by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Elisabeth, Archduchess of Austria was the wife of Charles IX, King of France. She was born in Vienna, Austria on July 5, 1554, the second of the six daughters and the fifth of the fifteen children of first cousins Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain. Her paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary (younger brother of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain) and Princess Anne of Bohemia and Hungary. Her maternal grandparents were Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, and Isabella of Portugal. King Philip II of Spain was Elisabeth’s maternal uncle.

Elisabeth had four older siblings and ten younger siblings but only seven survived to adulthood:

• Archduchess Anna of Austria (1549 – 1580), married her maternal uncle King Philip II of Spain (fourth wife), had five children
• Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1551 – 1552), died in early childhood
• Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552 – 1612), unmarried
• Archduke Ernst of Austria, Governor of the Low Countries (1553 – 1595), unmarried
• Archduchess Marie of Austria (1555 – 1556), died in infancy
• Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (1557 – 1619), married his first cousin Anna of Austria-Tyrol, no children
• Archduke Maximilian of Austria (1558 – 1618), unmarried
• Archduke Albert of Austria, Governor of the Low Countries (1559 – 1621), married his first cousin Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain, no children
• Archduke Wenceslaus of Austria (1561 – 1578), unmarried, died at age 17
• Archduke Friedrich of Austria (1562 – 1563), died in infancy
• Archduchess Marie of Austria (born and died 1564), died in infancy
• Archduke Charles of Austria (1565 – 1566), died in infancy
• Archduchess Margaret of Austria (1567 – 1633), became a nun under the name of Sister Margaret of the Cross as a Poor Clare nun in the Monastery of Santa Clara de las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, Spain
• Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1568 – 1580), died in childhood

Elisabeth lived with her older sister Anna and her younger brother Matthias in the newly built Stallburg, part of the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna, Austria. Elisabeth’s brothers were educated by the Flemish writer and diplomat Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq.  The intelligent Elisabeth joined her brothers in their studies and was an excellent student. Elisabeth’s mother supervised her religious education.

In 1559, when Elisabeth was five years old, a marriage with Charles, Duke of Orléans, the second surviving son of Henri II, King of France and Catherine de’Medici, was suggested. By 1562, when a French delegation came to Austria to suggest the marriage again, the potential bridegroom had become Charles IX, King of France. His father Henri II, King of France had died as a result of a jousting accident, and his brother François II, King of France, had died from an abscess. The French delegation was not entitled to make an offer but Elisabeth’s grandfather Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I appeared interested. Despite the possibility of a French marriage, Elisabeth was taught German, Spanish, Latin, and Italian – but not French. In 1569, when marriage plans for Elisabeth with King Frederik II of Denmark and King Sebastian of Portugal failed, Elisabeth’s father, now Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Catherine de Medici, the mother of Charles IX, King of France, agreed to a marriage between their children.

Nineteen-year-old Charles and fifteen-year-old Elisabeth were married in a proxy marriage on October 22, 1569, at the Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, now in Germany, then an important city in the Holy Roman Empire. Elisabeth’s uncle, Archduke Ferdinand of Further Austria-Tyrol, stood in as a proxy for Charles. On November 4, 1569, Elisabeth and her entourage left for France. However, because of the constant rain making the roads impassable, it was decided to have the formal marriage celebrated in Mézières, a town in Champagne located on the French border with the Spanish Netherlands. Charles’ two younger brothers Henri, Duke of Anjou (the future King Henri III) and Hercule François, Duke of Alençon (later Duke of Anjou) met Elisabeth on her journey and escorted her to Mézières. Charles IX was curious about his bride and disguised himself as a soldier. He then mixed in with a group of courtiers while his brother Henri discussed the local architecture with Elisabeth. Charles was reportedly delighted with Elisabeth.

King Charles IX of France and Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria were formally married on November 26, 1570, in Mézières with Cardinal Charles de Bourbon, Archbishop of Rouen performing the ceremony. On March 25, 1571, Elisabeth was crowned Queen of France by Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, Archbishop of Reims at the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris, the traditional coronation site of the Queen Consorts of France. After a brief infatuation with his new wife, Charles returned to his mistress Marie Touchet with whom he had an illegitimate son born in 1573, Charles, Duke of Angoulême. However, Charles and Elisabeth had a positive relationship.

