König Ottokars Glück und Ende

König Ottokars Glück und Ende; King Ottokar, His Rise and Fall (1823)

Historical Context

The play is based on the life of Ottokar II (1233-1278), King of Bohemia from 1253 until his death. His chief rival is Rudolf von Habsburg (1218-1291), who was crowned King of Germany in 1273. Ottokar claimed the duchies of Austria, Styria, Carinthia and the March of Carniola, but these were contested by Rudolf. From June-November 1276 the two sides fought a war. Rudolf won and Ottokar was forced to cede the four provinces. Ottokar soon formed a new alliance; the two rivals met again at the Battle on the Marchfeld on 26 August 1278, where Ottokar was killed.

The Play

Grillparzer’s Ottokar resembles Napoleon Bonaparte; like Napoleon, Ottokar’s military ambitions prove to be his undoing.

The play frequently expresses Austrian nationalist sentiment. Ottokar is betrayed by his own wife, the Hungarian Queen Kunigunde, and his own Bohemian noblemen. In contrast, Rudolf von Habsburg and Queen Margarethe of Austria are idealised. Even Ottokar seems to disdain his own people: in Act One, lines 468-81, he makes a speech comparing the Czechs to lazy pack-horses; he plans to remedy this by transplanting the German craftsmen into Prague in order to act as a spur to the Czechs.

The play contains some great coups de théâtre (sudden twists): in Acts Three and Five, a curtain is lifted with devastating results. In Act Three Ottokar himself is put on show and publicly humiliated. In Act Five it is Ottokar himself who lifts the curtain, expecting to see his wife, but instead he is confronted by the corpse of his ex-wife, the woman he has wronged.

Act One introduces the treacherous Rosenbergs, who bear a grudge against Ottokar because he refused to marry their kinswoman Bertha. We encounter the acid wit of Zawisch von Rosenberg, the most cunning of the clan. Ottokar has his marriage with Queen Margarethe of Austria annulled so that he can marry Kunigunde of Massovia, the granddaughter of the King of Hungary. Ottokar pressures Margarethe to agree to the separation, and to confirm that her hereditary lands will be passed over to him. Ottokar’s bride Kunigunde arrives at court and the insulted Margarethe is escorted away by Rudolf von Habsburg.

In Act Two the Rosenbergs capture young Seyfried von Merenberg with a letter for the Archbishop of Mainz. Zawisch allows Seyfried von Merenberg to go free but only so that he can accuse the Merenbergs of treason. Zawisch also writes a love letter to Queen Kunigunde. Kunigunde, who is bored by her againg husband Ottokar, starts to respond to Zawisch’s advances. Meanwhile Ottokar learns that his rival Rudolf has been elected Holy Roman Emperor instead of him; furious, Ottokar refuses to return the lands he has taken and threatens war.

In Act Three old Merenberg is arrested by King Ottokar’s men. The Imperial army and the Bohemian army are encamped on either side of the Danube and a massacre seems inevitable. King Ottokar’s chancellor persuades him to meet with Rudolf. A poet (Ottokar von Hornek) visits Rudolf and sings the praises of the Austrian people. Then King Ottokar arrives. Rudolf persuades King Ottokar to agree to peace by telling him that his ex-wife Margarethe has come to the camp to plead on his behalf. The only problem is that Ottokar will have to kneel in front of the Emperor in order to be invested formally with his lands. Rudolf tells Ottokar to kneel in his tent so that no one will see, but Zawisch arrives and cuts open the tent so that the whole armed camp sees Ottokar kneel before Rudolf.

In Act Four Ottokar is so ashamed at his public humiliation that he cannot even bring himself to set foot in his castle. His wife Kunigunde pours scorn on his head. When the Emperor’s herald leads away the hostages that Ottokar had held imprisoned, it is the last straw for Ottokar. Ottokar decides to put his foot down and orders his men to throw old Merenberg back into prison, saying that he would be glad to hear of the old man’s death. Ottokar makes preparations for war with Rudolf, and then falls asleep, exhausted, on his chancellor’s lap. We are told that old Merenberg has been pushed out of a tower to his death.

In Act Five Ottokar prepares for the final battle with Rudolf’s forces. He hears that the Queen of Bohemia is staying nearby and he rushes into the house, expecting to find Kunigunde and Zawisch together. Instead he finds the corpse of his ex-wife Margarethe. He is overcome with remorse and prays to God for mercy. Then he joins the battle. Rudolf orders his men to capture Ottokar and only to strike him in self-defence. Seyfried von Merenberg avenges his father’s death by killing Ottokar. The Bohemian army flees and Rudolf declares his son ruler of Austria.

English Translation

Franz Grillparzer, King Ottocar, His Rise and Fall, trans. by Arthur Burkhard (Yarmouth Port, MA: The Register Press, 1962)

Further Reading

Katy Heady, Literature and Censorship in Restoration Germany: Repression & Rhetoric (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2009), Chapter 5 on King Ottokar

F. J. Lamport, German Classical Drama: Theatre, Humanity and Nation 1750-1870 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), Chapter 10 on Grillparzer

Frank Lamport, ‘“…den Prometheus schildern und weiter nichts”: Grillparzer and the Drama of Ideas’, Publications of the English Goethe Society 80:2-3 (2011), 107-14

Graham D. C. Martin, ‘Historical Fact versus Literary Fiction: Members of the House of Liechtenstein Occurring in Schiller’s Wallenstein and Grillparzer’s König Ottokar’, Modern Language Review 86:2 (1991), 337-48

Edward McInnes, ‘König Ottokar and Grillparzer’s Conception of Historical Drama’, in Essays on Grillparzer, ed. by Bruce Thompson and Mark Ward (Hull: University of Hull, 1978), pp. 25-35

William C. Reeve, ‘Grillparzer’s Zawisch von Rosenberg as Fallen Angel or “The Devil’s in the Details”’, Modern Austrian Literature 41:1 (2008), 1-22

Ian F. Roe, Franz Grillparzer: A Century of Criticism (Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1995), pp. 81-88

Walter Silz, ‘Grillparzer’s Ottokar’, Germanic Review 39 (1964), 243-61

Mark G. Ward, ‘Reflections and Refractions: An Aspect of the Structure of Grillparzer’s König Ottokars Glück und Ende’, Forum for Modern Language Studies 25 (1989), 209-24