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Maria Theresa of Austria
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Maria Theresa (see also names in other languages; May 13, 1717 November 29, 1780) was the Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia-Slavonia, Queen of Bohemia, Grand Duchy of Tuscany and a Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Francis of Lorraine. She was technically the last member of the House of Habsburg, succeeded by her son Joseph II of the House of Lorraine, the house itself styled as von Habsburg-Lothringen (of Habsburg-Lorraine).
Maria Theresa helped initiate financial and educational reforms, promoted commerce and the development of agriculture, and reorganized the army, all of which strengthened Austria's resources.
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Maria Theresa (see also names in other languages; May 13, 1717 November 29, 1780) was the Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia-Slavonia, Queen of Bohemia, Grand Duchy of Tuscany and a Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Francis of Lorraine. She was technically the last member of the House of Habsburg, succeeded by her son Joseph II of the House of Lorraine, the house itself styled as von Habsburg-Lothringen (of Habsburg-Lorraine).
Maria Theresa helped initiate financial and educational reforms, promoted commerce and the development of agriculture, and reorganized the army, all of which strengthened Austria's resources. Continued conflict with the Kingdom of Prussia led to the Seven Years War, (1756 - 1763), and later to the War of the Bavarian Succession. She became, formally, dowager empress after the death of her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1765 and shared the direction of the Empire on the accession of her son Joseph as emperor in 1765.
Maria Theresa criticised many of Joseph's actions but agreed to the First Partition of Poland (1772). A key figure in the power politics of 18th century Europe, Maria Theresa brought unity to the Habsburg Monarchy and was considered one of its most capable rulers. Her 16 children also included Marie Antoinette, queen consort of France, and Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Succession
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was born in Vienna, the oldest daughter of Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, a sister of the wife of unfortunate Tsarevich Alexis of Russia, and Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, whose sole male heir - his son Leopold Johann - died as an infant in 1716.
In 1713 Charles issued the Pragmatic Sanction which guaranteed his daughter the right to succeed to the Austrian throne and inherit his united lands on his death. Charles spent years carefully negotiating with other rulers to remove potential politico-legal objections to a woman inheriting the Habsburg territories, even making strategic concessions of territory. Initially, many Northern European monarchs agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction when it was issued. One of the few not to sign was Frederick the Great of Prussia who, soon after Maria Theresa assumed the throne upon Charles' death on October 20, 1740, began the War of Austrian Succession.
After the Emperor Charles VII, died in 1745, Maria Theresa, because a female and "unfit" for this 500 year old "symbolic" title, obtained the dignity of Holy Roman Emperor for her husband, Francis I, a mere "Duke of Lorraine".
Although she was technically empress consort, aged 28, it is obvious that even then, this legal technicality on account of her gender, was not really very important, and there has always been a wide consensus that Maria Theresa was the de facto ruler of the Empire. Maria Theresa, daughter of Emperor Charles VI, had in fact already begun her rule, aged 23, on the death of her father in 1740 during the War of the Austrian Succession.
Marriage
Maria Theresa had an arranged marriage with the son of a monarch of Eastern Europe but he died after a while in Austria. So Maria regarded herself a widow at the age of five because her betrothed was dead. In 1736 at the age of 19 she was married to Francis of Lorraine, then only Duke of Lorraine . He tended to leave the day to day administration to Maria Theresa. Unlike many monarchs of her time, she married for love. She had 16 children with him, eleven daughters all having the first name "Maria" in honor of the Virgin Mary. and five sons. The youngest daughter was Maria Antonia, better known under her French name, Marie Antoinette, who would be promised in marriage to the future King Louis XVI of France. Countess Lerchenfeld served Maria as governess to several of her children, including Maria Antoinette.
Reign
Early years
Maria Theresa's father had not given her any training in government, leaving her to learn for herself. Additionally, the army was weak and the treasury depleted as a result of two wars near the end of her father's reign. Maria Theresa was crowned Queen of Hungary in the St. Martin’s Cathedral in the then-Hungarian royal town and coronation place Pozsony (now Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia) on 25 June 1741.
The War of the Austrian Succession began when Frederick II of Prussia invaded and occupied Silesia. While Bavaria and France also invaded Austria's western territories, it was "Frederick the Great" who became Maria Theresa's primary foe during her reign. Therefore, she focused her internal and external policies towards the defeat of Prussia, which would help her regain the lands which had been taken from Austria. The Anglo-Austrian Alliance proved crucial as Great Britain sent troops and financial subsidies to support the Austrians.
In the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), France gave the Austrian Netherlands that it conquered back to Maria Theresa. In exchange, Maria Theresa ceded Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to the Infante Philip of Spain, later to be King of Sicily and Naples as Charles VI and then, in 1759, King Charles III of Spain.
After having been defeated in the First, (1742), and Second, (1744 - 1745), Silesian Wars, Maria Theresa began to modernise her realms with the assistance of Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Haugwitz. She increased the size of the army by 200% and increased taxes in order to guarantee a steady income for the government, and in particular for the military. She centralised the government by combining the Austrian and Bohemian chancellaries, formerly separate, into one administrative office.
Before these changes, justice and administration had been overseen by the same officials- afterwards, she created a supreme court with the sole responsibility of upholding justice in her lands. These reforms strengthened the economy and the state in general.
