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Maria of Austria
Holy Roman Empress; Queen consort of Germany and Bohemia; Archduchess consort of Austria
Tenure	25 July 1564 – 12 October 1576
Regent of Spain
Tenure	1 October 1548 – 12 July 1551 (co-regent with her husband)
Queen consort of Hungary
Tenure	8 September 1563 – 12 October 1576
Coronation	9 September 1563
Born	21 June 1528 Madrid, Crown of Castile
Died	26 February 1603(1603-02-26) (aged 74) Convent of Las Descalzas Reales, Madrid, Crown of Castile
Burial	Convent of Las Descalzas Reales, Madrid, Spain
Spouse	Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor ​ ​(m. 1548; died 1576)​
Issue more...	Anna, Queen of Spain Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor Archduke Ernest Elisabeth, Queen of France Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria Albert VII, Archduke of Austria Archduke Wenceslaus Archduchess Margaret
House	Habsburg
Father	Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Isabella of Portugal
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Maria of Austria or Maria of Spain (21 June 1528 – 26 February 1603), also known as Isabel, was the empress consort and queen consort of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary. She served as regent of Spain in the absence of her father Emperor Charles V from 1548 until 1551 and was one of the most powerful empresses of the Holy Roman Empire.

Early life

Maria was born in Madrid, Spain to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, and Isabella of Portugal. She grew up mostly in Toledo and Valladolid with her siblings, Philip and Joanna. They built a strong family bond despite their father's regular absences. Maria and her brother, Philip, shared similar strong personal views and policies which they retained during the rest of their lives.

As Regent of Spain

On 15 September 1548, aged twenty, Maria married her first cousin Archduke Maximilian. Despite Maria's commitment to Habsburg Spain and her strong Catholic manners, the marriage was a happy one. The couple had sixteen children in just nineteen years, but only nine of them lived to adulthood.

While her father was occupied with German affairs, Maria and Maximilian acted as regents of Spain from 1548 to 1551 during the absence of Prince Philip. Maria stayed at the Spanish court until August 1551, and in 1552, the couple moved to live at the court of Maximilian's father in Vienna.

In 1558, Maria returned to Madrid and acted as regent of Spain during the absence of her brother, now King Philip II, from 1558 to 1561.

As Holy Roman Empress

After her return to Germany, her husband eventually succeeded his father Ferdinand I, at his death, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary, which he ruled from 1564 to his death in 1576.

Maria was a devout Catholic and frequently disagreed with her religiously ambiguous husband about his religious tolerance.

During her life in Austria, Maria was reportedly ill at ease in a country which was not entirely Catholic, and she surrounded herself with a circle of strictly Catholic courtiers, many of whom she had brought with her from Spain. Her court was organized by her Spanish chief lady-in-waiting Maria de Requenes in a Spanish manner, and among her favorite companions was her Spanish lady-in-waiting Margarita de Cardona.

As Holy Roman Empress Dowager

In 1576, Maximilian died. Maria remained at the Imperial Court for six years after his death. She had great influence over her sons, the future emperors Rudolf II and Matthias.

Maria returned to Spain in 1582, taking her youngest surviving child Archduchess Margaret with her, promised to marry Philip II of Spain, who had lost his fourth wife, her oldest daughter, Archduchess Anna in 1580.

Margaret finally refused and took the veil as a Poor Clare. Commenting that she was very happy to live in "a country without heretics", Maria then influenced quite a number of events in the Spanish Court until she eventually settled in the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, where she lived until her death in 1603.

She was the patron of the noted Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria, and the great Requiem Mass he wrote in 1603 for her funeral is considered among the best and most refined of his works. Maria exerted some influence together with Queen Margaret, the wife of her grandson/nephew, Philip III of Spain. Margaret, the sister of the future Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, would be one of three women at Philip's court who would apply considerable influence over the king. Margaret was considered by contemporaries to be extremely pious – in some cases, excessively pious, and too influenced by the Church, and 'astute and very skillful' in her political dealings, although 'melancholic' and unhappy over the influence of the Duke of Lerma over her husband at court. Margaret continued to fight an ongoing battle with Lerma for influence until her death in 1611. Philip had an 'affectionate, close relationship' with Margaret, and paid her additional attention after they had a son, also named Philip, in 1605.

Maria, the Austrian representative to the Spanish court – and Margaret of the Cross, Maria's daughter – along with Queen Margaret, were a powerful Catholic and pro-Austrian faction in the court of Philip III of Spain. They were successful, for example, in convincing Philip to provide financial support to Ferdinand from 1600 onwards. Philip steadily acquired other religious advisors. Father Juan de Santa Maria, the confessor to Philip's daughter, Maria Anna, was felt by contemporaries to have an excessive influence over Philip at the end of his life, and both he and Luis de Aliaga Martínez, Philip's own confessor, were credited with the overthrow of Lerma in 1618. Similarly Mariana de San Jose, a favoured nun of Queen Margaret's, was also criticised for her later influence over the king's actions.

