According to established tradition, Margarita Moultash is considered the ugliest woman on the planet. She was the countess of Tyrol in 1335-1365. and the last ruler of the Tyrolean county.
Was the woman really so ugly? We will tell in the article.
Biography
Margarita Moultash was born in 1318. She was the second daughter of her father, the Earl of Tyrol and the Duke of Carinthia, Heinrich Horutansky. The mother of the future ruler, Adelheid Braunschweig-Grubenhagen, died when the girl was only two years old. In 1325, at the age of eight, the older sister of Margarita died.
The second wife of the father could not give the spouse of children, because she was poor in health. She did not even live to be twenty years old. So Margarita turned out to be the only heiress to the Tyrolean county, which at that time was a completely independent independent small state with a parliament of the highest nobility, its laws, army and economy.
early years
Already in childhood, courtiers and relatives noted that the girl “did not come out face”, although otherwise she was an ordinary child, even more savvy than her peers. The father did not care much about his daughter, leaving her to take care of the nannies, which turned out to be in the spirit of those times.
The count was no longer young and quite often ill. When he looked at his ugly daughter, like a frog, he tormented himself with thoughts that he could not produce an heir to whom the throne could be transferred. Margarita’s future was seen by her father as rather vague, since the Habsburg dynasty had long dreamed of replenishing its possessions with the lands of the Tyrolean county and without a strong ruler of the latter could easily do this. And which of the women ruler?
In 1330, when Margarita was eleven, the count agreed to marry her to Johann Heinrich, the youngest son of the king of the Czech Republic, Jan of Luxembourg, who at that time was seven years old. This was done to provide support for the Czech dynasty.
Margarita did not like the boy. Firstly, she was too tall for her age and, in comparison with her seven-year-old husband, she seemed a giantess. And secondly, she was not distinguished by beauty. At the time when the same age began to flourish, Margarita, on the contrary, only became more drowsy, and her shortcomings at the time of brides began to appear even more clearly.
In 1335, when the girl was seventeen years old, her father passed away. Margarita Moultash's young husband at that time was fourteen, they lived separately, only nominally considered spouses.
Accession to the throne
After the death of Heinrich Horutansky, his daughter remained the only representative of the Goritsky dynasty. According to agreements concluded in 1282 between the Tyrolean house and the Habsburgs, in the event of the termination of the Goritsky male line, the possession of Tyrol should be transferred to the Habsburgs.
Based on this, Albrecht II, the Austrian duke, immediately occupied Krajna and Carinthia, but in Tyrol he met resistance from neighboring Bavaria, which also claimed the legacy of Heinrich Horutansky. In accordance with the Austro-Bavarian treaty of 1335, South Tyrol and Carinthia went to Austria, while northern Tyrol went to Bavaria. However, the Tyroleans themselves opposed the partition of the country and organized a riot with the demand to restore the rightful heiress to the throne. The Bavarians and Austrians had no choice but to leave the state and recognize Margarita Moultash the Tyrolean countess.
The young ruler received support not only from the local aristocracy, but also from the parliament of Tyrol. It was just at this time that he began to strengthen his political influence, turning the county into an estate monarchy.
After the assertion of her right to the throne, Margarita Moultash set about arranging the country. The population immediately fell in love with it for easing the tax burden, developing trade and building cities. The countess wanted peace for her people and pursued a prudent foreign policy with the support of the King of Bavaria.
Scandalous marriage
In November 1341, with the assistance of the Tyrolean nobility, which entered into a secret alliance with Ludwig of Bavaria, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Margarita expelled her husband Johann Heinrich from Tyrol. When the man returned from the hunt, the countess did not let him into the castle. None of the people gave Johann refuge, and he could find shelter only with the patriarch of Aquileia. At the same time, it was announced that the husband and wife were not actually in a marriage, on the basis of which their union was declared invalid.
In September 1342, the Tyrolean countess married Ludwig V Wittelsbach, the emperor’s eldest son. The new marriage provoked the indignation of Pope Clement VI, who was a political opponent of Ludwig of Bavaria. The papal curia demanded to save the marriage of Margarita and Johann. As a result, the countess and her newly made husband were excommunicated, and an interdict was imposed on Tyrol.