Maria Theresa, like the other Habsburgs, was a devout Roman Catholic. She was educated by Jesuits at Mariazell, and in later life lacked the religious cynicism or real indifference of royal contemporaries such as Frederick II of Prussia. Her conservative outlook involved an intolerant view of other faiths. In 1741, she expelled the Jews from Prague. Her political distrust of Great Britain rested in part on her view of the established Church of England, whom she regarded as Protestant heretics.
Maria Theresa dropped Great Britain as an ally on the advice of her state chancellor, Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, and allied with Russia and France. She established the Theresian Military Academy (the first worldwide) in 1752 and an academy of engineering science in 1754. She also demanded that the University of Vienna be given money to make the medical faculty more efficient.
When she felt her army was strong enough, she prepared an attack on Prussia in 1756. However, it was Frederick II who attacked first, invading Saxony, another ally of Austria, thus initiating the Seven Years' War. The war ended in 1763 when Maria Theresa signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg, recognising Prussian ownership of most of Silesia.
Her husband Francis died two years later. Maria Theresa's devotion to him was so great that she dressed in mourning until her own death 15 years later. During this time, she became more closeted from her people. Her focus changed from attempting to regain Silesia to maintaining the peace. She also recognised Joseph II, her eldest son, as coregent and Emperor in 1765, thus maintaining the imperial Crown in the Habsburg line in accordance with tradition. However, she allowed him only limited powers because she felt that he was too rash and arrogant. This led to tension between her and her son.
Influence on Medicine
During the reign of Maria Theresa, infant mortality was a big problem in Austria. After calling in a renowned Dutch physician Gerard van Swieten to study the problem, she followed his recommendation and made a decree that autopsies would be mandatory for all hospital deaths in the city of Graz--Austria's second largest city. This law--still in effect today--combined with the relatively stable population of Graz, has resulted in one of the most important and complete autopsy records in the world.
Some modern researchers have credited the Graz autopsy records with helping to make breakthroughs in their research. One such physician, Broda Otto Barnes, claimed that these records helped him discover that hypothyroidism--not diet and cholesterol--was the cause of heart disease and heart attacks. And furthermore that hypothyroidism is strongly linked to certain forms of cancer: lung cancer, prostate cancer and cancer in children.
Civil reforms
In the 1760s, smallpox claimed several victims in the imperial family. Maria Theresa was infected and received last rites in 1767, although she recovered. Afterward, Maria Theresa became a strong supporter of inoculation (a predecessor immunisation method to smallpox vaccination), setting a strong example by requiring all of her children to be inoculated.
In the later years of her reign, Maria Theresa focused on reforming laws along the lines of enlightened absolutism, especially to strengthen the economy of the Habsburg territories, especially after the loss of Silesia.
In 1771, she and Joseph II issued the Robot Patent, a reform that regulated a serf's labor payments in her lands, which provided some relief. Other important reforms included outlawing witch-burning and torture, and, for the first time in Austrian history, taking capital punishment off the penal code, as it was replaced with forced labor. It was later reintroduced, but the progressive nature of these reforms remains noted.
In 1772 Maria Theresa founded the Imperial and Royal Academy of Science and Literature in Brussels. Mandatory education was introduced in 1774; the goal was to form an educated class from which civil servants could be recruited.
Another innovation of Maria Theresa's was the decency police which was to patrol everywhere, especially Vienna, and apprehend anyone suspected of doing something that could be deemed indecent (possibly due to her husband's supposed infidelity). Arrested prostitutes, for example, would be sent into villages in the eastern parts of the realm, leading some contemporary writers to note that these villages had 'exceptionally beautiful women' living there.
Issue
Death
Maria Theresa died in Vienna in 1780 at the age of 63, possibly of heart failure. She was the only female to rule during the 650-year-long Habsburg dynasty. She is buried in tomb number 56 in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Her son Joseph II succeeded her.
Galleries
Maria Theresa
Children
Titles from birth to death
- Her Imperial and Royal Highness Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (13 May 1717–20 October 1740)
- Her Majesty The Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria (20 October 1740–13 September 1745)
- Her Imperial Majesty The Holy Roman Empress (13 September 1745–18 August 1765)
- Her Imperial Majesty The Dowager Holy Roman Empress (18 August 1765–29 November 1780)
Maria Theresa was actually proclaimed King, rather than Queen, of Hungary upon her ascension to the Hungarian throne. Normally, however, she was styled Queen of Hungary.
Full style
Her title after the death of her husband:
Maria Theresa, by the Grace of God, Dowager Holy Roman Empress; Queen of Hungary, of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, etc; Archduchess of Austria; Duchess of Burgundy, of Styria, of Carinthia and of Carniola; Grand Princess of Transylvania; Margravine of Moravia; Duchess of Brabant, of Limburg, of Luxemburg, of Guelders, of Württemberg, of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Milan, of Mantua, of Parma, of Piacenza, of Guastalla, of Auschwitz and of Zator; Princess of Swabia; Princely Countess of Habsburg, of Flanders, of Tyrol, of Hennegau, of Kyburg, of Gorizia and of Gradisca; Margravine of Burgau, of Upper and Lower Lusatia; Countess of Namur; Lady on the Wendish Mark and of Mechlin; Dowager Duchess of Lorraine and Bar, Dowager Grand Duchess of Tuscany.
Names in other languages
Maria Theresia*Hungarian and Irish Máire TóireasaItalian, Portuguese and ****
Ancestry
Media portrayals
Marianne Faithfull portrayed Maria Theresa in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette.
Alma Kruger portrayed Maria Theresa in the 1938 film Marie Antoinette which starred Norma Shearer.
External links
- Country Studies - Austria
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Titles
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