Mary of Spain (1528-1603)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary of Spain, 1557 (Anonymous)
Maria, probably after 1600 ( Juan Pantoja de la Cruz )
Maria with her family (husband Maximilian, Anna, Rudolf, Ernst) 1553/54 ( Giuseppe Arcimboldo , around 1563)

Maria of Spain (Spanish: María de Austria) (born June 21, 1528 in the Alcazar in Madrid ; † February 26, 1603 in Villamante ) was Infanta of Spain and, by marriage, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.

Life

Origin and youth

Maria was the eldest daughter of Emperor Charles V and his wife Isabella , daughter of King Emanuel I of Portugal . Maria grew up mostly in Madrid and Valladolid and was raised together with her older brother Philipp . After her mother's death in 1539, she became the most senior woman at court.

Maria was originally supposed to marry one of the sons of the French King Francis I between 1536 and 1545 . After the Schmalkaldic War , however, Karl was of the opinion that the Habsburg family connections should be made closer and, by connecting the Spanish and Austrian lines of the house, he would gain the support of the latter in the Spanish line of succession to the Habsburgs. On September 13, 1548, Maria married Maximilian in Valladolid , her first cousin and later emperor. The marriage contract had been drawn up during the Reichstag in Augsburg . Maria also waived the traditional inheritance waiver of all territorial claims, she was only guaranteed an annual pension.

Governor in Spain

Appointed by her father, she and her husband Maximilian II exercised the reign in Spain from 1548 during the absence of Emperor Charles. Her decidedly Catholic attitude often came to a contradiction with her religiously less unequivocal husband, who at times even intended to switch to the Protestant camp.

From October 1550 Maria was the sole governor in Spain. From 1552 Maria lived permanently in Vienna . She had left Spain at the side of her husband, who picked her up there, and handed over the business of government to her brother Philip. In Austria Maria tried, also under the influence of her relatives, to get her husband to comment on the Catholic faith. Crowned Queen of Bohemia in 1562 and Queen of Hungary a year later, she became Roman-German Empress at the side of her husband in 1564.

empress

She had a great influence on her children, including the later Emperors Matthias and Rudolf II . In constant correspondence with her brother Philip II of Spain , she managed to maintain the cohesion of the two Habsburg lines in Spain and Germany. In 1562 she sent two of her younger sons to Spain, for Philip II an insurance for the maintenance of Maximilian's Catholic faith.

After the death of her husband in 1576, after a few years at the imperial court, after the death of her youngest daughter in 1582, she returned to Spain. The reason for the move was, among other things, considerable tensions with her son Rudolf II. Maria lived in Spain in seclusion in the monastery of Descalzas Reales in Madrid, half as a nun, half as princess, until her death. The relationship with her brother Philip II grew cold, but Maria remained the essential factor in the connection of the Habsburg lines. You tried to influence the government of your grandson Philip III. failed. In Spain Maria employed the composer Tomás Luis de Victoria as her Kapellmeister. Maria died largely isolated; only the imperial envoy Khevenhüller , whom she appointed to execute her will, and her daughter Margarete, who also lived as a nun with the Descalzas Reales, were still in contact with her.

progeny

The following children emerged from his marriage to Maximilian:

⚭ 1570 King Philip II of Spain (1527–1598)
  • Ferdinand (1551–1552)
  • Rudolf II (1552–1612), Holy Roman Emperor
  • Ernst (1553–1595), governor in the Netherlands
  • Elisabeth (1554–1592)
⚭ 1570 King Charles IX. of France (1550–1574)
  • Maria (1555–1556)
  • Matthias (1557–1619), Holy Roman Emperor
⚭ 1611 Archduchess Anna of Austria-Tyrol (1585–1618)
  • Son (* / † 1557)
  • Maximilian (1558–1618), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Titular King of Poland
  • Albrecht VII (1559–1621), governor of the Spanish Netherlands
⚭ 1599 Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (1566–1633)
  • Wenceslas (1561–1578), Grand Prior of the Order of St. John in Castile
  • Friedrich (1562–1563)
  • Maria (* / † 1564)
  • Karl (1565–1566)
  • Margarete (1567–1633), since the age of 13 a nun in Madrid in the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales
  • Eleanor (1568-1580)

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Maximilian I (HRR) (1459-1519)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Philip I (Castile) (1478–1506)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Charles V (1500–1558)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ferdinand II (Aragón) (1452-1516)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Joan of Castile (1479–1555)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Isabella I (Castile) (1451–1504)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mary of Spain (1528-1603)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ferdinand of Portugal-Viseu (1433–1470)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Manuel I (Portugal) (1469–1521)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Beatrix of Portugal (1430–1506)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Isabella of Portugal (1503–1539)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ferdinand II (Aragón) (1452-1516)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mary of Aragon (1482-1517)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Isabella I (Castile) (1451–1504)
 
 
 
 
 
 

literature

Web links

Commons : Maria of Spain  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Christopher F. Laferl: The culture of the Spaniards in Austria under Ferdinand I. 1522-1564 , Böhlau Verlag Wien, 1997, p. 120
  2. ^ Friedrich Edelmayer , Arno Strohmeyer: The correspondence of the emperors with their envoys in Spain , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1997, p. 145
  3. Linda Maria Koldau : Frauen-Musik-Kultur , Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2005, p. 80
predecessor Office Successor
Isabella of Portugal (1503–1539) Roman-German Empress
1564 until February 26, 1603
Anna of Austria-Tyrol