Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608)

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Maria Anna of Bavaria, portrait by Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen , 1577

Maria Anna von Bayern (born March 21, 1551 in Munich , † April 29, 1608 in Graz ) was Princess of Bavaria by birth and Archduchess of Inner Austria-Styria by marriage .

Lineage and early years

Maria Anna came from the German noble house of Wittelsbacher . She was the eldest daughter of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria (1528–1579) and his wife the Archduchess Anna of Austria (1528–1590), the second daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I and his wife Anna Jagiello, Princess of Bohemia and Hungary .

Maria Anna spent her early years at the Munich court, where painting and music flourished. Under the supervision of her mother, she was raised a deeply Catholic and very strict, and sometimes even corporal punished. She was a student of Andreas Staudenmaier and learned from him not only a basic education but also Latin . She showed great talent in the field of music, was friends with the important composer Orlando di Lasso and played the organ.

marriage

In 1570, the reddish-blond-haired Princess Maria Anna was planned to be the wife of the voivod Johann Sigismund Zápolya of Transylvania, but this intended marriage did not materialize. Then Archduke Karl II of Inner Austria-Styria (1540–1590), the third son of Emperor Ferdinand I and his wife Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary , asked for the hand of his niece Maria Anna, who was 10 years his junior and whom he had earlier with the Had met her brother Wilhelm's wedding celebrations and had developed affection for her. After Pope Pius V granted the dispensation because of the close relatives of the couple , Maria Anna and Archduke Karl married on August 26, 1571 in Vienna . On the occasion of this happy event, splendid celebrations took place in Vienna. Contemporary writers such as H. Wirrich and W. Sponrib processed the subject of the brilliant wedding celebrations of the archduke and couple in literature. The newlyweds moved into Graz on September 10, 1571, followed by seven-day festivities. This marriage brought Archduke Karl important support from the ruling family of Bavaria.

progeny

The happy marriage of Maria Anna and Karl II. Of Inner Austria-Styria resulted in fifteen children, six sons and nine daughters, three of whom died early:

  • Ferdinand (July 15, 1572 - August 3, 1572)
  • Anna (August 16, 1573 - February 10, 1598) ⚭ 1592 Sigismund III. Wasa , King of Poland and Sweden
  • Maria Christina (born November 10, 1574; † April 6, 1621), 1607 canoness, 1612 superior of Hall / Tyrol ⚭ 1595–1599 Sigismund Báthory , Grand Duke of Transylvania
  • Katharina Renata (January 4, 1576 - June 29, 1595)
  • Elisabeth (March 13, 1577 - January 29, 1586)
  • Emperor Ferdinand II (July 9, 1578 - February 15, 1637)
  1. ⚭ Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574–1616)
  2. ⚭ Eleanor of Gonzaga (1598–1655)

Archduchess and later years

Reclining figures of Archduke Charles II and his wife Archduchess Maria Anna of Bavaria on cenotaph , Habsburg mausoleum, Seckau basilica
Putti on cenotaph hold the Wittelsbach coat of arms

Immediately after her marriage, the very power-conscious Maria Anna exercised significant political influence in her new home. As a strict Catholic she devoted herself to charitable activities, regular church visits, participating in pilgrimages, promoting the Counter-Reformation in Styria and generous support for the Jesuits . The archduchess, who was keen to travel, often accompanied her husband on his tours, for example, she attended the state parliaments in Laibach at the end of 1575 and Klagenfurt from February to May 1576, stayed with him in Prague in 1581 at the court of Emperor Rudolf II , and in 1582 at the Diet of Augsburg as well 1584 in Innsbruck . Occasionally she also traveled to distant countries, four times to Poland and once each to Spain and Transylvania .

Maria Anna raised her offspring extremely conscientiously, but also strictly. Like her husband, she is said to have been quite wasteful; she also showed a great fondness for hunting. In many of the letters she wrote, she uses a Bavarian dialect and a rather coarse style.

In July 1590 Maria Anna became a widow. She did not take up residence in the Judenburg, which was assigned to her as a widow's residence, but stayed in Graz. She had raised her oldest surviving son, who later became Emperor Ferdinand II, in the first years of his life, almost alone in the strict Catholic sense. Since Protestantism had become too strong in Graz, she had managed to get Ferdinand sent to Ingolstadt in January 1590 while her husband was still alive , where he continued to receive strictly Catholic instructions at the university run by Jesuits. When he took over the affairs of state in Inner Austria in 1596, his mother constantly urged him to take decisive action against Protestant currents. So he should ensure that preachers of the denomination she hated came to the gallows. Maria Anna also had a major influence on Ferdinand's reforms. Politically she married several of her daughters. In the brotherly dispute between Emperor Rudolf II and Matthias, she behaved very wisely.

Maria Anna's charitable works included her generous donations to the poor and her personal care for sick and pregnant women. She prayed a lot, underwent mortification more often, collected relics, donated churches and chose her confessors from among the Jesuits she loved, such as Father Johann Reinel, who had been in this position for many years and who died in 1607.

The 1602 founding of the Poor Clares to Graz took place in paradise goes back to the initiative of Maria Anna. There the archduchess, who often took part in the religious exercises of the nuns, became a clarissess shortly before her death. She died on April 29, 1608 at the age of 57 in Graz and was buried there first in the Poor Clare Monastery, then in the Habsburg mausoleum . Many Jesuits like Wilhelm Lamormaini lamented their demise in obituaries written especially for this purpose.

literature

Web links

Commons : Maria Anna von Bayern (1551–1608)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Bavaria, Maria Anna von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Archduchess Maria Anna of Inner Austria-Styria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archduchess of Inner Austria-Styria
DATE OF BIRTH March 21, 1551
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1608
Place of death Graz