10 February – Better a Catholic pet than Lutheran subjects

I must beg your pardon for starting this post with a cheap sensational announcement. However, to the best of my knowledge, 10 February marks the first recorded instance of a caesarean section being performed on a Habsburg princess. On this day in 1595, Archduchess Anna (born 1573), Queen of Poland and Sweden, passed away.

As the sister of the future Emperor Ferdinand II, Anna was raised and educated in strict Catholic faith. This was the era when the Counter-Reformation was intensifying its efforts against Protestantism, and royal marriage alliances were seen as an effective means of furthering its cause. With this in mind, it was decided that Anna would marry Sigismund Vasa of Poland.

In Catholic Poland, the new queen quickly became popular among her subjects, an heir to the throne was soon born, and the royal couple enjoyed a harmonious relationship. Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, Sigismund was also the king of Sweden, a thoroughly Lutheran country— and that became a completely different tale, one filled with deep mutual mistrust between the royal couple on one side and the Swedish nobility and clergy on the other. Anna, in particular, expressed extreme hostility and was even heard to say that she wouldn’t allow her pet dog to live in this country of heretics. After returning to Poland, she refused to engage in Swedish affairs any further.

Anna and Sigismund had five children together, but only one son, Ladislaus (Władysław) IV, survived. While in an advanced stage of pregnancy, Anna suffered a sudden haemorrhage and died. Doctors immediately performed a caesarean section to remove the baby boy, but he did not survive the day. Several years later, Sigismund remarried Anna’s sister, Constance, who was fifteen years her junior.