Claudia Felicitas of Austria

Claudia Felicitas of Austria
Holy Roman Empress
Archduchess of Austria
Queen consort of Bohemia and Hungary
Tenure 1673–1676
Spouse Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
Issue
Archduchess Anna Maria Sophia
Archduchess Maria Josepha
House Habsburg dynasty
Father Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria
Mother Anna de' Medici
Born 30 May 1653
Florence
Died 8 April 1676
Vienna

Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria (30 May 1653 – 8 April 1676) was the eldest daughter of Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria, and his wife Anna de' Medici. She was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Archduchess of Austria, German Queen, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia as the spouse of Leopold I.[1]

Contents

Family and early life

Claudia Felicitas was born in Florence at the court of her mother Anna de' Medici. She was their eldest daughter and only child to survive into adulthood. The failure of her parents to produce male heirs meant that her father's brother Sigismund Francis succeeded to Tyrol and Further Austria upon Ferdinand Charles' death in 1662.

Her maternal grandparents were Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Maria Magdalena of Austria.

Marriage and children

After his first wife Margaret Theresa of Spain died in 1673, many among the court expected the Emperor Leopold I to find another spouse. He was the last of the male Habsburgs, besides the sickly King Charles II of Spain and thus was in dire need of a male heir.[2] Leopold deeply mourned his first wife, but was obligated to seek another six months later. Claudia was chosen, and she became his second wife on 15 October 1673, in Graz. She was young, attractive, and apparently aware of the great status it implied. Leopold lamented that she was "not like my only Margareta".[3]

Claudia bore Leopold two children:

Both her children died young. Claudia Felicitas herself died shortly thereafter in Vienna, where she is buried in the Capuchin monastery. Leopold remarried later that year to Eleonor Magdalene of the Palatinate-Neuburg.

Ancestors

References

  1. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/336625/Leopold-I
  2. ^ Wheatcroft (1995), pp. 200-201.
  3. ^ Wheatcroft (1995), p. 201.

Sources

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Claudia_Felicitas_of_Austria Claudia Felicitas of Austria] at Wikimedia Commons
Claudia Felicitas of Austria
Born: 30 May 1653 Died: 8 April 1676
German royalty
Preceded by
Margaret Theresa of Spain		 Empress of the Holy Roman Empire
German Queen
1673–1676		 Succeeded by
Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg
Archduchess of Austria
1673–1676
Queen consort of Bohemia
1673–1676
Queen of Hungary
1673–1676