The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Part III

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Christina, Eighty Years War, Felipe IV-III, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, King of Spain and Portugal, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Peace of Westphalia, Prince of Orange, Queen of Sweden, Stadtholder of the United Provinces, Thirty Years War, Treaty of Münster, Treaty of Osnabrück, Willem II

The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) and Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648), and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people.

Despite resulting cessation of the Thirty Years War, the Peace of Westphalia was a significant step in the decline of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Felipe IV-III, King of Spain and Portugal, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Christina, Queen of Sweden, Willem II, Prince of Orange, United Provinces (Netherlands), and their respective allies were among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire participated in these treaties.

The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two cities, because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungry, Bohemia and Croatia, Archduke of Austria

The negotiations in Westphalia turned out to be difficult, beginning with a dispute over the rules of procedure. The emperor had to give in to pressure from France and Sweden and admit all imperial estates to the congress and receive the ius belli ac pacis. In addition to peace between the parties involved, the internal constitution of the empire was also newly regulated.

The Imperial Court received weekly reports on the negotiations. Even though the reports had been produced by officials, the process also proved to be an extremely busy time for the emperor, as despite all the advisers, he had to make the decisions. The study of the documents suggests, that Emperor Ferdinand III was a monarch with expertise with a sense of responsibility and the willingness to make difficult decisions.

In the course of the negotiations, Ferdinand had to reconsider his original goals according to the deteriorating military situation. His advisor Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff suggested a great battle to end the war favourably.

The emperor personally took part in the campaign against the Swedes, that ended with a defeat at the Battle of Jankau on March 6, 1645. The Swedish army under Lennart Torstensson then advanced to Vienna. To raise morale in the city, the emperor circled the city in a large procession with an image of the Virgin Mary.

As the Swedish army drew closer, Ferdinand left the city. Archduke Leopold Wilhelm managed to drive off the opponents. At times Ferdinand managed to get Prince George I Rákóczi of Transylvania, an ally of France and Sweden, on his side.

In the 1645 Peace of Linz the Emperor had to guarantee the Hungarian estates the right of imperial representation and freedom of religion for the Protestants, which prevented the Counter-reformation and future Absolutist rule in Hungary.

The Habsburgs could no longer win the war without the support of the Spanish allies. Due to domestic difficulties, financial and military Spanish support for Ferdinand was completely stopped in 1645. Without foreign military funds, the imperial troops were incapable of offensive operations, which weakened Ferdinand’s position in negotiations.

“Celebration of the Peace of Münster” Bartholomeus Van Der Helst – 1648

The emperor reissued the instructions for the peace talks for Trautmannsdorf, who left for Westphalia as chief negotiator. These documents were kept strictly secret and were only published in 1962. Reviews revealed, that Ferdinand surrendered numerous previous claims and was ready for greater concessions than were ultimately necessary.

A total of 109 delegations arrived to represent the belligerent states, but not all delegations were present at the same time. Two treaties were signed to end the war in the Empire: the Treaty of Münster and the Treaty of Osnabrück.

These treaties ended the Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire, with the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria and Spain) and their Catholic allies on one side, battling the Protestant powers (Sweden and certain Holy Roman principalities) allied with France, which was Catholic but strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV. The separate Peace of Münster ended the Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the United Provinces.

The negotiators agreed to the Peace of Münster in 1648, but Willem II, Stadtholder of the United Provinces and Prince of Orange opposed acceptance of the treaty, even though it recognized the independence of the (northern) Netherlands, because it left the southern Netherlands in the hands of the Spanish monarchy. A separate peace furthermore violated the alliance with France formed in 1635. However, the States of six provinces voted to accept it.

Willem II, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the United Provinces

Secretly, Willem II opened his own negotiations with France with the goal of extending his own territory under a more centralized government. In addition, he worked for the restoration of his exiled brother-in-law, Charles II, to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Resulting from the treaty the power asserted by Emperor Ferdinand III was stripped from him and returned to the rulers of the Imperial States. The rulers of the Imperial States could henceforth choose their own official religions. Catholics and Protestants were redefined as equal before the law, and Calvinism was given legal recognition as an official religion. The independence of the Dutch Republic, which practiced religious toleration, also provided a safe haven for European Jews.

The dual rule of pope and emperor was effectively ended at the Peace of Westphalia at the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, wherein the empire was severed from the papacy for good. The papacy played no role in the negotiations and in the eyes of Pope Innocent X, the peace destroyed the connection between pope and emperor which had held Europe together since the time of Charlemagne eight centuries prior.

