Holy Roman Empire Burial Sites (1440 – 1806)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Banner of the Holy Roman Empire; Credit – Wikipedia by David Liuzzo

This article covers the burial sites of the Holy Roman Emperors from the House of Habsburg (1440 – 1740) and a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine (1765 – 1806), with one Holy Roman Emperor each from the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach (1742 – 1745) and the House of Lorraine (1745 – 1765) sandwiched between them.

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. It was an empire in name only as the territories it covered were mostly independent with their own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states. Common practice was to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir.

Until the 13th century, the Holy Roman Empire was powerful. As time went on the constituent states of the started to obtain more power. Even before the reign of Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, began in 1792, the Holy Roman Emperors had little real power. Holy Roman Emperor Franz II also had Habsburg family titles and territories. He was King of Hungary, King of Croatia, King of Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria. During the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, Franz II feared that Napoleon could take over his personal, hereditary Habsburg lands within the Holy Roman Empire, so in 1804, he proclaimed himself Emperor Franz I of Austria. As it turned out, Franz’s move was a wise one because the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806.

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Burial Sites

Exterior of the Capuchin Church in Vienna (Cloister on left, Church in middle, Imperial Crypt on right); Credit – © Susan Flantzer – Do not copy any photos that I have taken. If you wish to use a photo please contact me.

Until the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria was founded by Anna of Tyrol and her husband Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor in 1617, there was no predominant burial site for the House of Habsburg which is why there is a long list of burial sites below. Anna of Tyrol came up with the idea of a Capuchin cloister and burial place for her and her husband and wanted to build it near Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. In her will, Anna left funds to provide for the church’s construction. Anna died in December 1618, a year after she had made her will, and her husband Matthias died three months later. The foundation stone was laid in 1622, but the church was not completed and dedicated until 1632 because of the Thirty Years’ War. On Easter of 1633, the two sarcophagi containing the remains of Matthias and Anna were transferred from their temporary burial site at the Poor Clares Convent of St. Maria, Queen of the Angels in Vienna, Austria to the Capuchin Church and placed in what is now called the Founders Vault in the Imperial Crypt (Kaisergruft in German).

After the completion of the Capuchin Church and its Imperial Crypt, many but not all Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors and their wives were interred there. Some chose to be interred in a church or a monastery they had founded or a site with a personal attachment. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III built his own mausoleum. Some brief information about other burial sites will be included in the entries below of those Holy Roman Emperors and/or their wives interred elsewhere.

The Imperial Crypt is also the burial site of many children of Holy Roman Emperors and their other relatives. In addition, after the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved and the establishment of the Empire of Austria and later the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, the Imperial Crypt was the burial site of the Emperors of Austria and their family members.

The Capuchin Church in Vienna still has a Capuchin cloister and the Imperial Crypt is in the care of the monks from the cloister. Unlike any of the other burial sites this writer has visited, the church is small and is on a street with traffic, shops, stores, restaurants, and cafes. A cafe is directly across from it. Walking past the church, one would never think that it is the burial site of emperors. The burial place of the Habsburgs is so unlike the soaring structures containing the other burial sites this writer has visited and certainly not as grandiose. The interior of the church is quite simple and more like a chapel with one main altar and two side altars.

Interior of the Capuchin Church in Vienna; Credit – Wikipedia

When the casket of a deceased Habsburg is brought to the Capuchin Church, a ceremony takes place before the remains are allowed in. Accompanying the casket, the master of ceremonies knocks three times on the door. The Capuchin monk who is the custodian of the Imperial Crypt calls out, “Wer begehrt Einlass?” (“Who requests entry?”) The master of ceremonies responds with all the imperial and royal titles of the deceased person. The custodian then says, “Wir kennen ihn nicht.” (“We know him not.”) Again, the master of ceremonies knocks three times on the door and again the custodian asks, “Wer begehrt Einlass?” (“Who requests entry?”) This time the master of ceremonies replies, “[First Name], ein sterblicher, sündiger Mensch.” (“[First Name], a mortal, sinful human being.”). The custodian’s final response is, “So komme sie herein.” (“Come in.”) and the door is opened. It is apparent that the simplicity of the Capuchin Church is reflected in this ceremony.

This ceremony was last held in 2011, upon the death of the direct descendant of Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, 98-year-old Otto von Habsburg, the last Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Croatia, and later in his long life, a member of the European Parliament. Otto von Habsburg, who refrained from using royal titles, was the eldest and the longest surviving of the eight children of Karl I, the last Emperor of Austria and his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma. In the video below, the master of ceremonies first reads Otto von Habsburg’s many imperial and royal titles and the custodian of the Imperial Crypt then says, “Wir kennen ihn nicht.” (“We know him not.”) Again, the master of ceremonies knocks three times on the door, and again the custodian asks, “Wer begehrt Einlass?” (“Who requests entry?”) The custodian then reads Otto von Habsburg’s political titles as a Member of the European Parliament, a member of the conservative party, Christian Social Union in Bavaria, and the senior member of the European Parliament. Again, the custodian replies, “Wir kennen ihn nicht.” (“We know him not.”) Once again, the master of ceremonies knocks three times on the door, and again the custodian asks, “Wer begehrt Einlass?” (“Who requests entry?”) The master of ceremonies replies, “Otto von Habsburg, ein sterblicher, sündiger Mensch.” (“a mortal, sinful human being.”) The custodian says, “So komme sie herein.” (“Come in.”) and the door is opened.

For more information, see:

Other burial sites of Holy Roman Emperors and their wives:

All portraits and photos below are from Wikipedia unless otherwise indicated.

The information below is from articles at Unofficial Royalty: Holy Roman Empire Index.

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House of Habsburg (1440 – 1740)

Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1452 – 1493)

The son of Ernst II, Duke of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola and the Inner Austrian duchies, and his second wife Cymburgis of Masovia, Friedrich III was also Duke of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola (reigned 1424–1493), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1457–1493). He would lay the foundation that would keep the House of Habsburg in a power play position until its fall after World War I. In 1452, he married Infanta Eleanor of Portugal. The couple had five children but only two survived childhood, including Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

In February 1493, Friedrich’s health began to worsen. He had an issue with his left leg which contemporary sources referred to as gangrene but in today’s modern medicine, the issue was caused by arteriosclerosis. Friedrich’s doctors decided to amputate the affected leg. Although Friedrich survived the amputation, he died on August 19, 1493, in Linz, Duchy of Austria, now in Austria, at the age of 77. Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor was buried in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.

