Felipe III, Rey de España, Portugal y las Indias

A drawing of Felipe III, Rey de España, Portugal y las Indias, based on a 1635 portrait by Felipe Ariosto

Two sisters. Two wives of Sigismund II Augustus of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Elizabeth of Austria and Catherine of Austria were daughters of the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I, and his wife Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Seeking to make an alliance with the dominant Habsburg family, Sigismund II Augustus married teenaged Elizabeth. He found her unattractive and openly had affairs, including with Barbara Radziwiłł, his future second wife. Elizabeth's mother-in-law, Bona Sforza, disliked her and put further pressure on the frail girl. Elizabeth began having frequent seizures, eventually succumbing to them. She was 18.

Sigismund shocked the Polish-Lithuanian court when he married his mistress, Barbara, but he found himself widowed for a second time four years later.

It was only through external pressure that Sigismund married Catherine of Austria, sister of his first wife. He feared she would be unattractive and sickly like her sister, and she loathed him as well, blaming him for the death of her sister. Sigismund continued having affairs, and tension came to a boiling point when Catherine, who claimed previously to be pregnant, reported not feeling the baby move anymore. Sigismund accused his wife of either lying about being pregnant or aborting the fetus. When Catherine became ill in 1558, Sigismund feared it was epilepsy, just like Elizabeth had.

Sigismund demanded an annulment on several grounds. He said it was sinful for him to marry his dead wife's sister, that Catherine hated Poland, that she had induced a miscarriage, and that he wasn't attracted to her because of her epilepsy. Habsburg influence kept him from getting an annulment, however. The couple separated, with Catherine being sent to Vienna with her brother, Maximilian II, the new Holy Roman Emperor after the death of Ferdinand I.

A drawing of Felipe III based on a 1605 painting by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz

Drawing of Felipe III as a prince, based on a 1590 painting by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz. Felipe III would have been around 12 years old

Ánimos que van por valles y cumbres

Regocijan y luego pesadumbre

A veces más fuerte, también ligero

Todo y nada cambia, ¿Qué más espero?

La inconsecuencia se vuelve costumbre

No es consuelo de esta gravedumbre

El Señor escogió este sendero

Más no todo aquí es melancolía

Aunque esto no ha tenido certeza

Dios nos libera de cruel agonía

Quizás hay un gozo en la grandeza

Que reemplaza ocasiones muy sombrías