Cecylia Renata

Cecylia Renata, (July 16, 1611 – March 24, 1643 or 1644¹) was a daughter of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor from the house of Habsburg, and Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574–1616), Queen of Poland and the consort of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth monarch Władysław IV Waza. In Poland she is also known as Cecylia Renata Rakuszanka or Cecylia Renata Austriaczka, both names meaning Cecylia Renata of Austria.

Born in 1611 in Graz, she married Władysław on 13 September 1637, and on the same day was crowned in the St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw. Young and energetic, she soon started organising the royal court to her liking. She was popular, especially for her politeness – one szlachta writer in his memoires writes that she insisted other women sat with her, even though she was a queen. She advocated the Habsburg point of view and allied herself with the pro-Habsburg faction of chancellor Jerzy Ossolinski. Her two children died in childhood (Zygmund Kazimierz – April 1640 – 9 August 1647; Maria Anna Izabella – 8 January 1642 – 1643). Cecylia Renata died in 1643¹ in Wilno.

Notes

1. Conflicting sources, some state 1643, others 1644.
2. It is unknown whether this pic presents Cecylia Renata or Gryzelda Konstancja z Zamoyskich Wiśniowiecka, as the historical sources are indecisive. See external links below.

External links

• Discussion of the portrait, in Polish