The Ludwig Conspiracy (56 page)

Escape:
Allegedly, Ludwig’s escape from Berg Castle had already been organized. Coaches for the king are said to have been waiting at four places on the Starnberger See (Leoni, Ammerland, Ambach, Seeshaupt) and at the gate of the castle. Boats were also waiting on the lake itself, but they could not come in close to land because the water close to the low-lying banks was so shallow.

Falkenstein:
The ruins of Ludwig’s fourth castle at Pfronten. The project was never completed because of his early death; the construction work went no farther than laying water pipes and building an access road. The Falkenstein hotel was not built until 1897. It is still standing and was certainly never destroyed by an explosion. A tiny museum there explains the history of the castle ruins to visitors.

Fits of violent rage:
According to his servants, Ludwig frequently slapped, kicked, or spat at his subordinates. One servant who committed a minor infraction was permitted, for a full year, to approach him only if wearing a black mask. When the committee members charged with taking Ludwig II into custody at Neuschwanstein Castle (see below) arrived to carry out their mission, the king gave orders for their eyes to be put out and for them to be whipped until their blood ran. His orders were not carried out.

Footprints:
According to the notebook of the king’s fisherman, Jakob Lidl (see below), footprints were faked at the scene of Ludwig’s death with a wooden clog fixed to a pole.

Forgeries:
Particularly in Neuschwanstein Castle, cheap materials that appeared magnificent only at first sight were used. What looks like marble is painted stucco, the gleaming gold is really brass, and the “jewels” are colored glass from Lower Bavaria. On closer inspection, the furnishings as a whole give the impression of being a gigantic stage set for a grand opera.

Freyschlag von Freyenstein, Ignaz
(1827–1891):
Responsible for the operations of the local gendarmerie in Berg. Only two weeks after Ludwig’s death, Freyenstein was surprisingly appointed head of the “Prince Regent’s Secret Chancellery,” known as the “Black Cabinet.”

Gudden, Bernhard von
(1824–1886):
One of the most famous doctors of his time treating the mentally ill. He was commissioned by the ministers to provide an expert medical opinion classifying Ludwig as deranged. However, this medical certificate depended entirely on negative witness statements; the king himself was never interviewed, and positive witness statements were ignored. Gudden died in the Starnberger See with Ludwig. According to many conspiracy theorists, he was either working with Ludwig’s enemies or knew too much of the truth for his own good.

Herrenchiemsee:
One of Ludwig’s three castles, built on an island in the Chiemsee. It is regarded as a tribute to King Louis XIV of France and represents a kind of mini-Versailles.

Hohenschwangau:
Castle opposite Neuschwanstein. It belonged to Ludwig’s father, Maximilian II, and the Fairy-tale King spent his childhood there.

Holnstein,
Count Maximilian Karl Theodor von
(1835–1895):
Master of the Royal Stables of Bavaria and a playmate of Ludwig in his youth. He was instrumental in arranging the Imperial Letter (see below) and received ten percent commission from the Guelph fund. He played a large part in the later deposition of the king and was to be appointed his guardian. He is quoted as having said, “If I do the king any harm, may I go blind.” Holnstein was stone-blind at the time of his death.

Homosexuality:
According to the latest research, Ludwig II was homosexual. The fact that many of his modern supporters still regard that as blasphemy says more about their own state of mind than the king’s.

Hornig,
Richard
(1841–1911):
Royal equerry and a friend of the king’s for many years. In the end, he fell out of favor with him. He had a villa in Allmanshausen on the Starnberger See, and, according to one conspiracy theory, he was one of four witnesses to the murder of Ludwig II, together with his brother, the painter Kaulbach, and the physician Schleiss von Loewenfeld (see below for both).

Imperial Letter:
A document drawn up in 1870 by Bismarck (see above) as chancellor of the German Empire, in which Ludwig II ceded the dignity of emperor to the Hohenzollern King Wilhelm I. In his lifetime, the king of Bavaria received some six million marks in gold for this abdication of power. As the money went into his private fortune, a number of historians consider the deal to have been corrupt.

