Spanish Habsburg Queens

[trentk80]

Cymburgis of Masovia, Piast princess through whom the condition was brought into the Habsburg family. As the mother of Emperor Frederick III she became the ancestor of all later Habsburgs, as only his line of the family survived.
The famous Habsburg lip was a particular physical characteristic of most members of the family for many generations until the 18th century.  It can even be recognized in some of her distant descendants today, yet not quite as strongly.

Although Cymburga of Masovia is said to have introduced into the family the characteristic jaw, she was also said to be a great beauty. Her husband, duke Ernest I of Austria, was passionately in love with her.
It is also said that Cymburga was so strong that she could hammer a nail into a board with her bare hands.

[cantacuzene]

Charles II is said to have 15 times the Habsburg name. I will try to write some but you must help me OK?

from:   his father Philippe IV
          his mother Marianna
          his grandfather  Philippe III
          his granmother  Margarita
          Queen Marianna's father Ferdinand
           ''                    ''        mother Maria
          Philippe II
            Anne of Habsburg, wife of Philippe II
          Charles V
          Maximilian

I don't remember more now. Could someone complete the 15?

[cantacuzene]

The last book I have read about Spanish Habsburg queens is 'Las Austrias' by Catherine of Habsburg, archduchess of Austria.

[umigon]

I am posting now all of the Habsburg Queens!


1. Isabel de Avís (1503-1539), daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal and infanta María of Aragon. She married Carlos I in 1526.



(María Manuela de Avís (1527-1545), daughter of King John III of Portugal and infanta-archduchess Catalina of Austria, she married future Felipe II in 1543, but she died before her husband became King.)



2. María Tudor (1516-1558), daughter of Henry VIII of England and Infanta Catalina of Aragon. She married Felipe II in 1554.



3. Isabel de Valois (1546-1568), daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, she married Felipe II in 1559.




4. Ana de Austria (1549-1580), daughter of Emperor Maximilian II and infanta María of Spain, she married Felipe II in 1570.



5. Margarita de Austria (1584-1611), daughter of Archduke Karl of Austria-Styria and Maria Anna of Bavaria, she married Felipe III in 1599.




6. Isabel de Borbón (1603-1644), daughter of King Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici, she married the future Felipe IV in 1615.





7. Mariana de Austria (1634-1696), daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III and infanta María of Spain, she married Felipe IV in 1648 by proxy and in 1649 in person.



8. María Luisa de Orleáns (1662-1689), daughter of Duke Philippe II of Orleans and Henrietta Anne Stuart, she married Carlos II in 1679.





9. María Ana de Neoburgo (1667-1740), daughter of Philip Wilhelm, Palatine Elector and Duke of Neuburg, and Elizabeth Amalia of Hesse-Darmstadt, she married Carlos II in 1690.



This last portraits are both of María Ana, the one on the left when she was about 26 (c.1693) and the other one when she was 48 (c.1715).

[umigon]

I am writing some small biographies on all of the Habsburg queens. If you find any of them interesting we could start a new thread about her with info, pics and all that! Enjoy!

1. Juana I (1479-1555): She became Queen of Castile on November 26, 1504, when her mother, Queen Isabel I, died, but she would be put away of power because of her madness. She married on 21st August 1496 Archduke Philip (Felipe I of Castile), son of Emperor Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. All of her six children survived: Eleanor (1498-1558 ), wife of King Manuel of Portugal and King Francis of France; Carlos I and V (1500-1558 ), Isabel (1501.-1526), who married King Christian II of Denmark, Ferdinand (1503-1564), Emperor since his brother's abdication in 1556, María (1505-1558 ), who after becoming a very young and childless widow of Louis II of Hungary she became Carlos's favourite advisors and Regent of the Netherlands, and Catalina (1507-1578 ), her mothers favourite and wife of Joao III of Portugal. The mad queen died on April 12, 1555 in Tordesillas without curing from her mental illness.

2. Isabel of Portugal (1503-1539): Daughter of Manuel I of Portugal and infanta María of Aragon, she married her cousin Carlos I in 1526. Only three of their seven children survived: Felipe II (1527-1598 ), María (1528-1603), who married her cousin Emperor Maximilian II, and Juana (1535-1573), wife of Prince Joao of Portugal and mother of King Sebastian. Beautiful, intelligent, cultivated and religiously fanatic, she was Regent for her absent husband many times. She died in Toledo on 1st May 1539 after giving birth to a stillborn son.

3. Mary I Tudor (1516-1558 ): Daughter of Henry VIII of England and infanta Catalina of Aragon, she became Felipe II's second wife in July 1554 a year after her own accession to the English throne. Felipe was already a widower and had a child, Carlos, born to his first wife, Maria of Portugal. The marriage didn't produce any offspring, although the poor Queen suffered a couple of false pregnancies. She died in Saint James's Palace on 17 th November 1558.

