Wittkower, Rudolf, 1901-71, German-American art historian. After gaining his doctorate in Berlin, Wittkower became a research assistant and later research fellow at the Biblioteca Hertiziana, Rome (1923-33). He was (1934-56) on the staff of the Warburg Institute, London, and became professor at the Univ. of London from 1949 until 1956. Wittkower then headed the department of fine arts and archaeology at Columbia Univ. A man of indomitable energy, he transformed the department into one of the vital centers of scholarship in art history. His highly original works in English include Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism (1949), which was a major influence on modern English architects; The Drawings of the Carracci (1952); Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1955), a basic reevaluation; Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750 (1958); Born under Saturn, the Character and Conduct of Artists (with Margot Wittkower, 1963); Essays in the History of Architecture (1967); Essays in the History of Art (1967); and Baroque Art: The Jesuit Contribution (with Irma Jaffe, 1972).

Hess, Rudolf, 1894-1987, German National Socialist leader, b. Alexandria, Egypt; son of a German merchant. In 1920 he became an ardent follower of Adolf Hitler and after the Munich "beer-hall putsch" (1923) shared Hitler's imprisonment. Hitler dictated Mein Kampf to him. In 1933 he became deputy Führer and minister without portfolio. In 1939, Hitler named him second in line of succession after Hermann Goering. Hess created a worldwide sensation when he stole an airplane and flew (May, 1941) from Augsburg to Scotland (where he was arrested), apparently in an attempt to negotiate a peace agreement with Great Britain. At the Nuremberg war-crimes trial he was sentenced (1946) to life imprisonment at Spandau prison. Hess's behavior both before and during his trial raised questions as to his sanity. At the time of his death, he was Spandau's last remaining prisoner.

Friml, Rudolf (Charles Rudolf Friml), 1879-1972, American composer, b. Prague. Friml lived in the United States after 1906. The best-known of his 33 light operas are The Firefly (1912), Rose Marie (1924), and The Vagabond King (1925). Friml's operettas generally concerned gallants and princesses moving through fairy-tale complexities of plot. Presented on stage, on Broadway and in road companies and revived in film versions, his operettas succumbed to the change in musical tastes by the late 1940s.

Nureyev, Rudolf, 1938-93, Russian ballet dancer, b. near Irkutsk, Siberian USSR (now Russia). Nureyev studied in Ufa and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and in 1958 he became a soloist with the Kirov Ballet. In 1961 he defected from the Soviet Union while on tour in Paris. The leading classical ballet dancer of his generation, Nureyev was noted for his overpowering stage presence and his exceptionally athletic skill and fiery grace. His major roles included the leads in La Bayadère, Les Sylphides, Giselle, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Le Corsaire, Raymonda, and Sleeping Beauty. As a guest artist with the Royal Ballet, London, and elsewhere Nureyev appeared with many celebrated ballerinas, most notably as partner to Margot Fonteyn. He revised and staged several ballets, including the Marius Petipa version of Don Quixote (1966), and from 1983 to 1989 he was the ballet director of the Paris Opéra. Nureyev also danced in a number of works by modern-dance choreographers, including Glen Tetley and Paul Taylor; frequently appeared on television; was the star and subject of a feature-length film; and had a limited-run Broadway show (1974-75).

Carnap, Rudolf, 1891-1970, German-American philosopher. He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Vienna (1926-31) and at the German Univ. in Prague (1931-35). After going to the United States he taught at the Univ. of Chicago (1936-52) and at the Univ. of California at Los Angeles (1954-62). Carnap was one of the most influential of contemporary philosophers; he is known as a founder of logical positivism and made important contributions to logic, semantics, and the philosophy of science. In Logische Syntax der Sprache (1934; tr. The Logical Syntax of Language, 1937) he defined philosophy as "the logic of the sciences" and considered it a general language whose only legitimate concern could be to describe and criticize the language of the particular sciences. All propositions were held to be either tautological (embodying logical or mathematical systems), scientific (embodying philosophy properly understood), or nonsensical (embodying the nonverifiable propositions of traditional philosophy). Through an analysis of scientific, logical, and mathematical language he revealed the inadequacies of everyday speech. Carnap later modified this extreme view, which rejects almost all of traditional philosophy. His other works include Introduction to Semantics (1942), Meaning and Necessity (1947, 2d ed. 1956), Logical Foundations of Probability (1950), and Einführung in die symbolische Logik (1954; tr. Introduction to Symbolic Logic and its Applications, 1958).