Elisabeth had difficulties learning French and adapting to the more risqué French court so she devoted herself to embroidery, reading, and charitable and pious works. Her dame d’atour (lady of honor), Marguerite de La Marck-Arenberg, Countess of Arenberg often served as her translator. Elisabeth’s mother-in-law Catherine de’Medici was the power behind the throne, and was eager to keep Elisabeth out of politics so she entrusted her with as few duties and tasks as possible. One of Elisabeth’s few friends was her sister-in-law Marguerite of Valois. Elisabeth and Marguerite corresponded with each other for the rest of their lives. Elisabeth’s former teacher Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq had accompanied her to France and became the lord chamberlain of her household.

Despite her strong opposition to the Protestant French Huguenots, Elisabeth was horrified when she received news of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre that began during the night of August 23-24, 1572. When Elisabeth asked if her husband knew about the massacre, she was told that he was the initiator, although on the advice of his mother, Catherine de Medici. Elisabeth exclaimed, “Oh, my God! What is this? Who are these counselors who gave him such advice? My God, I ask of you to forgive him.” Then she asked for her book of hours and began to pray.

Two months after the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Elisabeth gave birth to her only child, a daughter Princess Marie Elisabeth, on October 27, 1572, at the Louvre Palace in Paris. There was disappointment that Marie Elisabeth was not the much-needed male heir.

Although King Charles IX publicly approved of the results of the St. Bartholomew Day’s Massacre, it left him with a psychological trauma that lasted for the remaining two years of his life. He became increasingly depressed and his already weak constitution could no longer resist the tuberculosis that ravaged his body. Elisabeth quietly supported him and prayed for his recovery. On May 30, 1574, Charles IX, King of France died at the age of 23, without his wife being present, at his mother’s insistence. Charles IX was buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis and his brother succeeded him as King Henri III. Elisabeth’s father Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II suggested that she marry her deceased husband’s brother and successor Henri III, but both Elisabeth and Henri refused.

Widowed at the age of 20, Elisabeth was determined to return to Vienna. Having provided no male heirs to the French throne, her future life at the French court alongside her mother-in-law Catherine de Medici was a dismal prospect. Henri III gave Elisabeth the County of La Marche as her dower lands and the title Duchess of Berry. In addition, she received the Duchies of Auvergne and Bourbon. Her former teacher and lord chamberlain Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq stayed in France to manage her properties.

Elisabeth was unable to take her daughter with her to Vienna. As a Fille de France (Daughter of France), Marie Elisabeth had to be raised in France. On August 28, 1575, Elisabeth visited her daughter for the last time at the Château d’Amboise in the Loire Valley where Marie Elisabeth was being raised, and on December 5, 1575, Elisabeth left Paris for Vienna.

In Vienna, Elisabeth first lived at her childhood home, the Stallburg, part of the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna, Austria. On October 12, 1576, her father died and her brother Rudolf II succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor. Her greatest tragedy came on April 2, 1578, when her five-and-half-year-old daughter Marie Elisabeth died. Marie Elisabeth was buried in a vault of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, next to her father. After her sister Anna, the fourth wife of King Philip II of Spain, died in 1580, Philip II proposed marriage to Elisabeth. She replied to his offer with the famous phrase: “The Queens of France do not remarry” (Les Reines de France ne se remarient point.), once said by Blanche of Navarre, widow of King Philippe VI of France.

In 1580, Elisabeth bought some land near the Stallburg in Vienna and founded the Convent of Poor Clares Mary, Queen of Angels, also known as the Queen’s Monastery, and retired there. Elisabeth devoted the rest of her life to the practice of piety, caring for the poor, and nursing the sick.

On January 22, 1592, Elisabeth died of pleurisy at the age of 37. She was buried under a simple marble slab in the choir of the church of the convent she founded. In 1782, the convent was dissolved by Holy Emperor Joseph II under his reform policies and converted to the Lutheran City Church, the first Evangelical Lutheran church in Vienna. By order of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, Elisabeth’s remains were transferred to the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.

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France Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Kingdom of France/French Empire Index
• French Royal Burial Sites – House of Valois

Works Cited

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• Goldstone, Nancy, 2015. The Rival Queens: Catherine De’medici And Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, And The Betrayal That Ignited A Kingdom. New York: Back Bay Books.