Viridis Visconti (1352–1414) was an Italian noblewoman, a daughter of the Lord of Milan, Bernabò Visconti, and his wife

Beatrice Regina della Scala Beatrice ''Regina'' della Scala (1331 – 18 June 1384) was Lady of Milan by marriage to Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan, and politically active as the adviser of her spouse.Tuchman, p.333 Life Beatrice Regina was born in Verona in 1331,Charle ...

. By her marriage to

Leopold III, Duke of Austria Leopold III (1 November 1351 – 9 July 1386), known as the Just, a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1365. As head and progenitor of the Leopoldian line, he ruled over the Inner Austrian duchies of Carinthia, Styria an ...

, Viridis was Duchess consort of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

and

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

, she was also Countess consort of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

Family

Viridis was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and was the second of seventeen children. Her sister,

Taddea Visconti Taddea Visconti, Duchess of Bavaria (1351 – 28 September 1381) was an Italian noblewoman of the Visconti family, the ruling house in Milan from 1277 to 1447. She was the first wife of Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria, and the mother of the French qu ...

married Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria and was mother of Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of

Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad (french: le Fol or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic ...

. Viridis and the rest of her sisters secured politically advantageous marriages. Her maternal grandparents were

Mastino II della Scala Mastino II della Scala (1308 – 3 June 1351) was lord of Verona. He was a member of the famous Scaliger family of Northern Italy. He was the son of Alboino I della Scala and Beatrice da Correggio. At the death of Cangrande I, he and his brother ...

and his wife Taddea

da Carrara The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405. Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, ...

. Her paternal grandparents were

Stefano Visconti Stefano Visconti (c. 1287 – 4 July 1327) was a member of the House of Visconti that ruled Milan from the 14th to the 15th century. Family He was the son of Matteo I Visconti. In 1318 he married Valentina Doria, daughter of Bernabò Doria from S ...

and his wife Valentina Doria. Viridis' father, Bernabò was described as a cruel and ruthless despot. He was also an implacable enemy of the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

. He seized the papal city of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, rejected the Pope and his authority, confiscated ecclesiastical property, and forbade any of his subjects to have any dealings with the

Curia Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they came ...

. He was excommunicated as a

heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

in 1363 by Pope Urban V, who preached

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

against him. When Bernabò was in one of his frequent rages, only the children's mother, Beatrice Regina, was able to approach him.

Marriage

Viridis married

, son of Albert II, Duke of Austria and his wife Johanna of Pfirt.MILAN Medieval Lands
/ref> The couple had seven children: # William the Courteous # Leopold IV the Fat #

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. Biography E ...

# Frederick IV of the Empty Pockets #Elisabeth (1378–1392) #Margaretha (1370–?) #Catherine (1385–?), Abbess of St. Klara in Vienna Viridis was widowed in 1386 and so their eldest son, William became

Duke of Austria This is a list of people who have ruled either the Margraviate of Austria, the Duchy of Austria or the Archduchy of Austria. From 976 until 1246, the margraviate and its successor, the duchy, was ruled by the House of Babenberg. At that time, t ...

. William's engagement to Jadwiga of Hungary, youngest daughter of the neighboring king, was one of the first attempts of the House of

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 ...

to extend their sphere of influence in Eastern Central Europe by marrying heiresses, a practice that gave rise to the phrase ''Bella gerant alii: tu felix Austria nube'' (Let others make war: thou happy Austria, marry). The wedding was broken off. Viridis died on 1 March 1414 and out-lived at least three of seven children, since her younger daughter, Katherine's date of death is unknown. Viridis is buried in

Stična Stična (; in older sources also ''Zatičina'',''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 102–103. german: Sittich) is a village in the Munic ...

(Sittich) in Lower Carniola, present-day

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Ancestry

References

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visconti, Viridis 1352 births 1414 deaths Viridis Austrian royal consorts 14th-century House of Habsburg 15th-century House of Habsburg 14th-century Italian women 14th-century Italian nobility 15th-century Austrian women 14th-century Austrian women