Category Archives: Holy Roman Empire Royals

Margarita Teresa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress, first wife of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Margarita Teresa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Margarita Teresa of Spain was the first of the three wives of her uncle and first cousin Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, Duke of Teschen, King of the Romans, Archduke of Further Austria, and Prince of Transylvania. Born on July 12, 1651, at the Royal Alcazar in Madrid, Spain, Margarita Teresa was the eldest of the five children and the elder of the two daughters of Felipe IV, King of Spain and his second wife Mariana of Austria, who were uncle and niece, an example of inbreeding. Margarita Teresa’s paternal grandparents were Felipe III, King of Spain and Margarete of Austria, who were both children of parents who were an uncle and his niece, and were first cousins once removed and second cousins. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna of Spain who were first cousins.

Margarita Teresa had four siblings but only one survived childhood:

Maria Ambrosia de la Concepción of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1655), died in infancy
Felipe Prospero of Austria, Prince of Asturias (1657 – 1661), died in childhood, suffered from epilepsy, and was frequently ill, probably due to the generations of inbreeding
Fernando of Austria, Infante of Spain (1658 – 1659), died in infancy
Carlos II, King of Spain (1661 – 1700) married (1) Marie Louise d’Orléans, no children (2) Maria Anna of Neuburg, no children

Margarita Teresa had eight half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Elisabeth of France who died in 1644, at the age of forty-one, after miscarrying a son. Only one half-sister survived to adulthood, Maria Theresa who married King Louis XIV of France.

Maria Margarita of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1621)
Margarita Maria Catalina of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1623)
Maria Eugenia of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1625 – 1627)
Isabella Maria of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1627)
Balthasar Carlos of Austria, Infante of Spain, Prince of Asturias (1629 – 1646), died at age 16 from smallpox
Francisco Fernando of Austria, Infante of Spain (born and died 1634)
Maria Ana Antonia of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1636)
Maria Theresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1638 – 1683), married King Louis XIV of France, had six children but only one son survived childhood

Las Meninas (Spanish for ‘The Ladies-in-Waiting), 1656 by Diego Velázquez – Five-year-old Margarita Teresa is surrounded by her entourage of maids of honor, a chaperone, a bodyguard, two dwarfs, and a dog in a room in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid; Credit – Wikipedia

Margarita Teresa was raised in the chambers of her mother Margarete of Austria at the Royal Alcazar in Madrid, surrounded by numerous ladies-in-waiting and servants. Brought up with the strict etiquette of the Spanish court, she received an excellent education.

The House of Habsburg, which then ruled in Spain, Holy Roman Empire, and the various hereditary Habsburg lands, was notorious for its inbreeding. The Habsburgs had built their empire by marriage and wanted to keep the land they amassed all in the family, so they began to intermarry more frequently among themselves. Seven of Margarita Teresa’s eight great-grandparents were descended from Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Aragon and her husband Philip of Habsburg, Duke of Burgundy. While a person in the fifth generation normally has thirty-two different ancestors, Margarita Teresa had only ten different ancestors in the fifth generation.

King Carlos II of Spain, Margarita Teresa’s brother who had serious health issues and disabilities due to inbreeding; Credit – Wikipedia

Although Margarita did not develop the serious health issues and disabilities that her younger brother King Carlos II of Spain had shown since his birth (she did have the Habsburg jaw as did her husband Leopold), the inbreeding could have been a cause of the early deaths of three of her four children and the three children of her only surviving child. Margarita’s brother Carlos was a weak, sick child from birth. He did not learn to talk until he was four years old and could not walk until he was eight years old. Like many of the Habsburg family, Carlos had the Habsburg jaw (mandibular prognathism), a disfiguring genetic disorder in which the lower jaw outgrows the upper jaw. However, Carlos’ very pronounced Habsburg jaw was so severe that he swallowed his food without thoroughly chewing. Carlos’ condition showed clear signs of the long-time inbreeding of the House of Habsburg.

Margarita Teresa’s husband Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 6, 1663, twelve-year-old Margarita Teresa was betrothed to her 23-year-old uncle and first cousin Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, the son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and the first of his three wives who was also his first cousin Maria Anna of Austria. It was felt that Leopold and Margarita Teresa’s marriage between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the House of Habsburg was needed to strengthen the position of both countries, especially against the Kingdom of France. The marriage between Leopold and Margarita Teresa was delayed because of the bride’s age. The couple was married by proxy in Madrid, Spain on April 25, 1666, with the groom represented by Antonio de la Cerda, 7th Duke of Medinaceli.

Three days later, Margarita Teresa began her journey, via ship and then over land, from Madrid to Vienna. At each stop, where Margarita Teresa spent time resting, there were celebrations in her honor. On November 25, 1666, in Schottwien, twelve miles from Vienna, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I came to receive his bride. Margarita Teresa formally entered Vienna on December 5, 1666, and 26-year-old Leopold and 15-year-old Margarita, first cousins, uncle and niece, were married seven days later. Despite the age difference, the couple had a happy marriage. Margarita Teresa always called her husband “Onkel”, German for uncle, and Leopold called her “Gretl”, a German diminutive of Margarita. Margarita Teresa and Leopold had many common interests, especially in art and music.

Margarita Teresa and her only surviving child Maria Antonia; Credit – Wikipedia

Margarita Teresa and Leopold had four children but only one survived to adulthood:

Archduke Ferdinand Wenzel of Austria (1667 – 1668), died in infancy
Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (1669 – 1692), married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had three sons, none survived childhood
Archduke Johann Leopold of Austria (born and died 1670), died on the day of his birth
Archduchess Maria Anna Antonia of Austria (born and died 1672), died fourteen days after her birth

Margarita Teresa was very religious and was the driving force behind Leopold’s expulsion of the Jews from Vienna in 1670. She blamed the Jews for her two miscarriages, the early deaths of her two sons, and the fire in the newly built Leopoldine wing of the Hofburg Palace. During her marriage, Margarita Teresa kept her Spanish customs, was surrounded almost exclusively by her Spanish retinue, and hardly learned the German language. Due to the aloofness and arrogance of the Spanish retinue, an anti-Spanish mood spread at court, which also turned against Margarita Teresa. The courtiers unashamedly expressed their hope that Margarita Teresa, who was often ill, would soon die so that Leopold could marry someone more acceptable to them.

Tomb of Margarita Teresa; Credit – Von krischnig – selbst fotografiert, Bild-frei, https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3431689

Weakened from six pregnancies in six years (four living childbirths and two miscarriages), and four months into her seventh pregnancy, Margarita Teresa died at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, on March 12, 1673, at the age of 21, and was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Despite his grief and because he had no male heir, several months later, Leopold married Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, from the Tyrol branch of the House of Habsburg. After giving birth to two daughters who did not survive infancy, Claudia Felicitas died from tuberculosis three years after her marriage. Leopold’s third wife Eleonore Magdalene of Neuberg finally provided him with male heirs, two sons who both became Holy Roman Emperors.

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Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2022) Felipe IV, King of Spain, Filipe III, King of Portugal, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/felipe-iv-king-of-spain-filip-iii-king-of-portugal/ (Accessed: 10 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-i-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-hungary-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-king-of-croatia-duke-of-teschen-king-of-the-romans-archduke-of-further-austria-and-prince-of-transylv/ (Accessed: 10 July 2023).
Margaret Theresa of Spain (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Theresa_of_Spain (Accessed: 10 July 2023).
Margarita Theresa von Spanien (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarita_Theresa_von_Spanien (Accessed: 10 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, circa 1672; Credit – Wikipedia

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1658 – 1705) was also King of Hungary (reigned 1655 – 1705), King of Bohemia (reigned 1656 – 1705), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1657 – 1705), King of Croatia (reigned 1657 – 1705), Duke of Teschen (reigned 1657 – 1705), King of the Romans (reigned 1658 – 1705), Archduke of Further Austria (reigned 1665 – 1705), and Prince of Transylvania (reigned 1692–1705).

Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician was born in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, on June 9, 1640. He was the fifth of the six children and the fourth of the four sons of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and the first of his three wives who was also his first cousin, Maria Anna of Austria. Leopold’s paternal grandparents were Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. His maternal grandparents were King Felipe III of Spain and Margarete of Austria. Leopold was the first cousin and contemporary of King Louis XIV of France. Their mothers were half-sisters.

Leopold’s siblings Ferdinand and Mariana; Credit – Wikipedia

Leopold had five siblings. His three elder brothers predeceased him, with two dying before he was born, and his youngest sister died in infancy.

Ferdinand, King of the Romans (1633 – 1654), unmarried, died from smallpox
Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634 – 1696), married (second wife) her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain, had five children including Carlos II, King of Spain and Leopold’s first wife Margarita Teresa of Spain
Archduke Philipp August of Austria (1637 – 1639), died in early childhood
Archduke Maximilian Thomas of Austria (1638 – 1639), died in infancy
Archduchess Maria of Austria (born and died 1646), died in infancy

Leopold’s mother Maria Anna of Austria; Credit – Wikipedia

When Leopold was six years old, his 39-year-old mother Empress Maria Anna, pregnant with her sixth child, suddenly fell ill with a fever, had heavy bleeding, and died on May 13, 1646. Immediately after her death, the unborn child, a girl, was delivered by Cesarean section. She was named Maria after her mother but lived only a few hours.

Leopold’s father Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III; Credit – Wikipedia

Leopold’s father married two more times. His second wife 16-year-old Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria was also his first cousin. Leopold had one half-brother from this marriage but Maria Leopoldine died giving birth to him.

Archduke Karl Josef of Austria (1649 – 1664), died in his teens

Leopold had four half-siblings from his father’s third marriage to Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua but two died in infancy.

Archduchess Theresia Maria Josefa of Austria (1652 – 1653), died in infancy
Archduchess Eleonora Maria of Austria (1653 – 1697), married (1) Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, no children (2) Charles Léopold, Duke of Lorraine, had six children
Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (1654 – 1689), married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, had two sons who both died on the day of their birth
Archduke Ferdinand Josef Alois of Austria (1657 – 1658), died in infancy

Leopold received an excellent education, studying history, literature, natural science, and astronomy. He became fluent in Latin, Italian, German, French, and Spanish. Like his father who was very musical and composed numerous sacred and secular pieces of music, Leopold was a patron of music and a composer. His sacred music is his most successful, particularly Missa angeli custodis, a Requiem Mass for his first wife, and Three Lections, composed for the burial of his second wife.

Leopold was not expected to be the heir of his father’s Habsburg hereditary lands or to be elected Holy Roman Emperor and was receiving ecclesiastical training for a career in the higher clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. However, this changed when his eldest sibling Ferdinand, who had been elected King of the Romans meaning he would be the next Holy Roman Emperor, died from smallpox at the age of twenty-one. Fourteen-year-old Leopold became the heir apparent of his father’s hereditary lands and the probable next Holy Roman Emperor.

Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in his coronation armor; Credit – Wikipedia

Over the next several years, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor gave his son Leopold three of the hereditary lands to rule in his own right, Hungary, Bohemia, and Croatia. Leopold’s father Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, died, aged forty-eight, on April 2, 1657. Immediately, seventeen-year-old Leopold succeeded to his father’s hereditary lands but he was not elected as Holy Roman Emperor until July 18, 1658. His election had not been a sure thing. Cardinal Jules Mazarin, First Minister of State to Leopold’s first cousin King Louis XIV of France, wanted Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, or some other non-Habsburg to be elected Holy Roman Emperor.

Margarita Teresa of Spain, Leopold’s first wife & first cousin; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 6, 1663, 23-year-old Leopold was betrothed to twelve-year-old Margarita Teresa of Spain, his niece and first cousin, the daughter of Leopold’s sister Mariana and her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain. It was felt that Leopold and Margarita Teresa’s marriage between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the House of Habsburg was needed to strengthen the position of both countries, especially against the Kingdom of France.

Leopold’s nephew and first cousin King Carlos II of Spain: Credit – Wikipedia

The House of Habsburg was notorious for its inbreeding. The Habsburgs had built their empire by marriage and they wanted to keep the land they amassed all in the family, so they began to intermarry more and more frequently among themselves. Margarita Teresa’s brother Carlos II, King of Spain, who was also Leopold’s nephew and first cousin, had physical and mental conditions probably caused by the continued inbreeding of the House of Habsburg. In the portrait above, Carlos’ very pronounced Habsburg jaw (mandibular prognathism), a disfiguring genetic disorder in which the lower jaw outgrows the upper jaw, can be seen. Carlos’ Habsburg jaw was so severe that he swallowed his food without thoroughly chewing. Both Leopold and Margarita Teresa also had the Habsburg jaw as can be seen in their portraits. Seven of Carlos II’s eight great-grandparents were descended from Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Aragon and her husband Philip of Habsburg, Duke of Burgundy. While a person in the fifth generation normally has thirty-two different ancestors, Carlos II had only ten different ancestors in the fifth generation. As Carlos II was the brother of Leopold’s first wife Margarita Teresa, the same was true for her.

The marriage between Leopold and Margarita Teresa was delayed because of the age of the bride. The couple was married by proxy in Madrid, Spain on April 25, 1666. Three days later, Margarita Teresa began her journey to Vienna. She formally entered Vienna on December 5, 1666, and 26-year-old Leopold and 15-year-old Margarita, first cousins, uncle and niece, were married seven days later.

Leopold and Margarita Teresa had four children but only one survived infancy (see below). Weakened from six pregnancies in six years (four living childbirths and two miscarriages), and four months into her seventh pregnancy, Margarita Teresa died on March 12, 1673, at the age of 21, and was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. One has to wonder if the inbreeding played a role in the fate of Margarita Teresa, her children, and the three sons of her only surviving child.

Archduke Ferdinand Wenzel of Austria (1667 – 1668), died in infancy
Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (1669 – 1692), married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had three sons, none survived childhood
Archduke Johann Leopold of Austria (born and died 1670), died on the day of his birth
Archduchess Maria Anna Antonia of Austria (born and died 1672), died fourteen days after her birth

Leopold’s second wife and second cousin Claudia Felicitas of Austria; Credit – Wikipedia

Because Leopold had no male heirs, he needed to marry again as soon as possible. He opted for 20-year-old Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, the daughter of Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol and first cousin Anna de’ Medici. With the consent of her relatives, Claudia Felicitas immediately accepted the proposal, rejecting other suitors including the widower James, Duke of York, the future King James II of England. However, with Claudia Felicitas, there was more inbreeding. They were second cousins four times over. Leopold’s parents and Claudia Felicitas’ parents were all double first cousins with each other. All four had the same pair of grandparents Karl II, Archduke of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. After a proxy marriage, Leopold and Claudia Felicitas were married at Graz Cathedral on October 15, 1673.

Leopold and Claudia Felicitas had two daughters, who died in childhood:

Archduchess Anna Maria Josepha of Austria (born and died 1674)
Archduchess Maria Josepha Clementina of Austria (1675 – 1676), died in infancy

Six months after giving birth to her daughter Maria Josepha, 22-year-old Claudia Felicitas died from tuberculosis on April 8, 1676, in Vienna. She was buried in the Dominican Church, also known as the Church of St. Maria Rotund, in Vienna. Three months later, her 9-month-old daughter Maria Josepha Clementina died.

