Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the only female ruler of the
Habsburg dominionsThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of
AustriaThe Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire...
,
HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
,
CroatiaThe Kingdom of Croatia was an administrative division that existed between 1527 and 1868 within the Habsburg Monarchy . The Kingdom was a part of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods of time, including its final years...
,
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
,
MantuaMantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
,
MilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
,
Lodomeria and GaliciaThe Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
, the Austrian Netherlands and
ParmaParma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress.
She started her 40-year reign when her father,
Emperor Charles VICharles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
, died in October 1740. Charles VI paved the way for her accession with the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1713The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 was an edict issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI to ensure that the throne of the Archduchy of Austria could be inherited by a daughter....
and spent his entire reign securing it. Upon the death of her father,
SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
,
PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
,
BavariaThe Electorate of Bavaria was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria....
and
FranceThe Kingdom of France was one of the most powerful states to exist in Europe during the second millennium.It originated from the Western portion of the Frankish empire, and consolidated significant power and influence over the next thousand years. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, developed a...
repudiated the sanction they had recognised during his lifetime. Prussia proceeded to invade the affluent Habsburg province of
SilesiaSilesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
, sparking a nine-year conflict known as the
War of the Austrian SuccessionThe War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
. Maria Theresa would later unsuccessfully try to reconquer Silesia during the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
.
She married
Francis Stephen of LorraineFrancis I was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty...
and had sixteen children, including Queen
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
of France, Queen
Maria CarolinaMaria Carolina of Austria was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV & III. As de facto ruler of her husband's kingdoms, Maria Carolina oversaw the promulgation of many reforms, including the revocation of the ban on Freemasonry, the enlargement of the navy under her...
of Naples, Duchess Maria Amalia of Parma and two Holy Roman Emperors,
Joseph IIJoseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
and
Leopold IILeopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
. Though she was expected to cede power to Francis and Joseph, both of whom were officially her co-rulers in Austria and Bohemia, Maria Theresa was the absolute sovereign who ruled by the counsel of her advisers. She criticised and disapproved of many of Joseph's actions. Although she is considered to have been intellectually inferior to both Joseph and Leopold, Maria Theresa understood the importance of her public persona and was able to simultaneously evoke both esteem and affection from her subjects.
Maria Theresa
promulgatedPromulgation is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring a new statutory or administrative law after its enactment. In some jurisdictions this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect....
financial and educational reforms, with the assistance of
Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitzthumb|right|200-px|Friedrich Wilhelm von HaugwitzCount Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Haugwitz , ; 11 December 1702, in Saxony - 1765, Deutschkonitz/Mißlitz , or Knönitz , both Moravia) was Supreme Chancellor of the United Court Chancery and the head of Directorium in publicis et cameralibus under...
and
Gottfried van SwietenGottfried, Freiherr van Swieten was a diplomat, librarian, and government official who served the Austrian Empire during the 18th century...
, promoted commerce and the development of agriculture, and reorganised Austria's ramshackle military, all of which strengthened Austria's international standing. However, she refused to allow
religious tolerationToleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
and contemporary travellers thought her regime was bigoted and superstitious. As a young monarch who fought two dynastic wars, she believed that her cause should be the cause of her subjects, but in her later years she would believe that their cause must be hers.
Early life and background
The second but eldest surviving child of
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VICharles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
and
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-WolfenbüttelElisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary; and Archduchess of Austria by her marriage to Emperor Charles VI. She was renowned for her delicate beauty and also for being the mother of Empress...
, Archduchess Maria Theresa was born early in the morning of 13 May 1717, at the Hofburg Palace,
ViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, shortly after the death of her elder brother, Archduke Leopold, and was baptised on that same evening. The dowager empresses, her aunt
Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-LüneburgWilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg was a Holy Roman Empress as the wife of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Family and early life:...
and grandmother Eleonor Magdalene of the Palatinate-Neuburg, were her godmothers. Most descriptions of her baptism stress that the infant was carried ahead of her cousins, Archduchesses
Maria JosephaMaria Josepha of Austria was born an Archduchess of Austria, and from 1711 to 1713 was heiress presumptive to the Habsburg Empire...
and
Maria AmaliaMaria Amalia of Austria was the younger daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I and Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, the daughters of Charles VI's elder brother and predecessor,
Joseph IJoseph I , Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, King of the Romans was the elder son of Emperor Leopold I and his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg....
