Maria Anna of Neuburg
| Maria Anna of Neuburg | |
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Maria Anna of Neuburg
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| Queen consort of Spain | |
| Tenure | 28 August 1689 – 1 November 1700 |
| Born | 28 October 1667 Benrath Palace, Düsseldorf, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Infantado Palace, Guadalajara, Spain |
| Burial | El Escorial, Spain |
| Spouse | Charles II of Spain |
| House | House of Wittelsbach |
| Father | Philip William, Elector Palatine |
| Mother | Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Maria Anna of Neuburg (Spanish: Mariana; 28 October 1667 – 16 July 1740) was Queen of Spain from 1689 to 1700 as the second wife of King Charles II.
Life
Born in Benrath Palace in Düsseldorf, she was the twelfth child of Philip William, Elector of the Palatinate, and Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.
She spent her childhood in the castle of Neuburg, where she was raised by a German governess, Frau von Klau, together with her sisters Maria Sophia, Dorothea Sophia - to whom she was very close - and Hedwig Elizabeth. Her family affectionately called her Mariandl. Since an early age, she was physically attractive: tall, thin, red-haired and with a fair complexion. However, she was also known for being haughty, vain, authoritarian and selfish.[citation needed]
Marie Louise of Orléans, the first wife of Charles II of Spain, had died childless on 12 February 1689. Maria Anna was chosen out of the many candidates to become his second wife because her ancestors had been very fertile - her parents had had 17 children. In addition, her eldest sister Eleonore was married to Emperor Leopold I so Spain's ties with the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs would become even stronger.[citation needed]
Marriage
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The marriage by proxy took place on 28 August 1689 in Ingolstadt, Germany with the attendance of her brother-in-law Emperor Leopold and her sister Empress Eleonore among other illustrious guests. However, it took Maria Anna several months to arrive in Spain, which didn't happen until the spring of 1690. She married Charles in person on 14 May 1690 in San Diego, near Valladolid.[citation needed] Nevertheless, this marriage also remained childless, in all probability not because she was infertile herself but because of the king's health problems.
During her time as queen, Maria Anna dominated her husband through her bursts of anger and her imaginary pregnancies.[citation needed] In addition, she was actively involved in several intrigues in the Spanish court, including her husband's exorcisms, and wanted Archduke Charles of Austria, her nephew and Charles's relative, to succeed to the Spanish thrones.[citation needed] Needless to say, she was in very bad terms with her mother-in-law, Maria Anna of Austria, the Queen Mother, who wished that the crowns would devolve upon her great-grandson, Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria.
Most people at the Spanish court hated Maria Anna, in part, because she used to do everything in order to get as much money as she could for her Palatine family and for herself, even stealing precious paintings from the royal collections of art and sending them to her German relatives[citation needed] - Charles vetoed sending Rubens' Adoration of the Magi to Maria's father, but she was successful in sending the same artist's The Reconciliation of Esau and Jacob to her brother Johann Wilhelm. Nevertheless, the economy of the kingdom was far from good and even Maria Anna had to make some economic sacrifices at times. For instance, once she was forced to pawn her own jewels in order to cover some expenses because her husband had no money at the time.[citation needed] She complained about this to her family writing that her sisters had had a better dowry than her. Her anger was even greater after hearing that her predecessor, Marie Louise of Orleans, had brought magnificent jewels with her when she married Charles.[citation needed]
Widowhood
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Her husband died on 1 November 1700 in Madrid and in his will he stated that his widow should be given a good allowance each year as well as treated with respect by his successor. However, the new king, Philip V, ordered Maria Anna to leave Madrid before making his entrance into the capital. The queen had no choice but to settle in the nearby city of Toledo, where she lived in the old and dark Alcazar. She sent some letters to her family in Germany, asking for their help.[citation needed]
Two years later, in 1706, her destiny changed when her nephew, Archduke Charles of Austria, occupied the city of Toledo with the imperial army. Naturally Maria Anna was very pleased and welcomed them, something that caused King Philip V to expel her from Spain a few years later. She settled in Bayonne, France, where she lived during the next few decades, forgotten by everyone.
In 1739, being old and sick, she was finally allowed to return to Spain. She settled in the Infantado Palace in Guadalajara, Spain, where she died on 16 July 1740. She was buried in El Escorial Monastery.
Heraldry
| Heraldry of Maria Anna of Neuburg | ||||
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Ancestry
External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
- http://historicalartmedals.com/MEDAL%20WEB%20ENTRIES/SPAIN-MEXICO/CHARLES%20II%20AND%20MARIA%20ANNA-BW380%20HIGH.htm Medal of Maria Anna and Charles II from Collection of Benjamin Weiss
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Maria Anna of Neuburg
Born: 28 October 1667 Died: 16 July 1740 |
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| Spanish royalty | ||
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| Vacant
Title last held by
Marie Louise of Orléans |
Queen consort of Spain 1690– 1700 |
Vacant
Title next held by
Maria Luisa of Savoy |
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- Articles containing Spanish-language text
- Articles with unsourced statements from February 2012
- Pages with broken file links
- 1667 births
- 1740 deaths
- Royal consorts of Naples
- Royal consorts of Sicily
- Spanish royal consorts
- Duchesses of Brabant
- Duchesses of Limburg
- Duchesses of Burgundy
- Duchesses of Luxembourg
- Countesses of Flanders
- Countesses of Hainaut
- Duchesses of Milan
- Countesses Palatine of Neuburg
- House of Wittelsbach
- 17th-century House of Habsburg
- 18th-century House of Habsburg
- People from Düsseldorf
- People from Berg (state)
- Burials in the Pantheon of Infantes at El Escorial
