Cecylia Renata, (1611-1643/1644¹) was a daughter of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor from the house of Habsburg and Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574-1616) , Queen of Poland and the consort of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth monarch Władysław IV Waza. In Poland she is also known as Cecylia Renata Rakuszanka or Cecylia Renata Austriaczka, both names meaning Cecylia Renata of Austria.

Born on 16 July 1611 in Graz. She married Władysław on 13 September 1637 and on the same day she was coronated in the St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw . Young and energetic, she soon started organising the royal court to her liking. She was popular, especially for her politness - one szlachta writer in his memoires writes, that she insisted other women sat with her, even through she was a queen. She advocated the Habsburgh point of view and allied herself with pro-Habsburg faction of the chancellor Jerzy Ossolinski. Her two children died young (Zygmund Kazimierz - April 1640 - 9 August 1647, Maria Anna Izabella - 8 January 1642 - 1643. She died in 24 March 1643¹ in Wilno.

Notes

1. Conflicting sources, some state 1643, others 1644.
2. It is unknown wheter this pic presents Cecylia Renata or Gryzelda Konstancja z Zamoyskich Wiśniowiecka, as the historical sources are indecisive. See external links below.

External links

• Discussion of the portrait, in Polish