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The Correspondence of PrIncess ElIsabeth and Descartes: A ReadIng
from the PoInt of VIew of ElIsabeth
Aliye KARABÜK KOVANLIKAYA *
One of the more helpful sources for an insight into Descartes’ principal works is his
correspondence. His correspondents –sometimes mediated by a third person‐ typically included
leading scientists, thinkers and theologians of the time. The points that remain obscure in his
principal works, problematical subjects and at least seeming inconsistencies between different texts
are fully or partially explained through Descartes’ writings in response to the questions directed at
him. At times, it becomes clear that the problem cannot be solved through subsequent additions.
His letters to Princess Elisabeth have frequently been a reference for similar purposes for thinkers
who work on Descartes. In these letters, he occasionally employed a more explanatory style possibly
because he was addressing an unprofessional interlocutor. Having built his entire system of thought
with the motive of making it comprehensible by everyone “including Turks” 1 , provided that sufficient
time and attention are devoted, he might have found the subject by which to verify his undertaking
in the personality of Princess Elisabeth.
The correspondences of Descartes and Elisabeth, just like their whole lives, bear the mark of the
Thirty Years’ War. It was the Thirty Years’ War climate of Europe that crossed the paths of Descartes 2 ,
a Jesuit college graduate who was born on 31 March 1596 in La Haye in Touraine as the youngest of
the three surviving children to a family that mostly served as tax collector for the king, and of
Elisabeth 3 , who was born 22 years later on 26 December 1618 to a noble family. 4 The war, starting
from 1618, continued until 1648 when the Peace of Westphalia was signed, hence named as Thirty
Years’ War. It is generally regarded as a war between Catholics and Protestants since it involved the
Catholic Spain and the Holy Roman Empire on one side and the Protestant European states on the
other. In fact, the war took place before and after these dates; Catholic France supported the
Protestants, whereas some Catholics fought some other Catholics and the Lutherans fought
Calvinists. 5 It was this complicated network of alliances that crossed Descartes’ and Elisabeth’s paths.
Having received his degree in law from Poitiers in 1616, Descartes did not follow the family
tradition. He refused to be a lawyer and chose the other way available to him, which was to be
enlisted in the army as an officer. Apparently, his real motivation was to make up for the lacking
aspects of his education. Against the Catholic Spain, France supported the Calvinist states that united
together under the name “Republic of the Seven United Provinces” led by the Netherlands, the
strongest member of the union. In 1618, Descartes joined to the army of protestant Prince Maurice
de Nassou of Orange dynasty. Prince Maurice and Elisabeth’s paternal grandmother were paternal
half‐siblings. In 1619, Descartes left the Netherlands, going first to Denmark and then to Germany. 6
He travelled through Germany until his return to France in 1622. In particular, he wanted to visit
Austria and Bohemia because Prague, home to Brahe and Kepler, was religiously tolerant, and
opened up to scientific studies and scientists. In 1619, he attended, this time on the side of Catholics,
the coronation of Ferdinand II as the Holy Roman Emperor, who had become the King of Bohemia in
1617. The Protestant German states united and rebelled against the Catholic hegemony. They
renounced Ferdinand II and crowned Friedrich V, Elector Palatine, as the King of Bohemia. This event
is usually taken to have precipitated the Thirty Years’ War. Often nicknamed the “Winter King”
because of his short reign that lasted for just one winter season as the King of Bohemia, Friedrich V is
the father of Elisabeth, who was one year old at the time. Descartes, on the other hand, was on the
army of the catholic Duke of Bavaria, which was among the forces that won the Battle of White
Mountain on 8 November 1620, ending the reign of Friedrich V and totally changing the course of the
lives of Elisabeth and her family. 7
*
Galatasaray University, Philosophy Department.