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Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II | |||||
Ludwig, c. 1874
King of Bavaria | |||||
Reign | 10 March 1864 – 13 June 1886 | ||||
Predecessor | Maximilian II | ||||
Successor | Otto | ||||
Prime Ministers | |||||
Born | Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Bavaria, German Confederation |
25 August 1845||||
Died | 13 June 1886 Lake Starnberg, Bavaria, German Empire |
(aged 40)||||
Burial | St. Michael's Church, Munich | ||||
House | Wittelsbach | ||||
Father | Maximilian II of Bavaria | ||||
Mother | Marie of Prussia | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Ludwig II (German: Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; English: Louis Otto Frederick William; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886)[1] was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or der Märchenkönig (the 'Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia, and Duke in Swabia.[2]
He succeeded to the throne aged 18. Two years later Bavaria and Austria fought a war against Prussia, which they lost. However, in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 Bavaria sided with Prussia against France, and after the Prussian victory it became part of the new German Empire led by Prussia. Though Bavaria retained a degree of autonomy on some matters within the new German Reich, Ludwig increasingly withdrew from day-to-day affairs of state in favour of extravagant artistic and architectural projects. He commissioned the construction of two lavish palaces and the Neuschwanstein Castle, and was a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner. Ludwig spent all his royal revenues (although not state funds) on these projects, borrowed extensively, and defied all attempts by his ministers to restrain him. This extravagance was used against him to declare him insane, an accusation which has since come under scrutiny.[3] Today, his architectural and artistic legacy includes many of Bavaria's most important tourist attractions.
- 1 Life
- 2 Controversy and struggle for power
- 3 Deposition
- 4 Mysterious death
- 5 Legacy
- 6 In popular culture
- 7 Ancestors
- 8 Titles and styles
- 9 References
- 10 External links
Childhood and adolescent years[edit]
Born in Nymphenburg Palace (today located in suburban Munich), he was the elder son of Maximilian II of Bavaria (then Bavarian Crown Prince) of the House of Wittelsbach, and his wife Princess Marie of Prussia. His parents intended to name him Otto, but his grandfather, Ludwig I of Bavaria, insisted that his grandson be named after him, since their common birthday, 25 August, is the feast day of Saint Louis IX of France, patron saint of Bavaria. His younger brother, born three years later, was named Otto.
Like many young heirs in an age when kings governed most of Europe, Ludwig was continually reminded of his royal status. King Maximilian wanted to instruct both of his sons in the burdens of royal duty from an early age.[4] Ludwig was both extremely indulged and severely controlled by his tutors and subjected to a strict regimen of study and exercise. There are some who point to these stresses of growing up in a royal family as the causes for much of his odd behavior as an adult. Ludwig was not close to either of his parents.[5] King Maximilian's advisers had suggested that on his daily walks he might like, at times, to be accompanied by his future successor. The King replied, "But what am I to say to him? After all, my son takes no interest in what other people tell him."[6] Later, Ludwig would refer to his mother as "my predecessor's consort".[6] He was far closer to his grandfather, the deposed and notorious King Ludwig I, who came from a family of eccentrics.
Ludwig's childhood years did have happy moments. He lived for much of the time at Castle Hohenschwangau, a fantasy castle his father had built near the Alpsee (Alp Lake) near Füssen. It was decorated in the Gothic Revival style with many frescoes depicting heroic German sagas. The family also visited Lake Starnberg. As an adolescent, Ludwig became close friends with his aide de camp, Prince Paul, a member of Bavaria's wealthy Thurn und Taxis family. The two young men rode together, read poetry aloud, and staged scenes from the Romantic operas of Richard Wagner. The friendship ended when Paul became engaged in 1866. During his youth Ludwig also initiated a lifelong friendship with his cousin, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, later Empress of Austria.[5]
Early reign[edit]
Crown Prince Ludwig had just turned 18 when his father died after a three-day illness, and he ascended the Bavarian throne.[6] Although he was not prepared for high office, his youth and brooding good looks made him popular in Bavaria and elsewhere.[5] He continued the state policies of his father and retained his ministers.
His real interests were in art, music, and architecture. One of the first acts of his reign, a few months after his accession, was to summon Wagner to his court.[5][7] Also in 1864, he laid the foundation stone of a new Court Theatre, now the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz (Gärtnerplatz-Theater).
Ludwig was notably eccentric in ways that made serving as Bavaria's head of state problematic. He disliked large public functions and avoided formal social events whenever possible, preferring a life of seclusion that he pursued with various creative projects. He last inspected a military parade on 22 August 1875 and last gave a Court banquet on 10 February 1876.[8] His mother had foreseen difficulties for Ludwig when she recorded her concern for her extremely introverted and creative son who spent much time day-dreaming. These idiosyncrasies, combined with the fact that Ludwig avoided Munich and participating in the government there at all costs, caused considerable tension with the king's government ministers, but did not cost him popularity among the citizens of Bavaria. The king enjoyed traveling in the Bavarian countryside and chatting with farmers and labourers he met along the way. He also delighted in rewarding those who were hospitable to him during his travels with lavish gifts. He is still remembered in Bavaria as "Unser Kini" ("our cherished king" in the Bavarian dialect).[citation needed]
Austro-Prussian War and Franco-Prussian War[edit]
Relations with Prussia took center stage from 1866. In the Austro-Prussian War, which began in July, Ludwig supported Austria against Prussia.[5] Austria and Bavaria were defeated; and Bavaria was forced to sign a mutual defense treaty with Prussia. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Bavaria was required to fight alongside Prussia. After the Prussian victory over France, Bismarck moved to complete the Unification of Germany.
In November 1870, Bavaria joined the North German Confederation and thus lost its status as an independent kingdom. However, the Bavarian delegation under Minister-President Count Otto von Bray-Steinburg secured privileged status for Bavaria within the Empire (Reservatrechte). Bavaria retained its own diplomatic corps and its own army, which would come under Prussian command only in times of war.
In December 1870, Bismarck used financial concessions to induce Ludwig to write the so-called Kaiserbrief, a letter endorsing the creation of the German Empire with King Wilhelm I of Prussia as Emperor. Nevertheless, Ludwig regretted Bavaria's loss of independence and refused to attend Wilhelm's 10 January proclamation as German Emperor in the Palace of Versailles.[9] Ludwig's brother Prince Otto and his uncle Luitpold went instead.[10][11] Otto criticized the celebration as ostentatious and heartless in a letter to his brother.
Engagement and sexuality[edit]
The greatest stress of Ludwig's early reign was pressure to produce an heir. This issue came to the forefront in 1867. Ludwig became engaged to Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria, his cousin and the youngest sister of his dear friend Elisabeth, Empress of Austria.[5] They shared a deep interest in the works of Wagner. The engagement was announced on 22 January 1867; a few days earlier, Ludwig had written Sophie that "The main substance of our relationship has always been … Richard Wagner's remarkable and deeply moving destiny."[12]
But Ludwig repeatedly postponed the wedding date, and finally cancelled the engagement in October. After the engagement was broken off, Ludwig wrote to his former fiancée, "My beloved Elsa! Your cruel father has torn us apart. Eternally yours, Heinrich." (The names Elsa and Heinrich came from characters in Wagner's opera Lohengrin.)[12] Sophie later married Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon.
Ludwig never married, nor had any known mistresses. It is known from his diary (begun in the 1860s), private letters, and other surviving personal documents, that he had strong homosexual desires.[citation needed] He struggled all his life to suppress his sexual desires and remain true to his Roman Catholic faith.[13] While homosexuality had not been punishable in Bavaria since 1813,[14] the Unification of Germany in 1871 under Prussian hegemony changed this.
Throughout his reign, Ludwig had a succession of close friendships with men, including his chief equerry and Master of the Horse, Richard Hornig (1843–1911), Hungarian theater actor Josef Kainz, and courtier Alfons Weber (born c.1862).
Ludwig's original diaries from 1869 onward were lost during World War II, and all that remain today are copies of entries made during the 1886 plot to depose him. Some earlier diaries have survived in the Geheimes Hausarchiv in Munich, and extracts starting in 1858 were published by Evers in 1986.[15]
Ludwig as patron[edit]
After 1871, Ludwig largely withdrew from politics, and devoted himself to his personal creative projects, most famously his castles, for which he personally approved every detail of the architecture, decoration, and furnishing.
Ludwig and Wagner[edit]
Ludwig was intensely interested in the operas of Richard Wagner. This interest began when Ludwig first saw Lohengrin at the impressionable age of 15½, followed by Tannhäuser ten months later. Wagner's operas appealed to the king's fantasy-filled imagination.
Wagner had a notorious reputation as a political radical and philanderer, and was constantly on the run from creditors.[5] But on 4 May 1864, the 51-year-old Wagner was given an unprecedented 1¾ hour audience with Ludwig in the Royal Palace in Munich; later the composer wrote of his first meeting with Ludwig, "Alas, he is so handsome and wise, soulful and lovely, that I fear that his life must melt away in this vulgar world like a fleeting dream of the gods."[5][7] Ludwig was probably the savior of Wagner's career. Without Ludwig, it is doubtful that Wagner's later operas would have been composed, much less premiered at the prestigious Munich Royal Court Theatre (now the Bavarian State Opera).
A year after meeting the King, Wagner presented his latest work, Tristan und Isolde, in Munich to great acclaim. But the composer's perceived extravagant and scandalous behaviour in the capital was unsettling for the conservative people of Bavaria, and the King was forced to ask Wagner to leave the city six months later, in December 1865.
Ludwig considered abdicating to follow Wagner, but Wagner persuaded him to stay.
Ludwig provided a residence for Wagner in Switzerland. Wagner completed Die Meistersinger there; it was premiered in Munich in 1868. When Wagner returned to his "Ring Cycle", Ludwig demanded "special previews" of the first two works (Das Rheingold and Die Walküre) at Munich in 1869 and 1870.[16]
Wagner, however, was now planning his great personal opera house at Bayreuth. Ludwig initially refused to support this grandiose project. But when Wagner exhausted all other sources, he appealed to Ludwig, who gave him 100,000 thalers to complete the work. Ludwig attended the dress rehearsal and third public performance of the complete Ring Cycle in 1876.
