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Rudolf II and His World: A Study in Intellectual History, 1576-1612,
| Title | Rudolf II and His World: A Study in Intellectual History, 1576-1612, |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2025-04-24 14:12:32 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
Rudolf II of Hapsburg, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary, was an extraordinary ruler, a monarch whose court occupied a central position in 16th-century Europe - yet he remained a shadowy and fugitive figure. The decades around 1600 saw sweeping cultural changes in Europe, with the waning of an old-world view and the beginnings of the 17th-century intellectual revolution. The author argues that the conflict which played itself out in the Hapsburg lands during these years was a political manifestation of the intellectual confrontation between the old guard and and their preoccupation with the mystical, spiritual and hermetic sciences, and the rise of a more rational and empirical view of the world. Rudolf, as the embodiment of the old philosophy, failed to grasp this profound shift in the prevailing climate of Professor Evans argues that it was this failure which led to his eventual tragic downfall.
Review
Almost a half century after its publication, this book must remain the most definitive account of the life and reign of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Dense and academic, it's packed with lots of information likely to be of interest mainly to period specialists. To my knowledge, there has yet to appear a good accessible English language biography of Rudolf II for the general reader. This is unfortunate. Enlightened patron of art, science, and alchemy, a tolerant ruler in an age of bitter religious conflict, a melancholic who neglected affairs of state with disastrous results, and a political failure who was overthrown by his own family and ended his life under virtual house arrest, Rudolf von Habsburg was one of the most interesting, important, and tragic of European rulers at the dawn of the modern era. The most arresting literary portraits of Rudolf I've seen have been in works not specifically about him, such as Mad Princes of Renaissance Germany, by H.C. Erik Midelfort, and Wallenstein: His Life Narrated, by Golo Mann.
