October 8, 1656: Death of Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony

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Gustaf II Adolphus of Sweden, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, John George I of Saxony, Peace of Westphalia, Protestant and Catholic, The Winter King, Thirty Years War

Johann Georg I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656.

Born in Dresden, Johann Georg belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. He was the second son of the Elector Christian I of Saxony and Sophie of Brandenburg, daughter of the Elector Johann Georg of Brandenburg (1525–1598) by his second marriage with Sabina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1548–1575), daughter of Margrave George of Brandenburg-Ansbach from his second marriage to Hedwig of Münsterberg-Oels (1508–1531).

Johann Georg succeeded to the electorate on June 23, 1611 on the death of his elder brother, Christian II. The geographical position of the Electorate of Saxony rather than her high standing among the German Protestants gave her ruler much importance during the Thirty Years’ War.

At the beginning of his reign, however, the new elector took up a somewhat detached position. His personal allegiance to Lutheranism was sound, but he liked neither the growing strength of Brandenburg nor the increasing prestige of the Palatinate; the adherence of the other branches of the Saxon ruling house to Protestantism seemed to him to suggest that the head of the Electorate of Saxony should throw his weight into the other scale, and he was prepared to favour the advances of the Habsburgs and the Roman Catholic party.

Thus Johann Georg was easily induced to vote for the election of Ferdinand, Archduke of Styria, as Emperor Ferdinand II in August of 1619, an action which nullified the anticipated opposition of the Protestant electors.

The new emperor secured the help of Johann Georg for the impending campaign in Bohemia by promising that he should be undisturbed in his possession of certain ecclesiastical lands. Carrying out his share of the bargain by occupying Silesia and Lusatia, where he displayed much clemency, the Saxon elector had thus some part in driving Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, (the Winter King of Bohemia) from Bohemia and in crushing Protestantism in that country, the crown of which he himself had previously refused.

Gradually, however, he was made uneasy by the obvious trend of the imperial policy towards the annihilation of Protestantism, and by a dread lest the ecclesiastical lands should be taken from him; and the issue of the edict of restitution in March 1629 put the capstone to his fears. Still, although clamouring vainly for the exemption of the electorate from the area covered by the edict, Johann Georg took no decisive measures to break his alliance with the emperor.

He did, indeed, in February 1631 call a meeting of Protestant princes at Leipzig, but in spite of the appeals of the preacher Matthias Hoe von Hohenegg (1580–1645) he contented himself with a formal protest.

Meanwhile, Gustaf II Adolphus of Sweden had landed in Germany, aiming to relieve Magdeburg. Gustaf II attempted to conclude an alliance with Johann Georg to allow him to cross the Elbe at Wittenberg, but Johann Georg remained hesitant to join the Protestant cause and the discussions went nowhere. Hoping that an alliance would be concluded eventually, Gustaf II avoided any military action.

Tilly, commander of the main imperial force, was also concerned about the possibility of an alliance, no matter how unlikely it was at the time. In order to preempt any such move, he invaded Saxony and started to ravage the countryside. This had the effect of driving Johann Georg into the alliance he had hoped to preempt, which was concluded in September 1631.

The Saxon troops were present at the battle of Breitenfeld, but were routed by the imperials, the Elector himself seeking safety in flight. Nevertheless, he soon took the offensive. Marching into Bohemia the Saxons occupied Prague, but Johann Georg soon began to negotiate for peace and consequently his soldiers offered little resistance to Wallenstein, who drove them back into Saxony.

However, for the present the efforts of Gustaf II Adolphus prevented the elector from deserting him, but the position was changed by the death of the king at Lützen in 1632, and the refusal of Saxony to join the Protestant league under Swedish leadership.

Still letting his troops fight in a desultory fashion against the imperials, Johann Georg again negotiated for peace, and in May 1635 he concluded the important treaty of Prague with Ferdinand II. His reward was Lusatia and certain other additions of territory; the retention by his son August of the archbishopric of Magdeburg; and some concessions with regard to the edict of restitution.

Almost at once he declared war upon the Swedes, but in October 1636 he was beaten at Wittstock; and Saxony, ravaged impartially by both sides, was soon in a deplorable condition. At length in September 1645 the elector was compelled to agree to a truce with the Swedes, who, however, retained Leipzig; and as far as Saxony was concerned this ended the Thirty Years’ War. After the Peace of Westphalia, which with regard to Saxony did little more than confirm the treaty of Prague, Johann Georg died on October 8, 1656.

Assessment

Although not without political acumen, Johann Georg was not a great ruler; his character appears to have been harsh and unlovely, and he was addicted to drink and other diversions such as hunting. Wallenstein held him in contempt saying on more than one occasion “have you seen how he lives “.

