Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608)

Maria Anna of Bavaria (* March 21, 1551 in Munich, † April 29, 1608 in Graz) was by birth Princess of Bavaria and by the marriage of Archduchess of Inner Austria - Styria.

Ancestry and early years

Maria Anna came from the German noble house of Wittelsbach. She was the eldest daughter of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria (1528-1579) and his wife Archduchess Anna of Austria (1528-1590), second daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I and his wife Anna Jagiello, Princess of Bohemia and Hungary.

Her early years were spent Maria Anna at the Munich court, flourished at the painting and music. She was Catholic and very strict upbringing deep under the supervision of their mother, sometimes even physically punished. She was a student of Andreas Staudenmaier and learned from this other than a basic education also Latin. Great talent put them on the field of music of the day, was friends with the eminent composer Orlando di Lasso and played the organ.

Marriage

1570 reddish- blond haired Princess Maria Anna was provided as the wife to vojvoda Johann Sigismund Zápolya of Transylvania, but this is thought marriage connection failed. Then campaigned Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria - Styria (1540-1590), third son of Emperor Ferdinand I and his wife Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary to the hand of his good 10 years younger niece Maria Anna, who he earlier in had made the wedding celebrations of her brother William met and affection for her. After Pope Pius V had granted a dispensation because of the close relationship of the pair, the marriage of Anna Maria and Archduke Karl took place in Vienna on August 26, 1571. To mark this joyous event went to Vienna magnificent festivals vonstatten. Contemporary writers such as H. Wirrich and W. Sponrib processed the issue of the glossy wedding celebrations of Archduke pair literary. On September 10, 1571 newlyweds made ​​their entry in Graz, followed joined seven-day festivities. This marriage brought Archduke Karl an important support by the ruling family of Bavaria.

Progeny

From the happy marriage of Maria Anna and Charles II of Inner Austria Styria fifteen children, six sons and nine daughters went out, three of whom died young:

• Ferdinand (* July 15, 1572; † August 3, 1572 )
• Anna (* August 16, 1573, † February 10, 1598 ) ∞ 1592 Sigismund III. Vasa, King of Poland and Sweden
• Maria Christina ( * November 10, 1574, † April 6, 1621 ), 1607 Canoness, 1612 Superior to Hall / Tyrol, Sigismund Báthory ∞ 1595-1599, Grand Prince of Transylvania
• Catherine Renata ( January 4, 1576, † June 29, 1599 )
• Elisabeth ( * March 13, 1577; † January 29, 1586 )
• Emperor Ferdinand II ( July 9, 1578 *, † February 15, 1637 )

• Karl ( * July 17, 1579, † May 17 1580 )
• Gregoria Maximiliane (* March 22, 1581; † September 20, 1597 )
• Eleonore (* September 25, 1582; † January 28, 1620 ), Stiftsdame to Hall / Tyrol
• Maximilian Ernst ( * November 17, 1583, † February 18, 1616 ), Archduke
• Margarete (* December 25, 1584; † October 3, 1611 ) ∞ 1599 King Philip III. from Spain
• Ferdinand Leopold V, Archduke (* October 9, 1586; † September 13, 1632 ) ∞ 1626 Princess Claudia de Medici ( 1604-1648 )
• Konstanze (* December 24, 1588, † 10 July 1631 ) ∞ 1602 King Sigismund III. Vasa, King of Poland and Sweden, who had married his first wife, with her sister Anna
• Maria Magdalena ( born October 7, 1589 † November 1, 1631 ) ∞ 1608 Cosimo II de 'Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
• Karl Joseph, also: Charlemagne Posthumous (* August 7, 1590, † December 28, 1624 ) - Grand Master and Bishop of Breslau and Brixen

Archduchess and later years

Immediately after her marriage practiced the very power-conscious Maria Anna in her new home significant political influence. As a strict Catholic, she devoted herself eagerly charitable activities, regular church attendance, participation in pilgrimages, the promotion of the Counter-Reformation in Styria and the generous support of the Jesuits. More often accompanied the journey funny Archduchess her husband on his tours, lived about with him the Diets in Ljubljana end of 1575 and Klagenfurt from February to May 1576 in, stayed with him in 1581 in Prague at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, in 1582 at the Diet of Augsburg and 1584 in Innsbruck. She traveled occasionally also the more distant foreign country, Poland four times and once each Spain and Transylvania.

Your children educated Anna Maria extremely conscientious, but also strict. It should have been pretty extravagant as her husband; they also showed a great fondness for hunting. In many stemming from her hand letters she used a Bavarian dialect and uses a rather crude style.

In July 1590 Maria Anna became a widow. You did not in its assigned as a widow seat Judenburg their residence, but remained in Graz. Your eldest surviving son, the future Emperor Ferdinand II, had brought it up in the first years of life almost alone in the strictly Catholic sense. Since Protestantism had become too strong in Graz, she had yet achieved in his lifetime of her husband, that Ferdinand was sent in January 1590 to Ingolstadt, where he was still taught at the university run by Jesuits strict Catholic teachings. His mother held him when he took over in 1596, the business of government in Inner Austria, resistant to take resolute measures against Protestant currents of. He should ensure that the preachers hated by her confession came on the gallows. Also on the reforms of Ferdinand took Mary Anna significant impact. Several of her daughters married politically wise. In the dispute between brother Emperor Rudolf II and Matthias she behaved very wisely.

Among the charitable works of Anna Maria were among their generous donations to the poor as well as their personal care of the sick and pregnant women. She prayed a lot, underwent frequent mortifications, collected relics, endowed churches and elected from the ranks of the most esteemed of her Jesuit confessors her, so the long years of acting in this capacity, in 1607 the late Father John Reinel.

The 1602 took place at Graz founding of the Poor Clares in paradise goes back to the initiative of Anna Maria. There was the Archduchess, who participated frequently in religious exercises of the nuns, shortly before her death, Poor Clare. She died on April 29, 1608 at the age of 57 years in Graz, where he was first in the Poor Clare Monastery, then buried in the Habsburg Mausoleum. Many Jesuits as Wilhelm Lamormaini lamented their demise in specially written down obituaries.