Ludwig and theater[edit]
Ludwig's interest in theater was by no means confined to Wagner. In 1867, he appointed Karl von Perfall as Director of his new court theater. Ludwig wished to introduce Munich theater-goers to the best of European drama. Perfall, under Ludwig's supervision, introduced them to Shakespeare, Calderón, Mozart, Gluck, Ibsen, Weber, and many others. He also raised the standard of interpretation of Schiller, Molière, and Corneille.[17]
Between 1872 and 1885, the King had 209 private performances (Separatvorstellungen) given for himself alone or with a guest, in the two court theaters, comprising 44 operas (28 by Wagner, including eight of Parsifal), 11 ballets, and 154 plays (the principal theme being Bourbon France) at a cost of 97,300 marks.[18] This was not due so much to misanthropy but, as the King complained to the theatre actor-manager Ernst Possart: "I can get no sense of illusion in the theatre so long as people keep staring at me, and follow my every expression through their opera-glasses. I want to look myself, not to be a spectacle for the masses."
Ludwig's castles[edit]
Ludwig used his personal fortune (supplemented annually from 1873 by 270,000 marks from the Welfenfonds[19]) to fund the construction of a series of elaborate castles. In 1867 he visited Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's work at Pierrefonds, and the Palace of Versailles in France, as well as the Wartburg near Eisenach in Thuringia, which largely influenced the style of his construction. In his letters, Ludwig marvelled at how the French had magnificently built up and glorified their culture (e.g., architecture, art, and music) and how miserably lacking Bavaria was in comparison. It became his dream to accomplish the same for Bavaria. These projects provided employment for many hundreds of local laborers and artisans and brought a considerable flow of money to the relatively poor regions where his castles were built. Figures for the total costs between 1869 and 1886 for the building and equipping of each castle were published in 1968: Schloß Neuschwanstein 6,180,047 marks; Schloß Linderhof 8,460,937 marks (a large portion being expended on the Venus Grotto); Schloß Herrenchiemsee (from 1873) 16,579,674 marks[20] In order to give an equivalent for the era, the British Pound sterling, being the monetary hegemon of the time, had a fixed exchange rate (based on the gold standard) at £1 = 20.43 Goldmarks.
In 1868, Ludwig commissioned the first drawings for his buildings, starting with Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee, though work on the latter did not commence until 1878.
Schloss Neuschwanstein ("New Swan-on-the-Rock castle") is a dramatic Romanesque fortress with soaring fairy-tale towers. It is situated on an Alpine crag above Ludwig's childhood home, Castle Hohenschwangau (approximately, "High Swan Region"). Hohenschwangau was a medieval knights' castle which his parents had purchased. Ludwig reputedly had seen the location and conceived of building a castle there while still a boy.
In 1869, Ludwig oversaw the laying of the cornerstone for Schloss Neuschwanstein on a breathtaking mountaintop site. The walls of Neuschwanstein are decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from the legends used in Wagner's operas, including Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Lohengrin, Parsifal, and the somewhat less than mystic Die Meistersinger.[21]
In 1878, construction was completed on Ludwig's Schloss Linderhof, an ornate palace in neo-French Rococo style, with handsome formal gardens. The grounds contained a Venus grotto lit by electricity, where Ludwig was rowed in a boat shaped like a shell. After seeing the Bayreuth performances Ludwig built Hundinghütte ("Hunding's Hut", based on the stage set of the first act of Wagner's Die Walküre) in the forest near Linderhof, complete with an artificial tree and a sword embedded in it. (In Die Walküre, Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree.) Hunding's Hut was destroyed in 1945 but a replica was constructed at Linderhof in 1990. In 1877, Ludwig had Einsiedlei des Gurnemanz (a small hermitage, as seen in the third act of Parsifal) erected near Hunding's Hut, with a meadow of spring flowers. The king would retire to read. (A replica made in 2000 can now be seen in the park at Linderhof.) Nearby a Moroccan House, purchased at the Paris World Fair in 1878, was erected alongside the mountain road. Sold in 1891 and taken to Oberammergau, it was purchased by the government in 1980 and re-erected in the park at Linderhof after extensive restoration. Inside the palace, iconography reflected Ludwig's fascination with the absolutist government of Ancien régime France. Ludwig saw himself as the "Moon King", a romantic shadow of the earlier "Sun King", Louis XIV of France. From Linderhof, Ludwig enjoyed moonlit sleigh rides in an elaborate eighteenth-century sleigh, complete with footmen in eighteenth century livery.
In 1878, construction began on Herrenchiemsee, a partial replica of the palace at Versailles, sited on the Herreninsel in the Chiemsee. It was built as Ludwig's tribute to Louis XIV of France, the magnificent "Sun King." Only the central portion of the palace was built; all construction halted on Ludwig's death. What exists of Herrenchiemsee comprises 8,366 square metres (90,050 sq ft), a "copy in miniature" compared with Versailles' 551,112 ft².
Munich Residenz Palace Royal apartment[edit]
The following year, Ludwig finished the construction of the royal apartment in the Residenz Palace in Munich, to which he had added an opulent conservatory or winter garden on the palace roof. It was started in 1867 as quite a small structure, but after extensions in 1868 and 1871, the dimensions reached 69.5mx17.2mx9.5m high. It featured an ornamental lake complete with skiff, a painted panorama of the Himalayas as a backdrop, an Indian fisher-hut of bamboo, a Moorish kiosk, and an exotic tent. The roof was a technically advanced metal and glass construction. The winter garden was closed in June 1886, partly dismantled the following year and demolished in 1897.[22][23]
Later projects[edit]
In the 1880s, Ludwig continued his elaborate schemes.
He planned the construction of a new castle on Falkenstein ("Falcon Rock") near Pfronten in the Allgäu (a place he knew well: a diary entry for 16 October 1867 reads "Falkenstein wild, romantic").[24] The first design was a sketch by Christian Jank in 1883 "very much like the Townhall of Liège".[25] Subsequent designs showed a modest villa with a square tower[26] and a small Gothic castle.[27][28] By 1885, a road and water supply had been provided at Falkenstein but the old ruins remained untouched.[29]
Ludwig also proposed a Byzantine palace in the Graswangtal, and a Chinese summer palace by the Plansee in Tyrol. These projects never got beyond initial plans.
Controversy and struggle for power[edit]
Although the king had paid for his pet projects out of his own funds and not the state coffers, that did not necessarily spare Bavaria from financial fallout.[30] By 1885, the king was 14 million marks in debt, had borrowed heavily from his family, and rather than economizing, as his financial ministers advised him, he planned further opulent designs without pause. He demanded that loans be sought from all of Europe's royalty, and remained aloof from matters of state. Feeling harassed and irritated by his ministers, he considered dismissing the entire cabinet and replacing them with fresh faces. The cabinet decided to act first.
Seeking a cause to depose Ludwig by constitutional means, the rebelling ministers decided on the rationale that he was mentally ill, and unable to rule. They asked Ludwig's uncle, Prince Luitpold, to step into the royal vacancy once Ludwig was deposed. Luitpold agreed, on condition the conspirators produced reliable proof that the king was in fact helplessly insane.
Between January and March 1886, the conspirators assembled the Ärztliches Gutachten or Medical Report, on Ludwig's fitness to rule. Most of the details in the report were compiled by Count von Holnstein, who was disillusioned with Ludwig and actively sought his downfall. Holnstein used bribery and his high rank to extract a long list of complaints, accounts, and gossip about Ludwig from among the king's servants. The litany of supposed bizarre behavior included his pathological shyness, his avoidance of state business, his complex and expensive flights of fancy, dining out of doors in cold weather and wearing heavy overcoats in summer, sloppy and childish table manners; dispatching servants on lengthy and expensive voyages to research architectural details in foreign lands; and abusive, violent threats to his servants.
The degree to which these accusations were accurate may never be known. The conspirators approached Bismarck, who doubted the report's veracity, calling it "rakings from the King's wastepaper-basket and cupboards."[31] Bismarck commented after reading the Report that "the Ministers wish to sacrifice the King, otherwise they have no chance of saving themselves." He suggested that the matter be brought before the Bavarian Diet and discussed there, but did not stop the ministers from carrying out their plan.[32]
In early June, the report was finalized and signed by a panel of four psychiatrists: Dr. Bernhard von Gudden, chief of the Munich Asylum; Dr. Hubert von Grashey (who was Gudden's son-in-law); and their colleagues, Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Hagen and Dr. Max Hubrich. The report declared in its final sentences that the king suffered from paranoia, and concluded, "Suffering from such a disorder, freedom of action can no longer be allowed and Your Majesty is declared incapable of ruling, which incapacity will be not only for a year's duration, but for the length of Your Majesty's life." The men had never met the king, except for Gudden, only once, twelve years earlier, and none had ever examined him.[5] Questions about the lack of medical diagnosis make the legality of the deposition controversial. Adding to the controversy are the mysterious circumstances under which King Ludwig died. (Today the claim of paranoia is not considered correct; Ludwig's behavior is rather interpreted as a schizotypal personality disorder and he may also have suffered from Pick's disease during his last years, an assumption supported by a frontotemporal lobar degeneration mentioned in the autopsy report.)[33]
Ludwig's younger brother and successor, Otto, was considered insane,[34] providing a convenient basis for the claim of hereditary insanity.
At 4 a.m. on 10 June 1886, a government commission including Holnstein and Gudden arrived at Neuschwanstein to deliver the document of deposition to the king formally and to place him in custody. Tipped off an hour or two earlier by a faithful servant, his coachman Fritz Osterholzer, Ludwig ordered the local police to protect him, and the commissioners were turned back at the castle gate at gunpoint. In an infamous sideshow, the commissioners were attacked by the 47-year-old baroness Spera von Truchseß,[35] loyal to the king, who flailed at the men with her umbrella and then rushed to the king's apartments to identify the conspirators. Ludwig then had the commissioners arrested, but after holding them captive for several hours, released them. Prince Ludwig Ferdinand was the only member of the Bavarian Royal Family who always remained on friendly terms with his cousin, so Ludwig II wrote him a telegram; the latter immediately intended to follow this call, but was prevented from leaving Nymphenburg Palace by his uncle Luitpold who was about to take over government as the ruling Prince Regent.