, before the eyes of Joseph's widow, Empress Wilhelmine Amalia. It was clear that Maria Theresa would outrank them, even though their grandfather,
Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
, had his sons sign the
Mutual Pact of SuccessionThe Mutual Pact of Succession was a succession device secretly signed by Archdukes Joseph and Charles of Austria, the future Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1703....
, which gave precedence to the daughters of the elder brother. Her father was the only surviving male member of the House of Habsburg and hoped for a son who would prevent the extinction of his dynasty and succeed him. Thus, the birth of Maria Theresa was a great disappointment to him and the people of Vienna; Charles never managed to overcome this feeling.
Maria Theresa replaced Maria Josepha as heiress presumptive to the Habsburg realms the moment she was born; Charles VI had issued the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1713The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 was an edict issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI to ensure that the throne of the Archduchy of Austria could be inherited by a daughter....
which had placed his nieces behind his own daughters in the line of succession. Charles sought the other European powers' approval for disinheriting his nieces. They exacted harsh terms: in the
Treaty of Vienna (1731)The Treaty of Vienna was first signed on 16 March 1731 by Count Finzendorf and the Earl of Chesterfield. This treaty marked the collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance , the beginning of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance and the birth of the legend of the natural enmity between the Kingdom of France and...
, Great Britain demanded that Austria abolish the
Ostend CompanyThe Imperial Ostend Company was an Austrian private trading company established in 1717 to trade with the East and West Indies. For a few years it provided strong competition to the traditional colonial trading companies...
in return for its recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction. In total,
Great BritainThe former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
,
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
,
SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
-
PolandThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
,
United ProvincesThe Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
,
VeniceThe Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
,
States of the ChurchThe Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
,
PrussiaPrussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
,
RussiaThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
,
Savoy-SardiniaThe Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
,
BavariaThe history of Bavaria stretches from its earliest settlement and its formation as a stem duchy in the 6th century through its inclusion in the Holy Roman Empires to its status as an independent kingdom and, finally, as a large and significant Bundesland of the modern Federal Republic of...
and the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire recognised the sanction. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria and Prussia later reneged.
Little more than a year after her birth, Maria Theresa was joined by a sister, Archduchess Maria Anna, and another one, named Maria Amalia, was born in 1724. The portraits of the imperial family show that Maria Theresa resembled Empress Elisabeth Christine and Archduchess Maria Anna. The Prussian ambassador noted that she had large blue eyes, fair hair with a slight tinge of red, a wide mouth and a notably strong body. Neither her parents nor her grandparents were closely related to each other, making Maria Theresa one of few members of the House of Habsburg who were not inbred.
Maria Theresa was a serious and reserved child who enjoyed singing and archery. She was barred from horse riding by her father, but she would later learn the basics for the sake of her
Hungarian coronation ceremonyThe Coronation of the Hungarian Monarch was a ceremony in which the King or Queen of the Kingdom of Hungary was formally crowned and invested with regalia...
. The imperial family staged opera productions, often conducted by Charles VI, in which she relished participating. Her education was overseen by
JesuitsThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
. Contemporaries thought her
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
to be quite good, but in all else, the Jesuits did not educate her well. Her spelling and punctuation were unconventional and she lacked the formal manner and speech which had characterised her Habsburg predecessors. Maria Theresa developed a close relationship with Countess
Marie Karoline von Fuchs-MollardCountess Marie Karoline von Fuchs-Mollard , known as Charlotte, was the governess of Maria Theresa of Austria....
, who taught her etiquette. She was educated in drawing, painting, music and dancing – the disciplines which would have prepared her for the role of
queen consortA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
. Her father allowed her to attend meetings of the council from the age of 14 but never discussed the affairs of state with her. Even though he had spent the last decades of his life securing Maria Theresa's inheritance, Charles always expected a son and never prepared his daughter for her future role as sovereign.
Marriage
The question of Maria Theresa's marriage was raised early in her childhood. She was first engaged to be married to
Leopold Clement of LorraineLéopold Clément, Hereditary Prince of Lorraine was heir apparent to the throne of the sovereign Duchy of Lorraine....
, who was supposed to visit Vienna and meet the Archduchess in 1723. However, news reached Vienna that he had died of
smallpoxSmallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
.
Leopold Clement's younger brother,
Francis StephenFrancis I was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty...
, was invited to Vienna. Even though Francis Stephen was his favourite candidate for Maria Theresa's hand, the Emperor considered other possibilities. Religious differences prevented him from arranging his daughter's marriage to the Calvinist prince
Frederick of PrussiaFrederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
. In 1725, he betrothed her to
Charles of SpainCharles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
and her sister, Maria Anna, to
Philip of SpainPhilip of Spain was Duke of Parma from 1748 to 1765. He founded the House of Bourbon-Parma , a cadet line of the Spanish branch of the dynasty...