Leopold’s third wife and second cousin Eleonore Magdalene of Neuberg; Credit – Wikipedia

Leopold I was devastated by the loss of his second wife, and he retired to a monastery near Vienna to mourn. From his two marriages, he had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter Maria Antonia had died. Leopold needed to marry again to provide a male heir. He chose his 21-year-old second cousin, Eleonore Magdalene of Neuberg, daughter of Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, to be his third wife due to the fertility of her family. Eleanore Magdalene’s mother had 23 pregnancies and 17 live births and the family gained the reputation as a fertile family. The wedding took place on December 14, 1676, in Passau, then in the County of Palatine, now in Bavaria, Germany. Having an imperial wedding in Passau was a major event and it is remembered with an 1892 painting of the wedding, displayed in the Passau Town Hall.

The painting of the wedding of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Eleonore Magdalene, displayed in the Passau Town Hall; Credit – https://tourismus.passau.de/

Leopold made a good choice because his third wife Eleonore Magdalene had ten children with five surviving childhood including two Holy Roman Emperors:

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678 – 1711), married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, had three children, their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday
Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (born and died 1679), died at birth
Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1680 – 1741), unmarried
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1682 – 1684), died in early childhood
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1683 – 1754) married King João V of Portugal, had six children including two Kings of Portugal and one Queen Consort of Spain
Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1684 – 1696), died from smallpox at the age of 12
Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685 – 1740), married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, had one son who died in infancy and three daughters, father of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, the only woman to rule the Habsburg lands in her own right
Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1687 – 1703), died from smallpox at the age of 16
Maria Magdalena of Austria, Governor of Tyrol (1689 – 1743), unmarried
Maria Margaretha of Austria (1690 – 1691), died in infancy

Leopold’s reign was dominated by the defense against French expansion under his first cousin King Louis XIV of France. The southeast Habsburg lands were threatened by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire resulting in the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683 when the Ottoman army was defeated. The death of the last Spanish Habsburg King, Leopold’s childless nephew Carlos II resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession in which Leopold and then his son Holy Roman Joseph I unsuccessfully sought to give Leopold’s younger son Karl the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the will of the late Carlos II who had named 16-year-old Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, the second son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, and the grandson of Carlos’ half-sister Maria Teresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain and her husband King Louis XIV of France, as his successor. However, Philippe of France did reign in Spain as King Felipe V, the first King of Spain from the House of Bourbon that still reigns in Spain.

Tomb of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – By PaulT (Gunther Tschuch) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria. He was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. His third wife Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg survived him by fifteen years, dying on January 19, 1720, at the age of 65, nineteen days after suffering a stroke. Like her husband, she was buried at the Capuchin Church.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2022) Carlos II, King of Spain, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/carlos-ii-king-of-spain/ (Accessed: 07 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-iii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-lower-and-inner-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 07 July 2023).
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 07 July 2023).
Leopold I. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I._(HRR) (Accessed: 07 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress, 3rd wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

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Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua was the third of the three wives of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. Born on November 18, 1630, in Mantua, Duchy of Mantua, now in Lombardy, Italy, Eleonora was the younger of the two children and the only daughter of Carlo II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers and his first cousin Maria Gonzaga, Duchess of Montferrat in her own right. Her paternal grandparents were Carlo I, Duke of Mantua and Catherine de Lorraine-Guise. Eleonora’s maternal grandparents were Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Margherita of Savoy. Eleonora was the great-niece and namesake of Ferdinand III’s stepmother, also named Eleonora Gonzaga, the second wife of his father Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.

Eleonora had one older brother:

Carlos II, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (1629 – 1665), married Archduchess Isabella Clara of Austria, had one son

Eleonora’s father Carlo never became Duke of Mantua since he died from tuberculosis on August 30, 1631, six years before the death of his father Carlo I, Duke of Mantua, when Eleonora was only nine months old. When Carlo I died in 1637, his grandson, Eleonora’s eight-year-old brother became Carlos II, Duke of Mantua, with his mother Maria acting as regent.

Eleonora received an excellent education. She was fluent in French, Spanish, and Italian, studied literature, music, and art, and had expert skills in dancing and embroidery. In her teens, Eleonora showed talent in poetry, writing philosophical and religious poems.

Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria, the second wife and first cousin of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, died in childbirth in 1649. Ferdinand III’s stepmother, the Dowager Holy Roman Empress, also named Eleonora Gonzaga, was the second wife of his father Ferdinand II and Eleonora’s great aunt. Dowager Holy Roman Empress Eleonora arranged the marriage between her stepson Ferdinand III and grand niece and goddaughter Eleonora.

Eleonora’s husband Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 2, 1651, at Palatina Basilica of St. Barbara, the family church of the House of Gonzaga in the Duchy of Mantua, now in Italy, twenty-year-old Eleonora and forty-two-year-old Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor were married by proxy with Count Johann Maximilian von Lamberg, an Austrian nobleman, diplomat and courtier in the service of the Habsburgs, representing the groom. On March 22, 1651, Eleonora, accompanied by her great-aunt Dowager Holy Roman Empress Eleonora, began her journey from Mantua to Vienna. On April 30, 1651, the in-person wedding ceremony took place.

Eleonora became stepmother to Ferdinand III’s three surviving children from his first marriage to his first cousin Maria Anna of Spain who died in 1646:

Ferdinand, King of the Romans (1633 – 1654), unmarried, died from smallpox
Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634 – 1696), married (second wife) her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain, had five children
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705), married (1) his first cousin Margarita Theresa of Spain, had four children, only one survived childhood (2) Claudia Felicitas of Austria, had two children, both died in childhood (3) Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, had ten children, five survived childhood

Eleonora also became the stepmother of Ferdinand III’s only child from his second marriage to Maria Leopoldine of Austria who died in childbirth in 1649:

Archduke Karl Josef of Austria (1649 – 1664), died in his teens

Eleonora and Ferdinand III had four children but only two survived childhood.

Archduchess Theresia Maria Josefa of Austria (1652 – 1653), died in infancy
Archduchess Eleonora Maria of Austria (1653 – 1697), married (1) Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, no children (2) Charles Léopold, Duke of Lorraine, had six children
Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (1654 – 1689); married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, had two sons who both died on the day of their birth
Archduke Ferdinand Josef Alois of Austria (1657 – 1658), died in infancy

Although there was a twenty-two-year difference, Eleonora and Ferdinand III had a happy marriage and she developed a close relationship with her stepchildren. Eleonora learned German, and Ferdinand III learned Italian. The couple were patrons of literature and music, attended the theater, and went hunting. Eleonora and Ferdinand’s marriage lasted only six years. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, died, aged forty-eight, on April 2, 1657, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria. He was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Eleonora’s brother-in-law, considered marrying Eleonora to strengthen his position as a candidate to be Holy Roman Emperor. However, Eleonora did all she could to ensure that her seventeen-year-old surviving stepson would become Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. Eleonora was highly respected by Leopold who consulted with her on many political and personal issues.

Eleonora as a widow; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinand III’s will gave Eleonora the guardianship of his children. She was granted castles in Graz and Linz and a generous annual pension. Eleonora spent summers at the Favorita Palace, which along with Schönbrunn and Laxenburg palaces, had been bequeathed to her by her great-aunt Dowager Empress Eleonora when she died in 1655. Eleonora was responsible for the expansion of Hofburg Palace, the main palace in Vienna, and the restoration of the palace when it was damaged in a fire.

