Maria Elisabeth Freiin von Schrattenbach

http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00025131&tree=LEO

BIOGRAPHY Maria was born 15 February 1573, the daughter of Freiherr Maximilian von Schrattenbach and Anna von Grasswein. On 24 November 1591 she married Karl Franz von Harrach zu Rohrau, son of Leonhard V, Freiherr von Harrach zu Rohrau, and Gräfin Marie Jakobe von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Her husband would become counsellor to three emperors, Rudolf, then Matthias and finally Ferdinand II, by all of whom he was held in the highest regard.

The wedding festivities must have been a light-hearted affair. They took place in the castle of Gräz (Hradec nad Moravici), and included a 'Ringstechen', a form of mounted jousting. The 16th century chronicler Sigmund Bonstingl described in verses the entry of the participants, many from the high nobility in _Wahrhaftige Beschreibung des hochlöblichen christlichen und hochzeitlichen Ehrenvest, so die duerchleuchtigste hochgeborne Fürstin und Frau Maria Erzherzopgin zu Osterreich etc._(Grätz 1592)). They formed into 18 teams carrying imaginative names and dressed accordingly; for example Wolff von Lenghaimb and Bernhart von Mindorff appeared as 'Arabian knights' with an entourage dressed as 'Moors', Carl Khisl zum Kaltenbrunn and Georg Andre von Gleispach even appeared as girls, calling themselves Vitoria Gentila and Gmilia Canstante. Bonstingl recounted in verse how some participants fared; for example, Archduke Matthias, the future Emperor Matthias, won a 'Kleinat' (small prize) of 100 Talers.

Maria and Karl Franz had fourteen children, of whom five would have progeny: their sons Leonhard VII Karl and Otto Friedrich, and daughters Katharina Barbara (married to Graf Maximilian von Waldstein, Herr von Wartenberg), Maria Elisabeth (married to Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Waldstein ('Wallenstein'), duke of Friedland) and Maria Maximiliana (married first to Graf Adam Erdmann Trczka z Lipy, who was murdered with Wallenstein in February 1634, then to Graf Johann Wilhelm von Schärffenberg).

Maria died 10 January 1653 in Vienna