The Holy See was very displeased at the settlement, with Pope Innocent X calling it “null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all time” in the bull Zelo Domus Dei.

Where international disputes between the rulers of Europe had previously been solved and mediated by the pope and/or emperor, the 17th century saw the true emergence of the modern system of international relations and diplomacy.

The main tenet of the Peace of Westphalia:

All parties would recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, in which each prince had the right to determine the religion of his own state (the principle of cuius regio, eius religio). However, the ius reformandi was removed: Subjects were no longer forced to follow the conversion of their ruler. Rulers were allowed to choose Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism.

Another repercussion of the Peace of Westphalia was it gave the rulers of the many states within the Empire greater autonomy not only over religious issues but secular issues as well.

As mentioned yesterday, many states in Europe had become string nations due to the formation of a powerful centralized government. The Empire was in an opposite state. The lack of a standing army, a central treasury, weak central control of the government (that did not have a capitol) and exercised by a monarch who was elective and not hereditary all contributed to the idea that there was no unified German state. In the view of its contemporaries, the empire had regressed from a “regular” monarchy into a highly irregular one.

One of the saving graces of the Habsburg monarchy at this time was that they remained powerful within thier Crown Lands which laid both within and without the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire.

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.

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

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Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Philip IV of Spain

Maria Anna arrived at the Imperial court in Vienna with the Spanish fashion, theatre, dance and music (including the first sounded guitar). As the wife of the heir, she maintained good relations with all the members of her husband’s family; however, she had a complicated relationship with Ferdinand’s stepmother, the Empress Dowager Eleonora Gonzaga, mainly because between both began a competition for influence at the Imperial court. Maria Anna also paid much attention to the arts, especially painting. She collected works of Italian, Spanish and Flemish painters of the late Renaissance and early Baroque.

In Regensburg on December 22, 1636 Ferdinand was elected as King of the Romans, and a week later he was crowned by the Archbishop of Mainz. Maria Anna was crowned Queen of Germany one month later, on January 21, 1637. After his father’s death on February 15, 1637, Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor under the regnal name of Ferdinand III and also became sovereign King of Hungary and Bohemia. As his wife, she received the titles of Holy Roman Empress and sovereign Queen. Her coronation as Queen of Hungary took place in Pressburg during the Hungarian Diet of 1637–1638.

Maria Anna, being active in politics as the adviser of her spouse, was an important mediator between the Emperor and their Spanish relatives. Despite the fact that she always defended the interests of her husband, she did not forget the interests of her brothers King Felipe IV and the Cardinal-Infante Fernando.

In her court, which was consisted mainly of Spaniards, frequent guests were the Spanish ambassador and diplomats. The Emperor, during his absences from the Imperial court in Vienna, appointed his wife as regent, for example in 1645 during the Thirty Years’ War, when he was in the Kingdom of Bohemia.

Death
In March 1645 Maria Anna and her children left Linz, due to the approach of the Protestant Swedish army, and moved to Vienna. By April it was ready to cross the Danube there and threatened to occupy the city. The Imperial family fled instead temporarily to Graz. After returning to Vienna, they were forced to move again to Linz because of the plague.

The Empress’ sixth pregnancy became known in January 1646; four months later, on May 12, at Linz Castle, Maria Anna suddenly felt ill with fever and heavy bleeding and died the next morning. Her unborn child, a girl, was taken out alive from her womb. She was named Maria after her mother, but only lived a few hours. On May 24, both mother and daughter in the same coffin were moved to Vienna and buried in the Imperial Crypt, which already contained the coffins with the remains of the two sons of the Empress who died earlier.

The funeral cortege was accompanied by the Spanish ambassador and the Empress’ maid of honor. Very upset by the death of his wife and child, the Emperor was unable to attend the funeral. However, after returning to Vienna in late August he finally paid his respects to the remains of Maria Anna, and in September he announced the engagement of their eldest daughter Maria Anna with Balthasar Carlos, Prince of Asturias. However, the Prince died the following month shortly after the announcement. The Spaniards courtiers members of the late Empress’ household who came with her from Spain, including her confessor and the maids of honor of the late Empress, stayed at the Imperial court in Vienna and lived there for a few more years after her death.

Issue
During her marriage, Maria Anna gave birth to six children:

Ferdinand IV (1633 – 1654), King of the Romans and titular King of Hungary and Bohemia.
Maria Anna (1634 – 1696), who married her maternal uncle King Felipe IV of Spain.
Philipp August (1637 – 1639), Archduke of Austria.
Maximilian Thomas (1638 – 1639), Archduke of Austria.
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705).
Maria (born and died May 13, 1646), Archduchess of Austria.