Eleonora spent much time on works of charity and piety. She was a patron of the Italian Capuchin friar Marcus d’Aviano, beatified in 2003 by Pope John Paul II. When Marcus d’Aviano died, he was interred at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, the burial place of the House of Habsburg. Even to this day, it is very common for members of the Habsburg family to be given Marcus d’Aviano as one of their middle names. Eleonora gave special patronage to the Order of the Discalced Carmelites and contributed financially to the building of their monastery in Wiener Neustadt. To raise the education level of girls, Eleonora invited the Ursuline nuns, known for their role in education, to Vienna and helped them build a complex that included a monastery, a church, and a school.

Eleonora’s tomb; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleonora survived her husband by twenty-nine years, dying on December 6, 1686, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now the capital of Austria, at the age of fifty-six. She was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Works Cited

Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers (2019) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Gonzaga,_Duke_of_Nevers (Accessed: 08 July 2023).
Eleonora Gonzaga (1630–1686) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_Gonzaga_%281630%E2%80%931686%29 (Accessed: 08 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-iii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-lower-and-inner-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 08 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Maria Leopoldine of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, 2nd wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maria Leopoldine of Austria, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

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Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria was the second wife of her first cousin Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria. King of Bohemia, and King of Hungary and Croatia. Born in Innsbruck, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria on April 6, 1632, she was the fifth of the five children and the third of the three daughters of Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and Claudia de’ Medici. Maria Leopoldine’s father died on September 13, 1632, when she was five months old. Her paternal grandparents were Karl II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria. Maria Leopoldine’s maternal grandparents were Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Princess Christina of Lorraine.

Maria Leopoldine had four elder siblings:

Archduchess Maria-Eleonora of Austria (1627 – 1629), died in early childhood
Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Further Austria (1628 – 1662), married Anna de’ Medici, had three children including Claudia Felicitas who married Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
Archduchess Isabella Clara of Austria (1629 – 1685), married Carlo III, Duke of Mantua, had one son
Sigismund Franz, Archduke of Further Austria (1630 – 1665), married Hedwig of the Palatinate-Sulzbach, no children, he died 22 days after his marriage

Maria Leopoldine had one older half-sister from her mother’s first marriage to Federico Ubaldo della Rover, Duke of Urbino:

Vittoria della Rovere (1622 – 1694), married Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, had three children

Maria Leopoldine’s husband, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

On May 13, 1646, Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Portugal, the first wife and first cousin of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor died. Two years later, forty-year-old Ferdinand III married again, on July 2, 1648, to sixteen-year-old Maria Leopoldine, another first cousin. The young Maria Leopoldine became Holy Roman Empress and the stepmother of Ferdinand III’s three surviving children from his first wife:

Ferdinand, King of the Romans (1633 – 1654), unmarried, died from smallpox
Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634 – 1696), married (second wife) her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain, had five children
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705), married (1) his first cousin Margaret Theresa of Spain, had four children, only one survived childhood (2) his first cousin and Maria Leopoldine’s niece Claudia Felicitas of Austria, had two children, both died in childhood (3) Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, had ten children, five survived childhood

Maria Leopoldine and Ferdinand III’s son Karl Josef; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Leopoldine and Ferdinand III had one son, Archduke Karl Josef of Austria (1649 – 1664), who died in his teens. Sadly, the childbirth was very difficult and 17-year-old Maria Leopoldine died on the day her son was born, August 19, 1649. She was interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria.

Maria Leopoldine’s tomb: Credit – Wikipedia

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-iii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-lower-and-inner-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 27 June 2023).
Leopold V, Archduke of Austria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_V,_Archduke_of_Austria (Accessed: 27 June 2023).
Maria Leopoldine of Austria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Leopoldine_of_Austria (Accessed: 27 June 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Maria Anna of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, 1st wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maria Anna of Spain, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

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The first of the three wives of her first cousin Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Portugal was born at the Palace of El Escorial, near Madrid on August 18, 1606. Although a Spanish Infanta, she was known as Maria Anna of Austria, as the Spanish monarchs at the time were members of the House of Habsburg. She was the fourth of the eight children and the third of the four daughters of Felipe III, King of Spain (also Filipe II, King of Portugal) and Archduchess Margarete of Austria. Maria Anna’s paternal grandparents were Felipe II, King of Spain and his fourth wife and niece Anna of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Karl II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria.

Maria Anna with her brother Carlos who was one year younger, 1612; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Anna had seven siblings:

Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1601 – 1666), married Louis XIII, King of France, had two sons Louis XIV, King of France and Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Maria of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1603)
Felipe IV, King of Spain (1605 – 1665), married (1) Elisabeth of France, had eight children but only their youngest child survived childhood, Maria Theresia of Austria, Infanta of Spain who married her first cousin Louis XIV, King of France (2) Marianna of Austria, Maria Anna and Ferdinand III’s daughter, had five children but only two survived childhood, including Carlos II, King of Spain who had serious physical and mental conditions probably caused by the continued inbreeding of the House of Habsburg
Carlos of Austria, Infante of Spain (1607 – 1632), unmarried
Ferdinand of Austria, Cardinal-Infante of Spain (1609 – 1641), unmarried
Margarita of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1610 – 1617), died in childhood
Alonso of Austria, Infante of Spain (1611 – 1612), died in infancy

Maria Anna was raised at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in Spain in a very close and loving family. She was given a very strong religious upbringing and often visited convents and churches. After her mother’s death in childbirth in 1611, Maria Anna’s eldest sister Anna became a surrogate mother to her younger siblings. Before she was thirteen years old, Maria Anna was betrothed to marry Archduke Johann Karl of Austria, at that time, the eldest surviving son of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria. However, in 1619, Archduke Johann Karl suddenly died.

Before Maria Anna’s father died in 1621, he and King James I of England tried to arrange a marriage between James’ eldest son and heir, the future King Charles I, then the Prince of Wales, and Maria Anna. This possible marriage was known as the “Spanish Match” and caused a political crisis in both England and Scotland. In 1623, the Prince of Wales visited Madrid to meet Maria Anna. As it turned out there was no marriage. Charles refused to convert to Catholicism, and Maria Anna refused to marry a Protestant. Maria Anna’s brother, the new King of Spain, Felipe IV, was unwilling to enter into a dynastic marriage with the House of Stuart for political reasons.

Maria Anna’s husband Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1626, Maria Anna was betrothed to her first cousin, then Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the younger brother of her deceased first fiance, and now the heir of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia. Maria Anna’s mother Margarete of Austria was her fiance’s paternal aunt.

In December 1629, Maria Anna left Madrid, Spain to travel to Vienna, a journey that took more than a year. Because of an epidemic of the plague, Maria Anna’s ship was unable to dock in several ports. Finally, on January 26, 1631, Maria Anna arrived in the port city of Trieste (now in Italy), where she was greeted by Ferdinand’s brother Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. A proxy marriage was held that day with Leopold Wilhelm standing in for his brother. Leopold Wilhelm then escorted Maria Anna to Vienna.

Ferdinand did not trust the portraits that he had seen of Maria Anna and wanted to secretly see her before the in-person wedding. His Lord Chamberlain asked for an audience with Maria Anna, accompanied by some nobles, including her groom Ferdinand. Immediately pleased by what he saw, Ferdinand revealed himself and began to converse with Maria Anna in Spanish. The in-person marriage was held on February 20, 1631, in Vienna.

