Compare and contrast the cathedrals of Vienna and Prague.
St. Pitus and St. George are located among the royal palace in Prague. St. George is the perfect example of gothic with it's dark brick, steeples, and gargoyles. While St. Pitus is made of plain stone and probably 1/10th the size of St. George, St. Pitus is what I imagine when I think of an old European church. St. Pitus has a few statues dedicated to saints while St. George is floor to ceiling statues of different saints, with stained glass windows that seemed bigger than the walls of St. Pitus, and complete with each corner of the building fenced off showing different private alters that belonged to only wealthy families.
While St. George and St. Pitus are mixed among a mess of buildings that together make up the palace of Prague, in contrast, St. Stephen's in Vienna was it's own attraction. St. Stephen's is so big you could probably fit both St. George and St. Pitus inside it, and unlike St. Pitus all modesty was thrown out the window when building and decorating St. Stephens (after all the church was a reflection of the power of the Empire instead of religion). While St. Stephens was not the preferred church of the Austrian Emperors, that didn't stop them from investing time and money into the church. When Rudolf wanted the church to reflect the power of the Empire, he had them build one of the tallest steeples of the time. And when Frederick the Third wanted a heavier influence of the church on the people of Vienna, and simply built the church bigger so St. Stephens qualified for it's own bishop.
Overall, while all three of these churches are very different from each other, they all show the same thing. The power and influence of the Empire.
Friday, 27 May 2016
Content blog: #7
Explain how Kafka's writing contributes to your understanding of the Empire.
Kafka's writing perfectly embodies the frustration many people had with the Empire as well as pointing out everything that was wrong with the Empire in short stories dripping with satire. Kafka actually worked closely within the Empire, nicknaming himself a double agent, working for Bureaucrats by day and an oppressed German-Jew-Writer by night. Kafka's works, such as The Castle and The Trial, were a way for him to express him frustration with the Empire in a city where he felt constantly oppressed, saying that his writing was his 'terrain for liberation'. However, Kafka realizing that even the literary machine was influenced by the Empire, he begged his closest friend to not publish his works after his death and burned most of his works after he finished them during his life. Kafka contributes to my understanding of Empire because he describes the flaws of the Empire from both a commoners perspective, but also as someone who worked within the Empire. Kafka shows the difficulty of trying to get anything done in the Empire through The Castle, and shows how everyone is seemingly on trial by the Empire through The Trial. Kafka is also the perfect example of how people turned to the Gothic in response to Empire.
Kafka's writing perfectly embodies the frustration many people had with the Empire as well as pointing out everything that was wrong with the Empire in short stories dripping with satire. Kafka actually worked closely within the Empire, nicknaming himself a double agent, working for Bureaucrats by day and an oppressed German-Jew-Writer by night. Kafka's works, such as The Castle and The Trial, were a way for him to express him frustration with the Empire in a city where he felt constantly oppressed, saying that his writing was his 'terrain for liberation'. However, Kafka realizing that even the literary machine was influenced by the Empire, he begged his closest friend to not publish his works after his death and burned most of his works after he finished them during his life. Kafka contributes to my understanding of Empire because he describes the flaws of the Empire from both a commoners perspective, but also as someone who worked within the Empire. Kafka shows the difficulty of trying to get anything done in the Empire through The Castle, and shows how everyone is seemingly on trial by the Empire through The Trial. Kafka is also the perfect example of how people turned to the Gothic in response to Empire.
Content blog: #6
Describe the Ossuary of Kunta Hora, explain why it was creepy/sublime.
The Ossuary of Kunta Hora is a small Roman Catholic church located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in the Czech Republic. The story of the Ossuary is as follows, after the Black Death in the 14th century and the Hussite Wars in the 15th century many thousands of people had been burried in mass graves in Abbey cemetery, when the church was built the lower level was to be used as an Ossuary for the mass graves unearthed in construction, this task was given to a monk who stored the bones in the lower level of the church. Until a carpenter came along and decided to use the bones to make extremely creepy decorations because why not?
