Archduchess Barbara of Austria

Barbara of Austria (30 April 1539 – 19 September 1572), was an Archduchess of Austria as a member of the House of Habsburg and by marriage Duchess consort of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio during 1565–1572.

Life Early years Born in Vienna on 30 April 1539, Barbara was the eleventh child and eighth daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. On her father's side she was the granddaughter of King Philip I of Castile (also Duke of Burgundy) and Queen Joanna of Castile. On her mother's side, she was the granddaughter of King Vladislaus II of Hungary and Anne of Foix-Candale (who in turn was through her own mother Infanta Catherine of Navarre, a granddaughter of Queen Eleanor of Navarre and Gaston IV, Count of Foix).

In the winter of 1547, the widowed Emperor Ferdinand I entrusted all his unmarried daughters to the care of nuns in the monastery in Innsbruck, where Barbara lived until her marriage. Only once, in 1552, during the invasion of the Tyrol by the Protestant army under the command of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, did Barbara and her sisters Magdalena, Margaret, Helena and Joanna, spend some time outside the monastery at Bruneck Castle.

A dynastic marriage with the head of the House of Este was beneficial to the House of Habsburg, who sought to reduce the traditional influence of the French kings over the dukes of Ferrara. However, in order to avoid a conflict between the Houses of Medici and Este, the Emperor proposed that Barbara marry Alfonso II. This decision was supported by King Philip II of Spain, an ally of the Duchy of Florence.

Barbara first met Alfonso II in July 1565, when he visited Innsbruck to get to know her. In November of the same year, she and Joanna arrived in Trento, where Pope Pius IV sent his legates to conduct a double marriage ceremony, Joanna to Francesco de' Medici and Barbara to Alfonso d'Este. The ceremony was postponed due to a quarrel between the grooms-to-be over who had precedence in the ceremony. In the end, the brides went separately to the respective capitals of their future spouses (Florence and Ferrara) to marry. Among the guests at the wedding were the former fiancé of Barbara, the Duke of Mantua, with his wife, her older sister.

On becoming duchess of Ferrara, Barbara won the love of her subjects through the merciful way in which she treated all those in need. Despite her not speaking Italian, she and her husband enjoyed a complete understanding. Their marriage, which proved childless, was happy. When, a year after the wedding, Alfonso II participated in the war against the Ottoman Empire, Barbara was sincerely worried about her husband. The experience negatively impaired her health; from that time she was reported as being constantly ill.

Premature death Barbara died of tuberculosis in Ferrara on 19 September 1572. Her untimely death caused grief among her subjects, with the Jesuits grieving the most. The leadership of the order allowed the Duke to bury his wife in the altar of the Ferrarese Church of the Gesù. Seven years later, Alfonso II married for the third time to Margherita Gonzaga, who was Barbara's niece. In another portrait of 1565, made after her marriage, she is depicted full size. This portrait is work of Francesco Terzi.

Ancestry