Anne of Bohemia and Hungary

Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (Buda, Hungary, 23 July 1503 – Prague, Bohemia, 27 January 1547), sometimes known as Anna Jagellonica, Queen of the Romans (Germany), Bohemia and Hungary as the wife of King Ferdinand I, later Holy Roman Emperor.

Family

She was the elder child and only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516) and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale. She was an older sister of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia. Her paternal grandparents were King Casimir IV of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, of the Jagiellon dynasty, and Elisabeth of Austria, one of the heiresses of Bohemia, duchy of Luxembourg and duchy of Kujavia. Her maternal grandparents were Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale and Catherine de Foix, Infanta of the Kingdom of Navarre.

Life

She was born in Buda (now Budapest). The death of Vladislaus II on 13 March 1516 left both siblings in the care of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. It was arranged that Anna marry his grandson, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, second son of Queen regnant Joanna of Castile and her late husband and co-ruler, Philip I of Castile. Anna married Ferdinand on 26 May 1521 in Linz, Austria. At the time Ferdinand was governing the Habsburg hereditary lands on behalf of his older brother Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It was stipulated that Ferdinand should succeed Anne's brother in case he died without male heirs.

Her brother Louis was killed in the Battle of Mohács against Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire on 29 August 1526. This left the thrones of both Bohemia and Hungary vacant. Ferdinand claimed both kingdoms and was elected King of Bohemia on 24 October of the same year, making Anna Queen of Bohemia.

Hungary was a more difficult case. Suleiman had annexed much of its lands. Ferdinand was proclaimed King of Hungary by a group of nobles, but another faction of Hungarian nobles refused to allow a foreign ruler to hold that title and elected John Zápolya as an alternative king. The resulting conflict between the two rivals and their successors lasted until 1571. In 1531, Ferdinand's older brother Charles V recognised Ferdinand as his successor as Holy Roman Emperor, and Ferdinand was elevated to the title King of the Romans.

Anna and Ferdinand had fifteen children, all of whom were born in Bohemia or Hungary. Both of these kingdoms had suffered for centuries from premature deaths among heirs and a shortage of succession prospects. Meanwhile, Anna served as queen consort of Bohemia and as one of three living queens of Hungary until her death. She died in Prague, days after giving birth to her last daughter Joanna. In 1556, Charles V abdicated and Ferdinand succeeded as emperor, nine years after Anna's death. She is a matrilineal ancestor of Queen Victoria.

Children

Ancestors