#Archduchess Gisela

[epoque-victorienne]

[emvidal]

[sisionscreen]

While we do not have official confirmation yet, showrunner Katharina Eyssen is currently preparing a third season of The Empress (2022).

We can see in her notes that we will probably meet Elisabeth's Hungarian lady-in-waiting Ida Ferenczy as well as Gyula Andrássy and a character named Konstantin. Another note hints at Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduchess Gisela being in the third season. Furthermore, we may explore Elisabeth going to Corfu alongside her mental health.

[archduchessofnowhere]

Is it true that empress sissy was bad mother? Or just rumours

I think it really depends on what do you understand as being “a bad mother”. First of all royal women were not expected to be the main carers of their children: this job was divided among the many people in charge of the well-being of the kids. Parents usually only saw their kids little on a daily basis, since they did not even ate together. So one shouldn’t expect Elisabeth to have been changing diapers and heating milk bottles. The second thing to consider is just how young she was when she became a mother; giving birth to three consecutive babies in such a short time spam (with the additional stress of knowing everyone is expecting you to produce an heir) must have take a huge toll on her, so I don’t think is that surprising if she didn’t smoothly adjust to the role of mother.

Even so, she did love her children, as this letter she wrote to a Bavarian relative soon after the birth of her first child shows:

My little one really is already very charming and gives the Emperor and me enormous joy. At first it seemed very strange to me to have a baby of my own; it is like an entirely new joy, and I have the little one with me all day long, except when she is carried for a walk, which happens often while the fine weather holds. (Hamann, 1986)

But Elisabeth had no control in how her eldest children were raised: her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, took charge of them. Something important to keep in mind, however, is that taking charge of them doesn’t mean that she personally cared them (again, this wasn’t the role of royal woman), but that she chose the staff of nursemaids, nannies, governesses and tutors that oversaw the children’s caring and later education. But this lack of control over her children ended up being a great source of sorrow for the young mother.

During this time the first big conflict between Elisabeth and Sophie arose: the children’s nursery was placed on the same floor as Sophie’s appartements, which meant that she could go over to see her granddaughters with a lot more of freedom than Elisabeth, whose appartements where on a different floor. Being on a different floor meant than she could only see her daughters during the times set by protocol, and always in company of her retinue of ladies and lackeys, which ended up limiting even more the time she could spend with them in privacy. She told to her lady-in-waiting Marie Festetics in 1872:

Only now do I understand what bliss a child means. Now I have finally had the courage to love the baby and keep it with me [her fourth child Marie Valerie]. My other children were taken away from me at once. I was permitted to see the children only when Archduchess Sophie gave permission. She was always present when I visited the children. Finally I gave up the struggle and went upstairs only rarely.

This statement comes from almost twenty-years after the events, so it should be taken with a bit of a grain of salt (in the first letter I quoted Elisabeth mentions that she had Baby Sophie with her “all day long”, so she wasn’t “taken away at once” as she claims here). The most important takeaway from this statement to me is that even after all those years the fact that she wasn’t allowed to see her girls freely hurt her. So it’s not surprising that her first act of “rebellion” at court was when she decided to move the nursery to her floor in 1856.

After successfully moving the nursery near to her appartements, slowly Sisi started to take more and more control of her children. At the end of 1856 Franz Josef and Elisabeth went on a state visit to Lombardy-Venice and they took Baby Sophie with them. This tour was relatively successful, and months later they tried to replicate its success on Hungary. For this tour the parents decided to take not only Baby Sophie but also Gisela, since it was planned to last two months and they didn’t want to be separated from their daughters for such a long time.

As it’s known, Baby Sophie sadly died of typhus during this trip. Although is often repeated that Archduchess Sophie blamed Elisabeth for the child’s death, she in fact was very sympathetic towards the young mother, since she also had lost an infant daughter and could understand her pain. But Elisabeth seemed to blame herself regardless, and soon fell into a deep depression that lasted months and filled her entire family with worry.

By the end of 1857 she showed signs of being pregnant again, and in September of 1858 she finally gave birth to the long awaited heir, Crown Prince Rudolf. And just as with her daughters, Elisabeth had no control over the boy’s upbringing.