Marital Recognition
The scandalous exile of the first spouse and the new marriage of the Tyrolean countess became widely known in Europe. Marsilius of Padua and William Ockham defended Margarita Moultash and her “secular marriage”, which turned out to be the first in the history of the Middle Ages. In his essay, Marsilius of Padua claimed that the emperor had the right to divorce, and Clement VI took advantage of this incident to discredit the family of Ludwig of Bavaria and weaken the position of his adversary in Europe.
In 1347, Margarita's husband became the Bavarian Duke. This immediately increased the influence of Bavaria in Tyrol. Prerequisites appeared for the subsequent unification of states.
In March 1347, the brother of Johann Heinrich, Charles of Luxembourg, who by that time had become emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, besieged the castle of Tyrol and invaded Margaret's possessions. He was unable to carry out the capture, but, retreating, driven by Ludwig, he ravaged the Bozen and Mirano. True, later Karl of Luxembourg reconciled with the countess and her husband.
Margarita's first husband, Johann Heinrich, in 1348 decided to remarry and asked the Pope for a divorce from the countess. As a reason, he indicated the consanguinity of the spouses, and also admitted that the marriage was not actually carried out. In July 1349, a divorce was filed. But for another ten years Margarita and Ludwig were excommunicated, and their marital union was not recognized as papal curia.
Not wanting to conflict with the Habsburgs, the Duke of Bavaria restored peaceful relations with Austria, and in 1359, Pope Innocent VI, after the request of Albrecht II, canceled excommunication.
Relations with the Habsburgs
In 1361, Ludwig V died, and from that moment Meinhard III, their son, became co-ruler of Margarita in the Tyrolean county. However, pressure from the Habsburgs intensified. Rudolph IV, the Austrian Duke, began an active campaign to expand the territory of Austria and strengthen its influence in Europe. Tyrol for the duke was the most important region that provided a link between the hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in Swabia and their vast possessions in the Danube.
In 1363, Meinhard III unexpectedly died, and Margarita, unable to cope with Austrian pressure, transferred her possessions to Rudolf IV. The reasons for abdication were “female weakness” and “special circumstances”. The Bavarians tried to prevent the establishment of Austrian rule over Tyrol, but in 1364 they were defeated by the Habsburgs. In 1369, Bavaria officially abandoned its claims, for which it received a very large monetary compensation. So Tyrol lost its independence and became part of the Austrian monarchy.
Last years
The rest of Margarita’s life passed at the Austrian court: Rudolph IV forbade her to visit Tyrol. The countess died in Vienna in 1369 at the age of 51. One of the districts of the city is named after her: Vienna-Margareten. According to the rules of inheritance in force in Germany, after the death of Margarita, her rights passed to the king of Sicily, Frederick III, the son of the cousin of the countess. But the Sicilian king had neither the desire nor the opportunity to conflict with the Habsburgs, so Tyrol remained forever in the possession of the Austrians.
Interesting Facts
The meaning of the nickname Moultash is interpreted differently. Literally translated, this word means "dumpling." The nickname was first mentioned in 1366 in the Saxon World Chronicle, then in 1393 in the Austrian Chronicle. There is a version that “Moultash” means “vicious woman” - this is how Margarita was characterized by church representatives and political opponents for their relationship with Ludwig V. From the 1st quarter of the 15th century. the opinion was firmly established that the countess had an ugly mouth, which is why she got her name ("mouth - wallet").
Gossip and rumors about the countess ugliness far outlived herself. For another three hundred years, people have been gossiping that Margarita is the ugliest woman in the world.
Image in art
There is only one intravital image of the Tyrolean Countess: on him is a slender woman in full growth and with difficult to distinguish features. If you believe the description of Johann von Winterthur, her contemporary, Margarita possessed beauty. After almost two centuries, Quentin Masseys, a Flemish artist, painted a satirical portrait of the countess, thus playing around her ugliness, which became a byword.
The image of the ugly Duchess Margarita Moultash could not find reflection in art. In 1816, one of the Grimm brothers published legends about the ruler of Tyrol in the collection “German Sagas”. The portrait of Quentin Massey inspired John Tenniel to create the image of the Duchess in the illustrations for the book “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll.
In 1923, Lyon Feuchtwanger wrote the historical novel The Ugly Duchess Margarita Moultash, in which he spoke about the life path of the Tyrolean ruler.