Elisabetta Visconti

Elisabetta Visconti (1374 – 2 February 1432), also known as Elisabeth or Elizabeth, was a younger child of Bernabò Visconti and his wife, Beatrice Regina della Scala. Elisabetta was a member of the House of Visconti.

Family

Elisabetta was born in Milan and was one of the youngest of seventeen children, it is unknown what exact number she was of the seventeen children, her parents both state her in a different order. It is most likely that Elisabetta was the youngest child.^[1]

Elisabetta's sister, Taddea Visconti married Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria and was mother of Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI of France. Isabeau was the mother of Charles VII of France, Catherine, Queen of England, Isabella, Queen of England and Michelle, Duchess of Valois.

Elisabetta's maternal grandparents were Mastino II della Scala and his wife Taddea da Carrara. Her paternal grandparents were Stefano Visconti and his wife Valentina Doria.

Elisabetta's father, Bernabò, was a cruel and ruthless despot, and an implacable enemy of the Church. He seized the papal city of Bologna, rejected the Pope and his authority, confiscated ecclesiastical property, and forbade any of his subjects to have any dealings with the Curia. He was excommunicated as a heretic in 1363 by Pope Urban V, who preached crusade against him.^[2] When Bernabò was in one of his frequent rages, only Beatrice Regina was able to approach him.^[3]

Marriage

Elisabetta was at first promised to Gian Galeazzo, the young son of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and his first wife Isabella of Valois. The marriage could not take place due to Gian Galeazzo the Younger's premature death. After his mother, Isabella died, Elisabetta's sister, Caterina Visconti married Gian Galeazzo the Elder.^[4]

John II, Duke of Bavaria started marriage negotiations between his son, Ernest and Elisabetta.

The negotiations were successful. Elisabetta was married in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm 26 January 1395 to Ernest. Two years later, on John's death, the couple became Duke and Duchess of Bavaria-Munich. The couple had four children:

• Albert III, Duke of Bavaria (23 March 1401, Munich–29 February 1460, Munich)
• Beatrix (c. 1403–12 March 1447, Neumarkt), married to:
  • 1424 in Ortenburg Count Hermann III of Cilli;
  • 1428 in Riedenburg Pfalzgraf Johann of Neuburg.
• Elisabeth (c. 1406–5 March 1468, Heidelberg), married to:
  • 1430 in Mainz Duke Adolf II of Berg;
  • 1440 in Worms Count Hesso of Leiningen.
• Amalie (1408–1432), a nun in St. Klara's Cloister in Munich.

Before Elisabetta's death in 1432, her son Albert III married secretly the maid Agnes Bernauer; Ernest issued orders for her to be murdered. Agnes was accused of witchcraft and thrown into the River Danube and drowned. The civil war with his son finally ended with a reconciliation.

Elisabetta died 2 February 1432. She is buried with her husband in Munich.^[5]

Ancestry

References