainz. And here, in the parish register of the Church of Saints Quintin and Blaise (<em>St. Quintin<\/em>), our hero takes full revenge for his modesty in Kleve! In the baptismal entry, he is once again solemnly styled <strong>\u201cthe Most Noble Lord Annibal Pauli de Rionzini\u201d<\/strong> (<em>pr\u00e6nobilis Dominus Anibalis Pauli de Rionzini<\/em>), while standing as godfather to his son Carolus Franciscus is <strong>His Excellency Count<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johann_Karl_Philipp_von_Cobenzl\"><strong>Johann Karl Philipp von Cobenzl<\/strong><\/a> (<em>Johann Karl Philipp Graf von Cobenzl<\/em>, 1712\u20131770), Plenipotentiary Envoy (Legate) of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Gemini_Generated_Image_hb4rjphb4rjphb4r-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3489\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:28px;font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">Savor the irony of fate: just four years later, in 1753, it was none other than <strong>Count Karl von Cobenzl<\/strong> who would become Plenipotentiary Minister of the Austrian Netherlands in Brussels-taking the very same seat as ruler of Belgium that had been occupied ten years earlier by Count Friedrich August von Harrach, the man who had thrown Annibal into Mons prison and read his petitions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>3. A Hypothesis: What Role Did Annibal Pauli Play Behind the Scenes of European Politics in the 1730s and 1740s?<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let us piece all the elements of this mosaic together. Before us stands a man without ancestral estates and without a genuine comital patent, who for twenty-three years (from 1727 to 1750) moves continuously across the principal political nerve centers of Western Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look at the geography and chronology of his routes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li>these are the years of the two greatest pan-European conflicts of the first half of the century-the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/War_of_the_Polish_Succession\"><strong>War of the Polish Succession (1733\u20131735)<\/strong><\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/War_of_the_Austrian_Succession\"><strong>War of the Austrian Succession (1740\u20131748)<\/strong><\/a>;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>in 1736 in <strong>London<\/strong>, he receives an official certificate of identity from the Venetian Resident Giacomo Busenello;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 1738\u20131739, on the Franco-Belgian border in <strong>Mons<\/strong>, he is arrested at a secret request from London and stripped naked in a search for secret papers, yet from <strong>Brussels<\/strong> he is immediately sent 60 gold louis d\u2019or at a time, and subsequently the ruler of the Austrian Netherlands himself, Count <strong>von Harrach<\/strong>, facilitates his release, receives him in Brussels, and gives him a letter of recommendation to the intermediary Carpantier;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>in 1740 in <strong>The Hague<\/strong> and Amsterdam &#8211; Europe\u2019s premier information, newspaper, and espionage exchange-his child is baptized by the brother of the future Polish king, <strong>Count Poniatowski<\/strong> (whose clan was intimately tied to the Saxon-Polish court of Augustus III and the French faction), and the Spanish Ambassador\u2019s wife, the <strong>Marchioness of San Gil<\/strong>;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>in 1742\u20131744 in Prussian <strong>Kleve<\/strong> (at the junction of the borders of Prussia, Holland, and Cologne), at the very height of the War of the Austrian Succession, his patron and godfather to his son is the Elector of Cologne, <strong>Clemens August of Bavaria<\/strong>-full brother of Emperor Charles VII Wittelsbach, who drew subsidies alternately from Versailles and from Vienna and London;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>and in February 1749 in <strong>Mainz<\/strong>, immediately after the signing of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), his youngest son is baptized by the chief Habsburg diplomat on the Rhine-Imperial Envoy <strong>Count Karl von Cobenzl<\/strong>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is hard to imagine that the seasoned heads of diplomatic missions and ministers of the Habsburgs, Bourbons, and Wittelsbachs failed to realize that the man before them was no illustrious Venetian magnate. Of course they knew the true value of his resonant title <strong><em>de Rionzini<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Gemini_Generated_Image_1u74va1u74va1u74-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3496\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is