Born in
Basel, Joanna was the eldest daughter of Count Ulrich III of
Pfirt and his wife,
Joanna of Burgundy.
Inheritance When
Reginald of Burgundy, the last
Count of Montbéliard from the
Chalon-Arlay dynasty, died in 1321, his daughter, Joanna of Montbéliard (Joanna of Pfirt's mother), inherited her father's domains. Joanna and Ulrich III had four daughters and no sons. When Count Ulrich died in March 1324, he left large estates in the Alsatian
Sundgau, in the southern
Vosges Mountains with the strategically important
Burgundian Gate, and in the northern
Jura foothills. Ulrich's surviving legacy was his two daughters, Joanna of Pfirt and her younger sister Ursula (1315–1367). Duke
Leopold I of Austria was head of the
Habsburg dynasty since the death of his father, King
Albert I of Germany, in 1308. He concentrated on the administration of the family's
Further Austrian territories in
Swabia, while his brother
Frederick the Fair rivalled with King
Louis the Bavarian. When Leopold found out that the late Count of Pfirt's daughter, Joanna was still unmarried, he sent his younger brother Albert II to make the official request to Joanna of Montbéliard for her daughter's hand. With the lands of Pfirt, Joanna was an attractive party. Joanna ceded her domains (including the town of
Belfort) to the House of Habsburg, whereby the dynasty could add a large contiguous territory in Southern
Alsace to its Swabian possessions. The treaty between Joanna and Duke Leopold was sealed on March 17 at
Thann. Joanna's mother was however remarried to
Rudolf Hesso, Margrave of Baden-Baden and had two more daughters: Margaret and Adelaide.
Marriage Joanna married Albert II in
Vienna on 26 March 1324. At first the marriage went off unhappily. Joanna was considered to be well into child-bearing years. The couple had children early in their marriage, but they were all short-lived (all buried in
St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna). In total, Albert and Joanna had five short-lived children throughout their marriage. Albert II succeeded as Duke of
Austria and
Styria upon the death of Frederick the Fair in 1330. However, at the same time, he fell ill with
polyarthritis which paralyzed his legs, which seemed to preclude producing heirs. For divine aid, the duke went on a pilgrimage to
Cologne and
Aachen in 1337. Two years later, when Joanna was in her late thirties, she gave birth to a son and continued to have children. In total Albert and Joanna had six surviving children: •
Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria (November 1, 1339,
Vienna – July 27, 1365,
Milan). Married but line extinct. • Catherine (1342, Vienna – 10 January 1381, Vienna), Abbess of St. Klara in Vienna. • Margaret (1346, Vienna – 14 January 1366,
Brno), married: • in
Passau 4 September 1359 Count
Meinhard III of Gorizia-Tyrol; • in Vienna 1364
Margrave Johann Heinrich of Moravia. •
Frederick III, Duke of Austria (1347, Vienna – 1362, Vienna). Died unmarried. •
Albert III, Duke of Austria (September 9, 1349, Vienna – August 29, 1395, Castle
Laxenburg). Had issue. •
Leopold III (November 1, 1351, Vienna – July 9, 1386,
Sempach). Had issue. Joanna was described as wise and prudent. She was said to be politically talented and smart. In 1336, Joanna mediated the peace between the Habsburg family and the rising
House of Luxembourg over the heritage of the late Duke
Henry of Carinthia. The Habsburgs later gained further possessions up to the
Adriatic coast, formerly held by the
Patriarchs of Aquileia. Through Joanna, Albert and the Habsburgs gained more lands since she was an heiress. Even though there was peace, wars could break out if it promised benefits for Albert and the Habsburgs, who were growing to be one of the most powerful royal families in Europe. After Albert had purchased the
Duchy of Carinthia with the
Carniolan and
Windic marches, he did not need allies anymore. Joanna had children unusually late. When she was fifty-one, she gave birth to her final child, a son,
Leopold III, Duke of Austria, and died soon after. She is buried in the
Gaming Charterhouse with her husband and daughter-in-law,
Elisabeth of Bohemia. ==References==