Maria Anna of Spain (1606–1646)

Diego Velázquez - Portrait of the Infanta María of Austria, oil painting around 1628, Museo del Prado

Maria Anna of Spain ( Spanish María Ana de Austria ; * August 18, 1606 in Real Sitio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial near Madrid ; †  May 13, 1646 in Linz ) was Infanta of Spain and Portugal and by marriage to Ferdinand III. Queen of Hungary and Bohemia and, since 1637, Roman-German Empress .

Life

Maria Anna was the fourth child and third daughter of the Spanish King Philip III. (1578–1621) and his wife Margarete of Austria (1584–1611), third daughter of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria-Styria .

Maria Anna of Spain with little Ferdinand

First it was decided that the young Princess Maria Anna should be married to Johann Karl, the second son of Emperor Ferdinand II and his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria ; however, the chosen bridegroom died on December 26, 1619 at the age of only 14 years. It was then Ferdinand , the third son of Ferdinand II., Considered as a possible future husband Maria Anna into consideration. Many years passed before this marriage project actually came about. The reason for this lay among other things in the fact that, with the English Crown Prince Karl , another applicant for the hand of the Infanta appeared. Karl traveled to the Iberian Peninsula in 1623 with his friend, the Duke of Buckingham , to see his bride. The Spaniards dedicated a song to this event: Carlos Estuardo soy, Que siendo amor mi guia, A cielo d'Espana voy, Per ver estrella Maria (German: 'Karl Stuart am I, brought from afar through love, I am under the Spanish sky come to see Maria, my star '). The marriage project failed because Karl did not want to become a Catholic and Maria did not want to marry a heretic.

In 1626 Maria Anna was engaged to the emperor's son Ferdinand. But long negotiations followed, including the size and composition of the court of Ferdinand's fiancé. It was also about whom Maria Anna should get as her confessor ; the emperor wanted a Jesuit for this , but the Spanish court managed to transfer this function to the Spanish Capuchin Diego Quiroga in 1628 . In the marriage contract of 1628 it was stated that Maria Anna remained in possession of her Spanish throne rights, while her older sister Anna , the wife of Louis XIII. , shouldn't have kept these rights.

In December 1629 the Infanta, accompanied by numerous retinues, left Spain and finally set off to meet her future husband. This journey, as it took place in the middle of the Thirty Years' War , was a dangerous and lengthy undertaking. Epidemics and festivities also led to delays. After a trip across the Mediterranean , Maria Anna docked in Naples . On the other routes to Vienna took place on January 26, 1631 Trieste the ceremonial handover of the bride by the Spanish retinue of Archduke Leopold V of Tyrol , who led the Infanta to Vienna. Maria Anna's bridal trip took a total of 14 months. The actual ceremony of her marriage to Ferdinand, then King of Bohemia and Hungary, took place on February 26, 1631 in the Augustinian Church in Vienna. The subsequent wedding celebrations dragged on for over a month. The marriage was one of those few political marriages that turned out to be extremely happy.

Alongside the Empress Eleonore , Maria Anna held an important position at the Viennese court. When her husband became the Roman-German king, she was crowned queen in the Regensburg Cathedral in January 1637 . After the death of Ferdinand II on February 15, 1637, his son was named Ferdinand III. his successor and thus Maria Anna as the wife of Ferdinand III. Empress. She was cheerful and was a reliable advisor to her husband. She often accompanied him on trips, but was also several times during the - mostly war-related - absence of Ferdinand III. appointed regent by him.

The imperial family withdrew to Graz in 1645 because of the advance of the Swedes and later to Linz because of the epidemics that were rampant in Vienna. In the latter city, Maria Anna died on May 13, 1646 at the age of 39, shortly before the birth of her last child, a girl who was taken from the Empress's dead body by caesarean section , but who died a few hours later. Mother and child were buried under the Capuchin Church in Vienna; both rest in the same coffin.

progeny

Grave of the Empress Maria Anna

From the marriage of Maria Anna and Ferdinand III. had four sons and two daughters, but only three of these children reached adulthood:

• Ferdinand IV. (HRR) (* September 8, 1633 - † July 9, 1654)
• Maria Anna (23 December 1634 - 16 May 1696), ⚭ 1649 Philip IV (1605–1665) King of Spain
• Philipp August (July 15, 1637 - June 22, 1639)
• Maximilian Thomas (December 21, 1638 - June 29, 1639)
• Leopold I (HRR) (June 9, 1640 - May 5, 1705), Holy Roman Emperor

1. ⚭ 1666 Margarita Teresa of Spain (1651–1673)
2. ⚭ 1673 Claudia Felizitas of Tyrol (1653–1676)
3. ⚭ 1676 Eleonore Magdalene Therese of the Palatinate (1655–1720)

• Maria (* / † May 13, 1646)

ancestors

16. Philip I of Habsburg (= 24)

8. Charles V (HRR) (1500–1558)

17. Johanna the Mad (= 25)

Philip II (Spain) (1527–1598)

18. Manuel I of Portugal

9. Isabella of Portugal (1503–1539)

19. Mary of Aragon

Philip III (Spain) (1578-1621)

20. Ferdinand I. (HRR) (= 12, 30)

10. Maximilian II (HRR) (1527-1576)

21. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (= 13, 31)

Anna of Austria (1549–1580)

22. Charles V (HRR) (= 8)

11. Mary of Spain (1528–1603)

23. Isabella of Portugal (= 9)

Maria Anna of Spain (1606–1646)

24. Philip I of Habsburg (= 16)

12. Ferdinand I. (HRR) (1503-1564)

25. Joan the Mad (= 17)

Charles II (Inner Austria) (1540–1590)

26. Vladislav II of Bohemia and Hungary

13. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547)

27. Anne de Foix-Candale

Margaret of Austria (1584–1611)

28. Wilhelm IV of Bavaria

14. Albrecht V (Bavaria) (1528–1579)

29. Maria Jakobäa of Baden

Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608)

30. Ferdinand I. (HRR) (= 12, 20)

15. Anna of Austria (1528–1590)

31. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (= 13, 21)

literature

• Helmut Andics: The women of the Habsburgs ; Wilhelm Heyne Verlag Munich (1997), ISBN 3-453-07034-8
• Richard Reifenscheid: The Habsburgs in Life Pictures , Piper Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-492-24753-5
• Cristina Segura Graiño: María de Austria , in: Diccionario biográfico español , Madrid 2009–2013, online version
• Maria Anna . In: Brigitte Hamann (Ed.): The Habsburgs . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-8000-3247-3 , pp. 289ff.
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Habsburg, Maria Anna of Spain . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 7th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1861, p. 23 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Maria Anna of Spain (1606–1646)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	Successor
Eleonora Gonzaga	Roman-German Empress 1637 to 13 May 1646	Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Tyrol