Marriages of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

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Anne of Brittany, Archduke of Austria, Bianca Maria Sforza, Emperor Maximilian I, House of Habsburg, Mary of Burgundy, Philip I of Castile, Philip of Burgundy, Pope Alexander VI, Pope Julius II, Royal Marriage

Emperor Maximilian was married three times, but only the first marriage produced offspring.

Maximilian I (March 22, 1459 — January 12, 1519) was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed himself elected emperor in 1508 (Pope Julius II later recognized this) at Trent, thus breaking the long tradition of requiring a papal coronation for the adoption of the Imperial title. Maximilian was the only surviving son of Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Infanta Eleanor of Portugal. Since his coronation as King of the Romans in 1486, he ran a double government, (with a separate court), with his father until Friedrich III’s death in 1493.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian’s first wife was Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482).

Mary (February 13, 1457 – March 27, 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled a collection of states that included the duchies of Limburg, Brabant, Luxembourg, the counties of Namur, Holland, Hainaut and other territories, from 1477 until her death in 1482.

As the only child of Charles I the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, a daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, Mary inherited the Burgundian lands at the age of 19 upon the death of her father in the Battle of Nancy on January 5, 1477. In order to counter the appetite of the French king Louis XI for her lands, she married Archduke Maximilian of Austria.

They were married in Ghent on August 19, 1477, and the marriage was ended by Mary’s death in a riding accident in 1482. Mary was the love of his life. Even in old age, the mere mention of her name moved him to tears (although, his sexual life, contrary to his chivalric ideals, was unchaste).

Mary of Burgundy

The grand literary projects commissioned and composed in large part by Maximilian many years after her death were in part tributes to their love, especially Theuerdank, in which the hero saved the damsel in distress like he had saved her inheritance in real life.

Beyond her beauty, the inheritance and the glory she brought, Mary corresponded to Maximilian’s ideal of a woman: the spirited grand “Dame” who could stand next to him as sovereigns. To their daughter Margaret, he described Mary: from her eyes shone the power (Kraft) that surpassed any other woman.

The marriage produced three children:

1. Philipp of Burgundy (1478–1506) who inherited his mother’s domains following her death, but predeceased his father. He married Joanna of Castile, becoming king-consort of Castile upon her accession in 1504, ruled Castile via the concept Jure uxoris (a Latin phrase meaning “by right of (his) wife”) and is known as King Felipe I of Castile. He and was the father of the Holy Roman Emperors Charles V and Ferdinand I.

The meeting of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy

2. Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), who was first engaged at the age of 2 to the French dauphin (who became Charles VIII of France a year later) to confirm peace between France and Burgundy. She was sent back to her father in 1492 after Charles repudiated their betrothal to marry Anne of Brittany. She was then married to the crown prince of Castile and Aragon Juan, Prince of Asturias, and after his death to Philibert II of Savoy, after which she undertook the guardianship of her deceased brother Philipp’s children, and governed Burgundy for the heir, Charles.

3. Francis of Austria, who died shortly after his birth in 1481.

Maximilian’s second wife was Anne of Brittany (1477–1514) the eldest child of Duke Francis II of Brittany and his second wife Margaret of Foix, Infanta of Navarre.

Anne of Brittany

They were married by proxy in Rennes on December 18, 1490, but the contract was dissolved by Pope Alexander VI in early 1492, by which time Anne had already been forced by the French king, Charles VIII (the fiancé of Maximilian’s daughter Margaret of Austria) to repudiate the contract and marry him instead.

The drive behind this marriage, to the great annoyance of Maximilian’s father, Emperor Friedrich III (who characterized it as “disgraceful”), was the desire of personal revenge against the French (Maximilian blamed France for the great tragedies of his life up to and including Mary of Burgundy’s death, political upheavals that followed, troubles in the relationship with his son and later, Philipp’s death ).

Maximilian, as the young King of the Romans, had in mind a pincer grip against the Kingdom of France, while Friedrich III wanted him to focus on expansion towards the East and maintenance of stability in newly reacquired Austria. But Brittany was so weak that it could not resist French advance by itself even briefly like the Burgundian State had done, while Maximilian could not even personally come to Brittany to consummate the marriage.

Maximilian’s third wife was Bianca Maria Sforza (1472–1510). She was the eldest legitimate daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan by his second wife, Bona of Savoy, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan of Cyprus.

Bianca Maria Sforza

They were married in 1493, the marriage bringing Maximilian a rich dowry and allowing him to assert his rights as imperial overlord of Milan. The marriage was unhappy, and they had no children. In Maximilian’s view, while Bianca might surpass his first wife Mary in physical beauty, she was just a “child” with “a mediocre mind”, who could neither make decisions nor be presented as a respectable lady to the society.

Benecke opines that this seems unfair, as while Bianca was always concerned with trivial, private matters (Recent research though indicates that Bianca was an educated woman who was politically active), she was never given the chance to develop politically, unlike the other women in Maximilian’s family including Margaret of Austria or Catherine of Saxony.

Despite her unsuitability as an empress, Maximilian tends to be criticized for treating her with coldness and neglect, which after 1500 only became worse. Bianca, on the other hand, loved the emperor deeply and always tried to win his heart with heartfelt letters, expensive jewels and allusions to sickness, but did not even get back a letter, developed eating disorders and mental illness, and died a childless woman.

Joseph Grünpeck, the court historian and physician, criticized the emperor, who, in Grünpeck’s opinion, was responsible for Bianca’s death through neglect.

In addition, he had several illegitimate children, but the number and identities of those are a matter of great debate. Johann Jakob Fugger writes in Ehrenspiegel (Mirror of Honour) that the emperor began fathering illegitimate children after becoming a widower, and there were eight children in total, four boys and four girls.