Family and children

Johann Georg I was married twice. In addition to his successor Johann Georg II, he left three sons, August (1614–1680), Christian (died 1691) and Maurice (died 1681).

In Dresden on September 16, 1604 Johann Georg married firstly Sibylle Elisabeth of Württemberg (1584 – 1606) the third of fifteen children of Friedrich I, Duke of Württemberg and Sibylla of Anhalt.

She died in the birth of their only child:

Stillborn son (Dresden, January 20, 1606).

In Torgau on July 19, 1607 Johann Georg married secondly Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia (1586 –1659) the daughter of Albert Friedrich, Duke of Prussia, and Marie Eleonore of Cleves. She is a 6th times great grandmother to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

They had ten children:

Stillborn son (Dresden, 18 July 1608)

Sophie Eleonore (Dresden, 23 November 1609 – Darmstadt, 2 June 1671), married on 1 April 1627 Landgrave Georg II of Hesse-Darmstadt

Marie Elisabeth (Dresden, 22 November 1610 – Husum, 24 October 1684), married on 21 February 1630 Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorp

Christian Albert (Dresden, 4 March 1612 – Dresden, 9 August 1612)

Johann Georg II (Dresden, 31 May 1613 – Freiberg, 22 August 1680), successor of his father as Elector of Saxony

August (Dresden, 13 August 1614 – Halle, 4 August 1680), inherited Weissenfels as Duke.

Christian I (Dresden, 27 October 1615 – Merseburg, 18 October 1691), inherited Merseburg as Duke

Magdalene Sibylle (Dresden, 23 December 1617 – Schloss Altenburg, 6 January 1668), married firstly on 5 October 1634 to Crown Prince Christian, eldest son and heir of King Christian IV of Denmark; and secondly, on 11 October 1652, to Duke Friedrich Wilhelm II of Saxe-Altenburg

Maurice (Dresden, 28 March 1619 – Moritzburg, 4 December 1681), inherited Zeitz as Duke

Heinrich (Dresden, 27 June 1622 – Dresden, 15 August 1622).

Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Holy Roman Empress. Part II.

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Austrian Habsburgs, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, King of Hungary, Spanish Habsburgs

Marriage
At the end of 1626, Maria Anna was betrothed to Ferdinand, the younger brother of her first fiancé, and the new heir of Emperor Ferdinand II. Ferdinand was her first cousin, being the son of her mother’s brother. The formal engagement was preceded by a series of negotiations which were conducted in 1625.

That same year, Prince Ferdinand was crowned King of Hungary, and in 1627 King of Bohemia. In the negotiations were included all the life aspects of the Infanta at the court of her future spouse. Despite the desire of the groom that Maria Anna’s confessor would be the Jesuit Ambrosio Penalosa, the appointment eventually went to Capuchin Diego Quiroga. In the marriage contract signed by both parties in 1628, it was noted that Maria Anna could retain her rights of inheritance over the Spanish throne, while her older sister Infanta Anna, married to King Louis XIII of France in 1615, was forced to renounce to her rights.

Maria Anna had left Madrid for Vienna in December 1629, fully three years after her engegement, and nearly five years after the proposal for marriage was first mooted. The journey, once embarked upon, took more than a year to complete. En route by sea, in Genoa complications arose due to an epidemic of the plague that erupted in the Italian Peninsula. For this reason, the party was unable to stop in Bologna, where Cardinal Antonio Barberini (nephew of Pope Urban VIII), was waiting for the Infanta to give her the Golden Rose.

The party moved to Naples, where Maria Anna finally received the award. Leaving the Kingdom of Naples, the Infanta crossed the Papal States, having made a pilgrimage to the Basilica della Santa Casa. On this section of her journey, Maria Anna was accompanied by Roman aristocracy, led by another nephew of Pope Urban VIII, Taddeo Barberini, Prince of Palestrina. On 26 January 1631, she arrived in Trieste, where she met Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, her future brother-in-law, who would first stand in for his brother at a wedding-by-proxy and then escort the Infanta to Vienna. That very day, Maria Anna was married to King Ferdinand of Hungria-Bohemia per procura with Archduke Leopold Wilhelm serving as the proxy.

Before the official wedding, King Ferdinand, not trusting the previous portraits that he had seen of the Infanta, decided to secretly view his bride. The Royal oberhofmeister asked for an audience with Maria Anna; on this visit, he was accompanied by some nobles, among whom was her groom. Struck by the beauty of the Infanta, King Ferdinand immediately revealed his identity and began a conversation with Maria Anna in Spanish. The love and respect that the future emperor felt for his wife lasted throughout their marriage. He was never unfaithful to her and never had any illegitimate children.

