Archduchess Isabella Clara of Austria
Isabella Clara of Austria | |
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Ferdinand Charles, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat | |
Father | Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol |
Mother | Claudia de' Medici |
Isabella Clara of Austria (12 August 1629 – 24 February 1685) was a Duchess consort of
From 1665 to 1671, she was Regent of the Duchies of Mantua and Montferrat on behalf of her minor son. Accused of marrying her lover without Imperial consent, she was forced to take the veil as a nun and imprisoned at the Ursuline monastery of Mantua until her death.
Life
Birth and family
Isabella Clara was born in Innsbruck on 12 August 1629
From her mother's first marriage, she had an older half-sister,
Duchess of Mantua
On 7 August 1649, the marriage contract between Isabella Clara and
Charles' mother Maria Gonzaga, Duchess of Montferrat and former Regent of the Duchy of Mantua –who was an adherent to follow a pro-Austrian foreign policy– and her paternal aunt Eleonora Gonzaga, Dowager Holy Roman Empress organized the union. In March 1651, together with her husband and mother-in-law, Isabella Clara accompanied her sister-in-law, Eleonora Gonzaga, for her wedding with Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor in Wiener Neustadt. They remained in the Imperial court until May, when they returned to Mantua.[6]
In Revere on 31 August 1652, Isabella Clara gave birth to her only child, Ferdinand Charles, the future and last Duke of Mantua and Montferrat of the House of Gonzaga; however, this didn't help the couple overcome their differences. Charles II was indifferent to his wife –whom he married purely for political reasons–, and had a long-standing relationship with the Countess Margherita della Rovere, also living at Casale with della Rovere openly. Isabella Clara, with the help of Pope Alexander VII, expelled her husband's mistress to Rome;[9] but this didn't stop the hypersexuality of Charles II, who continued taking lovers, both male and female.[6][7]
Isabella Clara soon tired of her husband's behaviors and, in spite of her mother-in-law's requests that she be prudent, Isabella Clara also took a lover, Count Charles Bulgarini, a secretary of the Duke and a baptized
Regency
During her husband's life, Isabella Clara relied on the advice of her lover and controlled the political situation in the duchy. When she became a Regent on behalf of her minor son, she appointed Count Bulgarini as her First Minister and took a neutral position between the Spanish and French kingdoms and also kept a cautious policy to ensure that Mantua and Montferrat would become independent from the Holy Roman Empire.[6]
In November 1666, she received the ducal investiture from the
Imprisonment and death
In August 1669, the Dowager Duchess ended her regency and transferred all of her powers to her son. However, due to the dissolute behavior of the young duke, she had to continue participating in the affairs of the state. In August 1670, at
After the official wedding ceremony of her son with the Guastalla heiress in July 1671, Isabella Clara retired from court and moved to Goito Castle, where she lived with Count Bulgarini, whom she married secretly shortly thereafter. This may have been why, on 16 December 1671, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor imprisoned Isabella Clara in an Ursuline monastery and Count Bulgarini in a Dominican monastery, both having been imprisoned with the consent of the Pope. At the request of the Imperial Commissioner, Count Gottlieb von Windisch-Graetz, both Isabella Clara and Count Bulgarini took monastic vows. The Dowager Duchess became a Poor Clare nun.[6]
Isabella Clara died on 24 February 1685 in the Ursuline monastery in Mantua.[1] Only her son attended her funeral and she was buried in the Church of Sant'Orsola.[14] Her public memorial service took place on 14 May in the Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara.[6]
Ancestors
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Notes
- ^ Other sources dated the marriage ceremony on 13 June 1649. Ersch 1862, p. 161.
References
- ^ a b c GONZAGA: LINEA SOVRANA DI MANTOVA in: www.genmarenostrum.com (Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà Italiana) [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 159 – via Wikisource. .
- ISBN 0-333-29315-0, p. 111
- ISBN 978-3-88309-615-5.
- Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 148 – via Wikisource. .
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Raffaele Tamalio: Isabella Clara d'Asburgo, duchessa di Mantova e del Monferrato – Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani vol. 62 (2004) in: www.treccani.it [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ a b c Gino Benzoni: Carlo II Gonzaga Nevers, duca di Mantova e del Monferrato – Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani vol. 20 (1977) in: www.treccani.it [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ a b Paola Artoni, Paolo Bertelli, Vannozzo Posio: Carlo II Gonzaga Nevers (1629–1665) in: Storia di Mantova (www.fermimn.gov.it) Archived 3 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ Gregorio Leti: L’amore di Carlo Gonzaga, duca di Mantova e della contessa Margarita della Rovere in: nuovorinascimento.org [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ Isabella Clara's time of regency for her son (1665–1669)
- ^ Raffaele Tamalio: Maria Gonzaga, duchessa di Monferrato e di Mantova – Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani vol. 70 (2008) in: www.treccani.it [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ Harold Acton: The Last Medici. p. 84.
- ^ Paola Artoni, Paolo Bertelli, Vannozzo Posio: Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga Nevers (1652–1708) in: Storia di Mantova (www.fermimn.gov.it) Archived 3 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ Isabella Clara of Tyrol in: findagrave.com [retrieved 4 December 2016].
- ^ Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 416 – via Wikisource. .
- ^ Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 352 – via Wikisource. .
- ^ Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 20 – via Wikisource. .
- ^ a b c d "The Medici Granducal Archive" (PDF). The Medici Archive Project. pp. 12–13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2005. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ a b "Christine of Lorraine (c. 1571–1637)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Gale Research. 2002. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ a b Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ a b Obermayer-Marnach, Eva (1953), "Anna Jagjello", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 299; (full text online)
- ^ a b Goetz, Walter (1953), "Albrecht V.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 158–160; (full text online)
- ^ Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 151 – via Wikisource. .
- ^ ISBN 88-85957-36-6.
- ^ a b "Christina of Denmark (1521–1590)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Gale Research. 2002. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ a b "Medici, Catherine de (1519–1589)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Gale Research. 2002. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
Bibliography
- Wurzbach, C. von (2012) [1860]. "Habsburg, Elisabeth auch Isabella Clara von Oesterreich". Biographisches Lexikon des Kaisertums Österreich (in German). Austria: Austrian Literature Online, University of Innsbruck. p. 178.
- Ersch, Johann Samuel (2012) [1862]. Allgemeine encyclopädie der wissenschaften und künste in alphabetischer folge von genannten schrifts bearbeitet und herausgegeben (in German). Leipzig: Gleditsch. p. 161, 163, 188.
- 1665–1669 Isabella Clara d'Austria, reggenza per il figlio Ferdinando Carlo in: catalogo-mantova.lamoneta.it [retrieved 4 December 2016]