4. Isabel of Valois (1546-1568): Has her own thread!

5. Ana of Austria (1549-1580): Daughter of Emperor Maximilian II and infanta María of Spain, she became her uncle Felipe II's fourth wife in 1570. She gave him seven children of whom only one, the future Felipe III (1578-1621), survived. Beautiful, intelligent and discreet, she died in Badajoz in 1580 after a miscarriage provoked by the flu.

6. Margarita of Austria (1584-1611): Daughter of Archduke Karl and Maria Anna of Bavaria, she married her distant cousin Felipe III in 1599. Of her 8 children, 5 survived: Ana Mauricia (1601-1666), future wife of Louis XIII, Felipe IV (1605-1665), María (1606-1646), future wife of Emperor Ferdinand III, Carlos (1607-1632), who died unmarried of Syphillis, and Fernando (1609-1641), who became a Cardinal and Regent of the Netherlands. Although delicate and feeble in appearance, Margarita had a strong character and she tried many times to separate Felipe III from his favourites (his "validos"), but in vain. She also claimed to suffer supernatural things with had to do with God and angels, she predicted the day and hour on which she was going to die!

7. Isabel of Bourbon (1603-1644): Daughter of Henri IV f France and Marie de Medici, she married the future Felipe IV in 1615. Despite the fact that she became pregnant 10 times, only two of her children survived childhood: Baltasar Carlos (1629-1646), who appeared to be the perfect heir, but predeceased his father, and María Teresa (1638-1683), wife of Louis XIV. Beautiful, intelligent, elegant and witty, she died in Madrid on October 6, 1644. She also had different battles with her husband's valido, the Conde-Duque of Olivares.

8. Mariana of Austria (1634-1696): Daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III and infanta María of Spain, she married her uncle Felipe IV in 1649, after the King's son, Mariana's previous fiancé, died. Of her six children, only two survived: Margarita María Teresa (1651-1673), later wife of Emperor Leopold I; and Carlos José (1661-1700), who wouls succeed his father as Carlos II. She became a Regent for her son in 1665 and, although her duty as Regent had to finish in 1675, she continued to have a great influence in her son all of her life. This influence and her awful political view were a disaster for Spain. She died of breast cancer on 16th May 1696.

9. María Luisa of Orleans (1662-1689): Daughter of Philip, Duke of Orleans and Prince of France, and of Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart, she married Carlos II in 1679. She learned to love Carlos (more as a son or a little brother than as a husband) even though he was deformed and mentally retarded. Their marriage was sterile and the blame was put on María Luisa, who died of apendicitis on February 12, 1689.

10. Maria Anna of Neuburg (1667-1740): Duaghter of Philip Wilhelm, Palatine Elector and Duke of Neuburg, and Elisabeth Amalia of Hesse-Darmstadt, she married the widowed Carlos II in 1690. She was chosen because her mother had conceived 24 children but her marriage was, as expected, infertile. She had a lot of influence over her husband and she pretended to be pregnant to gain more! When she became the Queen Dowager in 1700, Felipe V sent her to Bayonne because she had supported Archduke Karl instead of supporting his claim. She would return to Spain in 1739, but she would never return to Madrid, dying in Guadalajara on July 16, 1740.

[Prince_Lieven]

I would love to know more about Isabel of Portugal, wife of Carlos I and Maria Luisa of Orleans, wife of Carlos II.

[umigon]

Here it goes, Prince Lieven!

Isabel was born the 23 October 1503 in Lisboa. She was the second child (first daughter) of King Manuel I and his second wife, infanta María of Aragon, a younger sister of Juana la Loca. King Manuel had previously been married to the eldest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, Princess Isabel, but their only child, Miguel, died aged 2. King Manuel and his beloved second wife, María, had many children: Juan, who would succeed his father as Juan III; Isabel, who would marry Charles V; Beatriz, who would marry the duke of Savoy; Luis, who would die unmarried; Fernando, who would die very young; Alfonso, who was Cardinal and also died young; Enrique, also a Cardinal who would become King of Portugal in 1578; María, who died being a baby; Eduardo, whose descendants perpetuated the Royal line; and Antonio, who died short after being born.  
 
Isabel's infancy was quite a happy one, as Portugal was a growing country in those times and her parents were an example of marital faithfulness. Her education, personally managed by her mother, was wide, including History and Music and, as usual, a lot of Religion. Queen María was very keen on her children being extremely influenced by religion. (I suppose all of Isabella's children thought in the same way, going even beyond their contemporary fellow Catholic kings and queens).  
 
