Contribution to the origin of progeny in middle European Habsburgs: skeletal roentgencephalometric analysis of the Habsburgs buried in Prague.

From comparisons of roentgencraniometric findings in the first Habsburgs on the Bohemian throne (1526-1612) reduction of the length of the anterior cranial base is obvious and is also consistent with reduction of the depth of the maxilla. The findings are consistent with the small cranium and skull capacity of these Habsburgs. The maxilla is therefore not retrusive, even in Rudolf II where it is affected by a pathological process. The body of the mandible is not reduced which causes a disproportion due to the short anterior base and the maxilla. The disproportion in Ferdinand I and Maxmilian II is compensated by posterior rotation of the mandible. In Rudolf II the body of the mandible is markedly prolonged, the lower jaw is displaced forward and the finding can be described as true progenia. It is evidenced by the shorter anterior base and maxilla of the emperor. Habsburg progenia is thus evident in Central European Habsburgs only in Rudolf II, probably due to the traits of his mother from the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs. The parameters of the lower jaw of father Maxmilian II and grandfather Ferdinand I, however, do not exclude a certain predisposition to progeny in the Central European Habsburg family. The cranium of the first Habsburg on the Czech throne, Ferdinand I, is typical in the high maxillary portion of the face with a markedly posterior rotation of the mandible and a steep position of the upper and lower incisors. The cranium of his wife Anna Jagellonska, on the other hand, is typical in bimaxillary protrusion. In the son Maxmilian II, as a trait from the maternal side, the face is not prolonged, the incisors procline well and the occlusion is normal. In Rudolf II the face is shorter due to the overclosure of the mandible and the pathological process of the maxilla. Anthropological examination of all three generations of emperors revealed increasing brachycrania, a narrow highly vaulted forehead with a non-indented nasal root, poorly developed supraciliary arches, traces of the obliterated suture on the forehead and poorly developed sexual signs. In Rudolf II we can assume incomprehensible speech, In Maxmilian II a 7 cm long styloid process on the right may have caused neuralgia of the trigeminal and glossopharyngeal nerve.