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Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria

Vienna, 29 Jul 1818 – Židlochovice, 20 Nov 1874

9 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 29 Jul 1818

    Born in Vienna

  2. 21 Jul 1858

    A daughter is born

  3. 1861

    Member of the House of Lords (Austria)

  4. 20 Nov 1874

    Dies in Židlochovice, aged 56

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 1

During his lifetime

He lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Vienna.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1810s · Archduke is born in Vienna

What people wore

Handkerchiefs as multipurpose purses

Handkerchiefs served multiple roles: they were used for wiping sweat or the nose, and also functioned as purses to carry essentials like money or tobacco.

Getting around

Slow post coach travel between towns

Travel by post coach was slow, with a journey from Linz to Steyr taking ten hours in 1829 for a distance of about 90 kilometers. Passengers paid one gulden and twelve kreuzers for the trip.

At the table

Cheap Barley Coffee Substitute

Poor city dwellers bought a cheap, coffee-like breakfast drink made from roasted barley and syrup for 1 Kreuzer at wooden stalls.

The Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon’s armies redrew the map of Europe from Spain to Moscow; his invasion of Portugal sent its court to Rio de Janeiro.In Europe · 1803–1815

The Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon’s armies redrew the map of Europe from Spain to Moscow; his invasion of Portugal sent its court to Rio de Janeiro.

Ruedi33a · CC BY-SA 4.0

Music

The eight-minute court waltz mandate

By imperial order, a waltz played at a court ball was required to last exactly eight minutes.

Daily life

Lack of light and running water

In rural homes, light was provided only by tallow lamps or pine splinters because there were no candles or petroleum lamps. Households lacked running water, requiring residents to wash themselves at a cold well located outside the house.

What it cost

Extreme food price volatility

Food prices in the Austrian Empire were highly volatile during this period, particularly around 1811 when a bushel of wheat cost 60 florins, compared to just 4 florins in 1812 and 1824. Such sharp fluctuations made it difficult for ordinary people to maintain a stable supply of basic grains like wheat and corn.