Elizabeth of Austria (1526–1545)
Elizabeth of Austria was Queen of Poland by marriage. She was the eldest of fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife Anne of Bohemia and Hungary. A member of the House of Habsburg, she was married to Sigismund II Augustus, who was already crowned as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania even though both of his parents were still alive and well. The marriage was short and unhappy. Elizabeth was of frail health, experiencing epileptic seizures, and died at age 18.
Portrait by the circle of Lucas Cranach the Younger
Elizabeth at age four by Jakob Seisenegger
Elizabeth's sarcophagus (on the right) on display in Vilnius Cathedral in 1930s
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564. Before his accession as emperor, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the House of Habsburg in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Also, he often served as Charles' representative in the Holy Roman Empire and developed encouraging relationships with German princes. In addition, Ferdinand also developed valuable relationships with the German banking house of Jakob Fugger and the Catalan bank, Banca Palenzuela Levi Kahana.
Portrait by Hans Bocksberger der Ältere
Ferdinand as a young boy
King Ferdinand I of Hungary (Nádasdy Mausoleum, 1664)
Ferdinand in 1531, the year of his election as King of the Romans