Maria Anna of Spain

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.

Marriage of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria de Bourbon of France.

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1st Duke of Buckingham, Charles I of England, Charles Stuart, George Villiers, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, James I of England, James VI of Scotland, Princess Henrietta-Maria de Bourbon, Roman Catholic Church

Charles (November 19, 1600 – January 30, 1649) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from March 27, 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603 (as James I), he moved to England, where he spent much of the rest of his life. He became heir apparent to the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1612 on the death of his elder brother Henry-Frederick, Prince of Wales.

Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland

In 1620, Charles’s brother-in-law, King Friedrich V of Bohemia was defeated at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague and his hereditary lands in the Electoral Palatinate were invaded by a Habsburg force from the Spanish Netherlands. James I-VI, however, had been seeking marriage between the new Prince of Wales and Ferdinand’s niece, Habsburg princess, Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain, and began to see the Spanish match as a possible diplomatic means of achieving peace in Europe.

Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain was the daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Archduchess Margaret of Austria. Archduchess Margaret was 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. Her elder brother was the Archduke Ferdinand, who succeeded as Emperor in 1619.

Initially 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.

Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain

Unfortunately for James, negotiation with Spain proved generally unpopular, both with the public and with James’s court. The English Parliament was actively hostile towards Spain and Catholicism, and thus, when called by James in 1621, the members hoped for an enforcement of recusancy laws, a naval campaign against Spain, and a Protestant marriage for the Prince of Wales.

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, Jame I-VI’s favorite and a man who had great influence over Prince Charles, travelled incognito to Spain in February 1623 with Prince Charles to try to reach agreement on the long-pending Spanish match. In the end, however, the trip was an embarrassing failure. The Infanta thought Charles to be little more than an infidel, and the Spanish at first demanded that he convert to Roman Catholicism as a condition of the match.

The Spanish insisted on toleration of Catholics in England and the repeal of the penal laws, which Charles knew would never be agreed by Parliament, and that the Infanta remain in Spain for a year after any wedding to ensure that England complied with all the terms of the treaty. A personal quarrel erupted between Buckingham and the Count of Olivares, the Spanish chief minister, and so Charles conducted the ultimately futile negotiations personally. When Charles returned to London in October, without a bride and to a rapturous and relieved public welcome, he and Buckingham pushed a reluctant King James to declare war on Spain.

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

At the end of 1626, Infanta 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. February 20, 1631, Infanta Maria-Anna was married to King Ferdinand of Hungary-Bohemia, who became Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III in 1637.

With the failure of the Spanish match, Charles and Buckingham turned their attention to France. On May 1, 1625 Charles was married by proxy to the fifteen-year-old French princess Henrietta-Maria de Bourbon in front of the doors of Notre Dame de Paris.

Princess Henrietta-Maria de Bourbon was the youngest daughter of King Henri IV of France and Navarre and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici, and named after her parents. She was born at the Palais du Louvre on November 25, 1609, but some historians give her a birth-date of November 26. In England, where the Julian calendar was still in use, her date of birth is often recorded as November 16.

Princess Henrietta-Maria de Bourbon

Princess Henrietta-Maria de Bourbon was brought up as a Catholic. As a daughter of the Bourbon King of France, she was a Fille de France and a member of the House of Bourbon. She was the youngest sister of the future Louis XIII of France and aunt of King Louis XIV. Her father was assassinated on May 14, 1610, when she was less than a year old. As a child, she was raised under the supervision of the royal governess Françoise de Montglat.

Charles had seen Henrietta-Maria in Paris while en route to Spain. The married couple met in person on June 13, 1625 in Canterbury. Charles delayed the opening of his first Parliament until after the marriage was consummated, to forestall any opposition. Many members of the Commons were opposed to the king’s marriage to a Roman Catholic, fearing that Charles would lift restrictions on Catholic recusants and undermine the official establishment of the reformed Church of England.

Although he told Parliament that he would not relax religious restrictions, he promised to do exactly that in a secret marriage treaty with his brother-in-law Louis XIII of France. Moreover, the treaty loaned to the French seven English naval ships that would be used to suppress the Protestant Huguenots at La Rochelle in September 1625. Charles was crowned on February 2, 1626 at Westminster Abbey, but without his wife at his side because she refused to participate in a Protestant religious ceremony.

May 16, 1696: Death of Maria-Anna, Queen Consort of Spain and Portugal, Regent of Spain. Part I.

