Anna of Tyrol

Early years

Anna was born in Innsbruck on 4 October 1585 as the third and last daughter of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, and his second wife Anna Caterina Gonzaga. On her father's side her grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Anna Jagellonica, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, and on her mother's side her grandparents were Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and his wife Archduchess Eleanor of Austria. She had two older sisters, Archduchesses Anna Eleonore (26 June 1583 – 15 January 1584) and Maria (16 June 1584 – 2 March 1649), later a nun. All them suffered from poor health since birth.

Her baptism was conducted with special solemnity, being organizated by her uncles Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria and Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria. The godfather of the princess was Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (another uncle), for whom his son Archduke Ernest of Austria stood as proxy, while the rite was celebrated by the Bishop of Brixen.

Anna spend her childhood at the Innsbruck court, which thanks to her parents became in the center of Renaissance culture. She lived in Ambras Castle, Hofburg and Ruelyust Palaces. In order to protect the health of her daughter, since 1590 Archduchess-Countess Anna Caterina had a personal cookbook. In January 1595, the princess lost her father. Her widowed mother made every effort to give her daughters a good education. Anna then discovered an unusual musical talent, which was acquired for her clavichord (a rare and expensive instrument), and a teacher was hired. The love for music remained in the princess throughout her life.

Being raised in a strict Catholic environment, Anna, even as Holy Roman Empress, when she believed that she had committed a sin, engaged in self-flagellation to torment the flesh. The Dowager Archduchess-Countess made frequent pilgrimages, but didn't take her daughters with her due to their poor health. In 1606, she decided to found a convent there in Innsbruck for the Servants of Mary, Religious Sisters of the Servite Third Order, of which she was a member, and after arranging the marriage of her youngest daughter, she there took her monastic vows, taking a new name - Anna Juliana. Maria, Anna's older sister, followed their mother's example and also took the veil in the same convent under the name of Anna Catherine.

Marriage and coronation

Upon reaching adulthood, Anna began to receive offers of marriage. The first proposal was made in 1603 by King Sigismund III of Poland (then a widower), but Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor didn't gave his consent. Then the Emperor expressed his intention to marry the princess and sent to Innsbruck his court painter to make a portrait of his intended bride. Once the Emperor showed his interest in Anna, her mother stopped taking other marriage proposals for her, but soon Rudolf II declined his proposal. The Emperor's younger brother Archduke Matthias also began to woo her, and some time later, Rudolf II allowed the marriage of his brother to his former fiancée.

Anna and Matthias (at that point already King of Hungary and Bohemia) married on 4 December 1611 in Vienna at the Augustinian Church; bride and groom are first cousins –Matthias' father Emperor Maximilian II was an elder brother of Anna's father, Archduke Ferdinand II–. Matthias, although he was already in his fifties, hoped to sire an heir with his 26-year-old wife. Four years later, when Anna became slightly stout, rumors began at the Imperial court that she had finally become pregnant. But soon courtiers began to joke that her corpulence wasn't related to a pregnancy but because she had a very good appetite. Ultimately, the union was childless.

On 21 May 1612 Matthias was elected King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. Anna was crowned Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Germany in Frankfurt on 15 June 1612, two days after her husband, re-assuming the tradition of the coronation of emperors' wives. She was the first crowned Empress since Eleanor of Portugal. Anna was also crowned Queen of Hungary on 25 March 1613 in Pressburg and Queen of Bohemia on 10 January 1616 in Prague.

Called the "Good-natured and loving Empress", she had a great influence over her husband, jointly with Matthias' mistress Susana Wachter. Contemporaries called both spouses the "Working Couple" (de: Arbeitspaar). Upon her wife's request Matthias translated the Imperial court from Prague to Vienna, and soon, thanks to their joint efforts, the new court was one of the centers of European culture. Was also noted the special protection provided by the Empress to her Tyroleans subjects, arranging different positions for them at court. As a devout Catholic, she refused to talk to or interact with Protestant courtiers. Like her mother, Anna collected relics, especially from the holy ascetics. She also patronized the Capuchins, and later played an important role in the Austrian Counter-Reformation. For her devotion to the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Paul V awarded the Empress with the Golden Rose.

Last years and death

In 1617 Anna and her husband founded the Capuchin Church, Vienna. On 10 November 1618 construction began on their tomb. Anna died a month after construction started, on 14 December 1618 aged 33; her husband died only three months later, on 20 March 1619. Both spouses were temporarily buried in the royal Poor Clare monastery in Vienna. Only after the completion of construction of the built, which was continued by their cousin and successor, Emperor Ferdinand II, in 1633 the coffins with the remains of Matthians and Anna were transferred into the tomb, known as the Imperial Crypt. Their coffins were placed side by side. Was only during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand III that the Imperial crypt finally became the burial place of the Habsburg dynasty.