When Queen María died in 1517 Isabel and her siblings were devastated and Manuel was heartbroken and desperate. Isabel and her sister Beatriz acted like some sort of adoptive mothers for their younger brothers. A year later their father remarried. His new wife, Leonor of Austria, was Isabel's polite and charming cousin. Leonor became another fairy godmother to the small orphans.  
 
After Manuel's death in 1521, Leonor and Isabel continued to bring up the King's children until Leonor's return to Spain, a few months afterwards. Beatriz had already been married to the Duke of Savoy and King Juan III was looking for a convenient husband for his favourite sister, Isabel, of whom he said that she was "the most rare and precious of jewels". In 1525 their cousin Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany broke his betrothal to Mary Tudor, Princess of Wales, and negotations for a marriage between Carlos and Isabel began.  
 
They were married the 11th March 1526 in Seville's Cathedral, and they spent their honeymoon in Granada. They fell in love with each other almost immediately, something quite unusual within Royalty of those times. Isabel was pregnant soon afterwards and she would give Carlos a total of seven children:
 
1. Felipe (1527-1598 ): He would succeed his father as Felipe II.
 
2. María (1528-1603): She would marry her cousin archduke Maximilian in 1548. They would become Holy Roman Emperors in 1564.  
 
3. Fernando (1529-1530).
 
4. A stillborn son in 1534.
 
5. Juana (1535-1573): She would marry her cousin Prince Juan Manuel of Portugal in 1552. They had an only son, Sebastian, born after his father's death, who would become King of Portugal.
 
6. Juan (1537-1538 ).
 
7. A son who died soon after his birth in 1539, called Manuel.  
 
Isabel was a virtuous and good woman through all her life and her faithfulness and absolut desperation when Carlos had to travel out of Spain is totally proved, although many slanderous ''historians'' have written, without ANY proof, that Isabel had several affairs, including the painter Tizziano as one of them! She was blonde and her eyes were bluish green. She danced perfectly well and she was an intelligent and quick woman. She was one of Spain's greatest Regents, a job she did brilliantly in several times and for long periods, as Carlos was constantly travelling to his many states.  
 
Isabel only had a spot: she was a fervorous and fanatic Catholic, but, of course, we can't judge her actions and feelings about this with our modern minds. It would be unfair.
 
When Isabel died soon after giving birth to her last child, Carlos and all his realm were shattered.

[umigon]

About her parent's marriage some authors claim Manuel had several affairs. That could be true, but still, he was so discreet that if he had affairs they were not important and their names have not reached us. He was faithful to his first wife, Isabel of Aragon, and to the last one, Leonor of Austria, why not to the woman who he loved the most?

And, even more curious, not only Carlos and Isabel were in love, there is evidence that Carlos was faithful to Isabel during her lifetime even when he was abroad! The evidence is not absolutely concluding but, of course, Carlos's natural children were born either before his marriage or after Isabel's death, no bastards born between 1526 and 1539!! That would be a real love proof, so much in those times!

[Prince_Lieven]

Well, Carlos was a deeply religious man . . . not that means much in those days with regard to affairs! Isabel, and her mother, must have bee very lovable women . . . what was Isabel's relationship with her children like?

[umigon]

 Your other request, Prince Lieven, abiography on María Luisa:


María Luisa was born on March 27, 1662 in the Royal Palace of Paris, where her father Monsieur (the homosexual younger brother of Louis XIV, Philippe d'Orléans) and her mother, Madame (Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart of England), had their official residence. María Luisa grew up between two parents that were copnstantly quarreling and having violent arguments. Henrietta Anne even threw some dishes to her husband, who hit her in front of their daughter. She was constantly being witness of the screams and insults her mother dedicated her father, and the indifference the latter showed towards her. Even more, she saw how her father dressed as a woman and had long walks disguised with his male lovers!

However, her parents loved her and wanted the best for her. Of the seven children that followed in this disastrous marriage only a daughter, Anne Marie, born in 1669 and future Queen of Sardinia (wife of Vittorio Amedeo II di Savoia), survived. In 1670 María Luisa lost her mother and she was "adopted" by her aunt, Queen María Teresa.

While María Luisa grew up she grew closer to Louis XIV than to her father, although no one can't deny that Philippe always was, despite his frivolous character, a doting and loving father. She was also very close to María Teresa, to Liselotte of the Palatinate (her stepmother) and her cousin Louis, le Grand Dauphin. They were so close that in 1678 they were secretly in love and planning to marry each other. But Louis XIV had other plans for them and wouldn't permit this marriage occur (Some see in the King's behaviour the proof that María Luisa was really his daughter and not Philippe's. He said he wanted a brilliant marriage for both of them. Well, whatever it was, we will probably never know).

When Louis anounced María Luisa that she was to marry the deform and mentally retarded, but powerful and owner of the greatest empire of the worls (although in great decadency), she complained about the fate he had chosen for her. She said to him that she wanted to be a woman, not a nurse!

