Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 - 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure (in her own right). In the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, Marianne Faithfull portrayed Maria Theresa opposite Kirsten Dunst in the title role. Maria Theresa - Trivia, Family, Bio | Famous Birthdays [124], After the smallpox epidemic of 1767, she promoted inoculation, which she had learned of through her correspondence with Maria Antonia, Electress of Saxony (who in turn probably knew of it through her own correspondence with Frederick the Great). These laws were compiled and the resulting Codex Theresianus could be used as a basis for legal unification. Teacher training colleges were established to train teachers in the latest techniques. [143] Prizes were given to the most able students to encourage ability. Maria Theresa was born next, followed by two more daughters, Maria Anna (1718-1744) and Maria Amalia (1724-1730). [104] There were also parts of the realm where the Jews were treated better, such as Trieste, Gorizia and Vorarlberg. Maria Theresa was the most important ruler of the age of Enlightened Absolutism and one of the most famous . How long did Nerva rule? To appease those who considered her gender to be a serious obstacle, Maria Theresa assumed masculine titles. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle, which concluded the eight-year conflict, recognised Prussia's possession of Silesia, and Maria Theresa ceded the Duchy of Parma to Philip of Spain. [13] Even though he had spent the last decades of his life securing Maria Theresa's inheritance, Charles never prepared his daughter for her future role as sovereign. The trial was successful, establishing that inoculation was effective in protecting against smallpox, and safe (in the case of the test subjects). [28] In the summer of 1738, Austria suffered defeats during the ongoing Russo-Turkish War. However, any sign of a return to Protestant practice was treated harshly, often by exile. [178], Her longtime rival Frederick the Great, on hearing of her death, said that she had honored her throne and her sex, and though he had fought against her in three wars, he never considered her his enemy. Francis Stephen was popularly despised, as he was thought to be a cowardly French spy. [107] Maria Theresa exiled Protestants from Austria to Transylvania, including 2,600 from Upper Austria in the 1750s. During the Middle Ages the Habsburgs fought with other royal houses for control of Bohemia, Poland and Hungary. Bohemia was particularly hard hit. Since 1761, Kaunitz had tried to organise a diplomatic congress to take advantage of the accession of George III of Great Britain, as he did not really care about Germany. Maria Theresa summary | Britannica These include: She has appeared as the main figure in a number of films and series such as the 1951 Maria Theresa and Maria Theresia, an Austria-Czech television miniseries from 2017. Their eldest son, Joseph, became Holy Roman Emperor. [b] Maria Theresa developed a close relationship with Countess Marie Karoline von Fuchs-Mollard, who taught her etiquette. [68], Frederick of Prussia's invasion of Saxony in August 1756 began a Third Silesian War and sparked the wider Seven Years' War. Despite his intellect, Maria Theresa's force of personality often made Joseph cower. Maria Theresa | Die Welt der Habsburger [113] Furthermore, educational institutions were created to prepare officials for work in the state bureaucracy: the Theresianum was established in Vienna in 1746 to educate nobles' sons, a military school named the Theresian Military Academy was founded in Wiener Neustadt in 1751, and an Oriental Academy for future diplomats was created in 1754. [100], In December 1744, she proposed to her ministers the expulsion of around 10,000 Jews from Prague amid accusations that they were disloyal at the time of the Bavarian-French occupation during the War of the Austrian Succession. [144], The education reform was met with considerable opposition. Since she required them in thousands or even tens of thousands, she decided to appear before the Hungarian Diet on 11 September 1741 while wearing the Holy Crown of Hungary. [90] However, she never allowed the Church to interfere with what she considered to be prerogatives of a monarch and kept Rome at arm's length. In 1740, Maria Theresa succeeded the Habsburg throne. None. 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. [80] In January 1761, the disease killed her second son Charles at the age of fifteen. [52] Therefore, she needed troops from Hungary in order to support the war effort. It was assumed that she had caught the infection when she went with her mother to pray in the Imperial Crypt next to the unsealed tomb of Empress Maria Josepha (Joseph's wife). Of her eleven daughters and five sons ten survived into adulthood. Much of Maria Theresa's reform ideology . [166] Sometimes, she openly admired his talents and achievements, but she was also not hesitant to rebuke him. [176][177] Her body is buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna next to her husband in a coffin she had inscribed during her lifetime. Question: How many wars did Maria Theresa oversee? [108] Freedom of religion was granted only in the Declaration of Tolerance issued by Joseph immediately after Maria Theresa's death. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Galicia and Lodomeria, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. [139] Austrian historian Karl Vocelka observed that the educational reforms enacted by Maria Theresa were "really founded on Enlightenment ideas," although the ulterior motive was still to "meet the needs of an absolutist state, as an increasingly sophisticated and complicated society and economy required new administrators, officers, diplomats and specialists in virtually every area. The invasion of Silesia by Frederick was the start of a lifelong enmity; she referred to him as "that evil man". 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. Queen Elisabeth of Spain and Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria, married to Maria Theresa's deprived cousin Maria Amalia and supported by Empress Wilhelmine Amalia, coveted portions of her inheritance. She also advocated for the state church. Maria Theresa's children | Die Welt der Habsburger [152], Emperor Francis died on 18 August 1765, while he and the court were in Innsbruck celebrating the wedding of his second surviving son, Leopold. [103] Notwithstanding her continuing strong dislike of Jews, Maria Theresa supported Jewish commercial and industrial activity in Austria. 40 years For 40 years Maria Theresa reigned as Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. In October 1740 the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, the last male Habsburg ruler, died and was succeeded by his daughter Maria Theresa, the young wife of the grand duke of Tuscany, Francis Stephen of Lorraine. The Viennese rioted at the cost of the war. The French plans fell apart when Charles VII died in January 1745. Maria Theresa very unwillingly consented to the occupation of Bavaria, and a year later she made peace proposals to Frederick II despite Joseph's objections. With the First Silesian War at an end, the Queen soon made the recovery of Bohemia her priority. Held in pretence, no implied sovereignty: Generations start with the daughters-in-law of, Generations are numbered by male-line descent from, Toggle Religious views and policies subsection, Toggle Titles, styles, honours, and arms subsection, Members of the Habsburg dynasty often married their close relatives; examples of such inbreeding were uncle-niece pairs (Maria Theresa's grandfather, Rather than using the formal manner and speech, Maria Theresa spoke (and sometimes wrote), Maria Theresa's father compelled Francis Stephen to renounce his rights to Lorraine and told him: ", Francis Stephen was at the time Grand Duke of Tuscany, but Tuscany had not been part of the Holy Roman Empire since the. Joseph II - Quotes, Emperor & Family - Biography She delivered her last child, Maximilian Francis, during the Seven Years' War, aged 39. During the course of the war, Maria Theresa successfully defended her rule over most of the Habsburg monarchy, apart from the loss of Silesia and a few minor territories in Italy. Crisis of Succession: In a monarchy with male-preference primogeniture, the son of the current ruler is typically considered the heir to the throne or empire. She was also the Archduchess of Austria. [123] Maria Theresa also banned the creation of new burial grounds without prior government permission, thus countering wasteful and unhygienic burial customs. Although she had already won the admiration of the Hungarians, the number of volunteers was only in the hundreds. [24][25] She was very jealous of her husband and his infidelity was the greatest problem of their marriage,[26] with Maria Wilhelmina, Princess of Auersperg, as his best-known mistress. She also promoted commerce and the development of agriculture, and reorganised Austria's ramshackle military, all of which strengthened Austria's international standing. In defiance of the grave situation, she managed to secure the vital support of the Hungarians for the war effort. What Happened to Marie Antoinette's Children? - Biography [64], Prussia became anxious at Austrian advances on the Rhine frontier, and Frederick again invaded Bohemia, beginning a Second Silesian War; Prussian troops sacked Prague in August 1744. [20] Louis XV of France demanded that Maria Theresa's fianc surrender his ancestral Duchy of Lorraine to accommodate his father-in-law, Stanisaw I, who had been deposed as King of Poland. Empress Maria Theresa - World Leaders in History - WorldAtlas Thus, she established a Chastity Commission (Keuschheitskommission) in 1752[132] to clamp down on prostitution, homosexuality, adultery and