Insanity:
Whether Ludwig was insane, and if so to what degree, is a question that can never be entirely settled. However, according to Detlev von Zerssen, professor of psychiatry in Munich, the king suffered from neither paranoia nor schizophrenia (unlike his brother, Otto; see below), but is more likely to have had a schizotypal disorder in combination with an antisocial personality disorder and megalomania, possibly as the result of meningitis contracted when he was a baby. Today he would probably be diagnosed as a borderline case of insanity. In the opinion of Zerssen’s colleague, Professor Heinz Häfner, Ludwig II also suffered from a social phobia heightened by his homosexuality. Professor Häfner excludes the possibility of psychosis, in which case the declaration that he was incapacitated and not responsible for his own actions was illegal.

Kainz, Josef
(1858–1910):
Young actor from Munich whom Ludwig revered, and who went on a journey to Switzerland with him in 1881. The photographs taken of him there with the king were the model for the fictional character of Theodor Marot.

Kaulbach, Hermann
(1846–1909):
Son of the Munich artist Wilhelm von Kaulbach, and painter of historical subjects. He did five sketches of the ruins of Falkenstein (see above) for Ludwig II. He allegedly painted a picture of the late king on the night of his death, showing blood from Ludwig’s lungs at the corner of his mouth (suggesting that he had been shot). According to one theory, he was a witness along with the Hornig brothers (see above) and Dr. Max Schleiss von Loewenfeld (see below) to events on the night of the murder.

Lidl,
Jakob
(1864–1933):
Fisherman to the king, and one of the possible witnesses (see below) to the murder of Ludwig. According to one theory, he was supposed to take the escaping king into his boat, and later wrote down his memories of the night of the murder in a school exercise book that then mysteriously disappeared. Only one page of this journal, which speaks of forged footprints (see above), is still extant.

Linderhof Castle:
The smallest of Ludwig’s three castles, and the only one to be completed in his lifetime. Famous for the Grotto of Venus and the “magic table” imitating the one in the fairy tale. The linden tree where Ludwig had his tree house can still be seen on the grounds of Linderhof.

Loyal subjects of Ludwig, societies of:
There are a number of such organizations in Bavaria, their members devoting themselves to the memory of Ludwig II. They range from serious associations to inveterate monarchists and conspiracy theorists. A memorial service is held annually, on the Sunday after the date of Ludwig’s death, in the votive chapel of Berg Castle.

Luitpold of Bavaria (1821–1912):
Took over the government of the country after the death of Ludwig II. He was persuaded by John Lutz, president of the Council of Ministers (see below) to carry out a coup d’état, and for some time lived under a cloud with the reputation of having killed the king, but nonetheless ushered in the golden age of Bavaria.

Lutz,
Johann Baron von
(1826–1890):
President of the Bavarian Council of Ministers and regarded by conspiracy theorists as the leading villain instrumental in the assassination of the king. He commissioned Dr. von Gudden (see above) to write a medical report on the king, and convinced Prince Luitpold (see above) to take over as prince regent. If the coup d’état had failed, presumably Lutz would have paid for it with his head.

Neuschwanstein Castle:
The most famous of Ludwig’s castles, although it was never finished. Confusingly, it was known as Hohenschwangau Castle at the time. It was opened to the public soon after the king’s death, with the idea of demonstrating Ludwig’s alleged megalomania to the people of Bavaria. To this day it attracts about 1.3 million visitors each year.

Ney,
Elisabet
(1833–1907):
German sculptor whose statue of Ludwig now stands in the Herrenchiemsee museum. There were rumors of an affair between her and the king resulting in an illegitimate child. Ludwig II is also said to have had a son at his Schachen hunting lodge by a chambermaid called Marianna. This legend lies behind the fictional relationship between Ludwig and the maidservant Maria.

