Rudolf of Habsburg, symbol of an era

The smart and liberal Crown Prince Rudolf (1858 - 1889) was regarded as the Favourite of the nations of the Habsburg Empire. In many ways, his life can be read as exemplary for the period between 1848 and the outbreak of the First World War, when technical ideas were developing at breakneck speed, newspapers were spreading political ideas from different camps with unprecedented circulation and at the same time Catholicism, superstition and spiritualism were commonplace. Interest in science, art, culture and customs was also omnipresent in Innsbruck. The vast majority of Innsbruckers did not have the material means or the status of Habsburgs, but the fashions and trends under which they lived were the same. The upper middle classes emulated the same ideals as the crown prince, just as Rudolf always saw himself as part of the upper middle classes. He was considered well-read and educated and was interested in a wide range of subjects in keeping with the spirit of the times. In addition to Greek and Latin, he also spoke French, Hungarian, Czech and Croatian. As a private citizen, he devoted himself to science and travelling through the countries of the monarchy. Rudolf arranged for the publication of of the Kronprinzenwerk, a natural science encyclopaedia. Volume 13 was published in 1893, which dealt with the crown land of Tyrol. He wrote liberal articles in the "Neue Wiener Tagblatt" under a pseudonym. Among other things, he wanted to promote land and land reforms by taxing large landowners more heavily and granting the individual nationalities of the Habsburg Empire more rights. He was particularly unpopular in conservative, rural Tyrol and among the military. Among the liberal-minded people of Innsbruck, on the other hand, he was seen as a hope for a renewal of the monarchy in the sense of a modern, federal state. The Rudolf's Fountain in Innsbruck on Boznerplatz does not commemorate the crown prince, but he was present at its inauguration. As an advocate of rationalism and enlightenment, Rudolf despised the widespread belief in supernatural beings and spirits, while around him new churches sprang up like mushrooms and the upper class indulged in seances and spiritualistic superstitions. The popular piety of the late monarchy led to large-scale projects such as the parish churches of St Nicholas and Hötting. 

Despite, or perhaps because of his aristocratic background, Rudolf's private life was turbulent, but not atypical of the time, in which parents and teachers were less approachable educators and more distant figures of respect. Children were brought up strictly. Neither teachers nor parents shied away from corporal punishment, even if there were limits, laws and rules for the use of domestic violence. Militarism and a focus on future gainful employment prevented the kind of childhood and youth we know today. Young men from the upper classes lived out their soldierly daydreams as armed and uniformed members of student fraternities. It is no wonder that the enthusiasm for war, God, Emperor and Fatherland was great in the birth cohorts of the last decades of the 19th century. Rudolf's early years, when he had to undergo a military education under General Gondrecourt at the request of Emperor Franz Josef, were also less than luxurious. It was only after his mother Elisabeth intervened that harassment such as water cures, drill in the rain and snow and being woken up with pistol shots were removed from the six-year-old crown prince's daily programme. 

Like many of his contemporaries, Rudolf, as a member of the upper class, found himself in an unhappy, arranged marriage. The 19th century was not the age of love marriages, even if the Romantic and Biedermeier periods are often praised as such. Marriages between peasants were often arranged on financial grounds. Aristocrats and members of the upper middle classes married for reasons of social status and with the aim of preserving the dynasty. In the upper classes, wives were often their husband's jewellery and head of the household. Only when the often older husband had died could widows enjoy a life apart from this role. Servants, maids, farmhands and maidservants were forbidden to marry for a long time. The danger that they would be unable to support their children and thus become a burden on the community was too great for the communities. This double standard of the aristocracy and upper middle classes towards the Pofl meant that illegal abortions, full orphanages and children growing up with relatives in the country instead of their parents were part of everyday life. Throughout his life, Rudolf was also not averse to the fairer sex outside of marriage. In the last months of his life, he had an affair with Mary Vetsera, a girl from rich Hungarian nobility who was considered particularly beautiful and was only 17 years old. Many of his subjects were like Rudolf. It is true that hardly anyone could boast of claiming a Hungarian aristocrat as a playmate. Even in Innsbruck's high society, it was common to listen to the priest's sermon from the pulpit on Sundays and have an extramarital affair or visit a brothel at the same time. 

Rudolf's life ended tragically. On 30 January 1889, the severely depressed Rudolf, marked by alcohol, morphine and gonorrhoea, met up with Vetsera after spending the previous night with his long-term lover, the prostitute Maria „Mizzi“ Kaspar, had spent the night. Under circumstances that have never been fully clarified, he first killed the young woman and then himself with a shot to the head. The suicide was never recognised by the Habsburg family. Zita (1892 - 1989), the widow of the last Emperor Karl, still spoke of an assassination attempt in the 1980s. The discussion surrounding the burial of the heir to the throne and his mistress showed the double standards of society. Suicide was considered a grave sin and actually prevented a Christian burial. Vetsera was buried inconspicuously at the cemetery in Heiligenkreuz near Mayerling in a small grave next to the cemetery wall, while Rudolf was given a state funeral after imperial intervention with the Pope and was laid to rest in the Capuchin crypt in Vienna.