This Queen of France shares not only the name but the same nickname to the Queen of England, the infamous Elizabeth Woodville. Both were known for their beauty and piety, and both were not very praised by their respective mothers-in-law. Still, each one managed to be strong following the context they were in. Elizabeth Woodville was the Queen of a White House, the Yorkists brench of the Plantagenet family, whilst Élisabeth of Austria was known as la Reine blanche by the time her husband died.
Élisabeth was born in July 5, 1554. Her parents were the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II and Maria of Spain, and she had four older siblings before she was born, being the second daughter and fifth child. She was raised with her older sister, Anna, and a younger brother, Matthias, within the privileged palace in Vienna, where they lived secluded from the court. There, they received a good education paired for their status: Élisabeth was fluent in German, Latin, Spanish and Italian, as well as her siblings, and was praised also for her beauty. She had blonde hair and a very soft, porcelain skin.
At the age of eight, it was considered who would have her hand. The options were the future Charles IX of France or Sebastian of Portugal. The representative of the French, upon meeting her, was reported to have found the next Queen of France. As seen below:
"In 1562 the Maréchal de Vieilleville, a member of the French delegation sent to Vienna, exclaimed after see the eight-years-old princess: "Your Majesty, this is the Queen of France!""
Although Catherine de' Medici preferred Élisabeth's older sister, Anna, this would not happen as she was already betrothed to her uncle, the King of Spain. Soon, Élisabeth and Charles, who was then the Duke of Orléans, were married by proxy, with her uncle representing the now French King. After a week of celebrations, she departed to France.
"In France, the roads proved impassable due to constant rain. The royals decided that the official wedding was to be celebrated in the small border town of Mézières-en-Champagne. King Charles IX of France & Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria were formally married there on 26 November 1570. Since the wedding took place far away from Paris, it was not until the spring that the German-French alliance was celebrated with magnificent feasts in the French capital, as she officially became queen."
Though the archduchess was said to have been in delight with her husband, kissing him in public even, her relationship with Charles was not one of love despite the mutual respect and admiration. He did not abandon his long-time mistress, though, which was encouraged by his own mother who feared that Élisabeth could influence her son. Aware of her piety nature, he worked with Catherine de' Medici to keep his Queen away from the French liberty costumes, which had shocked her. So then Élisabeth was dedicated to embroidery, reading and charitable works.
Although she was strongly against the Protestants, to the point she refused to acknowledge the leader of the Huguenots, a courtier named Gaspard II de Coligny, when the infamous event Bartholomew's Day happened, she was genuinely horrorified and upon asking Charles who was the responsible for such cruelty, Élisabeth was told it was he, so in turn she said she would "pray for his soul".
A few months later, she gave birth to a girl, named Marie Élisabeth, in honour of maternal grandmother, Holy Roman Empress Maria of Spain, and Elisabeth after the Queen of England, Elizabeth I, who was the child's godmother.
But "by the time of her birth, the health of Marie Elisabeth's father was deteriorating rapidly, and after long suffering, in which Elisabeth rendered him silent support and prayed for his recovery, Charles IX died on 30 May 1574; Elisabeth wept "tears so tender, and so secret", according to Brantôme, at his bedside." She was also "expelled from the King's chamber by her mother-in-law, Queen Catherine de Medici."
By then known as 'the white Queen', Élisabeth refused marrying her brother-in-law Henry III, receiving the title of Duchess of Berry. And "after a 40 days mourning period, Elisabeth was compelled by her father to return to Vienne", leaving her 3 year-old daughter behind though she visited Marie Élisabeth in the next year, 1575.
Throughout her widowhood, Élisabeth did not remarry, declining the proposal of being Phillip of Spain's fourth wife with the death of her sister, Anna. And when her daughter came to die with only six years of age, "she bought land upon which she founded a convent of the order of Saint Clare, where she spent the rest of her life." She also continued to exchange letters with Marguerite de Valois, the famous Queen Margot, with whom she was friends. To her, two books she wrote, today lost, were sent as well as part of jewelry to aid her when she was no longer married to Henry IV.
On the 22nd day of January, 1592, at age of 32, the former Queen of France died, probably the cause being pleurosy. Élisabeth was dedicated to the poor and followed the word of God until the end of her days, being a patroness of the Jesuits. It's said that "Brantôme wrote: when she died, the Empress [...] (her mother] said [...]: "El mejor de nosotros es muerto" (The best of us is dead)."
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_of_Austria,_Queen_of_France
http://bjws.blogspot.com.br/2015/10/biography-elisabeth-of-austria-15541592.html
http://royalwomen.blogspot.com.br/2011/01/elisabeth-of-austria-queen-of-france.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/habsburg/a/Elisabeth-of-Austria-1554.htm
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário