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Whilst the famous 10th sultan of the Ottoman Empire is known in the west as the “magnificent”, he is referred to in the east as the “lawmaker.” Both titles are justified because he was an outstanding person and achiever.

Suleiman was born in 1494 and succeeded his father Suleiman I in 1520. From an early age on, Suleiman was educated in science, literature and history and before ascending to the throne was sent to ‘test the waters’ of a ruler’s responsibilities as Governor of one of the already vast empire’s provinces.

Suleiman engaged in many military battles and conquests and expanded his empire during his reign to include the Balkans and  much of the Middle East  and at the time of his death in 1566 the Turkish fleet dominated the Meditarranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Golf. His only defeat was inflicted upon him and his army in 1529 when he lay siege to Vienna and was finally beaten by the Habsburgs troops. He tried again a few years later, but withdrew before he reached Vienna.

Equally important and justifying his name in the East were the rules of law he established. Although by Islam bound to the Koran and its shariah law which  he couldn’t change, he found ample opportunity to codify such  areas as civil law, criminal law and taxation. The code of law lasted for 300 years.

Suleiman was an educated man and furthered archtechture, literature and the arts in general during his long reign. He himself was an accomplished poet and wrote poetry under the pen name of ‘lover’. Not for nothing did he choose that name, because his marriage to a former Harem girl Roxelana lasted a lifetime. He was obsessed and devoted to the cunning and extremely intelligent and beautful ex slave girl from Ukrainia, who knew very well how to play her master and achieve an enormous amount of power, formerly unheard of for a sultan’s wife.

Suleiman was also a great goldsmith and, as a curious aside, his only real vanity seemd to have been is predelection for oversized trubans, a quirk much commented on by European diplomats of the time.

Ludwig II of Bavaria was born in 1845 and inherited the throne at the age of only 18.  He died, when he was barely 40 on a rainy, stormy night in 1886. In between lay years of eccentricity and tragedy. As explained in previous posts, the king was obsessed with building and construction. His projects Hohenschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee devoured vast amounts of money, although the king paid for his fanatsies out of his own pocket and didn’t use the funds of the treasury of his state.

However, he was deeply in debt and his own Bayerische Staatsbank refused to grant him any further loans to fund his obsession. Ludwig was also deeply disappointed with the politcs of his time and lost more and more interest in the affairs of state. He refused to see his minsters and the members of his Council. Bavaria was after all a constitutional monarchy and Ludwig dreamed with the absolutism of his much admired Louis XIV of France. He even instructed servants to approach other kings and  rulers, including the Shah of Persia and the Sultan in Constantinople to ask for money. They did not obey his orders. When it became known, that he was already planning an even bigger castle, Falkenstein, which was to resemble the Grail Temple of Parsifal and that he also seriously thought about dismissing his entire council and replace them by people more to his taste, the Bayerische Staatsrat had enough and thought about means to remove the king from the throne. Having him declared insane seemed to be the best and -constitutionally permitted - way to do so. In a much discussed medical report, signed by a single physician who had never even examined the king and based mostly on testimony of his servants, he was declared insane, deposed and arrested.

Three days later, on 30th of June 1886, Ludwig undertook a long walk on the shores of lake Starnberg, accobympanied  his personal physician, from which he never returned. A search was instigated on this stormy night with torrential rain and finally the king’s body was discovered floating in barely knee deep water. His doctor was also dead and lying in the water nearby.

The truth about this mysterioud death has never been discovered. As the doctor’s head showed a deep wound and water was discovered in his lungs, it was officially declared, that Ludwig had committed suicide by assualting his physician and drowing himself. It’s also unclear whether or not an autopsy on the king’s body was really carried out. Some sources say, that an autopsy was conducted but that there was no water in the king’s lungs, which lead to speculations that he was murdered to avoid embarrassment to his successor and uncle Luitpold. Rumors, speculations and intrigue perist to this day.

The king’s death mask is exhibited in the small museum which is today housed on the ground floor of Herrenchiemsee.