In Vienna on February 20, 1631, Maria Anna was married to King Ferdinand of Hungary-Bohemia. The festivities lasted a whole month. The marriage was described as friendly. Maria Anna was described as happy-tempered, friendly, and intelligent, and she was able to relieve the feelings of the rather melancholic Ferdinand.

August 18, 1606: Birth of Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Holy Roman Empress. Part I.

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Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Empire, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, king James I-VI of England and Scotland, King Philip III of Spain, Spanish Match

Infanta Maria Anna of Spain was born in the Palace of El Escorial, near Madrid, on August 18, 1606 as the fourth child and third (but second surviving) daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and his wife Margaret of Austria, Archduchess of the Inner Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg, and 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.

Infanta Maria Anna of Spain

Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain (18 August 1606 – 13 May 1646) was a Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia by marriage to Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III. She acted as regent on several occasions during the absences of her spouse.

Of her seven siblings, only four survived infancy: Anna (later wife of King Louis XIII of France), Felipe IV of Spain, Charles (who died young in 1632) and Ferdinand (the later known Cardinal-Infante and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands). Maria Anna’s parents had a close kinship: her father was her mother’s first cousin once-removed. On her father’s side she was the granddaughter of King Felipe II of Spain, and his fourth wife and niece Archduchess Anne of Austria, and on her mother’s side she was the granddaughter of Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his wife Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria.

Betrothal

From early childhood, Maria Anna has played an important role in the matrimonial projects of her father. In adolescence she was betrothed to Archduke Johann-Charles, eldest son and heir of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her fiance was her first cousin, being the son of her mother’s brother. The marriage never took place due to Archduke Johann-Charles’ early death in 1618.

In 1622, King James I-VI of England and Scotland received an offer from the Spanish King Felipe IV to strengthen the relations of their countries through a dynastic marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales, and Infanta Maria Anna. London and Madrid began active negotiations. The possible marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Spanish Infanta, was known in history under the name “Spanish Match”, and caused an internal political crisis in both England and Scotland.

Charles, Prince of Wales.

In 1623 the Prince of Wales, accompanied by George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, visited Madrid to meet his intended bride. However, Maria Anna did not wish to marry a Protestant and Charles would not convert to Catholicism. At the end, the wedding never took place not only for political reasons but also because of the reluctance of the new Spanish King to conclude a dynastic marriage with the House of Stuart. Charles eventually married Henrietta Maria of France, daughter of King Henri IV of France and Navarre and Marie de Medici.

Intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines of the House of Mecklenburg. Part I.

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Adolf-Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Mecklenburg, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Johann VII of Mecklenburg, Johann-Albert II of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Thirty Years War

From the Emperor’s Desk: In response to the post on the Birth of Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, I was asked if the Schwerin and Strelitz line of the House of Mecklenburg intermarried. So starting with today’s post I will examine this question in a short series. Today we begin with some back ground information.

Like many German territories, Mecklenburg was sometimes partitioned and re-partitioned among different members of the ruling dynasty. In 1621 Mecklenburg was divided into the two duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

Prior to the Duchy being divided in 1621 Mecklenburg was ruled by Johann VII of Mecklenburg (March 7, 1558 – March 22, 1592) (sometimes called Johann V, that will take another post to explain). Johann VII was the son of Johann-Albert I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Schwerin (1525–1576), and his wife Duchess Anna Sophia of Prussia (1527–1591). Johann was eighteen years old when his father died and he succeeded as the Duke of Mecklenburg. A regency council was appointed that ruled in his name for the next nine years.

The regency handed over the actual rule of his territories to him in 1585. He immediately faced problems that he was ill-equipped to deal with, including massive debt and his uncle Christopher’s demands for territorial concessions. After an especially harsh argument with his uncle, he committed suicide.

Johann VII, Duke of Mecklenburg.

On February 17, 1588 Johann married Sophia (1569 – 1634), a daughter of Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and his wife Christine of Hesse. They had three children:
* Adolf Frederick I (1588 – 1658). Through Adolf-Friedrich I would spring both the Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz lines of the family.
* Johann-Albert II (1590 – 1636). From Johann-Albert II came the short lived Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow line.
* Anna Sophia (1591 – 1648)

Johann-Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

After the suicide of Duke Johann VII, Adolf-Friedrich I and his brother Johann-Albert II reigned jointly under the guardianship of Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Charles I of Mecklenburg (their father’s uncles). The two brothers took over governance of Mecklenburg-Schwerin beginning on April 16, 1608, after the death of Duke Ulrich III and after the death of Duke Charles I on July 22, 1610 they also governed in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

Division of Mecklenburg and Thirty Years’ War

In 1621 the Duchy of Mecklenburg was formally divided between the two brothers, with Adolf-Friedrich I ruling in Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Johann-Albert II ruling in Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

Adolf-Friedrich I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

During the Thirty Years’ War, Albrecht von Wallenstein ousted both of the dukes after they secretly sided with King Christian IV of Denmark against Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Wallenstein ruled the duchies from 1627 until 1631, when the dukes were restored by the Swedes under King Gustaf II Adolph. In 1634 Adolf-Friedrich I succeeded Ulrik of Denmark as last Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin before its secularisation.