Tomb of Friedrich III

Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress

The wife of Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleanor was the daughter of King Duarte of Portugal and Eleanor of Aragon. In 1452, 18-year-old Eleanor and 37-year-old Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor were married in Rome by Pope Nicholas V. Eleanor and Friedrich were very different and their marriage was not a happy one.

After fifteen years of marriage, Eleanor, aged 32, died on September 3, 1467, from dysentery in Wiener Neustadt, Duchy of Styria, now in Austria. She was buried at the Neukloster Abbey in Wiener Neustadt which was founded by her husband and where her three children who died in childhood were buried.

Eleanor’s tomb lid

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Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1493 – 1519)

The son of Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Eleanor of Portugal, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor also ruled his family lands as Archduke of Austria from 1493 – 1519. In 1477, Maximilian married Mary of Burgundy, Duchess of Burgundy in her own right. She ruled over the vast and rich Burgundian State that consisted of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany. Maximilian and Mary had three children including Philip IV, Duke of Burgundy, also called Philip of Habsburg and Philip the Handsome, who married Juana I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon. It was through this marriage that the Habsburg lands would be joined with the Spanish lands. Philip and Juana’s son Carlos, best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was one of the most powerful ever monarchs and had a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. Carlos I was not only the first King of a united Spain and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, but he was also Charles I, Archduke of Austria, and Charles II, Lord of the Netherlands, among many other titles.

Sadly, Maximilian and Mary’s marriage lasted only five years as Mary died from injuries sustained in a horse-riding accident. After a short second marriage in name only to Anne, Duchess of Brittany in her own right, Maximilian married again in 1493 to twenty-one-year-old Bianca Maria Sforza, the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 5th Duke of Milan. Bianca Maria had a miscarriage shortly after her marriage and she was never able to conceive again.

Maximilian suffered a stroke on December 15, 1518, that left him bedridden. On January 12, 1519, he died, aged 59 at the Castle of Wels in Wels, Upper Austria. Maximilian was buried under the steps of the altar at St. George’s Cathedral in Wiener Neustadt Castle in Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria, now in Austria. As per his will, his heart was placed in the tomb of his first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, County of Flanders, now in Belgium.

Tomb of Maximilian I

Mary, Duchess of Burgundy (reigned 1477 – 1482), Archduchess of Austria

The first wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in her own right was the only child of Charles I the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the second of his three wives Isabella of Bourbon. Because she was her father’s heir, Mary had many suitors. On January 5, 1477, Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy was killed at the Battle of Nancy, and twenty-year-old Mary of Burgundy became the Duchess of Burgundy in her own right. That same year, Mary married Archduke Maximilian of Austria, son of Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria. However, she died before Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor.

Mary’s reign as Duchess of Burgundy and her marriage to Maximilian lasted only five years. In March 1482, despite being pregnant, Mary participated in a hunt in the woods near Wijnendale Castle in Flanders along with her husband. She was an experienced rider and she held her falcon in one hand and the reins in the other hand. However, Mary’s horse stumbled over a tree stump while jumping over a newly dug canal. The saddle belt under the horse’s belly broke causing Mary to fall out of the saddle and into the canal with the horse on top of her. Mary died from internal injuries, aged twenty-five, several weeks later, on March 27, 1482, at Wijnendale Castle, Flanders, Burgundian Netherlands, now Wijnendale, West Flanders in Belgium. She was buried in a beautiful tomb next to her father in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges in the County of Flanders, now in Belgium. Maximilian and Mary’s son Philip, who was not quite four years old, succeeded his mother as ruler of the Burgundian State under the guardianship of his father Maximilian.

Tomb of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Bianca Maria Sforza, Holy Roman Empress

The third wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Bianca Maria Sforza was the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 5th Duke of Milan and his second wife Bona of Savoy. In 1476, at the age of four, Bianca Maria married her 11-year-old first cousin Philibert I, Duke of Savoy, who died from tuberculosis at the age of 17. After the death of his beloved first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in her own right and a second very short annulled marriage in name only to Anne, Duchess of Brittany in her own right, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria decided to marry for a third time to Bianca Maria Sforza.

The marriage was not a happy one. Bianca Maria had a miscarriage shortly after her marriage and it seems that she was never able to conceive again. After 1500, Maximilian lost all interest in Bianca Maria. She lived with her own court of 150 – 200 people from Milan, traveling to various castles. In the last years of her life, Bianca Maria suffered from a debilitating illness, and died on December 31, 1510, aged 38, in Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, now in Austria. She was buried at the Abbey Church in the Crypt of the Princes of Tyrol at Stams Abbey in Stams, County of Tyrol.

The Abbey Church at Stams Abbey where Bianca Maria is buried

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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1519 – 1556)

Best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles was one of the most powerful monarchs ever and had a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. Among his many titles were King of Spain (reigned 1516 – 1556), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1519 – 1521), Lord of the Netherlands, and Duke of Burgundy (reigned 1506 – 1555). Charles was the son of Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State from the House of Habsburg, and Juana I, Queen of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara.

Charles would inherit and reign over the dominions of his mother Juana (Castile and León, and Aragon which would be united under Charles as the Kingdom of Spain), the dominions of his father Philip (the Burgundian State Philip had inherited from his mother Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, consisting of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany), and also the Habsburg dominions of his paternal grandfather Maximilian (Archduchy of Austria, Duchy of Styria, Duchy of Carinthia, and Duchy of Carniola, today parts of Austria and Slovenia). Charles would be elected Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian in 1519.

Charles married his first cousin Isabella of Portugal. They had five children but only three survived to adulthood including Felipe II, King of Spain.

Physically exhausted after forty years of ruling, Charles abdicated in 1555. His younger brother Ferdinand, who had already been given Charles’ Austrian lands in 1521, became the Holy Roman Emperor. The Spanish Empire, including the possessions in the Netherlands and Italy, was inherited by Charles’ son who reigned as Felipe II, King of Spain.

Charles retired to the peace of the Monastery of Yuste in Extremadura, Spain. In August 1558, he became seriously ill with malaria. Charles died, aged fifty-eight, at the Monastery of Yuste on September 21, 1558, and was buried there. However, in his will, he asked for the establishment of a new religious site where he could be reburied with his beloved wife Isabella.

To fulfill his father’s wish, in 1563, Charles’s son King Felipe II of Spain started building the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial about 28 miles/45 kilometers from Madrid, Spain. In 1654, after the basilica was finally completed during the reign of their great-grandson Felipe IV, King of Spain, the remains of Charles and his wife Isabella were moved into the Royal Pantheon of Kings at the Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

The Royal Pantheon of Kings where Charles and his wife Isabella are interred

Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Spain, Holy Roman Empress

The wife of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Isabella of Portugal was the daughter of Manuel I, King of Portugal and his second wife Infanta Maria of Aragon. On March 11, 1526, at the Royal Alcázar of Seville in Seville, Spain, Isabella and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor were married.

