Urszula Meyerin

Urszula Meyerin (also, Meierin; 1570–1635) was a politically influential Polish courtier and mistress to King Sigismund III of Poland. Her real surname may have been Gienger (or Gienger von Grünbüchl), but that remains in dispute; she signed her letters Ursula Meyerin. In the German language, that surname means something along the lines of "chamberlain", "administrator", or "manager".

Early life

Urszula was most likely born near Munich in Duchy of Bavaria, in a poor noble family. She was the daughter of Anna, a Bavarian burgher lady, and who was likely one of the Habsburgs. Meyerin came to Graz as a child in the 1580s. She was pretty in her youth, and some time later was chosen by Maria Anna of Bavaria to become mistress to King Sigismund III of Poland. Maria Anna's own daughter (Anna of Habsburg) was fiancée to the Polish King, but was unattractive, and the Habsburgs had bad experiences with two marriages of King Sigismund Augustus of Poland. The girl joined Anne's court in Poland as a chamberlain in 1592.

Chamberlain

A devout Catholic, Urszula had considerable influence on the King and Queen. Shortly after her arrival in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, she acquired knowledge of Polish and became involved in the affairs of state which made her very unpopular. Meyerin used her influence on the King to appoint her favourites to state positions. As a result, she was contemptuously called King's mistress, minister in a skirt and Jesuit's bigotry.

Meyerin was a chamberlain of the Queen's court. Though she became the senior governess to the King's children and supervisor of Royal Nurses, she was not held in high esteem among them (Urszula was especially loathed by a protestant nurse of prince Władysław, Scottish Mrs. Forbes). After the Queen's death in 1598, she did not leave Poland, as did the other German Queen's ladies. This was due to her great attachment to the King and to young prince Władysław. Her tender letters to the prince are sometimes interpreted to contain more than a tutor's affection. A few months before her death, Władysław Vasa commissioned a painting, in which she sat in the middle of all the descendants of King Sigismund III, as a guide and guardian of the Vasa family.