Archduchess Anna of Austria

Anna of Austria
Duchess consort of Bavaria

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

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).

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

Anna and her husband Albert playing chess, 1552.

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 Bavarian State Library.

Anna and Albert were also patrons to the painter Hans Müelich and composer Orlando di Lasso. In 1552, Albert commissioned an inventory of the jewelry in the couple's possession. The resulting manuscript, still held by the Bavarian State Library, was the Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria ("Kleinodienbuch der Herzogin Anna von Bayern"), and contains 110 drawings by Hans Muelich.[3]

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 [247]. doi:10.2307/1851170. JSTOR 1851170.
  3. Hans Mielich (1552). "Jewel Book of the Duchess Anna of Bavaria - Kleinodienbuch der Herzogin Anna von Bayern". World Digital Library. Retrieved 2014-06-21.
  4. Anna von Habsburg
Preceded by
Marie of Baden-Sponheim
Duchess consort of Bavaria
1550–1579
Succeeded by
Renata of Lorraine
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