Maria Anna with her eldest child Ferdinand, 1634; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Anna and Ferdinand had six children:

Ferdinand, King of the Romans (1633 – 1654), unmarried, died from smallpox
Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634 – 1696), married (second wife) her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain, had five children but only two survived childhood including Carlos II, King of Spain who had serious physical and mental conditions probably caused by the continued inbreeding of the House of Habsburg
Archduke Philipp August of Austria (1637 – 1639), died in early childhood
Archduke Maximilian Thomas of Austria (1638 – 1639), died in infancy
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705), married (1) his first cousin Margaret Theresa of Spain, had four children, only one survived childhood (2) Claudia Felicitas of Austria, had two children, both died in childhood (3) Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, had ten children, five survived childhood (Unofficial Royalty articles coming soon)
Archduchess Maria of Austria (born and died 1646), died in infancy

Maria Anna’s father-in-law Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor passed to his son Ferdinand the Habsburg hereditary lands in 1621, the crowns of Hungary and Croatia in 1625, and the crown of Bohemia in 1627. In 1636, Ferdinand II arranged for his son to be elected King of the Romans, ensuring he would be the next Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand III. On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died and his son was elected Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Anna became Holy Roman Empress.

Maria Anna brought Spanish fashion, theatre, dance, and music to the imperial court in Vienna. She collected artwork by Italian, Spanish, and Flemish masters of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Maria Anna was active in politics, acted as an adviser to her husband, and was an important mediator between her husband and her Spanish relatives. During Ferdinand III’s absences from the court in Vienna, Maria Anna served as regent.

Tomb of Maria Anna & her infant daughter; Credit – By krischnig – de.wikipedia.org, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51130106

Pregnant with her sixth child, 39-year-old Empress Maria Anna suddenly fell ill with a fever, had heavy bleeding, and died on May 13, 1646, at Linz Castle in Linz, Austria. Immediately after her death, the unborn child, a girl, was delivered by Cesarean section. She was named Maria after her mother but lived only a few hours. Both mother and daughter were placed in the same coffin and interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Works Cited

Flantzer, S. (2023) Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-iii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-lower-and-inner-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 26 June 2023).
Maria Anna of Spain (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_of_Spain (Accessed: 26 June 2023).
Мария Анна Испанская (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F (Accessed: 26 June 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia; Credit – Wikipedia

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Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1637 – 1657), Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria (reigned 1637 – 1657), King of Bohemia (reigned 1627 – 1657), and King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1625 – 1657) was born in Graz, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria on July 13, 1608. He was the fourth of the seven children and the third but the eldest surviving son of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. Ferdinand’s paternal grandparents were Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. His maternal grandparents were Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine.

Ferdinand III had six siblings but only three survived childhood:

Archduchess Christine of Austria (born and died 1601)
Archduke Karl of Austria (born and died 1603)
Archduke Johann Karl of Austria (1605 – 1619), died in his teens
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1610 – 1665), married her uncle Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, had two sons
Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611 – 1644), married Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, had two children
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614 – 1662), unmarried

In 1616, When Ferdinand was eight-years-old, his mother Maria Anna died at the age of forty-one, three years before her husband became Holy Roman Emperor. In 1622, Ferdinand’s father, now Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, married for a second time to his first cousin once removed, 24-year-old Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, daughter of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Monferrato and his second wife and first cousin Eleonora de’ Medici. However, they had no children.

Ferdinand received his education from the Jesuits and spoke several languages. After the deaths of his two elder brothers, Ferdinand was named as his father’s successor and was prepared for his future role. Like his father, he was a devout Catholic, but he was not fond of the influence of the Jesuits in his father’s court. Ferdinand II passed to his son Ferdinand the Habsburg hereditary lands in 1621, the crowns of Hungary and Croatia in 1625, and the crown of Bohemia in 1627. In 1636, Ferdinand II arranged for his son to be elected King of the Romans, ensuring he would be the next Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand III. On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died and his son was elected Holy Roman Emperor.

Ferdinand’s first wife Maria Anna of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1626, Ferdinand was betrothed to his first cousin Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Portugal, the daughter of Felipe III, King of Spain, and Ferdinand’s paternal aunt Archduchess Margarete of Austria. Maria Anna had previously been betrothed to Ferdinand’s deceased elder brother Archduke Johann Karl of Austria. On January 26, 1631, Maria Anna arrived in the port city of Trieste (now in Italy), where she was greeted by Ferdinand’s brother Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. A proxy marriage was held that day with Leopold Wilhelm standing in for his brother. Leopold Wilhelm escorted Maria Anna to Vienna where she married Ferdinand in person on February 20, 1631. Maria Anna was the first of Ferdinand’s three wives.

Ferdinand and Maria Anna had six children. Their eldest child Ferdinand was his father’s heir, had been given some of his father’s hereditary lands, and in 1653, was elected King of the Romans, ensuring he would be Holy Roman Emperor. However, it was not to be. In 1654, twenty-one-year-old Ferdinand died from smallpox. Three other children did not survive childhood.

Ferdinand, King of the Romans (1633 – 1654), unmarried, died from smallpox
Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634 – 1696), married (second wife) her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain, had five children
Archduke Philipp August of Austria (1637 – 1639), died in early childhood
Archduke Maximilian Thomas of Austria (1638 – 1639), died in infancy
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705), married (1) his first cousin Margaret Theresa of Spain, had four children, only one survived childhood (2) Claudia Felicitas of Austria, had two children, both died in childhood (3) Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, had ten children, five survived childhood
Archduchess Maria of Austria (born and died 1646), died in infancy

Pregnant with her sixth child, 39-year-old Empress Maria Anna suddenly felt ill with a fever, had heavy bleeding, and died on May 13, 1646. Immediately after her death, the unborn child, a girl, was delivered by Cesarean section. She was named Maria after her mother but lived only a few hours. Both mother and daughter were placed in the same coffin and interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Ferdinand’s second wife Maria Leopoldine of Austria; Credit – Wikipedia

Two years later, Ferdinand III married again, on July 2, 1648, to Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria, another first cousin. Maria Leopoldine was the daughter of Ferdinand III’s paternal uncle Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, and Claudia de’ Medici. Ferdinand and Maria Leopoldine had one son.

Ferdinand and Maria Leopoldine had one son. Sadly, the childbirth was very difficult and 17-year-old Maria Leopoldine died on August 19, 1649. She was interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Archduke Karl Josef of Austria (1649 – 1664), died in his teens

Ferdinand’s third wife Eleonora Gonzaga; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 30, 1651, Ferdinand III married Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, daughter of Carlo III Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers and his wife and cousin Maria Gonzaga, reigning Duchess of Montferrat. Eleonora was the great-niece and namesake of Ferdinand’s stepmother, the second wife of his father Ferdinand II, also named Eleonora Gonzaga.

Ferdinand and Eleonora had four children but only two survived childhood.

Archduchess Theresia Maria Josefa of Austria (1652 – 1653), died in infancy
Archduchess Eleonora Maria of Austria (1653 – 1697), married (1) Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, no children (2) Charles Léopold, Duke of Lorraine, had six children
Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (1654 – 1689); married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, had two sons who both died on the day of their birth
Archduke Ferdinand Josef Alois of Austria (1657 – 1658), died in infancy

Ferdinand III had become Holy Roman Emperor in 1537, at the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648), and had been commander-in-chief of the army since 1634. The Thirty Years’ War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, with an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians dying as a result of battle, famine, and disease. During Ferdinand III’s reign, the power of the Holy Roman Empire, which had increased during his father’s reign, declined. He wanted to end the war early, but after military defeats and with the declining power, he felt forced to renounce many of the long-standing Habsburg positions. Although he knew the Holy Roman Empire would be weaker, Ferdinand set out on a policy toward ending the war.

The Peace of Westphalia, signed in October 1648, ended the Thirty Years’ War and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their allies among the constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire participated in the treaties. Although the power of the Holy Roman Empire was weaker after the peace than before the war, in Bohemia and Hungary, where Ferdinand was king, and in the Austrian hereditary lands, Ferdinand’s position as sovereign was stronger than before.

