On 7 February 1595 was received in Graz the formal petition of marriage between Maria Christina and Sigismund Báthory, ruling Prince of Transylvania, by the nobleman Stephen Bocskay.

The marriage contract was negotiated almost a month, and finally the bride on 15 June accompanied by her mother, the Prince-Bishop George of Lavant and 6000 German horsemen.

Emperor Rudolf II appointed Sigismund Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsfürst),[2] and also secured the possession of Transylvania, if the couple remain without offspring.

[3] However, this union proved to be completely unhappy: Sigismund, after a disastrous wedding night, refused to consummate the marriage and sent his wife to a fortress in Kővárgara, where Maria Christina was kept as prisoner.

When Sigismund abdicated for a second time in March 1599, Maria Christina finally left him and returned to Austria in April.