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Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Carlos II of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Infante Balthasar Carlos of Spain, Prince of Asturias

Archduchess Maria-Anna (December 24, 1634 – May 16, 1696) was Queen of Spain from 1649 until her husband and uncle, Felipe IV, died in 1665. She was then appointed regent for their three-year-old son Carlos II, and due to his ill health remained an influential figure until her own death in 1696.

Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria

Her regency was overshadowed by the need to manage Spain’s post-1648 decline as the dominant global power, internal political divisions and the European economic crisis of the second half of the 17th century. The inability of her son Charles to produce an heir led to constant manoeuvring by other European powers, which ultimately ended in the 1701 to 1714 War of the Spanish

Family

Archduchess Maria-Anna was born on December 24, 1634 in Wiener Neustadt, second child of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1608-1657), who became Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor in 1637, and Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain, daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Archduchess Margaret of Austria.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, father of Maria-Anna

Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain, mother of Maria-Anna

Maria-Anna’s grandmother, Archduchess Margaret of Austria, was 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. Her elder brother was the Archduke Ferdinand, who succeeded as Emperor Ferdinand II in 1619. Also, prior to her Imperial marriage, Archduchess Margaret of Austria was considered a possible wife for Charles, Prince of Wales (future King Charles I) the event, later known in history as the “Spanish Match”, provoked a domestic and political crisis in the Kingdoms of England and Scotland.

Archduchess Maria Anna’s parents, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain, had six children, of whom only Maria-Anna and two brothers survived to adulthood; Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (1633-1654), and Leopold (1640-1705), elected Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, in 1658.

Marriage

The Habsburgs often married within the family to retain their lands and properties, and in 1646 Maria-Anna was betrothed to her cousin and heir to the Spanish throne, Infante Balthasar-Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1629-1646) The only son of King Felipe IV of Spain (1605-1665) and his first wife, Elisabeth of France (1602–1644). Princess Elisabeth of France was the eldest daughter of King Henri IV of France and his second spouse Marie de’ Medici.

Infante Balthasar-Carlos, Prince of Asturias

On October 5, the eve of second anniversary of the death of Queen Elisabeth, Felipe IV and Infante Balthasar-Carlos attended Vespers that night in her memory. That evening, the prince was ill and the next day, Saturday October 6, he had to stay in bed while the king went to the funeral. The disease, smallpox, spread rapidly, and on Tuesday, October 9, at 8 in the morning, the Archbishop of Saragossa gave him the Last Sacraments. At 9 pm that same day, October 9, Infante Balthasar-Carlos died.

The death of Infante Balthasar-Carlos, Prince of Asturias, three months later left her without a prospective husband and her widowed uncle Felipe IV without an heir.

Felipe IV, King of Spain and Portugal

Two years later, on October 7, 1649, the 44 year old King Felipe IV married his fourteen-year-old niece Archduchess Maria-Anna in Navalcarnero, outside Madrid. Her exclusion from political life meant she focused on religion and education, which society viewed as fitting women’s ‘role’ as nurturers and providers of moral guidance.

Only two of their five children survived to adulthood; in 1666, Margaret-Theresa (1651-1673) married her maternal uncle Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. Maria-Anna’s second daughter, Maria-Ambrosia, lived only fifteen days, followed by two sons, Felipe-Prospero (1657-1661) and Ferdinand-Thomas (1658-1659).

On November 6, 1661, Maria-Anna gave birth to her last child, Infante Carlos, later known as El Hechizado or “The Bewitched”, in the belief his disabilities were caused by “sorcery.” In his case, the so-called Habsburg jaw was so pronounced he spoke and ate with difficulty all his life.

Queen Maria-Anna, Queen of Spain and Portugal

He did not learn to walk until he was eight and never attended school, but foreign observers noted his mental capacities remained intact; others speculated the Regents overstated his defects to retain political control.

It has been suggested Carlos suffered from the endocrine disease acromegaly and a combination of rare genetic disorders often transmitted through recessive genes, including combined pituitary hormone deficiency and distal renal tubular acidosis.

However, his elder sister did not appear to suffer the same issues and the authors of the most significant study state it has not been demonstrated (his) disabilities…were caused by…recessive alleles inherited from common ancestors.

Regardless of the cause, Carlos suffered ill health throughout his life, and the Spanish court was split by the struggle between his co-heirs, Louis XIV of France and Emperor Leopold. His death was expected almost from birth; he was “short, lame, epileptic, senile and completely bald before 35,…repeatedly baffling Christendom by continuing to live.”