Maria von Österreich

Maria of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary was born on 15 May 1531 in Prague and died on 11 December 1581 at Hambach Castle. She was a daughter of Ferdinand I, King of the Romans and later Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife, Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Maria was the fifth of the couple’s fifteen children and grew up at the Viennese court in the Hofburg. Her siblings included the future Emperor Maximilian II, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, as well as several queens and duchesses. Through her family, Maria was closely connected to the House of Habsburg, one of Europe’s most powerful dynasties in the sixteenth century. Maria and her sisters received a strict Catholic education. Their teacher was the humanist scholar Kaspar Ursinus Velius, who provided them with thorough religious and general instruction. Maria learned German, Italian, Latin and French, as well as how to play keyboard instruments and dance. Contemporary descriptions portrayed her as rather small for her age, but also as almost exceptionally intelligent, well-mannered and attractive. Like other members of her family, she had the characteristic facial features of the Habsburgs. Her marriage was connected with the Treaty of Venlo. Wilhelm of Jülich-Kleve-Berg was expected to marry a niece of Emperor Charles V and was allowed to choose between Maria and her elder sister Anna. In June 1546, Maria traveled with her mother and Anna to Regensburg to meet Wilhelm and conduct the marriage negotiations. Wilhelm initially chose Anna, but she later married Albrecht V of Bavaria, allowing the marriage with Maria to proceed. The marriage contract was signed in Regensburg on 17 July 1546. The following day, Maria married Wilhelm in the presence of her uncle Charles V, her father, her brothers and several electors. The wedding was an important political event. It united one of the most powerful dukes of the Holy Roman Empire with the niece of the reigning emperor. The marriage contract stipulated that the couple’s daughters could inherit Wilhelm’s duchies if no son was born. This was intended to ensure that Jülich-Kleve-Berg remained within the sphere of influence of the House of Habsburg. On 24 July 1546, Maria and Wilhelm set out for their new home. Their journey took them westward from Regensburg to Miltenberg. From there, they traveled upstream on the Main to its confluence with the Rhine near Wiesbaden. On 9 August, they spent the night in Siegburg, southeast of Cologne, and finally reached Düsseldorf, the seat of their court, on 15 August. Little is known about Maria’s life at the court of Jülich-Kleve-Berg. Wilhelm’s surviving letters nevertheless suggest an affectionate relationship between the couple. At the same time, they indicate that Maria may have suffered from physical or mental health problems. A diplomat who visited the court in 1547 reported that Maria doubted the validity of her own marriage. Her concern arose from Wilhelm’s earlier marriage to Joanna III of Navarre. Maria believed that this first marriage might not have been legally dissolved. This anxiety later became more pronounced. After the birth of her daughter Sibylle, Maria grew more melancholic. In the early 1560s, she publicly expressed doubts about the legality of her marriage and was at times obsessed with the idea that Wilhelm’s first marriage had never been properly annulled. In fact, the pope had apparently informed the parties of the dissolution of the earlier union only in a letter, without issuing a papal bull or another official document. Thus, Maria’s concerns had at least a formal basis. Politically, however, it was extremely difficult to challenge Maria or her children legally. She was not only a member of the House of Habsburg, but also the granddaughter, daughter, sister and aunt of Holy Roman Emperors. Recognizing her children as illegitimate would have seriously threatened Habsburg interests and influence. The loss of the duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg to other forces would likewise have been unacceptable to the Habsburgs. Wilhelm therefore saw no obstacle to the marriage and regarded their children as legitimate. Maria was considered moody and at times mentally confused. Her psychological instability became more apparent as she aged. She increasingly developed disordered thoughts, and her mental condition deteriorated noticeably before her death. As a granddaughter of Joanna I of Castile, she may, according to contemporary assessments, have inherited a degree of psychological fragility from her grandmother; this interpretation remains speculative. Maria and Wilhelm had seven children. Marie Eleonore married Albrecht Friedrich I of Prussia, Anna married Philipp Ludwig I of Palatinate-Neuburg, and Magdalena married his brother Johann I of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. Karl Friedrich died in 1575, and Elisabeth in 1561. Their daughter Sibylle married Karl of Burgau, a son of Ferdinand II of Austria from his non-dynastic union with Philippine Welser; the marriage produced no children. Their youngest son, Johann Wilhelm I, became Bishop of Münster, Count of Altena and Duke of Jülich-Kleve-Berg. He first married Jakobe of Baden-Baden and later Antoinette of Lorraine, but left no descendants from either marriage. Maria died at Hambach Castle on 11 December 1581 after an illness lasting eight days. Her life was shaped by her position within the Habsburg dynasty, a politically significant marriage, and the personal burdens arising from doubts about the legal status of her marriage and her increasing psychological instability.