Rudolf, 1858-89, Austrian archduke, crown prince of Austria and Hungary; only son of Emperor Francis Joseph and Empress Elizabeth. Upon his mysterious death at Mayerling near Vienna (officially declared a double suicide with his mistress, Baroness Maria Vetsera), his cousin Francis Ferdinand became heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

Rudolf, Lake: see Turkana, Lake.

Virchow, Rudolf, 1821-1902, German pathologist, a founder of cellular pathology. He became professor at the Univ. of Würzburg (1849) and professor and director of the Pathological Institute, Berlin (1856). He contributed to nearly every branch of medical science as well as to anthropology, and he introduced sanitary reforms in Berlin. Virchow was a member of the Prussian lower house and later of the Reichstag (1880-93) and he was a leader of the liberal Progressive party opposed to Bismarck. He founded (1847) the Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin and wrote numerous works, including Die Cellularpathologie (1858, tr. 1860).

Serkin, Rudolf, 1903-91, Austrian-American pianist, b. Bohemia. Serkin gave joint recitals with Adolf Busch and made his U.S. debut (1933) with the Busch chamber players. He was a soloist (1936) with the New York Philharmonic under Toscanini. Serkin and Busch brought the entire cycle of Beethoven piano-and-violin sonatas to New York audiences in 1938. In 1939 he joined the staff of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and was later (1968-75) its director. He also became director of the Marlboro School of Music in Vermont in 1951. His son Peter Serkin, 1947-, b. New York City, is also a noted concert pianist. The younger Serkin is known for his performances of the standard classical repertoire and of pieces by contemporary composers.

Bing, Rudolf, 1902-97, Austrian operatic manager. Naturalized a British subject in 1946, he was general manager of the Glyndebourne operatic festivals (1934-49) and artistic manager of the Edinburgh International Festival (1947-49). He became general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1950. Bing was knighted in 1971 and retired the following year.

Steiner, Rudolf, 1861-1925, German occultist and social philosopher. He was a leader in the founding of the German Theosophic Association (see theosophy). In time he abandoned theosophy and developed a distinctive philosophy which he called anthroposophy; this philosophy attempts to explain the world in terms of man's spiritual nature, or thinking independent of the senses. Translations of his works include Investigations in Occultism (1920) and Philosophy of Spiritual Activity (1922). He also wrote many works on Goethe.

(born March 17, 1881, Frauenfeld, Switz.—died Aug. 12, 1973, Locarno) Swiss physiologist. He worked at the University of Zürich (1917–51). His interests centred on the nerves that control automatic functions such as digestion and excretion and that also trigger the activities of a group of organs that respond to complex stimuli, such as stress. Using fine electrodes to stimulate or destroy specific areas of the brain in cats and dogs, Hess mapped the control centres for each function to such a degree that he could bring about the physical behaviour pattern of a cat confronted by a dog simply by stimulating the proper points on the cat's hypothalamus. He shared a 1949 Nobel Prize with Antonio Egas Moniz.

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(born Feb. 27, 1861, Kraljević, Austria—died March 30, 1925, Dornach, Switz.) Austrian-Swiss social and spiritual philosopher, founder of anthroposophy. He edited the scientific works of Johann W. von Goethe and contributed to the standard edition of Goethe's complete works. During this period he wrote The Philosophy of Freedom (1894). Coming gradually to believe in spiritual perception independent of the senses, he called the result of his research “anthroposophy,” centring on “knowledge produced by the higher self in man.” In 1912 he founded the Anthroposophical Society. In 1913 he built his first Goetheanum, a “school of spiritual science,” in Dornach, Switz. In 1919 he founded a progressive school for workers at the Waldorf Astoria factory, which led to the international Waldorf School movement. Steiner's other writings include The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity (1894), Occult Science (1913), and Story of My Life (1924).

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(born March 28, 1903, Eger, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary—died May 8, 1991, Guilford, Vt., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. pianist. He made his debut at age 12 in Vienna, and from 1920 he was a close associate of the conductor Adolf Busch, whose daughter he married in 1935. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 and began teaching at the Curtis Institute, of which he served as director (1968–75). In 1950 he and Busch cofounded the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, which under Serkin's direction became the preeminent locus for chamber music in the U.S. He was known for his highly intelligent and expressive but self-effacing playing of the German-Austrian classics. His son, Peter (b. 1947), is a well-known pianist, with a wide repertoire.