Duke Adolf-Friedrich I died on February 27, 1658 (aged 69) and his eldest son, Christian-Ludwig I, (December 1, 1623 in Schwerin – June 21, 1692 in The Hague) became the reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Christian-Ludwig I’s mother was Anna-Maria (1601–1634), the daughter of Count Enno III of East Frisia.

The next post will examine the descendants of Duke Adolf-Friedrich I and the Mecklenburg-Schwerin family line.

The post after that will focus on Johann-Albert II of Mecklenburg-Güstrow which lead to further division of the Duchy.

July 13, 1608: Birth of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

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Archduchess Maria-Leopoldine of Austria, Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Empire, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Margaret-Theresa of Austria, Thirty Years War

Ferdinand III (July 13, 1608 – April 2, 1657), was born in Graz, the eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria, the fourth child and second (but eldest surviving) daughter of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. He 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 became Archduke of Austria in 1621. On December 8, 1625 he was crowned King of Hungary, on November 27, 1627 King of Bohemia. His father was unable to secure him the election as Roman king at the Regensburg diet of 1630. After he had unsuccessfully applied for the supreme command of the imperial army and participation in campaigns of Wallenstein, he joined Wallenstein’s opponents at the imperial court in Vienna and had been involved in the arrangements on his second deposition in the beginning of 1634.

Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (Father)

Maria-Anna of Bavaria (Mother)

Ferdinand was finally 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 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III..

By the time Ferdinand became emperor, vast sections of the imperial territories had been absolutely devastated by two decades of war. The population was completely exhausted and massively diminished, countless people were impoverished, disabled, sick, homeless, many had lost their families and had abandoned all moral standards. Ferdinand did not endeavour to continue the war. But the momentum of the war, the political circumstances and his reluctance to act prevented a quick end to the war. Any hope to make early peace with France and Sweden did not materialize.

Ferdinand ascended the throne at 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 princes would weaken after the war, in Bohemia, Hungary and the Austrias, however, Ferdinand’s position as sovereign was uncontested.

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

Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain

On February 20, 1631, Ferdinand III married his first wife, Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain (1606–1646). She was the youngest daughter of Felipe III of Spain and Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria-Anna of Bavaria, the daughter of Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria, and thus the paternal granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. Her elder brother was the Archduke Ferdinand, who succeeded as Emperor in 1619.

Maria-Anna of Bavaria

They were first cousins, as Maria-Anna’s mother was a sister of Ferdinand’s father. They were parents to six children: among them were

* Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (September 8, 1633 – July 9, 1654)
* Maria Anna “Mariana”, Archduchess of Austria (December 22, 1634 – May 16, 1696). At the age of 14, she was married to her maternal uncle Philip IV of Spain. Their daughter Margaret Theresa of Spain married Mariana’s brother Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
* Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (June 9, 1640 – May 5, 1705)

On July 2, 1648 in Linz, Ferdinand III married his second wife, Archduchess Maria-Leopoldine of Austria (1632–1649). She was a daughter of Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, and Claudia de’ Medici. They were first cousins as male-line grandchildren of Charles II, Archduke of Austria, and Maria Anna of Bavaria. They had a single son:

Archduchess Maria-Leopoldine of Austria

* Charles Josef, Archduke of Austria (August 7, 1649 – January 27, 1664). He was Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from 1662 to his death.

On April 27, 1651, Ferdinand III married Eleonora Gonzaga. She was a daughter of Charles IV Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel and his wife and cousin Maria Gonzaga (heiress to the Duchy of Montferrat).

Eleonora Gonzaga

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.

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).

April 17, 1573: Birth of Maximilian I, Duke and Prince Elector of Bavaria, Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

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Archduchess Marie Anna of Austria, Catholic League, Duke and Prince Elector of Bavaria, Frederick V of Bohemia, Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, House of Wittelsbach, Maximilian I, Maximilian of Bavaria, Peace of Westphalia, Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine, The Thirty Years War, The Winter King

Maximilian I (April 17, 1573 – September 27, 1651), occasionally called “the Great”, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Duke of Bavaria from 1597. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years’ War during which he obtained the title of a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire at the 1623 Diet of Regensburg.