entirely plausible that Annibal played the role of an intermediary or courier whenever secret correspondence or bills of exchange needed to be carried across borders, or when a delicate financial (gambling or amorous) commission had to be settled without provoking a diplomatic scandal. High-ranking statesmen always had need of quick-witted, audacious, multilingual operatives who, in the event of a mishap (as happened to Annibal in Mons in December 1738!), could be subjected to a show arrest \u201cfor London debts,\u201d only to be quietly released from their cell a couple of months later with a full trunk of papers and a letter of recommendation from Brussels in their pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the highest reward for such delicate services-beyond gold louis d\u2019or and travel passports commanding all authorities \u201cto render every assistance\u201d-was <strong>public legitimization in high society<\/strong>: the consent of an ambassador, a count, or a prince-elector to stand (in person or through a trusted dean) at the baptismal font of his child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Catalog of Authentic European Baptismal Records of the Children of Annibal Pauli de Rionzini (1740, 1742, 1744, 1749) with Latin Transcriptions, Translations, and Archival Call Numbers<\/strong>:<\/summary>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Baptismal Record No. 1. Baptism of the Eldest Son, Alexander Josephus (April 26, 1740, The Hague, Holland)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>Archive and Call Number:<\/strong> The Hague Municipal Archive (<em>Haags Gemeentearchief, Den Haag<\/em>), Parish Registers of The Hague (<em>Doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken van &#8216;s-Gravenhage<\/em>), Chapel of the French Envoy on Casuariestraat (<em>Kapel van de Franse gezant aan de Casuariestraat \/ Frankrijks Kerk<\/em>), call number: <strong>Toegangsnummer 0377-01, Inv.nr. 345, bl. 161<\/strong> (father\u2019s alphabetical index card: <em>Inv.nr. 6364, scan 64<\/em>) &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haagsgemeentearchief.nl\/archieven-mais\/overzicht?mivast=59&amp;mizig=210&amp;miadt=59&amp;miview=inv2&amp;milang=nl&amp;micode=0377-01&amp;minr=955556\">view register in Haags Gemeentearchief<\/a>. Also known from the certified extract by the Jesuit Wilhelmus Matthias (<em>Wilhelmus Matthias, S.J.<\/em>), transcribed on 24.07.1790 at the Moscow Church of Saints Peter and Paul (TsGA Moskvy, vyazka 493, d. 106481, l. 11\u201311v).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Original Latin Transcription:<\/strong><br><strong><em>26 [Aprilis 1740] Bapt: Alexandrum Josephum fil: D:ni Hannibalis Pauli, et Mari\u00e6 Carolin\u00e6 Le Moir ss: Ill: D: Alexander Poniatowski, et Ex: Dna Josepha Marchionissa de St. Gill: Legatrix Hispani\u00e6<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expansion and English Translation:<\/strong><br><strong>On the 26th [of April 1740], I baptized Alexander Josephus<\/strong>, son of Lord (<em>Domini<\/em>) <strong>Hannibal Pauli<\/strong> and <strong>Maria Carolina Le Moir<\/strong>; godparents (<em>susceptores<\/em>): the Most Illustrious Lord (<em>Illustrissimus Dominus<\/em>) <strong>Alexander Poniatowski<\/strong> and Her Excellency Lady (<em>Excellentissima Domina<\/em>) <strong>Josepha, Marchioness of Saint-Gilles, Ambassadress of Spain<\/strong> (<em>Legatrix Hispani\u00e6<\/em>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Commentary:<\/strong> Authentic baptismal entry for Annibal Pauli\u2019s eldest son (in Russia &#8211; Alexander Pavlovich Derionzini, father of the Moscow copyist Alexander Alexandrovich). The sacrament took place on the extraterritorial diplomatic grounds of the Chapel of the French Embassy in The Hague. The father is recorded under his true surname, <strong>Hannibalis Pauli<\/strong>, the mother with the rare name variant <strong>Maria Carolina Le Moir<\/strong>, and the newborn received the double name <strong>Alexander Josephus<\/strong> in honor of both high-ranking godparents-Count Alexander Poniatowski (1725\u20131744) and the Spanish Ambassador\u2019s wife Do\u00f1a Josepha, Marchioness of San Gil \/ Saint-Gilles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"low\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/metric-alexander-1740-april-26-1024x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3444\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Baptismal Record No. 2. Baptism of the Son Joannes Adrian Guilhelm Albert Alexander (April 26, 1742, Kleve, Germany)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>Archive and Call Number:<\/strong> State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Department (<em>Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, Abteilung