Tags

, , , , ,

Catherine of Austria (September 15, 1533 – February 28, 1572) was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Her mother, Anna of Bohemia and Hungary was the elder child and only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516) and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale. King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia was her younger brother. Her paternal grandparents were King Casimir IV of Poland (of the Jagiellon dynasty) and Elisabeth of Austria, herself a daughter of Albert II of Germany, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Elizabeth of Luxembourg, daughter of Emperor Sigismund.

Anna of Bohemia and Hungary was the heiresses of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Duchy of Luxembourg and the Duchy of Kujavia. Her maternal grandparents were Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale, and Catherine de Foix, an Infanta of the Kingdom of Navarre. She is maternally, 9 times great grandmother to Her Majesty, Queen Victoria.

Catherine of Austria spent most of her childhood at Hofburg, Innsbruck and received education based on discipline and religion. She learned Italian and Latin languages. On March 17, 1543, Catherine was betrothed to Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Marquess of Montferrat, reflecting her father’s desire to strengthen Habsburg influence against France in northern Italy, particularly Milan.

Both Catherine and Francesco were 9 and 10 years old at the time, so the wedding took place six years later on October 22, 1549. In October 1549, Catherine with a dowry of 100,000 Rhine florins was escorted by her elder brother Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria from Innsbruck to Mantua. The marriage lasted only four months as Francesco drowned in Lake Como on February 21, 1550, and a widowed Catherine returned home to Innsbruck. To improve Catherine’s chances of a better second marriage, the Habsburgs claimed that the marriage was not consummated.

In May 1551, after the death of his second scandalous wife Barbara Radziwiłł, King Sigismund II Augustus became a widower. Emperor Ferdinand I pursued the marriage between his daughter Catherine and Sigismund to create a pro-Habsburg group within the Polish court.

Particularly, Emperor Ferdinand wanted to prevent Polish assistance to Sigismund’s sister Isabella Jagiellon and her son John Sigismund Zápolya in the succession disputes over the Kingdom of Hungary. Both Catherine and Sigismund personally opposed the marriage. Catherine blamed Sigismund of mistreating and causing the early death of her older sister and his first wife Elizabeth of Austria. Sigismund feared that Catherine would be similarly unattractive and of frail health as Elisabeth. However, the Habsburgs threatened to create an anti-Polish alliance with the Tsardom of Russia.

In early 1553, Mikołaj “the Black” Radziwiłł traveled to the court of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, in an attempt to persuade the emperor to cease his assistance to Czar Ivan IV the Terrible. Radziwiłł had further orders to travel to investigate marriage opportunities with Mechthild of Bavaria or one of the daughters of Ercole II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara.

However, the Emperor convinced Radziwiłł that marriage between Catherine and Sigismund was best. Radziwiłł wrote enthusiastic letters to Sigismund, who soon gave in and gave his consent on April 10, 1553. The papal dispensation (they were first cousins once removed) was received on May 20, and the wedding treaty was signed on June 23. The same day the per procura wedding took place. The actual wedding was delayed due to Sigismund’s ill health from July 1 to July 30. The celebrations lasted 10 days. Catherine’s dowry was 100,000 florins as well as 500 grzywnas of silver, 48 expensive dresses, and about 800 jewels.

Life with Sigismund

Catherine spoke Italian and therefore could communicate with Queen mother Bona Sforza and her family. She was ambitious and tried to gain political influence in the Polish court which caused Sigismund’s ire. At least at first, he attempted to do right by his wife – he needed an heir and was acutely aware of the criticism of his treatment of his first wife Elizabeth of Austria.

In February 1554, the royal couple separated for the first time. Catherine was in Parczew while Sigismund attended general sejm in Lublin. According to royal secretary Michał Trzebuchowski, the queen was very upset by the separation and kept crying. When Sigismund visited his wife on April 9-10, Catherine informed him that she was pregnant. At the end of April, the royal couple traveled to Lithuania and on 25 May reached Vilnius where with short breaks Catherine lived for nine years. It is unclear whether it was a miscarriage, false pregnancy, or an intrigue, but there was no birth in October 1554.

Relatively normal, albeit somewhat distant, the marriage continued for a few more years. It seems that Catherine accompanied her husband to general sejm in spring 1555 and to the per procura wedding of Sophia Jagiellon and Heinrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in January 1556. She also continued to mediate between her husband and her father, carried frequent correspondence with Albert, Duke of Prussia, and was known for generally favorable views on Protestantism. Catherine’s dowry was paid by her father at the end of 1555 or very early 1556, and on 19 January 1556, she received the towns of Wiślica, Żarnów, Radom, Nowy Korczyn, Kozienice, Chęciny, and Radoszyce.

In the spring of 1556, the Queen mother Bona Sforza returned to her native Italy and her two yet-unmarried daughters, Anna Jagiellon and Catherine Jagiellon, moved to Vilnius. It seems that the three women became close. In summer 1558, the royal family returned to Poland. In October, Catherine became severely ill, but the cause of the illness is unknown as she would not allow Polish doctors near her. When her father sent a couple of Austrian doctors, they reported only high fever and chills.

She recovered somewhat only in spring 1559 but her recovery was interrupted by frequent travels in summer 1559 to avoid a plague outbreak. Catherine returned to Vilnius only in early 1560 and became ill again. Sigismund was convinced that it was epilepsy, the same disease that tormented his first wife and Catherine’s sister. Their marriage became very distant.