|
The rather splendid mock-mock-Georgian manor house, The Old Courthouse, is the family home of Archduke Russell Judge of Lower Saxony. The first Archduke was one Wolfgang Geschwister, the son of a Bavarian goat herder. The previously unknown local magistrate was appointed Legislater-General of the Kingdom of Saxony by King Frederick Augustus I in 1806. The king made him Archduke of Lower Saxony in 1814 in recognition of his tireless efforts at the Congress of Vienna in restoring King Frederick Augustus I to the throne of the Kingdom of Saxony. Shortly after, Upper Saxony was ceded to Prussia who then proceeded to mount border skirmishes in the Kingdom of Saxony. It was during this time that Wolfgang earned a reputation for cruel and unusual punishments. Prussian revolutionaries captured in Lower Saxony were brought before the a specially convened Archduke’s Court where sentencing and punishment were passed. Contemporary accounts have detailed some of the more unusual punishments, including being drowned in custard and being tickled to death. Archduke Wolfgang was nicknamed Archduke Judge-Jury-Executioner in neighbouring Prussia, a name he took a liking to and later formally adopted. The name was shortened by subsequent generations, eventually being changed simply to Judge by Archduke Rudolf II when he fled Lower Saxony for Boston in the 1923 revolution. Archduke Russell’s father, Archduke Oscar VI, has been mayor of Boston for the last 14 years and in that time has survived 3 attempted Mafia assassinations. Archduke Russell is currently the Grand Master of the Boston Masonic Lodge and honourary patron of the Massachusetts Associated National Brethren of Occupational Oncologists and Brain Surgeons.
|
