Anna Maria Princess of Eggenberg, née Brandenburg-Bayreuth (born 30 December 1609 in

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

; died 8 May 1680 in

Ödenburg Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...

) was a

Margravine Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...

Brandenburg-Bayreuth The Principality of Bayreuth (german: Fürstentum Bayreuth) or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (''Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth'') was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dyna ...

and, by marriage Johann Anton I von Eggenberg, a ''

Fürst ' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German word for a ruler and is also a princely title. ' were, since the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of ...

in'' (princess) of Eggenberg.

Life

Anna Maria was a daughter of the

Margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...

Christian von Brandenburg-Bayreuth from his marriage with

Marie of Prussia Marie of Prussia (german: Marie Friederike Franziska Hedwig von Preußen; October 15, 1825 – May 17, 1889) was Queen of Bavaria by marriage to Maximilian II of Bavaria, and the mother of Kings Ludwig II and Otto of Bavaria. Life Born and ra ...

, daughter of

Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia Albert Frederick (german: Albrecht Friedrich; pl, Albrecht Fryderyk; 7 May 1553 – 27 August 1618) was the Duke of Prussia, from 1568 until his death. He was a son of Albert of Prussia and Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was the secon ...

. She was married according to the Roman Catholic rite into the Styrian noble family of Eggenberg on 23 October 1639 in

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

to Prince Johann Anton I von Eggenberg, Duke of Krumau, who subsequently received the opportunity to acquire the shire of

Gorizia and Gradisca The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (german: Gefürstete Grafschaft Görz und Gradisca; it, Principesca Contea di Gorizia e Gradisca; sl, Poknežena grofija Goriška in Gradiščanska), historically sometimes shortened to and spelled " ...

along the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

coast two years later from his boyhood friend, Emperor Ferdinand III. The marriage ceremony had been negotiated by Christian Wilhelm von Brandenburg and prince Johann Anton I thereby secured for himself Brandenburg support for his claim to a seat in the Imperial Diet. She demonstrated a strong character and conviction by holding on firmly to her family's Protestant faith in spite of her marriage to the son of

Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg (156818 October 1634) was an Austrian statesman, a son of Seyfried von Eggenberg, Lord of Erbersdorf (1526-1594), and great-grandson of Balthasar Eggenberger (died 1493). He was a prominent member of the House of E ...

, chief minister of Emperor Ferdinand II, who had prosecuted the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

in the

Habsburg hereditary lands The ''Erblande'' ("Hereditary Lands") of the House of Habsburg formed the Alpine heartland of the Habsburg monarchy.Kann, ''Habsburg Empire'', 1–4. They were the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs within the Holy Roman Empire from before ...

as well as the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. Upon the early death of her husband in 1649 Anna Maria, together with her father and Wolf von Stubenberg held the guardianship of both under age sons, agreeing to remain in Habsburg hereditary lands and to raise them in the Catholic tradition, as well as administration of the Eggenberg possessions. This, as well as her extensive correspondence with her two sons, showed her to be a wise, circumspect and loving mother. During her guardianship, coins were minted featuring portraits of both sons at the mint in

Český Krumlov Castle Český Krumlov Castle is a castle in Český Krumlov in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It dates back to 1240 when the first castle was built by the Vítkovci family, the main branch of the powerful Bohemian family Rosenberg. ...

. The princess was also a significant patron supporting the construction of the pilgrimage church of Mary of the Snows (german: link=no, Maria Schnee Kirche, cz, Svatý Kámen nad Malší) near Krumau ( cz, Český Krumlov) in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. Having died unexpectedly at the young age of 39, Johann Anton I left his family with only a draft of a testament that was both unsigned and not notarized but left the bulk of the possessions to the eldest son. The princess Anna Maria refused to recognize the draft as legitimate and administered the Eggenberg possessions until 1664 when the two brothers took over control, though it wasn't until 1672 that they actually settled on a division of the possessions amongst themselves. Anna Maria further demonstrated her mothering instincts by going personally to the emperor himself to request that her daughter be compensated with an equivalent sum as a

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

.''Jahrbücher der Literatur, Band 107–108'', C. Gerold, 1844, S. 39
Digitalisat
Upon a visit to the town of

( hu, Sopron) in Hungary in 1670, she found the religious tolerance more open than in the staunchly Catholic

Duchy of Styria The Duchy of Styria (german: Herzogtum Steiermark; sl, Vojvodina Štajerska; hu, Stájer Hercegség) was a duchy located in modern-day southern Austria and northern Slovenia. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 180 ...

and relocated her court in 1674 there to a small city palace, compared with the castle in Krumau or the Palais Herberstein, a city palace in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. In Sopron she was allowed to hold Protestant services in her courtyard across the street from the former Protestant Church of St. George, which had previously been turned over to the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s. That city palace in Sopron still bears her name as the Eggenberg House ( hu, Eggenberg-ház) and is still adorned with the coat of arms of the princes of

above the main gate and the

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...

coat of arms beneath what was the pulpit above the courtyard. She died in this house on 8 May 1680 and is interred with her parents in the City Church (german: link=no, Stadtkirche) of

Issue

Ancestors

References

Literature

*Barbara Kaiser. ''Schloss Eggenberg''. Graz: Christian Brandstätter Verlag, 2006, p. 60. (available in German or English editions through the

Universalmuseum Joanneum The Universalmuseum Joanneum is a multidisciplinary museum with buildings in several locations in the province of Styria, Austria. It has galleries and collections in many subject areas including archaeology, geology, paleontology, mineralogy, ...

) * Walther Ernest Heydendorff. ''Die Fürsten und Freiherren zu Eggenberg und ihre Vorfahren''. Graz: Verlag Styria, 1965, pp. 161–163, 175–184. * Christian von Stramberg, Anton Joseph Weidenbach. ''Denkwürdiger und nützlicher rheinischer Antiquarius: Welcher die wichtisten und angenehmsten geographischen, historischen und politischen Merkwürdigkeiten des ganzen Rheinstroms, von seinem Ausflusse in das Meer bis zu seinem Ursprunge darstellt'', Band 1, Teil 4, R. F. Hergt, 1863, p. 413 ff. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eggenberg, Anna Maria von, nee Brandenburg-Bayreuth 1609 births 1680 deaths 17th-century German people 17th-century Austrian people Austrian nobility Anna Maria People from Bayreuth German expatriates in Hungary 17th-century Austrian women 17th-century German women Daughters of monarchs