Today the Ossuary is a breeding ground for tourists for selfie sticks. The upper floor remains a chapel, but the lower floor is covered floor to ceiling with decorations made of human skulls, and nearly every other bone. While the Ossuary is labeled as a momentary, reminding us of our humanity, I see it as creepy and unneeded. The way I see it, all of the people who now are being used as Femur garlands already have suffered through the black death or the Hussite Wars. To me it seems incredibly disrespectful to dig up mass graves to turn once living breathing humans beings into a tourist trap. Sure we're all going to die, but when I die I don't want some crazy monk digging me up and putting my bones on display.
The Ossuary of Kunta Hora is a small Roman Catholic church located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints in the Czech Republic. The story of the Ossuary is as follows, after the Black Death in the 14th century and the Hussite Wars in the 15th century many thousands of people had been burried in mass graves in Abbey cemetery, when the church was built the lower level was to be used as an Ossuary for the mass graves unearthed in construction, this task was given to a monk who stored the bones in the lower level of the church. Until a carpenter came along and decided to use the bones to make extremely creepy decorations because why not?
Today the Ossuary is a breeding ground for tourists for selfie sticks. The upper floor remains a chapel, but the lower floor is covered floor to ceiling with decorations made of human skulls, and nearly every other bone. While the Ossuary is labeled as a momentary, reminding us of our humanity, I see it as creepy and unneeded. The way I see it, all of the people who now are being used as Femur garlands already have suffered through the black death or the Hussite Wars. To me it seems incredibly disrespectful to dig up mass graves to turn once living breathing humans beings into a tourist trap. Sure we're all going to die, but when I die I don't want some crazy monk digging me up and putting my bones on display.
Content blog: #5
Describe Konopiste as a classic Empire location, explain why it was important.
Konopiste belonged to Franz Ferdinand, the nephew of Franz Joseph who would take the throne of the Austrian Empire after Franz Josephs death in 1916. Franz Ferdinand was the richest Habsburg during his time, and this definitely reflected on the interior of his hunting lodge with the exquisite, lavish, and over the top decorations and furnishings of Konopiste (also reflecting the almost never ending wealth of the Empire).
Konopiste was important for the thousand of trophy's that Franz Ferdinand displayed along the walls, showing a glimpse into his severe mental instability. It is also important because Franz Ferdinand would become the last Empire of Austrian, ending his reign at the start of World War One in 1918.
Konopiste belonged to Franz Ferdinand, the nephew of Franz Joseph who would take the throne of the Austrian Empire after Franz Josephs death in 1916. Franz Ferdinand was the richest Habsburg during his time, and this definitely reflected on the interior of his hunting lodge with the exquisite, lavish, and over the top decorations and furnishings of Konopiste (also reflecting the almost never ending wealth of the Empire).
Konopiste was important for the thousand of trophy's that Franz Ferdinand displayed along the walls, showing a glimpse into his severe mental instability. It is also important because Franz Ferdinand would become the last Empire of Austrian, ending his reign at the start of World War One in 1918.
Content blog: #4
Describe Sisi and explain how she is an Empire heroine.
Sisi was a young girl from Bavaria who married her cousin, the Emperor of the Austrian Empire Franz Joseph, at just fifteen years old, giving up her young carefree life for a life of an Empress. Sisi perfectly embodies everything the Empire was not, and she would fight the Empire until her assassination in 1898. She hated everything about the Empire, the customs, the people, court life, even the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn. After the suicide of her son Rudolf she hardly spent more than a few months at either of the palaces, spending her time traveling the world and avoiding her life. Throughout her life and after her death Sisi became a classic Gothic heroine as well as an Empire heroine because of her resistance to the Empire, towards the end of her life she stopped attending royal events all together. Her life that became a series of unfortunate events, with the suicide of her son and the only heir to the Austrian throne, and the tragic death of her sister. As well as the idea that she was caged by the Empire, having to give up her life in Bavaria along with many of the things she loved to do.