. However, other European powers compelled him to renounce the pact he had made with the Dowager Queen of Spain, Elisabeth Farnese, as the marriage of heirs to the thrones of Spain and Austria would have destroyed the
European balance of powerThe Balance of Power in Europe is an international relations concept that applies historically and currently to the nations of Europe...
. Maria Theresa, who had become close to Francis Stephen, was relieved.
Francis Stephen remained at the imperial court until 1729, when he ascended the throne of Lorraine, but was not formally promised Maria Theresa's hand until 31 January 1736, during the
War of the Polish SuccessionThe War of the Polish Succession was a major European war for princes' possessions sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests...
.
Louis XV of FranceLouis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
demanded that Maria Theresa's fiancé surrender his ancestral
Duchy of LorraineThe Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
to accommodate his father-in-law, Stanisław Leszczyński, who had been deposed as King of Poland. Francis Stephen was to receive the
Grand Duchy of TuscanyThe Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence...
upon the death of childless Grand Duke
Gian Gastone de' MediciGian Gastone de' Medici was the seventh and last Medicean Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was the second son of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, Princess of France...
. The couple were married on 12 February 1736.
The Duchess of Lorraine's love for her husband was strong and possessive. The letters she sent to him shortly before their marriage expressed her eagerness to see him; his letters, on the other hand, were stereotyped and formal. She was very jealous of her husband and his infidelity was the greatest problem of their marriage, with
Maria Wilhelmina, Princess of AuerspergCountess Maria Wilhelmina von Neipperg was the mistress of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor....
, as his best known mistress.
Upon Gian Gastone's death on 9 July 1737, Francis Stephen ceded Lorraine and became Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1738, Charles VI sent the young couple to make their formal entry into Tuscany. A triumphal arch was erected at the Porta Galla in celebration, where it remains today. Their stay in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
was brief. Charles VI soon recalled them, as he feared he might die while his heiress was miles away in Tuscany. In the summer of 1738, Austria suffered defeats during the ongoing Russo-Turkish War. The Turks reversed Austrian gains in
SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
,
WallachiaWallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
and
BosniaThe Eyalet of Bosnia or Bosnia Beylerbeylik was a eyalet and beylerbeylik of the Ottoman Empire, mostly based on the territory of the present-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as most of Slavonia, Lika, and Dalmatia in present-day Croatia...
. The Viennese rioted at the cost of the war. Francis Stephen was popularly despised, as he was thought to be a cowardly French spy. The war was concluded the next year with the
Treaty of BelgradeThe Treaty of Belgrade was the peace treaty signed on September 18, 1739 in Belgrade, Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia , by the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Monarchy on the other....
.
Accession
Charles VI died on 20 October 1740, at the Favorita Palace, Vienna, probably because he had eaten poisonous mushrooms. He had ignored the advice of
Prince Eugene of SavoyPrince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
who had urged him to concentrate on filling the treasury and equipping the army rather than on acquiring signatures of fellow monarchs. The Emperor, who spent his entire reign securing the Pragmatic Sanction, left Austria in an impoverished state, bankrupted by the recent Turkish war and the
War of the Polish SuccessionThe War of the Polish Succession was a major European war for princes' possessions sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests...
; the treasury contained only 100,000
florinsThe Gulden or forint was the currency of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1754 and 1892 when it was replaced by the Krone/korona as part of the introduction of the gold standard. In Austria, the Gulden was initially divided into 60 Kreuzer, and in Hungary, the...
, which were claimed by his widow. The army numbered only 80,000 men, most of whom had not been paid in months; they were nevertheless remarkably loyal and devoted to their new sovereign.
Maria Theresa found herself in a difficult situation. She did not know enough about matters of state and she was unaware of the weakness of her father's ministers. She decided to rely on her father's advice to retain his councillors and defer to her husband, whom she considered to be more experienced, on other matters. Both decisions, though natural, would prove to be unfortunate. Ten years later, Maria Theresa bitterly recalled in her
Political Testament the circumstances under which she had ascended: "I found myself without money, without credit, without army, without experience and knowledge of my own and finally, also without any counsel because each one of them at first wanted to wait and see how things would develop."
