Liechtenstein Ducal Hat Mystery: Collateral Lines, Competing Heirs

Summary: The Liechtenstein ducal hat mystery arose during 70 years of a lack of consensus among competing heirs over the ducal headpiece and princely succession.

Vaduz's Liechtenstein National Museum holds the 1976 replica of Liechtenstein ducal hat, which was presented by people of Liechtenstein, to Prince Franz Joseph II (Aug. 16, 1906-Nov. 13, 1989) for his 70th birthday; Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum (Liechtenstein National Museum), Vaduz, west central Liechtenstein; Sunday, June 1, 2014, 14:28: Gryffindor, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

The unsolved mystery of the Liechtenstein ducal hat appears no more solvable in 2018 than at its last witnessed showing Sep. 1, 1756, or first written admission of absence Aug. 18, 1791.

The bejeweled, velvet-topped headpiece bore gems from its princely and ducal commissioner's personal belongings in Prague and from its jeweler's commercial collection in Frankfurt am Main. It could be considered a personal conveyance of Karl I's direct descendants until confictive collateral lines concluded June 1, 1722, with the reigning first-born ruler's claims. No painter depicted the Liechtenstein ducal hat on or with its princely and ducal owners in the portraits displayed in principality-devoted museums and palaces or online.

One gouache from Sep. 1, 1756, and one replica from 1976 in Vaduz express the diamond, gold, pearl, ruby, velvet elaboration of the Herzogshut ("ducal hat").

The portrait of Karl I (July 30, 1569-Feb. 12, 1627), first prince of Liechtenstein and duke of Jägendorf and Troppau, furnishes nothing about the ducal hat.

The portrait gives Karl I a black hat in his left hand, a ring on his littlest ring finger and a sword on his left side. The portrait of Karl I's son and successor, Karl Eusebius (April 11, 1611-April 5, 1684), has a velvet headpiece with a red-and-white circlet on his left. It is not the Liechtenstein ducal hat and the paternal sword for which Karl Eusebius included a sword hilt in 1629 is not in the portrait.

Collateral conflicts jeopardized the Liechtenstein ducal hat's ownership upon the death of Karl Eusebius' only surviving son and successor, Hans-Adam I (Aug. 16, 1662-June 16, 1712.

The principality knew a crisis between collateral lines from Karl I's brother, Gundakar (Jan. 30, 1580-Aug. 5, 1658), lord of Ringelsdorf and Wilfersdorf in Lower Austria.

Hans-Adam I liked Gundakar's descendant, third cousin Philipp Erasmus's (Sep. 11, 1664-Jan. 15, 1704) son Josef Wenzel I (Aug. 9, 1696-Feb. 10, 1772), as his successor. The move misaligned a succession that meant to make Gundakar's other direct descendant, Hans-Adam I's other third cousin, Anton Florian (May 28, 1656-Oct. 11, 1721), ruler. Anton Florian, son Josef Johann Adam (May 25, 1690-Dec. 17, 1732) and grandson Johann Nepomuk Karl (July 6, 1724-Dec. 22, 1748) netted fifth through eighth princeships.

Josef Wenzel I obtained the fourth and eighth princeships, during the latter of which collateral conflicts concluded June 1, 1722, with eldest-born rulers owning the hat.

The reigns and the deaths of the princes of Liechtenstein typically prompted pre-mortem wills and post-mortem inventories and atypically provoked an inventory by the reigning prince.

Josef Wenzel I queued up the Liechtenstein ducal hat and other jewels for an illustrated inventory of the "complete jewelry belonging to the Princely Liechtenstein Primogeniture." Franz Joseph I's (Nov. 19, 1726-Aug. 18, 1781) inventory Feb. 10, 1772, revealed the Liechtenstein ducal hat removed from entailed collections without reflecting when or why. Luxarazzi suspects a reworked Liechtenstein ducal hat as "an unidentified piece of jewellery" sold to Habsburg Empress Maria-Theresa (May 13, 1717-Nov. 29, 1780) for 22,000 Gulden.

Who took the ducal sword, the Liechtenstein ducal hat and two "finger" rings out of the House of Liechtenstein's princely patrimony how, when, where and why?

1756 gouache illustration of Liechtenstein ducal hat (Herzogshut) is the only known depiction of Liechtenstein's crown jewels; the ducal hat's last-known possessor was Prince Franz Joseph I (Nov. 19, 1726-Aug. 18, 1781), whose reign began Feb. 10, 1772; Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, eastern Austria, holds the 1756 gouache: Gryffindor, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Vaduz's Liechtenstein National Museum holds the 1976 replica of Liechtenstein ducal hat, which was presented by people of Liechtenstein, to Prince Franz Joseph II (Aug. 16, 1906-Nov. 13, 1989) for his 70th birthday; Liechtensteinisches Landesmuseum (Liechtenstein National Museum), Vaduz, west central Liechtenstein; Sunday, June 1, 2014, 14:28: Gryffindor, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herzogshut_Liechtenstein_(1).JPG

1756 gouache illustration of Liechtenstein ducal hat (Herzogshut) is the only known depiction of Liechtenstein's crown jewels; the ducal hat's last-known possessor was Prince Franz Joseph I (Nov. 19, 1726-Aug. 18, 1781), whose reign began Feb. 10, 1772; Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, eastern Austria, holds the 1756 gouache: Gryffindor, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herzogshut_Liechtenstein_1756.jpg

For further information:

Dotson, Samuel C. 2003. Genealogie des Fürstlichen Hauses Liechtenstein Seit Hartmann II (1544-1585). Falköping Sweden: Rosvall Royal Books.

Kräftner, Johan; Isabel Kuhl eds. 2004. Liechtenstein Museum: The Princely Collections. Prestel Museum Guides. Munich, Germany; London, England; New York, NY: Prestel.

Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections. New York NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=A1f7lsIFyu0C&pg=PA31&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2018. "Liechtenstein Ducal Hat Unsolved Mystery Since the 18th Century." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/liechtenstein-ducal-hat-unsolved.html

Svenja. 5 September 2014. "Luxarazzi 101: The Ducal Hat of Liechtenstein." Luxarazzi.
Available @ http://www.luxarazzi.com/2014/09/luxarazzi-101-ducal-hat-of-liechtenstein.html

Wilhelm, Gustav. 1960. "Der historische Liechtensteinische Herzogshut." Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein 60: 7-20.
Available via Liechtensteinische Landesbibliothek @ http://www.eliechtensteinensia.li/viewer/image/000000453_60/9/LOG_0006/