Charles and Isabella had five children but only three survived to adulthood. Their son Felipe (also known as Philip) would become King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, Duke of Milan, Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, and jure uxoris (by right of his wife) King of England and Ireland during his marriage to his second wife Queen Mary I of England from 1554 until Mary’s death in 1558. Felipe is probably best remembered for sending the Spanish Armada on its unsuccessful mission to invade England in 1588.

Isabella and Charles’ happy marriage lasted for thirteen years. In 1539, during the third month of Isabella’s seventh pregnancy, she developed a fever causing her to miscarry. The fever caused her condition to worsen and Isabella died two weeks later in Toledo, Spain, on May 1, 1539, aged thirty-five. Isabella was interred in the Royal Chapel of Granada in Spain, the burial place of Charles’ parents Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and his maternal grandparents Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León. In 1654, after the basilica was finally completed, the remains of Isabella and her husband were moved into the Royal Pantheon of Kings at the Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

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Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1556 – 1564)

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor was also King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia (reigned 1526 – 1564), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1521 – 1564).  He was the brother of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the son of of Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State from the House of Habsburg, and Juana I, Queen of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. Physically exhausted after forty years of ruling, Ferdinand’s brother Charles abdicated in 1555. His younger brother Ferdinand, who had already been given Charles’ Austrian lands in 1521, was elected Holy Roman Emperor.

Unlike his father Maximilian I and his brother Charles V, Ferdinand I did not travel between his domains. In 1533, he moved his residence to Vienna and spent most of his time there. After Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor, Vienna became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1521, Ferdinand married Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Ferdinand and Anna had fifteen children and all but two reached adulthood.

Plagued by fever attacks during the last years of his life, Ferdinand died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria, on July 25, 1564, aged 61, and was buried next to his wife Anna in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. Their son Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor was next to his parents.

Tomb of Ferdinand I, his wife Anna, and their son Maximilian II Credit – Wikipedia

Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, Archduchess of Austria

The wife of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Anna of Bohemia and Hungary was the daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale. Anna died before her husband became Holy Roman Emperor. The death of her father King Vladislaus II in 1516 left Anna and her brother under the guardianship of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, and the Duchies of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. It was arranged for Anna to marry his grandson, then Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. At the time of his marriage in 1521, Ferdinand was governing the Habsburg hereditary lands on behalf of his older brother Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Anna and Ferdinand had fifteen children and all but two reached adulthood. Unusual for that time, Anna and Ferdinand personally looked after their children, who grew up simply and modestly.

Sadly, Anna died, aged forty-four, due to childbirth complications on January 27, 1547, in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, three days after giving birth to her fifteenth child. She was buried in a tomb at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. Her husband Ferdinand and their son Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor were also buried with Anna. Despite being encouraged to remarry, Ferdinand could not forget his wife and never remarried.

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Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1564 – 1576)

The son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor was also King of Bohemia (reigned 1562 – 1576), King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1563 – 1576). In 1548, Maximilian married his first cousin Infanta Maria of Spain, the daughter of his uncle Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. Maximilian and Maria had fifteen children including Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France.

During his reign, Maximilian II had to deal with the ongoing Ottoman-Habsburg wars, conflicts with his Spanish Habsburg cousins, and the effects of the 1555 Peace of Augsburg which officially ended the religious struggle between Lutherans and Catholics, allowing the rulers of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire to choose either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism as the official religion of their state.

On August 27, 1576, after a family outing, Maximilian suffered a severe relapse of an illness that had been bothering him for a long time, with attacks of sharp gastrointestinal pain. He died, aged forty-nine, in the Imperial City of Regensburg, now in the German state of Bavaria, on October 12, 1576. Maximilian was interred with his parents in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. (See photo above.)

Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

The first cousin and wife of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria of Austria was the daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Isabella of Spain. While Maria’s father was occupied with the affairs of his other realms, Maria and Maximilian acted as regents of Spain from 1548 to 1551, during the absence of Maria’s brother, the future King Felipe II of Spain. In 1552, the couple moved to live at the court of Maximilian’s father in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria. During her life in Austria as Holy Roman Empress, Maria, a devout Catholic, was ill at ease with the Lutheran religion and surrounded herself with a circle of devout Catholic courtiers, many of whom she had brought with her from Spain.

After her husband’s death in 1576, Maria remained in Vienna for six years and had great influence over her sons Rudolf and Matthias who were both Holy Roman Emperors. She returned to Spain in 1582, rejoicing to live in “a country without heretics.” Maria retired to the Monastery of Santa Clara de las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, Spain, founded in 1559 by her younger sister Juana when she was left a young widow. At the convent, Maria lived half as a nun in devout prayer, and half as a princess, still exerting influence on the Spanish court. On February 26, 1603, Maria died and was buried at the Monastery of Santa Clara de las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, Spain, aged seventy-four.

The Monastery of Santa Clara de las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, Spain where Maria lived the last years of her life, died, and was buried

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Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1576 – 1612)

The son of Maximilian II, Roman Emperor and his first cousin Maria of Austria, Rudolf was also King of Bohemia (reigned 1576 – 1611), King of Hungary and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, and  Margrave of Moravia (reigned 1576 – 1608).

Rudolf never married. In 1568, as part of the Habsburg marriage policy, sixteen-year-old Rudolf had been betrothed to his first cousin, two-year-old Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain, the daughter of Rudolf’s maternal uncle King Felipe II of Spain. Isabella Clara Eugenia had to wait for more than twenty years before Rudolf declared that he had no intention of marrying anybody.

Rudolf is considered an ineffective ruler whose mistakes directly led to the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648), one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, with an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians dying as a result of battle, famine, and disease. However, Rudolf was a major patron of the arts and sciences, and his support helped foster the Scientific Revolution.

Rudolf, aged fifty-nine, died at Prague Castle on January 20, 1612, nine months after he had been stripped of all effective power by his younger brother and successor Matthias, except the empty title of Holy Roman Emperor, to which Matthias was elected five months later. Rudolf was buried in the royal vault at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic.

St. Vitus Cathedral where Rudolf is interred

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After Holy Roman Emperor Matthias and his wife Anna of Tyrol, the founders of the Capuchin Church, most burials were in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. As time went on new burial vaults were built.

Plan of the Imperial Crypt; Credit – Wikipedia

Plan of the Imperial Crypt – Unofficial Royalty: Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria lists all the burials in the Imperial Crypt by vault.

