Anna of Austria (1573–1598)

Infobox Swedish Royalty|majesty|consort
name = Anna of Austria
title =Queen consort of Poland and Sweden
Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania


caption =
succession =Queen consort of Poland
reign = 18 September 1587 – 19 April 1632
coronation = 31 May 1532
Wawel Cathedral, Kraków
succession1 = Queen consort of Sweden
reign1 = 17 November 1592 – 24 July 1599
coronation1 = 1 March 1594
spouse = Sigismund III and I
issue = Władysław IV
issue-link = #Issue
issue-pipe = among others...
royal house = House of Vasa
House of Habsburg
royal motto =
father = Charles II, Archduke of Austria
mother = Maria Anna of Bavaria
date of birth = August 16, 1573
place of birth = Graz, Austria
date of death = Death date and age|1598|2|10|1573|7|16|df=yes
place of death = Warsaw, Poland
date of burial =
place of burial = Wawel Cathedral, Kraków, Poland

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Anna of Austria, or Anna of Habsburg (Polish:"Anna Austriaczka", ["Anna Austriaczka" is more often used for the Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII of France.] "Anna Habsburżanka", "Anna Rakuszanka") (Graz August 16, 1573 - Warsaw February 10, 1598) was and Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Poland and Sweden.

Biography

Anna was a daughter of Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anne of Bohemia (1503–1547), daughter of King Ladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his wife Anne de Foix. Her maternal grandparents were Albert V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria.

She was also a younger sister of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Margaret of Austria, Leopold V of Austria and an older sister of Constance of Austria.

Anna became the first wife of Sigismund of Poland and Sweden on May 31, 1592. This marriage was opposed by many nobles (szlachta) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who were opposed to the alliance with the Habsburgs that Sigismund pursued.

When Sigismund sent a diplomatic mission, lead by Cardinal Radziwill, to Prague for his bride, the anti-Habsburg party with chancellor Jan Zamoyski guarded the borders to prevent the Archprincess from entering the country. Anna evaded the guards, arrived in Kraków and was crowned in May 1592 by Primas Karnkowski as the Queen of Poland and two years later, in 1594, in Sweden, as the Queen of Sweden. During her stay in Sweden, she became involved in a conflict with Dowager Queen Gunilla Bielke.

Although not very beautiful, she and Sigismund fell in love and Anna gained the friendship and respect of many of her former enemies with her politeness and culture. It was during her lifetime that Sigismund moved the capital of the Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw.

Issue

They had five children, but only Wladislaw lived to become an adult:
#Anna Maria (23 May 1593 - 9 February 1600)
#Catherine (19 April 1594 - 16 May 1594)
#Vladislaus (9 June 1595 - 20 May 1648), (reigned 1632-1648 as Władysław IV Waza of Poland)
#Catherine (27 September 1596 - 2 June 1597)
#Christopher (10 February 1598 - 10 February 1598)

Anna died on February 10, 1598 and Sigismund III then married her sister Constance Renate of Habsburg.

Ancestors

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boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
boxstyle_1=background-color: #999;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #bbb;
boxstyle_3=background-color: #ddd;
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1= Anna of Austria
2= Charles II of Austria
3= Maria Anna of Bavaria
4= Ferdinand I
5= Anna Jagiellon
6= Albert V of Bavaria
7= Anna of Austria
8= Philip I of Castile
9= Joanna of Castile
10= Vladislaus II Jagiellon
11=Anna of Foix-Candale
12=William IV of Bavaria
13=Jakobaea of Baden-Sponheim
14=Ferdinand I
15=Anna Jagiellon

Gallery

Notes

Sucession