Archduchess Joanna, the youngest daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I and Empress Anne of Bohemia, was born on 24 January 1547. Like all her sisters, she received the traditional upbringing of Habsburg archduchesses, centred on religion and discipline.
In the early 1560s, the imperial court in Vienna functioned almost like a real marriage market. It may sound like a scene from a fairy tale, but three imperial princesses were simultaneously proposed to by three Italian princes: the Dukes of Mantua and Ferrara, and the heir to the Medici family, rulers of Tuscany. For at least two of them, Joanna was their first choice. However, the distribution of the princesses was not determined by benevolent fairies but by calculating ministers and politicians.
The eldest sister, Eleanor, became Duchess of Mantua and, by the standards of the time, enjoyed a reasonably satisfactory married life. The middle sister, Barbara, became Duchess of Ferrara; though she remained childless, she shared a harmonious relationship with her husband.
It seems, however, that the worst fate befell the youngest sister, Joanna, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Although she was a devoted mother to numerous children, she suffered from homesickness and unhappiness, endured her husband’s angry rebukes over the lack of a male heir, and had to tolerate his public infidelity. After twelve years of marriage and the birth of six daughters, Joanna finally gave birth to the long-awaited son. Tragically, the baby did not survive long. Joanna herself was spared this new grief, as she died at the age of 31 after giving birth to another child. One of Joanna’s daughters, Maria de’ Medici, married Henry IV of France and, through her son Louis XIII, became the grandmother of Louis XIV, the Sun King.
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