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The Habsburgs. By Martyn Rady.
《哈布斯堡家族》，作者：馬丁·雷迪
There were early hints that the union of Philip of Habsburg with Juana the Mad in 1496 might not be a happy one. It says a lot about the aristocracy of the era that the main problem came less from the bride's line than from the groom's: Philip counted among his ancestors such unpromising genetic material as Albert the Lame, Leopold the Fat and, in an age that excelled in the honest epithet, Frederick of the Empty Pockets.
早期有跡象表明，1496年哈布斯堡家族的菲利普和胡安娜的結合可能并不愉快。它講述了許多關于那個時代的貴族，很多人認為主要的問題不是來自新娘的血統，而是源于新郎的血統：在一個擅長誠實稱呼的時代，菲利浦在盤點自己祖先時，把許多不樂觀的遺傳物質算在其中，比如跛子阿爾伯特，胖子利奧波德以及腓特烈四世。
Sure enough, the union proved disastrous.Eventually its worst sufferer was Don Carlos, the couple's deformed and mentally delusional great-grandchild, in whom ancestral inbreedings echoed.The family anriously treated its young heir to the most sophisticated medical cures then available but, despite being made to share a bed with the wizened body of a mummified saint, Don Carlos did not recover. Nor did the reputation of the Habsburgs.
果然，這場結合被證明是災難性的。最終，這對夫婦結合的最大受害者是唐·卡洛斯，他是他們的曾孫，患有畸形以及精神妄想癥，祖輩的近親繁殖回響在他身上。這個家族焦急地為年輕的繼承人提供了當時最先進的醫療方法，但盡管被安排與一具干癟的圣人的尸體同床共枕，但唐·卡洛斯并沒有康復。哈布斯堡家族也聲名狼藉。
Martyn Rady's new book is billed as "the definitive history" of the clan. Not, it must be said, a hotly contested title. Once the names of Europe's most powerful families- the Bourbons and Battenbergs and Garibaldis-were known across the world. Today, beyond the biscuit tin, they are largely forgotten.
馬丁雷迪的新書被譽為是這個家族的“不可更改的歷史”。必須說，這不是一個競爭激烈的頭銜。波旁家族、巴滕貝格斯家族和加里波第家族曾經是歐洲最有權勢的家族，它們的名字聞名于世。今天，除了餅干罐，他們基本上被遺忘了。
Except, that is, for their eccentric matchmaking. If you have ever wondered why marrying your uncle is inadvisable, the Habsburgs can enlighten you. For centuries they experimented with marriages between first cousins, second cousins and cousins so multiply intertwined that the traditional familial vocabulary breaks down. A mother might double as a cousin; the wife of Leopold I referred to him throughout their marriage as "Uncle".
也就是說，除了他們家族古怪的婚配。如果你想知道為什么嫁給你叔叔是不可取的，哈布斯堡家族可以啟發你。幾個世紀以來，他們一直在嘗試表親、遠房表親之間進行婚姻、繁衍，以至于傳統的家庭詞匯被打破。一個母親可以兼任表親；利奧波德一世的妻子在他們的婚姻中稱他為“叔叔”。
The result was less a family tree, branching and widening, than a convoluted web. At one point the mortality rate of Habsburg children reached 80%, four times the average of the time. Of those who lived, many were hideously misshapen, with the infamous drooping lip and jutting Habsburg jaw. It is one of the abiding puzzles of European history that its aristocrats, so good at breeding homes, should have been so bad at breeding themselves.
其結果與其說是一個分支和擴張的家譜，不如說是一個盤繞的網。哈布斯堡兒童死亡率一度達到80%，是當時平均水平的四倍。在那些活著的人中，許多人都有著可怕的畸形，有著臭名昭著的下垂的嘴唇和突出的哈布斯堡下巴。這是歐洲歷史上一個永恒的謎團，為什么貴族們很善于養家，卻如此不善于家庭繁衍。
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