Sisi was a young girl from Bavaria who married her cousin, the Emperor of the Austrian Empire Franz Joseph, at just fifteen years old, giving up her young carefree life for a life of an Empress. Sisi perfectly embodies everything the Empire was not, and she would fight the Empire until her assassination in 1898. She hated everything about the Empire, the customs, the people, court life, even the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn. After the suicide of her son Rudolf she hardly spent more than a few months at either of the palaces, spending her time traveling the world and avoiding her life. Throughout her life and after her death Sisi became a classic Gothic heroine as well as an Empire heroine because of her resistance to the Empire, towards the end of her life she stopped attending royal events all together. Her life that became a series of unfortunate events, with the suicide of her son and the only heir to the Austrian throne, and the tragic death of her sister. As well as the idea that she was caged by the Empire, having to give up her life in Bavaria along with many of the things she loved to do.
Content blog: #3
Compare and Contrast the palaces in Vienna and London.
Just the two palaces in Vienna, the Hofburg (located in the heart of Vienna) and the Schoenbrunn (the summer palace) were drastically different from each other. The Hofburg served as the Habsburg's home for six months out of the year, consisting of one long hallway that went from room to room there was virtually no privacy. For instance, to get to Franz Joseph's office, you had to first go through every other room in the apartment. There were two or three windows in every room allowing sunlight to pour in and complete with a dazzling view of the grey stone of the buildings surrounding you. Life at the Hofburg consisted mostly of business, while Sisi's apartment was much bigger than hers at Shoenbrunn, she still had very little privacy. However taking any amount of privacy she could, she installed a bell making Franz Joseph ring for her and request an audience any time he wanted to see her.
The summer palace of the Habsburg's, Schoenbrunn, where the royal family spent the other six months of the year, although was meant to be a summer home centered around business as much as the Hofburg did. Here Franz Joseph spent the majority of his days in office, and Sisi who spent most of her days in an extensive beauty and exercise routine. Unlike the Hofburg though, Schoenbrunn was built out in the country side of Vienna away from the city, and surrounded by gardens, at least making for a better view than the Hofburg. But alas, the atmosphere of the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn did not differ much. Both palaces featuring exquisite and over the top decorations.
Then there's London and the summer palace at Kew. Unlike Schoenbrunn, Kew was actually a place centered around family and relaxation. The gardens actually consisted of real flowers and green as far as the eye could see, unlike Schoenbrunn's gardens that were made up of rock paths and trees. The palace at Kew could actually be considered as just a nice house because of it's modesty, the whole house much smaller than just the servant quarters at both the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn. Unlike both palaces in Vienna, the rooms at Kew were connected by hallways and had two different floors, where as the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn apartments were all connected room to room in an almost straight line, giving virtually no privacy to it's inhabitants.
The difference in palaces at Vienna and London demonstrate the difference in not only lifestyle, but the difference in Empire. While both the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn were over the top, business and social orientated, with no privacy; the Kew was modest, family orientated, and secluded.
Just the two palaces in Vienna, the Hofburg (located in the heart of Vienna) and the Schoenbrunn (the summer palace) were drastically different from each other. The Hofburg served as the Habsburg's home for six months out of the year, consisting of one long hallway that went from room to room there was virtually no privacy. For instance, to get to Franz Joseph's office, you had to first go through every other room in the apartment. There were two or three windows in every room allowing sunlight to pour in and complete with a dazzling view of the grey stone of the buildings surrounding you. Life at the Hofburg consisted mostly of business, while Sisi's apartment was much bigger than hers at Shoenbrunn, she still had very little privacy. However taking any amount of privacy she could, she installed a bell making Franz Joseph ring for her and request an audience any time he wanted to see her.
The summer palace of the Habsburg's, Schoenbrunn, where the royal family spent the other six months of the year, although was meant to be a summer home centered around business as much as the Hofburg did. Here Franz Joseph spent the majority of his days in office, and Sisi who spent most of her days in an extensive beauty and exercise routine. Unlike the Hofburg though, Schoenbrunn was built out in the country side of Vienna away from the city, and surrounded by gardens, at least making for a better view than the Hofburg. But alas, the atmosphere of the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn did not differ much. Both palaces featuring exquisite and over the top decorations.