December 27, 1459: Birth of John I Albert, King of Poland

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Archduke of Austria, Elizabeth of Austria, Elizabeth of Luxembourg, Emperor Sigismund, Jagiellonian Dynasty, John I Albert, King Albrecht II of the Romans (Germany), King Casimir IV of Poland, King of Poland and Duke of Głogów

John I Albert (December 27, 1459 – June 17, 1501) was King of Poland from 1492 until his death in 1501 and Duke of Głogów (Glogau) from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV and his wife Elizabeth of Austria, the daughter of King Albrecht II of the Romans (Germany), Archduke of Austria, and his wife Elizabeth of Luxembourg, daughter of Emperor Sigismund. The exact date of her birth is unknown and has been variously provided between 1436 and early 1439.

Several rulers were crowned King of the Romans (king of Germany) but not emperor, although they styled themselves thus, among whom were: Conrad I and Heinrich the Fowler in the 10th century, and Conrad IV, Rudolf I, Adolph and Albrecht I and Albrecht II.

As a kin to the House of Habsburg, John Albert was groomed to become Emperor in the Holy Roman Empire, a plan which ultimately failed. He was well-educated and tutored by scholars such as Johannes Longinus and Callimachus, whom he subsequently befriended. Heavily influenced by the Italian Renaissance, John Albert sought to strengthen royal authority at the expense of the Catholic Church and the clergy.

John I Albert, King of Poland and Duke of Głogów

In 1487, he led a force against the Ottoman Empire and defeated the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate during the early phase of the Polish–Ottoman War. In the aftermath of the Bohemian–Hungarian War, John Albert unsuccessfully attempted to usurp Hungary from his elder brother Vladislaus but was instead granted the Duchy of Głogów to calm his ambition.

John Albert ascended to the Polish throne in 1492 whilst his younger brother Alexander was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania by an independent Lithuanian assembly, thus temporarily breaking a personal union between the two nations. He was proclaimed king through an oral ballot orchestrated by Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon.

To secure his succession against the Piast princes from the Duchy of Masovia, he dispatched an army to the electoral proceedings which alienated the higher nobles and magnates. He later invaded Masovia to deprive Conrad III of his ancestral holdings and curtail internal opposition to his rule.

In 1497, John Albert launched a personal crusade into Moldavia to uphold Polish suzerainty, establish control over Black Sea ports and dethrone Stephen III in favour of John Albert’s brother Sigismund. The campaign’s failure greatly hindered Polish expansion into southeastern Europe.

A catastrophic Moldavian Campaign was a major blunder which psychologically scarred John Albert for life and likely affected his health. He died suddenly on June 17,1501 in Toruń, where he agreed to negotiate with the Teutonic Knights.

The most likely cause of death was syphilis, though the monarch also suffered from other ailments and battle wounds. The king’s body was embalmed for the journey, and on June 29, the funeral cortège left Toruń for the royal capital of Kraków. His heart was embedded inside the Toruń Cathedral, but its exact location remains unknown.

John Albert was laid to rest on July 28, 1501 at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, in one of the dedicated chapels adjacent to the cathedral’s nave. The Late Gothic red-marble headstone with the king’s effigy and ledger was sculpted by Stanisław Stwosz, the son of Veit Stoss.

John Albert remains a largely forgotten and overlooked figure in Polish historiography. His relatively short reign ended in a major military setback, and he was criticised during his lifetime for embracing absolutism and attempting to centralise the government.

He is credited for creating a bicameral parliament comprising the Senate and the Sejm, which granted lower-class gentry the right of expression in the matters of state. Conversely, he limited the movement of peasants, confining them to nobles’ estates for life.

John Albert never married and remained a lifelong bachelor. It is uncertain whether he fathered any illegitimate children, however, it is evident that the king was a libertine who led a promiscuous life. Even during his lifetime John was known to be a notorious womaniser and a dissolute.

History of the Title Archduke

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Archduke of Austria, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Emperor Friedrich III, Emperor Maximilian I, Empress Maria Theresa, Golden Bull of 1356, House of Habsburg, House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen, Privilegium maius

Archduke (feminine: Archduchess) was the title borne from 1358 by the Habsburg rulers of the Archduchy of Austria, and later by all senior members of that dynasty. It denotes a rank within the former Holy Roman Empire (962–1806), which was below that of Emperor and King, roughly equal to Grand Duke, but above that of a Prince and Duke.

The territory ruled by an Archduke or Archduchess was called an Archduchy. All remaining Archduchies ceased to exist in 1918. The current head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine is Archduke Karl von Habsburg.

TerminologyThe English word is first recorded in 1530, derived from Middle French archeduc, a 15th-century derivation from Medieval Latin archidux, from Latin archi- (Greek ἀρχι-) meaning “authority” or “primary” (see arch-) and dux “duke” (literally “leader”).

Coronet of an Archduke

“Archduke” is a title distinct from “Grand Duke” a later monarchic title borne by the rulers of other European countries, such as Luxembourg for example.

History

The Latin title archidux is first attested in reference to Bruno the Great, who ruled simultaneously as Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia in the 10th century, in the work of his biographer Ruotger. In Ruotger, the title served as an honorific denoting Bruno’s unusual position rather than a formal office.

The title was not used systematically until the 14th century, when the title “Archduke of Austria” was invented in the forged Privilegium Maius (1358–1359) by Duke Rudolph IV of Austria. Rudolph originally claimed the title in the form palatinus archidux (“palatine archduke”).

The title was intended to emphasize the claimed precedence (thus “Arch-“) of the Duchy of Austria, in an effort to put the Habsburgs on an even level with the Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire, as Austria had been passed over when the Golden Bull of 1356 assigned that dignity to the four highest-ranking secular Imperial princes and three Archbishops.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV refused to recognize the title, as did all the other ruling dynasties of the member countries of the Empire. But Duke Ernst the Iron and his descendants unilaterally assumed the title of Archduke.

The Archducal title was only officially recognized in 1453 by Emperor Friedrich III, when the Habsburgs had solidified their grip on the throne of the de jure elected Holy Roman Emperor, making it de facto hereditary.

Despite that imperial authorization of the title, which showed a Holy Roman Emperor from the Habsburg dynasty deciding over a title claim of the Habsburg dynasty, many ruling dynasties of the countries which formed the Empire refused to recognize the title “Archduke”.

Emperor Maximilian I, Archduke of Austria

Ladislaus the Posthumous, Duke of Austria, who died in 1457, never in his lifetime had the imperial authorization to use it, and accordingly, neither he nor anyone in his branch of the dynasty ever used the title.

Emperor Friedrich III himself simply used the title “Duke of Austria”, never Archduke, until his death in 1493. The title was first granted to Friedrich’s younger brother, Albrecht VI of Austria (d. 1463), who used it at least from 1458.

In 1477, Friedrich III also granted the title of Archduke to his first cousin, Sigismund of Austria, ruler of Further Austria. Friedrich III’s son and heir, the future Emperor Maximilian I, started to use the title, but apparently only after the death of his wife Mary of Burgundy (d. 1482), as Archduke never appears in documents issued jointly by Maximilian and Mary as rulers in the Low Countries (where Maximilian is still titled “Duke of Austria”).

The title appears first in documents issued under the joint rule of Maximilian and his son Philipp of Burgundy (Felipe I of Castile) in the Low Countries.

Archduke was initially borne by those dynasts who ruled a Habsburg territory—i.e., only by males and their consorts, appanages being commonly distributed to cadets. But these “junior” archdukes did not thereby become sovereign hereditary rulers, since all territories remained vested in the Austrian crown. Occasionally a territory might be combined with a separate gubernatorial mandate ruled by an archducal cadet.

Usage

Empress Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria

From the 16th century onward, “Archduke” and its female form, “Archduchess”, came to be used by all the members of the House of Habsburg (e.g. Queen Marie Antoinette of France was born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria).

Upon extinction of the male line of the Habsburgs and the marriage of their heiress, the Holy Roman Empress-Consort Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia and Archduchess of Austria, to Franz Stefan, Duke of Lorraine, who was elected Holy Roman Emperor, their descendants formed the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire this usage was retained in the Austrian Empire (1804–1867) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918).

The official use of titles of nobility and of all other hereditary titles, including Archduke, has been illegal in the Republic of Austria for Austrian citizens since the Law on the Abolition of Nobility (April 3, 1919).

Thus those members of the Habsburg family who are residents of the Republic of Austria are simply known by their first name(s) and their surname Habsburg-Lothringen. However, members of the family who reside in other countries may or may not use the title, in accordance with laws and customs in those nations.

For example, Otto Habsburg-Lothringen (1912–2011), the eldest son of the last Habsburg Emperor, was an Austrian, Hungarian and German citizen. As he lived in Germany, where it is permitted to use hereditary titles as part of the civil surname (including indications of origin, such as von or zu), his official civil name was Otto von Habsburg (literally: Otto of Habsburg), whereas in Austria he was registered as Otto Habsburg.

The King of Spain also bears the nominal title of Archduke of Austria as part of his full list of titles, as the Bourbon dynasty adopted all the titles previously held by the Spanish Habsburgs when they took over the Spanish throne.

However, “Archduke” was never considered by the Spanish Bourbons as a substantial dignity of their own dynasty, but rather as a traditional supplementary title of the Spanish Kings since the days of the Habsburg dynasty on the royal throne (1516–1700).

Hence, no member of the royal family other than the King of Spain bears the (additional) title of “Archduke”.

The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Part IV. The Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia.

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Archduke of Austria, August II the Strong of Poland, Bohemia and Croatia, Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick I in Prussia, Holy Roman Emperor, House of Habsburg, House of Hohenzollern, King of Hungry, Leopold I, Peace of Westphalia, Thirty Years War

After the Peace of Westphalia and the states within the Empire had greater autonomy we saw the rise of Brandenburg-Prussia which came to rival Austria for supremacy within the Empire.

The Hohenzollern state was then known as Brandenburg-Prussia. Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701.

The family’s main possessions were the Margraviate of Brandenburg within the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Prussia outside of the Empire, ruled as a personal union.

Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern family intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession upon the latter’s extinction in the male line in 1618.

Another consequence of the intermarriage was the incorporation of the lower Rhenish principalities of Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg after the Treaty of Xanten in 1614.

The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) was especially devastating. The Elector changed sides three times, and as a result Protestant and Catholic armies swept the land back and forth, killing, burning, seizing men and taking the food supplies.

Friedrich I-III, King in Prussia, Elector of Brandenburg

Upwards of half the population was killed or dislocated. Berlin and the other major cities were in ruins, and recovery took decades. By the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, Brandenburg gained Minden and Halberstadt, also the succession in Farther Pomerania (incorporated in 1653) and the Duchy of Magdeburg (incorporated in 1680).

With the Treaty of Bromberg (1657), concluded during the Second Northern War, the electors were freed of Polish vassalage for the Duchy of Prussia and gained Lauenburg–Bütow and Draheim. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1679) expanded Brandenburgian Pomerania to the lower Oder.

The second half of the 17th century laid the basis for Prussia to become one of the great players in European politics. The emerging Brandenburg-Prussian military potential, based on the introduction of a standing army in 1653, was symbolized by the widely noted victories in Warsaw (1656) and Fehrbellin (1675) and by the Great Sleigh Drive (1678). Brandenburg-Prussia also established a navy and German colonies in the Brandenburger Gold Coast and Arguin.

Friedrich Wilhelm, known as “The Great Elector”, opened Brandenburg-Prussia to large-scale immigration (“Peuplierung”) of mostly Protestant refugees from all across Europe (“Exulanten”), most notably Huguenot immigration following the Edict of Potsdam. Friedrich Wilhelm also started to centralize Brandenburg-Prussia’s administration and reduce the influence of the estates.

In 1701, Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg, succeeded in elevating his status to King in Prussia.

Born in Königsberg, Friedrich was the third son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg by his father’s first marriage to Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau, eldest daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. His maternal cousin was King William III of England. Upon the death of his father on April 28, 1688, Friedrich became Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia. Right after ascending the throne Friedrich founded a new city southerly adjacent to Dorotheenstadt and named it after himself, the Friedrichstadt.