Ferdinand was a patron of the arts and sciences, very musical, and a composer, composing numerous sacred and secular pieces of music. He was the first of the Habsburg rulers whose musical compositions have survived

Ferdinand III’s sarcophagus in the Imperial Crypt; Credit – By krischnig – Self-photographed, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88260340

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, died, aged forty-eight, on April 2, 1657, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria. He was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. His third wife Eleonora Gonzaga survived him by twenty-nine years, dying on December 6, 1686, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria at the age of fifty-six. She was also buried in the Imperial Crypt.

Works Cited

Ferdinand III. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_III._(HRR) (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_III,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 22 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-ii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/.
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress, 2nd wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Princess Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua was the second wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia. Born on September 23, 1598, in Mantua, Duchy of Mantua, now in Lombardy, Italy, she was the youngest of the six children and the younger of the two daughters of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat and his second wife and first cousin Eleonora de’ Medici. Eleonora was named Eleonora Anna Maria for her mother and two maternal aunts Anna de’ Medici (who died in 1584 aged 14) and Marie de’ Medici, the future Queen Consort of France. Eleonora’s paternal grandparents were Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and Archduchess Eleanor of Austria, the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her maternal grandparents were Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his first wife Joanna of Austria, also the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Eleonora had five elder siblings:

Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat (1586 – 1612), married Margaret of Savoy, had two daughters and one son, only one daughter survived childhood
Ferdinando I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat (1587 – 1626), married Caterina de’ Medici, no children
Guglielmo Gonzaga (1589 – 1591), died in early childhood
Margherita Gonzaga (1591 – 1632), married Henri II, Duke of Lorraine, had four daughters, only two survived childhood
Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Marquess of Montferrat (1594 – 1627), married Isabella Gonzaga di Novellara, no children

Eleonora as a child, circa 1605; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleonora grew up at the ducal court in Mantua, one of the centers of European culture and science. When she was ten, her education was entrusted to her paternal aunt Margherita Gonzaga, Dowager Duchess of Ferrara and Modena who ensured her niece was well-educated, learning foreign languages, history, music, and painting.

Eleonora’s husband Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

After being widowed for six years, 44-year-old Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor arranged to marry Eleanora, his 24-year-old first cousin once removed. A marriage contract was signed on November 21, 1621, and on the same day, a proxy marriage was held in the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara at the Ducal Palace in Mantua. The couple was married in person on February 2, 1622, in Innsbruck, Duchy of Austria, now in Austria.

Despite their twenty-year age difference, Eleonora and Ferdinand II had a happy marriage. Like her husband, she was deeply religious and a strong supporter of the Counter-Reformation, the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation. After arriving in Vienna, Eleonora worked on learning the German language and hired the servants of Ferdinand II’s first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, sending most of her servants from home back to Mantua. Eleonora was not interested in politics but she tried to be a good Empress for her subjects. She often accompanied her husband to meetings with the imperial electors and the heads of state of the constituent members of the Holy Roman Empire. Eleonora and Ferdinand had no children, but Eleonora had a close relationship with her stepchildren.

Eleonora’s stepchildren, the four surviving children out of the seven children of Ferdinand II and his first wife and first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria:

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (1608 – 1657), married (1) his first cousin Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, had six children (2) Maria Leopoldine of Austria, had one son (3) Eleonora Gonzaga, had four children
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1610 – 1665), married her uncle Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, had two sons
Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611 – 1644), married Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, had two children
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614 – 1662), unmarried

On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now Austria. He was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which he had built next to the Graz Cathedral, with his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, and his son Johann Karl, who died in his teens.

Eleonora as a widow; Credit – Wikipedia

At first, Eleonora lived in Graz Castle near her husband’s mausoleum but then she settled in Vienna, living mostly at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded in 1622. Eleonora spent part of her time in the palaces outside Vienna, especially Schönbrunn Palace where she influenced the landscaping’s Italian baroque style. She lived a pious life and returned the jewelry she received from her husband during their marriage to the treasury of the House of Habsburg.

In 1651, Eleonora’s great-niece and namesake Eleonora Gonzaga, nicknamed “the Younger”, became the third wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, the son and heir of Ferdinand II. Eleonora amended her will and named her great-niece as her main heir. In addition, she left considerable amounts for charity and memorial services.

Tomb of Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleonora, Dowager Holy Roman Empress died, aged fifty-six, in Vienna on June 27, 1655. She was buried in Vienna at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded. Her heart was placed next to the tomb of her husband Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II in Graz. In 1782, Eleonora’s remains were reinterred in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.

Works Cited

Eleonora Gonzaga (1598–1655) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_Gonzaga_(1598%E2%80%931655) (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
Eleonora Gonzaga (2023) Wikipedia (Italian). Available at: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_Gonzaga (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-ii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/matthias-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-archduke-of-further-austria-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Gonzaga,_Duke_of_Mantua (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Maria Anna of Bavaria, Archduchess of Inner Austria, 1st wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

Maria Anna of Bavaria,1604; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Anna of Bavaria was the first wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. She died before her husband became King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, and Holy Roman Emperor, so she held only the title Archduchess of Inner Austria. Born on December 18, 1574, in Munich, Duchy of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria, she was the fourth of the ten children and the second eldest but the eldest surviving of the four daughters of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. Maria Anna’s paternal grandparents were Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria, a daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her maternal grandparents were François I, Duke of Lorraine and Christina of Denmark, daughter of King Christian II of Denmark.

Maria Anna had nine siblings but only five survived childhood:

Christoph of Bavaria (born and died 1570), died on the day of his birth
Christine of Bavaria (1571 – 1580), died in childhood
Maximilian I, Duke and Elector of Bavaria (1573 – 1651), married (1) his first cousin Elisabeth of Lorraine, no children (2) his niece Maria Anna of Austria, had two sons
Cardinal Philipp Wilhelm of Bavaria, Bishop of Regensburg (1576 – 1598), unmarried
Ferdinand of Bavaria, Archbishop and Prince-Elector of Cologne (1577 – 1650), unmarried
Eleonore Magdalene of Bavaria (1578 – 1579), died in infancy
Karl of Bavaria (1580 – 1587), died in childhood
Albrecht VI, Duke of Bavaria (1584 – 1666), married Mechthilde of Leuchtenberg, had five children
Magdalene of Bavaria (1587 – 1628), married Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, had one surviving son and a total of twelve stillbirths or miscarriages

Maria Anna’s husband Ferdinand; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 23, 1600, at Graz Cathedral in Graz, Styria, Lower Austria, now in Austria, 26-year-old first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria married her first cousin 22-year-old Ferdinand II, Archduke of Inner Austria, the son of Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. This marriage reaffirmed the alliance between the House of Habsburg and the House of Wittelsbach.

Maria Anna and Ferdinand had seven children but only four survived childhood:

Archduchess Christine of Austria (born and died 1601)
Archduke Karl of Austria (born and died 1603)
Archduke Johann Karl of Austria (1605 – 1619), died in his teens
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (1608 – 1657), married (1) his first cousin Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, had six children (2) Maria Leopoldine of Austria, had one son (3) Eleanor Gonzaga, had four children
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1610 – 1665), married her uncle Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, had two sons
Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611 – 1644), married Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, had two children
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614 – 1662), unmarried

Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II next to Graz Cathedral; Credit – Von KarlN – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=981869

Maria Anna was ill for a long time before she died on March 8, 1616, at the age of forty-one, in Graz, Inner Austria, now in Austria. She was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which her husband began building in 1614, next to Graz Cathedral on the site of a former cemetery. When Ferdinand died in 1637, he was also interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II. The tombs of Maria Anna of Bavaria, Ferdinand, and their son Johann Karl, who died in his teens, are coffin wall niches, marked by inscriptions

Maria Anna’s tomb marker; Credit – Von krischnig – selbst fotografiert, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129845239

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-ii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/matthias-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-archduke-of-further-austria-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608) (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_of_Bavaria_(1551%E2%80%931608) (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Mausoleum Kaiser Ferdinands II. (Graz) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_Kaiser_Ferdinands_II._(Graz) (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
William V, Duke of Bavaria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_V,_Duke_of_Bavaria (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1619 – 1637), Archduke of Inner Austria (reigned 1590 – 1637), King of Bohemia (1st reign 1617 – 1619, 2nd reign 1620 – 1637), and King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1618 – 1637) was born on July 19, 1578, at the Schlossberg in Graz, Duchy of Styria, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria. He was the sixth of the fifteen children and the second but the eldest surviving of the six sons of Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. Ferdinand’s paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anne of Bohemia and Hungary. His maternal grandparents were Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria (daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor).

