Joanna of Rožmitál

Joanna of Rožmitál (c. 1430 – 12 November 1475) was Queen consort of Bohemia as the second wife of George of Poděbrady.

She was a daughter of John of Rožmitál and his wife Ludmilla of Strakonicz.

Marriage

Joanna married George of Poděbrady in 1450 (the marriage was probably arranged by Joanna's brother, Jaroslav Lev Rosenthal because her father had died in her childhood), a year after the death of his first wife Kunigunde, by whom he had six children.

Shortly after the marriage, in 1452, George became adept with the provincial administrator of Ladislaus the Posthumous. When Ladislaus died in 1457 of leukemia, people questioned who would succeed the childless King in Bohemia and Hungary; the main candidates to succeed were Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and George. George was eventually selected and they were crowned in 1458.

Both of Joanna's surviving children went on to have their own children.

Joanna actively supported her husband in politics; she was not only a mentor, but she was personally involved in state affairs, being part of her husband's political agenda. Joanna, however gained recognition as an esteemed wife and mother. George later brought his children with Joanna and her stepchildren to court. Joanna's stepdaughter Catherine was even married off to George's old rival Matthias Corvinus. Joanna's brother lent her passport to travel to Western Europe in the years 1465–1467. She left her husband for making the prayer book of King George. When the Pope cursed George, this applied even to his wife and all their children. In August, 1470 she led the Czech armies fighting Matthias Corvinus for Bohemia, when all peace was broken after the premature death of Catherine.

Widowhood

George died in 1471, and was succeeded by Vladislas II of Hungary. In 1473 Joanna and Vladislas launched a land assembly in Benešov, where they sought to remind those present of the political legacy of Joanna's husband and his attempt to compromise between Catholicism and Utraquism.

After 1473 Joanna moved to the traditional place of Bohemian widowed queens, Mělník. The local Royal Chapter St. Peter and Paul referred six thousand talents of silver to Joanna.

Joanna died on November 12, 1475 at Mělník. According to her last will she wished to rest in the church beneath the town, but other sources indicate that she was buried in St. Vitus alongside George. Her funeral was also attended by Vladislas II.

Of her four children, only Henry and Ludmila lived to adulthood.

Joanna and George had the following children, only two of them lived to adulthood:

1. Henry (1452–1492) married Catherine, daughter of William III, Duke of Saxony
2. Frederick (1453–1458), died young
3. Agnes?, believed to have died young
4. Ludmila (16 October 1456 – 20 January 1503), married Frederick I of Liegnitz