Poor Father Franz! He is on his way to visit Archduchess Marianne, full of enthusiasm about the latest scientific news he hopes to share with her. The concept of heliocentrism has been removed from the list of forbidden ideas! Now he may finally introduce the model of the universe to his curious pupil. The famous […]
As the perceptive reader may guess, the anticipated departure from the Hofburg is about to alter Archduchess Marianne’s daily routine. The change of residence in itself was nothing exceptional in noble circles — least of all at the Imperial court, which regularly alternated between the palaces of the Hofburg and Schönbrunn. The latter became comparable […]
Until now, as the narrative has unfolded, little has been said about Archduchess Marianne’s strained relationships with her mother, Empress Maria Theresa, and with some of her siblings — aside from the occasional hint here and there. In this chapter, the reader finally begins to glimpse these tensions more clearly. Before anything else, however, the […]
Unsurprisingly, the scholars of the Enlightenment era were keen to uncover the mechanisms by which folkloric superstition might exert a lethal impact on both the mind and the physical body. Far from being ignorant or dogmatically constrained, they approached the phenomenon with a progressive spirit and sought rational explanations. Michael Ranff, for example, in De […]
If Chapter 15 was for bookworms, then this chapter is for researchers: it presents the everyday routine of a historian. Instead of a rapid, sensational breakthrough, we see Archduchess Marianne laboriously hunched over her desk, wrestling with bewildering and contradictory documents, drawings, and maps. For the first time, she has a variety of materials from […]
Bright days alternate with darker ones, both in real life and in fiction. Unsettling news from Bohemia heightens the general anxiety about the possibility of the war flaring up again. In late April 1757, the political and military landscape was about to shift once more. As a general rule, in the 18th century military campaigns […]
Archduchess Marianne’s worsening condition — she is still in a fragile state, recovering from her serious illness, remember? — lends the chapter a distinctly melancholic tone. It seems hardly a day suited for investigative work. Instead, she seeks privacy in St Joseph’s chapel, located in the north-western part of the Leopoldine wing and thus the […]
Relaxed after believing her investigation has been concluded, Archduchess Marianne takes a walk in the Hofburg garden, where she happens to meet the young Doctor von Störck. In his youth, Anton von Störck’s (1731–1803) prospects were anything but promising. Orphaned early, he lived in a Viennese poorhouse, relying on public charity. Despite this Dickensian childhood, […]
What would a historical novel be without a garden scene! The palace gardens of the Hofburg in the mid-18th century present a real challenge to describe. The Innere Stadt — the historical core of Vienna — was surrounded by bastions, massive earth embankments forming the basis of the fortifications. The medieval city wall still stood, […]
A new written document — the autopsy report of Princess Schwarzenberg — finds its way into Archduchess Marianne’s growing collection of evidence. According to the report, the Princess suffered from an abdominal tumour ‘the size of a child’s head’. This was very likely the main cause of her prolonged illness and, ultimately, her death. Curiously, […]
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