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.
XY—unsolved: After the Wittelsbachs had the case investigated again by Wilhelm Wöbking, the former state prosecutor and judge, on the hundredth anniversary of Ludwig II’s death, it was officially stated that the king strangled Gudden and then committed suicide in the water. All the same, new conspiracy theories are always being suggested.
About the Author
OLIVER PÖTZSCH, born in 1970, has worked for years as a scriptwriter for Bavarian television. He is a descendant of one of Bavaria's leading dynasties of executioners. Pötzsch lives in Munich with his family.
Oliver Pötzsch, The Ludwig Conspiracy
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