Although he was the Margrave and Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Prussia, Friedrich III desired the more prestigious title of king. However, according to Germanic law at that time, no kingdoms could exist within the Holy Roman Empire, with the exception of the Kingdom of Bohemia which belonged to the Holy Roman Emperor.

Friedrich persuaded Emperor Leopold I to allow Prussia to be elevated to a kingdom by the Crown Treaty of November 16, 1700. This agreement was ostensibly given in exchange for an alliance against King Louis XIV in the War of the Spanish Succession and the provision of 8,000 Prussian troops to Leopold’s service.

Friedrich III argued that Prussia had never been part of the Holy Roman Empire, and he ruled over it with full sovereignty. Therefore, he said, there was no legal or political barrier to letting him rule it as a kingdom. Friedrich was aided in the negotiations by Charles Ancillon.

Friedrich crowned himself on January 18, 1701 in Königsberg. Although he did so with the Emperor’s consent, and also with formal acknowledgement from August II the Strong, Elector of Saxony, who held the title of King of Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian Diet (Sejm) raised objections, and viewed the coronation as illegal.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungry, Bohemia and Croatia, Archduke of Austria

In fact, according to the terms of the Treaty of Wehlau and Bromberg, the House of Hohenzollern’s sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia was not absolute but contingent on the continuation of the male line (in the absence of which the duchy would revert to the Polish crown). Therefore, out of deference to the region’s historic ties to the Polish crown, Friedrich made the symbolic concession of calling himself “King in Prussia” instead of “King of Prussia”.

His royalty was, in any case, limited to Prussia and did not reduce the rights of the Emperor in the portions of his domains that were still part of the Holy Roman Empire. In other words, while he was a king in Prussia, he was still only an elector under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Emperor in Brandenburg.

Legally, the Hohenzollern state was still a personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia. However, by the time Friedrich crowned himself as king, the emperor’s authority over Brandenburg (and the rest of the empire) was only nominal, and in practice it soon came to be treated as part of the Prussian kingdom rather than as a separate entity.

From 1701 onward, the Hohenzollern domains were referred to as the Kingdom of Prussia, or simply Prussia. Legally, the personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia continued until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

However, by this time the emperor’s overlordship over the empire had become a legal fiction. Hence, after 1701, Brandenburg was de facto treated as part of the Prussian kingdom. Friedrich and his successors continued to centralize and expand the state, transforming the personal union of politically diverse principalities typical for the Brandenburg-Prussian era into a system of provinces subordinate to Berlin.

July 26, 1678: Birth of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia and Archduke of Austria

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Archduke of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, King of Hungry, King Philip IV of Spain, Pope Clement XI, Princess Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, War of the Spanish Succession

Joseph I (Joseph Jacob Ignaz Johann Anton Eustachius; July 26, 1678 – April 17, 1711) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1705 until his death in 1711.

He was the eldest son of Emperor Leopold I from his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, she was the oldest of 17 children born from Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg of the House of Wittelsbach and his second wife, Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

On Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg’s father’s side her grandparents were Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and his first wife, Magdalene of Bavaria. On her mother’s side, her grandparents were Georg II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Sophia Eleonore of Saxony.

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia and Archduke of Austria

Born in Vienna, Joseph was educated strictly by Charles Theodore, Prince of Salm and became a good linguist. Although he was the first son and child born of his parents’ marriage, he was his father’s third son and seventh child.

Previously, Leopold had been married to Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, the first child of King Felipe IV of Spain born from his second marriage with his niece Archduchess Mariana of Austria, second child of Infanta Maria Anna of Spain and her husband Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand. Infanta Margaret Theresa gave him four children, one of whom survived infancy.

Leopold then married his Habsburg cousin Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria. She was the eldest daughter of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, by his wife and first-cousin Anna de’ Medici.

On her father’s side, her grandparents were Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and his wife Claudia de’ Medici (after which she received her first name); on her mother’s side, her grandparents were Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his wife Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria.

Archduchess Claudia Felicitas gave him two short-lived daughters. Thus, Joseph had six half-siblings.

At the age of nine, on December 9, 1687, he was crowned King of Hungary; and at the age of eleven, on January 23, 1690, King of the Romans. Although he never formally ceased to be a Roman Catholic, Joseph (unlike his parents and most of his other relatives) was not particularly devout by nature. He had two great enthusiasms: music and hunting.

Early on, Joseph’s mother, the Holy Roman Empress Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, decided that Wilhelmine Amalie would be her daughter-in-law. Prince Salm was instrumental in speaking for her candidacy.

Princess Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (April 21, 1673 – April 10, 1742) was the youngest daughter of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg, and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate.

The adviser of Eleonore, Marco d’Aviano, had convinced her that Wilhelmine Amalie, being pious and older than Joseph, could act as a tempering influence and discontinue his sex life outside of marriage, and to Emperor Leopold, he claimed that he had a vision that the pair would be happy. She was subjected to medical examination, which establish that she was fertile.

Marriage

As a result, on February 24, 1699, she married Archduke Joseph, the heir of Emperor Leopold I. At their wedding, the opera Hercule and Hebe by Reinhard Keiser (1674–1739) was performed.

Princess Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg

As Archduke Joseph and Archduchess Wilhelmine Amalie had three children and their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday.

Joseph had a passion for love affairs (none of which resulted in illegitimate children) and he caught a sexually transmittable disease, probably syphilis, which he passed on to his wife while they were trying to produce a new heir. This incident rendered her sterile.

Emperor Leopold I was still alive during these events, made Joseph and his brother Archduke Charles sign the Mutual Pact of Succession, ensuring that Joseph’s daughters would have absolute precedence over Charles’s daughters, neither of whom were born at the time, and that Joseph’s eldest daughter, Archduchess Maria Josepha, would inherit both the Austrian and Spanish realms. From 1711 to 1717, she was heir presumptive to the Habsburg Empire.