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(born Dec. 12, 1875, Aschersleben, near Magdeburg, Prussia—died Feb. 24, 1953, Hannover, W.Ger.) German general in World War II. Chief of staff of an army corps in World War I, he was active after the war in Germany's secret rearmament. In World War II he was promoted to field marshal (1940) and commanded armies in the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union. As commander in chief on the Western Front (1942–45), he fortified France against the expected Allied invasion. Removed briefly from command (1944), he returned to direct the Battle of the Bulge. He was captured in 1945 but released because of ill health.

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or Lake Turkana

Lake, mainly in northern Kenya. The fourth largest of the eastern African lakes, it lies 1,230 ft (375 m) above sea level in the Great Rift Valley and covers an area of 2,473 sq mi (6,405 sq km). The three main islands in the lake are volcanic. The lake is relatively shallow; its greatest recorded depth is 240 ft (73 m). Having no outlet, the lake's waters are brackish. Sudden storms are frequent, rendering navigation treacherous. It is a rich reservoir of fish.

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(born Dec. 15, 1879, Bratislava, Austria-Hungary—died July 1, 1958, Weybridge, Surrey, Eng.) Hungarian modern-dance teacher, inventor of the Labanotation system of dance notation. After studying dance in Paris, he opened his Choreographic Institute in Zürich, Switz., in 1915 and later founded branches in Italy, France, and central Europe. From 1919 to 1937 he worked in Germany, where in 1930–34 he was ballet director of the Berlin State Opera. In 1928 he published his method for recording all forms of human motion, which enabled choreographers to record the dancer's steps and other body movements, including their rhythm. In 1938 he joined his former pupil Kurt Jooss and taught dance in England, where he later formed the Art of Movement Studio. His system was further developed and maintained at centres in Essen, Ger., and New York.

Learn more about Laban, Rudolf (von) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 27, 1861, Kraljević, Austria—died March 30, 1925, Dornach, Switz.) Austrian-Swiss social and spiritual philosopher, founder of anthroposophy. He edited the scientific works of Johann W. von Goethe and contributed to the standard edition of Goethe's complete works. During this period he wrote The Philosophy of Freedom (1894). Coming gradually to believe in spiritual perception independent of the senses, he called the result of his research “anthroposophy,” centring on “knowledge produced by the higher self in man.” In 1912 he founded the Anthroposophical Society. In 1913 he built his first Goetheanum, a “school of spiritual science,” in Dornach, Switz. In 1919 he founded a progressive school for workers at the Waldorf Astoria factory, which led to the international Waldorf School movement. Steiner's other writings include The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity (1894), Occult Science (1913), and Story of My Life (1924).

Learn more about Steiner, Rudolf with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 28, 1903, Eger, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary—died May 8, 1991, Guilford, Vt., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. pianist. He made his debut at age 12 in Vienna, and from 1920 he was a close associate of the conductor Adolf Busch, whose daughter he married in 1935. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 and began teaching at the Curtis Institute, of which he served as director (1968–75). In 1950 he and Busch cofounded the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, which under Serkin's direction became the preeminent locus for chamber music in the U.S. He was known for his highly intelligent and expressive but self-effacing playing of the German-Austrian classics. His son, Peter (b. 1947), is a well-known pianist, with a wide repertoire.

Learn more about Serkin, Rudolf with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 17, 1938, Irkutsk, Russia, U.S.S.R.—died Jan. 6, 1993, Paris, Fr.) Russian ballet dancer. After studying ballet in Leningrad (1955–58), he joined the Kirov Ballet as a soloist. He defected during the company's tour to Paris in 1961. Thereafter he danced as a guest artist with many companies, especially the Royal Ballet, where he regularly partnered Margot Fonteyn. His performances, combining an intensely romantic sensibility with stunning muscularity and technique, made him an international star. He choreographed new versions of Romeo and Juliet, Manfred, and The Nutcracker. From 1983 to 1989 he was artistic director of the Paris Opéra Ballet.