In 1860 Elisabeth started to become ill - of what, nobody knew. I won’t go much into this (since that’s just an entirely different post), but by the end of the year, after exhausting all possible treatments, it was decided that the Empress should go away from court to recover from her mysterious illness. This was the beginning of Elisabeth’s two years trip - first to Madeira and then to Corfu. Franz Josef offered her to take Gisela with her, but since she couldn’t also take Rudolf (the heir had to remain in Vienna), she decided to leave her behind because she didn’t want to separate the siblings, who were very close (Winkelhofer, 2022).

Elisabeth returned a changed woman, much more confident in herself, no longer the shy girl who was easily intimidated by courtiers. But she still had no control over how her children were educated. Or that was until Rudolf started his formal education. At the age of six he was separated from his sister and governess, given his own household, and Count Gondrecourt was assigned as his tutor. Gondrecourt had the mission of “toughening up” the boy, since he was considered to be weak of mind; his method to achieve this consisted in psychologically torturing Rudolf, and after he fell ill, seemingly of a nervous collapse. When Elisabeth discovered what her son was going through she was horrified and decided to step in. So she did something almost unprecedented, not only for her personally, but also in general for a woman of her status: she gave her husband an ultimatum:

I wish to have reserved to me absolute authority in all matters concerning the children, the choice of the people around them, the place of their residence, the complete supervision of their education, in a word, everything is to be left entirely to me to decide, until the moment of their majority. I further wish that, whatever concerns my personal affairs, such as, among others, the choice of the people around me, the place of my residence, all arrangements in the house etc. be reserved to me alone to decide.

Even more surprisingly for the time, Franz Josef agreed, and gave her full control of the children’s education. Gondrecourt was dismissed and Colonel Josef Latour was personally chosen by Elisabeth in his place. Latour was highly unpopular at court because he wasn’t an aristocrat and had very liberal political ideas, but Elisabeth protected him and he kept his job. Latour ended up becoming a close friend to his pupil until his death. But even though she now had what she had always wanted, total control of her children’s upbringing, she never became really close to her eldest daughter and son.

This is the part in which we can talk about her being “a bad mother”. When you compare her relationship to her fourth and last child, Marie Valerie, born ten years after Rudolf out of her desire to have another baby, raised entirely by her (as always keeping in mind that this means she had full control of the staff that took care of Valerie), to how she was with Gisela and Rudolf, the clear favoritism is evident. It seems that she felt more distant towards the eldest, probably a combination of her not having a saying in their upbringing until they were older and her constant trips away from court didn’t help her to close the gap. Gisela, who was a very down-to-earth person, a lot like her father, doesn’t seem to have minded this (or at least she never showed it), but Rudolf always craved for a close relationship with his mother, which he never could truly have. He adored her and was always grateful for her intervention when he was little, but seeing how all his mother’s love and attention went towards Valerie made Rudolf jealous of his younger sister; because of this the siblings also never managed to become close.

Valerie ended up feeling overwhelmed by her mother’s love. Elisabeth was very emotionally dependent on her daughter and made her her constant companion and support, which isolated the girl from the rest of her family. Valerie adored her father and felt that her mother put her against him, and Elisabeth insistance in raising her as a Hungarian (Valerie’s mother tongue wasn’t German, but Hungarian) made her hate Hungary. She turned out to be quite different to what her mother had planned, and that was probably just the result of having so many expectations imposed on her since she was born. But even so Elisabeth loved her and only wanted her to be happy. And this is shown by the fact that (unlike Queen Victoria with her daughter Beatrice) she didn’t want her to stay by her side forever, but to marry for love and form her own family. So she supported her decision to marry Archduke Franz Salvator, who out of all her suitors was the least favorite (Franz Josef wanted her to marry the Crown Prince of Saxony and Rudolf Archduke Eugen).

So was she a bad mother? It’s complicated. She loved her children (and I do think she loved all of them, despite Gisela being often considered the “forgotten” child), fought to have control on how to raise them (which was unusual for the time) and when she lost them she deeply grieved them. But she couldn’t be the support that her son needed, and the child she did gave her constant love felt suffocated. Sometimes an answer isn’t as a easy as yes or not, and I think we should keep that in mind when looking at Elisabeth as a mother. I hope you find my answer helpful, and sorry if it’s too long!

