Archduchess Anna of Austria

Anna of Austria
Duchess consort of Bavaria
Archduchess Anna of Austria (1528–1590)
(Portrait by Jakob Seisenegger)
Spouse Albert V, Duke of Bavaria
Issue
William V, Duke of Bavaria
Ferdinand
Maria Anna
Ernest of Bavaria
House House of Habsburg
House of Wittelsbach
Father Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother Anna of Bohemia and Hungary
Born February 29, 1528(1528-02-29)
Prague
Died October 16, 1590(1590-10-16)
Munich

Anna of Austria (Prague, July 7, 1528 – Munich, October 16, 1590) was the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547).

Contents

Family

Anna was the third of fifteen children. Her siblings included: Elizabeth, Queen of Poland, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, Catherine, Queen of Poland, Eleanor, Duchess of Mantua, Barbara, Duchess of Ferrara, Charles II, Archduke of Austria and Johanna, Duchess of Tuscany.

Anna's paternal grandparents were Philip I of Castile and his wife Joanna of Castile. Her maternal grandparents were Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his third wife Anne de Foix.[1]

Life

She was engaged several times as a child, first to Prince Theodor of Bavaria (1526–1534), then to Charles d'Orléans (1522–1545), but both died young.

Anna finally married on July 4, 1546 in Regensburg at the age of 17, Duke Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, the brother of her first fiancé. This marriage was part of a web of alliances in which her uncle Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor hoped to secure Albert's support before embarking on the Schmalkaldic Wars.[2] The wedding gift was 50,000 Guilder. The couple lived at the Trausnitz Castle in Landshut, until Albert became Duke.

Anna and Albert had great influence on the spiritual life in the Duchy, and enhanced the reputation of Munchen as a city of art, by founding several museums and the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek.
Anna and Albert were also patrons to the painter Hans Müelich, and composer Orlando di Lasso.

Children

Ancestors

References

  1. ^ Ancestors of Anna of Habsburg
  2. ^ Sutter Fichtner, Paula (April 1976). "Dynastic Marriage in Sixteenth-Century Habsburg Diplomacy and Statecraft: An Interdisciplinary Approach". The American Historical Review 81 (2): 243–265. JSTOR 1851170. 
  3. ^ Anna von Habsburg
Preceded by
Marie of Baden-Sponheim		 Duchess consort of Bavaria
1550–1579		 Succeeded by
Renata of Lorraine