Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

Johanna of Austria ( born January 24, 1547 Prague, † April 10, 1578 in Florence) was an Archduchess of Austria and by marriage Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

Biography

Johanna was the youngest of fifteen children of the Roman-German king and later Emperor Ferdinand I (1503-1564) and his wife Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503-1547), daughter of the Bohemian and Hungarian king Vladislav II. Due to the birth Johanna died her mother. Johanna got a solid education in philosophy, art, music, and in French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian and Latin for that time.

Already Johanna's older sisters Catherine, Eleanor and Barbara had married Italian prince. In order to strengthen the influence of the imperial family in Italy, was also negotiating Johanna's marriage in this direction. On December 18, 1565 Johanna married in Florence later Grand Duke Francis I of Tuscany from the Villa Medici ( 1541-1587 ). On the occasion of the marriage of Francis with Joan of the Palazzo Vecchio was extensively decorated. The illustrated there on frescoes old Austrian cities show up as jewels of the imperial crown. For the entry of the bride and the Fountain of Neptune in Piazza della Signoria was built by Bartolomeo Ammannati. By connecting the Villa Medici with an Austrian Archduchess a big prestige was achieved. Pope Pius IV offered to lend the title of Archduke Franz I.. While Maximilian agreed, however, refused the Spanish line of Habsburgs this elevation in rank, which looked at the title of the Archduke as a privilege of the House of Austria.

Johanna was described as pale, pious, melancholy, cold and haughty, the despised, the daughter and sister of an emperor, the Medici and their subjects. Francis I developed any feelings for her and held his affair with Bianca Cappello upright. About this affair Johanna complained constantly in letters to her brother, Emperor Maximilian II, who commissioned a special envoy, to complain about the neglect and heading back to his sister in Florence.

Immediately after the Grand Duchess Johanna died in 1578 in childbirth, her husband married two months later his mistress Bianca Cappello. Their marriage was not until 1579 officially announced. The tomb of Grand Duchess Johanna is located in the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze in Florence.

Progeny

From Joan's marriage to Francesco I de ' Medici eight children were born:

  • Eleonora (* March 1, 1566; † September 9, 1611 ) ∞ 1584 Vincenzo I Gonzaga ( 1562-1612 ), Duke of Mantua
  • Romola (* November 20, 1568, † December 2, 1568 )
  • Anna (* December 31, 1569, † February 19, 1584 )
  • Isabella ( born September 30, 1571 † August 8, 1572 )
  • Lucrezia (* November 7, 1572; † August 14, 1574 )
  • Maria ( born April 26, 1575 Florence, † July 3, 1642 in Cologne) ∞ October 5, 1600 Henri IV, King of France ( 1553-1610 )
  • Filippo (* May 20, 1577, † March 29, 1582 )
  • Stillbirth (* April 10, 1578, † April 10, 1578 )
Francesco Terzi Hungarian language Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua Henry IV of France Constantin von Wurzbach Integrated Authority File
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