Illness and Death in the Era of Neoabsolutism: New Perspectives on Liberal-Catholic Conflict from 1850s Upper Austria

Abstract

On 8 March 1849, Upper Austria's first liberal governor, Alois Fischer, stood on the balcony of the Rathaus in Linz's market square and proclaimed the closing of the democratically elected Austrian Reichstag in Kremsier. The newly crowned emperor, Francis Joseph, had written in the proclamation that Fischer now read to the crowd that the Reichstag delegates took too long in their deliberations, wasting time on “dangerous theoretical discussions.” Their labors had become redundant, and the emperor would decree his own constitution. After reciting the imperial proclamation, Fischer retired to the side and let his assistant read out the new constitution. Named after its principal architect, Minister of the Interior Franz Stadion, the new “Stadion” constitution was mildly liberal, although, unlike its unfinished predecessor, it was wholly unambiguous when it came to the monarch: his powers were immense and—the document made sure to point out—derived from God, not from the people. In practice, the constitution was mostly ignored. Fittingly perhaps, those assembled in front of the Rathaus that day could barely make out what was being said. As one participant described the scene, the wind was so strong “that our neighbors disappeared in the dust.” The return of absolutist government thus came to Linz unintelligibly, wrapped in a dense cloud of dust.