That same day, the Government under Minister-President Johann von Lutz publicly proclaimed Luitpold as Prince Regent. The king's friends and allies urged him to flee, or to show himself in Munich and thus regain the support of the people. Ludwig hesitated, instead issuing a statement, allegedly drafted by his aide-de-camp Count Alfred Dürckheim, which was published by a Bamberg newspaper on 11 June:
- The Prince Luitpold intends, against my will, to ascend to the Regency of my land, and my erstwhile ministry has, through false allegations regarding the state of my health, deceived my beloved people, and is preparing to commit acts of high treason. [...] I call upon every loyal Bavarian to rally around my loyal supporters to thwart the planned treason against the King and the fatherland.
The government succeeded in suppressing the statement by seizing most copies of the newspaper and handbills. Anton Sailer's pictorial biography of the King prints a photograph of this rare document. (The authenticity of the Royal Proclamation is doubted however, as it is dated 9 June, before the Commission arrived, it uses "I" instead of the royal "We" and there are orthographic errors.) As the king dithered, his support waned. Peasants who rallied to his cause were dispersed, and the police who guarded his castle were replaced by a police detachment of 36 men who sealed off all entrances to the castle.
Eventually the king decided he would try to escape, but it was too late. In the early hours of 12 June, a second commission arrived. The King was seized just after midnight and at 4 am was taken to a waiting carriage. He asked Dr. Gudden, "How can you declare me insane? After all, you have never seen or examined me before," only to be told that "it was unnecessary; the documentary evidence [the servants' reports] is very copious and completely substantiated. It is overwhelming." [36] Ludwig was transported to Berg Castle on the shores of Lake Starnberg, south of Munich.
Mysterious death[edit]
On the afternoon of the next day, 13 June 1886, Dr. Gudden accompanied Ludwig on a stroll in the grounds of the castle. They were accompanied by two attendants. On their return Gudden expressed optimism to other doctors concerning the treatment of his royal patient. Following dinner, at around 6 PM, Ludwig asked Gudden to accompany him on a further walk, this time through the Schloß Berg parkland along the shore of Lake Starnberg. Gudden agreed; the walk may even have been his suggestion, and he told the aides not to accompany them. His words were ambiguous (Es darf kein Pfleger mitgehen, "No attendant may come along") and whether they were meant to follow at a discreet distance is not clear. The two men were last seen at about 6:30 PM; they were due back at 8 PM but never returned. After searches were made for more than two hours by the entire castle staff in a gale with heavy rain, at 10:30 PM that night, the bodies of both the King and von Gudden were found, head and shoulders above the shallow water near the shore. The King's watch had stopped at 6:54. Gendarmes patrolling the park had heard and seen nothing.
Ludwig's death was officially ruled a suicide by drowning, but the official autopsy report indicated that no water was found in his lungs.[37][38] Ludwig was a very strong swimmer in his youth, the water was approximately waist-deep where his body was found, and he had not expressed suicidal feelings during the crisis.[37][39] Gudden's body showed blows to the head and neck and signs of strangulation, leading to the suspicion that he was strangled although there is no more evidence to prove this.[5]
Many hold that Ludwig was murdered by his enemies while attempting to escape from Berg. One account suggests that the king was shot.[37] The King's personal fisherman, Jakob Lidl (1864–1933), stated, "Three years after the king's death I was made to swear an oath that I would never say certain things — not to my wife, not on my deathbed, and not to any priest … The state has undertaken to look after my family if anything should happen to me in either peacetime or war." Lidl kept his oath, at least orally, but left behind notes which were found after his death. According to Lidl, he had hidden behind bushes with his boat, waiting to meet the king, in order to row him out into the lake, where loyalists were waiting to help him escape. "As the king stepped up to his boat and put one foot in it, a shot rang out from the bank, apparently killing him on the spot, for the king fell across the bow of the boat."[37][40] However, the autopsy report indicates no scars or wounds found on the body of the dead king; on the other hand, many years later Countess Josephine von Wrba-Kaunitz would show her afternoon tea guests a grey Loden coat with two bullet holes in the back, asserting it was the one Ludwig was wearing.[41] Another theory suggests that Ludwig died of natural causes (such as a heart attack or stroke) brought on by the cool water (12 °C) of the lake during an escape attempt.[37]
Ludwig's remains were dressed in the regalia of the Order of Saint Hubert, and lay in state in the royal chapel at the Munich Residence Palace. In his right hand he held a posy of white jasmine picked for him by his cousin the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.[42] After an elaborate funeral on 19 June 1886, Ludwig's remains were interred in the crypt of the Michaelskirche in Munich. His heart, however, does not lie with the rest of his body. Bavarian tradition called for the heart of the king to be placed in a silver urn and sent to the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of Mercy) in Altötting, where it was placed beside those of his father and grandfather.
Three years after his death, a small memorial chapel was built overlooking the site and a cross was erected in the lake. A remembrance ceremony is held there each year on 13 June.
The King was succeeded by his brother Otto, but since Otto was considered incapacitated by mental illness due to a "diagnosis" by Dr. Gudden, the king's uncle Luitpold remained regent. Luitpold maintained the regency until his own death in 1912 at the age of 91. He was succeeded as regent by his eldest son, also named Ludwig. The regency lasted for 13 more months until November 1913, when Regent Ludwig deposed the still-living but still-institutionalized King Otto, and declared himself King Ludwig III of Bavaria. His reign lasted until the end of the World War I, when monarchy in all of Germany came to an end.
Ludwig was deeply peculiar and irresponsible, but the question of clinical insanity remains unresolved.[43] The prominent German brain researcher Heinz Häfner has disagreed with the contention that there was clear evidence for Ludwig's insanity.[5] Others believe he may have suffered from the effects of chloroform used in an effort to control chronic toothache rather than any psychological disorder. His cousin and friend, Empress Elisabeth held that, "The King was not mad; he was just an eccentric living in a world of dreams. They might have treated him more gently, and thus perhaps spared him so terrible an end."[citation needed]
One of Ludwig's most quoted sayings was "I wish to remain an eternal enigma to myself and to others."[44]
Today visitors pay tribute to King Ludwig by visiting his grave as well as his castles. Ironically, the very castles which were causing the king's financial ruin have today become extremely profitable tourist attractions for the Bavarian state. The palaces, given to Bavaria by Ludwig III's son Crown Prince Rupprecht in 1923,[45] have paid for themselves many times over and attract millions of tourists from all over the world to Germany each year.
It is not surprising that Ludwig II had a great interest in building. His paternal grandfather, King Ludwig I, had largely rebuilt Munich. It was known as the 'Athens on the Isar'. His father, King Maximilian II had also continued with more construction in Munich as well as the construction of Hohenschwangau Castle, the childhood home of Ludwig II, near the future Neuschwanstein Castle of Ludwig II. Ludwig II had planned to build a large opera house on the banks of the Isar river in Munich. This plan was vetoed by the Bavarian government.[46] Using similar plans, a festival theatre was built later in his reign from Ludwig's personal finances at Bayreuth.
- Winter Garden, Residenz Palace, Munich, an elaborate winter garden built on the roof of the Residenz Palace in Munich. It featured an ornamental lake with gardens and painted frescos. It was roofed over using a technically advanced metal and glass construction.[22] After the death of Ludwig II, it was dismantled in 1897 due to water leaking from the ornamental lake through the ceiling of the rooms below. Photographs and sketches still record this incredible creation which included a grotto, a Moorish kiosk, an Indian royal tent, an artificially illuminated rainbow and intermittent moonlight.[22][47]
- Neuschwanstein Castle,[48] or "New Swan Stone Castle", a dramatic Romanesque fortress with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic interiors, which was built high above his father's castle: Hohenschwangau. Numerous wall paintings depict scenes from the legends Wagner used in his operas. Christian glory and chaste love figure predominantly in the iconography, and may have been intended to help Ludwig live up to his religious ideals, but the bedroom decoration depicts the illicit love of Tristan & Isolde (after Gottfried von Strasbourg's poem). The castle was not finished at Ludwig's death; the Kemenate was completed in 1892 but the watch-tower and chapel were only at the foundation stage in 1886 and were never built.[49] The residence quarters of the King – which he first occupied in May 1884[50] – can be visited along with the servant's rooms, kitchens as well as the monumental throne room. Unfortunately the throne was never completed although sketches show how it might have looked on completion.[51]
Neuschwanstein Castle is a landmark well known by many non-Germans, and was used by Walt Disney in the twentieth century as the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castles at Disney Parks around the world. The castle has had over 50 million visitors since it was opened to the public on 1 August 1886, including 1.3 million in 2008 alone.[52]
- Linderhof Castle, an ornate palace in neo-French Rococo style, with handsome formal gardens. Just north of the palace, at the foot of the Hennenkopf, the park contains a Venus grotto where Ludwig was rowed in a shell-like boat on an underground lake lit with red, green or "Capri" blue effects by electricity, a novelty at that time, provided by one of the first generating plants in Bavaria.[53] Stories of private musical performances here are probably apochryphal; nothing is known for certain.[54] In the forest nearby a romantic wooded hut was also built around an artificial tree (see Hundinghütte above). Inside the palace, iconography reflects Ludwig's fascination with the absolutist government of Ancien Régime France. Ludwig saw himself as the "Moon King", a romantic shadow of the earlier "Sun King", Louis XIV of France. From Linderhof, Ludwig enjoyed moonlit sleigh rides in an elaborate eighteenth century sleigh, complete with footmen in eighteenth century livery. He was known to stop and visit with rural peasants while on rides, adding to his legend and popularity. The sleigh can today be viewed with other royal carriages and sleds at the Carriage Museum (Marstallmusem) at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. Its lantern was illuminated by electricity supplied by a battery.[55] There is also a Moorish Pavilion in the park of Schloß Linderhof.[56]
- Herrenchiemsee, a replica (although only the central section was ever built) of Louis XIV of France's Palace of Versailles, France, which was meant to outdo its predecessor in scale and opulence – for instance, at 98 meters the Hall of Mirrors and its adjoining Halls of War and Peace is slightly longer than the original. The palace is located on the Herren Island in the middle of the Chiemsee Lake. Most of the palace was never completed once the king ran out of money, and Ludwig lived there for only 10 days in October 1885, less than a year before his mysterious death.[50] It is interesting to note that tourists come from France to view the recreation of the famous Ambassadors' Staircase. The original Ambassadors' Staircase at Versailles was demolished in 1752.[57]
- Ludwig also outfitted Schachen king's house with an overwhelmingly decorative Oriental style interior, including a replica of the famous Peacock Throne.
