Maria Anna of Spain
| Maria Anna of Spain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Croatia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tenure | 20 February 1631 – 13 May 1646 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coronation | 14 February 1638, St. Martin's Cathedral | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 August 1606 El Escorial, Crown of Castile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 13 May 1646 (aged 39) Linz, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Burial | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maria Anna of Spain (18 August 1606 – 13 May 1646)[1] was a Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia by her marriage to Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor.[2] She acted as regent on several occasions during the absences of her husband, notably during his absence in Bohemia in 1645.[3] The daughter of King Margaret of Austria, she was prior to her Imperial marriage considered a possible wife for Charles, Prince of Wales. The event, later known in history as the "Spanish match", provoked a domestic and political crisis in the kingdoms of England and Scotland. In the imperial court in Vienna, she continued to be strongly influenced by her native Spanish culture from clothes to music and also promoted the strengthening of relations between the Imperial and the Spanish branches of the House of Habsburg .
LifeEarly lifePrincess Maria Anna of Bavaria.[citation needed ]
BetrothalFrom early childhood, Maria Anna played an important role in the matrimonial projects of her father. In adolescence, she was betrothed to Archduke John-Charles, eldest son and heir of Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her fiancé was her first cousin and the son of her mother's brother. The marriage never took place because of Archduke John-Charles's early death in 1618.[4]
In 1622, King Catholicism. At the end, the wedding never took place for political reasons but also because of the reluctance of the new Spanish king to conclude a dynastic marriage with the House of Stuart.[6][7][8][9] Charles eventually married the devout Catholic Henrietta Maria of France of the House of Bourbon .
MarriageIn late 1626, Maria Anna was betrothed to Archduke Maria Anna had left Madrid for Vienna in December 1629, fully three years after her engagement and nearly five years after the proposal for marriage was first mooted. The journey, once it was embarked upon, took more than a year to complete. On route by sea, in Genoa, complications arose from an epidemic of the plague that erupted in the Italian Peninsula. For that reason, the party was unable to stop in Bologna, where Cardinal Antonio Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII, was waiting for the infanta to give her the Golden Rose. The party moved to Naples, where Maria Anna finally received the award. Leaving Naples, the Infanta crossed the Papal States after she had made a pilgrimage to the Basilica della Santa Casa. On that section of her journey, Maria Anna was accompanied by Roman aristocracy, led by another nephew of Pope Urban VIII, Taddeo Barberini, Prince of Palestrina. On 26 January 1631, she arrived in Trieste, where she met Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, her future brother-in-law, who would first stand in for his brother at a wedding by proxy and then escort the infanta to Vienna.[11][12] The very day, Maria Anna was married to King Ferdinand of Hungary and Bohemia per procura, with Archduke Leopold Wilhelm serving as the proxy. Before the official wedding, King Ferdinand, not trusting the previous portraits that he had seen of the infanta, decided to view his bride secretly. The Royal Oberhofmeister asked for an audience with Maria Anna. On that visit, he was accompanied by some nobles, one of whom was her groom. Struck by the beauty of the infanta, King Ferdinand immediately revealed his identity and began a conversation with Maria Anna in Spanish.[13] The love and respect that the future emperor felt for his wife lasted throughout their marriage. He was never unfaithful to her and never had any illegitimate children.[14] In Vienna on 20 February 1631,[1] Maria Anna was married to King Ferdinand of Hungary-Bohemia. The festivities lasted a whole month. The marriage was described as friendly. Maria Anna was described as happy-tempered, friendly and intelligent, and she relieved the feelings of the rather melancholic Ferdinand. Holy Roman Empress and German Queen,_por_Felipe_Diriksen.jpg) Maria Anna arrived at the Imperial court in Vienna with the Spanish fashion, theatre, dance and music (including the first sounded guitar). As the wife of the heir, she maintained good relations with all members of her husband's family, but she had a complicated relationship with Ferdinand's stepmother, Empress Dowager Eleonora Gonzaga, mainly because a competition between them began for influence at the Imperial court. Maria Anna also paid much attention to the arts, especially painting. She collected works of Italian, Spanish and Flemish painters of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.[6][15] In Maria Anna, being active in politics as the adviser of her spouse, was an important mediator between the emperor and their Spanish relatives. Although she always defended the interests of her husband, she did not forget the interests of her brothers King Philip IV and the Cardinal-Infante.[18] In her court, which was consisted mainly of Spaniards, frequent guests were the Spanish ambassador and other diplomats. The emperor, during his absences from the Imperial court in Vienna, appointed his wife as regent, such as in 1645, during the Thirty Years' War, when he was in the Kingdom of Bohemia.[14] DeathIn March 1645 Maria Anna and her children left Swedish army and moved to Vienna. By April, it was ready to cross the Danube there and threatened to occupy the city. The Imperial family fled instead temporarily to Graz.[19] After returning to Vienna, it was forced to move again to Linz because of the plague. Maria Anna's sixth pregnancy became known in January 1646. Four months later, on 12 May at Linz Castle, she suddenly felt ill with fever and heavy bleeding and died the next morning. Her unborn child, a girl, was taken out alive from her womb. She was named Maria after her mother but lived only a few hours. On 24 May, both mother and daughter in the same coffin were moved to Vienna and buried in the Imperial Crypt, which already contained the coffins with the remains of the two sons of the empress who had died earlier. The funeral cortege was accompanied by the Spanish ambassador and the empress's maid of honor. Very upset by the death of his wife and child, the emperor was unable to attend the funeral.[20][21] However, after returning to Vienna in late August, he finally paid his respects to the remains of Maria Anna, and in September, he announced the engagement of their eldest daughter, Maria Anna, with Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias. However, the prince died the following month shortly after the announcement. Members of the late empress' household who came with her from Spain, including her confessor and maids of honour, lived at the Imperial court in Vienna for a few more years after her death.[22]
IssueDuring her marriage, Maria Anna gave birth to six children:[23]
Ancestors
Depictions in artClaire Jowitt views the character of princess Donusa in Massinger's 1624 play The Renegado as an allegory of the Infanta during the failed marriage attempt.[30] In 1634, the Spanish poet and playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca, in honour of the victory of the Spaniards and the Austrians over the Swedes in the Battle of Nördlingen, set in Madrid a performance in which Maria Anna, with her husband, was one of the actors.[31] Save a few portraits of Maria Anna as child, almost all of them are included in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. In the earliest of those paintings, made by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, she is shown at one year of age.[32] The collection of the Portland Art Museum includes a 1630s portrait of Maria, painted by Felipe Diriksen. A portrait of the Infanta Maria Anna, then Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, made by Diego Velázquez, court painter at Madrid, was part of the collection of the Museo del Prado.[33] Portraits of the Empress made by Frans Luycx (painter at the court in Vienna), Bartolomé González y Serrano, Rodrigo de Villandrando, Justus Sustermans, Juan van der Hamen and other unknown authors are also stored in the collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum,[34] Museo del Prado,[35] the gallery of the Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt[36] and the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio.[37]
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