Margarethe von Österreich

Margaretha of Austria was born in Innsbruck on 16 February 1536. She was the ninth child and seventh daughter of Ferdinand I, later Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary, and his wife, Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, from the House of Jagiellon. Through her father, she descended from Philip I of Castile and Joanna I of Castile, León and Aragon. Through her mother, she was a granddaughter of Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary, and Anna de Foix. Margaretha therefore belonged to the Habsburg ruling dynasty and, as an Archduchess of Austria by birth, also held the titles of Princess of Bohemia and Hungary. Her possible marriage placed her within an important political context. During the Imperial Diet of Augsburg in 1550, Emperor Charles V and his brother Ferdinand I discussed the future succession in the Empire. Their sister Maria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, acted as mediator between them. She proposed that Margaretha should marry Philip, the son of Charles V and future King of Spain. The proposal formed part of the dynastic negotiations, but it was ultimately abandoned during the discussions over the succession. Margaretha consequently remained unmarried. Together with her elder sister Magdalena, she consciously chose a religious life outside marriage. The two sisters wished to establish a convent open both to noblewomen and to ordinary citizens who sought to lead a devout life without withdrawing completely from the world. Their father initially opposed this decision. Later, their younger sister Helena joined them. Because of her poor health, marriage also seemed scarcely possible for Helena. The three sisters formed a religious community at court. They lived according to a spiritual rule prepared for them by their confessors and other religious advisers. Their shared aim was a life of devotion and seclusion, combined with the establishment of their own monastic institution. In this way, they joined their position at the Habsburg court with a religious way of life intended to be accessible both to aristocratic women and to women from other social backgrounds. Margaretha did not live to see the planned convent completed. She died in Hall in Tirol on 12 March, before construction had been finished. The article gives the year of her death as 1567. Her efforts nevertheless continued beyond her lifetime: she is regarded as one of the founders of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Hall in Tirol. In 1572, her remains were transferred to the Jesuit Church in Hall in Tirol, where they were reinterred. Margaretha’s life stood at the intersection of dynastic politics and personal devotion. As the daughter of an emperor and the sister of prominent royal women, she was part of the Habsburgs’ marriage and succession policies. At the same time, together with her sisters, she chose to reject a dynastic marriage in favor of founding a religious community. Her memory is therefore especially associated with the monastic project in Hall in Tirol, which embodied her desire for a devout life and a spiritual community.