Then there's London and the summer palace at Kew. Unlike Schoenbrunn, Kew was actually a place centered around family and relaxation. The gardens actually consisted of real flowers and green as far as the eye could see, unlike Schoenbrunn's gardens that were made up of rock paths and trees. The palace at Kew could actually be considered as just a nice house because of it's modesty, the whole house much smaller than just the servant quarters at both the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn. Unlike both palaces in Vienna, the rooms at Kew were connected by hallways and had two different floors, where as the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn apartments were all connected room to room in an almost straight line, giving virtually no privacy to it's inhabitants.
The difference in palaces at Vienna and London demonstrate the difference in not only lifestyle, but the difference in Empire. While both the Hofburg and Schoenbrunn were over the top, business and social orientated, with no privacy; the Kew was modest, family orientated, and secluded.
Content blog: #1
What was Freud's contribution to understanding Empire?
Freud came up with the idea of id, ego, and super ego, in understanding how the conscientious mind works. Id consists of your natural instincts and your unconscious behavior, Ego consists of your rational behavior, and your Superego consists of your moral instinct which you use to decide between right and wrong.
Freud contributes to the understanding because he is the perfect metaphor for Empire. Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego represent the inner struggle being apart of the Empire. If we use Elisabeth as an example, her Id was the desire for her old carefree life, being able to speak her mind, and to go as she pleased. However because she was now an Empress, she was forced to ignore her Id and follow her Ego and Superego, forcing herself to abide and conform to court and her newfound expectations which all conflicted with her Id. Freud also contributes to my understanding of the Empire because during his time only the wealthy could afford to seek him out. Freud's treatment of only the rich and ruling class is an example of the distinction between the Empire and the common people, who probably could have truly used Freud's treatment.
Overall Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego can be seen as a metaphor for the mental and emotional 'cage' of the Empire, as well as his unavailability to the common people.
Freud came up with the idea of id, ego, and super ego, in understanding how the conscientious mind works. Id consists of your natural instincts and your unconscious behavior, Ego consists of your rational behavior, and your Superego consists of your moral instinct which you use to decide between right and wrong.
Freud contributes to the understanding because he is the perfect metaphor for Empire. Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego represent the inner struggle being apart of the Empire. If we use Elisabeth as an example, her Id was the desire for her old carefree life, being able to speak her mind, and to go as she pleased. However because she was now an Empress, she was forced to ignore her Id and follow her Ego and Superego, forcing herself to abide and conform to court and her newfound expectations which all conflicted with her Id. Freud also contributes to my understanding of the Empire because during his time only the wealthy could afford to seek him out. Freud's treatment of only the rich and ruling class is an example of the distinction between the Empire and the common people, who probably could have truly used Freud's treatment.
Overall Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego can be seen as a metaphor for the mental and emotional 'cage' of the Empire, as well as his unavailability to the common people.
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Experiential blog: #6
People in London seemed much friendlier than in Europe, I saw many people in groups laughing with each other, saying goodbye with a hug. Even the waiters and waitresses were extremely nicer than every waiter I had in Europe, gladly answering any questions I had and saying thank you when we left. People smiled when I walked past them on the street, offered help on the subway, held the door open for me, and smiled saying 'cheers' literally after every interaction I had. Although I loved both Vienna and Prague, London was by far my favorite. It's so much easier to experience a culture and interact with people when you know what language they're speaking, oftentimes in Vienna and Prague I came into frustrating or difficult situations because I couldn't understand the language. Out of the cities we traveled too, I felt the most comfortable in London and feel like I would similarly compare London to the United States in terms of atmosphere, language, and the behavior of them people. Experiencing these three very different cities though made me come to a greater appreciation of different cultures and how those different cultures came to be, and I also feel more equipped to handle different cultures in the future experiencing three different cultures.
Experiential blog: #5
Being in Vienna and Prague was hard to take it, it's something I never thought I would be able to do, everything seemed all very dreamlike. Even though the four days in each city went by extremely fast, being in the same room with the same people for ten days definitely made us bond in a way we wouldn't have been able to at Harlaxton. I think because all of us were in such awe with our surroundings it but us all in better spirits (except maybe for the guys). As Americans when we are excited or happy we express it outwardly, and often very loudly. Which in Prague seem perfectly OK as we were often not the loudest people in the room, however in Vienna it was very different. People are much more reserved and very quiet, to the point where you could never tell peoples emotions unless you went up to them directly and asked how they were, even then they would probably be shocked that a stranger was asking them this and still not respond. Coming to the conclusions that in European cities (especially Vienna), expressing happiness is not an outward emotion. Because of this I had to be much more conscientious and self aware of my volume and how I was portraying my emotions so as to not come off as annoying or rude.
