Disregarding Norms: Emperor Charles VI and His Intimate Relationships

Abstract

Emperor Charles VI (1685-1740) followed his parents in the Habsburg, devout Catholic principles of the pietas austriaca. This meant that, as emperor, Charles saw himself as guardian of the Church of Rome, a role that he emphasized in imperial and dynastic politics, architecture, and his private diaries. These diaries show the importance he placed on religion through daily religious services. But Charles VI also wrote about court life, dynastic politics, his family, and, most importantly, his intimate partners. According to his diaries, he had sexual relationships with both women and men, but only two relationships of an emotionally intimate nature: the first with his closest friend and confidant, Michael Johann Count Althann (1679- 1722), the second with his wife Empress Elisabeth Christine (1691-1750). The male-male relationships, including with a hunter’s boy, have not seemed compatible with his Catholic beliefs to researchers since the nineteenth century. Based on the theory of “norm competition” for early modern times, this article contextualizes the religious beliefs of Charles VI and his sexual and intimate relationships and takes the concept further to show that, in regards to intimate or emotional relationships, religious, legal, or gender norms could, at least by a monarch, be disregarded even in the early modern period.

Keywords

• emperor charles vi
• pietas austriaca
• intimate relationships
• norm competition
• disregarding norms