1853: János Libényi, who stabbed an emperor and built a church
February 26th, 2008 Headsman
On this date in 1853, eight days after attempting to assassinate Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, Hungarian nationalist János Libényi was hanged on Vienna’s Simmeringer Haide (the link is in German).
Libenyi was hardly the only one who designed on the life of one of the world’s longest-serving rulers of one of the world’s least cohesive polities. On February 18, Libenyi stabbed the emperor in the neck — a part of the anatomy fortuitously protected by a very sturdy military collar the (at this time) 23-year-old monarch wore habitually.
The would-be assassin was immediately subdued by an Irish count and a nearby butcher, both of whom received Austrian ennoblement for their trouble.
An emotive outpouring of official thanksgiving commensurate with an age of political reaction greeted Franz’s survival. His brother — yet many years and many miles from his own rendezvous with the executioner — took up donations for Vienna’s spectacular Votivkirche, a literal votive offering to God for Franz Joseph’s deliverance:
The future Elvis of the Austrian waltz scene, Johann Strauss, then a 27-year-old cranking out career-enhancing patriotic fare, said symphonically what the Votivkirche said architecturally with this “Rescue Jubilation March” (op. 126):
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This short entry on the German wikipedia — in German, of course — further outlines the affair.
Also On This Date
- 1870: Wyatt Outlaw lynched by the Ku Klux Klan
- 277: Mani, dualist
- 1939: Stanislav Kosior, Vlas Chubar and Pavel Postyshev
- 1839: An opium merchant
Possibly Related Executions
- 1882: Guglielmo Oberdan
- 1915: Veljko Cubrilovic, Danilo Ilic and Misko Jovanovic, Archduke Ferdinand’s assassins
Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Assassins,Austria,Habsburg Realm,Hanged,Notable for their Victims,Treason
Tags: 1850s, 1853, february 26, franz joseph i, janos libenyi, johann strauss, maximilian i, vienna, votivkirche
October 6th, 2008 at 6:09 am
[...] years later, a Hungarian nationalist attempted to assassinate the youthful Emperor Franz Joseph,** and the strength of the Magyar [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 8:33 am
If the Emperor Franz Joseph died in the stabbing, then there would have been no World War I.!
40 million would not have died.
This way, World War 2 would not have happened!
And 70 million people would not have died.
Nor would the Cold War have happened.
What do you think
October 21st, 2008 at 10:09 am
That’s a cool twist on what-if history — someone should make a documentary linking that chain together. “Franz Joseph’s Collar: History’s Greatest Monster.”
I’d personally think that’s assigning those events way too much individual agency as against structural development, but others may have different takes.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:56 am
[...] * Brother to Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. [...]
November 16th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
[...] in Bad Ischl, and all of Russia and Eastern Europe was in uproar. A Hungarian nationalist, one, János Libényi (who was, quite frankly, a bit hot himself), came at my future husband with a dagger. But here is [...]