Janka Mikes

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Johanna (Janka) Countess Mikes de Zabola (* 1. April 1866 in Cluj , Kingdom of Hungary , † 28. December 1930 in Vienna ) was a maid of honor of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary .

Janka Mikes with her family in 1902

Life

origin

The family of Count Mikes de Zabola comes from Transylvania . The first mention of it goes back to 1506. As early as 1584 an ancestor of the family, Mihály Mikes, was honored for his war acts by the Prince of Transylvania Sigismund Báthory and received important property in Transylvania. On May 4, 1696, the chief provost of Háromszék Mihály Mikes (* 1667, † 1721) received the hereditary title of count from Emperor Leopold I. Several important public figures (military, bishops) emerged from the family.

Janka Mikes, Life in the Service of the Empress

Janka was the daughter of Count Miklós Mikes de Zabola (born September 4, 1841 in Zabola, † July 6, 1893 in Reichenau) and his wife Johanna Róza Borrnemisza de Kászon (born May 9, 1842 in Klausenburg, † July 12, 1932 in Gyöngyösszentkereszt). She received an education that was customary for the daughters of noble families.

Janka Mikes began serving at the Viennese court as lady-in-waiting to Empress Elisabeth in 1890 at the age of twenty-four, after her predecessor Countess Charlotte von Majláth wished to marry and had to give up her court service. From then on she became the main companion of the Empress on her distinctive journeys, which the Empress undertook with her yacht SMS Miramar, especially in 1890. Between August and October 1890 the Empress embarked on a long sea voyage that took her from Dover via Portugal , Gibraltar , Algiers and Italy to Corfu . In the following years Janka Mikes also accompanied the empress on her sea voyages, which took her mainly to Corfu, Corinth and Athens .

Marriage and offspring

Since Janka Mikes intended to get married, she had to retire from court service. In August 1894 she therefore introduced her successor Countess Irma Sztáray to the court. On January 8, 1896, she married the diplomat Count Miklós Antal Szécsén de Temerin (born November 26, 1857 in Vienna, † May 28, 1926 in Gyöngyösszentkereszt).

The marriage had three children:

After the collapse of Austria-Hungary , the couple withdrew to Hungary where they led an inconspicuous life. They lived in Táplánszentkereszt until their death and were buried there in the churchyard of the St. Laurentius Church (Hungarian Szent-Lörinc-templom ).

The Wiener Zeitung reported:

On the 28th of M. died in the Sanatorium Löw Countess Johanna Szecsen de Temerin, widow after the former ambassador and court marshal in Hungary Privy Councilor Nikolaus Count Szecsen, at the age of 65. She was a daughter of the chamberlain Nicholas Count Mikes. The burial took place yesterday in Gyöngyös Szt. Kereszt.

literature

  • Court and State Handbook of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy for 1891, Staatsdruckerei Wien, p. 242
  • Marie Valérie of Austria: The diary of Empress Elisabeth's favorite daughter. Munich 1998, ISBN 3-7844-2702-2
  • Beatrix Meyer, Empress Elisabeth and their Hungarians. Allitera, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3962331306
  • Eszter Virág Vér: Erzsébet királyné magyarorszagi kultusza 1914-ig , dissertation University of Budapest, Budapest 2013 (Hungarian)

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Zabola, (German Gebissdorf ) is a village in the former Háromszék County in Transylvania, today Covasna (Romania).
  2. ↑ a b Gyöngyösszentkerszt is a small place in Eisenburg County . In 1939 it was renamed Táplánszentkereszt .
  3. ↑ Janka also had two brothers: Lipót (* 1874, † 1885) and Zsigmond (* June 6, 1867 in Klausenburg, † May 21, 1951 ibid.)
  4. ↑ The wheel yacht SMS Miramar was employed by the Imperial and Royal Navy . The 82 meter long paddle steamer was built at the Samuda Brothers shipyard in Polar, Great Britain in 1871. The first launch took place on January 8, 1872. The yacht was luxuriously equipped and was mainly used for sea voyages by the imperial family. It was used most often by Empress Elisabeth and her company. After the end of the First World War , the ship in the Austrian naval port Pola fell into the hands of Italian troops, who towed it to Venice and scrapped it in 1920.
  5. ↑ Marie Valérie: The diary of the favorite daughter of Empress Elisabeth. Munich 1998, ISBN 3-7844-2702-2 , p. 318.
  6. ↑ Count Miklós Antal Szécsény de Temerin studied law and worked as a diplomat at various embassies. In 1901 he was appointed ambassador of Austria-Hungary to the Holy See . From 1911 ambassador to France . In 1898 he was given the title of Privy Councilor , and in 1908 he became a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece .
  7. ↑ a b The couple Miklós and Maria Szecsen de Temerin were shot on the same day by soldiers of the Red Army .
  8. ↑ Wiener Zeitung No. 299, Wednesday, December 31, 1930, p. 6
personal data
SURNAME Mikes, Janka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mikes de Zabola, Janka; Szécsén de Temerin, Janka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lady-in-waiting of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Cluj-Napoca , Kingdom of Hungary
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1930
Place of death Vienna