Born into an ancient
House of Pernštejn, she was the daughter of the Imperial High Chancellor of Bohemia,
Vratislav II of Pernštejn (1530–1582), and his wife, Maria Maximiliana
Manrique de Lara y Mendoza (1538-1608), a
Spanish noblewoman. Maria brought with her from Spain a statue of the Child Jesus, which she had received as a wedding present. It became well known for its purported miraculous healing powers. Maria Pernštejn presented the statue to her daughter, upon Polyxena's marriage to the High Burgrave
Wilhelm von Rosenberg in 1587. William died in 1592. In 1603, the widowed Polyxena remarried the Imperial High Chancellor
Zdeněk Vojtěch Popel of Lobkowicz (1568-1628). This marriage produced only one son,
Wenzel Eusebius von Lobkowicz, whom she gave birth to in 1609 at the age of 42. In 1618, the aging Emperor
Matthias named his cousin
Ferdinand of Styria his heir, and had him crowned King of Bohemia. Tensions increased between the Catholic Ferdinand and the Protestant nobles. The application of the
Letter of Majesty was controversial in Bohemia. The Protestants argued that it allowed them to build churches on Crown and Catholic prelates' lands, but the Catholics did not accept their interpretation. In 1618 two of the Emperor's royal governors were thrown from the windows of
Hradčany Castle by Protestant nobles. They survived the fall and took refuge from a mob in the Lobkowicz Palace below the castle, protected by Polyxena Lobkowicz. The
Defenestration in Prague contributed to the subsequent
Bohemian Revolt. In 1628, Polyxena Pernštejn von Lobkowicz donated the statue to the
Discalced Carmelites of the Carmelite
Church of Our Lady Victorious. It became known as the
Infant of Prague. She is the ancestor of several royal families, including that of the
Russian Emperors, the Kings of
Denmark,
Greece,
Norway and
Great Britain, and others. ==References==