The Emperor’s Schizophrenic Son Who Tortured and Killed a Woman
After asking a barber’s daughter to live in his castle, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II’s bastard son committed crimes bad enough for his father to imprison him.
Rudolf II was an emperor who refused to marry. Famous in some circles for making mistakes which led directly to the Thirty Years’ War, because lest we forget, the Defenestration(s) of Prague happened in his land of Bohemia. (In fact, Rudolf II had moved his court from Vienna to Prague before the fact.) With others, Rudolf is known for his exponential patronage of Northern Mannerism, and he was fond of occult arts (astrology and alchemy, which was relatively common for his time) and learning which later blossomed into the scientific revolution.
In other words: perhaps a bad leader, but one with a great sense of style. And apparently, Rudolf would also have quite a fondness for women as well, despite the fact that he snubbed his betrothed (from a very young age) niece Isabella Clara Eugenia, the daughter of King Philip II of Spain.
Rudolf II’s Childhood and Upbringing
In fact, Rudolf and a few of his brothers had even spent some years at the court of Philip II, which included even…
