Cymburgis of Masovia (german: Cimburgis von Masowien), ( lt, Cimbarka Mazovietė), also Zimburgis or Cimburga ( pl, Cymbarka mazowiecka; 1394 or 1397 – 28 September 1429), a member of the Polish
Piast dynasty, was
Duchess of Austria from 1412 until 1424, by her marriage with the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
duke
Ernest the Iron
Ernest the Iron (; 1377 – 10 June 1424), a member of the House of Habsburg, ruled over the Inner Austrian duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1406 until his death. He was head of the Habsburg Leopoldian line from 1411.
Biograp ...
. As the mother of later Emperor
Frederick III, Cymburgis, after
Gertrude of Hohenberg
Gertrude Anne of Hohenberg ( – 16 February 1281) was German queen from 1273 until her death, by her marriage with King Rudolf I of Germany. As queen consort, she became progenitor of the Austrian House of Habsburg.
Biography
Gertrude was b ...
, became the second female ancestor of all later Habsburgs, as only her husband's Ernestine branch of the family survived in the male line.
Life
She was the second daughter of Duke
Siemowit IV, a scion of the
Masovian branch of the Piasts, and his consort
Alexandra, a daughter of Grand Duke
Algirdas of Lithuania from the dynasty of
Gediminids
The House of Gediminid or simply the Gediminids ( lt, Gediminaičiai, sgs, Gedėmėnātē, be, Гедзімінавічы, pl, Giedyminowicze, uk, Гедиміновичі;) were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reig ...
and sister of King
Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland.
![Franz Geyling Der tapfere Retter 1856](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Franz_Geyling_Der_tapfere_Retter_1856.jpg)
Though his elder brother
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
's engagement with the Polish princess
Jadwiga
Jadwiga (; diminutives: ''Jadzia'' , ''Iga'') is a Polish feminine given name. It originated from the old German feminine given name ''Hedwig'' (variants of which include ''Hedwiga''), which is compounded from ''hadu'', "battle", and ''wig'', "fig ...
had mortifyingly failed, Duke Ernest the Iron, after the death of his first wife Margaret of Pomerania, proceeded to
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
in disguise to court Cymburgis. According to legend, he stepped into her heart when he participated in a royal hunt and saved the princess from an attacking bear. Actually, her uncle King Władysław II, stuck in the
Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War
The Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, also known as the Great War, occurred between 1409 and 1411 between the Teutonic Knights and the allied Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Inspired by the local Samogitian uprising, the war beg ...
and struggling with the
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
king
Sigismund of Hungary
Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia (''jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1 ...
took the occasion to strengthen ties with the Habsburg dynasty and gave his consent.
The wedding took place on 25 January 1412 in
Buda (german: links=no, Ofen), the residence of King Sigismund, where he mediated the peace negotiations between
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and the
Teutonic Order
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
. Though not approved by the Habsburg family, the marriage turned out to be a happy one. Upon the death of his brothers William and
Leopold IV, Ernest became the sole ruler of the
Inner Austria
Inner Austria (german: Innerösterreich; sl, Notranja Avstrija; it, Austria Interiore) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchi ...
n territories, while his cousin
Albert V Albert V may refer to:
*Albert V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (ca. mid-1330s–1370)
*Albert V, Duke of Mecklenburg (1397–1423)
*Albert II of Germany (1397–1439), Albert V as Duke of Austria
*Albert V, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (died c. 1469)
*Albert ...
ruled over the
Duchy of Austria
The Duchy of Austria (german: Herzogtum Österreich) was a medieval principality of the Holy Roman Empire, established in 1156 by the ''Privilegium Minus'', when the Margraviate of Austria (''Ostarrîchi'') was detached from Bavaria and elevated ...
proper.
Although controversial, it has been claimed (since at least by
Robert Burton
Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, who wrote the encyclopedic tome ''The Anatomy of Melancholy''.
Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Burt ...
in 1621) that she brought the distinctive protruding lower lip (
prognathism) into the family, a particular physical characteristic of most members of the family for many generations until the 18th century. It can even be recognized in some of her distant descendants (though not as markedly) as King
Alfonso XIII of Spain (1886–1941). However, already her husband's great-grandfather King
Albert I or his uncle Duke
Rudolf IV
Rudolf IV (1 November 1339 – 27 July 1365), also called Rudolf the Founder (german: der Stifter), was a scion of the House of Habsburg who ruled as duke of Austria (self-proclaimed archduke), Styria and Carinthia from 1358, as well as cou ...
were presented in portraits with it, while Cymburgis' statue in the Innsbruck
Hofkirche church does not show this feature.
![Innsbruck 1 257](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Innsbruck_1_257.jpg)
Tradition has it that she was also known for her exceptional strength, which, for example, she showed by driving nails into the wall with her bare hands and cracking nuts between her fingers. Cymburgis outlived her husband and died on a pilgrimage to
Mariazell
Mariazell ( Central Bavarian: ''Mariazöö'') is an Austrian city in the southeastern state of Styria. Well known for being a hub of winter sports and a pilgrimage destination, it is located north of Graz. It is picturesquely situated in the vall ...
while staying at
Türnitz
Türnitz is a town in the district of Lilienfeld (district), Lilienfeld in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.
Population
Climate
Mean annual temperature is 8.2 degree Celsius; annual precipitation is 1108.8 mm. Rainfall is at its highes ...
(in present-day
Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
). She is buried at
Lilienfeld Abbey
Lilienfeld Abbey (german: Stift Lilienfeld) is a Cistercian monastery in Lilienfeld in Lower Austria, south of Sankt Pölten.
History
It was founded in 1202 by Leopold VI of Austria, Leopold VI, Duke of Austria and Styria, as a daughter house of ...
.
Issue
During their marriage, Cymburgis and Ernest had nine children, of whom only four survived infancy:
''AUSTRIA'' in Charles Crawley: Medieval Lands
Retrieved 18 June 2014.
* Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. Innsbruck, 21 September 1415 – d. Linz, 19 August 1493).
* Margaret of Austria (b. Wiener Neustadt, 1416 – d. Altenburg, 12 February 1486), married Frederick II, Elector of Saxony
Frederick II, The Gentle (''Friedrich, der Sanftmütige''; Frederick the Gentle) (22 August 1412 – 7 September 1464) was Elector of Saxony (1428–1464) and was Landgrave of Thuringia (1440–1445).
Biography
Frederick was born in Leipz ...
.
* Albert VI, Archduke of Austria
Albert VIKonstantin Moritz A. Langmaier: Erzherzog Albrecht VI. von Österreich (1418–1463). Ein Fürst im Spannungsfeld von Dynastie, Regionen und Reich (= Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters. Bd. 38). Böhlau, Köln ...
(b. Vienna, 18 December 1418 – d. Vienna, 2 December 1463).
* Catherine of Austria (b. Wiener Neustadt, 1420 – Schloss Hohenbaden, 11 September 1493), married Charles I, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Charles I of Baden (1427 – 24 February 1475, Pforzheim) was a Margrave of Baden-Baden during 1454–1475.
Charles was the elder son of Jacob, Margrave of Baden-Baden, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Charles II, Duke of Lorraine. In 1462 h ...
.
* Ernest II of Austria (b. Wiener Neustadt, 1420 - d. Wiener Neustadt, 10 August 1432).
* Alexandra of Austria (b. and d. Wiener Neustadt, 1421).
* Anna of Austria (b. Wiener Neustadt, 1422 – d. Wiener Neustadt, 11 November 1429).
* Leopold of Austria (b. and d. Wiener Neustadt, 1424).
* Rudolph of Austria (b. and d. Wiener Neustadt, 1424).
Ancestry
Footnotes
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, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cymburgis of Masovia
1390s births
1429 deaths
Nobility from Warsaw
15th-century Polish nobility
15th-century Polish women
15th-century Austrian women
15th-century Austrian people
Piast dynasty
15th-century House of Habsburg
German duchesses
Austrian royal consorts
Polish people of Lithuanian descent
Polish people of Russian descent
Polish people of German descent
Medieval nobility of the Holy Roman Empire