- Falkenstein, a planned, but never executed "robber baron's castle" in the Gothic style. A painting by Christian Jank shows the proposed building as an even more fairytale version of Neuschwanstein, perched on a rocky cliff high above Castle Neuschwanstein.
Ludwig II left behind a large collection of plans and designs for other castles that were never built, as well as plans for further rooms in his completed buildings. Many of these designs are housed today in the King Ludwig II Museum at Herrenchiemsee Castle. These building designs date from the latter part of the King's reign, beginning around 1883. As money was starting to run out, the artists knew that their designs would never be executed. The designs became more extravagant and numerous as the artists realized that there was no need to concern themselves with economy or practicality.
Ludwig and the arts[edit]
It has been said that Richard Wagner's late career is part of Ludwig's legacy, since he almost certainly would have been unable to complete his opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen or to write his final opera, Parsifal, without the king's support.
Ludwig also sponsored the premieres of Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and, through his financial support of the Bayreuth Festival, those of Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal.[58]
Ludwig provided Munich with its Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, establishing a lasting tradition of comic and romantic Singspiele as well as operettas produced for the Bavarian public.
In popular culture[edit]
Video games[edit]
- The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (1995) – Released by Sierra On-Line
Board games[edit]
- Castles of Mad King Ludwig (2014) – Released by Bézier Games and designed by Ted Alspach [59]
- Ludwig II (1922), a silent Austrian film directed by Otto Kreisler and starring Olaf Fjord as Ludwig
- Ludwig II, King of Bavaria (1929), a late German silent film directed by and starring William Dieterle
- Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs (1955), a West German film directed by Helmut Käutner and starring O. W. Fischer as Ludwig and Ruth Leuwerik as Empress Elizabeth
- Ludwig (1972), a film directed by Luchino Visconti which traces the life of Ludwig II from his accession to death, and stars Helmut Berger as Ludwig II and Romy Schneider as the Austrian Empress Elisabeth.
- The 1972 German film Ludwig - Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König (Ludwig – Requiem for a Virgin King), written and directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg provides a more personal, sympathetic, and idiosyncratic account of the King's life from boyhood to death, and stars Harry Baer and Balthasar Thomass as Ludwig II, and Gerhard Maerz as Richard Wagner.
- An epic film, Wagner (1983), directed by Tony Palmer, on the life of Richard Wagner, starring Richard Burton in the title role, also features László Gálffi in the substantial role of King Ludwig.
- In the 1993 film Ludwig 1881, Helmut Berger reprises his role as Ludwig II in an episode involving the actor Josef Kainz, who is invited to accompany the king on a cruise on a Swiss lake, in order to recreate scenes from a story that actually took place around the lake.
- Ludwig II (2012), directed by Peter Sehr and Marie Noelle, and starring Sabin Tambrea as the younger Ludwig and Sebastian Schipper as the king in his later years.
- The story of Ludwig II is discussed by the characters of the 1947 novel Doktor Faustus by Thomas Mann, in chapter XL.
- Ludwig is the central character in the novel Remember Me (1957) by the American David Stacton (1923–1968).[60] The novel, part of a triptych dealing with "The Invincible Questions"[61] concentrates on Ludwig's psychology, including his notion of kingship, his homoerotic relationships, and his reasons for building; Stacton represents Ludwig's death as a suicide.
Popular fiction[edit]
- The three-volume manga series Ludwig II (ルートヴィヒII世) by the artist You Higuri, published by Kadokawa Shoten, is a highly fictionalized account of Ludwig's love life.
- Sharyn McCrumb's 1984 mystery novel Sick of Shadows features a character who identifies with Ludwig II and builds a replica of Neuschwanstein castle in Georgia. The novel also acts out a few more disturbing incidents from Ludwig's life.
- Chris Kuzneski's book, The Secret Crown, involves his main characters going through the life of Ludwig II to discover his secret palace.
- The Ludwig Conspiracy (2013) by Oliver Pötzsch is a thriller about a conspiracy around the murder of King Ludwig.
- Dark Spirit by Susan Appleyard recounts the last months of Ludwig's life.
- Illusions like 'Swan Lake, a restaging of Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake by John Neumeier to reflect the life of Ludwig II.
- A number of musicals based on the life of Ludwig II have been staged. One was called, Ludwig: The Musical by Rolf Rettburg and another, Ludwig II: Longing For Paradise with music by Franz Hummel and lyrics by Stephen Barbarino. A special theatre was constructed on the shores of the lake at Fussen, not far from Castles Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein, specifically for the musical performances.
- Matmos, an Electronic duo, have a song on their 2006 album The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast called "Banquet for King Ludwig II of Bavaria".
Titles and styles[edit]
- 25 August 1845 – 28 March 1848 His Royal Highness Prince Ludwig of Bavaria
- 28 March 1848 – 10 March 1864 His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Bavaria
- 10 March 1864 – 13 June 1886 His Majesty The King of Bavaria
- ^ At 00.28 hours: J.G. Wolf 1922, p. 16. Compare Ludwig's remark to Anton Niggl on 11/12 June 1886 about being born and going to die at 12.30 (Hacker 1966, p. 363 quoting Gerold 1914, pp. 91–3)
- ^ Adreßbuch von München 1876, p. 1.
- ^ "Mad King Ludwig? Study claims Bavarian monarch was sane". Der Spiegel. Hamburg. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
- ^ Nohbauer, 1998, p. 6.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Der Mythos vom Märchenkönig". focus.de. 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
- ^ a b c Nohbauer, 1998, p. 12.
- ^ a b Nohbauer, 1998, p. 25.
- ^ Hojer 1986, p. 138
- ^ Nohbauer, 1998, p. 37.
- ^ Toeche-Mittler, Dr. Theodor. Die Kaiserproklamation in Versailles am 18. Januar 1871 mit einem Verzeichniß der Festtheilnehmer, Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, Berlin, 1896
- ^ Schnaebeli, H. Fotoaufnahmen der Kaiserproklamation in Versailles, Berlin, 1871
- ^ a b Nohbauer, 1998, p. 40.
- ^ McIntosh, 1982, pp. 155–158.
- ^ Till 2010, p. 48
- ^ Evers, Hans Gerhard. Ludwig II. von Bayern. Theaterfürst-König-Bauherr (Munich, 1986)
- ^ Millington, Barry (ed.) (2001), The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to Wagner's Life and Music (revised edition), London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. ISBN 0-02-871359-1. pp 287, 290
- ^ Rall, Petzet and Merta (2001) King Ludwig II
- ^ See Hommel, Kurt. Die Separatvorstellungen vor König Ludwig II. von Bayern (Munich, 1963)
- ^ Hojer, Gerhard (ed.) König Ludwig II.-Museum Herrenchiemsee. Katalog (Munich, 1986, p. 137)
- ^ Petzet Katalog 1968, p. 226.
- ^ "The pictures in the new castle shall follow the sagas and not Wagner's interpretation of them." Letter from footman Adalbert Welker to Court secretary Ludwig von Bürkel, 5 April 1879 (Petzet 1970, p. 138)
- ^ a b c Nohbauer, 1998, p. 18.
- ^ See Die Wintergarten König Ludwigs II. in der Münchener Residenz by Elmar D. Schmid in Gerhard Hojer (ed.): König Ludwig II. Museum Herrenchiemsee. Katalog. (Munich, 1986), pp. 62–94 & 446–451.
- ^ Evers 1986, p. 228.
- ^ Kreisel 1954, p. 82
- ^ Dollmann 1884
- ^ Schultze 1884, Hofmann 1886
- ^ See Petzet Katalog 1968 & Hojer 1986, pp. 298–304 for details.
- ^ Hojer 1986, p. 300.
- ^ Nohbauer, 1998, p. 73.
- ^ Blunt, Wilfrid; Petzet, Michael (1 December 1970). Dream King: Ludwig II of Bavaria. The Viking Press, Inc. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-670-28456-6.
- ^ http://schwangau.de/646.0.html
- ^ Prof. Hans Förstl, "Ludwig II. von Bayern – schizotype Persönlichkeit und frontotemporale Degeneration?", in: Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, Nr. 132/2007
- ^ Arndt Richter: Die Geisteskrankheit der bayerischen Könige Ludwig II. und Otto. Eine interdisziplinäre Studie mittels Genealogie, Genetik und Statistik, Degener & Co., Neustadt an der Aisch, 1997, ISBN 3-7686-5111-8
- ^ Esperanza Truchsess von Wetzhausen née Esperanza von Sarachaga, of Spanish descent, born Petersburg 1839, married 1862 Friedrich Truchsess von Wetzhausen (1825–94); died after 1909. Böhm, Gottfried, Ritter von. Ludwig II König von Bayern: sein Leben und seine Zeit. 1922, p. 600. (German)
- ^ name=nohbauer82
- ^ a b c d e Nohbauer, 1998, p. 88.
- ^ von Burg, 1989, p. 308.
- ^ von Burg, 1989, p. 315.
- ^ von Burg, 1989, p. 311.
- ^ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany (7 November 2007). "Fresh Doubt About Suicide Theory: Was 'Mad' King Ludwig Murdered?". SPIEGEL ONLINE.
- ^ Nohbauer, 1998, p. 86.
- ^ Desing, 1996.
- ^ "Ein ewig Rätsel bleiben will ich mir und anderen." In a letter dated 27 April 1876 to the actress Marie Dahn-Hausmann (1829–1909), whom Ludwig may have regarded as a kind of substitute mother (published by Conrad in Die Propyläen 17, Munich, 9 July 1920). The words are based on a passage in Schiller's 1803 drama Die Braut von Messina II/1.
- ^ "Princess Irmingard of Bavaria". The Daily Telegraph. London. 8 November 2010.
- ^ Petzet and Neumeister, 1995, p. 24.
- ^ Calore, 1998, pp. 164–165.
- ^ First so-called only in 1891: Baumgartner 1981, p. 78
- ^ Hojer 1986, p. 294
- ^ a b Merta 2005, p. 190
- ^ Calore, 1998, p. 89.
- ^ Till 2010, p. 34
- ^ Petzet 1970, p. 144
- ^ Petzet 1970, p. 146
- ^ Petzet 1968, no. 780
- ^ "Katrin Bellinger".
- ^ Calore, 1998, p. 60.
- ^ See Detta & Michael Petzet 1970, passim
- ^ "Castles of Mad King Ludwig – Board Game – BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com.