Ferdinand had fourteen siblings:

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (born and died 1572), died in infancy
Archduchess Anna of Austria (1573 – 1598), married Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, had five children but only one survived childhood
Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1574 – 1621), married Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, no children, marriage dissolved
Archduchess Katharina Renata of Austria (1576 – 1599), unmarried
Archduchess Elisabeth (1577 – 1586), died in childhood
Archduke Karl (1579 – 1580), died in infancy
Archduchess Gregoria Maximiliana of Austria (1581 – 1597), died in her teens
Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1582 – 1620), a nun
Archduke Maximilian Ernst of Austria (1583 – 1616), unmarried
Archduchess Margarete of Austria (1584 – 1611), married King Felipe III of Spain, had eight children including King Felipe IV of Spain and Anne of Austria, wife of King Louis XIII of France and mother of King Louis XIV of France
Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria (1586 – 1632), married Claudia de’ Medici, had five children
Archduchess Constance of Austria (1588 – 1631), married Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, deposed King of Sweden, the widower of her older sister Anna, had seven children
Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (1589 – 1631), married Cosimo II de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, had eight children
Archduke Karl Joseph of Austria, Bishop of Wroclaw, Bishop of Brixen, and Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (1590 – 1624), unmarried

Ferdinand’s mother Maria Anna of Bavaria; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinand’s mother Maria Anna of Bavaria was a strong supporter of the Counter-Reformation, the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation. Ferdinand and his siblings attended Mass from the age of one and their first words were to be Jesus and Mary. Catholic priests tutored them, and Latin was to be a priority before their native German language. When he was eight years old, Ferdinand began to attend the Jesuit school in Graz. In 1590, 11-year-old Ferdinand was sent to the Jesuit University of Ingolstadt in the Electorate of Bavaria for secondary school and university because his parents wanted to isolate him from Lutheran nobles. His strong Jesuit upbringing resulted in Ferdinand’s strong rejection of Protestantism. Throughout his life, Ferdinand was a very devout Roman Catholic and attended Mass at least once a day. His strong religion also caused him to be prudish. As Holy Roman Emperor, he burned paintings from the imperial art collection that depicted nudity.

Ferdinand II in his early teens, circa 1591-1593; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1590, Ferdinand’s father died and the twelve-year-old inherited the lands of Inner Austria: Styria, Carniola, Carinthia, and Gorizia. His much older first cousin, Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor and Head of the House of Habsburg and appointed regents to administer Ferdinand’s lands. In 1595, Ferdinand returned to Graz from his studies at the University of Ingolstadt. In 1597, after he came of age, he began to rule the lands of Inner Austria in his own right.

In 1598, Ferdinand began strong Counter-Reformation policies in the lands of Inner Austria. He took a solemn vow to make Catholicism the sole religion in his lands again at any price. He was famous for saying, “Better to rule a desert than a country full of heretics.” Ferdinand demanded that all the nobility practice the Roman Catholic faith. Protestant nobles could either convert or leave Inner Austria. The creation of a Catholic nobility forced the peasants who worked their lands also to become Catholic. Protestant churches and books were destroyed and Protestant ministers and scholars such as the very renowned astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler were expelled from Inner Austria. These policies caused a financial and intellectual drain in Inner Austria.

Maria Anna of Bavaria, Ferdinand II’s 1st wife, 1604; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 23, 1600, at Graz Cathedral in Graz, Styria, Lower Austria, now in Austria, 22-year-old Archduke Ferdinand married his 26-year-old first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria, the daughter of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine, reaffirming the alliance between the House of Habsburg and House of Wittelsbach.

Ferdinand and Maria Anna had seven children but only four survived childhood:

Archduchess Christine of Austria (born and died 1601)
Archduke Karl of Austria (born and died 1603)
Archduke Johann Karl of Austria (1605 – 1619), died in his teens
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (1608 – 1657), married (1) his first cousin Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, had six children (2) Maria Leopoldine of Austria, had one son (3) Eleanor Gonzaga of Mantua, had four children
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1610 – 1665), married her uncle Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, had two sons
Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611 – 1644), married Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, had two children
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614 – 1662), unmarried

Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II next to Graz Cathedral; Credit – Von KarlN – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=981869

On March 8, 1616, Maria Anna died, aged 41, before her husband became King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, and Holy Roman Emperor. She was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which her husband began building in 1614, next to Graz Cathedral on the site of a former cemetery.

Ferdinand II and his second wife Eleonora Gonzaga, circa 1628-1630; Credit – Wikipedia

44-year-old Ferdinand married for a second time to his first cousin once removed, 24-year-old Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, daughter of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Monferrato and his second wife and first cousin Eleonora de’ Medici. A marriage contract was signed on November 21, 1621, and on the same day, a proxy marriage was held in the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara at the Ducal Palace in Mantua. The couple was married in person on February 2, 1622, in Innsbruck, Duchy of Austria, now in Austria. However, Ferdinand and Eleonora had no children.

There was displeasure in the Habsburg family with Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. His brother Archduke Matthias played a significant role in the family’s opposition, called the Brothers’ Quarrel. Matthias forced Rudolf to cede the crowns of Hungary, Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia to him. Rudolf lost what was left of his power and lived in isolation at Prague Castle in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. When Rudolf died on January 20, 1612, nine months after he had been stripped of all effective power, his brother Matthias was elected to succeed him as Holy Roman Emperor and also succeeded to all Rudolf’s hereditary titles.

Cardinal Melchior Klesl, Holy Roman Emperor Matthias’ chief minister, wanted to arrange a compromise between Catholic and Protestant states within the Holy Roman Empire to strengthen the empire. These policies were opposed by the more conservative Catholic Habsburgs, especially Matthias’s brother Archduke Maximilian, who hoped to secure the succession for their ardent Catholic cousin Archduke Ferdinand, the future Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Matthias was old, ill, and unable to prevent the faction of his brother Archduke Maximilian from gaining power. He died on March 20, 1619, aged 62, in Vienna, Austria. Archduke Ferdinand had already been crowned King of Bohemia in 1617 and King of Hungary in 1618. He was elected Holy Roman Emperor on August 28, 1619.

The Thirty Years’ War began in 1618 as a result of the inadequacies of Ferdinand II’s predecessors Rudolf II and Matthias. Ferdinand wanted to restore the Catholic Church as the only religion in the Holy Roman Empire and to eliminate religious dissent. However, Ferdinand’s acts against Protestantism caused the war to engulf the entire Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648) was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, with an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians dying as a result of battle, famine, and disease.

Ferdinand II’s son and successor Ferdinand III, Credit – Wikipedia

After the deaths of his two eldest sons Karl and Johann Karl, Ferdinand II’s third son, also named Ferdinand was named as his father’s successor and was prepared for his future role. Like his father, he was a devout Catholic, but he was not fond of the influence of the Jesuits in his father’s court. Ferdinand II passed to his son Ferdinand the Habsburg hereditary lands in 1621, the crowns of Hungary and Croatia in 1625, and the crown of Bohemia in 1627. In 1636, Ferdinand II arranged for his son to be elected King of the Romans, ensuring he would be the next Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand III.

