János Libényi

János Libényi (in archaic English sources: John Libényi, Csákvár, 8 December 1831 – Vienna, 26 February 1853) was a Hungarian tailor-servant who attempted to assassinate Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. This was the first of seven assassination attempts against the Emperor.

Life

He was born in 1831 to János Libényi Sr., tailor and chief-conductor of the local guild of tailors, and Erzsébet (Elisabeth) Lukács. He had previously worked as a tailor's assistant in Arad, and in 1850 he traveled to Pest and a year later to Vienna, where he worked in Samuel Mayer's tailoring workshop, however he failed to pass the master's exam. Libényi further claimed that the young Franz Joseph had seduced his younger sister Margit (Margaret) after becoming entranced by her dancing at the Prater and had her educated at a girls' school. For Libényi, this 'humiliating and shameful event' was the last straw, and he decided to assassinate the emperor no matter what it took. However, investigation records make this claim unlikely, as they reveal that of Libényi's three sisters, one was married at the time, and two were under the age of fifteen, casting doubt on the plausibility of Franz Joseph's romantic involvement with any of them. The life of the monarch, however, was not only saved due to the quick intervention, as Libényi's knife with the wrong side of the blade hit the hard collar of his military jacket and slipped. and an oil painting depicting the assassination attempt is held by the Vienna Museum.