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or Rudolf of Habsburg

(born May 1, 1218, Limburg-im-Breisgau—died July 15, 1291, Speyer) First German king (1273–91) of the Habsburg dynasty. He inherited lands in Alsace, the Aargau, and Breisgau and extended his territory by marriage and through negotiation. Crowned king in 1273, he was recognized by Pope Gregory X only after promising to lead a new Crusade and to renounce imperial rights in Rome, the papal territories, and Italy. Rudolf defeated his rival Otakar II (1276, 1278) and gained lands in Austria, which he granted to his sons. He worked to combat the expansionist policies of France, but French influence at the papal court kept him from being crowned Holy Roman emperor. Although he created the core of later Habsburg territorial power, Rudolf was unable to make the throne a hereditary possession of his family, because the German electors would not raise his son to the kingship.

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(born April 26, 1894, Alexandria, Egypt—died Aug. 17, 1987, West Berlin, W.Ger.) German Nazi leader. He joined the fledgling Nazi Party in 1920 and soon became Adolf Hitler's friend. After participating in the Beer Hall Putsch (1923), he escaped but returned voluntarily to prison, where he took down dictation for Hitler's Mein Kampf. He became Hitler's private secretary and, in 1933, deputy party leader. In the early days of World War II his power waned. In 1941 he created an international sensation when he secretly landed by parachute in Scotland on an abortive mission to negotiate peace between Britain and Germany. The British government held him as a prisoner of war, and his peace initiative was rejected by Hitler. He was given a life sentence at the Nürnberg trials, and from 1966 he was the sole inmate at Spandau prison.

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(born March 17, 1938, Irkutsk, Russia, U.S.S.R.—died Jan. 6, 1993, Paris, Fr.) Russian ballet dancer. After studying ballet in Leningrad (1955–58), he joined the Kirov Ballet as a soloist. He defected during the company's tour to Paris in 1961. Thereafter he danced as a guest artist with many companies, especially the Royal Ballet, where he regularly partnered Margot Fonteyn. His performances, combining an intensely romantic sensibility with stunning muscularity and technique, made him an international star. He choreographed new versions of Romeo and Juliet, Manfred, and The Nutcracker. From 1983 to 1989 he was artistic director of the Paris Opéra Ballet.

Learn more about Nureyev, Rudolf (Hametovich) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 7, 1879, Prague —died Nov. 12, 1972, Hollywood, Calif., U.S.) Czech-born U.S. composer. He studied under Antonín Dvorhacekák, and he immigrated to the U.S. in 1906. In 1912, replacing Victor Herbert, he composed the highly successful operetta The Firefly (with Otto Harbach). The next major success of his approximately 30 operettas, Rose Marie (1924; with “Indian Love Call”), was followed by The Vagabond King (1925; with “Song of the Vagabonds” and “Some Day”) and The Three Musketeers (1928), among the last operettas to enjoy popular success.

Learn more about Friml, (Charles) Rudolf with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 5, 1846, Aurich, East Friesland—died Sept. 14, 1926, Jena, Ger.) German philosopher. He taught primarily at the University of Jena (1874–1920). Distrusting abstract intellectualism and systematics, Eucken centred his philosophy upon actual human experience. He maintained that man is the meeting place of nature and spirit and that it is a human duty and privilege to overcome nature by incessant striving after the spiritual life. A strong critic of naturalism, he held that humans are differentiated from the rest of the natural world by their possession of a soul, an entity that cannot be explained in terms of natural processes. He also was known as an interpreter of Aristotle. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1908.

Learn more about Eucken, Rudolf Christoph with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 18, 1891, Ronsdorf, Ger.—died Sept. 14, 1970, Santa Monica, Calif., U.S.) German-born U.S. philosopher. He earned a doctorate in physics at the University of Jena in 1921. In 1926 he was invited to join the faculty of the University of Vienna, where he soon became an influential member of a group of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists known as the Vienna Circle. Out of their discussions developed the basic ideas of logical positivism. Carnap immigrated to the U.S. in 1935 and taught at the University of Chicago (1936–52). After two years at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1952–54), he joined the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles, where he remained until his death. Carnap sought to give the basic thesis of empiricism—that all concepts and beliefs about the world ultimately derive from immediate experience—a precise interpretation, construing it as a logical thesis about the evidential grounding of empirical knowledge. For Carnap, empiricism is the doctrine that the terms and sentences that express assertions about the world are “reducible” in a clearly specifiable sense to terms and sentences describing the immediate data of experience. His major works include The Logical Structure of the World (1928), The Logical Syntax of Language (1934), Introduction to Semantics (1942), Meaning and Necessity (1947), and The Logical Foundations of Probability (1950).

