Catherine of Luxembourg
Katharina von Luxemburg or Katharina von Böhmen (* 1342 in Prague ; † April 26, 1395 in Vienna , buried in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna) was a daughter of Emperor Charles IV from the House of Luxemburg .
Her first marriage was from 1357 to 1365 with the Habsburg Rudolf IV , Duke of Austria from 1358, and therefore from 1358 to 1365 Duchess of Austria. In her second marriage she was married from 1366 to 1379 to the Wittelsbacher Otto V , Margrave of Brandenburg, and so from 1366 to 1373/79 Margravine of Brandenburg. Both marriages remained childless.
Life
Childhood and Adolescence 1342 to 1357
Katharina came in the second half of the year - possibly on August 19 - of the year 1342 after her sister Margarethe (1335-1349) as the second child of the then Margrave of Moravia, Karl of Luxembourg, and his first wife Blanche of Valois , a daughter of Karl from Valois , to the world in Prague. Just a few months after her birth, Emperor Ludwig IV , the Margrave of Meissen and the Austrian Duke Albrecht II appeared for the first time as courtiers for their sons who were also underage.
On May 26, 1348 Albrecht II took the oath of feudal oath to the Roman King Charles IV in Brno. Both then negotiated the previously considered plan of a marriage between Katharina and the Duke's son Rudolf. Albrecht II undertook to end his alliance with the Hungarian King Ludwig and on June 5, 1348 Charles IV enfeoffed the Duke and his sons with the Habsburg lands. Furthermore, on this day, the only six-year-old Katharina was engaged to eight-year-old Rudolf.
In March 1353, Charles IV hosted a congress of princes in Vienna to politically secure his planned move to Rome in 1355 and Katharina accompanied her father to Vienna. The twice widowed Karl knew how to develop a cordial relationship with his only child at the time during his stay in Vienna and to convey his political plans to the politically intelligent eleven-year-old. Katharina remained attached to her father in love and respect throughout her life.
The alliance between the houses of Habsburg and Luxembourg was renewed in Vienna, on July 13, 1353 the symbolic marriage of Catherine and Rudolf took place and both dynasties regulated their mutual inheritance and succession.
On July 3, 1357, Katharina and Rudolf married in Prague. However, after just a few weeks, Katharina had to mediate between her husband and father for the first time, as Rudolf opposed the emperor due to the slow payment of Katharina's dowry.
Duchess of Austria 1358 to 1365
Rudolf IV , the founder, became Duke of Austria in 1358. He immediately took the initiative to consolidate the rank and reputation of his family with the honorary title of "Archduke" . With the help of the Privilegium maius - only proven to be a forgery in the 19th century - Rudolf tried in 1358/59 to achieve an equal status with the elector. Rudolf presented copies of the Privilegium maius to his father-in-law, who refused recognition after extensive examination. As a result, the threatened armed conflicts between the two rulers could only be prevented through the clever mediation of Katharina. The emperor then handed the controversial documents over to the Italian humanist Francesco Petrarca , who, after careful examination, confirmed the untenability of various claims to the emperor. Because of this, Rudolf IV had to give up the officially held title of Archduke in 1361. It was not until 1441 and 1453 that the forged documents were received by the Habsburg Frederick III. their royal and imperial endorsement.
Rudolf IV tried after the death of the Wittelsbacher Meinhard III. to take possession of Tyrol in January 1363. This led to renewed tension between Charles IV and his son-in-law. Charles IV feared that his political plans with the Wittelsbach family would be jeopardized. However, even in this crisis, Katharina was able to successfully mediate between her father and her husband.
As early as March 18, 1363, the emperor signed an inheritance contract with the Brandenburg Wittelsbach family and on February 10, 1364 Rudolf IV was enfeoffed with Tyrol in Brno, which Stephan II of Bavaria only recognized years after Rudolf's death in 1369. A reciprocal inheritance contract between the Luxembourgers, Habsburgs and the Hungarian Anjous was also concluded in Brno , in which the development of the later Danube monarchy can already be seen. Due to the inheritance contract of 1364, the Austrian Duke Albrecht V was finally able to inherit the last Luxembourgish Sigismund , Katharina's half-brother, in 1437 .
Rudolf IV died on July 27, 1365 and Katharina returned to her father in Prague a little later.
Margravine of Brandenburg 1366 to 1373
Due to an inheritance dispute within the Bavarian ruling family, the Brandenburg Margrave Otto V , from the House of Wittelsbach , was ready to unite with Charles IV against his brother, Duke Stephan II of Bavaria, and the Emperor took the opportunity given To incorporate Kurmark into his domain.
