| Abstrakt: |
The second marriage of Eva Zrinská of Rožmberk to Paolo Ippoliti di Gazoldo was the result of political communications operating on the axis between Innsbruck, Florence, Mantua, Sprinzenstein and Český Krumlov. Although the primary initiatives to conclude this transnational marriage alliance may have come from Ferdinand of Tyrol, his younger sister Archduchess Eleonora, who was married to the Duke of Mantua, Guglielmo Gonzaga, played a decisive part in brokering the match. At her court Paolo Ippoliti di Gazoldo held the position of Oberhofmeister. On the one hand he was notable for his Catholic piety, which he displayed outwardly through his interest in relics, and on the other for his fondness for contemporary fashion, accessories and Renaissance luxury. The Upper Austrian nobleman Johann Albrecht von Sprinzenstein established personal contacts with the Duchess of Mantua through Ferdinand of Tyrol, whose estates of Sprinzenstein and Neuhaus an der Donau in the Mühlviertel were adjacent to villages belonging to Haslach which were owned by Eva’s older brother Vilém of Rožmberk. Lukretia, the sister of the Freiherr von Sprinzenstein, was lady-in-waiting to Eleonora, Duchess of Mantua, and the first wife of Paolo Ippoliti di Gazoldo. He, as one of six brothers together with other close relatives, administered the county of Gazoldo, which was an imperial fief. The first marriage of Paolo Ippoliti di Gazoldo to Lukretia von Sprinzenstein was mediated by Eleonora, Duchess of Mantua, who was also involved in the preparations for his second marriage to Eva Zrinská of Rožmberk, the widow of Mikuláš Zrinský of Seryn who had fallen at the siege of Szigetvár in 1566. Although she wrote letters of intercession to her brothers in which she extolled the origin, social status and wealth of the widowed Italian count, Johann Albrecht von Sprinzenstein headed the actual marriage negotiations. Extensive diplomatic preparations culminated in mid-September 1578 in the conclusion of the transnational marriage alliance between the widowed Bohemian noblewoman and the widowed Italian count at the Český Krumlov residence of Vilém of Rožmberk. Its creation constituted a deliberate introduction of the son and daughter of Ferdinand I into the matrimonial equilibrium of the Central European nobility, which pursued at least two of the Habsburgs’ long-standing goals. After the conclusion of the negotiations of the Council of Trent, representatives of the Habsburg dynasty strove to strengthen the Roman Catholic Church’s power significantly in the lands under their rule. Although the youngest sister of the last lords of Rožmberk was brought up in a Catholic environment, after her first marriage to Mikuláš Zrinský of Seryn she converted to Protestantism. From her marriage to the Catholic-minded Paolo Ippoliti di Gazoldo, it was possible to expect her return to the Roman faith. At the same time, behind the efforts of Duchess Eleonora of Mantua to conclude the marriage of Eva Zrinská of Rožmberk and Paolo Ippoliti di Gazoldo, her efforts to build her own circle of German-speaking nobles from the lands of Bohemia and Austria at the Mantuan court were evident, helping her to overcome her homesickness and language difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