Learn more about Carnap, Rudolf with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 15, 1911, Zürich, Switz.—died April 4, 1991, Zürich) Swiss dramatist and novelist. Originally a journalist, he later worked as an architect, a career he abandoned for writing in 1955. He is noted for his Expressionist depictions of the moral dilemmas of 20th-century life. His early drama Santa Cruz (1947) established the central theme of his subsequent works: the predicament of the complicated, skeptical individual in modern society. Other plays include The Chinese Wall (1947), The Fire Raisers (1958), and Andorra (1961). Among his novels are I'm Not Stiller (1954), Homo Faber (1957), A Wilderness of Mirrors (1964), and Man in the Holocene (1979).

Learn more about Frisch, Max (Rudolf) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

or Lake Turkana

Lake, mainly in northern Kenya. The fourth largest of the eastern African lakes, it lies 1,230 ft (375 m) above sea level in the Great Rift Valley and covers an area of 2,473 sq mi (6,405 sq km). The three main islands in the lake are volcanic. The lake is relatively shallow; its greatest recorded depth is 240 ft (73 m). Having no outlet, the lake's waters are brackish. Sudden storms are frequent, rendering navigation treacherous. It is a rich reservoir of fish.

Learn more about Rudolf, Lake with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 15, 1879, Bratislava, Austria-Hungary—died July 1, 1958, Weybridge, Surrey, Eng.) Hungarian modern-dance teacher, inventor of the Labanotation system of dance notation. After studying dance in Paris, he opened his Choreographic Institute in Zürich, Switz., in 1915 and later founded branches in Italy, France, and central Europe. From 1919 to 1937 he worked in Germany, where in 1930–34 he was ballet director of the Berlin State Opera. In 1928 he published his method for recording all forms of human motion, which enabled choreographers to record the dancer's steps and other body movements, including their rhythm. In 1938 he joined his former pupil Kurt Jooss and taught dance in England, where he later formed the Art of Movement Studio. His system was further developed and maintained at centres in Essen, Ger., and New York.

Learn more about Laban, Rudolf (von) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 17, 1881, Frauenfeld, Switz.—died Aug. 12, 1973, Locarno) Swiss physiologist. He worked at the University of Zürich (1917–51). His interests centred on the nerves that control automatic functions such as digestion and excretion and that also trigger the activities of a group of organs that respond to complex stimuli, such as stress. Using fine electrodes to stimulate or destroy specific areas of the brain in cats and dogs, Hess mapped the control centres for each function to such a degree that he could bring about the physical behaviour pattern of a cat confronted by a dog simply by stimulating the proper points on the cat's hypothalamus. He shared a 1949 Nobel Prize with Antonio Egas Moniz.

Learn more about Hess, Walter Rudolf with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 22, 1857, Hamburg, Ger.—died Jan. 1, 1894, Bonn) German physicist. While a professor at Karlsruhe Polytechnic (1885–89), he produced electromagnetic waves in the laboratory and measured their length and velocity. He showed that the nature of their vibration and their susceptibility to reflection and refraction were the same as those of light waves, and he proved that light and heat are electromagnetic radiations. He was the first to broadcast and receive radio waves. In 1889 he was appointed professor at the University of Bonn, where he continued his research on the discharge of electricity in rarefied gases. The hertz (Hz), a unit of frequency in cycles per second, is named for him.

Learn more about Hertz, Heinrich (Rudolf) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 22, 1857, Hamburg, Ger.—died Jan. 1, 1894, Bonn) German physicist. While a professor at Karlsruhe Polytechnic (1885–89), he produced electromagnetic waves in the laboratory and measured their length and velocity. He showed that the nature of their vibration and their susceptibility to reflection and refraction were the same as those of light waves, and he proved that light and heat are electromagnetic radiations. He was the first to broadcast and receive radio waves. In 1889 he was appointed professor at the University of Bonn, where he continued his research on the discharge of electricity in rarefied gases. The hertz (Hz), a unit of frequency in cycles per second, is named for him.