Joseph succeeded to the thrones of Bohemia, Croatia the Holy Roman Empire when his father Emperor Leopold I died on May 5, 1705.

Joseph had surrounded himself with reform-hungry advisors and the young court of Vienna was ambitious in the elaboration of innovative plans. He was described as a “forward-looking ruler”.

The large number of privy councillors was reduced and attempts were made to make the bureaucracy more efficient. Measures were taken to modernize the central bodies and a certain success was achieved in stabilizing the chronic Habsburg finances.

Joseph also endeavoured to strengthen his position in the Holy Roman Empire – as a means of strengthening Austria’s standing as a great power. When he sought to lay claim to imperial rights in Italy and gain territories for the Habsburgs, he even risked a military conflict with the Pope over the duchy of Mantua. Joseph I was threatened with excommunication by Pope Clement XI on June 16, 1708.

Emperor Joseph continued the War of the Spanish Succession, begun by his father against Louis XIV of France, in a fruitless attempt to make his younger brother Archduke Charles (later Emperor Charles VI) King of Spain.

In the process, however, owing to the victories won by his military commander, Prince Eugene of Savoy, he did succeed in establishing Austrian hegemony over Italy. Joseph also had to contend with a protracted revolt in Hungary, fomented by Louis XIV. Neither conflict was resolved until the Treaty of Utrecht, after his death.

During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, le Grand Dauphin and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Joseph became infected. He died on April 17 in the Hofburg Palace. He had previously promised his wife to stop having affairs, should he survive.

The Emperor was buried in the Imperial Crypt, resting place of the majority of the Habsburgs. His funeral took place on April 20, in tomb no. 35 in Karl’s Vault. His tomb was designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, decorated with pictures of various battles from the War of Spanish Succession. Josefstadt (the eighth district of Vienna) is named for Joseph.

Emperor Joseph was succeeded as Emperor by his brother Archduke Charles. As Emperor Charles VI he was the last male Habsburg heir in the direct line.

Since Habsburg possessions were subject to the Salic law, barring women from inheriting in their own right, his own lack of a male heir meant the hereditary Habsburg lands would be divided on his death.

The Pragmatic Sanction of April 19, 1713 abolished male-only succession in all Habsburg realms and declared their lands indivisible, and allowed female succession, although only Hungary approved it in 1723.

The Holy Roman Empire was technically elective and still subject to the Salic Law and not subject to the Pragmatic Sanction.

Emperor Joseph’s eldest daughter Archduchess Maria Josepha was the Queen of Poland and Electress of Saxony by marriage to Elector Augustus III of Saxony and King of Poland.

Her sister Archduchess Maria Amalia became the wife of Charles Albert of Bavaria was born in Brussels and the son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska, daughter of King John III Sobieski of Poland.

Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria was a member of the House of Wittelsbach. After the death of Emperor Charles VI in 1740, he claimed the Archduchy of Austria by his marriage to Archduchess Maria Amalia.

Charles Albert was briefly, from 1741 to 1743, as Charles III King of Bohemia and Croatia. In 1742, he was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire as Charles VII and ruled until his death three years later.

His election as Holy Roman Emperor thus marked the end of three centuries of uninterrupted Habsburg imperial rule although he was related to the Habsburgs by both blood and, as we have seen, by marriage to Archduchess Maria Amalia, the youngest daughter of Emperor Joseph I.

The Privilegium Maius & The Archduchy of Austria

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Archduchess Anna of Austria, Archduchess of Austria, Archduchy of Austria, Archduke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV of Austria, Emperor Charles IV, Emperor Friedrich III, House of Habsburg, Privilegium maius, The Holy Roman Empire

The Privilegium Maius was a medieval document forged in 1358 or 1359 at the behest of Duke Rudolph IV of Austria (1358–65) of the House of Habsburg. It was essentially a modified version of the Privilegium Minus issued by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa in 1156, which had elevated the former March of Austria into a duchy. In a similar way, the Privilegium maius elevated the duchy of Austria into an Archduchy of Austria.

The privileges described in the document had great influence on the Austrian political landscape, and created a unique connection between the House of Habsburg and Austria.

Rudolph IV, Duke of Austria

Background

The House of Habsburg had gained rulership of the Duchy of Austria in 1282. Rudolph IV (1339–1365) attempted to restore the Habsburg influence on the European political scene by trying to build relations with Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (of Luxembourg) and increasing the respect of the Austrian rulers.

However, Rudolph IV did not belong to the seven Imperial Prince-Electors, who—as dictated by the Golden Bull of 1356—had the power to choose the Emperor. In the same way Charles IV had made Prague the center of his rule, Rudolph IV did the same for Vienna, giving it special privileges, launching construction projects and founding the University of Vienna.

All this aimed at increasing the legitimacy and influence of the House and its Austrian lands. For this purpose, in the winter of 1358/1359, Rudolph IV ordered the creation of a forged document called Privilegium maius (“the greater privilege”).

Document

The Privilegium maius consists of five forged deeds, some of which purported to have been issued by Julius Caesar and Nero to the historic Roman province of Noricum, which was roughly coterminous with the modern Austrian borders. Though purposefully modeled on the Privilegium minus, the original of which “got lost” at the same time, the bundle was already identified as a fake by contemporaries such as the Italian scholar Petrarch.

In the Privilegium Maius, Rudolph IV declared Austria an “archduchy”, endowed with rights similar to those of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire such as:

Inseparability of the territory

Automatic inheritance of the first-born (primogeniture), later extended to female heirs in the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 in favour of Archduchess Maria Theresa.

Independent jurisdiction and legislature, without any possibility to appeal to the Emperor (privilegium de non evocando)

Permission to display certain symbols of rule
Rudolf also created the title Pfalzerzherzog (“Archduke Palatine”), similar to the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, the holder of an electoral vote.

The first Habsburg ruler who actually used the title of an archduke was Ernst of Iron, ruler of Inner Austria from 1406 to 1424. From the 15th century onward, all princes of the Habsburg dynasty were called Erzherzöge (Archduke).

