History of the Kingdom of Croatia. Part I.

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Adriatic Sea, Croatia, Dubrovnik, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, King Petar Krešimir IV of Croatia, Kingdom of Croatia, Kingdom of Hungary, Tomislav of Croatia

From the Emperor’s Desk: In my efforts to learn more about Monarchies in Eastern Europe I have become fascinated with the beautiful picturesque country of Croatia situated on the Adriatic Sea. This is it’s history as a Kingdom.

According to the work De Administrando Imperio written by 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, Croats arrived in the Roman province of Dalmatia in the first half of the 7th century after they defeated the Avars.

However, that claim is disputed, and competing hypotheses date the event between the late 6th-early 7th (mainstream) or the late 8th-early 9th (fringe) centuries, but recent archaeological data established that the migration and settlement of the Slavs/Croats have been in late 6th and early 7th century.

Eventually, a dukedom was formed, the Duchy of Croatia, ruled by Borna, as attested by chronicles of Einhard starting in 818. The record represents the first document of Croatian realms, vassal states of Francia (the Carolingian Empire) at the time.

The Frankish overlordship ended during the reign of Mislav two decades later. According to Constantine VII Christianisation of Croats began in the 7th century, but the claim is disputed, and generally, Christianisation is associated with the 9th century. The first native Croatian ruler recognised by the Pope was Duke Branimir, who received papal recognition from Pope John VIII on June 7, 879.

Tomislav (of unknown ancestry) was the first king of Croatia, noted as such in a letter of Pope John X in 925.

Modern picture of Dubrovnik, Croatia

Tomislav became Duke of Croatia c. 910 and was crowned king in 925, reigning until 928. During Tomislav’s rule, Croatia forged an alliance with the Byzantine Empire against Bulgaria. Croatia’s struggles with the First Bulgarian Empire eventually led to war, which culminated in the decisive Battle of the Bosnian Highlands in 926.

In the north, Croatia often clashed with the Principality of Hungary; the state retained its borders and, to some extent, expanded with the disintegrated Lower Pannonia.

The medieval Croatian kingdom reached its peak in the 11th century during the reigns of Petar Krešimir IV (1058–1074) and Dmitar Zvonimir (1075–1089). When Stjepan II died in 1091, ending the Trpimirović dynasty, Dmitar Zvonimir’s brother-in-law King Ladislaus I of Hungary claimed the Croatian crown.

King Ladislaus I occupied almost all Croatia in 1091, which marked the beginning of an expansion period for the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. At first this led to a war and later a personal union with Kingdom of Hungary in 1102 under Coloman.

King Coloman of Hungary invaded Croatia in 1097. Ladislaus I had already occupied most of the country, but Petar Svačić, the last native King of Croatia, resisted him in the Kapela Mountains. Petar Svačić died fighting against Coloman’s army in the Battle of Gvozd Mountain.

Coloman, King of Hungary and Croatia

For the next four centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia was ruled by the Sabor (parliament) and a Ban (viceroy) appointed by the king. This period saw the rise of influential nobility such as the Frankopan and Šubić families to prominence, and ultimately numerous Bans from the two families.

An increasing threat of Ottoman conquest and a struggle against the Republic of Venice for control of coastal areas ensued. The Venetians controlled most of Dalmatia by 1428, except the city-state of Dubrovnik, which became independent. Ottoman conquests led to the 1493 Battle of Krbava field and the 1526 Battle of Mohács, both ending in decisive Ottoman victories.

King Louis II of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia (1506 – 1526) died at Mohács, and in 1527, the Croatian Parliament met in Cetin and chose Holy Roman Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg as the new King of Croatia, under the condition that he protects Croatia against the Ottoman Empire while respecting its political rights.

August 16, 1573: Archduchess Anne of Austria, Queen of Poland and Sweden. Part I.

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Archduchess Anne of Austria, Archduke Charles II Franz of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, House of Habsburg, House of Vasa, Kingdom of Poland, Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, Sigismund III of Poland and Sweden

Archduchess Anne of Austria (August 16, 1573 – February 10, 1598) was Queen of Poland and Sweden as the first consort of King Sigismund III Vasa.

Archduchess Anne was a daughter of Archduke Charles II Franz of Austria and ruler of Inner Austria (Styria, Carniola, Carinthia and Gorizia) from 1564. He was a member of the House of Habsburg. 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.

Archduchess Anne’s mother was Maria Anna of Bavaria the daughter of Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Archduchess Anna of Austria, the third of fifteen children of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564) from his marriage with the Jagiellonian Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547).

Archduchess Anne’s mother was an important supporter of the Counter-Reformation in Inner Austria, who gave her children an upbringing focused on Catholicism.