Experiential blog: #4
The landscape in Prague is very green, almost everywhere you look you can see some sort of green. The city is settled between two large hills, with a river running alongside of the city, because of this there are very many beautiful historic bridges connecting different parts of the city. The buildings are also very old in Prague and can be dated from the 19th century and further, most of them are built with the same beige stone as in Vienna but they are dirtier and unkempt. The streets are much more crowed with locals and tourists. When I imagined Prague, I knew it was much more relaxed than Vienna, but I didn't imagine the overall city to be as dirty as it was. It kind of reminded me of a European New York only smaller. The city doesn't really seem to be centered around anything, just filled with winding streets that didn't lead to anywhere specific.
Because Prague was a branch of the royal city of Vienna, I think it accounts for why Prague is not as clean or quiet as Vienna. Because it was not the royal city people didn't have to act according to the strict customs in Vienna, because of this Prague is also a poorer city explaining the run down state that most of the buildings were in. Prague has no royal expectations to live up to so the architect, atmosphere and culture are more relaxed. From this I saw first hand, almost a hundred years later, the influence that the empire had on not only the architect but also the people of Vienna and how because of this Prague became everything the empire was not.
Experiential blog: #3
Vienna is surrounded by the Bohemia forests, and most of the buildings can be dated to the 19th century and further back. The buildings, for the most part all look the same, with beige stones and small details around the windows. Unlike most big cities in the United States, the streets in Vienna are not organized in blocks, the streets all wind around in different ways. Vienna actually met closely with what I expected to see, when I think of Northern Europe I think of big cities surrounded by woods, winding cobblestone streets, and buildings older than our country.
The landscape and the buildings reflect what we are learning about German Empire because the whole city of Vienna is built around the Palace, with the Hofburg in the center of the city and everything else branching out around it. Of course with the nicest buildings closest to the palace, the further you travel away from the palace the more worn down the buildings get.
Some culture insights that I learned from this critique is how important the Palace once was to Vienna, and how having Hofburg as the center of life in Vienna effected the culture. Because of this Vienna still feels like a royal city, everyone is extremely quiet and revered and much more prim and proper than any other place I've ever been.
Friday, 13 May 2016
Comparing A Nervous Splendor and Royal Babylon
The two readings A Royal Babylon and A Nervous Splendor both share a reoccurring theme of corruption in the Royal Empire. In A Nervous Splendor we see this in the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf. Because his death was a suicide he could not be buried with the rest of his family line. However, his father Franz Joseph was able to hold a proper Catholic burial for Rudolf as well as erase his lover Mary Vetsera from history.
First Joseph silenced Mary's mother, bribing her to leave the country, before so giving consent to the secret burial of her daughter in an inconspicuous grave at Heiligenkreuz Monastery. Mary who was not a Habsburg, "was subject to common authorities in life or death... but if Mary Vetsera were to be declared a suicide, then the Crown could not honor its pledge to give Mary a Catholic funeral" (250). However, Joseph being the Emperor made it happen. Mary's body sat in Rudolf's cabin for 40 hours before she was bathed, dressed up, and carted in a carriage with a broom along her spine to the Monastery. Where as they waited for the rain to pass to bury Mary in an unmarked grave, sat and drank refreshments inside. A death certificate was never issued, and an entry into the parish death registry would not be made for weeks. Mary had virtually vanished from Europe, no printed mention was ever made of her death or her prominent life in Europe except for a short mention in the Illustriertes Grazer Extrablatt, claiming that Mary had died in Venice and was now resting in the Family tomb in Bohemia.
