Anne of Bohemia and Hungary

Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (23 July 1503 – 27 January 1547), sometimes known as Anna Jagellonica, was Queen of Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary and Archduchess of Austria as the wife of King Ferdinand I (later Holy Roman Emperor).

Anne of Bohemia and Hungary
Portrait by Hans Maler c. 1519
Queen consort of Germany
Tenure	5 January 1531 – 27 January 1547
Queen consort of Bohemia and Hungary Archduchess consort of Austria
Tenure	17 December 1526 – 27 January 1547
Born	23 July 1503 Buda, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	27 January 1547 (aged 43) Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia
Burial	St. Vitus Cathedral
Spouse	Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor ​ ​ (m. 1521)​
Issue	Elizabeth, Queen of Poland Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor Anna, Duchess of Bavaria Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria Maria, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg Catherine, Queen of Poland Eleanor, Duchess of Mantua Barbara, Duchess of Ferrara Charles II, Archduke of Austria Joanna, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
House	Jagiellon
Father	Vladislaus II of Hungary
Mother	Anne of Foix-Candale
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Family

She was the elder child and only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516) and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale.[1] King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia was her younger brother. Her paternal grandparents were King Casimir IV of Poland (of the Jagiellon dynasty) and Elisabeth of Austria, one of the heiresses of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Duchy of Luxembourg and the Duchy of Kujavia. Her maternal grandparents were Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale, and Catherine de Foix, an Infanta of the Kingdom of Navarre.

Life

Anne was born in Buda (now Budapest). The death of Vladislaus II on 13 March 1516 left both siblings in the care of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilan I. It was arranged that Anna marry his grandson, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, second son of Queen Regnant Joanna of Castile and her late husband and co-ruler, Philip I of Castile. Anna married Ferdinand on 26 May 1521 in Linz, Austria.[1] At the time, Ferdinand was governing the Habsburg hereditary lands on behalf of his older brother Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It was stipulated that Ferdinand should succeed Anne's brother Louis in case he died without legitimate male heirs.

Louis did indeed die without legitimate male heirs after he was thrown from his horse at the conclusion of the Battle of Mohács against Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire on 29 August 1526. This left the thrones of both Bohemia and Hungary vacant. Ferdinand claimed both kingdoms and was elected King of Bohemia on 24 October of the same year with Anne as his Queen.

Hungary was a more difficult case. Suleiman had annexed much of its lands. Ferdinand was proclaimed King of Hungary by a group of nobles, but another faction of Hungarian nobles refused to allow a foreign ruler to hold that title and elected John Zápolya as an alternative king. The resulting conflict between the two rivals and their successors lasted until 1570, when John's son John Sigismund gave up the title King of Hungary in favor of Ferdinand's son Maximilian as part of the terms of the Treaty of Speyer. In 1531, Ferdinand's older brother Charles V recognised Ferdinand as his successor as Holy Roman Emperor, and Ferdinand was elevated to the title King of the Romans.

Anna and Ferdinand had fifteen children, all of whom were born in Bohemia or Hungary. Both of these kingdoms had suffered for centuries from premature deaths among heirs and a shortage of succession prospects, a predicament resolved by Anne's impressive fertility. Meanwhile, Anna served as Queen Consort of Bohemia and as one of three living Queens of Hungary until her death. She died in Prague, days after giving birth to her last daughter Joanna. In 1556, Charles V abdicated and Ferdinand succeeded as emperor, nine years after Anna's death.

The Belvedere ("Queen Anne's Summer Palace"), one of the most beautiful buildings in Prague, was built for her by her husband Ferdinand on the grounds of Prague Castle starting in 1538. It was not completed in its present form until 1565, long after her death.

