The Habsburg Egg was pointed during May of 1979 by Marjorie Nejdl following designs by Stanley R Zegel, both of Cedar Rapids. It was designed by Zegel as a gift to be presented by Zegel to Franz Josef Otto Ruprecht Maria Anton Karl Maximilian Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignaz, the Archduke of Austria and heir to the Habsburg thrones. The Habsburgs were the ruling family of most of Europe for 700 years. The Spanish empire in the New World was under the Habsburgs, and a Habsburg was emperor of Mexico as late as 1867. The core of the Habsburg empire in most recent times was Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia (Czechoslovakia).
The egg --that of a goose-- has on one side the American bald eagle, and on the other the black Habsburg eagle. Stretched between them is a motto, and an inscription commemorative of the egg's presentation appears opposite the panel with the banner. On the crown of the egg is the sun-like symbol of the Smithsonian Institution, and on the bottom is the artist's signature.
The Habsburg eagle has two heads, the left one shown wearing the crown made for the coronation by the Pope of Otto the Great as a successor to Charlemagne as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 962. That crown was worn by those Habsburgs who were emperors of the Holy Roman Empire (generally, modern day Germany) between 1438 and 1806.
The right head is wearing the Holy Crown of St Stephen, presented to the Hungarian king of that name by the Pope in the year 1000. Physical possession of that crown has historically been the constitutional deed to Hungary, a kingdom whose rulers were elected by the nobility. The last free Hungarians entrusted the crown for safe keeping from the hands of the advancing Russians at the end of World War II. Stored in Fort Knox, the world-wide protests of free Hungarians in exile did not prevent the Carter administration from handing it over to the communist government now in power in Hungary. The cross atop the crown was bent during a theft 500 years ago.
A larger crown, made in prague at the order of Emperor Rudolf II in the very early 1600s, surmounts the two other crowns. It was worn by the Habsburgs as Emperors of Austria after the year 1806 when Napoleon's armies brought the thousand year old Holy Roman Empire to an end. It was worn until the dissolution of the Habsburgs' Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.
On the breast of the Habsburg eagle is a coat of arms. The crowned lion on the left is from the original medieval arms of the Habsburgs. The white and red stole in the center is the symbol of Austria. The right half of the shield represents the House of Lorraine which married into the House of Habsburg, providing heirs following the extinction of the male imperial line of Habsburgs in 1740.
In one talon the Habsburg eagle holds the imperial orb, a golden sphere representing the earth surmounted by a cross. This orb is part of the ancient coronation regalia of the Holy Roman Empire and, like the crowns of The Empire and of Rudolf above the eagles, is on display today in Vienna along with other crown jewels. The English coronation rite uses a similar item, but of much more recent vintage.
In the talons in which the Habsburg eagle normally holds a sword, and the American eagle arrows, these eagles hold instead the ends of a banner.
The motto on the banner is an adaptation of a famous saying attributed to a king of Hungary referring to the tendency of the Habsburgs to acquire countries, not throught conquest, but through the dowries and inheritances of well-planned marriages. In Latin, the original maxim translates "Let others make war! You, happy Austria, marry!"
The intended recipient of this gift, the Archduke Otto, is the eldest son and heir of the last Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. With a PhD. earned at the University of Louvain (Belgium), the Archduke has spent his life promoting the cause of European unity and peace.
To honor his sentiments, the motto on this banner has been altered (with the aid of Cedar Rapids Latin teacher Frances Heaton) to read "Let others make war! You, hapy Europe, unite!" The traditional American motto referring to the union of the 13 colonies --"e pluribus unum"-- appearing above the American eagle on this egg echoes the theme.
The banner encircles the tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral, the most prominent landmark of the Habsburgs' capital city of Vienna.
On either side of the top of the tower are small gridirons, symbols of St. Lawrence's martyrdom, representing the Spanish line of the Habsburg family by recalling Escorial, that unique combination palace, monestery, and mausoleum built in the shape of St. Lawrence's gridiron outside of Madrid by Phillip II (1527-1598), King of Spain and humband of Queen Mary I ("Bloody Mary") of England.
It is on Phillip II's birthday in 1979 that the egg will be prsented to the present-day head of the family, Archduke Otto.
Phillip's great-great-grandfather, the Emperor Frederick III (died in 1493) had adopted the monogram AEIOU as a dynastic symbol. The device has had several meanings (e.g. Austriae Est Imperare Orbi Universo, Alles Erdreich Ist Österreich Unterthan, Alea Electra Justa Omni Vincit, Austria Erit In Omne Ultimum) in various languages over the 500 years since then, and is given a new one in the inscription on this egg:
An den philosophia doctoris
Erzherzog für ein
Internationales Europe
Otto
Überreicht(Presented to the doctor of philosophy, and leader toward an international Europe, Otto)
The inscription, which includes a pun in German on the etymology of Otto's title of Archduke (Erzherzog in German), was derived by Zegel in consultation with his friend Rudolf Thill, a professor of history and German in Des Moines. Thill was born in Silesia, then a part of Germany, formerly a part of the Habsburg's Bohemia, and today a part of Poland.
The inscription is surrounded by a necklace from which hangs a gold sheepskin, the symbol of the Order ofthe Golden Fleece, the highest chivalric honor in the Holy Roman Empire. It survives today, more exclusive than the English Order of the Garter, and the Archduke Otto is the Grand Master of the Order.
The remainder of the inscription refers to the fact that the egg is presented by Zegel on behalf of other Americans of the Smithsonian Institution's study tour of the Habsburg territories, and was presented in Munich on May 21, 1979.
On the top and bottom of the egg is the combination sunburst and compass rose symbol of the Smithsonian Institution, sponsor of other parts of the tour. The audience with the Archduke was arranged by Zegel, though, not the Smithsonian.
The signature of the artist appears below the American eagle, and again on the bottom of the egg.
May 8, 1979
Stanley R Zegel
1828 5th Ave SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52403
319/366-3789