She dismissed the possibility that other countries might try to seize her territories and immediately started ensuring the imperial dignity for herself; since a woman could not be elected
Holy Roman EmpressThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
, Maria Theresa wanted to secure the imperial office for her husband. However, Francis Stephen did not possess enough land or rank within the Holy Roman Empire. In order to make him eligible for the imperial throne and to enable to him to vote in the
imperial electionThe election of a Holy Roman Emperor or King of Germany was, from at least the 13th century, accomplished by a small body of the greatest princes of the Empire, the Prince-electors. Appointment as Emperor was normally for life...
s as elector of Bohemia (which she couldn't due to her gender), Maria Theresa made Francis Stephen co-ruler of the Austrian and Bohemian lands on 21 November 1740. However, it took more than a year for the Diet of Hungary to accept Francis Stephen as co-ruler. Despite her love for him and his position as co-ruler, Maria Theresa never allowed her husband to decide about matters of state and often dismissed him from council meetings when they disagreed.
The first display of the new queen's authority was the formal act of
homageHomage in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title to his new position . It was a symbolic acknowledgment to the lord that the vassal was, literally, his man . The oath known as...
of the Lower Austrian Estates to her on 22 November 1740. It was an elaborate public event which served as a formal recognition and legitimation of her accession. The oath of fealty to Maria Theresa was taken on the same day in Hofburg.
War of the Austrian Succession
Immediately after her accession, a number of European sovereigns who had recognised Maria Theresa as heiress broke their promises; Queen Elisabeth of Spain and Elector
Charles Albert of BavariaCharles VII Albert a member of the Wittelsbach family, was Prince-elector of Bavaria from 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor from 24 January 1742 until his death in 1745...
, married to Maria Theresa's deprived cousin Maria Amalia and supported by Empress Wilhelmine Amalia, wanted portions of her inheritance. Maria Theresa secured the recognition of King
Charles Emmanuel III of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel III was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.-Biography:...
, who hadn't accepted the Pragmatic Sanction during her father's lifetime, in November 1740.
In December, King
Frederick II of PrussiaFrederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
invaded
SilesiaThe Duchy of Silesia with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval duchy located in the historic Silesian region of Poland. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Duchies of Silesia. In 1327 the remaining Duchy of Wrocław as well as most other duchies...
and requested that Maria Theresa cede it, threatening to join her enemies if she refused. Maria Theresa decided to fight for the mineral-rich province. Frederick even offered a compromise: he would defend Maria Theresa's rights if she agreed to cede him at least a part of Silesia. Francis Stephen was inclined to consider such an arrangement, but the Queen and her advisers were not, fearing that any violation of the Pragmatic Sanction would invalidate the entire document. Maria Theresa's firmness soon assured Francis Stephen that they should fight for Silesia and she was confident that she would retain "the jewell of the House of Austria".
| "She has, as you well know, a terrible hatred for France, with which nation it is most difficult for her to keep on good terms, but she controls this passion except when she thinks to her advantage to display it. She detests Your Majesty, but acknowledges your ability. She cannot forget the loss of Silesia, nor her grief over the soldiers she lost in wars with you." |
| Prussian ambassador's letter to Frederick the Great. |
As Austria was short of experienced military commanders, Maria Theresa released
Marshall NeippergCount Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg was an Austrian general.Born in Schwaigern, he descended from an ancient comital family from Swabia, his father Count Eberhard Friedrich von Neipperg having been an Imperial field marshal. He spent his boyhood in Vienna and in 1702 joined the Imperial service...
, who had been imprisoned by her father for his poor performance in the Turkish War. Neipperg took command of the Austrian troops in March. The Austrians suffered a crushing defeat at the
Battle of MollwitzThe Battle of Mollwitz was fought by Prussia and Austria on April 10, 1741, during the early stages of the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the first battle of the new Prussian King Frederick II, in which both sides made numerous military blunders but Frederick the Great still managed to...
in April 1741. France drew up a plan to partition Austria between Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Spain. Marshall Belle-Isle joined Frederick at Olmütz. Vienna was in a panic, as none of Maria Theresa's advisors expected France to betray them. Francis Stephen urged Maria Theresa to reach a
rapprochementIn international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
with Prussia, as did Great Britain. Maria Theresa reluctantly agreed to negotiations.
Contrary to all expectations, a significant amount of support for the young Queen came from Hungary. Her coronation as King of Hungary took place in St. Martin's Cathedral, Pressburg (Bratislava) on 25 June 1741 after she had spent months honing the equestrian skills necessary for the ceremony and negotiating with the
DietIn politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is mainly used historically for the Imperial Diet, the general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, and for the legislative bodies of certain countries.-Etymology:...
