Urszula Meyerin

Urszula Meyerin
Alleged portrait of Urszula Meyerin, 1599
Mother	Anna
Born	1570 near Munich, Duchy of Bavaria
Died	1635 Warsaw, Poland

Urszula Meyerin also Meierin (1570–1635) was a politically influential Polish courtier and mistress to King Sigismund III of Poland. Her real name might have been Gienger (or Gienger von Grünbüchl), but it is still a matter of dispute among historians; she signed all her letters as Ursula Meyerin. In German, her last name means chamberlain, administrator, manager.

Urszula was most likely born near Munich in Duchy of Bavaria in a poor noble family. She was the daughter of Anna, a Bavarian burgher lady, and (probably) one of the Habsburgs. Meyerin came to Graz as a child in the 1580s. She was pretty in her youth, and some time later was chosen by Maria Anna of Bavaria to become mistress to King Sigismund III of Poland. Maria Anna's own daughter (Anna of Habsburg) was fiancée to the Polish King, but was unattractive, and the Habsburgs had bad experiences with two marriages of King Sigismund Augustus of Poland. The girl joined Anne's court in Poland as a chamberlain in 1592.

Urszula had a great influence on the King and Queen. She was a strict religious person. Shortly after her arrival in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, she acquired knowledge of Polish. Despite that she was very unpopular in the Commonwealth, because she was involved in affairs of state. She used her influence on the King to appoint her favourites to state positions. She was contemptuously called King's mistress, minister in a skirt and Jesuit's bigotry. The King's secretary Jan Szczęsny Herburt called her "obscene favourite".