| Elizabeth of Austria | |
|---|---|
_Elizabeth_of_Austria_(1526%25E2%2580%25931545)_and_Barbara_Radziwi%25C5%2582%25C5%2582_(1520_or_1523%25E2%2580%25931551).jpg) Portrait by the circle ofLucas Cranach the Younger | |
| Queen consort of Poland Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania | |
| Tenure | 5 May 1543 – 15 June 1545 |
| Coronation | 8 May 1543 |
| Born | (1526-07-09)9 July 1526 Linz,Archduchy of Austria,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 15 June 1545(1545-06-15) (aged 18) Vilnius,Grand Duchy of Lithuania |
| Burial | 24 July 1545 |
| Spouse | Sigismund II Augustus |
| House | House of Habsburg |
| Father | Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor |
| Mother | Anna of Bohemia and Hungary |
Elizabeth of Austria (Polish:Elżbieta Habsburżanka,Lithuanian:Elžbieta Habsburgaitė; 9 July 1526 – 15 June 1545) wasQueen of Poland andGrand Duchess of Lithuania by marriage. She was the eldest of fifteen children ofFerdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wifeAnne of Bohemia and Hungary.[1] A member of theHouse of Habsburg, she was married toSigismund II Augustus, who was already crowned asKing of Poland andGrand Duke of Lithuania even though both of his parents were still alive and well. The marriage was short and unhappy. Elizabeth was of frail health, experiencingepileptic seizures, and died at age 18.
Elizabeth was the first born child of Anna and Ferdinand, the couple had been married for five years before giving birth.
Elizabeth spent most of her childhood in theHofburg, Innsbruck.
As both of Elizabeth's parents had a love of learning, she and her siblings received a strict and thorough education from the humanistKaspar Ursinus Velius.[1] Learning German, Italian and French,[2] as well as receiving a Catholic religious education.[3] Both Elizabeth's parents were devout Catholics. Ferdinand, on one occasion threatened to have anyone who exposed his children to Lutheranism executed after he discovered that a tutor of Elizabeth's had Lutheran sympathies and had joked about cardinals. Elizabeth and her sisters were also taught to play keyboard instruments[4] and to dance.[4]
Elizabeth was not taught the Polish language despite her early arranged marriage toSigismund II Augustus.[5] The marriage plan was first discussed when Elizabeth was only one year old.Louis, King of Hungary and Bohemia, died in August 1526 without leaving an heir. The Hungarian throne was contested between Louis' brother-in-lawFerdinand I andJohn Zápolya.[5] Louis's uncleSigismund I the Old andHungarian nobility supported Zápolya. The marriage of Elizabeth to Sigismund's son was proposed as the means to end Polish support to Zápolya.[5] The Polish Queen and Lithuanian Grand DuchessBona Sforza opposed the wedding as she opposed the growing influence of the Habsburgs.[6]
In February 1530, ten-year-old Sigismund II Augustus was co-crownedvivente rege as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (his father was still alive and in good health) to secure his inheritance in Poland.[7] Envoys ofGeorge, Duke of Saxony, attended the coronation ceremony and negotiated the marriage between Elizabeth and Sigismund August on behalf of Ferdinand.[8]Great Chancellor of the CrownKrzysztof Szydłowiecki supported the match and organized a preliminary marriage treaty, signed on 10–11 November 1530 inPoznań.[8] According to the treaty, the marriage was to take place in 1533 when Elizabeth reached the age of seven. Her dowry was 100,000ducats. In exchange, the Poles would grant her the cities ofNowy Sącz,Sanok,Przemyśl,Biecz as her dower.[8]
Sigismund Augustus and Elizabeth were first cousins once removed. (Casimir IV Jagiellon was a great-grandfather of Elizabeth and a grandfather of Sigismund August). This close relationship required amatrimonial dispensation, which was issued byPope Clement VII on 24 August 1531.[8] The final marriage treaty, delayed mostly due to the opposition by Bona Sforza, was signed only on 16 June 1538 in Breslau (nowWrocław) byJohannes Dantiscus.[8] The treaty did not differ from the preliminary treaty of 1530 other than the age of the bride which was now set at 16. The betrothal ceremony took place on 17 July 1538 inInnsbruck.[8] Bona continued to lobby against the marriage and instead proposed PrincessMargaret of France.[9]
In October the same year, Elizabeth and her younger siblings Maximilian, Ferdinand and Anna traveled with their father to Linz before traveling on to Vienna. This so that they could gain some experience in handling themselves in a formal court environment and also prepare for being confirmed in the Catholic faith. The confirmation took place in October 1539 in the royal chapel, with a Venetian envoy acting as Elizabeth's godfather. The cardinalGirolamo Aleandro, who conducted the ceremony, thought the young archdukes and archduchesses resembled "a chorus of angels".[citation needed]
Elizabeth and her family would return to Innsbruck in 1541.