Rheinland<\/em>), Church Books Fond (<em>Kirchenb\u00fccher<\/em>), Roman Catholic Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kleve (<em>Katholische Pfarrei St. Mari\u00e4 Himmelfahrt, Kleve<\/em>), call number (<strong>Signatur<\/strong>): <strong>BA 1275<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/dfg-viewer.de\/show?tx_dlf%5Bdouble%5D=0&amp;tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.landesarchiv-nrw.de%2Fdigitalisate%2FPersonenstandsarchiv_Rhld%2FKirchenbuecher%2FBA%2F~012%2F1275%2Fmets.xml&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=1&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpagegrid%5D=1&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpointer%5D=0&amp;cHash=12ba7d404d967b90e2fb601fe8463ce0\">view register in DFG-Viewer<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archive.nrw.de\/en\/archivsuche\">Archive.nrw.de portal<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Original Latin Transcription:<\/strong><br><strong><em>26. Anibal Pauli, An: Maria Moir. | Joes, Adrian, Guilhelm, Albert, Alexander. | L.[iber] B.[aro] de Driesberg, Madame Becker L.[iber] B.[aro] de Kinfs [or Rinfs\/Rieffs]<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expansion and English Translation:<\/strong><br><strong>26 [April 1742]. Parents:<\/strong> Annibal Pauli, An[na] Maria Moir.<br><strong>Child\u2019s Name:<\/strong> Joannes (<em>Joes<\/em> &#8211; abbr. of <em>Joannes<\/em>) Adrian Guilhelm Albert Alexander.<br><strong>Godparents:<\/strong> Free Baron (<em>Freiherr<\/em>) von Driesberg and Madame Becker, Free Baroness von Kinfs [Rieffs].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Commentary:<\/strong> Previously unknown son of the couple (who likely died in infancy). In Prussian Kleve, the priest records the child\u2019s father strictly under his true surname-<strong>Anibal Pauli<\/strong>, without a comital title and without the predicate <em>de Rionzini<\/em>, yet members of the local baronial nobility stand as godparents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1742-annibal-BA_1275_S030-small.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"128\" fetchpriority=\"low\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1742-annibal-BA_1275_S030-small-1024x128-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1742-annibal-BA_1275_S030-small-1024x128-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1742-annibal-BA_1275_S030-small-1024x128-1-300x38.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1742-annibal-BA_1275_S030-small-1024x128-1-768x96.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This discovery reveals a previously unknown son of Annibale Pauli, born in Kleve two years before Klementy. Judging by the fact that this boy with a grand five-part name is not mentioned in the Moscow documents of 1761 and 1790, he died in early childhood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Baptismal Record No. 3. Baptism of the Son Clemens Augustus &#8211; Future Founder of the Moscow Branch (June 17, 1744, Kleve, Germany)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>Archive and Call Number:<\/strong> State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Department (<em>Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, Abteilung Rheinland<\/em>), Church Books Fond (<em>Kirchenb\u00fccher<\/em>), Parish of <em>St. Mari\u00e4 Himmelfahrt, Kleve<\/em>, call number (<strong>Signatur<\/strong>): <strong>BA 1275<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/dfg-viewer.de\/show?tx_dlf%5Bdouble%5D=0&amp;tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.landesarchiv-nrw.de%2Fdigitalisate%2FPersonenstandsarchiv_Rhld%2FKirchenbuecher%2FBA%2F~012%2F1275%2Fmets.xml&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=1&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpagegrid%5D=1&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpointer%5D=0&amp;cHash=12ba7d404d967b90e2fb601fe8463ce0\">view register in DFG-Viewer<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archive.nrw.de\/en\/archivsuche\">Archive.nrw.de portal<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Original Latin Transcription:<\/strong><br><strong><em>17. Anibal Pauli, An: Maria Lemoir. | R.[everendissimus] D.[ominus] Clemens August Princ:[eps] et Archiepisc:[opus] Coloniens:[is] cujus loco stetit Ampl:[issimus] D:[ominus] Ghoor, et D:[omina] Joa[nna] Maria Raem&#8230;[?]<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expansion and English Translation:<\/strong><br><strong>17 [June 1744]. Parents:<\/strong> Annibal Pauli, An[na] Maria Lemoir.<br><strong>Godparents (and namesake patron of the infant):<\/strong> The Most Reverend and Most Serene Lord <strong>Clemens August, Prince and Archbishop of Cologne<\/strong> [in whose honor the infant was named Clemens Augustus], in whose stead [standing by proxy at the font] stood the Most Worthy Lord Ghoor (Dean in Kleve), and Lady Joanna Maria Raem&#8230; [in the 1790 extract &#8211; Johanna Christina von Bovenstein].