even sex between members of different religions. [113] She employed Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz, who modernised the empire by creating a standing army of 108,000men, paid for with 14million florins extracted from crown lands. Religious differences prevented him from arranging his daughter's marriage to the Protestant prince Frederick of Prussia. The nobles also claimed that the system of forced labour had no connection with the peasants' poverty, which was a result of the peasants' own wastefulness and the increased royal taxes. [125][87], In 1770, she enacted a strict regulation of the sale of poisons, and apothecaries were obliged to keep a poison register recording the quantity and circumstances of every sale. [142] Maria Theresa crushed the dissent by ordering the arrest of all those opposed. "[54] However, she managed to show her gift for theatrical displays by holding her son and heir, Joseph, while weeping, and she dramatically consigned the future king to the defense of the "brave Hungarians". [145] The reform of the primary schools largely met Maria Theresa's aim of raising literacy standards, as evidenced by the higher proportions of children who attended school; this was particularly the case in the Archdiocese of Vienna, where school attendance increased from 40% in 1780 to a sensational 94% by 1807. In the fall of 1780, she became ill and died on 28 November 1780. [138] Nevertheless, high rates of illiteracy persisted in some parts of Austria, half of the population was illiterate well into the 19th century,[140] The teacher training colleges (in particular the Vienna Normal School) produced hundreds of new teachers who spread the new system over the following decades. After unsuccessfully inviting the Sutton brothers from England to introduce their technique in Austria, Maria Theresa obtained information on current practices of smallpox inoculation in England. Felbiger's first proposals were made law by December 1774. Thus, the birth of Maria Theresa was a great disappointment to him and the people of Vienna; Charles never managed to overcome this feeling.[4]. [36] Despite her love for him and his position as co-ruler, Maria Theresa never allowed her husband to decide matters of state and often dismissed him from council meetings when they disagreed. It takes at least a week for the smallpox rash to appear after a person is infected. [31], Immediately after her accession, a number of European sovereigns who had recognised Maria Theresa as heir broke their promises. [76][77] Maria Theresa asserted that, had she not been almost always pregnant, she would have gone into battle herself. "[53] The response was rather boorish, with the queen being questioned and even heckled by members of the Diet; someone cried that she "better apply to Satan than the Hungarians for help. "[185] Despite being among the most successful Hapsburg monarchs and remarkable leaders of the 18th century, Maria Theresa has not captured the interest of contemporary historians or media, perhaps due her hardened nature.[186]. Maria Theresa's reign has always been celebrated as a heyday of the Monarchy. [169] She even once argued, "What right have we to rob an innocent nation that it has hitherto been our boast to protect and support? Bow Down Maria Theresa was the sole female ruler of the Habsburgs, and the last of her house. [6] In total, Great Britain, France, Saxony, United Provinces, Spain, Prussia, Russia, Denmark, Sardinia, Bavaria, and the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire recognised the sanction. Mother. [158] The system of serfdom was only abolished after Maria Theresa's death, in the Serfdom Patent (1781) issued (in another change of course) by Joseph II as sole ruler. [129], Maria Theresa is credited, however, in ending the witch hunts in Zagreb, opposing the methods used against Magda Logomer (also called Herrucina), who was the last prosecuted witch in Zagreb following her intervention. [93], Maria Theresa promoted the Greek Catholics and emphasized their equal status with Latin Church Catholics. The central government was responsible for funding the army, although Haugwitz instituted taxation of the nobility, who had never before had to pay taxes. Maria Theresa was responsible for changing Austrian physicians' negative view of inoculation. Joseph himself often threatened to resign as co-regent and emperor, but he, too, was induced not to do so. However, the sovereign, whose name is associated with the Austrian Age of Reform, was a reformer against her will. Throughout the city prayers were made for her recovery, and the sacrament was displayed in all churches. Four years later, Maria Theresa's governess, Marie Karoline von Fuchs-Mollard, died. Podewils wrote detailed descriptions of Maria Theresa's physical appearance and how she spent her days. In resistance, Frederick II's army invaded and claimed Silesia.
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