Learn more about Hertz, Heinrich (Rudolf) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 15, 1911, Zürich, Switz.—died April 4, 1991, Zürich) Swiss dramatist and novelist. Originally a journalist, he later worked as an architect, a career he abandoned for writing in 1955. He is noted for his Expressionist depictions of the moral dilemmas of 20th-century life. His early drama Santa Cruz (1947) established the central theme of his subsequent works: the predicament of the complicated, skeptical individual in modern society. Other plays include The Chinese Wall (1947), The Fire Raisers (1958), and Andorra (1961). Among his novels are I'm Not Stiller (1954), Homo Faber (1957), A Wilderness of Mirrors (1964), and Man in the Holocene (1979).

Learn more about Frisch, Max (Rudolf) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 5, 1846, Aurich, East Friesland—died Sept. 14, 1926, Jena, Ger.) German philosopher. He taught primarily at the University of Jena (1874–1920). Distrusting abstract intellectualism and systematics, Eucken centred his philosophy upon actual human experience. He maintained that man is the meeting place of nature and spirit and that it is a human duty and privilege to overcome nature by incessant striving after the spiritual life. A strong critic of naturalism, he held that humans are differentiated from the rest of the natural world by their possession of a soul, an entity that cannot be explained in terms of natural processes. He also was known as an interpreter of Aristotle. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1908.

Learn more about Eucken, Rudolf Christoph with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 18, 1891, Ronsdorf, Ger.—died Sept. 14, 1970, Santa Monica, Calif., U.S.) German-born U.S. philosopher. He earned a doctorate in physics at the University of Jena in 1921. In 1926 he was invited to join the faculty of the University of Vienna, where he soon became an influential member of a group of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists known as the Vienna Circle. Out of their discussions developed the basic ideas of logical positivism. Carnap immigrated to the U.S. in 1935 and taught at the University of Chicago (1936–52). After two years at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1952–54), he joined the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles, where he remained until his death. Carnap sought to give the basic thesis of empiricism—that all concepts and beliefs about the world ultimately derive from immediate experience—a precise interpretation, construing it as a logical thesis about the evidential grounding of empirical knowledge. For Carnap, empiricism is the doctrine that the terms and sentences that express assertions about the world are “reducible” in a clearly specifiable sense to terms and sentences describing the immediate data of experience. His major works include The Logical Structure of the World (1928), The Logical Syntax of Language (1934), Introduction to Semantics (1942), Meaning and Necessity (1947), and The Logical Foundations of Probability (1950).

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Archduke Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia (21 August 1858 - 30 January 1889) was the son and heir of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. His death, apparently through suicide, along with that of his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, at his Mayerling hunting lodge in 1889 made international headlines, fueled international conspiracy rumours and ultimately may have sealed the long-term fate of the Habsburg monarchy. The exact cause and circumstances of his death remain a mystery to this day.

Background

Crown Prince Rudolf was born on 21 August 1858 in Schloss Laxenburg near Vienna as the son of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Influenced by his tutor Ferdinand von Hochstetter (who later became the first manager of the Imperial Natural History Museum), Rudolf became very interested in natural sciences, starting a mineral collection at a very early age. (After his death, large portions of his mineral collection came into the possession of the University for Agriculture in Vienna.). Crown Prince Rudolf was raised together with his older sister Gisela by their paternal grandmother Archduchess Sophie. His parents' oldest child, a daughter named Sophie, died at age 2 and before Rudolf was born while younger sister Marie-Valerie was born 10 years after Rudolf. Hence, Gisela and Rudolf grew up together and were very close. At age 6, he was separated from his sister as he began his education to become a future Emperor. This did not change their relationship and Gisela remained close to him until she left Vienna upon her marriage to Prince Leopold of Bavaria. The siblings' parting was said to be very emotional.

In contrast with his deeply conservative father, Crown Prince Rudolf held distinctively liberal views that were closer to those of his mother. Nevertheless his relationship with her was strained and contained little warmth. In Vienna on 10 May 1881 he married Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, a daughter of King Leopold II of the Belgians, in The Augustinian's Church in Vienna with all the pomp and splendour of a state wedding. Rudolf appeared to be genuinely in love, but his mother regarded her new daughter-in-law as a "clumsy oaf." By the time their only child, the Archduchess Elisabeth, was born on 2 September 1883, the couple had drifted apart, and he found solace in drink and other female companionship.