- ^ David Stacton, "Remember Me" [reprint London: Faber and Faber, 2012]
- ^ Hal Jensen, "David Stacton's Invincible Questions" TLS (the-tls.co.uk, published 3 April 2013)
- English-language biographies and related information on Ludwig II
- Blunt, Wilfred; Petzet, Michael. The Dream King: Ludwig II of Bavaria. (1970) ISBN 0-241-11293-1, ISBN 0-14-003606-7.
- von Burg, Katerina. Ludwig II of Bavaria. (1989) ISBN 1-870417-02-X.
- Calore, Paola. Past and Present Castles of Bavaria. (1998) ISBN 1-84056-019-3.
- Chapman-Huston, Desmond. Bavarian Fantasy: The Story of Ludwig II. (1955) (Much reprinted but not entirely reliable; the author died before completing the biography.)
- Philippe Collas, Louis II de Bavière et Elisabeth d'Autriche, âmes sœurs, Éditions du Rocher, Paris/Monaco 2001) (ISBN 9782268038841)
- King, Greg. The Mad King: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria. (1996) ISBN 1-55972-362-9.
- McIntosh, Christopher. The Swan King: Ludwig II of Bavaria. (1982) ISBN 1-86064-892-4.
- Nöhbauer, Hans. Ludwig II. (Taschen, 1998) ISBN 3-8228-7430-2.
- Rall, Hans; Petzet, Michael; Merta, Franz. King Ludwig II. Reality and Mystery. (Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg, 2001. ISBN 3-7954-1427-X (This English translation of König Ludwig II. Wirklichkeit und Rätsel is based on the 1980 German edition, despite revisions contained in the 1986 and subsequent German editions. Includes an itinerary by Merta of Ludwig's travels 1864–86. Rall [1912–98] was formerly Chief Archivist of the Geheimes Hausarchiv in Munich.)
- Richter, Werner. The Mad Monarch: The Life and Times of Ludwig II of Bavaria. (Chicago, 1954; 280 pages; abridged translation of German biography)
- Spangenberg, Marcus: Ludwig II – A Different Kind of King (Regensburg, 2015; 175 pages; translation Margaret Hiley, Oakham, Rutland) ISBN 978-3-7917-2744-8
- Spangenberg, Marcus: The Throne Room in Schloss Neuschwanstein: Ludwig II of Bavaria and his vision of Divine Right (1999) ISBN 978-3-7954-1233-3
- Wrba, Ernst (photos) & Kühler, Michael (text). The Castles of King Ludwig II. (Verlagshaus Würzburg, 2008; 128 richly illustrated pages.) ISBN 978-3-8003-1868-1
- Merkle, Ludwig: Ludwig II and his Dream Castles (Stiebner Verlag, Munich, 2nd edition 2000; 112 pages, 27 colour & 35 monochrome illus., 28.5 x 24.5 cm) ISBN 978-3-8307-1019-6
- Krückmann, Peter O.: The Land of Ludwig II: the Royal Castles and Residences in Upper Bavaria and Swabia (Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2000; 64 pages, 96 colour illus, 23 x 30 cm) ISBN 3-7913-2386-5
- Till, Wolfgang: Ludwig II King of Bavaria: Myth and Truth (Vienna, Christian Brandstätter Verlag, 2010: 112 pages, 132 illus., 21 cm: Engl. edition of Ludwig II König von Bayern: Mythos und Wahrheit [2010]) ISBN 978-3-85033-458-7 (The author was formerly Director of the Munich Civic Museum)
- German-language biographies and related information on Ludwig II
- Botzenhart, Christof: Die Regierungstätigkeit König Ludwig II. von Bayern – "ein Schattenkönig ohne Macht will ich nicht sein" (München, Verlag Beck, 2004, 234 S.) ISBN 3-406-10737-0.
- Design, Julius: Wahnsinn oder Verrat – war König Ludwig II. von Bayern geisteskrank? (Lechbruck, Verlag Kienberger, 1996)
- Hojer, Gerhard: König Ludwig II. – Museum Herrenchiemsee (München, Hirmer Verlag, 1986) ISBN 3-7774-4160-0.
- Petzet, Michael: König Ludwig und die Kunst (Prestel Verlag, München, 1968) (Exhibition catalogue)
- Petzet, Detta und Michael: Die Richard Wagner-Bühne Ludwigs II. (München, Prestel-Verlag, 1970: 840 pages, over 800 illus., 24.5x23cm) (Even for the non-German reader this is an important source of illustrations of designs, stage settings & singers in the early productions of Wagner's operas at Munich & Bayreuth.)
- Petzet, Michael; Neumeister, Werner: Ludwig II. und seine Schlösser: Die Welt des Bayerischen Märchenkönigs (Prestel Verlag, München, 1995) ISBN 3-7913-1471-8. (New edition of 1980 book.)
- Reichold, Klaus: König Ludwig II. von Bayern – zwischen Mythos und Wirklichkeit, Märchen und Alptraum; Stationen eines schlaflosen Lebens (München, Süddeutsche Verlag, 1996)
- Richter, Werner: Ludwig II., König von Bayern (1939; frequently reprinted: 14. Aufl.; München, Stiebner, 2001, 335 S.) ISBN 3-8307-1021-6. (See above for English translation. Richter 1888–1969 was a professional biographer of great integrity.)
- Schäffler, Anita; Borkowsky, Sandra; Adami, Erich: König Ludwig II. von Bayern und seine Reisen in die Schweiz – 20. Oktober – 2. November 1865, 22. Mai – 24. Mai 1866, 27. Juni – 14. Juli 1881; eine Dokumentation (Füssen, 2005)
- Wolf, Georg Jacob (1882–1936): König Ludwig II. und seine Welt (München, Franz Hanfstaengl, 1922; 248 pages, many monochrome illus., 24 cm)
- Spangenberg, Marcus: Ludwig II. – Der andere König (Regensburg, ³2015; 175 pages) ISBN 978-3-7917-2308-2
- Spangenberg, Marcus: Der Thronsaal von Schloss Neuschwanstein: König Ludwig II. und sein Verständnis vom Gottesgnadentum (1999) ISBN 978-3-7954-1225-8
- Rupert Hacker: Ludwig II. von Bayern in Augenzeugenberichten. (1966, 471 pages) (A valuable anthology of published & archival material, compiled by the Director of the Bavarian Civil Service College.)
- Wilhelm Wöbking: Der Tod König Ludwigs II. von Bayern. (Rosenheimer Verlagshaus, 1986, 414 pages) (Includes many documents from the Bavarian State Archives.)
- Schlimm, Jean Louis: König Ludwig II. Sein leben in Bildern und Memorabilien (Nymphenburger, München, 2005; 96 pages, many illus., 24 x 24 cm) ISBN 3-485-01066-9
- Rall, Hans; Petzet, Michael; & Merta, Franz: König Ludwig II. Wirklichkeit und Rätsel (Regensburg, Schnell & Steiner, 3rd edition 2005: 192 pages, 22 colour & 52 monochrome illus., 22.5x17cm) ISBN 3-7954-1426-1
- Nöhbauer, Hans F.: Auf den Spuren König Ludwigs II. Ein Führer zu Schlössern und Museen, Lebens- und Errinerungsstätten des Märchenkönigs. (München, Prestel Verlag, 3rd edition 2007: 240 pages, 348 illus, with plans & maps, 24x12cm) ISBN 978-3-7913-4008-1
- Baumgartner, Georg: Königliche Träume: Ludwig II. und seine Bauten. (München, Hugendubel, 1981: 260 pages, lavishly illustrated with 440 designs, plans, paintings & historic photos.; 30.5 x 26 cm) ISBN 3-88034-105-2
- Oliver Hilmes: Ludwig II. Der unzeitgemäße König, (Siedler Verlag, München), 1st edition October 2013: 447 pages (the first biographer with exclusive access to the private archives of the House of Wittelsbach), ISBN 978-3-88680-898-4
External links[edit]
- The romance of King Ludwig II. of Bavaria; his relations with Wagner and his Bavarian fairy places by Frances A Gerard 1901 English
- Ludwig the Second, king of Bavaria by Clara Tschudi 1908 English
- A royal recluse; memories of Ludwig II. of Bavaria by Werner Bertram b. 1900 English
- BBC R4 Great Lives programme on Ludwig – listen online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018gpdg
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ludwig II of Bavaria. |
- The 125th Anniversary of the Death of King Ludwig II, photo essay by Alan Taylor, "In Focus", The Atlantic, June 13, 2011
- Mysterious death of King Ludwig
- Ludwig II of Bavaria: Life and Castles
- New theory about the possible murder of Ludwig II
- Video on YouTube of the ballet Illusions – like "Swan Lake"
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Born: 25 August 1845 Died: 13 June 1886 |
Regnal titles | ||
Preceded by Maximilian II |
King of Bavaria 1864–1886 |
Succeeded by Otto |
- Ludwig II of Bavaria
- 1845 births
- 1886 deaths
- Burials at St. Michael's Church, Munich
- Gay royalty
- House of Wittelsbach
- Kings of Bavaria
- Knights of the Golden Fleece
- LGBT people from Germany
- LGBT Roman Catholics
- LGBT royalty
- Male suicides
- Patrons of music
- People from Munich
- People with schizotypal personality disorder
- Princes of Bavaria
- Recipients of the Order of the Black Eagle
- Recipients of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I
- Roman Catholic monarchs
- Royalty who committed suicide
- Suicides by drowning
- Art collectors


text:
Fresh Moonlight
Moonlight is the name of Novell's Linux implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight 1.0 technology. Moonlight is now available in a Beta version for 32 and 64 Bit Linux systems, albeit only for Firefox users.
With Silverlight, Microsoft aims to compete with the widely used Flash from Adobe, at present with little success. But if few web pages are as yet using Silverlight, Moonlight has one distinct advantage over Flash: the simple plugin installation via the customary Firefox add-on, whereas the Flash installation is still somewhat laborious.
The Beta brings improvements in performance, fixes memory leaks and also supports the "Microsoft Media Pack" which contains the Microsoft Media Codec from Windows, that meanwhile, is also available for Linux. The Moonlight plug-in loads the codecs automatically when a page calls for it. In addition, Moonlight supports adaptive streaming. This means that the server regulates the compression of video data regardless of the connection flow-rate. If the bandwidth shrinks, the server sends the video at a lower Bit rate.
