Philippine Welser

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Philippine Welser, portrait at Ambras Castle, attribution.

Philippine Welser (* 1527 in Augsburg ; † April 24, 1580 at Ambras Castle , Innsbruck in Tyrol ) was a patrician daughter of Augsburg and the wife of Archduke Ferdinand II of Habsburg, Prince of Tyrol .

Life

Philippine Welser's father was Franz (Friedrich) Welser (born November 2, 1497 in Augsburg, † October 29, 1572 in Ravensburg), an Augsburg merchant and patrician. Her mother was Anna, Freiin von Zinnenburg (née Adler) (* 1507, † January 5, 1572 in Weiherburg / Innsbruck). She was the niece of the world merchant and banker Bartholomäus V. Welser , although her relationship to one another remains open due to the inadequate sources. The overall incomplete information about her biography (especially her youth) led to the development of numerous myths soon after her death, the oldest and still most persistent myth being that of her oversized beauty.

The emperor's son Archduke Ferdinand II of Habsburg, Prince of Tyrol , secretly married the bourgeois Philippine - since royal houses used marriages to strengthen alliances and this was also planned for Ferdinand II, a not inconsiderable process. According to a documented assurance from Ferdinand from 1576, the marriage took place in January 1557. The period of acquaintance is not certain. The romantic historiography of the 19th century assumed that the first encounter was in connection with the Augsburg Diet of 1548. Since Ferdinand did not witness a single act there and Ferdinand is not mentioned in other records made by persons present, it is unlikely that Ferdinand was there at all.

For the first time you can definitely prove a contact between Philippine and Ferdinand at a carnival amusement in Pilsen. There you can find them together at a masked ball (including a spectacular "water ballet") in February 1555. A year later, on May 12, 1556, Ferdinand is documented for the first time at Březnice Castle in Bohemia as Catharina von Loxan (Lokšany), an aunt of Philippine, received a passport letter for a drive cattle. She became a confidante of Ferdinand, who was governor in Bohemia at the time, and was possibly involved in the meeting of the two. The very first (but earlier) meeting between Philippine and Ferdinand could have taken place here on Bresnitz. In any case, Bresnitz initially became the residence for Philippine, the scene of the secret wedding and the birth of her first child, which Ferdinand gave her.

In 1559 at the latest, Emperor Ferdinand I learned of his son's inappropriate marriage, and a settlement was worked out. The marriage had to be kept secret, any children were excluded from the Habsburg line of succession, but were to be provided for through the purchase of lordships and received the Habsburg coat of arms. In addition, they, as well as Philippine, should receive financial support. With this regulation, the emperor wanted to express his displeasure and to limit the resulting legal consequences. As a father, however, he wanted to grant forgiveness and take Philippine and her children under his protection. The couple tried to meet the demands whenever possible. For example, the children of the Philippines were officially accepted as foundlings in the castle. The twins Maria and Philipp, who were later born at Pürglitz Castle ( Křivoklát ), died as infants. When the parents moved from Bohemia to Tyrol, the bodies were secretly taken and buried in the Innsbruck court church. Their battered children's coffins were discovered by chance during restoration work in 1897 and the skeletons were then reburied in a double coffin.

From 1576 onwards the secrecy of marriage was over. The eldest son Andreas was to be made cardinal, for which proof of legitimate origin was required. To this end, the Pope released Archduke Ferdinand from his oath, who then provided evidence as best he could.

The marriage was classified as a happy one. Philippine gave birth to two sons and then twins, who however died early.

Your favorite residence, Ambras Castle , has been transformed into a splendid renaissance castle. She had a herb garden laid out and mixed medicines together with her personal physician Dr. Georg Handsch and her pharmacist Dr. Gorin Guaranta. A pharmacopoeia that is occasionally attributed to her comes from her mother Anna Welser's hand. In addition, Philippine has long been credited with a cookbook about dishes of the time. The cookbook was most likely also commissioned by her mother Anna and written down by at least three different scribes. However, she has at least made additions or had them made. Her prayer book, too, with many drawings, has been preserved to this day.

Furthermore, she stood up for the common people as well as for help-seeking nobles, which has been handed down in writing through many petitions addressed to her. This and the fact that she tried to help the people around her with her medicine has most likely saved her from defamation because of her improper origin. Her husband signed several goods over to her and gave them generous gifts. She received the titles of Margravine of Burgau, Landgravine of Nellenburg and Countess of Ober- and Niederhohenberg.

From 1570 onwards there were considerable health problems. She died on April 24, 1580 . Her husband ordered that she receive a tomb made of white marble in the silver chapel of the Innsbruck court church . Furthermore, he cared for her servants all his life and also took care of the poor who had supported the Philippine.

Her sons Andreas of Austria (born June 15, 1558 Bresnitz Castle , Bohemia; † November 12, 1600 Rome, Italy), Bishop of Konstanz and Brixen, and Karl of Austria (born November 22, 1560 Pürglitz Castle , Bohemia; † 31. October 1618 Überlingen , Germany), imperial general in Hungary, were raised to the rank of Margrave of Burgau (at that time part of Upper Austria).

