Gustav Badin

Adolf Ludvig Gustav Fredrik Albert Badin, née Couchi, known as Badin, (1747 or 1750-1822), was a Swedish court-servant, originally a slave, butler of first queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia and then Princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden. His original name was Couchi, but he was comonly known as Badin, wich means mischeaf-maker or trickster.

Background

Badin was born either in Africa or in the Danish island Saint Croix; he himself said that the only thing he remembered about his past was the hut of his parents burning, but it is not known wether this happened in Africa or in Saint Croix. He was taken to Europe, probably on a Danish eastindie ship, from where he was bought by the Danish statesman Anders von Resier who gave him as a present to the queen of Sweden, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, in about the year of 1760. The date of his birth is not really known; 1747 is a traditional year, but within the court and the order of the Timmerman, the year was raported as 1750, and this is by modern historians considered more correct.

Upbringing at court

The queen decided to make of him an experiment in upbringing; she was interested in science and had founded a science academy, where among other topics the origin of man and civilasation was discussed, such as the nature of "savages", the noble savage and the natural human, and in Badin, she saw an object to test her the theories of Rosseau and Linné. She instructed him in Christianity and taught him to read and write, but after this, he was allowed to live entirely according to his own will and judgement. He grew up as the playmate of the children in the royal family, who where brought up in a much more restricted way than him, and was allowed to speak to them in a natural way and even fight and tease them, which was considered scandalous. He knew all the secret passages within the royal casltes and, as it was said, all the secrets within its walls. Contemporary diaries describes how he climbed on the chairs of the king and queen, called everyone "you" instead of using their titles, talked rudly to the nobility and ridiculed religion when interrogated in the bible by Countess Brahe, which made everyone laugh; he was very witty and verbal.

Adulthood

In 11 December 1768, he was baptised in the chapell of Drottningholm Palace with the entire royal family, except prince Charles, as his godparents. As an adult, he was the butler of first the queen and after her death in 1782 to the princess Sophia Albertina. When the queen laid on her death-bed in her country residence, she sent Badin to Stockholm with the kie to her files, which he burnt on her order. The young king, Gustav III of Sweden, became enraged, they had a raul and the king said; "Do you not know, you black person, that I can make you pay with your hed?" "My hed is in the power of your Majesty, but I could not act in a diffrent way," he answered. The relationship with his royal foster-sibblings was otherwise described as good, no matter that he called king Gustav "Gustav the Willen" and Duke Charles "Mr Tobaco". He was close to his foster-sister, Sophia Albertina, and once wrote a phoem to her birthday; "I, one of the Black People/ Unfamiliar with this countrys customs/makes a wish from my heart/ to our Princess too", and thier relationship was good, though she was worried wether she could keep him when she was made abbess of Quedlingburg, and bring him with her on her visits to the convent.

Badin was married twice but died childless; the rumors that he was the father of the alleged secret daughter of Sophia Albertina has never ben confirmed. He sometimes helped the court phoet Bellman to compose phoems to special occasions, and some ot them was published in his name. In 1770, he played the main part in the performance of Arlequin Sauvage i the French theatre. The social position of Badin was not quite clear; he was given several titles, such as chamberlain, court secretary, ballet master and official; he never used the title official, that king gustav gave him, and told him; "Have you ever seen a black official?", bur pteferred to call himself farmer, as he ovned to farms. He was alos lected to the orders of Par Bricole, Timmermansorden and the Freemasons. He was described as an intelligent and reliable person with selfconfidence, and though he was informed about many of the secrets of the royal family and the court, he never revealed anything, and was very loyal to the royal house his entire life.

Badin was far from the only slave brought to Sweden during the 18th century; in the curches of Stockholm, the "morians" (which was a name for black people) Johannes was baptised in 1757, Adolf Ulrik in 1759 and Zamore (also a court slave) in 1772, Vulcain in the royal chapell in Stockholm in 1776 and a woman, Daphne, in Småland in 1783; Duke Charles brought "the most beautiful mor Sweden have ever seen" according to Gjörwell in 1771, and in 1802, a black teenager of the duke, Figaro, was involved in a love affair at court. Also non black slave converts are recorded, such as Pluto from India in 1785 and three Indians from North America in the presence of nobility and a large public. Legally, they would not have ben slaves, as slavery was not legal in Sweden.

Badin is a character in the novel Morianen by M.J.Crusenstolpe in 1838; where he was described as the participator in all the secrets and greater events of the royal family, from the revolution of 1772 to the deposition of 1809. Though this was overexhagurated, it was nevertheless a more or less a true image of him. His diarys, written in French, is preserved in the libray of the Uppsala university.

Sources

• http://runeberg.org/sbh/badin.html
• http://runeberg.org/nfaa/1427.html
• Gustavianskt, Ingvar Andersson.
• Signum svenska kulturhistoria, Frihetstiden.
• Herman Lindquist, "Historien om Sverige, Gustavs dagar"
• http://www.historiskamedia.com/o.o.i.s?id=43&vid=178
• Ingvar Andersson, "Gustavianskt".