Archduke Joseph, the seventh son of Leopold II and Maria Luisa of Spain, was born on 9 March 1776. His happy childhood in Florence among his numerous siblings provided him with an excellent education in languages, history, natural sciences, law, and ethics. His teenage years, however, were more turbulent: first because of Leopold’s accession to […]
Maria Anna of Bavaria, wife of the future Ferdinand II, died on 8 March 1616. By Habsburg standards, they were not closely related, being “only” double cousins on both their paternal and maternal sides. She was chosen as Ferdinand’s bride by his ambitious and politically active mother, herself a former Bavarian princess. Maria Anna was […]
In the mid-19th century, the beginning of March must have seemed an ominous time — at least for some members of the imperial family. On 1 and 2 March, in 1792 and 1835 respectively, two emperors — father and son, Leopold II and Francis II — passed away. It would be hard to find two […]
Leopold III, Margrave of Austria, passed away on 28 February 1326. He was one of the younger grandsons of Rudolf I of Habsburg, the first Habsburg to ascend the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. His father, Albert I of Germany, although elected King of the Romans, failed to secure the position permanently. Some years […]
Archduchess Maria Amalia was born on February 26, 1746. She was the fourth surviving daughter of Maria Theresa and Francis Stephan. As there was a remarkable age difference between her and her elder and younger sisters, she grew up somewhat lonely and withdrawn. Unlike her siblings, she developed a great love of animals and enjoyed […]
Today marks the birthday of two Habsburg emperors. True, beyond their shared date of birth, they had rather little in common. On 24 February 1500, Charles V was born. From his very first breath, he seemed destined to rise to the Imperial throne and to inherit several kingdoms and principalities — not to mention numerous […]
Ladislaus the Posthumous, King of Hungary and Bohemia, was born on 22 February 1440. He was the son of Albert of Habsburg, the elected King of the Romans, and Elisabeth of Luxembourg, the only child and heiress of Emperor Sigismund. Through his parents, he inherited both the Austrian lands and the crowns of Hungary and […]
Ferdinand III and Maria Anna of Spain married on 20 February 1631. As was often the case among the Spanish and Austrian branches of the Habsburgs, they were closely related on both their fathers’ and mothers’ sides. The most renowned of Maria Anna’s siblings was probably her elder sister, Anna, who married Louis XIII of […]
Gertrude of Hohenberg passed away on 16 February 1281. Descended from a noble family, she married Rudolf I of Habsburg, then Count Rudolf, the head of the still relatively modest House of Habsburg. For nearly twenty years, Gertrude lived the ordinary life of a medieval noblewoman, raising children and presiding over her husband’s small comital […]
Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II died on 15 February 1637. As a grandson of Ferdinand I, he was not originally destined to become emperor but succeeded to the throne only after his nephews, Rudolf II and Matthias I, died childless. Ferdinand was a staunch supporter of the Counter-Reformation. Unlike his predecessors, he made no attempt […]
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