Works

  • The Philippine Welser's cookbook . (De re coquinaria) Manuscript around 1543/44, Ambras Castle, Innsbruck. Inv no. PA 1473 (attribution)
  • The Philippine Welser's drug book. (Cookery and medicine book) Manuscript approx. 1560–1570, Ambras Castle Innsbruck. Inv no. PA 1474 (attribution)

literature

Life

  • Gunter Bakay: Philippine Welser. A mysterious woman and her time . 1st edition. Haymon-Verlag, Innsbruck 2013, ISBN 978-3-85218-763-1 .
  • Eduard Widmoser: Philippine Welser (1527-1580) . In: Publications of the Swabian Research Association : Series 3: Life pictures from Bavarian Swabia, Volume 2: Ed. By Götz Frhr. von Pölnitz, Weißenhorn: Anton H. Konrad Verlag (Vorm. Max-Hueber-Verlag, Munich), 1953, 467 p., ISBN 3-87437-066-6 , here: p. 227–245
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Welser, Philippine . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 54th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1886, pp. 236–241 ( digitized version ).
  • Wendelin Boeheim: Philippine Welser - A description of her life and character , Innsbruck: Verlag des Museum Ferdinandeum, undated (around 1893), 67 pp.
  • Joseph Hirn: Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol. History of his government and his countries , Innsbruck, vol. 1 (1885) and especially vol. 2 (1888)
  • Paul Lindenberg: The Monument to the German Women , Essen 1927 (via Philippine Welser pages 50–56)
  • Philippine Welser and Anna Caterina Gonzaga , exhibition catalog, Ambras Castle, Innsbruck 1998

Healing art

  • Sigrid-Maria Großering : Merchant's daughter in the imperial family. Philippine Welser and her healing art , [Vienna]: Kremayr and Scheriau, 1992, ISBN 3-218-00531-0 .
  • Sigrid-Maria Großering: The healing art of the Philippine Welser. Outsider in the House of Habsburg . Augsburg: Sankt-Ulrich-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-929246-28-7 .
  • Karl Beer: Philippine Welser as a friend of the healing arts . In: Gesnerus . 7: 80-86 (1950).

culinary arts

  • Manfred Lemmer (Hrsg.): The cookbook of the Philippine Welser . Pinguin-Verlag, Innsbruck 1983 (licensed edition of the Leipzig edition ) ISBN 3-7016-2122-5 - Facsimile of the original work “De re coquinaria” with commentary, transcription and glossary by Gerold Hayer

Novels about Philippine Welser

  • Adelbert Heinrich Graf von Baudissin: Philippine Welser or three hundred years ago. Historical novel . 1864
  • Johann Baptist Durach : Philippe Welserinn. A story from the sixteenth century , 1792
  • George Ludwig Ezekiel : Lux et umbra. A great love deal in the sixteenth century. Edited from the writings left behind by Magister Nicolaus Longinus and other reliable communications , 1861
  • Moritz Richter: Philippine Welser. Historical narrative , 1830
  • Fanny Wibmer-Pedit : The catfish woman. Roman , 1940
  • Oskar Wildenburg: Philippine Welser, the beautiful Augsburg woman or the iron cloakroom of the Middle Ages. Historical narrative , 1873
  • Heinrich Zerkaulen: The secret princess. Roman , 1933
  • Brigitte Riebe: The beautiful Philippine Welserin. Historical detective novel, 2013
  • Jeannine Meighörner: The Cloud Bride. The life of the Philippine Welser. A historical novel . Haymon, Innsbruck 2013, ISBN 978-3-85218-939-0

Web links

Commons : Philippine Welser  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Philippine Welser  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gunter Bakay: Philippine Welser. A mysterious woman and her time , Innsbruck 2013; about their supposed beauty in particular: p. 77 ff.
  2. ^ Vaclav Buzek: Ferdinand of Tyrol between Prague and Innsbruck. The nobility from the Bohemian countries on their way to the courts of the first Habsburgs , Vienna 2009, p. 108 f.
  3. ↑ Joseph Hirn: Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol , Vol. 2 - (see list of literature)
  4. ^ David von Schönherr: Gesammelte Schriften, 1st volume: Kunstgeschichtliches , Innsbruck 1900, p. 296 u. 353. Newspaper note on the finding in: Bote für Tirol und Vorarlberg 1899, No. 80, p. 644
  5. ^ Grossing, Sigrid-Maria: The drug book of the Philippine Welser. A critical examination of the Ambras manuscript, dissertation Salzburg 1992
  6. ↑ Elvira Glaser: The cookbooks of the Philippine and Sabina Welser. Philological and linguistic considerations on two early women's cookbooks; in: Max Häberlein (among others): The Welser. New research on the history and culture of the Upper German trading house, Berlin 2002, pp. 510–549
  7. ↑ The commentary on the Philippine Welser's cookbook , Pinguin-Verlag, 1983 - (see literature list)
  8. ↑ To be found at Ambras Castle in Innsbruck; Description in the exhibition catalog by Alfred Auer and Eva Irblich (eds.): Nature and art . Manuscripts and albums from the Ambras collection of Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595) . Innsbruck 1995
  9. ^ Gunter Bakay: Philippine Welser. A mysterious woman and her time . 1st edition. Haymon-Verlag, Innsbruck 2013, ISBN 978-3-85218-763-1 , p. 259-264 .
personal data
SURNAME Welser, Philippine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Augsburg patrician daughter and the wife of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria
DATE OF BIRTH 1527
PLACE OF BIRTH augsburg
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1580
Place of death Ambras Castle , Innsbruck , Tyrol