The Emperor Rudolf II of Austria (1552-1612) is sometimes called "The Mad Alchemist".
He was an intelligent man with interests in mathematics, science and alchemy,
but he sufferend from dark moods and uncontrollable rages that worsened over time. Gradually he became a recluse.
His illegitimate son, however, was far worse..
Rudolf II was born on the evening of July 18, 1552 as the eldest son of
Maximilian II of Austria (1527-1576) and Maria of Spain (1526-1603). Both his parents were grandchildren of
Juana "The Mad" of Castile (1479-1555). Like her, Maria of Spain (to the right) had a tendency to melancholia. She gave birth to 16 children,
In March 1564, Rudolf arrived in Spain, accompanied by his younger brother Ernest (1553-1595), Wolfgang von Rumpf and Count Adam von Dietrichstein. By then Rudolf was already a serious boy, inclined to fantasy and melancholia. In Barcelona he and Ernst were met by the grave, black-clad Philip II, who immediately took them high up into the mountains to the gloomy monastery of Montserrat. Afterwards, they travelled to the summer palace of Aranjuez,
Early 1570, Rudolf (to the right) and Ernst travelled with Philip II through Southern Spain. Later that year Rudolf's two youngest brothers accompanied their sister Anna (1549-1580) to Spain, where she was to become her
The good-natured Emperor Maximilian II (to the right) found his sons much changed after their long stay in Spain. He noted the "Spanish humours" they had acquired, the gravity and cold pride that so resembled their uncle Philip's. He ordered his sons to "change their bearing", but it was already too late to change their personalities. Maximilian was at odds with his fiery wife
He tried to avoid religious conflict, a policy Rudolf supported, but Maria was strongly committed to the Catholic cause.
It worried Maximilian, because he was suffering from heart attacks, excruciating pains of gout and bouts of "kidney colic", possibly syphilis. He arranged to have Rudolf crowned King of Hungary and King of Bohemia and
Rudolf was an intelligent and gifted man. He could easily speak and write Spanish, German, French, Latin, Italian and a little Czech. He also had a taste for art, and was interested in mathematics and science. Since his return from Spain, however, Rudolf suffered from dark moods that continued to deepen after his crowning. Those were troubled times.
Rudolf gathered astronomers, humanists, physicians, artist, craftsmen and antiquarians about him.
The Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)2, set up his instruments for observing the stars, and wrote down his measurements of the planetary movements.
When Rudolf's cousin, Archduke Ferdinand of Styria, banished Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) from his province, Rudolf welcomed him at his court. Using Brahe's computations,
Rudolf was an ugly man with a big Habsburg lip3, pronounced jaw and short legs. At an early age, he had already lost his teeth.
During the 1590s, his melancholic moods with feelings of anxiety and deep gloom, became more and more frequent. Observers described his sadness, remoteness and aloofness. He became anxious and agitated, ill tempered and bad-humoured. His exaggerated fear of family interference in his affairs gradually developed into a conviction that someone in his family planned to murder him. His gold was kept locked in chests and as a results sometimes there was no food
After the death of his brother Ernest in 1595, his brother Matthias (1557-1619, to the right) became heir to the throne.
Matthias had few talents, but he was ambitious and had been intriguing against his elder brother for years. Rudolf hated him bitterly and took every opportunity
Rudolf's favourite comrades were Wolfgang von Rumpf, Philip Lang and Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunwick (1564-1613). It has been rumoured that Rudolf was attracted to young boys as well as girls. He probably was a bisexual. For years, he had a relationship with Katharina Strada5, the daughter of his court antiquarian.
Over the years, Rudolf's moods swung between animated engagement with the problems of his day and deep melancholia, paranoia and uncontrollable rages.
During Rudolf's retreat from public affairs, Wolfgang Rumpf, his chief minister and long-time companion, gradually attained an almost total control over the central administration of the Empire. By 1599, Rudolf became convinced that Rumpf was dealing behind his back against his interest. He forced him to resign, but later he took him back. Around Easter, Rudolf fired many of his servants and banished others from court for days. For a couple of months Rudolf's rages subsided,
In September, Rudolf dismissed Wolfgang von Rumpf for good. From then onwards, Rudolf abstained from summoning the Privy Council or delegating his powers to a Prime Minister. As a result, the government was paralysed. Incapable of making up his mind, Rudolf refused to take any decision. He appeared hardly at all in public and ordered his galleries and walkways covered over so that he could move about completely unobserved. He took his meals alone, every day at exactly the same times in exactly the same room. Priests or prayers of any sort irritated him immensely and he lived in fear of the sacraments.
In 1611, Rudolf's brother and heir, Matthias, met with his other brothers and cousins in the Hofburg in Vienna, because they feared a Protestant take-over of the Empire during Rudolf's incapacity. They named Matthias Head of the House of Habsburg and bestowed the regency upon him. At the head of an army Matthias marched to the gates of Prague and forced Rudolf to sign over Hungary, Moravia and Bohemia. On November 11, Rudolf put his name to the deed of abdication and flung the pen to the floor.
He was left only with the Imperial Crown. Matthias gave him a pension and the possession of Hradschin castle in Prague. There Rudolf lived with his exotic animals. Soon his favourite lion and two of his eagles died. In the last months of his life Rudolf took to the bottle and in December he suffered from dropsy. On January 19, 1612, his condition deteriorated and the next morning he died.
Nonetheless, the people of Prague mourned "der gute Herr", because his reign was regarded as Prague's golden age.
Copyright © 2001, 2008 by J.N.W. Bos. All rights reserved.
1
"King of the Romans" was the title of the heir to the Emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire", i.e. Germany.
2
Tycho Brahe (to the right) belonged to a prominent Danish family.
He lost part of his nose in a duel, and had the missing part restored in gold and silver.
Provoking his fellow nobles by marrying a poor peasant woman, he continued to mistreat the peasants at his estate.
After a quarrel with the Danish King Christian IV, Brahe arrived in Prague in 1597.
He died in 1601 after "holding back his waters beyond the demands of courtesy".
3
The Habsburgs inherited their famous lip from Zymburgis "With the big lips" (±1394-1429), wife of Ernest "The Iron" (±1377-1424).
4
Rudolf preferred his concubines and virgins who really liked to be deprived of their virginity.
5
Rudolf had a relationship with a daughter of Jacopo Strada (†1588).
Some scholars have proposed that it wasn't Jacopo's legitimate daughter, Katharina, who was Rudolf's mistress,
but Jacopo's illegitimate daughter, Anna Maria. The eldest daughter of this relation was Carolina d'Austria.
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