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Commentary:<\/strong> Original baptismal entry for the Moscow progenitor Klementy Pavlovich Derionzini (1744\u20131816). The father is recorded as <strong>Anibal Pauli<\/strong> (whence derived both the Russian patronymic <em>Pavlovich<\/em> and Klementy\u2019s autograph in the Moscow Ecclesiastical Consistory in 1776: <em>Clemenes pauli Deronsinij<\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1744-clement-derionzini.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"low\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1744-clement-derionzini-1024x322.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3336\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The original entry in the parish baptismal register for June 17, 1744-the authentic original of the very extract that Klementy Pavlovich kept in Moscow and had certified in 1790.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Baptismal Record No. 4. Baptism of the Youngest Son, Carolus Franciscus (February 2, 1749, Mainz, Germany)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>Archive and Call Number:<\/strong> Mainz City Archive (<em>Stadtarchiv Mainz<\/em>), Church Books Fond (<em>Kirchenb\u00fccher<\/em>), Roman Catholic Parish of Saints Quintin and Blaise (<em>Katholische Pfarrei St. Quintin \/ SS. Quintini et Blasii, Mainz<\/em>), call number (<strong>Signatur<\/strong>): <strong>20 \/ 040<\/strong>, frame\/image (<strong>Bild<\/strong>) no. <strong>00119<\/strong> (official copy provided by <em>Stadtarchiv Mainz<\/em>, file <em>Az. 47.10.03-001\/0002<\/em>, file f1+20+040_00119.jpg; duplicate on <em>FamilySearch<\/em> microfilm DGS 007991382_001_M9XX-6VN, image no. 122 &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/ark:\/61903\/1:1:DTT1-X9T2?lang=en\">record index on FamilySearch<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Original Latin Transcription:<\/strong><br><strong><em>Mense Februario 2da = Carolus Franciscus filius legitimus pr\u00e6nobilis D. [Domini] Anibalis Pauli de Rionzini et Ann\u00e6 Mari\u00e6 nat\u00e6 Le Moir conjugum levante Excellentissimo D. [Domino] Comite # de Cobenzel legato C\u00e6sare\u00e6 Majestatis.<\/em><\/strong> <em>(In the left margin, an insertion marked with a hash sign: <strong># Carolo<\/strong>)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expansion and English Translation:<\/strong><br><strong>In the month of February [1749], on the 2nd day:<\/strong><br>[Baptized] <strong>Carolus Franciscus<\/strong>, legitimate son of <strong>the Most Noble Lord Annibal Pauli de Rionzini<\/strong> and <strong>Anna Maria, n\u00e9e Le Moir<\/strong>, spouses. Standing as godfather at the font was <strong>His Excellency Lord Count Karl von Cobenzl, Envoy [Legate] of His Imperial Majesty<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Commentary:<\/strong> A triumphant return of the aristocratic facade a year and a half before Annibal\u2019s death: in the Mainz register he is officially styled <em>pr\u00e6nobilis Dominus Anibalis Pauli de Rionzini<\/em>, while recorded as godfather is the Imperial Envoy Count Johann Karl Philipp von Cobenzl-future Plenipotentiary Minister of the Austrian Netherlands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1749-carlos-birth-certificate-small.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"low\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1749-carlos-birth-certificate-small-1024x359.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3342\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Adventurer Who Eclipsed Cagliostro.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why Annibal Pauli Outplayed Cagliostro Himself: The Undefeated Grandmaster of the Eighteenth Century<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">When recalling comparable figures of that era, Cagliostro immediately comes to mind as the most recognizable cultural icon. Yet if we place the biographies of Giuseppe Balsamo (Count Cagliostro, 1743\u20131795) and Annibal Pauli de Rionzini (ca. 1707\u20131750) on the scales of history, our protagonist proves to be a figure of far higher intellectual and political caliber:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>High Diplomacy and Intelligence vs. Salon Tricks.