As for Rudolf, well, he was a Crown Prince and he needed a proper burial. Upon finding his body, it was immediately brought back to the palace where two doctors claimed that upon examining Rudolf's body, "certain pathological formations had been found, such as the clear flattening of cerebral convolutions... usually accompanied by abnormal mental conditions and therefore justify the assumption that the deed was committed in a state of mental confusion" (254). Therefore Rudolf had not been mentally stable when he shot first his lover and then turned the gun on himself, meaning in the eyes of the Church Rudolf could be buried in the crypt of the Capuchin friars. For his funeral, the sealed his head back together with wax, combed his hair, removed his insides, and placed in a vault under the High Altar of St. Stephens Cathedral.
The cover up of Mary and Rudolf's suicide would not have been possible if it wasn't for Rudolf's fathers position and power of the Empire.
The Royal Babylon describes the atrocities of some of the royal families of Europe. The Hanover family was notorious for their reputation for adulterous fornication, George the First's father took him aside at a young age telling him he could sleep with whomever he wished as long as nobody found out. As well as being well known for his different concubines he was indifferent to his subjects and, "at fifty-four he was too hold to absorb any of the new English culture" (193), a common theme among Hanover rulers. George the Second fancied himself as a sexual athlete, his wife going so far as to select mistresses for him, he would eventually die of a heart attack on while on the toilet.
As for the Saxe-Coburgs, they proved to be equally as abusive of power as the Hanover's. The Duke Ernest was known to spend the entity of his youth seducing mistresses by the dozen, it was also said that Ernest amused himself by kicking hussars to death and shooting live rats into the Palace. However adultery among men didn't transfer over to their wives, for when Ernest's wife was caught in an affair with another man he banished her from court leaving her young children without a mother. Ernest's good luck with women would run out however wan a former mistress, becoming a famous actress began to share with the world how terribly Ernest had treated her. In an effort to silence her he tried to kidnap his bastard son, when that failed he tried to arrange their deaths in a coach ride accident, however both survived. Ernest's awful behavior progressed from, "molesting his servant girls to an adulthood given over more or less entirely to indiscriminate adultery and lavish spending on his droves of mistresses" (260), politicians were even advised to leave their wives at home if they were visiting his court.
The most atrocious of all was perhaps Queen Victoria's cousin Leopold the Second, who cared neither for the country of the people he governed. In an elaborate scheme, Leopold declared himself King-Sovereign of the Congo Free State where, "over a period of fifteen years, the population of the Congo had fallen by about 3 million" (266). In this time Leopold enslaved the people of Congo into mass producing rubber; whole villages were wiped out, women were raped and beaten, children were thrown to the crocodiles. Leopold's agents, to prove they had done their jobs, were expected to return to Leopold with a certain quota of hands taken from the dead. When a missionary finally discovered what Leopold was doing and got word to the United States, Leopold simply received a slap of the wrist for executing a holocaust for rubber.
These are only a handful of dozens of examples spreading across one hundred pages of royal crimes. The Hanovers, the Saxe-coburgs, and the Austrian Empire are all examples of how these people used their born titles to commit thousand of crimes against humanity, more often with no repercussions of their actions. Showing the vast power and control that the Empire had over the common people, and of the law.
First Joseph silenced Mary's mother, bribing her to leave the country, before so giving consent to the secret burial of her daughter in an inconspicuous grave at Heiligenkreuz Monastery. Mary who was not a Habsburg, "was subject to common authorities in life or death... but if Mary Vetsera were to be declared a suicide, then the Crown could not honor its pledge to give Mary a Catholic funeral" (250). However, Joseph being the Emperor made it happen. Mary's body sat in Rudolf's cabin for 40 hours before she was bathed, dressed up, and carted in a carriage with a broom along her spine to the Monastery. Where as they waited for the rain to pass to bury Mary in an unmarked grave, sat and drank refreshments inside. A death certificate was never issued, and an entry into the parish death registry would not be made for weeks. Mary had virtually vanished from Europe, no printed mention was ever made of her death or her prominent life in Europe except for a short mention in the Illustriertes Grazer Extrablatt, claiming that Mary had died in Venice and was now resting in the Family tomb in Bohemia.
