Margaret of Austria (25 December 1584 – 3 October 1611) was Queen of Spain and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

by her marriage to King Philip III & II.

Life

Margaret was the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria and thus the paternal granddaughter of the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Ferdinand I. Her elder brother was the Archduke Ferdinand, who succeeded as Emperor in 1619. Two of her sisters,

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

and Constance, through their subsequent marriages to King

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...

, became Queens of Poland.

Queen of Spain

Margaret married

Philip III of Spain Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...

, her first-cousin, once-removed, on 18 April 1599. She became a very influential figure at her husband's court. Philip had an "affectionate, close relationship" with Margaret, and paid her additional attention after she bore him a son in 1605.Sánchez, p. 100. Margaret was also a great patron of the arts. She was considered by contemporaries to be a very pious Catholic and "astute and very skillful" in her political dealings.Sánchez, p. 98-99. Alongside the Empress Maria, widow of

Maximilian II, and the latter's daughter Archduchess

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

, who lived as a nun in Madrid, Queen Margaret formed a circle of women wielding considerable influence over the king.Sánchez, p.91. They emphasised Spain's status as a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

power acting in the interest of Catholic Europe and also highlighted the unity of the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. They were successful, for example, in convincing Philip to provide financial support to Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. The pro-Austrian camp at the Spanish court was opposed by the

Duke of Lerma Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, 1st Duke of Lerma, 5th Marquess of Denia, 1st Count of Ampudia (1552/1553 – 17 May 1625), was a favourite of Philip III of Spain, the first of the ''validos'' ('most worthy') through whom the later ...

, the King's chief minister, who argued that Spain should pursue her own course of action independently of religious or dynastic ties. Queen Margaret was "melancholic" and unhappy about the influence of the Duke, whom she considered corrupt, over her husband, and continually fought him for influence over the king. In this conflict, she was supported by her favourite Mariana de San José, prioress of the ''Monasteria la Encarnación'', her husband's

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Maria Anna's confessor, the Franciscan friar Juan de Santa María - who was felt by contemporaries to have an excessive influence over the King at the end of his life.Sánchez, p.97. The Duke of Lerma was eventually removed from power in 1618, though only after Margaret's death. Margaret died while giving birth to her youngest child, Alfonso. Her husband never remarried and died ten years later.

Issue

Margaret and Philip had eight children: * Anna Maria Mauricia (22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666), queen of France *

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

(1 February 1603 -1 March 1603) *

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

(8 April 1605 – 17 September 1665), king of Spain * Maria Anna (18 August 1606 – 13 May 1646), empress of the Holy Roman Empire *

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

(14 September 1607 – 30 July 1632) *

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

(16 May 1609 – 9 November 1641), a cardinal *

(24 May 1610 – 11 March 1617) * Alphonse Maurice (22 September 1611 – 16 September 1612)

Ancestors

Depiction in media

Margaret of Austria is portrayed by Elena Rivera in the Spanish TV show

El Ministerio del Tiempo ''El ministerio del tiempo'' (English title: ''The Ministry of Time'') is a Spanish fantasy television series created by Javier and Pablo Olivares and produced by Onza Partners and Cliffhanger for Televisión Española (TVE). It premiered on 24 ...

. Actress

Viveca Lindfors Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors (December 29, 1920 – October 25, 1995) was a Swedish stage, film, and television actress. She won an Emmy Award and a Silver Bear for Best Actress. Biography Lindfors was born in Uppsala, Sweden, the d ...

portrayed Margaret in the 1948 Hollywood movie ''

Adventures of Don Juan ''Adventures of Don Juan'' is a 1948 American Technicolor swashbuckling adventure romance film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Errol Flynn and Viveca Lindfors, with Robert Douglas, Alan Hale, Ann Rutherford, and Robert Warwick. Also in ...

''.

Bibliography

*Magdalena S. Sánchez, ''Pious and Political Images of a Habsburg Woman at the Court of Philip III (1598–1621)''. in: Magdalena S. Sánchez and Alain Saint-Saëns (ed.), ''Spanish women in the golden age: images and realities''. Greenwood Publishing Group (1996).

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret Of Austria 1584 births 1611 deaths Austrian princesses Burials in the Pantheon of Kings at El Escorial Deaths in childbirth Duchesses of Burgundy Countesses of Holland Duchesses of Milan 17th-century House of Habsburg Portuguese queens consort Royal consorts of Naples Royal consorts of Sicily Spanish royal consorts 16th-century Spanish women 17th-century Spanish women