<\/strong> Cagliostro staked his career on human superstition: peddling \u201celixirs of youth,\u201d staging spiritualist s\u00e9ances, and inventing \u201cEgyptian Freemasonry\u201d for gullible mystics. Annibal Pauli never hid behind alchemical flasks; he operated in the arena of high European diplomacy and international intelligence. Compelling career diplomats, ministers, and the editors of Europe\u2019s leading newspapers to reckon with him at the height of the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession was immeasurably harder than throwing dust in the eyes of guests at a s\u00e9ance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Trial of the Dungeon: A Brilliant Jurist vs. a Broken Prisoner.<\/strong> Cast first into the Bastille in the \u201cAffair of the Diamond Necklace\u201d and later into the dungeons of the Roman Inquisition, Cagliostro broke down, contradicted himself under interrogation, and perished ingloriously in a stone cell at the Fortress of San Leo. Annibal Pauli, finding himself in December 1738 in the criminal prison of Mons in no less desperate straits-arrested with cords on his fingers by order of Viceroy von Harrach, stripped naked during searches, and thrown into strict solitary confinement for seven weeks-mounted a textbook legal defense. Relying solely on his command of the procedural laws of the County of Hainaut, he secured a full acquittal, recovered his trunk of papers, obtained a letter of recommendation from Brussels, and then even demanded financial compensation from the judges of Mons for his unlawful arrest!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Recognition and Founding a Dynasty.<\/strong> Throughout his life, Cagliostro remained a touring outsider whom aristocrats shunned at the very first police scandal; he betrayed his wife under interrogation and left no posterity. Annibal Pauli achieved the highest form of legitimization in estate-based Europe-spiritual kinship (godparenthood) with ruling houses and the ambassadors of great powers, recorded in the authentic parish registers of The Hague, Kleve, and Mainz. The \u201clegal shield\u201d he constructed proved so durable that 64 years after his death it saved his grandson Gavrila from Moscow detectives and enabled four generations of his descendants in the Russian Empire to bear a comital title for more than a century.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Paradox of Fame: Why Does Everyone Know Cagliostro and No One Know Annibal?<\/strong> In the history of secret diplomacy and social mystifications, an iron rule applies: fame belongs to those who failed and ended up in the dock. Cagliostro became notorious across Europe precisely because he was noisily unmasked, lampooned in pamphlets and plays, and sentenced to life imprisonment. <strong>Annibal Pauli departed this life an undefeated grandmaster.<\/strong> Over twenty-three years of play, not a single magistrate or court in Europe ever managed to tear off his mask: he died in November 1750 in Altona a free man, surrounded by esteem, and was solemnly laid to rest at St. Joseph\u2019s Church \u201cin the presence of a large congregation\u201d as a Venetian count. And to dig down to his real family of Alpine tailors from the village of Colza required \u0440\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e one hundred years, an ill-advised inquiry by his Moscow great-grandson, and five years of labor by the entire bureaucratic apparatus of the Austrian Empire headed by Chancellor Metternich!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity cinematic-divider\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Epilogue. The Paradoxical Ring of Fate: From Istrian Tailors to Moscow Goldsmiths<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking back over this hundred-and-twenty-year family epic, one cannot help admiring the graceful spiral traced by the fate of the House of Pauli \u2013 de Rionzini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the early eighteenth century, a young native of Venetian Istria named <strong>Annibal Pauli<\/strong>, unwilling to content himself with the modest artisanal lot of his forebears, conjured out of thin air-by sheer force of wit, charm, and extraordinary enterprise-a brilliant European aristocrat: <strong>Count de Rionzini<\/strong>. He played this role with such talent and conviction that not only the municipal magistrates of France and Switzerland, but even his own children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren believed unconditionally in the authenticity of his count\u2019s coronet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When 43-year-old Annibal Pauli died suddenly in Altona in November 1750, carrying the secrets of his diplomatic and social combinations to the grave, his widow Anna Maria Le Moir brought the cherished traveling trunk of passports and baptismal certificates to distant Russia. Left an orphan in Moscow at fifteen, his son Klementy Pavlovich-the godson of the Elector of Cologne (!)