Maximilian I, Duke and Prince Elector of Bavaria, Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

Maximilian was a capable monarch who, by overcoming the feudal rights of the local estates (Landstände), laid the foundations for absolutist rule in Bavaria. A devout Catholic, he was one of the leading proponents of the Counter-Reformation and founder of the Catholic League of Imperial Princes. In the Thirty Years’ War, he was able to conquer the Upper Palatinate region, as well as the Electoral Palatinate affiliated with the electoral dignity of his Wittelsbach cousin, the “Winter King” Friedrich V. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia affirmed his possession of Upper Palatinate and the hereditary electoral title of Elector Palatine of the Rhine, though it returned Electoral Palatinate to Friedrich’s heir and created an eighth electoral dignity for them.

Maximilian I was born in Munich, the eldest son of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine to survive infancy. He was educated by the Jesuits, and upon his father’s abdication, became Duke of Bavaria and began to take part in the government in 1591. In 1595 he married his cousin, Elisabeth Renata (also known as Elizabeth of Lorraine), daughter of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine in his marriage to Claude of Valois, the second daughter of King Henri II of France and Catherine de’ Medici.

Elisabeth Renata of Lorraine

His first marriage to Elisabeth Renata was childless. A few months after the death of Elisabeth Renata, Maximilian married, on July 15, 1635 in Vienna, his 25-year-old niece Maria Anna of Austria (1610-1665), the daughter of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maximillian’s sister, Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574-1616).

The main motivation for this swift remarriage was not so much political grounds as the hope of producing a prince to inherit his titles. In contrast to the Elector’s first wife, Maria Anna was very interested in politics and well instructed about developments. She was not bound to the Habsburgs, but rather completely advocated the Bavarian standpoint.

Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria

Maximilian refrained from any interference in German politics until 1607, when he was entrusted with the duty of executing the imperial ban against the free city of Donauwörth, a Protestant stronghold. In December 1607 his troops occupied the city, and vigorous steps were taken to restore the supremacy of Catholicism. Some Protestant princes, alarmed at this action, formed the Protestant Union to defend their interests, which was answered in 1609 by the establishment of the Catholic League, in the formation of which Maximilian took an important part.

Under his leadership an army was set on foot, but his policy was strictly defensive and he refused to allow the League to become a tool in the hands of the House of Habsburg. Dissensions among his colleagues led the duke to resign his office in 1616, but the approach of trouble brought about his return to the League about two years later.

Having refused to become a candidate for the imperial throne in 1619, Maximilian was faced with the complications arising from the outbreak of war in Bohemia. After some delay he made a treaty with Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor in October 1619, and in return for large concessions placed the forces of the League at the emperor’s service.

The Arms of Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, Arch-Steward and Prince-Elector

In February 1623 Maximilian was formally invested with the electoral dignity (Elector of Bavaria) and the attendant office of imperial steward, which had been enjoyed since 1356 by the Counts Palatine of the Rhine. After receiving the Upper Palatinate (becoming Elector Palatine of the Rhine) and restoring Upper Austria to Ferdinand, Maximilian became leader of the party which sought to bring about Albrecht von Wallenstein’s dismissal from the imperial service.

Early in 1632 Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden marched into the duchy and occupied Munich, and Maximilian could only obtain the assistance of the Imperial troops by placing himself under the orders of Wallenstein, now restored to the command of the emperor’s forces. The ravages of the Swedes and their French allies induced the elector to enter into negotiations for peace with the Swedes and Cardinal Cardinal Richelieu of France. He also wooed the Protestants by proposing modifications to the Edict of Restitution of 1629, but these efforts were abortive.

In March 1647 Maximilian concluded the Truce of Ulm (1647) with France and Sweden, but the entreaties of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor led him to disregard his undertaking. Bavaria was again ravaged, and the elector’s forces were defeated in May 1648 at the Battle of Zusmarshausen. The Peace of Westphalia soon put an end to the struggle. By this treaty it was agreed that Maximilian should retain the electoral dignity, which was made hereditary in his family, Upper Palatinate. Maximilian had to give up the Lower Palatine, (Elector Palatine) which was restored to Charles Ludwig, Friedrich V’s son and heir.

The Duke died at Ingolstadt on September 27 1651 aged 78 . He is buried in St. Michael’s Church, Munich. In 1839 a statue was erected to his memory at Munich by King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Unification of the Kingdom of Spain: Part II. November 26, 1504 the death of Queen Isabella I of Castile.

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Carlos I of Spain, Charles V, Ferdinand and Isabella, Ferdinand II of Aragon, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Empire, Isabella I of Castile, Isabella of Spain, Joanna of Castile, Philip II of Spain, Unification of Spain

Philipp of Habsburg was the son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I by his first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in her own right. Philipp was less than four years old when his mother died, and upon her death, he inherited the greater part of the Duchy of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands as Philippe IV. In 1496, his father arranged for him to marry Joanna of Castile, second daughter of Fernando II-V and Isabella I, rulers of Aragon and Castile respectively.