A. Founders Vault: is the oldest part of the Imperial Crypt, dating from the original construction of the church which was completed in 1632.
B. Children’s Columbarium: was built in the 1960s and contains the sarcophagi of 12 children who had previously been in either the Founders Vault or the main hall of Leopold’s Vault
C. Leopold’s Vault: was built under the nave of the Capuchin Church beginning in 1657 by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I following the edict of his father Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III that the hereditary burial place of the imperial family would be in the Capuchin Church.
D. Karl’s Vault: was built in 1710 by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I and extended in 1720 by Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI
E. Maria Theresa’s Vault:  started construction in 1754. It is behind the Capuchin Church with its dome rising into the cloister courtyard.
F. Franz’s Vault: was built in 1824 by former Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, now Emperor Franz I of Austria. The octagonal Franz’s Vault is attached to the right wing of the Maria Theresa Vault.
G. Ferdinand’s Vault: was built in 1842, along with the Tuscan Vault, in conjunction with the reconstruction of the cloister above. There are only two visible sarcophagi, however, Ferdinand’s Vault actually contains one-fourth of the Imperial Crypt’s burials, walled up into the corner piers.
H. New Vault: was built between 1960 and 1962 under the monastery grounds as an enlargement to eliminate overcrowding in the other nine vaults, and to provide a climate-controlled environment to protect the metal sarcophagi from further deterioration.
I. Franz Joseph’s Vault: and the adjacent crypt chapel (J) were built in 1908 as part of the celebrations of Emperor Franz Joseph’s 60 years on the throne.
J. Crypt Chapel: The Crypt Chapel was built, along with the Franz Joseph Vault, in 1908. It is usually entered from the south doorway of the Franz Joseph Vault. The most recent burials are here.
K. The Tuscan Vault:  was built in 1842, along with the Ferdinand Vault. This vault takes its name from burials here of the many descendants of the younger sons of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, who reigned as Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 – 1790, before he became Holy Roman Emperor.

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Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1612 – 1619)

The son of Maximilian II, Roman Emperor and his first cousin Maria of Austria, Matthias was also King of Bohemia (reigned 1611 – 1617), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1608 – 1619), Archduke of Further Austria, (1608 – 1619), King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1608 – 1618).

In 1611, Matthias married his first cousin Anna of Tyrol. Although Matthias was 54 years old, he hoped to have children with his 26-year-old wife but their marriage was childless.

Meanwhile, there was displeasure in the Habsburg family with Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. His brother Archduke Matthias played a significant role in the family’s opposition against Rudolf. Matthias forced Rudolf to cede the crowns of Hungary, Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia to him. Rudolf lost what was left of his power and lived in isolation at Prague Castle in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic.

When Matthias’ unmarried brother Rudolf died on January 20, 1612, nine months after he had been stripped of all effective power by his younger brother, Matthias was elected to succeed him as Holy Roman Emperor and also succeeded to all Rudolf’s hereditary titles. During his seven-year reign, Matthias was seriously ill with gout and preferred the distractions of court life to the boring affairs of state.

Matthias died on March 20, 1619, aged 62, in Vienna, Austria. His wife Anna had died just three months before, on December 15, 1618, aged 33. Although Matthias and his wife Anna did not leave any children, they left the future Habsburgs a burial site. Matthias and Anna founded the Capuchin Church (German: Kapuzinerkirche) in Vienna, Austria, where the Imperial Crypt (German: Kaisergruft), the traditional burial site of the Habsburgs, is located.

Matthias and Anna were temporarily buried at the Poor Clares Convent of St. Maria, Queen of the Angels in Vienna until the completion of the Capuchin Church which they founded. In 1633, the remains of Matthias and Anna were transferred to the newly completed Capuchin Church and placed in what is now called the Founders Vault in the Imperial Crypt.

Tombs of Matthias and Anna of Tyrol

Anna of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empress

The wife and first cousin of Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, Anna of Tyrol was the daughter of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria, Count of Tyrol, and his second wife and niece Anna Juliana Gonzaga. Upon becoming a marriageable age, Anna began to receive offers of marriage but her first cousin Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II would not give his consent. Rudolf, who had never married and was much older, decided to marry Anna but soon retracted the proposal.  Matthias decided to marry his first cousin Anna.

Anna had a great influence on her husband. Upon her request, Matthias moved the Imperial court from Prague to Vienna, and soon, through their joint efforts, the new court was one of the centers of European culture. As a devout Catholic, Anna refused to interact with Protestants. She patronized the Capuchin order and played an important role in the Austrian Counter-Reformation, the period of Catholic resurgence that began in response to the Protestant Reformation.

On December 15, 1618, Anna died in Vienna at the age of thirty-three. Matthias died three months later, on March 20, 1619, aged 62, in Vienna. Because the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church had not yet been completed, Matthias and Anna were temporarily buried at the Poor Clares Convent of St. Maria, Queen of the Angels in Vienna, and moved to the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church

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Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1619 – 1637)

The son of Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor was also Archduke of Inner Austria (reigned 1590 – 1637), King of Bohemia (1st reign 1617 – 1619, 2nd reign 1620 – 1637), and King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1618 – 1637). In 1590, Ferdinand’s father died and the twelve-year-old inherited the lands of Inner Austria: Styria, Carniola, Carinthia, and Gorizia. His much older first cousin, Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor and Head of the House of Habsburg and appointed regents to administer Ferdinand’s lands.

In 1600, 22-year-old Ferdinand married his 26-year-old first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria. Maria Anna died before her husband became Holy Roman Emperor. Ferdinand and Maria Anna had seven children but only four survived childhood including Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor.  44-year-old Ferdinand married for a second time to his first cousin once removed, 24-year-old Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua but the couple had no children.

The Thirty Years’ War began in 1618 as a result of the inadequacies of Ferdinand II’s predecessors Rudolf II and Matthias. Ferdinand’s acts against Protestantism caused the war to engulf the entire Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648) was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, with an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians dying as a result of battle, famine, and disease.

On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria. He was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II which he had built next to the Graz Cathedral in Austria. The tombs of Ferdinand II, his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, and his son Johann Karl, who died in his teens, are coffin wall niches and marked by inscriptions

Coffin niche of Ferdinand II

Maria Anna of Bavaria, Archduchess of Inner Austria

The first wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Anna of Bavaria was the daughter of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. In 1600, 26-year-old Maria Anna of Bavaria married her first cousin 22-year-old Ferdinand II, Archduke of Inner Austria. Maria Anna died before her husband became King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, and Holy Roman Emperor, so she held only the title Archduchess of Inner Austria. Maria Anna and Ferdinand had seven children but only four survived childhood including Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor.

