king ludwig ii by katelyn martin (katja). also known as the “swan king,” “mad king ludwig,”...
TRANSCRIPT
KING LUDWIG IIBy Katelyn Martin (Katja)
Also known as the
“Swan King,” “Mad
King Ludwig,” “der
Märchenkönig (the
FairyTale King)
CHILDHOODB
orn August 25, 1845 at
Nymphenburg Palace in Munich as
Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelim
F
ather: Maximilian II of Bavaria
M
other: Marie of Prussia, the King’s
1st cousin
NYMPHENBURG PALACE
L
udwig was named after his
grandfather King Ludwig I
because they shared the same
Birthday
Y
ounger brother: Otto, 3 years
younger
L
ouis XIV of France was his
Godfather
March 10, 1863
–
June 13, 1886
KING OF BAVARIA
I
n 1883, he stated "I became king much too
early. I had not learned enough. I had made
such a good beginning ... with the learning of
state laws. Suddenly I was snatched away
from my books and set on the throne. Well, I
am still trying to learn...”
I
n 1866 the expanding state of Prussia
conquered Austria and Bavaria in the
"German War". From then on, Bavaria's
foreign policy was dictated by Prussia and the
king was only a "vassal" of his Prussian uncle.
KING OF BAVARIA
L
udwig soon became detached
from anything political
H
e spent vast amounts of money
on his own personal projects,
such as castles and palaces.
KING OF BAVARIA
A
few weeks after becoming King, Ludwig summoned Richard
Wagner to court.
F
rom May 1864 – December 1865, Wagner was constantly with
Ludwig, with Ludwig paying off all of Wagner’s debts and giving
him a yearly income of 8000 gulden
M
unich soon became the musical capital of Europe because
Ludwig built theaters for Wagner’s operas.
L
udwig funded many of Wagner’s operas with money that
belonged to the State of Bavaria. This led to the people of
Bavaria forcing Ludwig to make Wagner leave Bavaria.
WAGNER OBSESSION
WAGNER CONTINUED….
B
etween 1872 – 1885 the king had Wagner
perform 28 operas and 8 ballets for him privately.
I
n 1876, Ludwig had a festival theater built in
Bayreuth and Wagner’s "Der Ring des
Nibelungen” was the first performance. Every
year since then, there has been an annual
Bayreuth Festival
"
Tristan und Isolde" (1865), "Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg" (1868), "Das Rheingold" (1869)
and "Die Walküre" (1870)
LOVE LIFET
here was a lot of pressure from his family to produce an heir.
I
n January 1867, he became engaged to his 1st cousin, Duchess
Sophie of Bavaria.
A
fter postponing the wedding on numerous occasions, Ludwig
finally ended the engagement in October 1867, by writing a letter
to Sophie with the line “The main substance of our relationship
has always been ... Richard Wagner's remarkable and deeply
moving destiny.”
H
is engagement to Sophie was the only relationship known to the
public.
Ludwig had many close friendships with men, including Wagner and many young actors,
including Richard Hornig.
In his diary he would write about his sexual desires
towards men, and his struggle to remain true to
his Catholic faith
ALTERNATIVE LOVE LIFE
Ludwig became more and more antisocial, barely
leaving his castles, with only his servants and lovers
surrounding him. He slept all day long and
stayed up all night. When he did leave the castles, it was in the middle
of the night, riding the countryside in his sleighs, wearing historic costumes
He bought more extravagant gifts for himself, which lead
him in debt
OLDER YEARS
MAD KING LUDWIG?
L
udwig always dined alone but the kitchen staff always had to set the table for 4
because of Ludwig’s imaginary dinner guests, such as Marie Antoinette or Louis XV,
whom he would talk to
I
n June 1886, doctors declared him to be affected with chronic and incurable
madness and he was pronounced incapable of governing, and was put under the
care of a psychiatrist.
L
udwig’s brother Otto was next in throne, but because of Otto’s history of mental
illness, he was deemed unfit to be king.
O
n l0 June, his uncle, Prince Luitpold, took over the throne
L
udwig was forced to stay at Castle Berg, with
constant watch of psychiatrists and doctors.
O
n June 13, while under watch from a
psychiatrist, Ludwig asked the doctor if he could
go for a walk along the shore of Lake Starnberg.
The doctor accompanied him and they left the
castle around 6:30pm. The doctor told the
nurses that they would be back by 8pm.
T
hey never returned
A
ll the castle staff searched for the
doctor and Ludwig for 3 hours,
until the bodies were found
floating in the shallow water near
the shore of Lake Starnberg.
T
he watch that was still on
Ludwig’s wrist was stopped at
6:54
L
udwig’s death was officially
ruled as a suicide by drowning,
but many believe it was not.
L
udwig was known to be a
strong swimmer, the water was
less than waist-deep where his
body was found, and the
official autopsy report
indicated that no water was
found in his lungs.
The doctor’s body showed signs of
strangulation and of a struggle, leading to
the suspicion that he was strangled to death
by Ludwig
Many believed he was shot due to bullet
holes found in the jacket he was wearing,
but the autopsy report doesn’t report any
wounds on his body.
Others believe he died of natural causes,
such as a heart attack or a stroke, brought
on from the extreme cold water of the lake,
during an attempt to escape from the doctor.
After a lavish funeral, his remains were
brought to a crypt in Munich where there
still are today.
KING LUDWIG’S CASTLES
“The very castles which were said to be causing the king’s financial ruin
have today become extremely profitable tourist attractions for the
Bavarian state.”
HERRENCHIEMSEE
HERRENCHIEMSEE
B
uilt on Herreninsel, an island on Chiemsee,
which is Bavaria’s largest lake
I
nspired by Versailles Palace in Paris,
including the Hall of Mirrors, which is
larger than the one in Versailles
L
udwig only stayed for a few days in 1885
A
fter his death, all construction work
discontinued and the building was opened
for the public
L
ocated in Southwest Bavaria
T
he smallest of Ludwig’s castles and
the only one Ludwig saw
completed
T
he inside design was inspired by
Versailles Palace, with a smaller
version of the Hall of Mirrors
LINDERHOF
P
alace includes the Venus Grotto, which was inspired by the grotto of Capri
from the first act of Wagner’s “Tannhauser”
h
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJUxHXN328w
SCHLOSS NEUSCHWANSTEIN
Located in Hohenschwangau, near
Fussen in Southwest Bavaria
Built as a retreat and a homage to Richard
Wagner Ludwig paid for this
palace with his own money, not from the state of Bavaria’s public funds
NEUSCHWANSTEIN
Ludwig called this castle New Hohenschwangau Castle, but the name was changed to Neuschwanstein after his death
Ludwig devoted the castle to the life and work of Richard Wagner
Many rooms depict scenes from Wagner’s operas, such as Tristan und Isolde
The interior of the castle is still not finished
NEUSCHWANSTEIN
WORKS CITED
“
King Ludwig II of Bavaria”
<http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/ludwig/biography.htm
“
Ludwig II” http://www.nndb.com/people/589/000114247/
L
udwig II: The Swan King and His Castles <http://www.german-
way.com/ludwig.html>
“
The Mysterious Death of the King” <http://schwangau.de/646.0.html>