Today I’ll tell you about Ludwig II’s third castle, Linderhof. It’s located in the southeast of Germany near the famous town or rather village of Oberammergau. Oberammergau is known for its festival of religion inspired plays and its elaborate wood carvings by masters of the craft.

Ludwig’s father was a keen huntsman and Ludwig accompanied him often during his youth. They rested in a small lodge, which Ludwig inherited from his father. Originally he planned to keep Linderhof merely as a hunting lodge, but soon his obsession with building dream castles took over and the reconstruction of Linderhof as it stands today began in 1874. Unlike Hohenschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee, Linderhof castle was completed, totally decorated and furnished four years later. Linderhof is also the only castle where Ludwig spent any length of time.

Abandoning the idea of a hunting lodge very soon, the king’s admiration for Louis XIV and Versailles came to the fore. He wanted to recreate a German Versaille much as he did in Herrenchiemsee. Ludwig also thought, that absolutism was the only form for a monarchy and as that concept had no place in the 19th century, he simply made his dreams reality. Much as his idol the French Louis, he made his bedroom the centre piece of the castle. As is well known, the bedroom was a very official place as Louis XIV used to hold the first and last audience of the day there, his famous levers and couchers. Ludwig adopted the same habit.

He also recreated a Hall of Mirrors in Linderhof, which he used as a living room. Ludwig was a night person, who slept during the day and was awake at night. He used to sit in his Hall of Mirrors, iluminated by thousands of candles and read.

Ludwig disliked seeing his servants, that’s why he had also the dumb waiter installed in Linderhof as he had in Herrenchiemsee. Fortunately this castle did have a kitchen, so the king’s meals were prepared there, the table laid and then wound upstairs directly to where the king was already seated. It’s reported that, although the king ate alone, the table was always laid for four people because he liked to conduct imaginary conversations with Louis’ XIV contemporaries. W hether justified or not, it remains a fact that Ludwig did nothing to avoid unreasonable behavior which in the end lead to his being dethroned and declared insane.

Particularly during his youth, King Ludwig II if Bavaria took a keen interest in the German legends and history of knights and kings. He was fascinated by Lohengrin, the Swan Knight and, as an avid creator of dream castles decided to build one to recreate the Lohengrin legend. By the time he deviced his new castle, Hohenschwanstein, he had also met Richard Wagner, the German composer of quite ‘heavy’ opera with themes revolving around the same set of legends the king adored. So much did Ludwig admire Wagner and his work, that he decided to build a castle where Wagner could work in peace and let his musical genius take wing.

Neuschwanstein is built the the neo romantic style and precariously perched on a steep hill near Hohenschwanstein in the southwest of Bavaria, Germany. It has become the most photographed building in Germany and inspired Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland as well as featured in several movies. Ludwig commissioned Christian Janks, a theatrical set designer with the concept and drawings of the castle, rather than an architect. That fact explains a lot about the impression of a gigantic opera set a visitor to the castle gets. However, as previously mentioned, the king was not entirely a dreamer. He was also very advanced and interested in the modern technology of his time and the most recent achievements were used in the castle’s construction. There was electricity, decent plumbing and an elaborate system of heating pipes, no small feat for a building of that size.

The king died before the castle was completed and never saw an opera performed in the halls especially designed for that purpose. During his life time the castle wasn’t open to visitors, but since then an estimated 50 mill. people have visited Ludwig’s romantic craze and it’s earing its keep and recovering the enormous construction costs. Today the castle is owned by the state of Bavaria.

Not only was the empress Elisabeth of Austria, nicknamed ‘Sissy’ a vey beautful woman who was much ahead of her time as far as exercise, diet  and beauty treatments were concerned, she was also a great traveler. Turkey and the Middle East were very fashinable in the 19th century, when the exotic tales of harems, sultans, great art and fabulous jeels reached the west and ignited a veritable ‘orient fashion’.