Maria Anna was ill for a long time before she died on March 8, 1616, at the age of forty-one, in Graz, Inner Austria, now in Austria. She was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II which her husband began building in 1614, next to Graz Cathedral on the site of a former cemetery.

Coffin niche of Maria Anna

Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress

The second wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua was the daughter of of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat and his second wife and first cousin Eleonora de’ Medici.

After being widowed for six years, 44-year-old Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor married Eleanora, his 24-year-old first cousin once removed in 1622. Eleonora and Ferdinand had no children, but Eleonora had a close relationship with her stepchildren. Despite their twenty-year age difference, Eleonora and Ferdinand II had a happy marriage. Like her husband, she was deeply religious and a strong supporter of the Counter-Reformation, the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation.

On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now Austria. At first, Eleonora lived in Graz Castle near her husband’s mausoleum but then she settled in Vienna, living mostly at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded in 1622.

Eleonora, Dowager Holy Roman Empress died, aged fifty-six, in Vienna on June 27, 1655. She was buried in Vienna at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded. Her heart was placed next to the tomb of her husband Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II in Graz. In 1782, Eleonora’s remains were reinterred in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.

Tomb of Eleonora Gonzaga in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna

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Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1637 – 1657)

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, the son of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, was also Archduke of Lower and Inner Austria (reigned 1637 – 1657), King of Bohemia (reigned 1627 – 1657), and King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1625 – 1657).

In 1631, Ferdinand married his first cousin Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Portugal. The couple had six children. Their eldest child, a son and his father’s heir, died from smallpox at the age of 21. Three other children did not survive childhood. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor was one of their two surviving children.

After the death of Maria Anna in 1646, Ferdinand married Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria, another first cousin, in 1648. However, Maria Leopoldine died in childbirth in 1649. In 1651, Ferdinand married Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua. They had four children but only two survived childhood.

Ferdinand III became Holy Roman Emperor in 1537, at the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648), and had been commander-in-chief of the army since 1634. The Thirty Years’ War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, with an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians dying as a result of battle, famine, and disease. During Ferdinand III’s reign, the power of the Holy Roman Empire, which had increased during his father’s reign, declined.

Ferdinand III died, aged forty-eight, on April 2, 1657, in Vienna, Austria. He was buried in the Leopold Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna

Ferdinand III’s tomb

Maria Anna of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

The first of the three wives of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Anna was the daughter of Felipe III, King of Spain and Archduchess Margarete of Austria. In 1631, Maria Anna married her first cousin, then Archduke Ferdinand of Austria.

Pregnant with her sixth child, 39-year-old Empress Maria Anna suddenly fell ill with a fever, had heavy bleeding, and died on May 13, 1646, at Linz Castle in Linz, Austria. Immediately after her death, the unborn child, a girl, was delivered by Cesarean section. She was named Maria after her mother but lived only a few hours. Both mother and daughter were placed in the same coffin and interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Tomb of Maria Anna & her infant daughter

Maria Leopoldine of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

The daughter of Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and Claudia de’ Medici, Maria Leopoldine of Austria was the second of the three wives of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. Two years after the death of his first wife, forty-year-old Ferdinand III married again, in 1648, to sixteen-year-old Maria Leopoldine, another first cousin.

Maria Leopoldine and Ferdinand III had one son, Archduke Karl Josef of Austria, who died in his teens. Sadly, the childbirth was very difficult and 17-year-old Maria Leopoldine died on the day her son was born, August 19, 1649. She was interred in the Leopold Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria.

Maria Leopoldine’s tomb

Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress

The daughter of Carlo II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers and his first cousin Maria Gonzaga, Duchess of Montferrat in her own right, Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua was the third of the three wives of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. Eleonora was the great-niece and namesake of Ferdinand III’s stepmother, also named Eleonora Gonzaga, the second wife of his father Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.

It was Dowager Holy Roman Empress Eleonora who arranged the marriage between her stepson Ferdinand III and grand niece and goddaughter Eleonora after the death of Ferdinand’s second wife. The couple was married 1651. Eleonora and Ferdinand III had four children but only two survived childhood. Although there was a twenty-two-year difference, Eleonora and Ferdinand III had a happy marriage and she developed a close relationship with her stepchildren. Eleonora learned German, and Ferdinand III learned Italian.

Eleonora survived her husband by twenty-nine years, dying on December 6, 1686, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now the capital of Austria, at the age of fifty-six. She was buried in the Leopold Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Eleonora’s tomb

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Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1658 – 1705)

The son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and the first of his three wives Maria Anna of Austria, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor was also King of Hungary (reigned 1655 – 1705), King of Bohemia (reigned 1656 – 1705), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1657 – 1705), King of Croatia (reigned 1657 – 1705), Duke of Teschen (reigned 1657 – 1705), King of the Romans (reigned 1658 – 1705), Archduke of Further Austria (reigned 1665 – 1705), and Prince of Transylvania (reigned 1692–1705).

Leopold was not expected to be the heir of his father’s Habsburg hereditary lands or to be elected Holy Roman Emperor and was receiving ecclesiastical training for a career in the higher clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. However, this changed when his eldest sibling Ferdinand, who had been elected King of the Romans meaning he would be the next Holy Roman Emperor, died from smallpox at the age of twenty-one.

In 1666, 26-year-old Leopold married 15-year-old Margarita Teresa of Spain, his niece and first cousin, the daughter of Leopold’s sister Mariana and her maternal uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain. The marriage was one of the many examples of inbreeding in the House of Habsburg. Leopold and Margarita Teresa had four children but only one survived infancy. Margarita Teresa died in 1673, at the age of 21.

Because Leopold had no male heirs, he needed to marry again as soon as possible. In 1673, he married 20-year-old Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria. Leopold and Claudia Felicitas had two daughters, who died in childhood. Six months after giving birth to her second daughter Claudia Felicitas died from tuberculosis.

Leopold I was devastated by the loss of his second wife, and he retired to a monastery near Vienna to mourn but he knew he needed to marry again to provide a male heir. He chose his 21-year-old second cousin, Eleonore Magdalene of Neuberg whom he married in 1676. Leopold made a good choice because his third wife Eleonore Magdalene had ten children with five surviving childhood including two Holy Roman Emperors.

Leopold’s reign was dominated by the defense against French expansion under his first cousin King Louis XIV of France, whom he resembled. The southeast Habsburg lands were threatened by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire resulting in the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683 when the Ottoman army was defeated.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, in Vienna, Austria. He was buried in the Karl Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Tomb of Leopold I

Margarita Teresa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress

The first of the three wives of her uncle and first cousin Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, Margarita Teresa of Spain was the daughter of Felipe IV, King of Spain and his second wife Mariana of Austria, who were uncle and niece, another example of Habsburg inbreeding.

