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As there was a remarkable age difference between her and her elder and younger sisters, she grew up somewhat lonely and withdrawn.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 […]
Drumroll for the wedding of the 18th century, please! Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis Stephan of Lorraine were married on 12 February 1736. As Heinz Rieder charmingly notes in his book “Maria Theresa: Schicksalstunde des Habsburgs,” at first glance and from the perspective of the Empire, the marriage did not seem to promise anything […]
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 […]
Meinhard, Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count of Tyrol, was born on 9 February 1344. A member of the House of Wittelsbach, his short life and early death nevertheless played a significant role in the rise of the House of Habsburg. Had events unfolded as expected, Meinhard would one day have succeeded his grandfather, Emperor […]
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