SOURCES:

Hamann, Brigitte (1986). The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (translation by Ruth Hein)

Winkelhofer, Martina (2022). Sissi. La vera storia. Il camino della giovane imperatrice (translation by Federica Saccucci)

[madamelareinette]

Josef Kriehuber, 1858. Kaiserin Elisabeth mit ihren Kindern / Empress Elisabeth with her children

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

She looks exactly like her mummy Sissi here! 🥺❤

Archduchess Gisela of Austria  was the second daughter and eldest surviving child of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Elisabeth in Bavaria.  Gisela was married to Prince Leopold of Bavaria in Vienna.  The couple photographed in 1900

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

~ Rumors About Our Daughter ~ (fan fiction requested by @historical-epic)

Rumors questioning Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria’s legitimacy have been circulating within the Austrian Court. What do her parents think about this? What do they do?

Characters: Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Valerie heard her mother talking to a random maid servant in the drawing room of their summer home Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl. Thought it sounded more like arguing to her.

“Don’t you dare make such treasonous accusations!” Elisabeth shouted, loud enough for 8 year old Valerie to make out what she said. 

“Y-Y-Your Majesty….I didn’t mean to…I was just implying that”

“What, that my daughter is illegitimate? That her father is not The Emperor? How dare you!”

Valerie had never heard her mother this angry before. It was quite shocking, more shocking than the rumors of her own illegitimacy. 

These rumors were swirling in and out of Kaiservilla for months now, mostly the fancy talk of lower servants. When the imperial family arrived, the servants had to be more careful about their gossiping and shut out their willful thoughts as these thoughts could imprison them for life, or even worse, death.

Emperor Franz Joseph I was married to Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria, who later became Empress Elisabeth of Austria by marriage. But everyone close to her called her either Mother or Sisi. 

Together they had four children. Archduchess Sophie, who died young, Gisela, Rudolf, and Marie-Valerie. They all lived somewhat happy lives although there were problems in all.

Franz and Sisi had to bear the burden of ruling an all powerful Austro-Hungarian empire, Rudolf had to bear the burden of being heir, Gisela had to bear the burden of being unloved by her parents (it was very complicated), and Valerie now had to bear the burden of various rumors spreading about who her real father was.

There are plenty of servants and nobles who live at Kaiservilla and that means that there are various mouths to blab whatever they want about whoever they want. 

A few months ago, the topic of Empress Sisi and her lover Count Andrássy was being spoken about and somebody must’ve put together that Valerie might not have been her father’s daughter.

These were obviously just nonsensical rumors because Valerie was Franz’s child. She was legitimate. 

But Valerie herself didn’t know that and neither did all of the servants who had been blabbing their mouths off for months. 

“Get out of my sight! Sisi practically screamed at the frightened chamber maid who unfortunately gossiped at the wrong time to a footman.

The maid scurried off and Sisi sat down on the nearest chair and was trying to hold in tears.

“Mama..” Valerie walked in from the other room. “Was that maid talking about me?” She asked.

“Oh darling” Sisi held out her hands to embrace the trembling young girl who started to cry.

“Don’t pay any mind to what that filthy servant said. It was all lies and it wasn’t true at all.”

Sisi stroked her daughter’s unruly dark brown hair and continued to do so until Valerie broke the embrace.

“But Mama…I heard it all…I don’t know what this all means.” Valerie was on the verge of hysterics. 

Seeing her mother so upset ignited something in her that is usually hidden away. It made her angry and confused and utterly upset.

“Valerie darling” Sisi soothed. “All you have to believe is that you are your father’s daughter, you are my daughter. If somebody said that you aren’t then shame on them!” 

Sisi gave her youngest daughter a little playful slap which turned the sad frown on Valerie’s face into the wide smile that would be seen playing outside with her dogs or drawing pictures with her mother.