. By July, attempts at conciliation had completely collapsed. Maria Theresa's ally, the Elector of Saxony, now became her enemy. and George II declared the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg to be neutral. The Queen was once again in need of help from Hungary. In order to obtain it, she granted favours to the Hungarian noblemen and flattered them without conceding to all of their demands. She had already won their support when she appeared in Pressburg in September 1741, hoping to persuade the Diet to call a mass
conscriptionConscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
and recognise Francis Stephen as co-ruler. Upon achieving both goals, she showed her gift for theatrical displays by triumphantly holding her son and heir,
JosephJoseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, before the Diet, thereby gaining sympathy of the noblemen.
In 1741, the Austrian authorities informed Maria Theresa that Bohemian populace would prefer Charles Albert to her as sovereign. Maria Theresa, desperate and burdened by pregnancy, wrote plaintively to her sister: "I don't know if a town will remain to me for my delivery." She bitterly vowed to spare nothing and no one to defend her kingdom when she wrote to the Bohemian chancellor, Count Philip Kinsky: "My mind is made up. We must put everything at stake to save Bohemia." On 26 October, the Elector of Bavaria captured
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and declared himself King of Bohemia. Maria Theresa, then in Hungary, wept on learning of the loss of Bohemia. Charles Albert was unanimously elected Holy Roman Emperor on 24 January 1742. The Archduchess, who regarded the election as a catastrophe, caught her enemies unprepared by insisting on a winter campaign; the same day he was elected emperor, Austrian troops under
Ludwig Andreas von KhevenhüllerLudwig Andreas Khevenhüller, Graf von Aichelberg-Frankenburg , Austrian field-marshal who came of a noble family that was originally from Franconia and had settled in Carinthia.-Career:He first saw active service under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the War of...
captured
MunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Charles Albert's capital.
The
Treaty of BreslauThe Treaty of Breslau was a preliminary peace agreement signed on 11 June 1742 following long negotiations at the Silesian capital Wrocław by emissaries of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria and King Frederick II of Prussia ending the First Silesian War....
of June 1742 ended hostilities between Austria and Prussia. The Archduchess soon made the recovery of Bohemia her priority. French troops fled Bohemia in the winter of the same year. On 12 May 1743, Maria Theresa had herself crowned Queen of Bohemia in
St. Vitus CathedralSaint Vitus' Cathedral is as a Roman Catholic cathedral in Prague, and the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. The full name of the cathedral is St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert Cathedral...
.
Prussia became anxious at Austrian advances on the Rhine frontier, and Frederick sacked Prague in August 1744. The French plans fell apart when Charles Albert died in January 1745. The French over-ran the Austrian Netherlands in May.
Francis Stephen was elected Holy Roman Emperor on 13 September 1745. Prussia recognised Francis as emperor, and Maria Theresa once again recognised the loss of Silesia by the
Treaty of BreslauThe Treaty of Breslau was a preliminary peace agreement signed on 11 June 1742 following long negotiations at the Silesian capital Wrocław by emissaries of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria and King Frederick II of Prussia ending the First Silesian War....
in December 1745. The war dragged on for another three years, with fighting in northern Italy and the Austrian Netherlands. The
Treaty of Aix-La-ChapelleThe Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748 ended the War of the Austrian Succession following a congress assembled at the Imperial Free City of Aachen—Aix-la-Chapelle in French—in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, on 24 April 1748...
, which concluded the eight-year conflict, recognised Prussia's possession of Silesia and Maria Theresa ceded the
Duchy of ParmaThe Duchy of Parma was created in 1545 from that part of the Duchy of Milan south of the Po River, as a fief for Pope Paul III's illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese, centered on the city of Parma....
to Philip of Spain.
Seven Years' War
Frederick of Prussia's invasion of Saxony in August 1756 began the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
. Empress Maria Theresa and Kaunitz wished to exit the war with possession of Silesia. Austria was aligned with France and Russia; Great Britain with Prussia and Portugal. Giving Austria huge subsidies came back to haunt France. It could not bolster defences in
New FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
; the British easily captured Louisbourg in 1758, and went on to conquer all of New France.
Maximilian von Browne commanded the Austrian troops. Following the indecisive
Battle of LobositzThe Battle of Lobositz or Lovosice also Lowositz on 1 October 1756 was the opening land battle of the Seven Years' War. Frederick the Great's 29,000 Prussians prevented Field Marshal Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne 34,500 Austrians from relieving their besieged Saxon allies during the Siege of...
in 1756, he was replaced by
Prince Charles Alexander of LorrainePrince Charles Alexander of Lorraine was a Lorraine-born Austrian soldier.-Background:Charles was the son of Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans...
