What happened in the hunting lodge of Mayerling at the end of January 1889? How did Archduke Rudolf of Habsburg-Lorraine, son of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (the famous Sissi) and his lover, Baroness Maria Vetsera, die? Even today these questions do not have a certain answer. The tragic events in Mayerling have become a real one cold case which inspired novels and films. At the center of the story is an unhappy heir to the throne who, perhaps, committed an extreme act of rebellion against a destiny he had not chosen.
The rebel archduke
Rudolf of Habsburg-Lorraine (1858-1889) was the only son of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. His father wanted to make him a strong, traditionalist, conservative future ruler, giving him an education in line with the rules and lifestyle of the austere Viennese court. On the contrary, his mother, who had always been rather intolerant of the rules of the Palace, tried to mediate between the wishes of the emperor and the inclinations of the heir to the throne.
Rodolfo loved art, history (particularly oriental history) and natural sciences, especially geology, he had a nature inclined towards liberalism, but he had to put these passions aside to dedicate himself to a type of education judged more suited to his role. He had at heart, just like his mother, the issue ofHungary and he hoped to one day be able to carry out social and economic reforms that would modernize the country. In short, his political thought was opposite to his father’s.
On 10 May 1881 Rudolf married Princess Stephanie of Belgium, daughter of King Leopold II. The young woman had been chosen byEmperor Franz Joseph based on precise criteria: she was the descendant of an important European family, of Catholic religion and with a docile character. The marriage, however, was not a happy one, despite the birth of a daughter, Elizabeth. The heir to the throne, disappointed and restless, sought constant distractions outside the court. He began frequenting prostitutes and, apparently, also using opium. He would even contract gonorrhea, becoming sterile. The same fate befell his wife, to whom Rodolfo would have transmitted the disease.
The couple could no longer ensure an heir to the dynasty and this would have been the final blow to an already unfortunate union. Between the spring and autumn of 1888 the Archduke began dating the seventeen-year-old Baroness Maria Vetsera (1871-1889), met during social events organized at the court of Vienna. It is not clear whether there was the classic love at first sight between the two, or whether it was a feeling that arose over time. In any case their story could have no future: Rodolfo was married, Vetsera was engaged and underage. Passion, however, prevailed over common sense and reason of state.
Together with Mayerling
Rudolf and Maria decided to meet in the Mayerling hunting estate, purchased by the Archduke in 1887. It was the only place where they could remain alone, far from court etiquette and a reality that neither of them accepted. On January 30, 1889 their bodies were found by Count Hoyosguest of the archduke and his servant Loshek. The baroness was lying naked on the bed and was clutching a handkerchief in her left hand. The Archduke, however, was to Vetsera’s right, slumped forward on the edge of the bed. Holes from two bullets were visible on the bodies.
Notified of his son’s death by Sissi and to avoid a scandal, the emperor ordered Mary to be buried quickly and not to mention her presence to Mayerling. He then made sure that in the official announcement, Rodolfo’s death was attributed to an aneurysm. Right from the start, however, rumors began to circulate of a plot against the empire, of a possible assassination, perhaps by poisoning. The hypothesis of suicide also made its way in the newspapers and among the citizens. After the examination carried out by the court doctors on the bodies, the Hofburg had to publicly acknowledge that the heir to the throne would have taken his own life, while continuing to omit the name of Maria Vetsera, which only came out at a later stage.
The official version, also supported by the presence of two letters written to Rodolfo, one addressed to his mother, the other to his wife, did not entirely appease those who believed the theory ofpoisoningin particular the possibility that it was Vetsera who killed her lover in this way. This, in part, would also have been due to a misunderstanding: when Hoyos and Loschek discovered the bodies of Rodolfo and Maria the room was immersed in semi-darkness and next to the Archduke there was an empty glass, which immediately made one think of the ingestion of a fatal substance. Only later did the two notice the bullet holes.
The ensuing confusion, together with the real misdirection orchestrated by the emperor, made the reconstruction of events by the press of the time even more chaotic. Thus the poison thesis reached all the newspapers and was accepted by a part of public opinion, generating further developments conspiracy theories. Franz Joseph also managed to obtain a religious funeral for his son from the ecclesiastical authorities, citing as a reason a serious alteration of his mental state at the time of death. In those times, in fact, suicides were denied the Catholic funeral rite and burial in consecrated ground, since the act of taking their own life was considered a mortal sin.
Maria, however, was buried at night in the cemetery of Heiligenkreuz Abbey, not far from Mayerling, without mass and without a tombstone. In 1889 it was the family Vetsera to have a tomb built for the young woman which is still a destination for pilgrimages by those who hope to explain the mystery of Mayerling once and for all.
The last night
How exactly did events unfold in Mayerling on the night between 29 and 30 January 1889? The theory of suicide Is it credible? According to reconstructions, on 29 January Rodolfo invited friends, including Count Hoyos (the only guest who stayed to sleep on the estate), on a hunting trip in Mayerling. Maria would have remained in the archduke’s apartments all day and none of the guests would have noticed her presence (a detail that would then have facilitated the concealment of the baroness’ body).
It also seems that in those hours Rodolfo had decided to send his lover home, perhaps driven by a sense of guilt for that relationship disliked by the Austrian court. Maria, however, insisted on staying and in the end she won. That night the Archduke would shoot her in the temple baroness and then he would turn the weapon on himself. This is the version commonly accepted today. However, the absence of several fundamental pieces is evident: the time of the alleged murder-suicide, the motive and even the trajectory of the bullet that would have killed Rodolfo.
In fact thearchduke he would have watched over Maria’s corpse for many hours before committing suicide, perhaps with a blow to the heart or head, the dynamics are not clear on this point. According to some theories, the lovers would have organized their end many days in advance, according to others it would have been a sudden decision. In any case it would have been the Archduke, tired of living, unable to recover from a deep depressive state, who was the first to think of ending it. Maria, resigned to the idea that theirs was a forbidden relationship but not to the idea of spending the rest of her days without Rodolfo, would have chosen to follow him even in death.
A political motive?
The hypothesis of the romantic tragedy was accompanied by other less reliable ones: Maria Vetsera would have died from the consequences of a abortion and Rodolfo, frightened, committed suicide. This dynamic, however, does not explain the bullet hole in the baroness’ temple. According to another thesis, however, Rudolf was murdered by Austrian officers because of his support for the Hungarians. A plot born at court of which the emperor, naturally, would have been unaware. However, the alleged political assassination appears to be a short-sighted move, because it would have deprived the Austro-Hungarian empire, now in decline, of its only direct heir to the throne. Furthermore, no evidence to this effect has ever emerged and judging from how the facts unfolded it seems unlikely, according to historians, that this is the solution to the mystery.
One thing seems certain: Rodolfo was an unhappy and depressed young man, a free spirit suffocated by protocol and the responsibilities of his role. Just like her mother, Empress Elizabeth. Apparently, then, the imperial family ordered him to leave Maria Vetsera. Too fragile to fight, the Archduke would not have withstood the pressure, seeing death as the only way to assert his will crushed by the rules.
After the tragedy, Emperor Franz Joseph had the Mayerling hunting lodge renovated, transforming it into a convent for the Carmelite nuns. A sort of reparative gesture, a request for forgiveness for Rodolfo’s soul.