Archduchess Anna of Austria
| Anna of Austria | |
|---|---|
Duchess consort of Bavaria | |
| Tenure | 7 March 1550 – 24 October 1579 |
| Born | 7 July 1528 Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 16 October 1590 (aged 62) Munich, Duchy of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire |
| Spouse | |
Anna of Bohemia and Hungary | |
Anna of Austria (7 July 1528 – 16 October 1590), a member of the Imperial
Family
Born at the
Anna's paternal grandparents were King
Life
Young Anna was engaged several times as a child, first to Prince Theodor of Bavaria (1526–1534), the eldest son of Duke William IV, then to Charles d'Orléans (1522–1545). However, both died at a young age.
Anna finally married on 4 July 1546 in Regensburg at the age of 17, Prince Albert V, the younger brother of her first fiancé. The wedding gift was 50,000 Guilder. This marriage was part of a web of alliances in which her uncle Emperor Charles V hoped to secure Duke William's support before embarking on the Schmalkaldic Wars.[2] Indeed, Duke William, though he remained formally neutral, granted the passage of Imperial troops to march against the forces of the Schmalkaldic League which besieged the Ingolstadt fortress.
After their marriage, the young couple lived at the Trausnitz Castle in Landshut, until Albert became duke upon his father's death on 7 March 1550. At the Munich Residenz, Anna and Albert had great influence on the spiritual life in the Duchy of Bavaria, and enhanced the reputation of Munich as a city of art, by founding several museums and laying the foundations for the Bavarian State Library.
Anna and Albert were also patrons to the painter
A religious woman, Anna made extensive donations to the Catholic abbey of Vadstena in Sweden and generously supported the Franciscan Order. She also provided a strict education of her grandson, the later Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria.
When her husband died on 24 October 1579 and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, William V, Anna as duchess dowager maintained her own court at the Munich Residenz. 150 years after her death in 1590, her descendant Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria used her marriage treaty with Albert as a pretext to claim the Austrian and Bohemian crown lands of the Habsburg monarchy.
Children
The marriage of Anna and Albert produced the following children:
- Karl (7 September 1547 – 7 December 1547)
- William V (29 September 1548 – 7 February 1626)
- Ferdinand (20 January 1550 – 30 January 1608)
- Charles II of Austria
- Maximiliana Maria (4 July 1552 – 11 July 1614), died unmarried.
- Friedrich (26 July 1553 – 18 April 1554)
- Ernst (17 December 1554 – 17 February 1612), Archbishop of Cologne[4]
Ancestors
| Ancestors of Archduchess Anna of Austria |
|---|
References
- ^ Ancestors of Anna of Habsburg
- JSTOR 1851170.
- ^ Hans Mielich (1552). "Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria - Kleinodienbuch der Herzogin Anna von Bayern". World Digital Library. Retrieved 2014-06-21.
- ^ Anna von Habsburg
- ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b c d Priebatsch, Felix (1908), "Wladislaw II.", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 54, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 688–696
- ^ Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 112 – via Wikisource.
- ^ Boureau, Alain (1995). The Lord's First Night: The Myth of the Droit de Cuissage. Translated by Cochrane, Lydia G. The University of Chicago Press. p. 96.
- ^ Noubel, P., ed. (1877). Revue de l'Agenais [Review of the Agenais]. Vol. 4. Société académique d'Agen. p. 497.