Children

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Elisabeth	9 July 1526	15 June 1545	Married the future King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland; no issue
Maximilian	31 July 1527	12 October 1576	Married his first cousin Maria of Spain; had issue
Anna	7 July 1528	16–17 October 1590	Married Albert V, Duke of Bavaria; had issue
Ferdinand	14 June 1529	24 January 1595	Married Philippine Welser; had issue; married his niece Anne Juliana Gonzaga; had issue
Maria	15 May 1531	11 December 1581	Married Wilhelm, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg; had issue
Magdalena	14 August 1532	10 September 1590	A nun
Catherine	15 September 1533	28 February 1572	Married King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland; no issue
Eleanor	2 November 1534	5 August 1594	Married William I, Duke of Mantua; had issue
Margaret	16 February 1536	12 March 1567	A nun
John	10 April 1538	20 March 1539	Died in childhood
Barbara	30 April 1539	19 September 1572	Married Alfonso II d'Este; no issue
Charles	3 June 1540	10 July 1590	Married his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria; had issue (including Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II)
Ursula	24 July 1541	30 April 1543	Died in childhood
Helena	7 January 1543	5 March 1574	A nun
Joanna	24 January 1547	10 April 1578	Married Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; had issue

Ancestry

Ancestors of Anne of Bohemia and Hungary

16. Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania[2] 8. Vladislaus II Jagiellon[3] 17. Uliana of Tver[2] 4. Casimir IV Jagiellon[4] 18. Andrew Ivanovich of Halshany[5] 9. Sophia of Halshany[3] 19. Alexandra Dmitrievna of Drutsk[5] 2. Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary 20. Albert IV, Duke of Austria[6] 10. Albert II, King of the Romans[7] 21. Joanna Sophia of Bavaria[6] 5. Elisabeth of Austria[4] 22. Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor[8] 11. Elizabeth of Luxembourg[7] 23. Barbara of Cilli[8] 1. Anne of Bohemia and Hungary 24.Gaston I of Foix-Grailly[9] 12. John de Foix, 1st Earl of Kendal[9] 25. Marguerite of Albret[9] 6. Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale[9] 26. Sir Thomas Kerdeston[10] 13. Margaret Kerdeston[9] 27. Elizabeth de la Pole[10] 3. Anne of Foix-Candale 28. John I, Count of Foix[11] 14. Gaston IV, Count of Foix[9] 29. Jeanne d'Albret[11] 7. Catherine of Foix[9] 30. John II of Aragon[12] 15. Eleanor of Navarre[9] 31. Blanche I of Navarre[12]

References

1. Previte-Orton 1962, p. 922.
2. Potašenko, Grigorijus (2008), Multinational Lithuania: history of ethnic minorities, Šviesa, p. 30, ISBN 9785430052508
3. Casimir IV, King of Poland at the Encyclopædia Britannica
4. Priebatsch, Felix (1908), "Wladislaw II.", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 54, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 688–696
5. Duczmal, Małgorzata (2012). Jogailaičiai (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Translated by Mikalonienė, Birutė; Jarutis, Vyturys. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras. p. 30. ISBN 978-5-420-01703-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
6. Quirin, Heinz (1953), "Albrecht II.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 154; (full text online)
7. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Elisabeth von Oesterreich (Königin von Polen)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 6. p. 167 – via Wikisource.
8. Wagner, Hans (1959), "Elisabeth", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 4, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 441; (full text online)
9. Noubel, P., ed. (1877). Revue de l'Agenais [Review of the Agenais]. 4. Société académique d'Agen. pp. 496–497.
10. Thompson, Neil D.; Hansen, Charles M. (2012). The Ancestry of Charles II, King of England. pp. 58–63.
11. Courteault, Henri (1895). Gaston IV, comte de Foix, vicomte souverain de Béarn, prince de Navarre, 1423–1472 (in French). É. Privat. p. 23.
12. Ward, A. W.; Prothero, G. W.; Leathes, Stanley, eds. (1911). The Cambridge Modern History. Macmillan Company. p. 80.

Sources

• Previte-Orton, C.W. (1962). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. II. Cambridge at the University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

Media related to Anna of Bohemia and Hungary at Wikimedia Commons