Whereby Moonlight 1.0 is based on the Silverlight 1.0, it comes with a 2.0 Media Stack, although the DRM parts are missing. This enables Moonlight to support all media codes from Silverlight 2.0, but doesn't mean that the browser can handle all of Silverlight's applications. Moonlight recognizes the video codecs WMV1 to WMV3, WMVA and WVMC1 and the audio codecs WMA7 to WMA10 and MP3. In the meantime, Microsoft are automatically redirecting Linux users who want to watch videos or films on Silverlight to the Moonlight page, but the Firefox plug-in can also be downloaded from the website. Further browsers (Opera, Konqueror), along with various systems (OpenSolaris, BSD) are to be supported in future. A list of pages that Moonlight more or less supports is available here.
Issue 198/2017
Buy this issue as a PDF
Old Linux Kernel Bug Discovered
The bug was introduced back in 2009 and has been lurking around all this time.
OpenSSH 7.5 Released
The new release deprecates the sshd_config UsePrivilegeSeparation option.
Ubuntu Touch Not Dead
Lives on as a community project
Dell Launches Five New Linux Systems
Five new systems join Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition that come with Ubuntu pre-installed.
Microsoft Takes Skype for Linux Out of Alpha
The Skype Linux client now has almost the same capabilities that it enjoys on other platforms.
CeBIT 2017 OpenStack Day
At CeBIT 2017, OpenStack Day will offer a wide range of lectures and discussions.
Munich Plans to Ditch Linux and Go Back to Windows
A major setback for the Linux desktop.
Linux Kernel 4.10 Comes with New Security Features
Improved support for GPU in virtualization.
OpenSUSE Site Hacked
News site for the openSUSE community falls victim to a Wordpress exploit.
LibreOffice Goes Online with 5.3 Release
The source code is available online.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
�Bless them that curse you�. That is a hard saying of Jesus. I learned what it meant the hard way. Matthew 5:44 �But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.�
I had this smug idea that murderers, rapists, and child molesters deserved any punishment they got. God let me look at it differently. If I got what I deserved, it would be without mercy. I was getting pretty hard hearted and judgmental. Who was I to judge another by outward appearances.
None of us really get what we deserve. We never murdered, raped or molested a child. There are other ways we can do all those things---by the words coming out of our mouths. We can kill another by spreading lies about him. It may keep him from getting a job or having others hate him for no just cause.
In short we can kill him by gossip. Rape is not just a sexual attack. It also means �a violent attack, either physical or verbal�. I�m sure most of us have been verbally attacked and we had no idea why. Could be jealousy or a misunderstanding.
We can molest a child by verbal abuse. We can say words to the child that may keep him from living up to his full potential. It can be a hurt so deep, he may never get over it. Think about these things.
Matthew 12:36 & 37 �But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment, For by the words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.�
James 3:8-10 �But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless you God; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be.�
People who commit these awful crimes are often victims of the same crime. That is all they have ever known. They become so warped inside that they retaliate by doing the same to others. I am not saying they shouldn�t be punished. In fact, too many times they get away with it and are let loose to do the same thing again. It�s a vicious cycle but only God can avenge.
You ask why God doesn�t do something about it. He gave man a free will to do good or evil. Too many men choose evil. God won�t let it go unpunished. It may seem so but God�s timing and ways is not the same as ours. Romans 12:19 �Dearly beloved avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.�
If we take things in our own hands, all we are doing is keeping the cycle going. We suffer more than the one we �get even� with. We can never get even. We may end up in jail and our family�s life is ruined forever by one violent act on our part. I don�t pretend to understand it all but I am going to tell you my story of rape and how God turned it all around. Even a bad experience God can use for His glory.
When I was fifty-seven years old, I was raped in my own apartment. It was my landlord�s twenty-five year old son. That morning, he came to fix the front door that I waited five years for someone to do it. I lived on the second floor. That door had a lock on it. I looked out my side window. There was a young man on a ladder looking in my window! He let me know he was fixing the door but why the ladder bit. I was uncomfortable all day. If I had followed my instincts I would have gone to one of my daughter�s and stayed all night. But I didn�t.
When he was done with the door, he came up and gave me the new key and left. About one in the morning, I was awakened by someone pounding on my door. I asked who it was and what did he want. He asked if I had any gas and told me his name; same name as his Father. I left him in but was surprised when I saw it was the son.
His sister lived on the first floor. In my groggy state, I thought maybe there was a serious gas problem that had to be fixed. I was devastated when I learned what he really wanted. This can�t be true. This can�t be happening to me. There is some mistake.
I prayed but seems like my prayer was not going to be answered. Now this guy was young and strong. He had on a muscle shirt with his bulging muscles showing and held a long pointed screwdriver in his hand. If I hadn�t let him in, he would have gotten in anyway. And only God knows what he could have done with me with that dangerous tool.
Contrary to what you may think, I know that my angel was with me. I had no fear or any emotions at all. I felt like my spirit had left my body and my angel and I were standing off from the bed watching the whole procedure. My body was abused but my spirit stayed intact.
Later I was told that rape is not a sex issue but a matter of control. I took that control away from him when I didn�t show any fear. An old lady without fear was not what he expected. He even told me to scream. I made just a little bit of a bored scream. All the time I was just praying it would all be over and he would leave.
To my surprise, when he was finished, he asked if he could talk to me. What? Of all the nerve! But Jesus stepped in. I listened to what he had to say. When he told his story of how his Dad broke up his marriage and he lost his two year old son, all of a sudden my compassion moved in.
It was nothing but Jesus showing me a different way to go. On my own, I would have been mad. I could relate to him because my Dad was a perfectionist and treated me in a similar way his Dad treated him. No excuse for what he did but I got a new understanding of why he did it.
He began to sob and tell me how sorry he was. That he never did this before. To my amazement, I asked if I could pray for him. We got down on our knees and I was able to put my arm around him. I had nothing but love (yes God�s kind of love) and compassion for him! He asked me and God to forgive him. He asked Jesus to come into his heart.
He wanted to know if I would have Bible studies with him and maybe persuade his wife to come with him. She was a good Christian. I told him to call me and I�d let him know. I certainly didn�t trust him to come alone. I was going to see if a couple neighbors would be there, too.
I took a good hot bath because I felt so dirty. I had no intentions of calling the police. I know how they drag the woman through the dirt, especially an older woman. Knowing what his Dad was like, I knew he would turn it around and make it my fault. A nosy neighbor saw the young man�s truck along the sidewalk and called the police. The police questioned him and he told them he left some tools at his sister�s and had to get them before he went to work. His family was well known so they believed him and let him go. I didn�t bother screaming out.
I called my preacher in the morning. He told me I better report it. Then I called my daughter. She told me the samebut I didn�t. I went to work like nothing unusual happened. I was good at hiding my emotions. My daughter-in-law called me at work and told me I better report it. My daughters all agreed that although it was bad for me, reporting it might keep it from happening to a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. I told my boss what happened and I went home.
A policeman and a detective came to the house to talk with me. I made sure my daughters were there. I wasn�t even going to trust the police. They were very nice and sympathetic with me. They had barely got there when the man called to see if I told anyone. He was getting scared. I let the police know it was he. I told him I was praying about it. I didn�t have a second phone for the police to listen in. They wanted me to get him to talk about it so they would have evidence against him.
I told him to call me back in about 15 minutes; my daughter was there to get my clothes to wash for me. I would talk to him then. We all waited until about 8 in the evening and no call. It almost seemed like a stake out you see in the movies. It just wasn�t real. The police left and I went to stay at my sons for about a week.
The next day, the police called at my sons to tell me that he shot himself but lived about 12 hours before he died. That protected me from having to go to court. God was still in it all. There is a lot more of amazing happenings yet to come. This may take awhile but I can�t let anything out. Hopefully it will help someone who has been raped.
After I heard about the suicide, my daughter called. She had a strange call from her aerobics teacher. She never got a personal call from her before. God wanted me to know exactly what happened after he left me. She asked my daughter how she was. My daughter told her what happened to me and about him killing himself. That�s strange, my friend�s husband killed himself, the teacher told her. It turned out it was the same guy. My daughter even knew who he was and they went to the same church. Everyone thought well of him. Who knows what lurks in a person�s heart.
My daughter is one of the sweetest people I know. She loves everyone but when she heard what happened to me, she said she could kill him. Shows everyone has that instinct in him at the right provocation. I told her not to even think it. �But that�s my mother!� It�s still not a reason to kill anyone.
The wife told the aerobics instructor that her father-in-law told her that he came home and was talking on the phone (to me) when his Dad came into the room. He said to his Dad: �I just hurt somebody bad and I�ll never do it again.� His dad said: �What did you do?� �I just hurt someone.�
He went upstairs and they heard a gun go off. He was rushed to the hospital. He shot himself in the head. Usually a person dies immediately but he lived twelve hours. I hope he had time to make it right with God. Stranger things have happened. I know deep in my heart he was really repentant.
The police told me not to tell his parents. Why, I don�t know but I never did. Seven years later I went to a Woman in the Word meeting with a daughter. The leader was talking about forgiveness. The Holy Spirit led me to tell this story. I didn�t want to but I obeyed. I barely got started when the woman beside me began sobbing as if her heart was broken. When I was done she said: �That was my husband!� You could have heard a pin drop, it got so quiet. The presence of God was everywhere. It was so awesome.
She went on to say that she knew what he did (after she begged the police to tell her) but didn�t tell her my name. She had been praying for me all those seven years. Her son, now nine years old, kept asking her if his Daddy was in heaven. She didn�t know what to answer him. I told her I believe he was. We hugged and cried. We really got bonded even though I only saw her once after that.
Our meeting was meant to happen. Put our minds and hearts both at rest. Suicide is wrong but usually you die right away. He was given 12 extra hours. The thief on the cross didn�t have much time yet he was forgiven. Nothing is impossible with God. I have to believe that.
I did move out of the apartment. I had to call his mother to tell her I was moving. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I had to listen to her heart break while she told me about his suicide. She had no reason why he did it. Then she told me about an accident he was in 5 years before. His head went through the windshield and he hadn�t been quite right since. My heart bled for the mother. His father died a few years later. I was almost tempted to tell the mother what he did but I think it is more merciful that she doesn�t know. I don�t even know if she is still living.
