Salome Alt (21 November 1568 – 27 June 1633), was the mistress to Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, reigning Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, from about 1593 until 1617.
Life
Born in Salzburg, Salome was the daughter of the merchant and city councillor Wilhelm Alt and a granddaughter of Ludwig Alt, who had been mayor of Salzburg in 1523. She was the niece of Barbara Thenn.
Contemporary sources describe her as a tall grown woman, with red-brown hair and clear grey eyes, a broad forehead, and as the most beautiful woman of the city.
Wolf Dietrich Raitenau's mistress
Salome Alt met the Archbishop at a festivity in the , whereafter Raitenau took her, initially in secret, to his Salzburg residence. It is said that she never again set foot in the town-house of her parents, in Sigmund-Haffner-Alley.
After Raitenau was chosen as prince-archbishop he repeatedly petitioned Rome for a papal dispensation to marry her. The family even claimed that Raitenau and Alt had become partners before he was ordained. It was also assumed at this time that celibacy of the clergy would soon be abolished. Despite support from his uncle, Cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems Altemps, no dispensation was ever granted.
At last, upon a visit by Emperor Rudolf II in 1609, their children were officially relieved from their status as illegitimate. Raitenau made no secret of the relationship; Salome Alt was present at the court, present when guests dined, and she ate at the high table.
Children
Salome Alt's partnership with Raitenau produced 15 children, of whom five died early, and from whom eleven are known by name: Hannibal (born 1593, died 1616) Helena Euphemia (died 1638) married Max Richtersperger, a finance official at Wels, widowed Maria Salome (born 1595, died 1605), she is buried at with a monument carrying her image Eusebia (died 1624), Cäcilie, who on 3 June 1620 married Georg Constantin Grundemann von Falkenberg (died 1662). Children from this marriage were: Georg Constantin Adam Anton who married Susanna Katharina Grüber von Grübegg Franz Fortunat (Benedictine monk at Kremsmünster) Johann Erasmus (died in the military service of the Kaiser) Ferdinand Wilhelm (who died in a branch of the Donau at Linz, aged 13 years) Ferdinand Adam Rudolf (died in chidlhood).The descendents of Salome Alt von Altenau can be traced to the 21st Century via Cäcilie's children. Anton Wolf Dietrich Viktor (born 1604, died 1638 in Freihaus zu Wels. On 20 February 1634, in the cathedral of Salzburg, he married Katharina Götz, daughter of the chancellor of the Bavarian electorate at Burghausen, Johann Götz Johann Georg Eberhard (born 1605, died 1675) Took the name Ägidius and became a Benedictine monk at Susanna.
After Raitenau's fall from favour, Salome Alt expressed a wish that none of her children should marry, "so long as her gracious lord should remain incarcerated".
In high society
In 1600 Raitenau vested Salome with the noble title von Altenau. Her old family home changed hands; Johann Stainhauser wrote that in 1605, on 18 August, Friedrich Rechlinger, married to Maria Alt, a second cousin of Salome, bought her old parental house in Sigmund-Haffner Alley and added it to his buildings (he also demolished the old mint in the Kirchengassen, replacing it with a large building extending to the church itself). In 1606 Raitenau built a shared retreat for them erected outside the Salzburg city walls, Schloss Altenau, which later was rebuilt as Mirabell Palace by his nephew and successor Mark Sittich von Hohenems. This became a favourite refuge of Altenau. On 28 August 1609 she was ennobled by the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II in Prague. Her children were relieved of their illegitimacy. A reflective and friendly balanced character, uninterested in politics, Salome was a haven of peace for her partner stuck in increasing internal and external conflicts. Despite her position as the archbishop's mistress, she was said to have no enemies at the Salzburg court throughout her life. Salome Alt and her children were given the freedom of the Salzburg estate on 24 May 1610, freeing them from the obligations and duties of commoners, and freeing them from the city administration. In 1610, Raitenau gave her Schloss Seehaus, in Rupertiwinkel. Through Raitenau's gifts and purchases in the archbishopric of Salzburg, Salome Alt's assets reached the enormous value of more than 400,000 guilders, assessed in an inventory of 31 October 1610. The annual income from her 80 businesses (farms, farmsteads, inns, mills, fields, and wood-cutting rights) amounted to over 200 guilders. In 1612 she waived her rights to 120,000 guilders in debt obligations from the Tirol in favour of the Salzburg cathedral chapter.