Children

Maria was constantly pregnant during much of her marriage, giving birth almost once (and sometimes twice) a year:

1. Anna (2 November 1549 – 26 October 1580), married her uncle Philip II of Spain
2. Ferdinand (28 March 1551 – 16 June 1552), died in early childhood
3. Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612), emperor
4. Ernest (15 June 1553 – 12 February 1595), served as governor of the Habsburg Netherlands
5. Elisabeth (5 July 1554 – 22 January 1592), married Charles IX of France
6. Maria (27 July 1555 – 28 June 1556), died in infancy
7. Matthias (24 February 1557 – 20 March 1619), emperor
8. A stillborn son (born and died 20 October 1557)
9. Maximilian (12 October 1558 – 2 November 1618), served as grandmaster of the Teutonic Order and administrator of Prussia
10. Albert (15 November 1559 – 13 July 1621), served as governor of the Habsburg Netherlands
11. Wenceslaus (9 March 1561 – 22 September 1578)
12. Frederick (21 June 1562 – 25 January 1563), died in infancy
13. Maria (19 February 1564 – 26 March 1564), died in infancy
14. Charles (26 September 1565 – 23 May 1566), died in infancy
15. Margaret (25 January 1567 – 5 July 1633), a nun
16. Eleanor (4 November 1568 – 12 March 1580), died in childhood

Only five of Maria's children were still alive at the time of her death.

References

Citations

1. Parker 2019, pp. 545–546.
2. Blockmans 2002, p. 120.
3. "Maximilian II | Holy Roman emperor". 26 March 2024.
4. Kamen 1998, p. 35.
5. Kamen 1998, p. 49.
6. Akkerman 2013.
7. Cárdenas, Fabricio (2014). 66 petites histoires du Pays Catalan [66 Little Stories of Catalan Country] (in French). Perpignan: Ultima Necat. ISBN 978-2-36771-006-8. OCLC 893847466.
8. ^ Sánchez 1996, p. 91
9. ^ Sánchez 1996, p. 98
10. Sánchez 1996, p. 99
11. ^ Sánchez 1996, p. 100
12. Sánchez 1996, p. 97

Sources

• Akkerman, Nadine (2013). The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-In-Waiting Across Early Modern Europe.
• Blockmans, Wim (2002). Emperor Charles V, 1500-1558.
• Kamen, Henry (1998). Philip of Spain. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07800-8.
• Parker, Geoffrey (2019). Emperor : A New Life of Charles V. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300196528.
• Sánchez, Magdalena S. (1996). "Pious and Political Images of a Habsburg Woman at the Court of Philip III (1598–1621)". In Magdalena S. Sánchez; Alain Saint-Saëns (eds.). Spanish Women in the Golden Age: Images and Realities. Greenwood Publishing Group.

v t e Royal consorts of Bohemia
Přemyslid	c. 870–1198 (Duchesses) Ludmila of Bohemia Drahomíra Biagota Emma of Mělník Božena Judith of Schweinfurt Ida of Wettin Adelaide of Hungary Świętosława of Poland Wirpirk of Tengling Lukarta of Bogen Helbirga of Austria Richeza of Berg Adelaide of Hungary Gertrude of Babenberg Judith of Thuringia Elizabeth of Hungary Elisabeth of Greater Poland Hellicha of Wittelsbach 1198–1306 (Queens) Adelaide of Meissen Constance of Hungary Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen Margaret of Austria Kunigunda of Halych Judith of Habsburg Elizabeth Richeza of Poland Viola of Teschen
Non-dynastic	1306–1310 Anne of Bohemia Elizabeth Richeza of Poland
Luxembourg	1310–1437 Elizabeth of Bohemia Beatrice of Bourbon Blanche of Valois Anne of Bavaria Anna von Schweidnitz Elizabeth of Pomerania Joanna of Bavaria Sophia of Bavaria Barbara of Cilli
Habsburg	1437–1457 Elizabeth of Luxembourg
Non-dynastic	1457–1471 Joanna of Rožmitál
Jagiellonian	1471–1526 Barbara of Brandenburg Beatrice of Naples Anne of Foix-Candale Mary of Hungary
Habsburg	1526–1780 Anne of Bohemia and Hungary Maria of Austria Anna of Tyrol Elizabeth Stuart Eleonora Gonzaga Maria Anna of Spain Maria Leopoldine of Austria Eleonora Gonzaga Margaret Theresa of Spain Claudia Felicitas of Austria Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Maria Amalia
Habsburg-Lorraine	1780–1918 Maria Luisa of Spain Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este Caroline Augusta of Bavaria Maria Anna of Savoy Elisabeth of Bavaria Zita of Bourbon-Parma
also titled Queen of Bohemia

v t e Holy Roman Empresses
Carolingian Empire	Ermengarde of Hesbaye Judith of Bavaria Ermengarde of Tours Engelberga of Parma Richilde of Provence Saint Richardis of Nordgau Ageltrude of Benevento Ota of Neustria Anna of Constantinople Bertila of Parma Anna of Provence
Holy Roman Empire	Adelaide of Italy Theophanu of Constantinople Cunigunde of Luxembourg Gisela of Swabia Agnes of Poitou Bertha of Savoy Eupraxia of Kiev Matilda of England Richenza of Northeim Beatrice, Countess of Burgundy Constance, Queen of Sicily Beatrice of Swabia Maria of Brabant Constance of Aragon Yolande, Queen of Jerusalem Isabella of England Margaret II, Countess of Hainaut Anna of Świdnica Elizabeth of Pomerania Barbara of Cilli Eleanor of Portugal Bianca Maria of Milan Isabella of Portugal Maria of Spain Anna of Tyrol Eleonora of Mantua Maria Anna of Spain Maria Leopoldine of Austria Eleonora of Mantua Margaret Theresa of Spain Claudia Felicitas of Austria Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Maria Amalia of Austria Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary Maria Josepha of Bavaria Ludovica of Spain Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily
For Empresses after 1806, see Empresses of Austria and the corresponding template Category

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