ANNA of Austria. — Daughter of Philip III, king of Spain, and Margaret of Austria-Styria, born on 1 Sept. 1601; on 25 Dec. 1615 she married Louis XIII, king of France, at a time when French policy was oriented toward a pro-Spanish understanding and sought ties of friendship with the Habsburg sovereigns; a policy, however, that was definitively shattered when Cardinal Richelieu became prime minister on 16 April 1624. Anna neither enjoyed her husband’s love nor his trust; and in one of the many court intrigues, so frequent at the French court, woven by Maria of Rohan, marquise of Chevreuse, in August 1626—when a possible second marriage for her was being considered—the death of the king was being plotted, along with a marriage to Gaston, the king’s half-brother, who was destined for the succession. The conspiracy was foiled by Richelieu, who knew how to maintain the king’s full favor; Anna remained entirely sidelined. On 5 Sept. 1638 she gave birth to her first son, Louis, and on 21 Sept. 1640 to her second son, Philip, who became the founder of the Orléans line.
At the time of Richelieu’s death (4 Dec. 1642), he designated Mazarin as Louis XIII’s prime minister, whom the king promptly appointed; when Louis XIII himself died (14 May 1643), Anna assumed the regency for her son; yet the government was effectively held by Mazarin until his death (9 March 1661), who continued the anti-Spanish policy that had been the guiding principle of Richelieu’s administration. Indeed, when the young king declared his intention to take personal control of government (7 Sept. 1651), this did not interrupt the work of the powerful minister, who was able to overcome the disturbances of the Fronde (1648–52), provoked by the restlessness of the turbulent nobility, more concerned with their own particular interests than with those of the nation as a whole. Anna’s weakness in relation to Mazarin—who was less than a year her junior—gave rise to a host of insinuations and calumnies, and it was even claimed that they had a secret marriage, in which St Vincent de Paul was said to have played a part (Mazarin never received holy orders). The saint firmly denied such rumors (Coste, III, p. 101). He was, however, able to influence Anna’s conscience, and she placed great trust in him even before the regency and wished him to be part of the Council of Conscience, which was entrusted with religious affairs in France; but Mazarin, to whom the saint’s influence was irksome, removed him in 1652. Anna nonetheless continued to support his charitable works, founded institutes for Missionaries and Daughters of Charity, opposed the nascent Jansenism (Coste, III, pp. 87 ff.), in which she was repelled by the rigor of its doctrine on Communion; and although her conduct was not always beyond reproach, she gave proof of sincere piety and love for the people. She died of cancer on 20 Jan. 1666, widely mourned, and was buried in the monastery of Val de Grâce, which she herself had founded.