Elizabeth and a twelve-person escort departedVienna on 21 April 1543.[10] She was met atOlomouc bySamuel Maciejowski,Bishop of Płock and a retinue of 1,500 knights. On 5 May 1543, Elizabeth enteredKraków and met Sigismund Augustus for the first time.[10] The same day, 16-year-old Elizabeth married 22-year-old Sigismund Augustus inWawel Cathedral. The wedding celebrations continued for two weeks. She was also crowned asGrand Duchess of Lithuania andQueen of Poland, which only increased the ire of Bona Sforza, who detested her title of "Old Queen".[10]
The marriage was not a happy one. Sigismund Augustus, who already had several mistresses, did not find Elizabeth attractive and continued to have extramarital affairs.[11] Raised in a strict household to be obedient, Elizabeth was too timid and meek to object to this.[12] The long journey fromAustria toPoland had further deteriorated her already frail state of health. She was diagnosed withepilepsy and started having seizures.[12] At the same time Bona openly expressed her dislike of Elizabeth and continued to search for ways to destroy the marriage. Bona questioned the wording of the matrimonial dispensation; a new dispensation was issued on 17 May 1544.[13] On the other hand,Polish nobility liked and sympathized with Elizabeth – a young, pleasant woman who was ignored by her husband and taunted by her ambitious mother-in-law.[14] Her father-in-lawSigismund I the Old was also sympathetic to her, but was too weak to protect her from Bona.[15]
Two months after the wedding, plague reached Kraków and the royal family departed the capital city.[12] Sigismund Augustus left for theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, while Sigismund I the Old, Bona, and Elizabeth toured various cities in Poland. After a year of separation, the couple met again inBrest.[16] Sigismund Augustus liked living independently in Lithuania and convinced his father to entrust him with ruling the grand duchy.[16] In fall 1544, Elizabeth and Sigismund Augustus moved toVilnius. For a few months Sigismund Augustus attempted to keep up appearances of a successful marriage to appease the Habsburgs, but soon started ignoring his wife and continued his affair withBarbara Radziwiłł.[16]
In April 1545, Elizabeth's health deteriorated and she was tormented by her increasingly frequent seizures. On 8 June 1545, Sigismund Augustus went to Kraków to receive Elizabeth's dowry, leaving his wife alone in Vilnius.[16] In Kraków, Sigismund Augustus inquired about treatments and askedFerdinand I to send his own doctors.[16] But it was too late. On 15 June, the young queen-grand duchess died exhausted by her many epileptic seizures. She was buried on 24 July 1545 (after her husband returned from Kraków) inVilnius Cathedral next to her husband's uncle, KingAlexander Jagiellon.[16]
After Elizabeth's death Sigismund Augustus married his mistress Barbara Radziwiłł and, after her death, Elizabeth's younger sister,Catherine of Austria. Sigismund had no living children with any of his three wives.[17]
Elizabeth of Austria Born: 9 July 1526 Died: 15 June 1545 | ||
| Royal titles | ||
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| Preceded byas sole queen | Queen consort of Poland Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania 1543–1545 withBona Sforza | Succeeded byas sole queen |
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