As I told you before, Ludwig II of Bavaria, a great admirer of Sissy, created his own sentimental oriental paradise in one of his palaces, music and belly dancers included. Elisabeth was not immune to the ‘orient fashion’ and as one of the first woman travelelrs visited Turkey. She travelled the country widely and as she was also very educated, she not only visited Istanbul (then Constantinople) but also the excavations of Troy, conducted by the German businessman turned archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann.

Her heart however was drawn to the Greek islands and in particular to Corfu whre she spent many holidays, not leat to find relief from her respiratory and muscle problems which were a result of her strenous exercise regime. Elisabeth also  visited Great Britain, Ireland and Hungary which of course belonged to her empire and where she impressed the famous Hungarian horsemen with her own equestrian skills.

An absolute favoite of Elisabeth’s was Switzerland and the city of Geneva. It was on the promenade of Lake Geneva, that she was attacked and stabbed to death by a deranged Italian fanatic thus putting a premature end  to an exceptionally versatile and ‘modern’ queen.

Yesterday I mentioned briefly in my post, that Ludwig II of Bavaria was a life long admirer of his cousin, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Sissy, as she was affectionately called, richly deserved such admiration because she was a  true beauty queen.However, her looks, though definitely owing a lot to lucky genes, did not come and were maintained without great effort. Sissy was the 19th century fore-runner of the modern keep fit and exercise culture. First of all, she was a keen and talented equestrian. She maintained her slim figure by strenuous exercise. An entire suite of rooms in her palace in Vienna was equipped as a ‘gym’, with bars, weights and bells. She exercised every day for hours and took every opportunity to go on long walks at an accelerated clip which often tired out her entourage. A 28 mile hike was nothing to her!

She was very proud of her ankle lenght auburn hair which took hours to dres and was kept in prime condition by henna, milk and egg yolk treatments. Her pale, unwrinkled skin was treated with secret mixtures of glycerin, gelantine and rose oil. Apart from that she kept a strict diet to avoid putting on weight. One has to admire her discipline and determination, bearing in mind that she lived in the century of corsets and hoop skirts.

Having said that, she did, in later years pay a price for her strict routines. She suffered from sciatica, arthritis and many maintain that she was also bulimic. But her image remains of one of the most beautiful queens of all times.

Apart from his fascination with castles and Louis XIV of France as his idol, Ludwig II of Bavaria was sponsor for Richard Wagner, the German composer known for his monumental operas such as Parsifal and Nibelungenring. Without the king’s support, financial and otherwise, Wagner would not have been able to finish his last opera Parsifal and his works may even have sunk into oblivion. Ludwig made Wagner popular and the anual opera festival in Bayreuth has become a social occasion as well as a celebration of his music.

Apart form his three castles, the last of which, Herrenchiemsee remained unfinished because Ludwig II ran out of money, he also lavishly refurbished the Munich Residence, his offical home and, more interestingly, the rooms of Schachen king’s house. The fascination of Ludwig with historic figures did not stop with Louis XIV. Following the fashion of the century he lived in, her was also attracted to all things middle eastern and arabic and recreated a Sultan’s palace in Schachen house, complete with a reproduction of the famous Peacock Throne, which, in fact, is Persian. Rumor has it, that the king, dressed as a sultan, threw lavish parties in Schachen house, attended by belly dancers and young men dressed as slaves who attended to the king. These rumors in turn fed others about the king’s sexual inclinations and secret homosexuality.

It’s a fact that Ludwig favoured tall, good looking and muscular men in his entourage. Whetehr it went any further is unknown.

Well known a d documented however is Ludwig’s secret love for his cousin the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sissy and the subejct of several movies, the best known of which is the trilogy starring the German actress Romy Schneider. Sissy found a terrible end as she was stabbed to death by a mentally ill fanatic int he streets of Geneva.

