Catherine of Austria (Polish: Katarzyna Habsburżanka; Lithuanian: Kotryna Habsburgaitė; 15 September 1533 – 28 February 1572) was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. In 1553, she married Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus and became Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania. Catherine suffered miscarriage or false pregnancy in 1554, and – after no children followed – Sigismund became increasingly distant. He tried but failed to obtain an annulment of the marriage from the pope. In 1565, Catherine returned to Austria and lived in Linz until her death. Sigismund died just a few months after her, bringing the male line of the Jagiellon dynasty to its end. The dynasty would continue, strictly speaking, for one more reign—that of Sigismund Augustus’ sister, Anna Jagiellon, who was crowned with the male title of Rex Poloniae.
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Early life and Duchess of Mantua
Catherine was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. She spent most of her childhood at Hofburg, Innsbruck and received education based on discipline and religion, learning the Italian and Latin languages. On 17 March 1543, Catherine was betrothed to Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Marquess of Montferrat, reflecting her father's desire to strengthen Habsburg influence against France in northern Italy, particularly Milan. Catherine and Francesco were 9 and 10 years old at the time, so the wedding took place six years later on 22 October 1549. In October 1549, Catherine with a dowry of 100,000 Rhine florins was escorted by her elder brother Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria from Innsbruck to Mantua. The marriage lasted only four months as Francesco drowned in Lake Como on 21 February 1550, and a widowed Catherine returned home to Innsbruck. To improve Catherine's chances of a better second marriage, the Habsburgs claimed that the marriage was not consummated.
Queen consort of Poland and Lithuania
Wedding
In May 1551, after the death of his beloved second wife Barbara Radziwiłł, King-Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus became a widower. Emperor Ferdinand I pursued the marriage between Catherine and Sigismund to create a pro-Habsburg group within the Polish-Lithuanian court. Particularly, he wanted to prevent Polish assistance to Sigismund's sister Isabella Jagiellon and her son John Sigismund Zápolya in the succession disputes over the Kingdom of Hungary. Both Catherine and Sigismund personally opposed the marriage. Catherine blamed Sigismund of mistreating and causing the early death of her older sister and his first wife Elizabeth of Austria. Sigismund feared that Catherine would be similarly unattractive and of frail health as Elisabeth. However, the Habsburgs threatened to create an anti-Polish alliance with the Tsardom of Russia.
In early 1553, Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł traveled to the court of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, in an attempt to persuade the emperor to cease his assistance to Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Radziwiłł had further orders to travel to investigate marriage opportunities with Mechthild of Bavaria or one of the daughters of Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. However, the Emperor convinced Radziwiłł that marriage between Catherine and Sigismund was best. Radziwiłł wrote enthusiastic letters to Sigismund, who soon gave in and gave his consent on 10 April 1553. The papal dispensation (they were first cousins once removed) was received on 20 May and the wedding treaty was signed on 23 June. The same day the per procura wedding took place. The actual wedding was delayed due to Sigismund's ill health from 1 July to 30 July. The celebrations lasted 10 days. Catherine's dowry was 100,000 florins as well as 500 grzywnas of silver, 48 expensive dresses, and about 800 jewels.
Life with Sigismund
Catherine spoke Italian and therefore could communicate with Queen mother Bona Sforza and her family. She was ambitious and tried to gain political influence in the Polish-Lithuanian court which caused Sigismund's ire. At least at first, he attempted to do right by his wife – he needed an heir and was acutely aware of the criticism of his treatment of his first wife Elizabeth of Austria. In February 1554, the royal couple separated for the first time. Catherine was in Parczew while Sigismund attended general sejm in Lublin.
According to royal secretary Michał Trzebuchowski, the Queen was very upset during the separation with her husband in February and March 1554 and kept crying. When Sigismund visited his wife on 9–10 April, Catherine informed him that she was pregnant. During pregnancy the Queen was reported several times to suffer ginecological affliction with "hemmorage" and "mucus" as its symptoms; however, no miscarriage was recorded, and she claimed to still feel her unborn child's movement inside. On 25 May the royal pair reached Vilnius where with short breaks Catherine lived for nine years.
In late summer midwives from her father's court were sent to Lithuania to assist the birth of her child. However, in October of the same year the Queen wrote in the latter to her mother-in-law that there will be no child as "all movemenets [of the presumed fetus], and all signs have failed". Neither live-birth nor stillbirth was recorded, making unclear wheter Catherine was pregnant at all. Sigismund later made two contradictory statements on the matter: that Catherine pretended she is pregnant with the goal to present him with non-royal foundling, or that "because of the hatred to Poland, she made an effort to achieve miscarriage". Modern researchers opinions wheter Catherine was pregnant or not are varied. It has been proposed that she might have suffered from the false pregnancy.
Relatively normal, albeit somewhat distant, the marriage continued for a few more years. It seems that Catherine accompanied her husband to general sejm in spring 1555 and to the per procura wedding of Sophia Jagiellon and Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in January 1556. She also continued to mediate between her husband and her father, carried frequent correspondence with Albert, Duke of Prussia, and was known for generally favorable views on Protestantism. Catherine's dowry was paid by her father at the end of 1555 or very early 1556, and on 19 January 1556, she received the towns of Wiślica, Żarnów, Radom, Nowy Korczyn, Kozienice, Chęciny, and Radoszyce.