Catherine of Austria - The luxurious lifestyle of a Renaissance Queen

Catherine of Habsburg, Queen of Portugal, lived sounded by a level o luxury that other contemporary Queens of hers could only aspire to.

As the Queen of a vast Global Empire and through her family connections, Catherine had a privileged access to the most rare and exotic objects from all over the World. From precious stones from India, to exotic animals from Africa.

Catherine became one of the great collectors of the European Renaissance.
But the lifestyle she lived and the objects she collected had a meaning beyond just her personal taste, their existence also had a political and dynastic explanation, as they where part of Catherine´s strategy to present herself as the mistress of a global maritime Empire that spanned from Asia to South America.

So, on this video, I am going to try to understand how did Catherine of Austria lived in the Portuguese Court and what the collection that she created can tell us about her and the world she lived in.

#catherineofaustria #portugueseempire #renaissance


Sources:

- Buesco, Ana Isabel (2008). D. João III. Círculo de Leitores: Lisboa.
- Guimarães Sá, Isabel dos (2010). Coisas de princesas: casamentos, dotes e enxovais na família real portuguesa (1480-1580), in Revista da História da Sociedade e da Cultura, vol. 10, t. 1, pp. 97-120. (https://www.academia.edu/20617509/Coisas_de_princesas_casamentos_dotes_e_enxovais_na_fam%C3%ADlia_real_portuguesa_1480_1580_Revista_da_Hist%C3%B3ria_da_Sociedade_e_da_Cultura_vol_10_t_1_2010_pp_97_120)
- Jordan, Annemarie (2017). Catarina de Áustria, A Rainha Colecionadora. Temas e Debates: Lisboa.
- Lund, Christopher L. (1980). Anedotas Portuguesas e memórias biográficas da corte quinhentista e estórias e ditos galantes que sucederam e se disseram no paço. Almedina: Coimbra.

Into The Past, 2021