Don Julius Caesar d'Austria (1584 or 1585—25 June 1609) was the oldest illegitimate son of

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the H ...

and his long-term mistress, Catherina Strada. Don Julius had

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

and died while he was serving a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

in prison after the murder of his lover Markéta Pichlerová in 1608.

Early life

D'Austria was born in 1584 or 1585, the eldest of their six children. Despite his illegitimacy, Emperor

provided his son with a comprehensive education and actively sought a good position at a royal court.

Český Krumlov Castle

Emperor Rudolf purchased

Český Krumlov Castle Český Krumlov Castle () is a castle in Český Krumlov in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It dates back to 1253 when the first castle was built by the Vítkovci family, the main branch of the powerful Bohemian family Rosenberg ...

to serve as his son's seat, and Don Julius arrived first in 1605. In 1607, Don Julius invited Markéta Pichlerová, the daughter of a local barber, to live with him, and her parents agreed. Showing signs of mental illness,GRUNCLOVÁ, Kateřina. Vybraní příslušníci habsburské dynastie a jejich duševní choroby. Bakalářská práce, vedoucí Ehler, Edvard. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra biologie a environmentálních studií, 2023. Don Julius behaved violently towards Pichlerová, including cutting and beating her. Thinking that he had killed her, he tossed her body out of a window, but she survived and recovered. According to the local chronicler , "She was so terribly damaged that she was no longer a single piece of body, and in this condition she was thrown by him to the rocks. But it wasn't meant to be her last hour, because she fell on a rubbish heap which saved her life. Once she was healthy again she hid herself from him, but he kept returning to her mother so Markéta had to go to him again."

Murder and death

Don Julius requested for her parents to allow her to return. When her father refused, Don Julius put him in prison. After five weeks, the father relented, and Markéta returned. On Monday, 18 February 1608, Don Julius murdered Markéta and disfigured her body. Březan recorded the event: "On the 18th of February, Julius, that awful tyrant and devil, bastard of the Emperor, did an incredibly terrible thing to his bed partner, the daughter of a barber, when he cut off her head and other parts of her body, and people had to put her into her coffin in single pieces". Emperor Rudolf did not defend his son and ordered his imprisonment for the remainder of his life. Julius died on 25 June 1609 after showing significant signs of

by refusing to bathe and living in squalour. His death was apparently caused by an ulcer that ruptured.

References

{{Authority control 1580s births 1609 deaths Murderers from the Holy Roman Empire People with schizophrenia Illegitimate children of Holy Roman Emperors Sons of emperors