Císařský bastard – Sommer Jiří (2012)

Emperor Rudolf II loved art, alchemy... and women. His unrestrained erotic life was notorious, yet he never married any of his mistresses; he was reluctant to enter into matrimony. Of the many offspring he fathered, only those he had with his most famous concubine, the Italian beauty Kateřina Stradová, are known. There were a total of six, and they did not achieve fame, except for the firstborn. Julius Caesar d'Austria, born in 1584, although a bastard, was his father's great hope. He was given a good education and a brilliant future awaited him. However, Julius grew into an arrogant, unruly, aggressive young man. He indulged excessively in drinking, women, and violence; his escapades were talked about throughout Prague and later Europe. When his father could no longer manage the wayward son, he sent him for re-education to a monastery. He did not last long there and returned, but was then sent to the countryside, to a castle in Český Krumlov. There he lived in his own way – extravagantly and violently, terrorizing the entire town; no woman felt safe before him. Everything culminated in the brutal murder of a young laundress, after which it became clear that the imperial son was mentally ill. His end was tragic... The author of the evocative narrative about the unfortunate bastard, PhDr. Jiří Sommer, CSc., is a historian who worked at the Faculty of Education at Charles University.