“You are Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, youngest daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, King of Hungary. That is who you are and you can’t listen to anybody if they say otherwise, especially the nasty servants who gossip.” Sisi softly placed a hand on Valerie’s face.

“Okay Mama, I love you very much.” The two hugged firmly again.

“Next time Valerie, don’t eavesdrop okay?” Sisi said strictly, but with a laugh.”

“Okay Mama!” Sighed smart Valerie as she skipped out of the room.

~

Later that night, when Valerie was doing her nighttime prayers, Sisi was informing Franz about the events of the day.

“Franz, darling,” Sisi spoke to her husband who was sitting calmly on the bed taking his boots off.

“Many people are questioning Valerie’s legitimacy, today I caught a maid servant gossiping with a footman. I’m greatly concerned.” Sis went over to sit next to Franz who wrapped his arm around her.

“Darling, you know those rumors are false. I remember the night we conceived. It couldn’t possibly be anyone else. What makes you so worried?” Franz said

Sisi wanted to say that the rumors were specifically stating that Count Andrássy was the suspected father and that she never did anything with him except one small kiss, but she couldn’t say that to her husband. 

She loved Franz and Andrássy’s kiss brought her no affectionate feelings, minus disgust and anger, but this was just not the right time.

That was a story for another day.

Sisi decided to tell Franz the truth about half of the worries about this situation.

“I’m worried because Valerie was in the other room and she could hear me yelling at that maid.” Sisi was close to tears.

“She has never heard me that angry before and she came up to me afterword and was quite distressed...” Sisi wept into Franz’s arms while he gently stroked her back.

They might not have been passionate soulmates, but after all these years of marriage, Franz still loved Sisi, and the feeling was mutual.

“Sisi darling hush now, I will talk to her, I promise.” Franz stated his wife in the eye and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

He then exited the room and let Sisi undress peacefully.

As Franz was walking to Valerie’s rooms, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking more deeply about the rumors.

Why would anyone think that Valerie is not my daughter?

Valerie heard a sudden knock on her bedroom door.

“Valerie, darling, it’s Papa, can I come in?”

“Enter.” Valerie spoke softly as her nanny calmly put the book away and exited the room.

Franz came in and slowly sat down on Valerie’s bed.

“What’s wrong Papa?” Valerie noticed the solemn look on her father’s usually joyful face. At least he was joyful when she was around.

“Valerie…” Franz spoke in a nervous but fairly calm tone. “Mother told me about what happened today.”

Valerie’s face fell into a sad frown.

“Does everyone think like that maid thinks?” She said desperately. “Mama says that I shouldn’t listen to them…but I did.”

“Oh Valerie my dearest,” Franz wrapped his daughter in a tight embrace and rocked her around like he did when she was a baby. 

“Look in my eyes, Valerie, you are my daughter. Nothing can or will ever change that.” Franz was disgusted by these ugly rumors. His heart knew that Sisi could’ve and would’ve been unfaithful at times, and he could’ve been too. But he knew deep down in his heart that Valerie was his child, nothing could convince him otherwise.

“Papa is that really the truth?” Valerie asked longingly.

“Darling,” Franz cooed. “It will forever be the truth.”

“Oh Papa I love you so much!” Valerie gave her father a kiss on the cheek and a tight squeeze before hopping under her covers.

Franz kissed the little girl goodnight and exited calmly.

He knew that everything was going to be okay, and if not, he would take care of it.

~

[elsalouisa]

Archduchess Marie Valerie about King Ludwig II of Bavaria:

18 June 1881. Oh! The King is supposed to come to Possenhofen today to visit Mama. He had an enormous magnificent bouquet sent to her with the query, when might he visit her? But it must be in the evening and no one is allowed to look at him! … but we will see him somehow anyway.

