What do you think?
Rate this book
Elizabeth, Empress Of Austria
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
572 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
About the author
Egon Caesar Conte Corti
57 books6 followersEgon Caesar Conte Corti alle Catene (from 1919 Egon Caesar Corti) was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army who, after the dissolution of the empire, became an author of biographies and histories,, most notably about the Habsburg dynasty in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 17, 2017
I read this book because of recently reading 'Sisi: Empress On Her Own', a modern look at this lady. While the newer book has a more novel style, and is written from the Empress's point of view, it contains all the same details so I expect that Count Corti's work will have been source material.
At the start the Count tells us that almost nothing has been published about Sisi, although copious written materials and witnesses exist. He sets out to build a portrait of this lady, one of the last Empresses. He thanks Bay Middleton and the Spencers in England, who helped him understand Sisi's foxhunting addiction and months spent among them. Most of Sisi's time was of course spent in Europe, amid her stifling Austrian court and the relative freedom of her home in Hungary with its stables.
Her cousin Ludwig was engaged to Sisi's younger sister, before being removed from his throne by his Council of Ministers as 'unfit to rule', meaning not of sound mind, for bankrupting his monarchy while supporting Wagner to write his Ring Cycle, while building extravagant palaces over the Rhine. At that time the topmost Royals were very limited in marriage prospects as they could only marry other nobles of their station and had to marry someone of the same religion, which removed Britain and Denmark from eligibility as far as the Austro-Hungarians were concerned. This intrusion by a Parliament into the rule of the Royals was shocking to someone of Sisi's stature. But Ludwig was later found drowned in an apparent suicide. His actions make him the antithesis of Sisi's husband Franz Joseph, a responsible, dedicated Emperor who did paperwork, kept informed about his nation and met foreign dignitaries constantly.
Europe was riddled with anarchists at this time, and nobles were resented so much that they were the target of assassination attempts, one such precipitating the First World War. A similar action took the life of Sisi while she was visiting Geneva. The author explains how it occurred and how the villain was captured, having tossed down his knife, which was recovered.
I love the pictures of the nobles. Sisi was a famous beauty and she is the frontispiece with her long hair embellished with jewels.
This book was written not too long after the First World War and rise of Communism, which swept away the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russian Empire, meaning the events would have been topical and fresh enough in the minds of witnesses. As the author was a Count we can expect he would have had access to anyone and anything he needed for reference. I am reminded of Baroness Orczy writing about the return of Napoleon from Elba, and Waterloo, in the Bronze Eagle, as well as her novels of the French Revolution in the Scarlet Pimpernel series.
At the start the Count tells us that almost nothing has been published about Sisi, although copious written materials and witnesses exist. He sets out to build a portrait of this lady, one of the last Empresses. He thanks Bay Middleton and the Spencers in England, who helped him understand Sisi's foxhunting addiction and months spent among them. Most of Sisi's time was of course spent in Europe, amid her stifling Austrian court and the relative freedom of her home in Hungary with its stables.
Her cousin Ludwig was engaged to Sisi's younger sister, before being removed from his throne by his Council of Ministers as 'unfit to rule', meaning not of sound mind, for bankrupting his monarchy while supporting Wagner to write his Ring Cycle, while building extravagant palaces over the Rhine. At that time the topmost Royals were very limited in marriage prospects as they could only marry other nobles of their station and had to marry someone of the same religion, which removed Britain and Denmark from eligibility as far as the Austro-Hungarians were concerned. This intrusion by a Parliament into the rule of the Royals was shocking to someone of Sisi's stature. But Ludwig was later found drowned in an apparent suicide. His actions make him the antithesis of Sisi's husband Franz Joseph, a responsible, dedicated Emperor who did paperwork, kept informed about his nation and met foreign dignitaries constantly.
Europe was riddled with anarchists at this time, and nobles were resented so much that they were the target of assassination attempts, one such precipitating the First World War. A similar action took the life of Sisi while she was visiting Geneva. The author explains how it occurred and how the villain was captured, having tossed down his knife, which was recovered.
I love the pictures of the nobles. Sisi was a famous beauty and she is the frontispiece with her long hair embellished with jewels.
This book was written not too long after the First World War and rise of Communism, which swept away the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russian Empire, meaning the events would have been topical and fresh enough in the minds of witnesses. As the author was a Count we can expect he would have had access to anyone and anything he needed for reference. I am reminded of Baroness Orczy writing about the return of Napoleon from Elba, and Waterloo, in the Bronze Eagle, as well as her novels of the French Revolution in the Scarlet Pimpernel series.
July 29, 2016
Review soon...
July 13, 2008
Quite a good biography of the Empress Elisabeth. But it's from the 1930s, when many people who had known the Empress and the people close to her were still alive, and Count Corti was very sympathetic to the Empress and (especially) the Emperor, to the extent that he paints a more positive image of them than really is just, and avoids saying much about uncomfortable things such as the Crown Prince Rudolf. Therefore it's best to read other books, too, if you want a more complete image of Elisabeth and others around her. But certainly it's a classic and better written than most other Sisi biographies I have found.
September 24, 2022
No por nada esta biografía continua siendo una autoridad en la vida de la emperatriz.
September 4, 2016
its been quite some time since i bought and read this one, but still to me is a must have for anyone interested in the period and the people - sissi more specifically.
although it is dated and at times the author can be somewhat partial, he also had privileged access to sources and persons who had met the empress and her circle - especially some of her ladies in waiting - so just for that alone, it is worth the trouble of tackling the language and style of writing.
so much has been written about sissi and her life, but this one bio, no matter how much other authors agree/disagree with, always seems to be the starting point or a big support....and there´s nothing like reading the first book everyone else resorts too when researching for more modern versions of bios on her and her time.
the edition i have is in french - bought from amazon france - so honestly have no idea if this english version is even still available.
if you easily read french, go ahead and jump in...if my memory serves me write the author wrote it originally in french, and there´s nothing quite like reading it without translations...whenever possible that is!
although it is dated and at times the author can be somewhat partial, he also had privileged access to sources and persons who had met the empress and her circle - especially some of her ladies in waiting - so just for that alone, it is worth the trouble of tackling the language and style of writing.
so much has been written about sissi and her life, but this one bio, no matter how much other authors agree/disagree with, always seems to be the starting point or a big support....and there´s nothing like reading the first book everyone else resorts too when researching for more modern versions of bios on her and her time.
the edition i have is in french - bought from amazon france - so honestly have no idea if this english version is even still available.
if you easily read french, go ahead and jump in...if my memory serves me write the author wrote it originally in french, and there´s nothing quite like reading it without translations...whenever possible that is!
May 6, 2016
Ein sehr interessantes Buch. Es ist ein gut Komplimente für die Biographie bei Brigitte Hamann über Sisi, weil es zusätzlich Informationen hat.
Ich habe es in Spanische gelesen. Es hat ein paar falsches Daten, obwohl es wert es zu lesen.
Ich habe es in Spanische gelesen. Es hat ein paar falsches Daten, obwohl es wert es zu lesen.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews