List of Maps ix
The Habsburg Family Tree xi
A Note on Names xvii
Introduction: An Emperor's Library 1
1. Castle Habsburg and the 'Fortinbras Effect' 11
2. The Holy Roman Empire and the Golden King 21
3. Losing Place and Forging a Past 31
4. Frederick III: Saturn and Mars 41
5. Maximilian and the Colour-Coded Kings 51
6. Charles V: Ruler of the World 63
7. Hungary, Bohemia, and the Protestant Challenge 75
8. Philip II: The New World, Religious Dissent, and Royal Incest 85
9. Don John and the Galleys of Lepanto 97
10. Rudolf II and the Alchemists of Prague 107
11. The Triumph of the Heretics 117
12. Ferdinand II, the Holy House, and Bohemia 127
13. The Thirty Years 'World War' 137
14. The Abnormal Empire and the Battle for Vienna 147
15. Spain's Invisible Sovereigns and the Death of the Bewitched King 159
16. The Theatre of the Baroque 169
17. Maria Theresa, Automata, and Bureaucrats 179
18. Merchants, Botanists, and Freemasons 189
19. Vampirism, Enlightenment, and the Revolution from Above 199
20. Archduchesses and the Habsburg Low Countries 209
21. Censors, Jacobins, and The Magic Flute 219
22. Metternich and the Map of Europe 229
23. 1848: Von Neumann's Diary and Radetzky's March 243
24. Franz Joseph's Empire, Sisi, and Hungary 255
25. Maximilian, Mexico, and Royal Deaths 269
26. The Politics of Discontent and the 1908 Jubilee 279
27. Explorers, Jews, and the World's Knowledge 291
28. The Hunter and the Hunted: Franz Ferdinand and Bosnia 301
29. World War and Dissolution 313
Conclusion 325
Acknowledgments 331
Credits for Illustrations 333
Abbreviations 335
Further Reading 337
Notes 345
Index 377