, Maria Theresa's brother-in-law. Frederick was startled by Lobositz; he eventually re-grouped for another attack in June 1757. The
Battle of Kolin-Results:The battle was Frederick's first defeat in this war. This disaster forced him to abandon his intended march on Vienna, raise his siege of Prague, and fall back on Litoměřice...
that followed was a decisive victory for Austria. Frederick lost one third of his troops, and before the battle was over, he had fled the scene.
Maria Theresa openly bemoaned French losses in 1758. France, having secured the Anglo-Hanoverian neutrality for the rest of the conflict, in September 1757, lost it in January of the next year. France suffered a crushing defeat at
KrefeldThe Battle of Krefeld was a battle fought on 23 June 1758 between a Prussian-Hanoverian army and a French army during the Seven Years' War.-Background:...
that June. French forces withdrew to the Rhine.
In 1759, peace negotiations at
The HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
came to nothing. The series of Franco-Austrian losses were reversed until, in 1762, the Empress
Elizabeth of Russia died. Her successor
Peter IIIPeter III was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was very pro-Prussian, which made him an unpopular leader. He was supposedly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II.-Early life and character:Peter was born in Kiel, in...
greatly admired Frederick, and at once withdrew Russia's support from the French coalition. Prussia proceeded to kick the Austrians out of Saxony, and the French out of
Hesse-KasselThe Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
. Naturally, it was feared that Frederick would now invade Austria and France, and they capitulated. The peace treaties,
Hubertusburgthumb|right|300px|Hubertusburg, WermsdorfThe Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed on 15 February 1763 at Hubertusburg by Prussia, Austria, and Saxony. Together with the Treaty of Paris, it marked the end of the French and Indian War and of the Seven Years' War. The treaty ended the continental...
and
ParisThe Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
, exacted harsh terms on France, as it was forced to relinquish most of her American colonies. For Austria, though, it was
status quo ante bellumThe term status quo ante bellum is Latin, meaning literally "the state in which things were before the war".The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses...
.
Family life
Over the course of twenty years, Maria Theresa gave birth to sixteen children, thirteen of whom survived infancy. The first child,
Maria ElisabethArchduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria was the eldest child and daughter of Maria Theresa, later Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Duke Francis of Lorraine, later Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Life:Maria Elisabeth was born on 5 February 1737 at Schönbrunn Palace in...
(1737–1740), was born a little less than a year after the wedding. Again, the child's gender caused great disappointment and so would the births of Maria Anna, the eldest surviving child, and
Maria CarolinaArchduchess Maria Carolina of Austria was the third child and daughter of Maria Theresa, later Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Duke Francis of Lorraine, later Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Life:Maria Carolina was born on 5 February 1737 at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna...
(1740–1741). While fighting to preserve her inheritance, Maria Theresa gave birth to a son, Joseph, named after
Saint JosephSaint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
, to whom she had repeatedly prayed for a male child during the pregnancy. Maria Theresa's favourite child,
Maria ChristinaMaria Christina, Duchess of Teschen , called "Mimi", was the fourth daughter and fifth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor...
, was born on her 25th birthday, four days before the defeat of the Austrian army in
ChotusitzThe Battle of Chotusitz, or Chotusice, sometimes called the Battle of Czaslau, was fought on May 17, 1742 in Bohemia between the Austrians under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine and the Prussians under Frederick the Great. The battle was a part of the War of the Austrian Succession sometimes...
. Five more children were born during the war:
Maria ElisabethFor the earlier archduchess of the same name, see Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria.Archduchess Maria Elisabeth Josepha of Austria was the sixth child of Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Biography:Maria Elisabeth was born on 13 August 1743...
,
CharlesArchduke Charles Joseph of Austria was the second son of the Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor....
, Maria Amalia,
LeopoldLeopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
and
Maria CarolinaArchduchess Maria Carolina of Austria was the ninth child and daughter of Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Life:...
(1748–1748). During this period, there was no rest for Maria Theresa during pregnancies or around the births; the war and child-bearing were carried on simultaneously. Five children were born during the peace between the
War of the Austrian SuccessionThe War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
and the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
:
Maria JohannaMaria Johanna Gabriela of Austria . She was the eleventh child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress . She died of smallpox.-Life:Maria Johanna was born on 4 February 1750...
,
Maria JosephaArchduchess Maria Josepha Gabriela Johanna Antonia Anna of Austria . She was the daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress...