On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now Austria. He was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which he had built next to the Graz Cathedral. The tombs of Ferdinand II, his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, and his son Johann Karl, who died in his teens, are coffin wall niches and marked by inscriptions

Coffin niche of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Works Cited

Charles II, Archduke of Austria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II,_Archduke_of_Austria (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
Ferdinand II. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II._(HRR) (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/matthias-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-archduke-of-further-austria-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608) (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_of_Bavaria_(1551%E2%80%931608) (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
Mausoleum Kaiser Ferdinands II. (Graz) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_Kaiser_Ferdinands_II._(Graz) (Accessed: 14 June 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Anna of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empress

Anna of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Anna of Tyrol was the wife and first cousin of Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia. Anna and Matthias are the founders of the Capuchin Church (German: Kapuzinerkirche) in Vienna, Austria, where the Imperial Crypt (German: Kaisergruft), the traditional burial site of the Habsburgs, is located. Born on October 4, 1585, in Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, now in Austria, Anna was the third of the three children, all daughters, of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria, Count of Tyrol, and his second wife and niece Anna Juliana Gonzaga. Her paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Anna’s maternal grandparents were Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Eleonora of Austria, (daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary).

Anna Juliana Gonzaga with her daughters Anna and Maria; Credit – Wikipedia

Anna had two older sisters but only one survived infancy:

Archduchess Anna Eleonore of Austria (1583 – 1584)
Archduchess Maria of Austria (1584 – 1649), a nun

Anna had four half-siblings from her father’s morganatic first marriage to Philippine Welser. Because the marriage was morganatic, the children had no succession or inheritance rights.

Cardinal Andreas of Austria, Margrave of Burgau, Bishop of Konstanz, Bishop of Brixen (1558 – 1600)
Karl, Margrave of Burgau (1560 – 1618), married his first cousin Sibylle of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, no children
Philip of Austria (1562 – 1563), twin of Maria, died in infancy
Maria of Austria (1562 – 1563), twin of Philip, died in infancy

Anna and her sister were raised in their father’s court in Innsbruck. In 1595, when she was ten years old, Anna’s father died. Her widowed mother ensured that her daughters received a good education. Anna had an exceptional musical talent and became an expert clavichord player. Her love of music remained with her throughout her life.

Anna’s mother, Anna Juliana Gonzaga, as a Servite nun; Credit – Wikipedia

Anna was raised in a very strict Catholic environment. As a child, her mother Anna Juliana Gonzaga became severely ill and nearly died. Her parents appealed to the Virgin Mary through prayer, to save their daughter, promising to raise Anna Juliana as a child of Mary if she lived, and soon Anna Juliana became healthy again. Her parents told her of the Virgin Mary’s intervention on her behalf and the promise they had made. Throughout the rest of her life, Anna Juliana displayed consistent and deep piety. She was reported to have visions of the Virgin Mary which influenced her long-standing desire to become a nun. Her religious piety influenced both of her daughters. Through her mother’s influence, when Anna believed that she had sinned, she engaged in self-flagellation to torment the flesh. This continued for the rest of her life. In 1606, Anna’s mother founded a convent in Innsbruck for the Servants of Mary, Religious Sisters of the Servite Third Order, of which she was to be a member, founded by St. Juliana Falconieri in the 14th century. After Anna married, her mother Anna Juliana took vows as a nun, as did Anna’s sister Maria.

Anna’s husband, Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Upon becoming a marriageable age, Anna began to receive offers of marriage. The first proposal was made in 1603 by Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden (deposed), King of Poland, a widower, but her first cousin Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II would not give his consent. Rudolf, who had never married and was much older, decided to marry Anna but soon retracted the proposal. Meanwhile, there was displeasure in the Habsburg family with Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. His brother Archduke Matthias played a significant role in the family’s opposition against Rudolf. Matthias forced Rudolf to cede the crowns of Hungary, Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia to him. Rudolf lost what was left of his power and lived in isolation at Prague Castle in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. Matthias decided to marry his first cousin Anna. On December 4, 1611, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, Austria, the couple was married. Although Matthias was 54 years old, he hoped to have children with his 26-year-old wife but their marriage was childless.

Anna as Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

When Matthias’ unmarried brother Rudolf died on January 20, 1612, nine months after he had been stripped of all effective power, Matthias was elected to succeed him as Holy Roman Emperor and also succeeded to all Rudolf’s hereditary titles. Anna was crowned Holy Roman Empress on June 15, 1612, two days after Matthias’ coronation. Anna was also crowned Queen of Hungary on March 25, 1613, and Queen of Bohemia on January 10, 1616. Anna had a great influence on her husband. Upon her request, Matthias moved the Imperial court from Prague to Vienna, and soon, through their joint efforts, the new court was one of the centers of European culture.

Anna’s fervent Catholic practices continued. As a devout Catholic, she refused to interact with Protestants. Like her mother, Anna collected relics, especially from the holy ascetics. She patronized the Capuchin order and played an important role in the Austrian Counter-Reformation, the period of Catholic resurgence that began in response to the Protestant Reformation. For her devotion to the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Paul V awarded Anna with the Golden Rose, a symbol of papal recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church.

Interior of the Capuchin Church; Credit – Wikipedia

Although Anna and her husband Matthias did not leave any children, they left the future Habsburgs a burial site. Anna and Matthias founded the Capuchin Church (German: Kapuzinerkirche) in Vienna, Austria, where the Imperial Crypt (German: Kaisergruft), the traditional burial site of the Habsburgs, is located. Anna had come up with the idea of a Capuchin monastery and burial place for her and her husband and wanted to build it near Hofburg Palace in Vienna. In her will, Anna left funds to provide for the church’s construction. Construction began on November 10, 1618.

Sadly, a month later, on December 15, 1618, Anna died in Vienna at the age of thirty-three. Matthias died three months later, on March 20, 1619, aged 62, in Vienna. Because the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church had not yet been completed, Matthias and Anna were temporarily buried at the Poor Clares Convent of St. Maria, Queen of the Angels in Vienna.

Tombs of Holy Roman Emperor Matthias and Anna of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Von Welleschik Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6619836

The Capuchin Church was not completed and dedicated until 1632 because of the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648). On Easter 1633, the two sarcophagi containing the remains of Matthias and Anna were transferred to the Capuchin Church and placed in what is now called the Founders Vault. Located under the Imperial Chapel, a side chapel in the main church, the Founders Crypt is the oldest part of the Imperial Crypt, dating from the original construction of the Capuchin Church. Visitors cannot enter the Founders Crypt which is visible through a gate from the Leopold Crypt. Through the years, other vaults have been added and Capuchin friars still look after the tombs.

This writer has visited the Capuchin Church. The burial place of the Habsburgs is so unlike the soaring cathedrals containing the other royal burial sites I have visited and certainly not as grandiose. The Capuchin Church is small and is on a street with traffic, shops, stores, restaurants, and cafes. One cafe is directly across from it. Walking past the church, one would never think the burial place of emperors is there.

Anna Juliana Gonzaga (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Juliana_Gonzaga (Accessed: 12 June 2023).
Anna of Tyrol (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_Tyrol (Accessed: 12 June 2023).
Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II,_Archduke_of_Austria (Accessed: 12 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2022) Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/capuchin-church-in-vienna-austria/ (Accessed: 12 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/matthias-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-archduke-of-further-austria-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 12 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/rudolf-ii-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia-archduke-of-austria-margrave-of-moravia/ (Accessed: 12 June 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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