-by a remarkable irony of history returned once more to artisan labor: he became a master goldsmith chasing snuffboxes, while his grandson Gavrila and his great-grandchildren blended into the colorful milieu of Moscow burghers, midwives, and minor Senate clerks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:30px;font-style:normal;font-weight:300\">Yet through all those years, even within the walls of a Moscow almshouse and under police interrogation, they sacredly guarded the trunk of their Venetian great-grandfather, sincerely believing that the blue blood of Italian patricians flowed in their veins. By 1851, Austrian officials finally dug down to the Alpine tailors and carpenters of the Pauli family. Yet by then, <strong>Annibal Pauli de Rionzini<\/strong> had long since turned his own version of his origins into a document bearing the signatures of counts, ambassadors, and prince-electors of the great European powers!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large album-corner-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Gemini_Generated_Image_5wu8h35wu8h35wu8-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3497\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Archival and Printed Sources for Chapter VIII<\/strong>:<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list archival-list\">\n<li><strong>Austrian State Archives (\u00d6sterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Wien) &#8211; Family Archive of the Counts von Harrach:<\/strong> <em>AT-OeStA\/AVA FA Harrach Fam. in spec 568.25<\/em> &#8211; \u201cPauli de Rionzinni, Annibale, Korrespondenz mit Friedrich August [Graf von Harrach-Rohrau], 1739\u20131740\u201d (4 documents in French: letters from the prison of Mons dated 17.02.1739 and 05\/09.05.1739, decree of the Magistrate of Mons ordering his release dated 02.05.1739 signed by M. F. Pepin, and letter from Amsterdam dated 27.05.1740) &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archivinformationssystem.at\/detail.aspx?ID=2214711\">file card in OeStA<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sources on the printing house of the \u201cAmsterdam Gazette\u201d (<em>Gazette d&#8217;Amsterdam<\/em>) on <em>Lange Leidsedwarsstraat<\/em> and its editor Jean-Baptiste Le Villain de La Varenne (1689\u20131745):<\/strong> <em>Dictionnaire des journalistes (1600\u20131789)<\/em>, ed. Jean Sgard, entry no. 518 (<em>LE VILLAIN DE LA VARENNE, Jean-Baptiste<\/em>, by Marianne Couperus) and <em>Dictionnaire des journaux (1600\u20131789)<\/em>, entry no. 0507 (<em>Gazette d\u2019Amsterdam<\/em>, by Pierre R\u00e9tat); <em>I. H. van Eeghen<\/em>, \u201cDe Amsterdamse boekhandel 1680\u20131725\u201d, Vol. IV, Amsterdam, 1967, pp. 219\u2013226.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Austrian State Archives (\u00d6sterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Wien) &#8211; Nobility Archive of the Ministry of the Interior:<\/strong> <em>AT-OeStA\/AVA Adel HAA AR 798.43<\/em> &#8211; \u201cRionzini [eigentlich Pauli], Familie, Ersuchen von Alexander Rionzini um Auskunft \u00fcber den angeblich seiner Familie geb\u00fchrenden Contetitel, 1846\u20131851\u201d (correspondence of the Secret State Chancellery \/ Austrian Foreign Ministry, United Court Chancellery \/ Austrian Interior Ministry, Russian Imperial Embassy in Vienna, Gubernium in Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy\u2013Venetia in Milan, Gubernium of the Austrian Littoral in Trieste, Provincial Delegation in Udine, District Commissariat in Ampezzo, and Podest\u00e0 of Dignano) &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archivinformationssystem.at\/detail.aspx?ID=4392332\">file card in OeStA<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Printed Inventory of the Harrach Archive (1907):<\/strong> <em>Archivalien zur neueren Geschichte \u00d6sterreichs. Verzeichnet im Auftrage der Kommission f\u00fcr neuere Geschichte \u00d6sterreichs<\/em>, Bd. 1, Wien, 1907, S. 427, 706 (<em>Annibale Pauli de Rion Zini, 1739\/40<\/em>) &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/archivalienzurne01komm\/page\/426\/mode\/2up?q=rion\">view on Archive.org (p. 427)<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/archivalienzurne01komm\/page\/706\/mode\/2up?q=rion\">index (p. 706)<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia (Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, Abteilung Rheinland):<\/strong> Church Books Fond (<em>Kirchenb\u00fccher<\/em>), Parish of <em>St. Mari\u00e4 Himmelfahrt, Kleve<\/em>, call number (<strong>Signatur<\/strong>): <strong>BA 1275<\/strong> &#8211; baptismal entries for the sons of Annibal Pauli and Anna Maria Lemoir dated 26.04.1742 (<em>Joannes Adrian Guilhelm Albert Alexander<\/em>) and 17.06.1744 (<em>Clemens