Effects

Emperor Charles IV refused to confirm the Privilegium maius, along with the refusal to recognize the title, as did his immediate successors. However, Emperor Charles IV did accepted some claims. The discoverer of the forgery was his advisor, the poet and scholar Petrarch.

Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III, Duke of Austria

However, Emperor Friedrich III, a scion of the House of Habsburg, having become Holy Roman Emperor, was able to confirm the document and made it part of imperial law, thus making fiction become fact.

From then on, the status as claimed by the document became widely accepted. Emperor Friedrich III also extended the Privilegium Maius by granting the power of ennoblement for his family as hereditary rulers of Austria (this power was normally reserved for the emperor). Thus, the act of confirmation by Emperor Friedrich III was what elevated the House of Habsburg to a special rank within the Empire.

The Privilegium Maius had great influence on the Austrian political landscape. The Habsburg Archduke arrogated an almost king-like position, and demonstrated this to outsiders through the usage of special insignia.

The Habsburgs gained a new foundation for their rule in these lands; in a way, the House of Habsburg and Austria became a single unit. The family subsequently published special editions of the documents, and forbade all discussion of their authenticity.

With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Privilegium maius finally lost its meaning. In 1852, it was proven a forgery by historian Wilhelm Wattenbach.

Although Emperor Friedrich III recognized Privilegium Maius, he himself used just “Duke of Austria”, never Archduke, until his death in 1493. The title was first granted to Friedrich III’s younger brother, Albrecht VI of Austria (died 1463), who used it at least from 1458.

In 1477, Emperor Friedrich III granted the title Archduke to his first cousin Sigismund of Austria, ruler of Further Austria. Emperor Friedrich III’s son and heir, the future Emperor Maximilian I, apparently only started to use the title after the death of his wife Mary of Burgundy in 1482, as Archduke never appears in documents issued jointly by Maximilian and Mary as rulers in the Low Countries (where Maximilian is still titled “Duke of Austria”). The title appears first in documents issued under the joint rule of Maximilian and Philipp (his under-age son) in the Low Countries.

Archduchess Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain

Archduke was initially borne by those dynasts who ruled a Habsburg territory, i.e., only by males and their consorts, appanages being commonly distributed to cadets. These “junior” archdukes did not thereby become independent hereditary rulers, since all territories remained vested in the Austrian crown.

Occasionally a territory might be combined with a separate gubernatorial mandate ruled by an Archducal cadet. From the 16th century onward, Archduke and its female form, Archduchess, came to be used by all the members of the House of Habsburg (e.g., Queen Marie Antoinette of France was born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria.

June 9, 1640: Birth of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia

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Archduke of Austria, Bohemia and Croatia, Holy Roman Emperor, House of Habsburg, King of Hungary, Leopold I, Peace of Westphalia, Philip IV of Spain, Thirty Years War, War of the Spanish Succession

Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Felician; June 9, 1640 – May 5, 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Archduchess Margaret of Austria, prior to her Imperial marriage she was considered a possible wife for Charles, Prince of Wales; the event, later known in history as the “Spanish Match.”

Born on June 9, 1640 in Vienna, Leopold received the traditional program of education in the liberal arts, history, literature, natural science and astronomy. He was particularly interested in music, as his father emperor Ferdinand III had been. From an early age Leopold showed an inclination toward learning. He became fluent in Latin, Italian, German, French, and Spanish. In addition to German, Italian would be the most favored language at his court.

Leopold became heir apparent in 1654 after the death of his elder brother Ferdinand IV, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia (1633 – 1654).

Elected in 1658, Leopold I ruled the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1705, becoming the longest-ruling Habsburg emperor (46 years and 9 months). He was both a composer and considerable patron of music.

Leopold’s reign is known for conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the Great Turkish War (1683-1699) and rivalry with Louis XIV, a contemporary and first cousin (on the maternal side; fourth cousin on the paternal side), in the west. After more than a decade of warfare, Leopold emerged victorious in the east thanks to the military talents of Prince Eugene of Savoy. By the Treaty of Karlowitz, Leopold recovered almost all of the Kingdom of Hungary, which had fallen under Turkish power in the years after the 1526 Battle of Mohács.

Leopold fought three wars against France: the Franco-Dutch War, the Nine Years’ War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. In this last, Leopold sought to give his younger son Charles the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the will of the late Carlos II. Leopold started a war that soon engulfed much of Europe.

The early years of the war went fairly well for Austria, with victories at Schellenberg and Blenheim, but the war would drag on until 1714, nine years after Leopold’s death, which barely had an effect on the warring nations. When peace returned with the Treaty of Rastatt, Austria could not be said to have emerged as triumphant as it had from the war against the Turks.

The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 (8 years after the birth of Emperor Leopold) had been a political defeat for the Habsburgs. It ended the idea that Europe was a single Christian empire; governed spiritually by the Pope and temporally by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Moreover, the treaty was devoted to parceling out land and influence to the “winners”, the anti-Habsburg alliance led by France and Sweden. However, the Habsburgs did gain some benefits out of the wars; the Protestant aristocracy in Habsburg territories had been decimated, and the ties between Vienna and the Habsburg domains in Bohemia and elsewhere were greatly strengthened.

These changes would allow Leopold to initiate necessary political and institutional reforms during his reign to develop somewhat of an absolutist state along French lines. The most important consequences of the war was in retrospect to weaken the Habsburgs as Holy Roman Emperors but strengthen them in their own hereditary lands, such as Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia.

In 1692, the Duke Ernst August of Hanover was raised to the rank of an Imperial Elector, becoming the ninth member of the electoral college. In 1700, Leopold, greatly in need of help for the impending war with France, granted the title of King in Prussia to the Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg. The net result of these and similar changes was to continue to weaken the authority of the emperor over the members of the Empire and to compel him to rely more and more upon his position as ruler of the Austrian Archduchy and of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia.

