Catherine of Austria, Polish Katarzyna Habsburżanka (15 September 1533 Innsbruck, Tyrol– 28 February 1572 Linz) was a member of the House of Habsburg, Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania and the last consort of King Sigismund II Augustus of Jagiellonian Dynasty.
Portrait of Catherine of Habsburg by Polish court painter, follower of Lucas Cranach the Younger, location: Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland.
Catherine was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor /LINK/and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. On 22 October 1549 she married Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. He died four months after marriage. On 23 June 1553 she became the third wife of King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and Lithuania, who was her first cousin once removed.
Catherine became pregnant and miscarried in October 1554. Maybe it was the false pregnancy. After the miscarriage, the King decided that his marriage was cursed because Catherine was sister of his first wife Elisabeth /LINK/. She also was diagnosed with epilepsy, as her older sister. King Sigismund II vainly attempted to have the marriage annulled, and in the autumn of 1566, Catherine left Poland and lived until her death in 1572 in Linz and was buried in 1614 in the Sankt Florian monastery near Linz in Austria.
Portrait of Catherine of Habsburg by Polish court painter, follower of Lucas Cranach the Younger, location: Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland.
Catherine was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor /LINK/and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. On 22 October 1549 she married Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. He died four months after marriage. On 23 June 1553 she became the third wife of King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and Lithuania, who was her first cousin once removed.
Catherine became pregnant and miscarried in October 1554. Maybe it was the false pregnancy. After the miscarriage, the King decided that his marriage was cursed because Catherine was sister of his first wife Elisabeth /LINK/. She also was diagnosed with epilepsy, as her older sister. King Sigismund II vainly attempted to have the marriage annulled, and in the autumn of 1566, Catherine left Poland and lived until her death in 1572 in Linz and was buried in 1614 in the Sankt Florian monastery near Linz in Austria.