At Isabella’s death on November 26, 1504 and the crown of Castile passed to their daughter Joanna, by the terms of their prenuptial agreement and Isabella‘s last will and testament, and her husband Fernando lost his monarchical status in Castile. Joanna’s husband Philipp of Habsburg, Duke of Burgundy became de jure uxoris King of Castile, as Felipe I, but died in 1506, and Joanna ruled in her own right.

Isabella I, Queen of Castile.

In 1504, after a war with France, Fernando became King of Naples as Ferdinand III, reuniting Naples with Sicily permanently and for the first time since 1458. In 1506, as part of a treaty with France, Fernando (aged 54) married Germaine of Foix of France (aged 18). Germaine’s father was Jean of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne and son of Queen Eleanor of Navarre. Her mother, Marie of Orléans, was the sister of King Louis XII of France. Sadly, Fernando’s only son and child of this union, Juan, Prince of Girona born on May 3, 1509, but died shortly after birth. (Had the child survived, the personal union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile would have ceased.) In 1512, Fernando became King of Navarre by conquest.

As mentioned, Fernando II, lost his monarchical status in Castile although his wife’s will permitted him to govern in Joanna’s absence or, if Joanna was unwilling to rule herself, until Joanna’s heir (Infante Carlos) reached the age of 20.

Fernando refused to accept this, therefore he minted Castilian coins in the name of “Fernando and Joanna, King and Queen of Castile, León and Aragon,” and, in early 1505, persuaded the Cortes that Joanna’s “illness is such that the said Queen Doña Joanna our Lady cannot govern”. The Cortes then appointed Ferdinand as Joanna’s guardian and the kingdom’s administrator and governor.

Fernando II-V, King of Aragon and Castile.

Joanna’s husband, Philipp of Habsburg was unwilling to accept any threat to his chances of ruling Castile and also minted coins in the name of “Felipe and Joanna, King and Queen of Castile, Léon and Archdukes of Austria, etc.” In response, Ferdinand embarked upon a pro-French policy, marrying Germaine de Foix, niece of Louis XII of France (and his own great-niece), in the hope that she would produce a son to inherit Aragon and perhaps Castile.

Fernando’s remarriage merely strengthened support for Felipe and Joanna in Castile, and in late 1505, the pair decided to travel to Castile. Leaving Flanders on January 10, 1506, their ships were wrecked on the English coast and the couple were guests of Henry, Prince of Wales, (later Henry VIII) and Joanna’s sister Catherine of Aragon at Windsor Castle. They weren’t able to leave until April 21, by which time civil war was looming in Castile.

Felipe apparently considered landing in Andalusia and summoning the nobles to take up arms against Ferdinand in Aragon. Instead, he and Joanna landed at A Coruña on April 26, whereupon the Castilian nobility abandoned Fernando en masse. Fernando met Felipe at Villafáfila on 27 of June 1506 for a private interview in the village church. To the general surprise Ferdinand had unexpectedly handed over the government of Castile to his “most beloved children”, promising to retire to Aragon. Felipe and Fernando then signed a second treaty secretly, agreeing that Joanna’s “infirmities and sufferings” made her incapable of ruling and promising to exclude her from government and deprive the Queen of crown and freedom.

Felipe I, King of Castile, Duke of Burgundy and Archduke of Austria.

Joanna, Queen of Castile.

Fernando promptly repudiated the second agreement the same afternoon, declaring that Joanna should never be deprived of her rights as Queen Proprietress of Castile. A fortnight later, having come to no fresh agreement with Felipe, and thus effectively retaining his right to interfere if he considered his daughter’s rights to have been infringed upon, he abandoned Castile for Aragon, leaving Felipe to govern in Joanna’s stead.

Felipe’s death

By virtue of the agreement of Villafáfila, the procurators of the Cortes met in Valladolid, Castile on July 9, 1506. On 12 July, they swore allegiance to Felipe I and Joanna together as King and Queen of Castile and León and to their son Carlos as their heir-apparent. This arrangement only lasted for a few months.

On September 25, 1506, Felipe died after a five-day illness in the city of Burgos in Castile. The official cause of death was typhoid fever. The general opinion publicly declared was that his father-in-law Fernando II, who had always disliked his foreign Habsburg origins and with whom he never wanted to share power, had had him poisoned by “bocado.” Joanna was pregnant with their sixth child, a daughter named Catherine (1507–1578), who later became Queen of Portugal as the spouse of King João III of Portugal (1521-1557).

Fernando II and Joanna met at Hornillos, Castile on July 30, 1507. Fernando then constrained her to yield her power over the Kingdom of Castile and León to himself. On August 17, 1507, three members of the royal council were summoned – supposedly in her name – and ordered to inform the grandees of her father Fernando II’s return to power: “That they should go to receive his highness and serve him as they would her person and more.” However, she made it evident that this was against her will, by refusing to sign the instructions and issuing a statement that as queen regnant she did not endorse the surrender of her own royal powers.

Nonetheless, she was thereafter queen in name only, and all documents, though issued in her name, were signed with Fernando’s signature, “I the King”. He was named administrator of the kingdom by the Cortes of Castile in 1510, and entrusted the government mainly to Archbishop Cisneros. He had Joanna confined in the Royal Palace in Tordesillas, near Valladolid in Castile, in February 1509 after having dismissed all of her faithful servants and having appointed a small retinue accountable to him alone. At this time, some accounts claim that she was insane or “mad”, and that she took her husband’s corpse with her to Tordesillas to keep it close to her.

Fernando II ended his days embittered: his second marriage to Germaine de Foix had failed to produce a surviving male heir, leaving his daughter Joanna as his heiress-presumptive. Fernando resented that upon his death, Castile and Aragon would effectively pass to his foreign-born-and-raised grandson Carlos to whom he had transferred his hatred of Felipe I. He had hoped that his younger grandson and namesake, Archduke Ferdinand who was Carlos I’s brother and had been born and raised in Castile, would succeed him. Fernando named Ferdinand as his heir in his will before being persuaded to revoke this bequest and rename Joanna and Carlos as his heirs-presumptive instead.

When Fernando II died in 1516, the Kingdoms of Castile and León, and Aragon and their associated crowns and territories/colonies, would pass to Joanna I and her son as King Carlos I. With Carlos still in Flanders, Aragon was being governed after Fernando II’s death by his bastard son, Alonso de Aragón. Meanwhile, Castile and León, already subjects of Joanna, were governed by Archbishop Cisneros as regent. A group of nobles, led by the Duke of Infantado, attempted to proclaim the Archduke Ferdinand as King of Castile but the attempt failed.

Carlos I/Karl V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Duke of Burgundy and Archduke of Austria.

In October 1517, seventeen-year-old Carlos I arrived in Asturias at the Bay of Biscay. On November 4, he and his sister Eleanor met their mother Joanna at Tordesillas – there they secured from her the necessary authorisation to allow Carlos to rule as her co-King of Castile and León and of Aragon. Despite her acquiescence to his wishes, her confinement would continue. The Castilian Cortes, meeting in Valladolid, insulted Carlos by addressing him only as Su Alteza (Your Highness) and reserving Majestad (Majesty) for Joanna. However, no one seriously considered rule by Joanna a realistic proposition.

In 1519, Carlos I now ruled the Kingdom of Aragon and its territories and the Kingdom of Castile and León and its territories, in personal union. In addition, that same year Carlos was elected Holy Roman Emperor as Karl V. The kingdoms of Castile and Aragon (and Navarre) remained in personal union. Carlos I is recognized as the first king of a United Spain. It is interesting to note that during the regency of Fernando II-V, many called him the King of Spain as distinct from his daughter Joanna, “queen of Castile”. Despite Carlos ruling over the main Spanish kingdoms, the crowns of the Kingdoms of Castile and León and Aragon were still ruled in personal union of the king and were not legally united into a single Kingdom of Spain until the Bourbon King Felipe V in the early 18th century.

Felipe V signed the Decreto de Nueva Planta in 1715. This new law revoked most of the historical rights and privileges of the different kingdoms that formed the Spanish Crown, especially the Crown of Aragon, unifying them under the laws of Castile, thus unifying Spain under one legal system.

Carlos I eventually abdicated as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in favour of his brother Ferdinand, and the personal union with the Spanish kingdoms was dissolved. In Spain Carlos’s son became the new Spanish king as Felipe II.

Today in royal history: July 15, 1837 – Birth of Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

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Albert I of Belgium, Cholera, Diptheria, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, House of Braganza, Pedro V of Portugal and the Algarves, Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary, Quen Maria II of Portugal and the Algarves, Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Today in royal history: July 15, 1837 – Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the future Queen consort of Portugal, wife of King Pedro V of Portugal and the Algarves, was born.

Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Princess Stephanie was born in Krauchenwies, Sigmaringen, on July 15, 1837, Stephanie was the eldest daughter of Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern, head of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and his wife Princess Josephine of Baden. Her maternal grandparents were Karl, Grand Duke of Baden, and Stéphanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of Emperor Napoleon I of France.

She was also a younger sister of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, older sister of King Carol I of Romania, and aunt of King Albert I of Belgium.

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern is not as well known to history as is the junior Franconian line which became Burgraves of Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg-Prussia and the German Empire.

The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 1623 by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. The small sovereign state with the capital city of Sigmaringen was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 by Friedrich Wilhelm IV following the abdication of its sovereign, Prince Carl, in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, then became part of the newly created Province of Hohenzollern.

