Linz wedding

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Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, portrait painting by Hans Maler zu Schwaz , 1519, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid
Ferdinand as a young Archduke, portrait painting by Hans Maler zu Schwaz , 1521, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
Wedding medal from Hans Daucher , 1523, State Coin Collection Munich

On 26. May 1521 in married Linz who later became Emperor Ferdinand I and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary , paving the way for the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire was preparing.

prehistory

At the double wedding in Vienna in 1515, the 56-year-old Emperor Maximilian I married 12-year-old Anna of Hungary and Bohemia on behalf of one of his grandchildren. Should no marriage contract be concluded with one of his grandchildren, he would take Anna as his wife himself. This did not happen because Maximilian died in Wels in 1519 . Maximilian's grandson Charles V, however, fixed a marriage contract between his brother, who later became Emperor Ferdinand I, and Anna on November 7, 1520 in Cologne. The marriage contract was confirmed on December 11, 1520 in Innsbruck , where Anna stayed with her sister-in-law Maria before their wedding .

In the first months of 1521, Charles V and Ferdinand stayed at the Reichstag in Worms , where they also discussed the location of the wedding. Innsbruck and Wels were under discussion, at that time significantly larger cities than Linz, because Linz had hardly more than 3000 inhabitants at that time. However, Linz was under Friedrich III. Has been an imperial residence for a few years and has been the state capital since that time (1490). Linz was in the immediate domain of Archduke Ferdinand, and it was the venue for internationally well-attended trade fairs. Thanks to its convenient location, Linz was easily accessible from the west, north and east. In addition to the waterways of the Danube and Traun , there were roads to and from Anna's native Bohemia. Linz was also at a safe distance from any troublemakers (Hungarian estates, Ottomans). These arguments seem to have tipped the scales that ultimately Linz was chosen as the wedding location.

Arrival

Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria since April 28, 1521 , set out from Worms on April 30, 1521 and rode together with Cardinal Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg via Heidelberg , Bruchsal , Vaihingen an der Enz and Ulm to Augsburg , where one was in the home of the Cardinal Rest was taken. The bridegroom moved from Augsburg to Regensburg (May 18), where a ship was boarded that took him to Linz, accompanied by other princes.

Anna and her entourage began their journey on May 15, 1521 in Innsbruck, which took them via Schwaz to ship to Rosenheim , Mühldorf am Inn and Passau, where Anna arrived at Whitsun (May 19). The next day Linz was reached.

Linz wedding

The wedding took place on May 26, 1521 in Linz. The Salzburg Prince Archbishop Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg married the 17-year-old Anna and the 18-year-old Ferdinand in the presence of many high-ranking clerics (Bishop and later Cardinal Bernhard von Cles von Trient, Bishop Christophorus Rauber von Laibach, Bishop Berthold Pürstinger von Chiemsee, Bishop Georg von Slatkonia of Vienna, Probst Girolamo Balbi of Bratislava) and many well-known secular leaders (Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria , Duke Ernst of Bavaria , Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg , Margrave Johann of Brandenburg, the Counts of Gradisca, Siegmund von Herberstein ). The wedding probably took place in the parish church of Linz , where the heart of Emperor Friedrich III. rests. The wedding was celebrated less elaborately than the splendid Viennese wedding in 1515, but a tournament and some weapon games were held.

Losenstein tournament

Losenstein tournament, unknown artist, 1825, Nordico City Museum in Linz

As part of the Linz wedding, a tournament was held on May 25, 1521 at the main square in Linz . A splendid, but also arrogant Spanish knight challenged the local knights to battle. Knight Sebastian von Losenstein accepted the challenge. Despite physical inferiority, he was able to defeat the arrogant Spaniard with cunning and his bi-hander , which suddenly made him famous and eponymous for this tournament.

Parts of the armor that Sebastian von Losenstein wore at this tournament are still presented to the public today:

  • His helmet was gilded in honor of the great victory and has been hanging since his death in the grave of the Losensteiners, the so-called Losenstein Chapel in Garsten Abbey , between the monuments of Georg (died 1557) and Dietmar V. von Losenstein ( Governor of Upper Austria , died 1577 ) on the wall.
  • He probably used the horse armor, which is one of the most valuable exhibits in the Landeszeughaus in Graz, the largest preserved historical armory in the world.
  • His sword is possibly of the Bihanded Swiss design, which is with inventory number 392 in the historical armory of the Castle Museum Linz .

Post-story

With the early death of Anna's brother Ludwig II in the battle of Mohács (1526) Anna became the heiress of Bohemia and Hungary and her husband Ferdinand became king of (Western) Hungary and Bohemia. The Bohemian and Hungarian crowns remained with the Habsburgs for almost 400 years (until 1918).

The marriage of Anna and Ferdinand is considered to be one of the happiest in the history of the Habsburg family. Unusually for the time, the parents personally looked after their 15 children. Two of her children were born in Linz: Elisabeth in 1526 , who died as Queen of Poland at the age of 19, and Ferdinand in 1529 , who married the banker's daughter Philippine Welser in 1557 and became Prince of Tyrol and the Vorlanden in 1564. Ferdinand, who had the Linz Castle expanded and furnished with precious furnishings for his wife, also set up a mint in Linz . Ferdinand deeply mourned Anna's death in 1547, giving birth to her last child. As a token of his grief, he grew a beard.

Anna, Ferdinand and Sebastian von Losenstein are shown in one of the windows of the New Linz Cathedral , the so-called Linz Window.

literature

  • Georg Heilingsetzer : A building block for the emergence of the Habsburg monarchy. Archduke Ferdinand's wedding in Linz (1521). In: Wilfried Seipel (Ed.): Kaiser Ferdinand I. 1503-1564. The becoming of the Habsburg Monarchy. Exhibition catalog of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2003, pp. 65–75.
  • Willibald Katzinger : A short history of the city of Linz. Regensburg 2008.
  • Alfred Kohler : Ferdinand I. 1503–1564 Prince, King and Emperor. Munich 2003 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  • Rudolf Lehr : Provincial Chronicle of Upper Austria. 3000 years in data, documents and images. Christian Brandstätter Verlag, Vienna 2012, page 107.
  • Thea Leitner : Habsburgs sold daughters. Munich / Berlin 1994, new edition 2017 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  • Fritz Mayrhofer, Willibald Katzinger: History of the city of Linz. 2 volumes, Linz 1990.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Bernhard Bucholtz: History of the government of Ferdinand the First. Vienna 1831, p. 154 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  2. ↑ Johann B. Jokell: History of Government Ferdinand the First; initially adapted from Bucholtz and other sources. Vienna 1842, p. 153 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  3. ↑ Leitner 1994/2017, p. 111 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  4. ^ Johann Sallaberger: Cardinal Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg (1468–1540): statesman and prince of the church in the age of Renaissance, Reformation and peasant wars. Salzburg / Munich 1997, p. 234f, based on files from the Tyrolean State Archives.
  5. ↑ Kohler 2003, p. 96 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  6. ↑ The Losenstein tournament. In: burglosenstein.at. Retrieved April 28, 2020 .
  7. ^ Franz Isidor Proschko : A strange tournament in Linz. In: The Upper Austrian. Calendar, Linz 1856, p. 138.
  8. ↑ The Losenstein Chapel. In: burglosenstein.at. Retrieved April 28, 2020 (with a photo of Sebastian's gold-plated helmet).