Elizabeth of Austria (Polish: Elżbieta Habsburżanka, Lithuanian: Elžbieta Habsburgaitė; 9 July 1526 – 15 June 1545) was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania by marriage.

She was the eldest of fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife Anne of Bohemia and Hungary.

[1] A member of the House of Habsburg, she was married to Sigismund II Augustus, who was already crowned as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania even though both of his parents were still alive and well.

As both of Elizabeth's parents had a love of learning, she and her siblings received a strict and thorough education from the humanist Kaspar Ursinus Velius.

[4] Elizabeth was not taught the Polish language despite her early arranged marriage to Sigismund II Augustus.

[7] Envoys of George, Duke of Saxony, attended the coronation ceremony and negotiated the marriage between Elizabeth and Sigismund August on behalf of Ferdinand.

[8] Great Chancellor of the Crown Krzysztof Szydłowiecki supported the match and organized a preliminary marriage treaty, signed on 10–11 November 1530 in Poznań.

[8] The final marriage treaty, delayed mostly due to the opposition by Bona Sforza, was signed only on 16 June 1538 in Breslau (now Wrocław) by Johannes Dantiscus.

The cardinal Girolamo Aleandro, who conducted the ceremony, thought the young archdukes and archduchesses resembled "a chorus of angels".

[12] At the same time Bona openly expressed her dislike of Elizabeth and continued to search for ways to destroy the marriage.

[13] On the other hand, Polish nobility liked and sympathized with Elizabeth – a young, pleasant woman who was ignored by her husband and taunted by her ambitious mother-in-law.

[16] Sigismund Augustus liked living independently in Lithuania and convinced his father to entrust him with ruling the grand duchy.

For a few months Sigismund Augustus attempted to keep up appearances of a successful marriage to appease the Habsburgs, but soon started ignoring his wife and continued his affair with Barbara Radziwiłł.