Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg

(Fraternal Guile within the House of Habsburg) by Franz Grillparzer. Premiered 1872. Grill-parzer's blank-verse tragedy covers nearly four tumultuous decades within the Habsburg dynasty. Emperor Rudolf II attempts to resist the ambitions of his brother Matthias for the Habsburg throne, but religious conflicts and political intrigues thwart his attempts. A third Habsburg brother, Max, along with a Habsburg nephew named Ferdinand (who rules the Austrian duchy of Styria), throws his support behind Matthias. As they gather other supporters to their cause, the only Habsburg remaining loyal to Emperor Rudolf is Leopold, but his troops suffer defeat against the troops of Matthias in a battle near Prague. Rudolf holes up in Prague's ancient Hradschin Castle for his own safety, where Max and Ferdinand, former loyalists to Matthias, arrive to tell Rudolf they were mistaken in supporting the usurper. But they come too late: Rudolf has abdicated, and in doing so has signed an alliance with the Protestant Duke of Braunschweig, Heinrich Julius. It seems clear that a religious war is now inevitable, as Catholic leaders led by the new Emperor Matthias prepare for battle with Protestants from the north.

   Grillparzer based his play on events that took place from 1581 up to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618, with the implication that such strife among the Habsburg relatives brought on the disastrous conflict that lasted until 1648. Though Grillparzer finished writing the play in 1850, it did not premiere until Heinrich Laube's staging in 1872 at the City Theater; a competing production at the Burgtheater followed soon thereafter.