Dowager Duchess
Kunigunde was very pious and able to exert influence on her brother on religious matters. In 1509, relying on the influence of Kunigunde, and the Cologne Dominicans, the anti-Jewish agitator Johannes Pfefferkorn was authorized by Maximilian to confiscate all offending Jewish books (including prayer books), except the Bible. The confiscations happened in Frankfurt, Bingen, Mainz and other German cities. Responding to the order, the archbishop of Mainz, the city council of Frankfurt and various German princes tried to intervene in defense the Jews. Maximilian consequently ordered the confiscated books to be returned. On 23 May 1510 though, influenced by a supposed "host desecration" and blood libel in Brandenburg, as well as pressure from Kunigunde, he ordered the creation of an investigating commission and asked for expert opinions from German universities and scholars. The prominent humanist Johann Reuchlin argued strongly in defense of the Jewish books, especially the Talmud.
In 1512, Kunigunde exposed the fraud of the self-appointed saint Anna Laminit of Augsburg (1480-1518), who had duped the population and enriched herself using her fame as a "hunger saint" for decades. Laminit had managed to approach even Maximilian himself, who paid personal visits to her and provided her and her maid with clothing. In 1503, Laminit attained her greatest success in persuading Bianca Maria Sforza, Maximilian's Queen (later Empress), to lead a penitent procession with the city's leading officials – probably the largest one the city had ever seen. However, rumours arose, that some people had seen the "saint" eat. Kunigunde decided to carry out an investigation herself. She invited Laminit to her monastery. When Laminit arrived on 16 October 1512, she was quartered in a guestroom, which had been prepared beforehand with peepholes. As soon as the door was locked, Laminit unpacked bags of fruit that she had hidden under the bed. Despite Laminit trying to cover up the scandal, on 13 October 1513, Kunigunde demanded a just punishment from the Imperial City Council Of Augsburg. On 30 January 1514, Maximilian personally decreed that Laminit would not be allowed to approach him or the city within a day's travel distance. Laminit then arrogantly left Augsburg and moved to Freiburg, where she married a widowed crossbow-maker and established herself as a herbalist. After a new fraud was exposed and one of her herbal drinks caused the death of a person at Freiburg though, she was condemned as a witch and executed by drowning.
Among Kunigunde's four daughters, Sidonie died young, so her sister Sibylle married Louis V, Elector Palatine, who had been betrothed to Sidonie. Susanne married twice – the first husband was a Margrave of Brandenburg, the second a Count Palatine. Sabine was married to Duke Ulrich of Württemberg, as a reward for having supported Albert in the war against George. The marriage turned out to be a disaster. Ulrich was a lazy ruler and a dissolute man who got into debt and physically abused Sabine. When Ulrich murdered the husband of his lover in broad daylight in 1515, it was too much for Kunigunde. She called Sabine back to her and told Maximilian to impose an imperial ban on Ulrich, which her brother did in 1516.
Kunigunde lived her last years in "quiet meditations and pious prayers", also for her brother who died in 1519 (she outlived him for a year).