Herrenchiemsee, the fabulous although unfinished castle of Bavaria’s Fairy Tale King Ludwig II, was the subject of my previous posts. However the island is historically interesting and important for another reason. It was here that in 1948 the ‘founding fathers’ of the German constitution, the Grundegesetz, convened and in two short weeks agreed on the principles and most important articles which form the basis for the Federal Republic of Germany which came into being in 1949.

‘Founding Fathers’ is however incorrect, as the council included four women! Surprisingly though, the council members did not assemble in Ludwig’s castle but chose as the venue for their deliberations the nearby monastery and cloister, a decidedly more sober place. This was, by the way, also the building where Ludwig’s meals were prepared and then rushed the mile or so to his dining room, as his castle failed to incorporate a kitchen!

And another fact is worth mentioing about the island, although it has nothing to do with history. It’s the home of the biggest variety of bats found anywhere in Europe. They are a protected species and well looked after and cared for on the island. Ludwig, who was well ahead of his time as far as protection of the environment was concerned, also established a deer park and protected every wild life that lived in the dense woods which he saved from being cut down by buying the island. Every single material which was needed for the construction was brough to the island by boat and not one tree was felled for the building site.

As I told you yesterday, King Kudiwg II of Bavaria is also known as the Fairy Tale King or the Swan King. His castle on an island in a lake in Souther Bavaria certainly justifies that name. It’s called Herrenchiemsee and it’s an example of tremedous extravagance by an eccentric king and of what happens, when that same king runs out of money.

Although Ludwig II financied his building spree out of his own pocket, he built after all three castles and his funds were soon depleted. He didn’t put his hand into the state’s funds, but he badgered his council and ministers endlessly with request to contact other monarchs asking for loans. When he couldn’t borrow any more he just needed to stop, which makes Herrenchiemsee a unique sight.

Ludwig II adored Louis XIV of France and modelled Herrenchiemsee on the centre facade of Versailles. He eeven created a Mirrored Hall like the one of the French king. No marbles were too valuable for him, no tapestries and carpets too expensive. Whereas Louis XIV is known as the Sun King, Ludwig felt himself attracted to the Moon. His bedroom, which he used only once, is decorated in blue and a pale, shimmering moon shines at the foot of his bed.

Whereas the front rooms and reception halls were completed, he ran out of money when construction reached  some living quarters, bath and kitchen. No kitchen has ever been added. The king’s food was prepared in a nearby cloister kitchen and brought over by running servants to keep it warm. It was then placed in a food elevator, known as a “silent servant” and cranked up form the ground floor to the king’s dining room. It’s reported, that his food was nearly always luke warm, which really doens’t come as a surprise.

His huge, pool like bath tub is nothing but a cement- covered big hole in the ground with the beginnings of paintings covering the walls. It’s a very disturbing sight to  move from utter oppolence to no more than skeleton construction with bare walls and unadorned floors by just going up a few steps and turning a corner.

This is my first post and I would like to tell you that the blogname -fitat60plus- comes from me being over 60 and staying and keeping fit to travel and persue my love for history and particularly the hidden and more unknown sides of famous kings, rulers and politicians. I also love architecture and castles and Germany is one of the countries which is a treasure trove for that.
King Ludwig II of Bavaria who was born in 1845 and died in mysterious circumstances by drowning in the German lake Tegernsee in 1886, is often referred to as The Swan King, the fairy Tale King or the Mad King. These attributes came about because of his eccentic and highly expensive obsession to build fairy tale castles, the most notable being Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. What’s not appreciated is tha the king was well ahead of his times as far as technology is concerned in which he took a keen interest. Many of his drawing of technical devices have survived. He was the first one in the state of Bavaria to have a telephone installed, comissioned an elaborate heating system for his castle Herrenchiemsee situated on an island in the lake of the same name. The heating allowed him to bath in his huge indoor swimming pool. Ludwig was also concerned about the environment. He pruchased the entrie island of Herrenchiemsee where he erected his castle with a view to preserving the extensive woods and wildlife which populated the island. It was owned by a lumber compoany which was about to cut down the entire forest for firewood and ship building and the king’s swift action prevented the deforestation.