This formidable lady is Cymburgis of Masovia, born in Warsaw sometime between 1394 and 1397, and passed away on 28 September 1429. She was the wife of Archduke Ernest the Iron and thus the mother of Emperor Frederick III. Through her, all subsequent Habsburgs inherited a trace of Lithuanian and Rurikid blood in their veins.
Beyond Cymburgis’s marriage and offspring, her life is shrouded in legends that portray her as a Hagrid-like figure – large, sturdy, and exceptionally strong. Tales tell of her feats performed with bare hands, such as pulling nails out of (or hammering them into) walls, lifting hay carts, cracking nuts, or bending horseshoes and iron plates. These stories likely arose from general stereotypes about ancestresses or consorts of mighty rulers. Similar folklore, for instance, also surrounded Catherine I, the wife of Peter I of Russia.
Another widespread, though highly doubtful, belief claims that Cymburgis passed on to the Habsburgs their distinctive lower jaw. As early portraits rarely aimed at exact likeness, this assertion remains virtually impossible to prove.
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