19 June 1881. No, is it possible … that … o no! The King … yesterday on 18 June 1881, yesterday I tell you, spoke to me … only me out of all of the children! no … no … but actually, yes. So: yesterday the King was supposed to visit Mama in Possenhofen at 7 oclock, and we (Amélie, Paula, Elisabeth, Countess Kornis, Siegfried, a Miss Tebr. and I) were watching from Count Angele’s room. But there was honeysuckle growing up to the window and I said I would throw a sprig down to the King; everyone said, no, then Mama came and I called out to her and asked if I could. Mama said she would fetch jasmine (because there is a long story connected with jasmine and the King), but oh! while Mama was getting the jasmine, the King came into the schloss himself to look for her. There was a kerfuffle. We ran to Siegfried’s balcony and Mama was already down below with the King and oh! she said that I, me alone, could come down so that she could introduce me, 0, me, and only me to him. O! I can still hardly believe it! But I came trembling and Mama handed me the jasmine before the door and now this incredible thing should actually take place. And I didn't even have time to put on my gloves and my dress (it was still the brown linen one) was dirty and creased. But I came out anyway … and gave him the jasmine with a very, very low curtsey! O! Great King, now you actually have the jasmine I gave you!!! He wanted to kiss my hand o! He asked me if Nazi was in Prague and I said: “Y…es!” He asked me if Gisela was here and I said: “No, she is in Munich.” He asked me whom I was up there with, whether they were my cousins and I said “Y…es.” He speaks very fast and unclearly and felt as embarrassed as | did. Mama invited us to use informal pronouns with each and he said: “But if so, then both of us, right?” And then I gave another courtesy and left. Of course, I was inundated with questions back upstairs, what it was like, what he said etс". …

[royaltysimblr]

Her Royal Highness the Dowager Duchess of Norden (1786)

Born as Princess Helene Sophia Ingrid Agnes Marie of Vasa in 1739 to King Charles Gustaf II of Vasa and his wife, Princess Luise Ulrika of Alland, Queen Consort of Vasa. Helene recieved an extensive education which was overseen by her father. Helene enjoyed horseback riding, poetry, dancing, and playing the piano during her youth. In 1757, Karl Joseph, the reigning Duke of Norden who had just come back from a successful military campaign invading neighboring provinces during the Germanic Civil War, came to the Court of Vasa. He was enchanted by Princess Helene and asked King Charles Gustaf for her hand in marriage which he granted. Helene and Karl Joseph were married in a grand ceremony at the royal chapel of Gothenburg Palace. Unlike many marriages for the time period, Karl Joseph and Helene enjoyed a happy marriage. Karl Joseph however often left court to fight in military campaigns for the Germanic Emperor. Helene found herself bored at the Norden court and decided to remodel it after the court in Vasa. Her children were tutored mostly by Vasa ministers and spoke Vassian exclusively with their mother. During their early years, Helene experienced two miscarriages which devastated her but she was comforted in her grief by her two maiden sister-in-laws, Princess Adelaide and Princess Viktoria of Norden. Helene and Karl Joseph would have 8 children who would live to adulthood including; Wilhelm I Duke of Norden (1760), Princess Josefina of Norden Queen of Alland (1761), Princess Paulina of Norden Archduchess of Augustinia (1764), Princess Maria Theresa of Norden Queen of Porto (1764), Princess Louise Marie of Norden Duchess of Cologne (1765), Princess Elisabeth Christine of Norden Grand Princess Alexander of Weimar (1767), Princess Viktoria of Norden Princess Heinrich of Rostock (1768), and Prince Waldemar of Norden (1769). Helene nourished and loved her family, especially her daughters Josefina and Maria Theresa and her two sons Prince Wilhelm and Prince Waldemar. Helene was devastated by the death of her daugher Maria Theresa Queen of Porto in 1782 who died giving birth to a stillborn son. Two years later her husband Karl Joseph died from a heart attack which left her son the new Duke of Norden. After Wilhelm and his wife Magdalena became the new Duke and Duchess of Norden she retired from public life and spent her time with her children and grandchildren. She extended her husband’s manor by the sea, Schloss Bentswich which she used as a dowager residence. She hardly cared for her last remaining children’s marriages, with Viktoria marrying an insignificant penniless prince, and Waldemar marrying a princess from an overthrown principality which had little importance. Helene however has a fondness for her daughter, Viktoria’s children, helping raise Sophia and Maria Gisela of Rostock. Helene maintains an extremely close relationship with her family in Vasa, especially her nephew who is the current king. 