As for Rudolf, well, he was a Crown Prince and he needed a proper burial. Upon finding his body, it was immediately brought back to the palace where two doctors claimed that upon examining Rudolf's body, "certain pathological formations had been found, such as the clear flattening of cerebral convolutions... usually accompanied by abnormal mental conditions and therefore justify the assumption that the deed was committed in a state of mental confusion" (254). Therefore Rudolf had not been mentally stable when he shot first his lover and then turned the gun on himself, meaning in the eyes of the Church Rudolf could be buried in the crypt of the Capuchin friars. For his funeral, the sealed his head back together with wax, combed his hair, removed his insides, and placed in a vault under the High Altar of St. Stephens Cathedral.
The cover up of Mary and Rudolf's suicide would not have been possible if it wasn't for Rudolf's fathers position and power of the Empire.
The Royal Babylon describes the atrocities of some of the royal families of Europe. The Hanover family was notorious for their reputation for adulterous fornication, George the First's father took him aside at a young age telling him he could sleep with whomever he wished as long as nobody found out. As well as being well known for his different concubines he was indifferent to his subjects and, "at fifty-four he was too hold to absorb any of the new English culture" (193), a common theme among Hanover rulers. George the Second fancied himself as a sexual athlete, his wife going so far as to select mistresses for him, he would eventually die of a heart attack on while on the toilet.
As for the Saxe-Coburgs, they proved to be equally as abusive of power as the Hanover's. The Duke Ernest was known to spend the entity of his youth seducing mistresses by the dozen, it was also said that Ernest amused himself by kicking hussars to death and shooting live rats into the Palace. However adultery among men didn't transfer over to their wives, for when Ernest's wife was caught in an affair with another man he banished her from court leaving her young children without a mother. Ernest's good luck with women would run out however wan a former mistress, becoming a famous actress began to share with the world how terribly Ernest had treated her. In an effort to silence her he tried to kidnap his bastard son, when that failed he tried to arrange their deaths in a coach ride accident, however both survived. Ernest's awful behavior progressed from, "molesting his servant girls to an adulthood given over more or less entirely to indiscriminate adultery and lavish spending on his droves of mistresses" (260), politicians were even advised to leave their wives at home if they were visiting his court.
The most atrocious of all was perhaps Queen Victoria's cousin Leopold the Second, who cared neither for the country of the people he governed. In an elaborate scheme, Leopold declared himself King-Sovereign of the Congo Free State where, "over a period of fifteen years, the population of the Congo had fallen by about 3 million" (266). In this time Leopold enslaved the people of Congo into mass producing rubber; whole villages were wiped out, women were raped and beaten, children were thrown to the crocodiles. Leopold's agents, to prove they had done their jobs, were expected to return to Leopold with a certain quota of hands taken from the dead. When a missionary finally discovered what Leopold was doing and got word to the United States, Leopold simply received a slap of the wrist for executing a holocaust for rubber.
These are only a handful of dozens of examples spreading across one hundred pages of royal crimes. The Hanovers, the Saxe-coburgs, and the Austrian Empire are all examples of how these people used their born titles to commit thousand of crimes against humanity, more often with no repercussions of their actions. Showing the vast power and control that the Empire had over the common people, and of the law.
Experiential blog: #1
Some of my personal goals during this trip is to be more understanding of different cultures. Since I have grown up in the United States it is easy to give into stigmas of people from countries and cultures different from my own, often based on no factual experience. I think being aware and conscious of different cultures, as well as being able to personally experience different cultures, is what makes you more tolerable to people who are different than yourself, and even more knowledgeable about your own self and culture. One of the most simple ways to achieve this goal is by observing and being courteous to the different cultures we will experience as we travel from country to country.
Experiential blog: #2
What surprised me about being an American in Grantham was how the locals treated me. Living in America I think a lot of people hold the belief that Europeans don't like people from the United States. All of the people I have encountered in Grantham have treated me no differently than they would any other person, many people I talked to at the pubs in town were very curiously about why I was in Europe, if I liked it here, and what I was studying at home. This experience with the locals has taught me not to give into stigmas or prejudices against people simply because I think they have this predisposed idea of Americans, because more often than not it's completely false.
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