,
Maria CarolinaMaria Carolina of Austria was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV & III. As de facto ruler of her husband's kingdoms, Maria Carolina oversaw the promulgation of many reforms, including the revocation of the ban on Freemasonry, the enlargement of the navy under her...
,
FerdinandArchduke Ferdinand Karl Anton Joseph Johann Stanislaus of Austria-Este was a son of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I and Maria Theresa of Austria. He was the founder of the House of Austria-Este and Governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1765 and 1796...
and
Maria AntoniaMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. When she was in labor with Marie Antonia, she loathed not using her time efficiently. She would carry out paperwork during this time, and after Maria Antonia was born, she would return to her paperwork. She delivered her last child,
Maximilian FrancisArchduke Maximilian Francis of Austria was an Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, the last child of the Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. His siblings included two Holy Roman Emperors , as well as Queen Marie Antoinette of France and Queen Maria Carolina of...
, during the Seven Years' War, aged 39. Maria Theresa asserted that, had she not been almost always pregnant, she would have gone into battle herself.
Maria Theresa's mother, Empress Elisabeth Christine, died in 1750. Four years later, Maria Theresa's governess, Marie Karoline von Fuchs-Mollard, died. The Empress showed her gratitude to Countess Fuchs by having her buried in the
Imperial CryptThe Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria lies below the Capuchin Church and monastery founded in 1618 and dedicated in 1632. It is on the Neuer Markt square of the Innere Stadt, near the imperial Hofburg Palace...
along with the members of the imperial family.
Shortly after giving birth to the younger children, Maria Theresa was confronted with the task of marrying off the elder ones. She led the marriage negotiations along with the campaigns of her wars and the duties of state. She treated her children with affection but used them as pawns in dynastic games and sacrificed their happiness for the benefit of the state. A devoted but self-conscious mother, she wrote to all of her children at least once a week and believed herself entitled to exercise authority over her children regardless of their age and rank.
Maria Theresa came down with a severe attack of
smallpoxSmallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
shortly after her fiftieth birthday in May 1767, caught from her daughter-in-law and empress,
Maria Josepha of BavariaMaria Josepha , Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Princess of Bavaria, was the daughter of Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria and Maria Amalia of Austria and the second wife of Emperor Joseph II...
. Maria Theresa survived, but the new empress did not. Maria Theresa forced her daughter, Archduchess Maria Josepha, to pray with her in the Imperial Crypt next to the unsealed tomb of Empress Maria Josepha. The Archduchess started showing smallpox rash two days after visiting the crypt and soon died. Maria Carolina was to replace her as the pre-determined bride of King
Ferdinand IV of NaplesFerdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
. Maria Theresa blamed herself for her daughter's death for the rest of her life because, at the time, the concept of an extended incubation period was largely unknown and it was believed that Maria Josepha had caught smallpox from the body of the late empress.
In April 1770, Maria Theresa's youngest daughter, Maria Antonia, married
LouisLouis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, Dauphin of France, by proxy in Vienna. Maria Antonia's education was neglected, and when the French showed an interest in her, her mother went about educating her as best she could about the
court of VersaillesThe Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
and the French. Maria Theresa kept up a fortnightly correspondence with Maria Antonia, now called Marie Antoinette, in which she often reproached her for laziness and frivolity and scolded her for failing to conceive a child. She disliked Leopold's reserve and often blamed him for being cold. She criticised Maria Carolina for her political activities, Ferdinand for his lack of organisation and Maria Amalia for her poor
FrenchFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and haughtiness. The only child she did not constantly scold was Maria Christina, who enjoyed her mother's complete confidence, though she failed to please her mother in one aspect: she did not produce any surviving children. One of Maria Theresa's greatest wishes was to have as many grandchildren as possible, but she had only about two dozen at the time of her death, of which all the eldest surviving daughters were named after her, with the exception of Caroline of Parma, her eldest granddaughter by Maria Amalia.
Issue
||
|| 6 October 1738 -
9 November 1789
|| died unmarried; no issue.
|-
|
Maria CarolinaArchduchess Maria Carolina of Austria was the third child and daughter of Maria Theresa, later Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Duke Francis of Lorraine, later Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Life:Maria Carolina was born on 5 February 1737 at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna...
||
|| 12 January 1740 -
25 January 1741
|| died in childhood; no issue.
|-
|
Joseph IIJoseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
Holy Roman Emperor||
|| 13 March 1741 -
20 February 1790
|| succeeded his father in the Imperial title but was co-ruler with his mother in the Austrian domains until her death in 1780; married firstly on 6 October 1760 to Princess Isabella of Parma and secondly on 23 January 1765 to Princess
Maria Josepha of BavariaMaria Josepha , Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Princess of Bavaria, was the daughter of Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria and Maria Amalia of Austria and the second wife of Emperor Joseph II...
