Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain

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Anna of Austria
Portrait of Anna by Alonso Sánchez Coello, c. 1571
Queen consort of Spain
Tenure4 May 1570 – 26 October 1580
Queen consort of Portugal
Tenure12 September 1580 – 26 October 1580
Born2 November 1549
Cigales, Spain
Died26 October 1580(1580-10-26) (aged 30)
Badajoz, Spain
Burial
El Escorial
Spouse
Issue
Detail
HouseHabsburg
FatherMaximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
MotherMaria of Austria

Anna of Austria (2 November 1549 – 26 October 1580) was Queen of Spain when she married her uncle, King Philip II of Spain. During the last days of her life she was Queen of Portugal for a short time.

Early Life[change | change source]

A painting of Anna when she was young.

Anna was the oldest daughter of a man named Maximilian II, who was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Her mother's was Empress Maria of Spain. Anna was born in Spain when her grandfather Charles V was ruling there. When Anna was four years old, she moved to live in a place called Vienna in Austria. Anna was Maximilian's favorite child, and he liked to play and gamble with her.

She also took a Catholic Education.

Marriage[change | change source]

Anna's parents wanted her to marry a royal person from Spain because they thought it would make the families of Austria and Spain be friends again. At first, Anna wanted to marry her cousin Don Carlos, but he died. Later, when Anna's aunt wife of Philip II died and left two little girls, King Philip II needed to get married again because he didn't have a son. So Anna and King Philip got engaged in February 1569, and they married by mail in May 1570. [1]

Anna traveled from Austria to Spain with her brothers in the Autumn of 1570. The queen of England Elizabeth I sent some men named Charles Howard and William Wynter to help Anna on her journey through the Netherlands.[2] Some people who knew a man named Floris of Montigny hoped that King Philip would forgive him because Floris had been in prison since 1567. They asked Anna to help them, but she couldn't save Floris because he was killed on October 16, 1570, before Anna could meet King Philip.

Queen of Spain[change | change source]

When Anna arrived in Spain, a new household was made for her with a lady named Margarita de Cardona who had been the lady-in-waiting of Anna's mother before. Anna knew Margarita from when she was a child in Austria. Anna was happy and made the Spanish court less serious. Anna and King Philip had a happy marriage. He loved her very much and she was his favorite wife. King Philip didn't have any other mistress during their marriage. Anna had five children, but three of them died before King Philip did. The youngest son became King Philip III after his father died. Anna was also a good stepmother to King Philip's other daughters. [3]

Anna died in Badajoz from influenza eight months after having a baby named Maria. Anna was buried in Badajoz at first, but later her body was moved to El Escorial.[4]

Children[change | change source]

King Philip and Queen Anna with family and workers, by Alonso Sánchez Coello, c. 1596
  1. Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias (4 December 1571 – 18 October 1578).
  2. Carlos Lorenzo (12 August 1573 – 30 June 1575).
  3. Diego, Prince of Asturias (15 August 1575 – 21 November 1582).
  4. Philip III of Spain (3 April 1578 – 31 March 1621), He was the son who ruled after his father.[5]
  5. Maria (14 February 1580 – 5 August 1583)

Family tree[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain- Spanish School Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "LETTER SIGNED, AT THE HEAD ("ELIZABETH R"), TO LORD CHARLES HOWARD". Sothebys.
  3. ↑ Anna of Austria
  4. ↑ Cook, Alexandra Parma; Cook, Noble David (May 2009). The Plague Files: Crisis Management in Sixteenth-Century Seville. LSU Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8071-3498-6.
  5. ↑ "Philip II of Spain" Britannica
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Press, Volker (1990), "Maximilian II.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 16, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 471–475; (full text online)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria von Spanien" (in German). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. 7. Wikisource 
  8. ↑ Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Philipp I. der Schöne von Oesterreich" (in German). Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. 7. Wikisource 
  9. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Joanna" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Template:Cite ADB
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Stephens, Henry Morse (1903). The story of Portugal. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 125, 139, 279. ISBN 9780722224731. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
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