The siblings were made to attend church from the age of one, their first words were to be Jesus and Mary, they were tutored by Catholic priests, and Latin was to be a priority before their native German language. As a child, Anna was called “Andle”, and she was taught to translate Ribadeneyra’s Vita Ignatii Loyolæ from Latin to German. Outside of Latin and Catholicism, she was mainly tutored in household tasks such as sewing and cooking.

Marriage

In 1577, the Papal envoy to Sweden, Possevino, suggested that the children of King Johan III of Sweden be married to children of the Habsburg dynasty. This was in a period when Sweden was close to a Counter-Reformation under Johan III and his Polish queen Catherine Jagiellon.

The Pope gave his approval to the idea of a marriage alliance between Habsburg and Sweden in the persons of Anne and Sigismund, as did the Polish king and queen, and when visiting Graz in 1578, Possevino acquired a portrait of Anne to bring with him on his next visit to the Swedish court.

Soon after, however, a new proposal was made to arrange a marriage between Anne and Henri of Lorraine to prevent French expansion in Lorraine, and for a while, these plans were given priority. In 1585, Anne accompanied her parents to the Imperial court in Vienna and Prague, unofficially to investigate a possible marriage to her cousin the Emperor, but those plans did not come to fruition either.

In 1586-1587, when Prince Sigismund of Sweden was elected King of Poland, his maternal aunt, Queen Anna Jagiellon, resummed the old plans of a marriage between Sigismund and Anne. Anne’s parents, however, still preferred the match with Henri of Lorraine, especially because of the political instability in Poland, the opposition of chancellor Jan Zamoisky and Archbishop Maximilian’s desire for the Polish crown.

In 1589, the Polish court opted for Maria Anna of Bavaria instead. In 1591, however, the Emperor finally decided that a marriage to Sigismund would be the match for Anne which would best benefit the Habsburg dynasty. Count Gustaf Brahe was sent as an envoy to Graz, other formalities were negotiated by Sigismund’s favorite cardinal Georg Radziwil, and Anne, who was personally unwilling, was told to obey the Emperor’s command.

In April 1592, the betrothal was formally celebrated in the Imperial Court in Vienna; on May 4, a proxy wedding was celebrated, after which Anna and her mother departed for the wedding in Krakow. Anne became the first wife of King Sigismund of Poland on May 31, 1592. This marriage was opposed by many szlachta (nobles) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, who were opposed to the alliance with the Austrian Habsburgs that Sigismund pursued.

When Sigismund sent Cardinal Radziwill to Prague for his bride, the anti-Habsburg party with chancellor Jan Zamoyski guarded the borders to prevent the Archduchess from entering the country. Anne evaded the guards, arrived in Kraków, and was crowned in May 1592 by Primas Karnkowski as the Queen of Poland. Later, during her lifetime, the capital of the Commonwealth was moved from Kraków to Warsaw.

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

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Albrecht V of Bavaria, Archduchess Anna of Austria, Charles d'Orléans, Duchess of Bavaria, Elector Charles I of Bavaria, Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, Theodor of Bavaria

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

Born at the Bohemian court in Prague, Anna was the third of fifteen children of Holy Roman 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.

Anna’s paternal grandparents were King Felipe I of Castile (of the House of Habsburg and father of Emperor Charles V) and his wife Queen Joanna I. Her maternal grandparents were King Vladislaus II of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale.

Life

Young Archduchess Anna was engaged several times as a child, first to Prince Theodor of Bavaria (1526–1534), the eldest son of Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria and Marie Jakobaea of Baden-Sponheim. Duke Wilhelm IV was the son of Duke Albrecht IV and Archduchess Kunigunde of Austria, a daughter of Emperor Friedrich III.

Archduchess Anna was then engaged to Charles d’Orléans (1522–1545), the third son of King François I and Claude of France. 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. 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’s support before embarking on the Schmalkaldic Wars. Indeed, Duke Wilhelm, 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 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 duchess dowager 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.

Archduchess Catherine of Austria, Queen of Poland: Conclusion

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Archduchess Catherine of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, House of Jagiellon, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Queen of Poland, Sigismund II Augustus of Poland

Failed marriage

As Sigismund lost all hope of children by his third bride; he was the last male Jagiellon in the direct line so the dynasty was threatened with extinction. He sought to remedy this by adultery with two of the most beautiful of his countrywomen, Barbara Giza and Anna Zajączkowska but was unable to impregnate either of them.

The Sejm was willing to legitimize, and acknowledge as Sigismund’s successor, any male heir who might be born to him; however, the King remained childless.

In October 1562, at the wedding of Catherine Jagiellon and Duke John of Finland, the couple saw each other for the last time. Catherine lived in Vilnius and Hrodna before being sent to Radom in April 1563. 40-year-old Sigismund sought to obtain annulment of the marriage as he wanted to marry for the fourth time and secure a male heir.

