Truls Ljungström’s Reviews > Rudolf II: The Life and Legend of the Mad Emperor > Status Update

Nikolaus Pfaff, drinking cup, 1611, African rhinoceros horn, African warthog tusks and gilt silver.

The ‘Spanish’ traits Rudolf exhibited outwardly may also have corresponded to features of his ingrown character (as Maximilian II /said). In any case, Rudolf’s Spanish manner was soon observed. His stiffness of gait & gestures, laconic speech (a Venetian ambassador called him ‘Rodolfo di poche parole’ – Rudolf of few words), & what appeared to be arrogant demeanour were all noted as signs of his Spanish humores.

The Swiss-born English agent Paulus Lesieur wrote in a dispatch of 17 November 1610 that Rudolf ‘ought to be walled up in a cloister with a necromancer, an alchemist, a painter and a whore’.8 This slander echoes a vignette in what is perhaps the first roman à clef in European literature.