Portrait of Franz Joseph I of Austria, 1885
Fate conspired for Franz Joseph of Habsburg, Franz Joseph I of Austria, to become the last Emperor. He first became king despite not being in direct line to the throne. Next, he was left without a successor, for all his heirs died tragically. Finally, a chain reaction would culminate in a world war and in the disintegration of his Empire: in less than two years both Emperor and Empire had disappeared -he died towards the end of 1916, having been on the throne for a whopping 68 years minus 11 days. True, one of his grand-nephews inherited the Imperial robe, but who remembers Charles I of Austria? He was appointed at the last minute and the only role left for him was to abdicate and go into exile. Perhaps fate felt sorry for Franz Joseph, and after overwhelming him with a life of misfortunes it decided to spare him the suffering of having to write the full stop to a monarchy which went back a thousand years, and which he had embodied like no one else. Having said that, Franz Joseph was crowned by a revolution; a revolution and his terrifying mother…
In 1848 a political schism spreads throughout Europe. The monarchy falls in France, the Pope-King has to leave Rome and in Germany a certain K. Marx publishes the Communist Manifesto. In Vienna, students take over the Imperial Palace and street fights erupt. It is the moment for Princess Sophie of Bavaria, married to one of Emperor Ferdinand’s younger brothers, to carry out a coup d’état. “In order to save the dynasty”, she easily convinces Ferdinand to abdicate –he is mentally handicapped and fortunately has no offspring. It proves to be harder to convince her own husband, next in line to the Crown, to give it up, but Sophie is as clever and energetic as her husband is lacking in character. For she has decided that the new Emperor will be her 19-year old son Franz Joseph. Sophie has been plotting the move for some time, and in fact has brought Franz Joseph up to be an Emperor.
It looks like this original sin, this way of accessing the throne trampling on his father’s rights, determines the many misfortunes in his long reign.
The first is the cruelest one because it starts as a happy situation. Franz Joseph marries the beautiful Sisi out of love, an extraordinary privilege for a monarch. Nevertheless, his mother, who has given him the throne, will take away his happiness very soon: she is a terrible mother-in-law, who oppresses Sisi and separates her from her babies to educate them herself. In fairness, though, Sisi has a difficult nature, and she abandons her husband once she decides she cannot stand her mother-in-law.
From his marriage breakdown onwards, Franz Joseph’s family life will be an agony. Of his three brothers, Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, is shot by Mexicans; the next in line dies of typhus; and the youngest one is caught seducing an underage boy in the public baths and has to go on exile. The fate of the only son and heir of Franz Joseph is even worse: Rudolph commits suicide together with his lover. Next to die is Sisi, who has become a neurasthenic, wandering aimlessly abroad; she is victim of an Italian anarchist. Finally, the last to ensure the succession after Rudolph’s death, his nephew the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, is murdered in 1914 by a Serbian radical in Sarajevo, triggering the Great War and bringing about the end of the Empire.
Coin of Franz Joseph I 20 Kreuzer, 1868
Nevertheless, one has to be give it to Franz Joseph: nobody bears misfortunes like him. Due to his long reign he becomes the embodiment of Majesty, the living symbol of the Monarchic Idea. The old Emperor –he did look old very early on; misfortunes age you- bears on his shoulder the tremendous complexity of an Empire which is a labyrinth of races, religions and languages. Despite this, his efforts are useless when having to face the rise of nationalisms in the 19th c., a centrifugal force incompatible with his Empire. His sincere devotedness for his subjects is also to no avail: the social spasms of the time and the demands of the masses are no longer quieted with patronizing gestures.
Franz Joseph had been the perfect ruler in the 18th century Enlightened despotism, but as far as the evolution of History in the 19th century is concerned he becomes an unbearable reactionary, dead weight, and much more so in the 20th c. His personal life is faultless during his almost seven decades reign. Despite being surrounded by the riches of an empire almost a thousand years old, he lives in perfect austerity. He eats the same every day, taffelspil, a popular ox and vegetable stew, and he is as discreet in his love affairs as in his diet.
Nevertheless, he is convinced he has been appointed by God; he considers himself Charlemagne’s heir and, through him, the heir of Roman emperors. Moreover, despite his profound Catholicism he believes himself to be above the Pope. In 1903, for the last time in history, the emperor exercises his right to veto in the conclave, thus preventing cardinal Rampolla, elected by the rest of cardinals, to become Pope.
His death in 1916 is as discreet and contained as everything else in his life has been. Despite being 86, he is in good physical shape -still walks with his famous athletic stride- and keeps a superhuman working schedule, overwhelmed by a war which is going from bad to worse. Three days before dying the painter Franz von Matsch finishes a portrait which, with the realism of a photograph, depicts Franz Joseph at his desk. On the day of his death he goes to mass and after that deals with official matters as usual. After his sudden demise, the crypt of Capuchins, the modest pantheon of the Habsburg in a Franciscan convent, opens its doors for the last time in order to take in imperial remains. As befits the last Emperor.
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Translated from “El último emperador” by Luis Reyes. Published in Tiempo on 21.11.2008. Available in http://www.historiarte.net/articulos/art066.html (last accessed 11.11.2009)
journeys and places 