Claudia Felizitas von Österreich-Tirol

Claudia Felicitas of Austria was born in Innsbruck on 30 May 1653. She was the eldest child of Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol and his wife, Anna de’ Medici, who was also his first cousin. Her names recalled her grandmothers, Claudia de’ Medici and Maria Magdalena of Austria. After Claudia Felicitas was born, the couple had only two more daughters: one who died immediately after birth, and Maria Magdalena, who died in 1669 at the age of twelve. Since her parents had no male heir, Claudia Felicitas soon became a possible last representative of the Tyrolean line of the House of Habsburg. She grew up at the Innsbruck court, which under her parents developed into an important center of Baroque art and music. Contemporaries described her as exceptionally beautiful, lively, and intellectually alert. Claudia Felicitas had an excellent singing voice, played several instruments, and composed music herself. Her greatest passion, however, was hunting. A surviving portrait depicts her at the age of thirteen as Diana, the ancient goddess of the hunt. At the same time, she observed her religious duties and belonged as a lay member to the Third Order of Saint Dominic. After her father’s death in 1662, his brother Sigismund Francis assumed the rule. He died in 1665, just days after his marriage by proxy. The Tyrolean line of the Habsburgs thus became extinct, and Further Austria and the County of Tyrol came under the direct control of Emperor Leopold I. Anna de’ Medici continued to campaign for her daughters’ rights. The dispute with the imperial court in Vienna ended only when Claudia Felicitas married the emperor. Afterward, she was allowed to retain the title of Countess of Tyrol. Leopold I had previously been married to the Spanish Infanta Margaret Theresa. Of the four children from that marriage, only the eldest daughter, Maria Antonia, survived for more than a short time; in particular, the emperor lacked a male heir. After his first wife died on 12 March 1673, he had to search for a new bride despite his grief. He chose Claudia Felicitas, who was his second cousin and might also bring claims to Tyrol into the marriage. She immediately agreed and rejected other suitors, including the widowed James, Duke of York and future king of England and Scotland. Leopold hoped that Claudia Felicitas would also be a good stepmother to Maria Antonia. In fact, a close relationship soon developed between them. The marriage by proxy initially took place in Innsbruck, and Claudia Felicitas received a dowry of 30,000 guilders. She then traveled with her mother and entourage to Graz, where the wedding was celebrated in Graz Cathedral on 15 October 1673. The splendid festivities lasted two weeks, after which the imperial couple continued to Vienna on 3 November. The marriage was regarded as very happy. The finances of the court were also said to have been in particularly good condition under Claudia Felicitas. During her first pregnancy, a poem about the intimate relationship of the imperial couple appeared in Vienna, designed in the form of a knight’s tour, or “Rösselsprung.” Leopold rewarded its author with a ducat for every syllable of the poem. As Holy Roman Empress and German Queen, Claudia Felicitas gained considerable influence over her husband. She secured the resignation and exile of the minister Václav Eusebius František, Prince of Lobkowicz. He had opposed her marriage to Leopold and favored another candidate. For this reason, Claudia Felicitas also maintained a poor relationship with the emperor’s dowager, Eleonora Gonzaga, who was Leopold’s stepmother. Claudia Felicitas additionally criticized abuses in government and the judicial system. She focused especially on the misuse of state and legal power; these issues also found their way into an opera in 1674. During their approximately three-and-a-half-year marriage, Claudia Felicitas gave birth to two daughters. Anna Maria Josepha Theresia Antonia Dominica Xaveria Dorothea was born on 11 September 1674 and died on 22 December of the same year. Their second daughter, Maria Josepha Clementina Anna Gabriella Antonia Franziska Dominica Theresia Eva Placidia, was born on 11 October 1675. Claudia Felicitas died of tuberculosis in Vienna on 8 April 1676, aged 22, shortly after giving birth to her second daughter. She was buried in the Dominican Church, while her heart was placed in a special urn in the Imperial Crypt. Three months later, her daughter also died, and in September of the same year her mother, Anna de’ Medici, died as well and was buried beside her. With Claudia Felicitas’s death, the Tyrolean line of the House of Habsburg became definitively extinct. Leopold I was deeply shaken by her death and withdrew to a monastery near Vienna to mourn. Because he still had no male heir, however, he married Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg in December 1676. Their marriage produced ten children, including the future emperors Joseph I and Charles VI.