Queen's Apprentice: Archduchess Elizabeth, Empress María, the Habsburgs, and the Holy Roman Empire, 1554–1569

473 Pages·2009·1.49 MB·English

by  Joseph F. Patrouch

Queen’s Apprentice
Studies in Medieval and
Reformation Traditions
Edited by
Andrew Colin Gow
Edmonton, Alberta
In cooperation with
Sylvia Brown, Edmonton, Alberta
Falk Eisermann, Berlin
Berndt Hamm, Erlangen
Johannes Heil, Heidelberg
Susan C. Karant-Nunn, Tucson, Arizona
Martin Kaufh old, Augsburg
Jürgen Miethke, Heidelberg
M.E.H. Nicolette Mout, Leiden
Christopher Ocker, San Anselmo and Berkeley, California
Founding Editor
Heiko A. Oberman †
VOLUME 148
Queen’s Apprentice
Archduchess Elizabeth, Empress María,
the Habsburgs, and the Holy Roman Empire,
1554–1569
By
Joseph F. Patrouch
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2010
On the cover: Elisabeth d’Autriche by Francois Clouet (1571).
Th is book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Patrouch, Joseph F., 1960–
Queen’s apprentice : archduchess Elizabeth, empress Maria, the Habsburgs, and
the Holy Roman Empire, 1554–1569 / by Joseph F. Patrouch.
p. cm. — (Studies in Medieval and Reformation traditions, ISSN 1573-4188 ; 148)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-18030-7 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Elisabeth, of Austria, Queen, consort of Charles IX, King of France, 1554–1592
2. Maria, Empress, consort of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1528–1603.
3. Holy Roman Empire—History—Maximilian II, 1564–1576. 4. Empresses—Holy
Roman Empire—Biography. 5. Nobility—Holy Roman Empire. 6. Holy Roman
Empire—Court and courtiers. 7. Vienna (Austria)—Court and c ourtiers.
8. Habsburg, House of.
I. Title.
DD186.P38 2010
943’.0330922—dc22
[B]
2009040861
ISSN 1573-4188
ISBN 978 90 04 18030 7
Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission
from the publisher.
Koninklijke Brill NV has made all reasonable eff orts to trace all rights holders to
any copyrighted material used in this work. In cases where these eff orts have not
been successful the publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so
that the appropriate acknowledgements can be made in future editions, and to settle
other permission matters.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by
Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to
Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910,
Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
For Felice and Quinn, another important mother-daughter pair

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ ix
Introduction A Queen in Training and an Empress
in Charge ........................................................................................ 1
Chapter One Playing Queen: In the Women’s Court at
Vienna and Wiener Neustadt, 1554–1560 ................................ 11
Chapter Two Marriage Negotiations and the Tumultuous
1560’s ............................................................................................... 133
Chapter Th ree Empress and Imperial Daughter ....................... 245
Chapter Four Wars and Weddings on the Horizon ................ 341
Conclusions Growing Up: A Queen before the Fact ............... 395
Bibliography ........................................................................................ 401
Index .................................................................................................... 435

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Primary support for this project came from Florida International
University (FIU) which provided funding as well as the time off from
teaching responsibilities which made the project possible. Additional
funding was provided by the Austrian-American (Fulbright) Com-
mission in Vienna and the Geisteswissenschaft liches Zentrum für die
Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas (GWZO) in Leipzig.
It is important to thank the staff s at the various libraries and archives
visited, including the (now closed) Bundesarchiv Außenstelle Frankfurt/
Main, the Institut für Stadtgeschichte, Frankfurt/Main, Department
of Rare Books and Special Collections, Mendel Music Library, and
Marquand Library at Princeton University, Lesesaal Frankfurt und
Rara, Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main, the Haus-, Hof-, und
Staatsarchiv in Vienna, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (in Frankfurt/
Main and in Leipzig), the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, the
Uni versi tätsbibliothek, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institutsbibliothek, and the
Institut für Kunstgeschichte Bibliothek of the Freie Universität, Berlin,
and of course the Interlibrary Loan staff at the Florida International
University Libraries. Susanne Pils of the Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv
was particularly helpful in my dealings with the holdings of that
institution and contributed substantially to the project’s thematic
development through conversations and her own work on women
in early modern Vienna. Marcia Tucker at the Historical Studies—
Social Sciences Library, Institute for Advanced Study, helped locate
the c opies of Ernst Kantorowicz’s lecture notes which were consulted
for this study.
Presentations dealing with the archduchess Elizabeth and other
themes touched upon in this book were given at numerous confer-
ences and in lectures in the US, the UK, Austria, Germany, and the
Czech Republic. My thanks to fellow panel participants, commentators,
and contributing audience members for their suggestions. I am sure
that this project has benefi tted immensely from the input. Th e same
holds true for the comments of the FIU undergraduate and graduate
students who have heard me discuss this project and related issues in
various classes, including the seminars on Early Modern Courts, Early
Modern Empresses and Queens, and the City of Vienna, as well as the