HOME
*



picture info

Eleonora Gonzaga (1630–1686)
Eleonora Gonzaga (18 November 1630 – 6 December 1686), was by birth Princess of Mantua, Nevers and Rethel from the Nevers branch of the House of Gonzaga and was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia by marriage to Emperor Ferdinand III. Nicknamed the Younger (de: ''Jüngere'') to distinguish herself from her namesake grandaunt, she was considered one of the most educated and virtuous women of her time. Fascinated by religious poetry, she founded a literary academy and was also a patron of musical theater. As Holy Roman Empress, she promoted the development of cultural and spiritual life at the Imperial court in Vienna, and despite being a staunch Catholic and benefactress of several monasteries, she had a tolerant attitude towards Protestantism. She established two female orders: the Order of Virtuosity (1662) and the Order of the Starry Cross (1668). Life Early years Eleonora was born on 18 November 1630 in Mantua, as the second child of ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Holy Roman Empress
The Holy Roman Empress or Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (''Kaiserin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches'') was the wife or widow of the Holy Roman Emperor. The elective dignity of Holy Roman emperor was restricted to males only, but some empresses, such as Theophanu and Maria Theresa, were ''de facto'' rulers of the Empire. Holy Roman empresses Before 924, the title of emperor was not always associated with the German Kingdom; rather, it was initially associated with the Carolingian dynasty, and then possessed by several other figures of the 9th and 10th centuries. Their wives were thus empresses, but not necessarily German queens. Carolingian Holy Roman Empresses/Queens of Germany With the elevation of Otto I of Germany in 962 to the Imperial title, the title 'Roman King/Emperor' became inalienably associated with the Kingdom of Germany – although a King of Germany might not bear the Imperial title, it would be impossible to become a Holy Roman Emperor, without being King o ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

List Of Hungarian Consorts
This is a list of the queens consorts of Hungary ( hu, királyné), the consorts of the kings of Hungary. After the extinction of the Árpád dynasty and later the Angevin dynasty, the title of King of Hungary has been held by a monarch outside of Hungary with a few exceptions. After 1526, the title of Queen of Hungary belonged to the wife of the Habsburg Emperors who were also King of Hungary. Queens of Hungary also held the titles after 1526: Holy Roman Empress (later Empress of Austria) and Queen consort of Bohemia. Since Leopold I, all kings of Hungary used the title of Apostolic King of Hungary the title given to Saint Stephen I by the Pope and their wives were styled as Apostolic Queens of Hungary. The title lasted just a little over nine centuries, from 1000 to 1918. The Kingdom of Hungary also had two queens regnant (''királynő'') who were crowned as kings: Maria I and Maria II Theresa. Grand Princesses of the Hungarians Queens consort of Hungary ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 until the twelfth century, the Empire was the most powerful monarchy in Europe. Andrew Holt characterizes it as "perhaps the most powerful European state of the Middle Ages". The functioning of government depended on the harmonic cooperation (dubbed ''consensual rulership'' by Bernd Schneidmüller) between monarch and vassals but this harmony was disturbed during the Salian period. The empire reached the apex of territorial expansion and power under the House of Hohenstaufen in the mid-thirteenth century, but overextending led to partial collapse. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the earlier ancient Weste ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ferrante II Gonzaga, Duke Of Guastalla
Ferrante II Gonzaga (1563 – 5 August 1630) was Count of Guastalla and, from 1621, Duke of Guastalla. He was the son of Cesare I Gonzaga, Count of Guastalla and Duke of Amalfi, and Donna Camilla Borromeo. He succeeded his father in 1575. On 2 July 1621, the County of Guastalla was elevated to a Duchy and Ferrante was subsequently deemed a Duke. 1624 Ferdinand II appointed Ferrante as General Commissar in Italy to reinforce imperial authority.Runschke, Florian (2019), "Das Generalkommissariat in Italien von 1624-1632. Auftrag, Arbeit und Akzeptanz der ersten beiden Amtsinhaber". ''Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken'' (in German). 99: 214online. Ferrante played a part in the War of the Mantuan Succession when, as a distant Gonzaga cousin, he claimed the Duchy of Mantua after the extinction of the senior male branch of the House of Gonzaga in December 1627. He was nominally supported by Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II, who really sought to re-attac ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Margaret Of Savoy, Vicereine Of Portugal
Margaret of Savoy (28 April 1589 – 26 June 1655) was the last Habsburg Vicereine of Portugal from 1634 to 1640. In Portuguese she is known as ''Duquesa de Mântua'', being by marriage the Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat. She was also regent of Montferrat during the minority of her daughter from 1612. Biography Duchess of Montferrat She was born in Turin, as the Fourth child of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (1562–1630) and Infanta Catalina Micaela of Spain, the daughter of Philip II of Spain. She was married to the future Francis IV, Duke of Mantua (1586–1612) and Montferrat on 19 February 1608. The wedding was celebrated in Turin. In 1612 Margaret's husband succeeded his father, Vincent I, as Duke of Mantua. Their marriage produced three children, but only one daughter, Maria, survived childhood. Francis died in 1612. Regent of Montferrat As the couple had no surviving male issue, Duke Francis' next brother succeeded him in the Duchy of Mantua, whereas in the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke Of Mantua
Francesco IV Gonzaga (7 May 1586 – 22 December 1612), was Duke of Mantua and (as Francesco II) Duke of Montferrat between 9 February and 22 December 1612. Biography Born in Mantua, he was the eldest son of Duke Vincenzo I and Eleonora de' Medici. In 1607, Claudio Monteverdi dedicated his opera ''L'Orfeo'' to Francesco. The title page of the opera bears the dedication "Al serenissimo signor D. Francesco Gonzaga, Prencipe di Mantoua, & di Monferato, &c." Francesco became Duke upon his father's death on 9 February 1612. He died at Mantua on 22 December 1612 without male heirs. He was succeeded by his brother Ferdinand; however, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, the father of Francesco's wife Margaret of Savoy, disputed this, leading to the War of the Montferrat Succession (1613–1617). Family On 19 February 1608 he married in Turin, Margaret of Savoy (1589–1655), daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. They had: * Maria (29 July 1609 – 14 August 1660); married in 1 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

House Of Lorraine
The House of Lorraine (german: link=no, Haus Lothringen) originated as a cadet branch of the House of Metz. It inherited the Duchy of Lorraine in 1473 after the death without a male heir of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine. By the marriage of Francis of Lorraine to Maria Theresa of Austria in 1736, and with the success in the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the House of Lorraine was joined to the House of Habsburg and became known as the House of Habsburg‑Lorraine (german: link=no, Haus Habsburg-Lothringen). Francis, his sons Joseph II and Leopold II, and his grandson Francis II were the last four Holy Roman emperors from 1745 until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. The House of Habsburg-Lorraine inherited the Habsburg Empire, ruling the Austrian Empire and then Austria-Hungary until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1918. Although its senior agnates are the dukes of Hohenberg, the house is currently headed by Karl von Habsburg (born 1961), gr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Catherine Of Mayenne
Catherine de Mayenne (1585 – 8 March 1618), or Catherine de Mayenne-Lorraine-Guise, was a French aristocrat who became Duchess of Mantua by marriage. Early life Catherine de Mayenne was born in 1585, as the daughter of Charles, Duke of Mayenne, younger brother of Henry of Guise, and his wife, Henriette of Savoy-Villars (1541-1611), whom he had married in 1576. Biography She married Charles de Gonzague, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, on 1 February 1599 in Soissons, at the age of 14, and actively assisted her husband in his administration. In 1604 she was courted insistently by Henry IV of France. She and her husband chose to leave the French court. She gave her husband six children, three boys and three girls. Catherine created many convents, monasteries, abbeys, churches, schools and hospitals. In Charleville she founded a college of the Society of Jesus, where youth were educated in piety and letters. She also founded a Capuchin convent and a hospital in that city. She ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Charles Gonzaga, Duke Of Mantua And Montferrat
Charles Gonzaga ( it, Carlo I Gonzaga) (6 May 1580 – 22 September 1637) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1627 until his death. He was also Charles III Duke of Nevers and Rethel, as well as Prince of Arche and Charleville. Biography Born in Paris, he was the son of Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, and Princess Henriette of Cleves. In 1600, as duke of Rethel, he founded, in Nevers, the Order of the Yellow Ribbon, soon forbidden by the King, due to its peculiar character. In 1606, he decided the foundation of Charleville. and the Principality of Arches ( fr ) He became 1st Prince of Arche and Charleville In 1612, Charles, a descendant of the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus through his grandmother Margaret, who was of the line of Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat, Andronicus's son, claimed the throne of Constantinople, at the time the capital of the Ottoman Empire. He began plotting with Greek rebels, including the Maniots of Greece, who addressed him ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Austrian National Library
The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of Vienna. Since 2005, some of the collections have been relocated within the Baroque structure of the Palais Mollard-Clary. Founded by the Habsburgs, the library was originally called the Imperial Court Library (german: Kaiserliche Hofbibliothek); the change to the current name occurred in 1920, following the end of the Habsburg Monarchy and the proclamation of the Austrian Republic. The library complex includes four museums, as well as multiple special collections and archives. Middle Ages The institution has its origin in the imperial library of the Middle Ages. During the Medieval period, the Austrian Duke Albert III (1349–1395) moved the books of the Viennese vaults into a library. Albert also arranged for important works from Latin ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Duchy Of Montferrat
The Duchy of Montferrat was a state located in Northern Italy. It was created out of what was left of the medieval March of Montferrat after the last Palaeologus heir had died (1533) and the margraviate had been briefly controlled by the Emperor Charles V (until 1536). After that brief interlude, it passed by marriage of the last heiress, Margaret of Montferrat, to the House of Gonzaga, already dukes of Mantua. In 1574 the fief was elevated from Marquisat to Duchy. Its territory, located in southern Piedmont, is still known today as Montferrat. At that time, the state of Montferrat had an area of 2750 km2, and consisted of two separate parts bordered by the Duchy of Savoy, the Duchy of Milan, and the Republic of Genoa. Its capital was Casale Monferrato. With the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631), a piece of the duchy passed to Savoy; the remainder passed to Savoy in 1708, as Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, gained possession of the principal Gonzaga territ ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Order Of The Starry Cross
The Order of the Starry Cross (or Order of the Star Cross/Star Cross Order; German: ''Sternkreuz-Orden'') is an imperial Austrian dynastic order for Catholic noble ladies, founded in 1668. The order still exists under the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. History The Order was founded in 1668 by Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, dowager empress of the Holy Roman Empire. This all-female order was confirmed by Pope Clement IX on 28 June 1668 and was placed under the spiritual management of the Prince-Bishop of Vienna. Only high-born ladies could be invested with the Order, including “princesses, countesses, and other high nobility.” Once invested, members were to “devote themselves to the service and worship of the Holy Cross, and to lead a virtuous life in the exercise of religion and works of charity.” According to legend, the Habsburg dynasty owned a piece of the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified. Though it is impossible to prove its authenticity, the holy relic was set in ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]