Archduchess Helena of Austria (1543–1574)

Helena of Austria
Bust of a daughter of Ferdinand I (presumed to be of Helena) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Born	(1543-01-07)7 January 1543 Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died	5 March 1574(1574-03-05) (aged 31) Hall in Tirol, County of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empire
House	House of Habsburg
Father	Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Anne of Bohemia and Hungary

Helena of Austria (German: Helena von Österreich; 7 January 1543 – 5 March 1574) was a co-founder of the Ladies' Convent of Hall (Haller Damenstift), born an archduchess of Austria from the House of Habsburg as the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Life

Early life

Archduchess Helena of Austria was born in Vienna in the Archduchy of Austria on 16 February 1536 as the fourteenth child and tenth daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503–1564) and his wife, born Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). She had a strict, religious upbringing with a heavy influence from Jesuits.

Life as a nun

Due to her frail health, her father considered her unfit for marriage, so she became a nun in Hall in Tirol, County of Tyrol, founding the Ladies' Convent of Hall (Haller Damenstift) under the supervision of the Society of Jesus with her older sisters Archduchesses Magdalena (1532–1590) and Margaret (1536–1567) of Austria.^[1][2] She died there on 5 March 1574 at the age of 31, and was buried in the local Jesuit Church (Jesuitenkirche).^[3][4][5][6]

Notes

1. Harald Tersch: Österreichische Selbstzeugnisse des Spätmittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit (1400–1650). Böhlau ed, Vienna 1998, p. 261.
2. Johann Jacob Staffler: Tirol und Vorarlberg: in 2 Theilen. Tirol und Vorarlberg, statistisch : mit geschichtlichen Bemerkungen. vol. 1, Rauch, 1839, p. 512.
3. Harald Tersch: Österreichische Selbstzeugnisse des Spätmittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit (1400–1650). Böhlau ed, Vienna 1998, p. 261.
4. Johann Jacob Staffler: Tirol und Vorarlberg: in 2 Theilen. Tirol und Vorarlberg, statistisch : mit geschichtlichen Bemerkungen. vol. 1, Rauch, 1839, p. 512.
5. Jacob Probst: Geschichte der Universität in Innsbruck seit ihrer Entstehung bis zum Jahre 1860. 1869, p. 2. online
6. Ludwig Albrecht Gebhardi: Genealogische Geschichte der erblichen Reichsstände in Teutschland. vol. 2, Gebauer, 1779, p. 448.

References

• Constantin von Wurzbach: Habsburg, Helene. N°. 111 in: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. vol 6. ed. L. C. Zamarski, Vienna 1860, p. 277 online.
• Ferdinand Leopold, Freiherr von Biedenfeld: Ursprung, Aufleben ... und jetzige Zustände sämmtlicher Mönchs- und Klosterfrauen-Orden im Orient und Occident. 1837, p. 332 online