Isabella of Austria
1501 – 1526 · Generation IX · Consort · The marriage empire
Isabella (1501 – 1526). Consort. Married Christian in 1515. Sister of Charles V; Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden by Christian II; followed her deposed husband into exile. Born in Brussels, she was raised with her sisters Eleanor and Mary at their aunt Margaret’s court in Mechelen, where her teachers included Juan Luis Vives, who took her through Latin, Greek and scripture, and the future Pope Adrian VI. Christian’s Dutch mistress, Dyveke Sigbritsdatter, overshadowed her first years in Copenhagen, but after Dyveke died in 1517 the marriage grew much warmer, and she became the king’s adviser and his regent in Denmark while he was in Sweden in 1520. Offered a pension to remain after his fall in 1523, she answered that her kingdom was wherever her king was, and joined his exile, lobbying for his return in England, Germany and the Netherlands. In Germany she warmed to Luther’s teaching and took Protestant communion at Nuremberg in 1524, to her family’s fury. She died near Ghent in 1526, aged twenty-four, and was mourned as “the mother of her people.”
Place in the family
- Isabella of Austria was a sister of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
- Isabella of Austria was the third of 6 children of Philip I of Castile and Joanna of Castile recorded in this archive.
One of 10 people of The marriage empire (1440–1578) in this archive. The generations in which Habsburg marriages gathered Burgundy, Spain and Bohemia-Hungary into a single inheritance.
Line of descent: Rudolf I of Germany → Albert I of Germany → Albert II, Duke of Austria → Leopold III, Duke of Austria → Ernest, Duke of Austria → Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor → Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor → Philip I of Castile → Isabella of Austria.
Parents
- Philip I of Castile (1478 – 1506)
- Joanna of Castile (1479 – 1555)
Siblings
- Eleanor of Austria (1498 – 1558)
- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500 – 1558)
- Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503 – 1564)
- Mary of Hungary (1505 – 1558)
- Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal (1507 – 1578)
Partners
- Married Christian II of Denmark (1481 – 1559) in 1515
Life
- 1501 — Born
- 1515 — Married Christian
- 1526 — Died