In 1887, Rudolf bought Mayerling and transformed it into a hunting lodge. In late 1888, the 30-year-old crown prince met the 17-year-old Baroness Marie Vetsera, known by the more fashionable Anglophile name Mary. From the start, Mary adored him, and was ready to do anything for him. It was almost certainly not the great romance of his life, but Rudolf did have feelings for her, and was touched by her limitless, almost fanatical, love for him.

The Mayerling "Suicide Pact"

According to official reports, their deaths were a result of Franz Josef's demand that the couple end the relationship: the Crown Prince, as part of a suicide pact, shot his mistress in the head, then himself. Rudolf was officially declared to have been in a state of "mental unbalance" in order to enable burial in the Imperial Crypt (Kapuzinergruft) of the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Mary's body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night, and secretly buried in the cemetery of Holy Cross Abbey in Heiligenkreuz, and the Emperor had Mayerling converted into a penitential convent of Carmelite nuns. Today prayers are still said daily by the nuns for the repose of Rudolf's soul.

Suicide or murder?

Many people however doubted the truthfulness of the report. Before her death in 1989, Empress Zita, widow of the last Austrian Emperor Charles I (r. 1916–1918), repeated the claim that the young couple had been murdered as part of an attempt to cover up a French plot to overthrow his father, a pro-German conservative, and replace him with Rudolf, a pro-French Liberal. According to Empress Zita, Rudolf had indignantly refused to take part and threatened to inform his father. Empress Zita did not offer any new evidence and her claims, however widely reported, were not given much credence during her lifetime.

In December 1992 the remains of Baroness Vetsera were stolen from the cemetery at Heiligenkreuz. When the missing remains were tracked down, the police, to ensure they were the correct remains, asked the Viennese Medical Institute to examine them. While they did confirm that they were the correct remains, the institution noted how the skull contained no evidence whatsoever of a bullet hole, the supposed means by which Vetsera had been killed by the crown prince. The evidence instead suggested she may have been killed by a series of violent blows to the head. Separately, evidence came to light in the form of a report on the remains of the crown prince, made at the time of the double death. His body showed evidence of a major violent struggle. A report at the time had also noted that all six bullets had been fired from the gun, which it was revealed did not belong to the crown prince.

The official state report of the deaths claimed that the crown prince shot Vetsera before shooting himself with his own gun. It made no mention of the facts subsequently revealed, leading to the conclusion that, for some reason, a cover-up of the actual manner of the deaths had taken place. It is unlikely ever to be clarified as to what really happened. Two theories have been postulated:

* one theory is that the couple had a violent struggle, and that the crown prince murdered his lover by battering her before shooting himself; in other words, a clear case of murder rather than the suggested double suicide; however, that theory fails to explain the ability of the prince to fire the gun six times as he killed himself, or indeed where the gun came from, given that it was not his weapon;

* the other theory is that some third party attacked both, battered Vetsera to death, and shot the crown prince. The latter theory does bear some resemblance to the theory postulated for eighty years by Empress Zita, who as Crown Princess from 1914 to 1916 had been a confidante of Rudolf's father, the aging Emperor Franz Josef, and so may have heard his theories, and those of other members of the Austro-Hungarian court, as to the manner of the death of Crown Prince Rudolf.

It would have been difficult for the devoutly Catholic Emperor to admit that his son and heir had killed the girl and himself in a state of "mental unbalance". If there had been any way to claim that the two had been murdered by a third party, that version would have been infinitely preferable. There would have been no need to accuse someone in particular; it would have avoided the public admission that the Crown Prince was an insane murderer and that he had committed suicide.

Putting forward a third party as the killer though, would have likely led to a public demand that the killer be caught and a thorough investigation of the deaths. It may be that some thought that would be undesirable; in any case, the 'mental unbalance' theory was put forward.

It should be also noted that, according to the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, a man who committed suicide should not be given Christian Burial. However, after the Emperor's exchange of letters with the Pope, Rudolf was buried according to Catholic Rites. This also suggests that there was unreleased evidence, or maybe even the fact that the murder was ordered by the Emperor himself. There is a theory which suggests that Rudolf had been planning to overthrow the Emperor, or to claim the throne of an independent Hungary, and that his plots were uncovered by the Emperor's inner circle not long before Rudolf was found dead. Of course all this remains a mystery, at least until the Papal Archive decides to release the letter, which may contain the final and decisive proof.

Impact of Rudolf's death

Following Rudolf's death, the marriage of his parents collapsed completely, with his mother spending much of her time abroad.

Next in the line of succession after Rudolf to the Austrian, Bohemian, Croatian and Hungarian thrones was Archduke Karl Ludwig, Franz Josef's younger brother. Karl Ludwig renounced his succession rights a few days after Rudolf’s death, meaning his oldest son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand became heir presumptive. Franz Ferdinand's assassination in 1914 led to a chain of events that produced World War I. When Franz Josef died in 1916, the throne passed to his grand-nephew, Archduke Karl, who became the last Austro-Hungarian monarch as Emperor Karl of Austria.

Film and Theatre

• Crown Prince Rudolph, TV film directed by Robert Dornhelm (2006) in two parts. Historical adviser: Brigitte Hamann. Here, the love story and the conflict between father and son are embedded in the general political situation of the time in Central Europe.
• Requiem for a Crown Prince, fourth episode of the British documentary/drama series Fall of Eagles (1974), about the collapse of the Romanov, Habsburg and Hohenzollern dynasties. Directed by James Furman and written by David Turner, the 60-minute episode tracks in detail the events of Wednesday January 30th, 1889, at Mayerling as well as the following few days - The discovery of the dead bodies, the breaking of news to Rudolf's family, the desperate attempts to cover up what really happened - even to the Emperor and Empress - and the secret smuggling of Marie Vetsera's body away from Mayerling before scandal can erupt.
• In The Illusionist (2006), a central character is the fictitious "Crown Prince Leopold," son of the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. In the film, "Leopold" commits suicide after a failing in a plot to overthrow his father and (apparently) murdering his fiancé. However, Prince Leopold is portrayed as right-wing and an autocratic absolutist who enjoys beating women and often complains of "mongrels." He bears no resemblance to the actual Prince Rudolf, except for his physical appearance.
• Mayerling (1936 film), excellent black and white dramatization based on the novel by Claude Anet. Historical fiction in the grand style of the glory days of Hollywood. Directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Charles Boyer as Crown Prince Rudolf and Danielle Darrieux as Maria Vetsera.
• De Mayerling à Sarajevo (1940 film), director Max Ophuls. The film starts with Rudolf's death.
• Mayerling (1968 film), starring Omar Sharif as Crown Prince Rudolf, Catherine Deneuve as Maria.
• Kenneth MacMillan's 1978 ballet, Mayerling
• The musical Marinka (1945), book by George Marion, Jr., and Karl Farkas, lyrics by George Marion, Jr., music by Emmerich Kalman
• Frank Wildhorn's new musical Rudolf (musical) centers around Crown Prince Rudolf. It played in Budapest in 2006 with a production in Vienna planned for 2008.
• Rudolf also appears as a character in the musical Elisabeth.

Ancestors

Further reading

• Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Majestät, ich warne Sie... Geheime und private Schriften. Edited by Brigitte Hamann. Wien: Amalthea, 1979, ISBN 3-85002-110-6 (reprinted München: Piper, 1998, ISBN 3-492-20824-X).
• Barkeley, Richard. The Road to Mayerling: Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria. London: Macmillan, 1958.
• Franzel, Emil. Crown Prince Rudolph and the Mayerling Tragedy: Fact and Fiction. Vienna : V. Herold, 1974.
• Hamann, Brigitte. Kronprinz Rudolf: Ein Leben. Wien: Amalthea, 2005, ISBN 3-85002-540-3.
• Listowel, Judith Márffy-Mantuano Hare, Countess of. A Habsburg Tragedy: Crown Prince Rudolf. London: Ascent Books, 1978.
• Lonyay, Károly. Rudolph: The Tragedy of Mayerling. New York: Scribner, 1949.
• Salvendy, John T. Royal Rebel: A Psychological Portrait of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988.
• Morton, Frederic. A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888/1889. Penguin 1979

See also

• Lake Rudolf
• Rudolf Island

Notes

External links

• Imperial House of Austria
• Royal House of Belgium
• A profile of Marie Vetsera
• Crown Prince Rudolf's Coffin
• IMDB on various Mayerling Films
• Photo of Rudolf with wife Stephanie: at website Worldroots.com.
• Crown Prince Rudolfs death