In January 1565, Sigismund complained to papal nuncio Giovanni Francesco Commendone that marriage to Catherine was sinful because she was a sister of his first wife, that she hated Poland, that she caused the miscarriage in 1554, and that he was physically disgusted by his wife due to her epilepsy. Due to Habsburg influence, Pope Pius IV did not allow the divorce.

In July 1564, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, died and was succeeded by his son Maximilian II. The new emperor sent his diplomats Andreas Dudith and Wilhelm von Kurzbach to try to reconcile the couple, or if that failed, to convince Sigismund to allow her to leave Poland. The plan for Catherine to leave was discussed in May 1565.

Initially Sigismund refused, fearing that it would only increase the anti-Polish sentiment in the Habsburg court, but later changed his mind because he believed that Catherine’s departure would make it easier to obtain a divorce. In late 1565, she departed to Wieluń, but Polish nobles interfered and her departure to Vienna was delayed until 8 October 1566.

In a letter written to Albert, Duke of Prussia, a day before her departure, Catherine expressed her resolve to one day return to Poland.
Catherine did not receive a warm welcome in Vienna as she was blamed for the failed marriage. Emperor Maximilian II extended her stay and wanted to meet with Sigismund personally to discuss the issue, but he refused.

In March 1567, Andreas Dudith relayed that Sigismund categorically refused to live with Catherine (reportedly, he once said that he would gladly become a monk if that meant he could get rid of Catherine) and that he would not protest if Catherine remained in Austria.

Sigismund would not specify where Catherine should live if she returned to Poland and would not allot money for her court, in effect precluding her from returning. In June 1567, Catherine became seriously ill with what doctors called melancholia. After recovering, in October, she moved to Linz to live out the remaining five years of her life.

According to a witness, Catherine lived like a widow. She received 28,000 guldens annually from Sigismund for her court of more than fifty people. She was visited by her family, she studied the Bible and other theological works, and established a garden for medicinal herbs which produced various herbal remedies. It seems that she still wanted to return to Poland: she tearfully asked Giovanni Francesco Commendone for help when he visited her twice and kept writing letters to her husband. In her last will, she asked her husband for forgiveness and left him all the jewellery she had received from him. The majority of her money was left for charity.

The King’s marriage was a matter of great political import to Protestants and Catholics alike. The Polish Protestants hoped that he would divorce and remarry and thus bring about a breach with Rome at the very crisis of the religious struggle in Poland.

Catherine died on February 28, 1572 and was buried in castle’s chapel. When Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, ordered reconstruction of the castle, her body was moved to the St. Florian Monastery on September 22, 1599. A funeral was not organized until September 22, 1614 during the reign of Emperor Matthias. The surviving sarcophagus was built in 1781.

King Sigismund II Augustus was now free to remarry but he followed Catherine to the grave less than six months later. Sigismund died at his beloved Knyszyn on July 6, 1572, aged 51. After a brief interrex, Henri de Valois of France was elected in the first royal elections as monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1573. However, he soon fled to France after the death of his brother Charles IX of France to inherit the French throne as King Henri III. He was deposed by the Sejm on May 12, 1575 after not returning to Poland. Shortly thereafter, Sigismund’s sister, Anna, was crowned Queen on December 15. She later married Stefan Batory who ruled Poland jure uxoris since May 1, 1576.

Archduchess Catherine of Austria, Queen of Poland. Part I.

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Anna of Hungary and Bohemia, Catherine of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, House of Jagiellon Kingdom of Poland, Queen of Poland, Sigismund II of Poland

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.

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).

The long reigns of Louis XIV of France & Navarre and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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Anne of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Empire, King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Kingdom of France, Longest reign, Louis XIII of France, Louis XIV, Philip III of Spain, Queen Elizabeth II, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Today is the anniversary of the death King Louis XIV of France and Navarre.

Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715), known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France and Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death on September 1st 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV’s France was a leader in the growing centralisation of power.

Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, the eldest daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and his wife Margaret of Austria (the daughter of Archduke Carl II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria and thus the paternal granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I).

Since the anniversary of his birth is on September 5, I will do a more in depth analysis of his life then. Until then I want to mention an interesting bit of trivia concerning the longest reign of Louis XIV and the long reign of the United Kingdom’s current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

Louis XIV reigned from May 14, 1643 to September 1, 1715 totaling 72 years, 3 months, 18 days on the throne. In order for Queen Elizabeth II to beat that record by one day (72 years, 3 months 19 days) and become longest reigning monarch in European history, she will need to remain on the throne until May 26, 2024, which is 4 years, 8 months and 25 days away.

At that time Elizabeth II will be 98 years, 1 month and 5 days old. Considering Her Majesty’s health is robust, this is entirely within the realm of possibility! Long may she continue to reign!