[umigon]

He replied that he couldn't have searched a better spouse for one of his own daughters (which again has been used by the historians that tend to think that she was Louis's daughter and he didn't allow her marriage to the Dauphin because it would have been incest).

With tears in her eyes she said bye bye to her French Court and to the French Royal Family. She arrived in Spain soon afterwards and she married Carlos on November 18, 1679, in Quintanapalla, Burgos. The bride was seventeen but she apparently was mature for her age and very attractive for the times canon. Carlos was 18 and he looked as if he was 14, he was ugly, feeble, had a prominent inferior jaw, couldn't speak or walk properly, his hair had almost fallen completely from his head (he wore ridiculous wigs) and his conversation wasn't interesting. But what María Luisa regretted the most was the fact that her new S`panish Governess, the very strict and austere Duchess of Terranova, had decided that she had to get rid off all her French clothes and wear the more austere Spanish dresses that the Queen Mother Mariana had decided she should wear. Terranova also forbid her to go out of the palace withput a full guard or to ride horses, one of her favourite hobbies.

For a year the marriage remained without being consummated. María Luisa once told the French ambassador that 'although she was not really a virgin, she feared she would never had children (again there must have been some kind of problem like the one we discussed on the Arthur Tudor thread!). In December 1680 the marriage was consummated and Carlos talked about it to everyone who wanted to hear, as if he had achieved a great victory (which indeed, given his constitution, he had done!). But the baby didn't arrive.

[Prince_Lieven]

Thanks umigon. Perfect, as always. You should write a book!  

Monsieur actually hit Minette in front of their daughter? Good God . . .

When Anne Stuart was a young girl, she stayed with Minette and her daughters in France to receive treatment for an eye condition. she was apparently very close to Maria Luisa and Anne-Marie, and fondly remembered Anne-Marie in her will as her only suviving female relative.

Carlos II bragged to everyone about how he consummated his marriage? what a classy man . . .  

[umigon]

María Luisa finally got rid of Terranova in the most unexpected way. She had brought a talking parrot from France (which Terranova considered a frivolous and Satanic animal). The parrot, 'Esmé', had learnt to say "Gorda", which means fat in its feminine form, and he was always saying it when Terranova arrived (this María Luisa was quite naughty, wasn't she? ). Terranova, fed up of Esmé’s insults she killed the bird. María Luisa caught her while she was strangling the parrot and, after slapping her on the face she dismissed her. Terranova went to complain in front of the King and the Queen Mother Mariana. Carlos asked her wife for an explanation and María Luisa explained what had happened. Carlos, madly in love with María Luisa since he first saw a portrait of her, consented in all her demands and gave hwer a new Governess, permission to spend money on the poor, permission to go for walks in Madrid and permission to ride horses again. María Luisa loved going to the houses of the poor and to the orphanages, where she became the godmother of sme children. She absolutely loved going to the “corridas de toros” and to the popular feasts. Mariana was at first infuriated with this, and she said she wanted no frivolous and capricious French girls in HER Court!.

But after some months passed by, Mariana stopped being nasty towards María Luisa and, by the contrary, became to be nicer. They never became good friends., but their meetings were quite friendly. Mariana had understood that María Luisa had no political ambitions and that she was not a French spy. María Luisa had her own problems to solve those of her uncle, who was the person who had provoked her unhappy state! As the pregnancy didn’t arrive, many talked the King about an annullment, but the King wouldn’t listen to him. And one of María Luisa’s ladies-in-waiting once said that she would pray for the heir’s birth. María Luisa replied: “Do you really think this is a problem of prayers?” So  she knew perfectly well that her husband, though not an absolut impotent, would never succeed in making her pregnant.


In about 1685, when she was 23, doctors (or what were so called in those times), started to give her different potions with the most unusual ingredients which they promised would help her end with “her” infertility! She drank these for four years without more results than having many stomach problems. In February 1689 she went out with her horse. When she arrived she had an ache in her belly. On February 12, 1689 she was dead. She was not yet 27 and she had been married for nine years and some months. She left a devastated hhusband and a sad realm and Court. But many thought it was a convenient death, now the King could marry again to a fertile woman and have the longed-for heir so that the Spanish Empire wouldn’t be separated between the other European countries...

[umigon]

Sorry, I had forgot the oter part of the story!!

[umigon]

I didn't know Anne had stayed in France!

And about Carlos, imagine that poor creature, stupid as he was, doing what he was expected to do! And it was fun! So he probably saw no problem in telling everyone whatb he had achieved!

And about Monsieur hitting Minette, she also hit him in public and remember in those times women had no right to do that! DShe also mocked him because of his "mignons". But that was during the first years of their marriage, in the end they finished by tolerating and even feeling affection for each other!