Birth and family Isabella Clara was born in
Innsbruck on 12 August 1629 as the third child and second (but eldest surviving) daughter of
Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol and his wife
Claudia de' Medici. Her grandparents on her father's side were
Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his wife Princess
Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her grandparents on her mother's side were
Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his wife Princess
Christina of Lorraine. Of her four surviving full siblings, her sister
Maria Leopoldine was briefly
Holy Roman Empress,
German Queen,
Queen consort of Hungary and
Bohemia until her death in childbirth in 1649. Her two brothers
Ferdinand Charles and
Sigismund Francis were the last male members of their branch who ruled
Further Austria and the
County of Tyrol.
Duchess of Mantua On 7 August 1649, the marriage contract between Isabella Clara and
Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and heir of the Duchy of Montferrat, was signed at Innsbruck. Considering the size of the bride's dowry, the contract stipulated that all the revenues of the
Gazzuolo district must be given to her. The official wedding between them was solemnized three months later, on 7 November in
Mantua. Charles' mother
Maria Gonzaga, Duchess of Montferrat and former Regent of the Duchy of Mantua, who was an adherent of a pro-Austrian foreign policy, and her paternal aunt
Eleonora Gonzaga, Dowager Holy Roman Empress organized the union. In March 1651, together with her husband and mother-in-law, Isabella Clara accompanied her sister-in-law,
Eleonora Gonzaga, for her wedding with
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor in
Wiener Neustadt. They remained in the Imperial court until May, when they returned to Mantua. but this didn't stop the
hypersexuality of Charles II, who continued taking lovers, both male and female. Their relationship was kept secret initially, but the affair became well-known in time. Consequently, Isabella Clara suffered the rejection of and contempt from the ducal court. In June 1661, an assassination attempt was made against the Count Bulgarini, but the shot killed his father. In 1660, after the death of her mother-in-law, Isabella Clara also took the title of Duchess of Montferrat. When Charles II died suddenly on 14 August 1665, there were rumors that his wife ordered that he would be poisoned. In fact, the Duke died either accidentally after drinking an
aphrodisiac,
Regency During her husband's life, Isabella Clara relied on the advice of her lover and controlled the political situation in the duchy. When she became
regent on behalf of her minor son, she appointed Count Bulgarini as her First Minister and took a neutral position between the Spanish and French kingdoms and also kept a cautious policy to ensure that Mantua and Montferrat would become independent from the
Holy Roman Empire. After the official wedding ceremony of her son with the Guastalla heiress in July 1671, Isabella Clara retired from court and moved to Goito Castle, where she lived with Count Bulgarini, whom she married secretly shortly thereafter. This may have been why, on 16 December 1671,
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor imprisoned Isabella Clara in an
Ursuline monastery and Count Bulgarini in a
Dominican monastery, both having been imprisoned with the consent of the Pope. At the request of the Imperial Commissioner, Count Gottlieb von
Windisch-Graetz, both Isabella Clara and Count Bulgarini took monastic vows. The Dowager Duchess became a
Poor Clare nun. Isabella Clara died on 24 February 1685 in the Ursuline monastery in Mantua. Only her son attended her funeral and she was buried in the
Church of Sant'Orsola. Her public memorial service took place on 14 May in the
Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara. ==Ancestors==