The whole incident took away a good bit of my hard heart. �Love your enemies� I learned how. I did. �Do good to them that hate you.� I listened to him. �Pray for them who despitefully use you.� I prayed for him. My body was despitefully used but my spirit was unharmed. Matthew 5:7
�Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.� As God said if we don�t forgive, we won�t receive forgiveness. Same goes for mercy. I had mercy on a poor lost soul. God had mercy on me.
If this has happened to you, please tell someone about it. Go to a rape center. Don�t keep it bottled up inside. It will destroy you. Many times the Holy Spirit has led me to tell someone my story. The ones I told were always ones who had been raped and never told anyone or had watched their children being raped and afraid to report it.
No one liked one woman who was a cook where I worked. One day we were in the dressing room and I felt the urge to tell her about the rape. She was shocked then she told me her story about her husband raping her daughters. She was afraid of him so she never reported it. After I quit working, someone told me she tried to kill herself. I assumed it was from guilt for not putting a stop to the abuse.
She jumped off a bridge and changed her mind. She was able to grab hold of something and hang on until she was rescued. I haven�t heard more but I hope she got help. Other women have told me their stories after I told mine. If you feel you have no one to talk to about it, I am always available. Don�t suffer it alone.
I Corinthians 1:3 & 4 �Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforts us in ALL our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.� God bless you. He loves you and so do I.
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Member Comments
What an awesome testimony of God's grace! Thank you so much for your courage in sharing this story. I pray that God will use you to minister to many.
I first read your testimony on the boards and clickd over here after reading your post.
You truly received a miracle from God in the midst of your battle. I pray God will use your story many times to touch the hearts of others. Maybe you shoul submitt this testimony to God Size Stories.
God Bless from Kathy
Joan, what a wonderful testimony of God's forgiveness working in your life...You was abused, yet still prayed for the one who hurt you..God hears and answers prayers. you have much experience in the Lord. Thanks for sharing.
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Sir Charles - Unregistered January 22, 2013 3:28 PM Great idea to change to change some race lengths. Should be a fantastic season coming up. 6 agree 0 disagree
Bluemetal - Unregistered January 22, 2013 11:29 AM heat races are the most idiotic idea they could come up with to decide the grid. That means it doesn't matter the ability to push as hard as you can to start first and drivers won't risk not having a car to run on Sunday because of a big crash. I'm in no way wasting my time watching this Saturday nonsense. Sunday maybe but as I'm usually on the road will IndyCar have live online broadcasting? I don't think so. Better without Bernard but still the worse managed series in the world. 5 agree 4 disagree


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I've been able to step on the fine streets of Chicago in my day, so it doesn't surprise me a bit when a couple as cute as this one couldn't imagine saying I do anywhere else on the planet. It's charming and cozy, yet big city chic and makes the perfect host for such a party – and the proof is in the pictures from Imagination Photography. It doesn't hurt that every detail was thougth of thanks to Bliss Weddings & Events, and it all makes for one fabulous gallery to devour. See it all here.
From the Bride…After growing up in our respective suburbs of Chicago, Matt and I ventured south to Vanderbilt University where we both developed our love for country and found the love of our lives. On our 6 year anniversary, after having just moved away to Dallas, Matt proposed with a beautiful ring and we immediately began planning the big day, which we knew would be held where all our loved ones and hearts still were – in Chicago.
The ceremony was extremely important to us so we planned our day around it. Growing up, I always dreamed of getting married at the church where my parents were married 40 years ago, St. Mary of the Angels. The building's architecture and details are gorgeous and are made even more special by the many life events that occurred there among my family. Being able to continue the tradition at the church made our day that much more personal and meaningful.
Planning a wedding in Chicago while living in Dallas proved to be trickier than anticipated; however, our parents were a tremendous help with much of the planning, and we also enlisted the help of a great family friend and an amazing wedding consultant, Kara Superfine of Bliss Weddings and Events. With her impeccable style and expertise in both wedding design and planning, we knew we would be in good hands and our vision for the day would come to fruition.
For the reception venue we needed to find somewhere large enough to hold our 350 guests, but that still felt intimate. Matt and I decided on the historic Navy Pier Grand Ballroom, which was the perfect mix of a blank slate with an open and elegant feel, breathtaking views, outdoor space, and old-world charm. With the help of the visionary Jesse Deckard from Event Creative, we were able to create a beautiful and warm space in the ballroom using gorgeous soft blush garden roses, endless candlelight glowing through depression and mercury glass, and lush flowing fabric hung from the 80 foot ceiling. My bouquet included white, ivory and blush garden roses with white lisianthus, and the boutonnieres were ivory spray roses with seeded eucalyptus berries.
On our wedding day, it rained throughout the entire morning of preparations, but as soon as we pulled up to the church to become man and wife, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, the sun came out, and we were blessed to have a beautiful day. As we had hoped and dreamed and planned, and with the help of our loved ones and creative geniuses turned loved ones, our wedding had a romantic vintage feel with a modern touch, and left everyone feeling the warmth of a summer night in Chicago and the love shared between Matt and me.
Photography: Imagination Photography / Wedding Consultant: Bliss Weddings & Events / Ceremony Site: St. Mary of the Angels / Reception Site: Navy Pier – Grand Ballroom / Hotel Accommodations: The Drake Hotel / Florist & Lighting: Event Creative / Linens: BBJ Linens / Entertainment: Colby Beserra & The Party Faithful / Transportation: Chicago Motor Coach / Hair & Makeup: Erin Graham, Rachel Reiman / Invitations: Clementine Ink / Dress: Alice Padrul / Shoes: Badgley Mischka


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By FRAZIER MOORE
NEW YORK — A college professor distraught about his life and the state of the world hurls himself in front of a subway train. He is rescued by a born-again ex-convict.
We don't witness this event. "The Sunset Limited" takes place wholly in the rescuer's one-room tenement apartment, where he has brought the would-be suicide to try convincing him that his life has value and is worth holding onto.
Between this pair of lonely strangers, a spirited – in many ways – debate ensues.
"The Sunset Limited" stars Tommy Lee Jones as the tormented atheist (labeled, simply, White) who has abandoned all hope for mankind and "the primacy of the intellect," and Samuel L. Jackson as a killer-turned-believer (dubbed Black) who claims he doesn't know anything that's not straight from the Bible.
Black wants to argue White out of making another suicide attempt. White, though repeatedly starting for the door, sticks around to make his own bleak case and defy the other man's hard-won faith.
Premiering Saturday at 9 p.m. EST on HBO, "The Sunset Limited" is gripping, disturbing and, at times, mordantly funny.
"I have to go," White says, but Black, fearing a bad end, implores him to stay: "I know you ain't got nothing you got to do."
"How do you know that?" White fires back gruffly.
"`Cause you ain't even supposed to BE here," says Black, reminding him of that morning's intended mission.
"I see your point," White concedes.
"The Sunset Limited" is remarkably animated for such a scaled-down film, propelled by two fine performances and drawn from the 2006 play of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer-prize-winning author of such novels as "Blood Meridian," "All the Pretty Horses" and "No Country for Old Men," which became a hit 2007 Oscar winner in which Jones starred.
Go Behind The Scenes Of "The Sunset Limited":
"I read the play some time ago and I always liked it, was fascinated by it," says Jones during a recent joint interview with Jackson at HBO offices. "I happened to run into Cormac one day in Santa Fe, and I got around to telling him that I thought it would be a good idea to make a film of it. And he agreed with me."
The film, though set in New York City's Harlem, was made in Santa Fe, N.M., in fall 2009, with Jones executive producer as well as director.
When asked about the challenges of adapting a two-man play into a TV film, both he and Jackson agreed: Stay true to the source material, and the rest takes care of itself.
"All we got to do is figure out a way to convey what Cormac wrote," says Jackson.
Fortunately, McCarthy was heavily involved in the production.
The first day, Jones says, "We read through the play with him and exchanged a few ideas." Then they retreated to the soundstage – "just the three of us and a script supervisor for a week, 10 days, all by ourselves – the three of us were putting the play together."
After that, shooting took 13 days.
What about Jones' contribution as director?
"It's two guys in a room talking, so you have to make that interesting – be interesting but stay real," says Jones. "You need some blocking: When is it time to get up and go to the sink? Well, it's time to go to the sink just as you begin to get tired of sitting there. That's not hard to understand."
Jackson, tickled by Jones' what's-the-big-deal tone, erupts with a laugh.
"But T.L. is comfortable enough to let his actors just sit still at times, and have thoughts," Jackson adds. "It's great to have a director who allows you that moment, `cause most directors want you doing (stuff). They don't want the audience to watch you think."
He and Jones make an engaging pair. Jackson, clad in sweat shirt and jeans, with his running shoes plopped on the conference room table, is relaxed and effusive. By contrast, Jones, looking natty in a pinstriped suit and horn-rim glasses, is deadpan with flashes of wry wit.
He is willing to acknowledge at least one piece of staging of which he is proud: a sequence when "the Professor" sprawls disconsolately on the couch, while his host claims the adjacent armchair. They are arranged like a shrink with a patient.
"It was a very serious thing he's talking about – the death of his father," says Jones, "and the blocking seemed kind of silly when I decided to try it: a pun, a shameless pun. But after rehearsing it, it seemed there was no other choice."
"It fit the words so perfectly," Jackson agrees.
"Suiting the action to the words, and the words to the action, would lead us to no other choice than to create" – Jones pauses for the right playful phrase – "this Thurber-esque tableau vivant." He grants himself a smile. "Hey, that's good."
"I want that on a T-shirt," Jackson chuckles.
"But that's why you rehearse," says Jones. "You try everything, then you quit doing the things that don't work, and you wind up with characters."
And in the case of "The Sunset Limited," the characters will ensnare viewers in their passionate debate.
"We hope so!" says Jackson, pleased at the thought.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Artist description:
So its for my sis birthday :P (april 24) She is a big fan of him lol So here's hero/kim jae joong from DBSK. Ref : [Link]
Flash Draw Created Apr 24, 2009 470 x 338px Unless noted Copyright 2009 Memories.
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O MY DAYS!!! another epic draw!!! super artist!! his such a kool actor i saw him in Protect the boss! 5/5
omg! this looks like its from heavens postman!! it is so awesome!! i love u and hero!!!!!!!!


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Nestled on a 4500 foot high bluff in beautiful Maggie Valley, North Carolina, you'll find historic Smokey Shadows Lodge.