On March 19, 1366 Otto V and Katharina married in Prague, who entered into this marriage after long hesitation only because of the political goals of her father. Otto was originally supposed to marry Karl's younger daughter Elisabeth (1358–1373), but due to the untimely death of Rudolf IV, the emperor decided to marry off the Wittelsbacher to his widowed older daughter Katharina. On the same day, Elisabeth, Otto's former bride, and Albrecht III were married. , Duke of Austria, the younger brother of Rudolf IV, who on March 26, 1366 confirmed the inheritance contract with the House of Luxembourg. As a result of this double wedding in Prague, Charles IV was able to consolidate his position in the empire considerably.
After the wedding, Otto V. handed over the administration of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, impoverished by famine and feuds, to his father-in-law for six years. This enabled Charles IV to round off the position he had gained in Silesia and Upper Lusatia and to begin his expansion into the north with determination. Otto V, who was called “the lazy” because of his passivity, which was also imposed by the emperor , stayed with Katharina at the court of his father-in-law in Prague and in 1368 sold Lower Lusatia to Charles IV, the King of Bohemia.
In January 1369, Catherine accompanied her father to Rome. Since Karl and his companions got into the fighting of the aristocratic and popular party in Siena, the emperor ordered his daughter Katharina and his wife Elisabeth of Pomerania to travel home .
On August 15, 1373, Charles IV acquired the Mark Brandenburg from Otto V for 500,000 guilders. Otto V was allowed to continue to use the title of Margrave of Brandenburg. Likewise, Katharina was allowed to use the title of Margravine of Brandenburg until her husband's death in 1379. However, Katharina never entered the Mark Brandenburg.
Last years, death and burial from 1373 to 1395
After the sale of the Mark Brandenburg, Katharina lived temporarily with her husband in Munich, but more and more often with her father in Prague. The marriage between Katharina and Otto was unhappy, mainly because of the couple's childlessness. The Wittelsbacher accused Charles IV of having knowingly married him to a sterile woman in order to accelerate the inheritance of the Mark Brandenburg to Bohemia, which was regulated in the inheritance contract of 1363.
After Otto's death in 1379, Katharina took her widow's seat in Vienna. By choosing her widow's residence, Katharina wanted to show her solidarity with her first husband Rudolf IV. She also renounced the title of Margravine of Brandenburg in the interests of the politics of her half-brothers Wenzel and Sigismund .
On April 26, 1395, the withdrawn Katharina died in Vienna. She was buried at the side of her first husband Rudolf in the ducal crypt in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. She is depicted as a figure on the cenotaph for Duke Rudolf IV in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, resting forever next to him, but the cenotaph is empty.
However, the following doubts are expressed by Richard Reifenscheid (see literature, page 50):
“Whether Katharina of Luxembourg was actually buried in St. Stephen's Cathedral in the ducal crypt is debatable, as Katharina outlived her husband by 30 years and returned to her homeland after his death. When the graves in the duke's crypt were opened, almost all of the people buried there could be identified from the inscriptions on the lead crosses. The proof that Katharina was buried in the duke's crypt could not be provided. It is also assumed that the sarcophagus contains the mortal shell of Beatrix von Nürnberg-Hohenzollern , the second wife of Duke Albrecht III. "
The stone donor figures of Rudolf IV and his wife Katharina can be seen at the Singertor of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.
literature
- Jörg K. Hoensch : The Luxembourgers - A late medieval dynasty of pan-European importance 1308–1437 . Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-17-015159-2
- Ferdinand Seibt : Karl IV. - An Emperor in Europe 1346 to 1378 . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich, 5th edition 1994, ISBN 3-423-04641-4
- Frantisek Kavka : At the court of Karl IV. Edition Leipzig, 1st edition 1989, ISBN 3-361-00258-3
- Richard Reifenscheid: The Habsburgs in Life Pictures - From Rudolf I to Karl I. Verlag Styria, Graz / Vienna / Cologne, 4th edition 1990, ISBN 3-222-11431-5
- Walter Kleindel: The Chronicle of Austria . Chronik Verlag in Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh / Munich, 4th revised edition 1994, ISBN 3-570-14400-3
- Hans F. Nöhbauer: The Chronicle of Bavaria . Chronik Verlag in Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh / Munich; 3rd revised edition 1994, ISBN 3-570-14430-5
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Catherine of Luxembourg |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Catherine of Bohemia |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duchess of Austria (1358-1365); Margravine of Brandenburg (1366–1379) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1342 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Prague , Kingdom of Bohemia , Holy Roman Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 26, 1395 |
| Place of death | Vienna , Duchy of Austria , Holy Roman Empire |