Otto von Wittelsbach
(1848–1916):
Younger brother of Ludwig, officially king of Bavaria after 1886, but incapable of ruling the country because of his mental illness. His illness was presented as part of the evidence that Ludwig’s megalomania ran in the family. Their aunt Alexandra Amalie, princess of Bavaria, was also mentally ill and suffered from the obsessive delusion that she had swallowed a glass piano.

Pepys, Samuel
(1633–1703):
English civil servant known to posterity for his diaries written in shorthand. They provide a graphic picture of London in the late seventeenth century and were not deciphered for the first time until 1825.

Poe, Edgar Allan
(1809–1849):
Ludwig II was a great fan of the American writer. The king is said to have announced that he would give up his throne for an hour’s conversation with the cult author.

Rose Island:
Island in the Starnberger See with a villa belonging to the Wittelsbachs, where Ludwig II used to meet his cousin Sisi (see below).

Schachen hunting lodge:
The king’s house in the Wetterstein mountain range. It has a Turkish room with a fountain, divans, and peacock feathers, where the king played the part of a caliph and regularly celebrated his birthday.

Schleiss von Loewenfeld, Max Joseph
(1809–1897):
Royal physician first to Maximilian II, later to his son Ludwig II. He was Dr. Gudden’s adversary and, after Ludwig’s death, he gave his opinion, writing in the Viennese press, that the king had not been insane. However, pressure was put on him to withdraw that statement. According to one conspiracy theory, he was an eyewitness on the night of the murder, together with the Hornig brothers and the painter Hermann Kaulbach (for all three, see above). The diary he is alleged to have kept (see above) provided the basic idea for this crime story.

Shelton,
Thomas
(circa 1600–1650):
English stenographer and inventor of a shorthand much used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The standard work is his
Tachygraphy.
His shorthand system was also used by Samuel Pepys (see above) in his diaries.

Sisi
(Elisabeth)
(1837–1889):
Empress of Austria-Hungary and Ludwig’s cousin. They were friends, and he sometimes met her on Rose Island (see above). It is now thought, even by conspiracy theorists, that Sisi’s involvement in Ludwig’s failed escape (see above) is improbable. However, she was at Possenhofen Castle on the Starnberger See on the night of her cousin’s death.

Tmeicos Ettal:
Sometimes also written
Meicost Ettal,
it is an anagram of the saying ascribed to the Sun King,
“L’état, ç’est moi.”
It was Ludwig’s secret code for the building of Linderhof Castle (see above).

Vigenère cipher:
Developed by the French diplomat Blaise de Vigenère (1523–1596), this cipher was cracked only thirty years later by the British mathematician Charles Babbage. A coding and decoding program can be found online at
http://einklich.net/etc/vigenere.htm
.

Wagner,
Richard
(1813–1883):
Composer revered by Ludwig II. Motifs from his operas are on view everywhere in Neuschwanstein Castle (see above).

Watch:
Ludwig’s pocket watch stopped at 6:54
P.M.
, Gudden’s not until 8:10
P.M.
This circumstance has led to much speculation.

Waxwork figure:
When Ludwig II was lying in state on view to the public, his body seemed so artificial
that many people suspected it was a waxwork figure in the casket. Ever since, there have been rumors that the king did not die at the time but only, being tired of the business of government, emigrated to an island. However, the waxen look of the face is more likely to have been the result of embalming.

Witnesses:
A suspicious number of contemporary witnesses from Berg disappeared, lost their lives, or suddenly seemed to have acquired unusual wealth. A scullion called Gumbiller took his own life, and two servants at the castle were committed to a lunatic asylum, where they died not much later. The bodyguard Ludwig Larose, who apparently “talked too much,” soon died as well. Another witness went missing. Of the five gendarmes stationed in Berg, one died in a mysterious accident in the course of his work, and another emigrated to America with a great deal of money. The fisherman Jakob Lidl (see above), not a man of means, who was regarded as one of the key witnesses, came into a considerable fortune, finally rising to be mayor of Berg and a freeman of the town.

Wittelsbach family archive:
All the documents on the “Ludwig Case” are in the Wittelsbach family archive, and to this day they are not available to the general public.