Background
Constance was a daughter of Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Anne was the only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his wife Anne de Foix.
Constance was a daughter of Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Anne was the only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his wife Anne de Foix.
Her paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). Her maternal grandparents were Albert V, Duke of Bavaria and Anne Habsburg of Austria. Constance was also a younger sister of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Margaret of Austria, Leopold V of Austria and Anna of Austria.
Her older sister Anna was the first wife of king Sigismund III Vasa.
After her death Constance and Sigismund III Vasa were married on December 11, 1605. They had seven children:
John Casimir (25 December 1607 – 14 January 1608)
John Casimir (1609–1672), (reigned 1648–1668 as John II Casimir Vasa of Poland)
John Albert (1612–1634)
Charles Ferdinand (1613–1655)
Alexander Charles (1614–1634)
Anna Constance (26 January 1616 – 24 May 1616)
Anna Catherine Constance (1619–1651)
Queen Constance was an ambitious politician.
Immediately after the wedding, she made efforts to influence policy. She built a strong faction of followers by arranging marriages between her handmaidens to powerful nobles.
She represented the interests of the Habsburg family in Poland, and influenced the appointments of positions in the court, government and church.
Her closest confidant was Urszula Meyerin. Constance was proficient in Spanish, Latin and Italian. She learned Polish after the wedding but did not like using lieutenant
She was very religious and went to Mass twice a day.
She also was a patron of clerics, painters and architects. Some time later (in 1626) she made it forbidden for Jews to settle in the city (de non tolerandis Judaeis).
She died of a stroke.
In 1623 Constance bought Żywiec from Mikołaj Komorowski, which was forbidden by law to the members of the Royal Family and caused misunderstandings with the Parliament.