. No surviving issue.
|-
|
Maria ChristinaMaria Christina, Duchess of Teschen , called "Mimi", was the fourth daughter and fifth child of Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor...
Duchess of Teschen
||
|| 13 May 1742 -
24 June 1798
|| designated Duchess of Teschen in ocasion of her marriage and later with her husband jointly Governor of the Austrian Netherlands; married on 7 January 1766 to
Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of TeschenPrince Albert Casimir August of Saxony, Duke of Teschen was a German prince from the House of Wettin who married into the Habsburg imperial family...
; no surviving issue.
|-
|
Maria ElisabethFor the earlier archduchess of the same name, see Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria.Archduchess Maria Elisabeth Josepha of Austria was the sixth child of Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Biography:Maria Elisabeth was born on 13 August 1743...
||
|| 13 August 1743 -
22 September 1808
|| died unmarried; no issue.
|-
|
Charles Joseph
||
|| 1 February 1745 -
18 January 1761
|| died of smallpox; no issue.
|-
|
Maria Amalia
||
|| 26 February 1746 -
9 June 1804
|| married on 19 July 1769 to
Ferdinand, Duke of ParmaFerdinand Maria Philip Louis Sebastian Francis James of Parma was Duke of Parma from 1765 to 1802. He was the second child and only son of Philip, Duke of Parma and Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France, eldest daughter of Louis XV of France and Maria Leszczyńska...
(1751–1802); had issue.
|-
|
Leopold IILeopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
Holy Roman Emperor
||
|| 5 May 1747 -
1 March 1792
|| married on 5 August 1765 to Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain (1745–1792); had issue.
|-
|
Maria CarolinaArchduchess Maria Carolina of Austria was the ninth child and daughter of Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Life:...
||
|| 17 September 1748 -
17 September 1748
|| died inmediately after being baptized; no issue.
|-
|
Maria JohannaMaria Johanna Gabriela of Austria . She was the eleventh child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress . She died of smallpox.-Life:Maria Johanna was born on 4 February 1750...
||
|| 4 February 1750 -
23 December 1762
|| died of smallpox; no issue.
|-
|
Maria JosephaArchduchess Maria Josepha Gabriela Johanna Antonia Anna of Austria . She was the daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress...
||
|| 19 March 1751 -
15 October 1767
|| died of smallpox; no issue.
|-
|
Maria CarolinaMaria Carolina of Austria was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV & III. As de facto ruler of her husband's kingdoms, Maria Carolina oversaw the promulgation of many reforms, including the revocation of the ban on Freemasonry, the enlargement of the navy under her...
||
|| 13 August 1752 -
7 September 1814
|| married on 12 May 1768 to King
Ferdinand IV of Naples and SicilyFerdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
(1751–1825); had issue.
|-
|
FerdinandArchduke Ferdinand Karl Anton Joseph Johann Stanislaus of Austria-Este was a son of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I and Maria Theresa of Austria. He was the founder of the House of Austria-Este and Governor of the Duchy of Milan between 1765 and 1796...
||
|| 1 June 1754 -
24 December 1806
|| married on 15 October 1771 to
Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'EsteMaria Beatrice d’Este was heiress of Modena and Reggio and Duchess of Massa and Carrara from 1790 until 1797 and from 1816 until her death in 1829.-Biography:...
, heiress of Breisgau and of
ModenaModena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
; had issue (
Austria-EsteArchduke of Austria-Este and Habsburg-Este are a title and a surname which have been used by several cadet branches of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to denote a connection with the extinct Italian princely and feudal family of Este and the Duchy of Modena ruled by them...
).
|-
|
Maria AntoniaMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
||
|| 2 November 1755 -
16 October 1793
|| married on 16 May 1770 to King
Louis XVI of FranceLouis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
(1754–1793); had issue (line extinct.)
|-
|
Maximilian FrancisArchduke Maximilian Francis of Austria was an Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, the last child of the Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. His siblings included two Holy Roman Emperors , as well as Queen Marie Antoinette of France and Queen Maria Carolina of...
||
|| 8 December 1756 -
27 July 1801
||
Archbishop-Elector of CologneThe Electorate of Cologne was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne . It was ruled by the Archbishop in his function as prince-elector of...
; no issue.
|
|}