This photo shows King Pedro V and Queen Stephanie in the courtyard at Pena Palace near Sintra, around 1858. The picture was taken during the wedding festivities of Pedro and Stephanie.

Stephanie married King Peter V of Portugal and the Algarves by proxy on 29 April 1858 at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, where her eldest brother Leopold stood in for the groom. She was then married in person on 18 May 1858 at the Church of St. Dominic in Lisbon.

Pedro V, King of Portugal and the Algarves.

King Pedro V was the eldest son of Queen Maria II of Portugal and the Algarves and Prince Ferdinand a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháryeter was a member of the House of Braganza. As heir apparent to the throne, Pedro was styled Prince Royal and he was also the 19th Duke of Braganza.

Both bride and groom were a few months short of their twenty-first birthdays. Stephanie was received with much luxury and wrote home that the Portuguese understood luxury better than dignity. However she fell ill with diphtheria and died only a year later in Lisbon at the age of 22. During her short period as queen, she made herself a good name from the foundation of hospitals.

Stephanie, Queen of Portugal and the Algarves.

There were no children from this marriage. Her body was interred at the Braganza Pantheon inside the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.

Pedro never married again and died of cholera on November 11, 1861 at the age of 24. He was succeeded as King by his younger brother Luís.

Accession of Ferdinand III as Holy Roman Emperor.

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Archduke of Austria, Austria, Carl X Gustav of Sweden, Ferdinand III, France, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, Sweden

Ferdinand III (July 13, 1608 – April 2, 1657) was Holy Roman Emperor from February 15, 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. He was the last emperor to have real power over the Holy Roman Empire.

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Ferdinand was born in Graz, the eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand II of the House of Habsburg and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria. Educated by the Jesuits, he became Archduke of Austria in 1621, King of Hungary in 1625, and King of Bohemia in 1627.

In 1627 Ferdinand enhanced his authority and set an important legal and military precedent by issuing a Revised Land Ordinance that deprived the Bohemian estates of their right to raise soldiers, reserving this power solely for the monarch.

Having been elected King of the Romans in 1636, he succeeded his father as Holy Roman Emperor in 1637. He hoped to make peace soon with France and Sweden, but the war dragged on, finally ending in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia (Treaty of Münster with France, Treaty of Osnabrück with Sweden), negotiated by his envoy Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff, a diplomat who had been made a count in 1623 by his father Ferdinand II.

During the last period of the war, in 1644 Ferdinand III gave all rulers of German states the right to conduct their own foreign policy (ius belli ac pacis) – the emperor hoped to gain more allies in the negotiations with France and Sweden. This edict, however, contributed to the gradual erosion of the imperial authority in the Holy Roman Empire.
After 1648 the emperor was engaged in carrying out the terms of the treaty and ridding Germany of the foreign soldiery. In 1656 he sent an army into Italy to assist Spain in her struggle with France, and he had just concluded an alliance with Poland to check the aggressions of Carl X Gustav of Sweden when he died on April 2, 1657. He was succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor by his second surviving son, Leopold I (1640-1705).

Marriages and children

On February 20, 1631 Ferdinand III married his first wife Archduchess Maria Anna of Spain (1606–1646). She was the youngest daughter of Felipe III of Spain and Margaret of Austria. They were first cousins as Maria Anna’s mother was a sister of Ferdinand’s father. They were parents to six children:
* Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (8 September 1633 – 9 July 1654)
* Maria Anna “Mariana”, Archduchess of Austria (22 December 1634 – 16 May 1696). Married her maternal uncle Felipe IV of Spain.
* Philip August, Archduke of Austria (15 July 1637 – 22 June 1639)
* Maximilian Thomas, Archduke of Austria (21 December 1638 – 29 June 1639)
* Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705)
* Maria, Archduchess of Austria (13 May 1646)

In 1648, Ferdinand III married his second wife, Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria (1632–1649). She was a daughter of Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, and Claudia de’ Medici. They were first cousins as male-line grandchildren of Karl II, Archduke of Austria, and Maria Anna of Bavaria. They had a single son:
* Karl Josef, Archduke of Austria (7 August 1649 – 27 January 1664). He was Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from 1662 to his death.

In 1651, Ferdinand III married his 3rd wife Eleonora Gonzaga (1630–1686). She was a daughter of Charles IV Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel. They were parents to four children:
* Theresia Maria Josefa, Archduchess of Austria (27 March 1652 – 26 July 1653)
* Eleonora Maria of Austria (21 May 1653 – 17 December 1697), who married first Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, and then Charles Léopold, Duke of Lorraine.
* Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (30 December 1654 – 4 April 1689), who married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine.
* Ferdinand Josef Alois, Archduke of Austria (11 February 1657 – 16 June 1658)