In 1666, Leopard married his first cousin and niece Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain (1651–1673), daughter and first child of King Felipe IV of Spain born from his second marriage with his niece Infanta Mariana of Austria.

His second wife was Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, the first child and eldest daughter of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, by his wife and first-cousin Anna de’ Medici. On her father’s side, her grandparents were Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and his wife Claudia de’ Medici (after which she received her first name); on her mother’s side, her grandparents were Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his wife Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria.

His third wife was Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg. She was the oldest of 17 children born from Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife, Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. On her father’s side her grandparents were Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and his first wife, Magdalene of Bavaria. On her mother’s side, her grandparents were Georg II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Sophia Eleonore of Saxony.

February 15, 1637: Accession of Holy Emperor Ferdinand III

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Archduke of Austria, Charles I of England, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, King of Hungary and Croatia, Thirty Years War

Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; July 13, 1608 – April 2, 1657) was Archduke of Austria from 1621, King of Hungary from 1625, King of Croatia and Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 until his death in 1657.

Ferdinand was born in Graz as third son of Holy Emperor Ferdinand II and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria, she was the fourth child and second (but eldest surviving) daughter of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine.

Ferdinand was baptised as Ferdinand Ernst. He grew up in Carinthia with loving care from his parents and he developed great affection for his siblings and his father, with whom he always found a consensus in future disagreements. At his father’s court he received religious and scholarly training from Jesuits.

Ferdinand III was elected King of the Romans at the Diet of Regensburg on December 22, 1636. Upon the death of his father on February 15, 1637, Ferdinand became Emperor. His political adviser Trauttmansdorff advanced to the position of Prime Minister of Austria and Chief diplomat, but was replaced by Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar in 1647 as his health had begun to deteriorate.

When Ferdinand ascended the throne it was the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years’ War and introduced lenient policies to depart from old ideas of divine rights under his father, as he had wished to end the war quickly.

As the numerous battles had not resulted in sufficient military containment of the Protestant enemies and confronted with decaying Imperial power Ferdinand was compelled to abandon the political stances of his Habsburg predecessors in many respects in order to open the long road towards the much delayed peace treaty. Although his authority among the Imperial Princes was weakened after the war, in the Kingdoms of Bohemia, Hungary and the Archduchy Austria, however, Ferdinand’s position as sovereign was uncontested.

Further, Ferdinand III’s sovereign power in the Austrian hereditary lands, as well his royal power in Hungary and Bohemia was significantly greater than that of his predecessor before 1618. Princely power was strengthened, while the influence of the estates was massively reduced. The church reform towards the Counter-reformation continued.

Emperor Ferdinand III was the first Habsburg monarch to be recognized as a musical composer.

Emperor Ferdinand III first married the Spanish Infanta, his cousin Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria and thus the paternal granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. They were first cousins as male-line grandchildren of Charles II, Archduke of Austria, and Maria Anna of Bavaria.

Prior to her Imperial marriage Infanta Maria Anna of Spain was 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.

Although in the middle of the war, this elaborate wedding was celebrated over a period of fourteen months. The marriage produced six children, including his successors, Ferdinand IV, King of Hungary and Emperor Leopold I.

His loving and intelligent wife and her brother, the Spanish Cardinal Infant Ferdinand, had great influence on Ferdinand and formed the most important link between the Habsburg courts in Madrid, Brussels and Vienna in the difficult period of the war for Habsburg following the death of Wallenstein

The Empress Maria Anna of Spain had died giving birth to her last child on May 13, 1646. Emperor Ferdinand III remarried to another first cousin, Maria Leopoldine of Austria (1632-1649) on July 2, 1648. The wedding ceremony, held in Linz, was notably splendid. This marriage however lasted little more than a year, ending with Maria Leopoldine’s own premature death in childbirth.

Ferdinand III’s last marriage was to Eleonora Magdalena Gonzaga of Mantua-Nevers on April 30, 1651, Ferdinand III married Eleonora Gonzaga. She was a daughter of Charles IV Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel.

Empress Eleonora was very pious and donated, among other things, for the Ursuline monastery in Vienna and the Order of the Starry Cross for noble women. She was also well educated and interested in art. She also composed music and wrote poetry and together with Ferdinand was the centre of the Italian academy.

Emperor Ferdinand also brought about the royal election of his son, Ferdinand IV, King of Hungary as King of the Romans who, however died in 1654.

Because his second son Leopold was still too young to be elected as King of the Romans, Ferdinand delayed the opening as well as the conclusion of the Deputationstag following the Reichstag to gain time until the next election. After all, Leopold was crowned King of Hungary and Bohemia. In 1656, Ferdinand sent an army into Italy to assist Spain in her struggle with France.

Emperor Ferdinand III died on April 2, 1657, and rests in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna. His interior organs were separately buried in the Ducal Crypt.

July 7, 1528: Birth of Archduchess Anna of Austria, Duchess consort of Bavaria.

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Albert V of Bavaria, Archduchess Anna of Austria, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Austria and Johanna, Barbara, Catherine, Charles II, Duchess consort of Bavaria, Duchess of Ferrara, Duchess of Mantua, Duchess of Tuscany, Eleanor, Elizabeth, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, House of Habsburg, House of Wittelsbach, Maximilian II, Queen of Poland

Archduchess Anna of Austria (July 7, 1528 – October 16, 1590), was a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg, and she was Duchess of Bavaria from 1550 until 1579, by her marriage with Duke Albrecht V.

Born at the Bohemian court in Prague, Anna was the third of fifteen children of King Ferdinand I (1503–1564) from his marriage with the Jagiellonian princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). Her siblings included: Elizabeth, Queen of Poland, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, Catherine, Queen of Poland, Eleanor, Duchess of Mantua, Barbara, Duchess of Ferrara, Charles II, Archduke of Austria and Johanna, Duchess of Tuscany.

Archduchess Anna of Austria

Anna’s paternal grandparents were King Felipe I of Castile and his wife Queen Joanna I. Her maternal grandparents were King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his third wife Anne de Foix.