Augustus<\/em>) &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/dfg-viewer.de\/show?tx_dlf%5Bdouble%5D=0&amp;tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.landesarchiv-nrw.de%2Fdigitalisate%2FPersonenstandsarchiv_Rhld%2FKirchenbuecher%2FBA%2F~012%2F1275%2Fmets.xml&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=1&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpagegrid%5D=1&amp;tx_dlf%5Bpointer%5D=0&amp;cHash=12ba7d404d967b90e2fb601fe8463ce0\">view register in DFG-Viewer<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archive.nrw.de\/en\/archivsuche\">Archive.nrw.de portal<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mainz City Archive (Stadtarchiv Mainz):<\/strong> Church Books Fond (<em>Kirchenb\u00fccher<\/em>), Parish of St. Quintin (<em>Pfarrei St. Quintin<\/em>), call number (<strong>Signatur<\/strong>): <strong>20 \/ 040<\/strong>, frame no. <strong>00119<\/strong> (file <em>Az. 47.10.03-001\/0002<\/em>, file f1+20+040_00119.jpg; duplicate in <em>FamilySearch<\/em> database, film DGS 007991382_001_M9XX-6VN, frame 122) &#8211; baptismal entry for the youngest son Carolus Franciscus de Rionzini (<em>Carolus Franciscus filius legitimus pr\u00e6nobilis D. Anibalis Pauli de Rionzini et Ann\u00e6 Mari\u00e6 nat\u00e6 Le Moir<\/em>) dated 02.02.1749 &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/ark:\/61903\/1:1:DTT1-X9T2?lang=en\">index on FamilySearch<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Central State Archive of the City of Moscow (TsGA Moskvy):<\/strong> fond 50, opis 2, tom 1, p. 105 (vyazka 493, delo 106481) &#8211; translations of travel documents and baptismal and death extracts of Count Annibal Pauli de Rion Zini (1727\u20131752), certified on 24.07.1790 at the Roman Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Moscow by Father Tadeusz Oliczewski.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Hague Municipal Archive (Haags Gemeentearchief, Den Haag):<\/strong> <em>Toegangsnummer 0377-01 (Doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken van &#8216;s-Gravenhage), Kapel van de Franse gezant aan de Casuariestraat (Frankrijks Kerk), Inv.nr. 345, bl. 161<\/em> (father\u2019s alphabetical index card: <em>Inv.nr. 6364, scan 64<\/em>) &#8211; original baptismal entry dated 26.04.1740 for the eldest son Alexander Josephus Pauli (<em>Alexandrum Josephum fil: D:ni Hannibalis Pauli, et Mari\u00e6 Carolin\u00e6 Le Moir<\/em>) with godparents Count Alexander Poniatowski and the Spanish Ambassadress Josepha, Marchioness of Saint-Gilles &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haagsgemeentearchief.nl\/archieven-mais\/overzicht?mivast=59&amp;mizig=210&amp;miadt=59&amp;miview=inv2&amp;milang=nl&amp;micode=0377-01&amp;minr=955556\">view register in Haags Gemeentearchief<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Diplomatic sources on the London mission of Venetian Resident Giacomo Busenello (1736\u20131737) and the Poniatowski family\u2019s stay in The Hague (1740):<\/strong> <em>Calendar of State Papers Relating to English Affairs in the Archives of Venice<\/em>, Vol. 1, London, 1864, pp. cxxii\u2013cxxix (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/cal-state-papers\/venice\/vol1\/cxxii-cxxix\"><em>Venetian Diplomatic Agents in England on British History Online<\/em><\/a>); <em>Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Treccani)<\/em> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.treccani.it\/enciclopedia\/francesco-venier_(Dizionario-Biografico)\/\">article describing the incident surrounding G. Busenello\u2019s expulsion from London in July 1737<\/a>; <em>Marsha Keith Schuchard<\/em>, \u201cEmanuel Swedenborg, Secret Agent on Earth and in Heaven\u201d, Leiden\u2013Boston: Brill, 2012, Chapter 9 (\u201cOn the Threshold in Holland, England, and Sweden\u201d &#8211; dispatches of British Envoy in The Hague Robert Trevor for 1740 concerning the negotiations of General Stanis\u0142aw Poniatowski and his sons in The Hague).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/vii-venetian-counts\/\">\u2190 Read Chapter VII<\/a><\/em><\/strong> | <strong><em>To be Continued&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Prisoner of Mons Castle, the Vienna Investigation of 1846\u20131851, and the Secret Patrons of Annibal Pauli de Rionzini In the previous chapter, we left the Derionzini (de Rionzini \/ de Rion Zini) family in&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cinematic-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/viii-venetian-grandmaster\/\">Read full entry &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1642,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-cinematic.php","meta":{"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1641","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1641"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1681,"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1641\/revisions\/1681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alfoart.com\/derionzini-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}