In 1666, 15-year-old Margarita Teresa married her 25-year-old uncle and first cousin Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, one more example of Habsburg inbreeding. Margarita Teresa and Leopold had four children but only one survived to adulthood. Margarita Teresa was very religious and was the driving force behind Leopold’s expulsion of the Jews from Vienna in 1670. She blamed the Jews for her two miscarriages, the early deaths of her two sons, and the fire in the newly built Leopoldine wing of the Hofburg Palace.

Weakened from six pregnancies in six years (four living childbirths and two miscarriages), and four months into her seventh pregnancy, Margarita Teresa died at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, on March 12, 1673, at the age of 21, and was buried in the Leopold Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. One has to wonder if the inbreeding played a role in the fate of Margarita Teresa and her children.

Tomb of Margarita Teresa

Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

The second of the three wives and second cousin of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, Claudia Felicitas of Austria was the daughter of Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol and his first cousin Anna de’ Medici. Because the first wife of Leopold I died without providing a  male heir, he needed to marry again as soon as possible.  20-year-old Claudia Felicitas and 33-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I were married in 1673.

Claudia Felicitas and Leopold I combined for a gene pool that was also problematic. They were second cousins four times over. Leopold’s parents and Claudia Felicitas’ parents were all double first cousins with each other. All four had the same pair of grandparents Karl II, Archduke of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Claudia Felicitas and Leopold I had two daughters, who died in infancy.

Six months after giving birth to her second daughter, 22-year-old Claudia Felicitas died from tuberculosis in Vienna, on April 8, 1676, less than two-and-a-half years after her marriage. She was buried in the Dominican Church, also known as the Church of St. Maria Rotund, in Vienna.

Dominican Church in Vienna, Austria where Claudia Felicitas is buried

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, the third of the three wives and the second cousin of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, was the daughter of Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

In 1676, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor was devastated by the loss of his second wife, and he retired to a monastery near Vienna to mourn. From his two marriages, he had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter from his first wife, had died. Leopold needed to marry again to provide a male heir. Eleanore Magdalene’s mother had 23 pregnancies and 17 live births and the family gained the reputation as a fertile family. Because of this reputation, 36-year-old Leopold chose his 21-year-old second cousin Eleonore Magdalene to be his third wife. The couple married on December 14, 1676.

Leopold made a good choice because his third wife Eleonore Magdalene had ten children with five surviving childhood including two Holy Roman Emperors, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Eleonore Magdalene was politically active and influenced her husband in governmental matters, particularly as he grew older. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria.

During her last years, Eleonore Magdalene lived a very ascetic life, similar to a nun. On January 1, 1720, while preparing for the sacrament of confession, Eleonore Magdalene suffered a stroke which left the right side of her body paralyzed. She died on January 19, 1720, aged sixty-five, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Following her wishes, Eleonora Magdalene was buried wearing the robe of a nun, in a very simple wooden coffin that bore the inscription “Eleonore Magdalene Theresa, poor sinner”. Her coffin was placed at the foot of her husband’s tomb in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

The current lead Baroque coffin in the Leopold Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria containing Eleonore Magdalene’s remains was made in August 1755 following the orders of her granddaughter Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, in her own right Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, because the old wooden coffin had deteriorated considerably.

Eleonore Magdalene’s second coffin

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Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1705 – 1711)

The son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his third wife and second cousin Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor was also King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, and King of Croatia from 1705 – 1711, and King of Hungary from 1687 – 1711.

In 1699, Joseph married Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Joseph and Wilhelmine Amalie had three children but their only son died from hydrocephalus before his first birthday. Joseph began having affairs at the age of 15 with maids and noble women. He did not stop his affairs when he married, and the affairs combined with the death of his only son took a toll on his marriage. Joseph contracted a venereal disease, probably syphilis, and probably passed the disease to his wife. The venereal disease was most likely the reason for the failure of the couple to produce more children.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria, and his 27-year-old son Joseph succeeded him in the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor. His father had left him with the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 – 1715).

Joseph’s reign lasted just six years. During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, the only surviving child and heir of King Louis XIV of France, and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Joseph also became ill with smallpox. He died, aged thirty-two, on April 17, 1711, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Joseph had promised his wife that if he survived, he would stop having affairs. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I was buried in the Karl Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Because Joseph did not have any sons, his brother Karl succeeded him as the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI.

Tomb of  Joseph I

Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress

The wife of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the daughter of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate.

In 1699, Wilhelmine Amalia married Archduke Joseph, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. It was thought that the pious Wilhelmine Amalie, who was five years older than Joseph, would be a positive influence on Joseph and he would then stop having affairs but the affairs continued.

After Joseph’s death in 1711, Wilhelmine Amalia raised her two daughters. In 1722, after her daughters had married, Wilhelmine Amalie retired to the convent she had founded in 1717 for the Salesian nuns, the Monastery of the Visitation of Mary in Vienna. Living in the convent did not mean that Wilhelmine Amalie gave up her social life. As Dowager Empress she participated in the social life of the imperial family and worked with many charities.

Wilhelmine Amalie survived her husband by thirty-one years, dying on April 10, 1742, eleven days before her sixty-ninth birthday, at the Monastery of the Visitation of Mary in Vienna that she had founded. She was buried in the crypt under the high altar of the monastery’s church where the Salesian nuns are buried. As per her orders, her heart was interred at the foot of her husband’s tomb in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Tomb of Wilhelmina Amalie

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Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1711 – 1740)

The son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his third wife and second cousin Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg, Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor was also King of Hungary, King of Croatia, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria (reigned 1711 – 1740), King of Naples (reigned 1707–1735), King of Sardinia (reigned 1708–1720), Duke of Teschen (reigned 1711- 1722), Duke of Brabant, Duke of Limburg, Duke of Lothier, Duke of Milan, Count of Namur, Count of Flanders, Count of Hainaut, Duke of Luxembourg (reigned 1714–1740), King of Serbia (reigned 1718-1739), King of Sicily (reigned 1720–1735), Duke of Parma and Piacenza (reigned 1735–1740).

In 1708, Karl VI married Princess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Karl and Elisabeth Christine had one son who died in infancy and three daughters, with one dying in childhood. His eldest daughter was Maria Theresa of Austria, who after her father’s death, was in her own right, the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands as Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia.

After the sudden death from smallpox of his elder brother Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1711, Karl automatically succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands and was then elected Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor. The fact that Karl did not have a male heir caused many problems. (See Karl VI’s article linked above for more information.)