Life

Young Anna was engaged several times as a child, first to Prince Theodor of Bavaria (1526–1534), the eldest son of Duke Wilhelm IV, then to Charles d’Orléans (1522–1545). However, both died at a young age.

Anna finally married on July 4, 1546 in Regensburg at the age of 17, Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria the younger brother of her first fiancé. Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria (1528-1579) was Duke of Bavaria from 1550 until his death. He was born in Munich to Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria and Princess Maria Jacobäa of Baden.

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 Wilhelm IV’s support before embarking on the Schmalkaldic Wars. Indeed, Duke Wilhelm IV, 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.

Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria

After their marriage, the young couple lived at the Trausnitz Castle in Landshut, until Albrecht became duke upon his father’s death on March 7, 1550. At the Munich Residenz, Anna and Albrecht 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 Albrecht were also patrons to the painter Hans Muelich and the Franco-Flemish composer Orlande de Lassus. In 1552, the duke commissioned an inventory of the jewelry in the couple’s possession. The resulting manuscript, still held by the Bavarian State Library, was the Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria (“Kleinodienbuch der Herzogin Anna von Bayern“), and contains 110 drawings by Hans Muelich.

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 October 24, 1579 and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Wilhelm V, Anna as Dowager Duchess maintained her own court at the Munich Residenz. 150 years after her death in 1590, her descendant Elector Charles I of Bavaria used her marriage treaty with Albrecht as a pretext to claim the Austrian and Bohemian crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy.

June 3, 1540: Birth of Archduke Charles II Franz of Austria.

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Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Archduke Charles II of Austria, Archduke of Austria, Charles of Austria, Charls-Franz, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Empire, Maria-Anna of Bavaria

Charles II Franz of Austria (June 3, 1540 – July 10, 1590) was an Archduke of Austria and ruler of Inner Austria (Styria, Carniola, Carinthia and Gorizia) from 1564. He was a member of the House of Habsburg.

Archduke Charles II Franz of Austria

A native of Vienna, he was the third son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, daughter of King Vladislaus II of Hungary and his wife Anne of Foix-Candale. In 1559 and again from 1564–1568 there were negotiations for a marriage between Charles-Franz and Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Emperor Ferdinand I expected Queen Elizabeth to promise in the proposed marriage treaty that Charles-Franz as her widower, would succeed her if she died childless. The negotiations dragged on until Queen Elizabeth decided that she would not marry the Archduke; religion was the main obstacle to the match, apart from the Queen’s character. In 1563, Charles-Franz was also a suitor of Mary I, Queen of Scots, with her uncle Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, advising her to marry Charles-Franz in order to obtain assistance in governing Scotland. Mary, however, disagreed, as did Charles’s older brother Maximilian.

Emperor Ferdinand I (Father)

Unlike his brother, Emperor Maximilian II, Charles-Franz was a religious Catholic and promoted the Counter-Reformation, e.g. by inviting the Jesuits to his territory. However, in 1572, he had to make significant concessions to the Inner Austrian Estates in the Religious Pacifications of Graz, and 1578 and the Libellum of Bruck. In practice, this resulted in tolerance towards Protestantism.

As the Inner Austrian line had to bear the major burden of the wars against the Turks, the fortress of Karlstadt/Karlovac in Croatia was founded in 1579 and named after him. Charles-Franz is also remembered as a benefactor of the arts and sciences. In particular, the composer Orlando di Lasso was one of his protégés, as was the music theorist Lodovico Zacconi.

Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (Mother)

In 1573, Charles-Franz founded the Akademisches Gymnasium in Graz, the oldest secondary school in Styria. In 1580, Charles-Franz founded a stud for horses of Andalusian origin in Lipica, Slovenia, thereby playing a leading role in the creation of the Lipizzan breed. In 1585, Charles-Franz founded the University of Graz, which is named Karl-Franzens-Universität after him.

Charles II Franz died at Graz in 1590.

Charles II Franz’s mausoleum in Seckau Abbey, in which other members of the Habsburg family are also buried, is one of the most important edifices of the early Baroque in the South-Eastern Alps. It was built from 1587 onwards by Alessandro de Verda and completed by Sebastiano Carlone by 1612.
Marriage and children

In Vienna on August 26, 1571 Charles-Franz married his niece Maria-Anna of Bavaria. Maria-Anna was the daughter of Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Archduchess Anna of Austria. She was given an elementary education in Latin and religion, but a high education in music, likely by Orlando di Lasso. The marriage to her uncle was arranged to give Charles II Franz political support from Bavaria, and Bavaria an agent in Vienna.

Princess Maria-Anna of Bavaria

Maria-Anna of Bavaria’s mother, Archduchess Anna was the third of fifteen children of Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564) from his marriage with the Jagiellonian Princess, Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). Her siblings included: Elizabeth, Queen of Poland, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, Catherine, Queen of Poland, Eleanor, Duchess of Mantua, Barbara, Duchess of Ferrara, Charles II Franz, Archduke of Austria and Johanna, Duchess of Tuscany.

They had fifteen children:

* Ferdinand (1572-1572).
* Anne (1573-1598), married on May 31, 1592 to Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Sweden.
* Maria Christina (1574-1621), married on August 6, 1595 to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania; they divorced in 1599.
* Catherine Renata (1576-1599).
* Elisabeth (1577-1586).
* Ferdinand (1578-1637), Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand II in 1619.
* Charles (1579-1580).
* Gregoria Maximiliana (1581-1597).
* Eleanor (1582-1620), a nun.
* Maximilian Ernst (1583-1616), Teutonic Knight.
* Margaret (1584-1611), married on April 18, 1599 to Felipe III, King of Spain.
* Leopold (1586-1632), Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tirol.
* Constance (1588-1631), married on December 11,1605 to Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Sweden (widower of her older sister).
* Maria Magdalena (1589-1631), married on October 19, 1608 Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
* Charles, the Posthumous (1590-1624), Bishop of Wroclaw and Brixen (1608–24), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (1618–24).