Erzherzog Stephan Victor
Erzherzog Stephan Franz Victor was born as the
eldest son of the
Hungarian Palatine Erzherzog Joseph Anton to his second wife Hermine von
Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym on the 14th of September 1817 at Ofen, later a
part of Budapest. During the birth of the young archduke and his twin sister
Hermine* their
mother died and both were brought up by their step-mother Maria Dorothea at their
estate at Alscut. As the son of the Hungarian Palatine he was made Oberstinhaber of
infantry regiment number 58 followed by his admission to the
Order of the Golden Fleece at the early age of only 13, in 1830. Erzherzog
Stephan Victor was intelligent and talented, his main interests were geography
and politics. At the university of Vienna he studied political science and
lived at the Viennese court from 1839 until 1841 followed by extensive travels
through Bohemia, Lombardy and Venetia, the Tyrol, Piedmont, the Vatican, Modena,
Tuscany and several smaller states of Germany. In 1843 he was
promoted to Feldmarschall-Leutnant and was made the civil governor (Landeschef) of
Bohemia. For his performance in this position he was honored with the grand cross
of the Order
of Leopold. He held this important post until it was suggested, that after the death
of his father, he become the new Hungarian Palatine in January 1847. He took over
the governorship of Hungary and started to travel around the country becoming
very popular through his excellent patriotic speeches to the populace. Erzherzog Stephan
Victor became hereditary district chief of the comitate of Pest and was elected Palatine
and royal governor by the Hungarian parliament at Preßburg and honored with the
award of the grand cross of the (Hungarian) Order of St. Stephan later that year.
During his short reign he continued the liberal policies of his
father but when the revolution started in early 1848 he was caught on the horns
of a dilemma - to whom should he be loyal, to his people or to his family! On the
one hand he tried to calm down the revolutionaries by giving them what they
demanded as far as he could and on the other hand he tried to hold the Hungarian crown
for the Kaiser or at least for the dynasty - a mission impossible which brought
discredit upon him from both sides. He was the leader of the revolutionary
deputation which handed over the demands of the revolutionaries to the Kaiser in
March 1848. He appointed Lajos Graf Batthany to be prime-minister of the first
independent national government on the 7th of March 1848 and inaugurated the
first Hungarian parliament at Pest on the 2nd of July 1848. When the loyal troops
of General Jelačić entered Hungary he tried to stop them. At the end the
moderate wing of the revolution offered him the Hungarian crown to forestall the
coming civil war and keep the crown for the Habsburg dynasty but Erzherzog
Stephan Victor refused and fled from the Hungarian capital on the 22nd of
September 1848. On the 25th of September, having meanwhile arrived in Vienna, he
abdicated from all his duties. The tragedy of his role was that he had tried to
understand the justified arguments of both positions and to avoid any hostility
until the time when both side only wanted to speak - with weapons.
His conduct during the critical year 1848 let him fall
into disgrace and he was banned from the court and Vienna. Erzherzog Stephan
Victor settled down at his mother's estates at Schaumburg and started to live a
retired life mainly occupied with scientific works in mineralogy and geology.
Only in 1858, on the occasion of the christening ceremony of Erzherzog Rudolf,
the new heir to the throne was he allowed to travel to Vienna. He led a lonely
life,
he never married and led his retired life at Schaumburg, suffering during his later
years from a lung disease. Finally this brought about his death on the 19th of February
1867 while he was on one of his rare trips through France at Menton near Nice. As
this was the year of the so-called "Ausgleich" or compromise between Austria
and Hungary his human remains were transported to Budapest and buried there with
great sympathy from the common people - a belated honour for his
fruitless efforts to avoid the civil war in 1848.
*The twin sister of Erzherzog Stephan Victor, Hermine Amelie
Marie, dedicated here short life to charity. She became abbess of the k.k.
Theresianische adelige Damenstift at the Prague Hradschin but died on the 13th
of February 1842 at the age of only 25. Erzherzogin Hermine was buried at
Budapest and the so called Herminen chapel was built in the small city-woods to
honour her remembrance.
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