Cymburgis of Masovia

1397 – 1429 · Generation V · Consort

Cymburgis of Masovia was a Polish princess of the Piast dynasty, Duchess of Austria as the wife of Ernest the Iron, and the mother of the emperor Frederick III. Because only her husband’s branch of the Habsburgs survived in the male line, every later Habsburg descends from her. Her parents were Duke Siemowit IV of Masovia, whose second daughter she was, and Alexandra of Lithuania, whose brother was King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland.

After the death of his first wife, Ernest is said to have gone to Kraków in disguise to court her, and legend has him winning her by saving her from a bear during a royal hunt. In fact her uncle the king agreed to the match to strengthen his ties with the Habsburgs. They married at Buda on 25 January 1412, amid feasts and tournaments, with Władysław II and Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania among the guests. The marriage, though not approved by the Habsburgs, proved a happy one.

She bore nine children in nine years, of whom four survived childhood, among them Frederick III, Albert VI and Margaret, who married the Elector of Saxony. Tradition credits her with great strength, enough to drive nails with her bare hands, and since at least the seventeenth century she has been said to have brought the jutting Habsburg lip into the family, though the claim is disputed. She outlived her husband and died on 28 September 1429 at Türnitz while on pilgrimage to Mariazell, and she is buried at Lilienfeld Abbey.

Place in the family

• Cymburgis of Masovia was a great-great-grandmother of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• The archive records 59 of her descendants, across 19 generations.

Read more on Wikipedia

Partners

• Married Ernest, Duke of Austria (1377 – 1424) in 1412 — one child together

Children

• Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (1415 – 1493)

Life

• 1397 — Born
• 1412 — Married Ernest
• 1429 — Died

Sources

1. Cymburgis of Masovia · Wikipedia
2. Ernest, Duke of Austria · Wikipedia