On October 20, 1740, at the age of 55, Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor died at the Palais Augarten in Vienna, Austria, after a ten-day illness. Ten days earlier, Karl had eaten large amounts of a mushroom dish. The following day, he developed severe nausea, vomiting, and episodes of unconsciousness. After a few days of feeling fine, the symptoms returned, accompanied by a high fever, and eventually led to his death. The symptoms are typical of death cap mushroom poisoning but the definitive cause of Karl’s death remains unknown. Karl was interred in the Karl Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Tomb of Karl VI

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empress

The wife of Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor, Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was the daughter of Ludwig Rudolf, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Christine Luise of Oettingen-Oettingen.

Before Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I died, he arranged a marriage for his younger son Karl with Elisabeth Christine. However, the Lutheran Elisabeth Christine initially opposed the marriage because she would have to convert to Roman Catholicism. She finally gave in and was tutored in Roman Catholicism by her future mother-in-law Empress Eleonore Magdalene. Elisabeth Christine officially converted to Roman Catholicism in 1707.

Elisabeth Christine’s life was dominated by the pressure upon her to give birth to a male heir. After the death of her seven-month-old son in 1716, she found her situation very stressful. Her physical and mental health was ruined by the now ridiculous methods to make her conceive another son which she never did. If only it was known at the time that it was the male who determined the gender.

After her husband’s death, Elizabeth Christine lived at Hetzendorf Palace, very close to the summer residence Schönbrunn Palace. She survived her husband by ten years, dying, aged 59, in Vienna, Austria, on December 21, 1750. She was interred in the Karl Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Tomb of Elizabeth Christine

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House of Wittelsbach (1742 – 1745)

Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1742 – 1745)

Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, from the House of Wittlesbach, was also Karl I, Prince-Elector of Bavaria from 1726 – 1745. He was the son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Prince-Elector of Bavaria and his second wife Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska. In 1722, Karl married Archduchess Maria Amalie of Austria, the younger of the two daughters of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor who had died in 1711. Karl thought that a marriage with the House of Habsburg would widen his dynastic and economic prospects. Karl and Maria Amalie had seven children but only four survived to adulthood.

After the death of Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who had no sons, there was a succession crisis over who would succeed to the Habsburg hereditary lands. This led to the War of Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748) which resulted in the eventual confirmation of Karl VI’s daughter Maria Theresa as the rightful holder of the Habsburg titles. Because there was no Habsburg candidate to be elected Holy Roman Emperor, Karl, Elector of Bavaria was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VII in 1742. Karl VII was a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and his reign as Holy Roman Emperor marked the end of three centuries of uninterrupted Habsburg imperial rule.

On January 20, 1745, 47-year-old Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor died at the Munich Residenz in Munich, then in the Electorate of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. His autopsy report listed gout, kidney stones, and heart problems as contributory factors to his death. He was interred in the Theatinerkirche in Munich, the traditional burial site of the House of Wittlesbach.

Tomb of Karl VII

Maria Amalie of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

The wife of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor from the House of Wittlesbach, Maria Amalie of Austria was the daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Princess Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Maria Amalie had met Karl of Bavaria, the heir to the Electorate of Bavaria, at the imperial court in Vienna. Karl thought that a marriage into the House of Habsburg would widen his dynastic and economic prospects, and in 1722, Marie Amalie and Karl of Bavaria were married. Maria Amalie and Karl had seven children but only four survived to adulthood including Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria.

After the death of her husband Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor in 1745, Maria Amalie urged her son, now Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, to make peace with Austria via the 1745 Treaty of Füssen. Bavaria recognized the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 which named Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI’s daughter Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria as the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands. Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria promised to support the candidacy of Francis Stephen of Lorraine, the husband of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria and future Habsburgs, as Holy Roman Emperor. In return, Austria recognized the legitimacy of Karl VII’s election as Holy Roman Emperor.

Maria Amalie of Austria, daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and wife of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, survived her husband by nearly thirteen years, dying at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, Bavaria on December 11, 1756, aged 55. Like her husband, she was buried in the Theatinerkirche in Munich.

Theatinekirke where Maria Amalie and her husband are interred; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

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House of Lorraine (1745 – 1765)

Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1745 – 1765)

Born François Étienne of Lorraine, Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor was also Duke of Lorraine (reigned 1729 – 1737) and Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765). He was the son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine and Princess Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans.

Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI favored the House of Lorraine because they were not only related but also because they had supported the Holy Roman Empire in its recent wars. Karl VI planned to have his elder surviving daughter Maria Theresa of Austria marry Franz’s elder brother but he died from smallpox. Instead, Franz was chosen as Maria Theresa’s future husband and he was educated in Vienna, Austria with Maria Theresa. In 1736, the couple were married. Franz and Maria Theresa had sixteen children but eight of the couple’s sixteen children died in childhood and four of the eight died from smallpox. Among their children were two Holy Roman Emperors (Joseph II and Leopold II), a Queen of France (Maria Antonia, better known as Marie Antoinette), and a Queen of Naples and Sicily (Maria Carolina).

Throughout his reign, Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI expected to have a male heir. Upon her father’s death in 1740, Maria Theresa became the sovereign ruler of the Habsburg territories in her own right. However, she was unable to become the sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire because she was female. Holy Roman Emperor Karl VII died in 1745 and via a treaty, Maria Theresa arranged for her husband to be elected Holy Roman Emperor as Franz I. Despite the snub, Maria Theresa wielded the real power and Franz was content to leave the act of reigning to his wife.

Holy Roman Emperor Franz I died suddenly of a stroke or heart attack on August 18, 1765, at the age of 56, in his carriage while returning from the opera in Innsbruck, Austria. He was interred in the Maria Theresa Crypt at the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria.

The huge tomb of Franz and Maria Theresa; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, Holy Roman Empress

  • Unofficial Royalty: Maria Theresa (in her own right Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia, Archduchess of Austria, and sovereign of the other Habsburg hereditary lands, Holy Roman Empress by marriage)

The wife of Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Theresa of Austria was the daughter of  Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Because her father had no sons, Maria Theresa was, in her own right, Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia, Archduchess of Austria and the sovereign of Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma, and she was the only female to hold the position of sovereign of the Habsburg hereditary lands.

As stated above, Maria Theresa arranged via a treaty for her husband to be elected Holy Roman Emperor Franz I. Despite the snub, Maria Theresa wielded the real power and Franz was content to leave the act of reigning to his wife. Franz had a good business sense and Maria Theresa let him be in charge of financial affairs, while she dealt with governing and the complicated politics and diplomacy of the Habsburg dominions. After the death of her husband, their son Joseph succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor although Maria Theresa continued to wield the real power, and continued to be the sovereign of the Habsburg hereditary lands.