Smokey Shadows Lodge, a log and stone building is a former gristmill moved from its original Cataloochee Valley location to its picturesque perch, forty-five hundred feet above sea level. The view from the covered front porch, which runs the length of the lodge, is arguable the most magnificent in Maggie Valley (and may very well be the longest porch in the Smokies). Well worn-rockers, bird feeders, wind chimes, plants and a sleeping cat give the porch a comfy feel conducive to midday napping.
Smokey Shadows is open year round and is the perfect setting for your special occasion, holiday celebration, a getaway with the ones you love or just an escape to spend some quiet time reflecting.
We are located just 30 minutes west of Asheville and border the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Come enjoy the splendor of our mountains in the warm hospitality of our lodge.
Fie Top Road ~ P.O. Box 444 - Maggie Valley, NC 28751 TOLL FREE: (866) 926-0001 ~ LOCAL: (828) 926-0001 email: firstname.lastname@example.com
web design by: My Social Media Geek


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We've been loving all the plaid that's popped up for Fall 2013 runway shows so we decided to pull some of our favorite plaid moments from home tours of the past few years. From cozy plaid throws and pillows to bright pink modern plaids, we're loving this look from the runway to the hallway. Stay tuned for another plaid-inspired post next! xo, grace & amy
*If you're curious about the history of Tartan plaids, click here and here to check out Amy's Past & Present about one of our favorite patterns.
Image above: This dark plaid throw was inherited from the home owner's grandparents. It's the perfect foil to the Dwell Studio peacock bedding. See all the photos from this Omaha, Nebraska home right here.
Image above: Modern x-benches feel cabin-y when upholstered in a Ralph Lauren plaid and placed in front of a of dry-stacked firewood. See all the photos from this lakefront ranch in southern Oregon right here.
Image above: Plaid bedding feels modern when paired with a floral duvet. See all the photos of this 650 square foot Melbourne home right here.
Image above: A modern plaid throw brings a pop of color into this white bedroom. See all the photos of this Santa Barbara craftsman house (owned by a leather craftsman!) right here!
Image above: Pink plaid! YES! See all the photos of this Malmö, Sweden home right here.
Image above: This plaid throw was a souvenir from a vacation to England. Perfect for a cold fall evening. See all the photos from this Brooklyn home right here.
Image above: An easy to way to add a little plaid print? Hang a favorite plaid shirt. See all the photos from this home just outside of Boston right here.
Image above: Lydia & Julia have a beautiful plaid throw in their Philadelphia home. See the full home tour here.
Image above: A modern spin on mixed plaids in the home of Jenny from Dos Family. The full home tour is here.
Image above: A sweet plaid ottoman in Kristin & Michael's Omaha home. The full home tour is here.
Image above: a hidden loft bedroom gets some extra coziness from a plaid blanket. The full home tour of Derek and Kristin is right here.
Image above: a plaid throw on the porch of Jess + Mr. Livey's home. The full home tour is here.
Image above: a simple black and white plaid pillow in Luke and Oliver's home. The full home tour is here.
I love plaids!
In fall and winter, I use a soft plaid as couch slipcover. Another one is just placed on the chair nearby.
I think they make a cozy place where to read or listen to music or have a cup of tea with friends (or alone) :)
Have a nice day
Donatella (from Italy -
Lovely! It's a wonder how plaid makes everything seem much more comfortable and liveable. I would love to see a post like this but in tweed!
Always looking for creative ways to use plaid. Great post!! Love it in every color!! Plaid with florals is great, too (old English cottage), and sometimes with just plain white. I agree with Hollie. Tweed next?
what took you so long to make a plaid post? it's just too perfect. plaid everything please!!
Plaids are the best. I love those skull paintings at the bed's baseboard! They go perfectly.
I've been wanting to add some plaid trim to the dark red curtains in my son's room, but haven't found fabric in the right weight and pattern yet. Any fave sources you'd like to share?
I am drooling over those plaid benches! I need those.
You don't have to convince me that tartan is brilliant being a Scots lass. Have you seen http://www.anta.co.uk/. It is full of fantastic things, many with a tartan vide.
I'm also mad for plaid. Over labor day wknd, I took a plain white dresser they were throwing out where I teach and covered just the drawers with rectangles I cut of plaid tissue paper (decoupage glue, watered down, then varnish). Looks AMAZING! You could also do that with tin cans (we get giant food service ones at school and I also have used soup cans) or different boxes for storage. I do water down the glue a bit.
I'm almost done with a rug I'm crocheting for the study. I used two bright plaids and two bright solids and made yarn out of fabric strips. Looks really good!
My next plaid project: I bought some plaid scarves (the cashmere ones they sell at street fairs in NYC for $5) in two colors. I felted them in the wash and have to cut and use my serger to sew a throw.
I live in Scotland and would recommend Spirit of Wood in Aberfeldy – they have some great tartan chairs and accessories at the moment! The shop is fantastic and set in Perthshire – one of the most beautiful regions of Scotland. Sadly, I don't think their website reflects the actual shop which is well worth a visit!


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"Progress in mediation comes swiftly for those who try their hardest."
"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful."
Mark Victor Hansen
"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."
George Bernard Shaw
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
Henry Ford
"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."
C.S. Lewis
"The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."
Albert Einstein


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Some of life's luxuries - a Rolex watch, a private jet, a Malibu beach house - will always be out of reach. But with delayed gratification, the occasional gourmet splurge is still possible. Here are ten Valley spots where your gourmet dreams can come true.
The daily-changing menu shows off chef Kevin Binkley's scope, technique and imagination. Prepare for some serious joy from the never-ending stream of brilliant amuse-bouche, along with the likes of morel mushrooms with truffled ricotta dumplings and the scintillating duo of venison loin and sausage.
Details: 6920 E. Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek. 480-437-1072, binkleysrestaurant.com. Kai Restaurant
Chef Michael O'Dowd's sophisticated fare celebrates tribal and regional bounty. Start off with the suckling pig torta on a saguaro seed popover, move on to the signature buffalo tenderloin with saguaro blossom syrup and conclude with the wicked Mexican chocolate souffle.
Details: Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa, 5594 W. Wild Horse Pass Blvd., Gila River Reservation, 602-225-0100, wildhorsepassresort.com.
Shinji Kurita is a perfectionist, and diners with a taste for exquisite Japanese fare are the beneficiaries. His omakase dinners (reservations are required) have included stunning sushi, like keiji salmon and bluefin otoro. And the giant Madagascar prawn in black-bean sauce is a marvel.
Details: Scottsdale Seville, 7001 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 480-664-0180, shinbay.com.
Nab a window table and enjoy the sparkling Paradise Valley view. Then focus on chef Beau MacMillan's inventive contemporary dishes. An "Iron Chef" winner, he may be whipping up moo shu duck confit, Korean-style barbecue short ribs or Maryland soft-shell crab with fried green tomatoes.
Details: Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, 5700 E. McDonald Drive, Paradise Valley, 480-948-2100, sanctuaryaz.com.
Chef Joshua Hebert's bold "improvisational" cuisine lets you arrange the outlines of a small-plate, multicourse dinner from a wide-ranging list of rotating ingredients. You may see everything from octopus and barramundi to Kobe beef and kangaroo. Don't miss the bruleed foie gras.
Details: Optima Camelview Village, 7167 E. Rancho Vista Drive, Scottsdale, 480-663-7674, poshscottsdale.com.
This bucolic spot, set amid pecan groves and vegetable gardens at the foot of South Mountain, showcases chef Greg LaPrad's hyperlocal fare, which changes nightly. He makes his own charcuterie and pasta, sources county chickens and pulls the produce out of the ground.
Details: The Farm at South Mountain, 6106 S. 32nd St., Phoenix, 602-276-0601, quiessencerestaurant.com.
Vincent on Camelback
Chef Vincent Guerithault has been wowing diners with his French-accented take on Southwestern ingredients for a generation. Dishes such as duck tamales, smoked salmon quesadilla and blue-corn-crusted sweetbreads never get old. The tequila souffle adds a sweet exclamation point.
Details: 3930 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix. 602-224-0225, vincentoncamelback.com.
Christopher's & Crush Lounge
James Beard Award-winner Christopher Gross knows French-accented gourmet fare, from his ravishing foie gras soup to hanger steak with sauteed shallots. The don't-miss dessert is the knockout chocolate-mousse tower, which Gross made for Julia Child on her television show.
Details: Biltmore Fashion Park, 2502 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix. 602-522-2344, christophersaz.com.
Atlas Bistro
You know the day you were saving for that great bottle of wine? Today's the day, because this BYOB has the cuisine for it. The globally accented dishes might include veal sweetbreads with pickled burdock, grilled prawns with peaches and roasted corn, and pork chop with chorizo and Johnny cakes.
Details: Wilshire Plaza, 2515 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 480-990-2433, atlasbistrobyob.com.
What separates chef Cullen Campbell's modern Italian fare from the pack? Originality, primo ingredients and superb execution. Among the delights are squid-ink risotto with tuna confit, pork belly in agrodolce sauce and albacore ramped up with apple, truffle and black garlic.
Details: Gaslight Square Shopping Center, 3603 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. 602-358-8666, crudoaz.com.
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Staying positive about your employment prospects can be tricky amid all the doom and gloom. But even the likes of JK Rowling had setbacks before hitting the big time
Whether you're choosing your first job or looking to change sectors, we've put together the best advice shared in our recent live chat on career options
If you need help and advice on how to use social networks to boost your job hunt, join our live chat on Thursday 30 January from 1pm to 3pm – or comment now
An profile helps you draw attention to the real gems in your CV. John Lees explains how to write and structure your introduction to ensure it makes maximum impact
From decluttering to choosing the right format, here's a round up of this year's best CV advice blogs from Guardian Careers
Eradicating common CV errors, creating a strong social media identity and interviewing confidently can make all the difference in your job hunt, writes Clare Dyckhoff
47% of recent graduates are in non-graduate jobs, according to the ONS. But are the career prospects of our university leavers really that bad? Charlie Ball explores
Improve your chances of impressing a potential employer by eliminating these mistakes from your CV . Clare Whitmell shares her advice
A strong layout is essential for attracting employers, but the format depends on your future career and job history
We round up our experts' advice from a recent live chat on all things graduate scheme related