[drosera-nepenthes]

[sisionscreen]

Director Sven Bohse, Désirée Nosbusch (Archduchess Sophie), Dominique Devenport (Empress Elisabeth), Tanja Schleiff (Countess Esterházy), Kristina Schroeter (Archduchess Gisela), Arian Wegener (Crown Prince Rudolf), Julia Stemberger (Ludovika, The Duchess in Bavaria), Philine Schmölzer (Sophie in Bavaria) and Rick Okon (Ludwig "Louis" in Bavaria) behind the scenes of the fourth season of Sisi (2021).

[minetteskvareninova]

*takes a deep, exhaseparated breath*

Q: So it isn't true that Empress Sis's mother in law/aunt--the  Archduchess Sophie--didn't take away Sisi/Elizabeth of Bavaria's two eldest kids--Sophie and Gisela--on account that Sisi was "too young" to be raising children?

A: Kinda. Sorta. Mostly. The thing is, "taking them away" is kind of vague and doesn't describe the situation very well. What Sophie did was move the royal nursery nearer her own chambers, controlled Elizabeth's access to them and picked the people who were actually supposed to take care of them. So I guess it's not completely wrong? It's true that Elizabeth wasn't happy about this and that it led to conflicts between them. We also know Elizabeth eventually WON that conflict. Basically, after a tutor chosen for Rudolph (her only son, raised with Gisela and the subject of my bachelor's thesis) turned out to be abusive, she requested he not only be removed, but that she be given absolute control over hers and her children's households. Crucially, we don't know who chose said tutor - it's possible Sophie had a hand in it, but considering the close control the boy's father held over his education, the primary fault most certainly lies with him, also kind with yet another guy wrote said tutor's recommendation, because the Victorian-era Habsburg court was kind of a byrocratic nightmare in a way that no medieval court could be.

Crucially, Elizabeth's request for this seemingly unusual level of independence was GRANTED. From then on, she could basically do whatever the fuck she wanted. Why was this allowed is complicated and not quite clear, but it probably came down to her husband's will. Was it love or guilt? Hard to tell, but my point is - Elisabeth then spend much of her time travelling and generally avoided court if she could help it. She also mostly gave up on forging closer bonds with her older children, instead having another kid, Maria Valeria.

My point in this entire diatribe is that Elisabeth's case was unusual even for the Victorian era, and so it's absolutely insane to use it as an example for MEDIEVAL queenship. Also note the way you present it, it would seem to suggest quite a lot of power in the hands of Queen Mother... Which is obviously nonsense, because Sophie's case was also very unusual, in the power she held over court after her son's ascention, but also in how hands-on she was when it came to raising her children (normally she'd have to share the control of their households with emperor - at first her children's elderly grandfather, then their mentally disabled uncle - and the children's father - who honestly just didn't give a shit).

Wait... You used Elizabeth in fucking Bavaria as an example of how LITTLE agency MEDIEVAL/RENESSAINCE Queen Consorts had?

I am sorry but what in tarnation

Would have been helpful if you had included which post you are talking about, since this could refer to 2 different posts: #1 (where there was no mention of her being a Queen Consort at all...) OR #2 (talking abt Alysanne, who was a Queen consort, as well as general queen consorts...but no Elizabeth of any kind or place?).

Is this a joke?

[archduchessofnowhere]

“Christmas Eve in the Hofburg in Vienna”, by Franz Kollarž, 1879. From left to right: Archduchess Marie Valerie, Emperor Franz Josef I, Crown Prince Rudolf, Prince Leopold of Bavaria, Gisela Princess of Bavaria (née Archduchess of Austria) and Empress Elisabeth.

Via the Wien Museum

[madamelareinette]

On this day in history, 27 July 1932, Gisela, archduchess of Austria-Hungary by birth and princess of Bavaria by marriage, died aged 76 years old.

[nineteenthcenturyportraits]

Portrait of Archduchess Gisela of Austria, Princess Leopold of Bavaria, 1885, by Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1850-1920)

[sisis-page]

https://youtu.be/5jJTQmD2pRQ

I finished a new video of the empress and her family.

I hope you like it!