In 1767, Maria Theresa had smallpox and after that, her health deteriorated. She died on November 29, 1780, at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, after a reign of 40 years and surrounded by her surviving children. Maria Theresa was the last of the House of Habsburg. The Imperial House thereafter was the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor since his father’s death, succeeded his mother as King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia and in the other Habsburg hereditary lands. Maria Theresa was buried alongside her husband in a magnificent tomb in the Maria Theresa Crypt in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.

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House of Habsburg-Lorraine (1765 – 1806)

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1765 – 1790)

  • Unofficial Royalty: Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (article to be published 11/27)

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor was the son of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, the only woman to be ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands in her own right, and Franz I, whose election as Holy Roman Emperor was arranged by his wife. Joseph was co-regent with his mother from 1765 – 1780 of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia, Austria, and several other Habsburg hereditary lands and was the sole ruler from 1780 to 1790, following the death in 1780 of his mother.

Joseph’s mother Maria Theresa had a comprehensive, detailed educational program arranged for him to prepare him as optimally as possible for his future duties as a ruler. In 1760, Joseph married Princess Isabella of Parma, the granddaughter of Louis XV, King of France. Joseph and Isabella had two daughters but neither survived childhood. In 1763, Isabella died from smallpox. At his mother’s insistence, Joseph married again to his second cousin Maria Josepha of Bavaria, daughter of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor. After two years of a childless marriage, Maria Josepha died of smallpox, as had her predecessor Isabella. Joseph never remarried.

When his father died in 1765, Joseph was elected Holy Roman Emperor Joseph although his mother Maria Theresa continued to wield the real power. However, Joseph was elevated by his mother Maria Theresa to be her co-regent in the Habsburg hereditary lands. It was not until his mother’s death in 1780, that Joseph could finally pursue his own policies.

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor died from tuberculosis, aged 48, on February 20, 1790, in Vienna, Austria. Before his death, Joseph had renounced the Habsburg practice of separate burial, a form of partial burial in which internal organs are buried separately from the rest of the body. He was buried in a field marshal’s uniform in an oak coffin in the Maria Theresa Vault at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria. At a later date, the oak coffin was put in a simple copper coffin and placed in front in front of his parents’ magnificent double sarcophagus.

Coffin of Joseph II in front of the tomb of his parents

Isabella of Parma, Archduchess of Austria

  • Unofficial Royalty: Isabella of Parma, Archduchess of Austria (article to be published 12/4)

Princess Isabella of Parma was the first wife of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II but she died before he became Holy Roman Emperor. She was the daughter of Infante Felipe of Spain, Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, and Princess Louise Élisabeth of France. Isabella’s grandfathers were Felipe V, King of Spain and Louis XV, King of France.

Over and over, Isabella had expressed her desire to become a nun but other plans were in the works for her. Her grandfather King Louis XV of France and Maria Theresa of Austria, ruler in her own right of the Habsburg hereditary lands and Holy Roman Empress by her marriage, arranged a marriage for Isabella and Maria Theresa’s eldest son Joseph. In 1760, the two 18-year-olds were married. Joseph and Isabella had two daughters but neither survived childhood.

When Isabella was six months pregnant with her second child, there were reports of smallpox cases in and around Vienna. Isabella developed a fever and it soon became clear that she had smallpox. Her high fever induced labor three months early, and on November 22, 1763, she gave birth to a premature second daughter. The baby was baptized Maria Christina, as Isabella requested, but died the same day.

Following the birth, Isabella was rarely conscious but during her moments of consciousness, she displayed extraordinary courage. Joseph, who had already had smallpox, stayed by her side and took care of her without a break. On November 27, 1763, one month and three days before her 22nd birthday, Isabella died from smallpox at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was interred in the Maria Theresa Crypt in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria. The tiny coffin of her daughter Maria Christina was placed under Isabella’s coffin. In 1770, when Isabella’s elder daughter Maria Theresa died at the age of seven from pleurisy, her coffin was placed next to her mother’s and younger sister’s coffins.

Isabella’s tomb in the middle with the coffin of her younger daughter Maria Christina sticking out underneath. To the right is the tomb of Isabella’s elder daughter Maria Theresa who died in 1770.

Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress

  • Unofficial Royalty: Maria Josepha of Bavaria (article to be published 12/11)

The second wife of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Josepha of Bavaria was the daughter of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, also Karl I, Elector of Bavaria, and Archduchess Maria Amalie of Austria. In 1765, two years after his first wife died from smallpox, Joseph married Maria Josepha. That same year, Joseph’s father died and he was elected Holy Roman Emperor.

Joseph did not find Maria Josepha physically attractive. After seeing her for the first time, he described her in a letter: “Her figure is short, thickset, and without a vestige of charm. Her face is covered with spots and pimples. Her teeth are horrible.” Maria Josepha’s state of health led her and others to believe that she was pregnant. Joseph never loved Maria Josepha and the marriage was probably never consummated.

A severe smallpox epidemic broke out in 1767, and Maria Josepha came down with the disease. Although Joseph, who had survived smallpox at an earlier time, had nursed his first wife Isabella as she was dying from smallpox, he did not visit Maria Josepha while she was ill. On May 28, 1767, a little more than two years after her marriage to Joseph, Maria Josepha, aged 28, died from smallpox at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was interred in the Maria Theresa Vault at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Tomb of Maria Josepha

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Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1790 – 1792)

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor was the son of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, the only woman to be ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands in her own right, and Franz I, whose election as Holy Roman Emperor was arranged by his wife. Leopold succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his brother Joseph II who had no surviving children. Leopold was also King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, also Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1765 – 1790).

In 1765, Leopold married Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain. The couple had sixteen children and only two did not survive childhood. Leopold reigned as Grand Duke of Tuscany as Pietro Leopoldo I from 1765 – 1790 but abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinando upon his election as Holy Roman Emperor. Leopold and his family had lived in Florence, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, for twenty-five years.

After only seventeen months as Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II died suddenly and unexpectedly on March 1, 1792, aged 44, in Vienna, Austria. He was buried in the Tuscan Crypt at the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria. Leopold’s eldest son Franz was elected (the last) Holy Roman Emperor and later was the first Emperor of Austria.

Tomb of Leopold II

Maria Luisa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress

Maria Luisa of Spain, the wife of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, was the daughter of Carlo VII, King of Naples/Carlo IV, King of Sicily, later Carlos III, King of Spain, and Maria Amalia of Saxony. 18-year-old Leopold and 20-year-old Maria Luisa were married in 1765. Thirteen days later, Leopold’s father Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor died, and Leopold, the second (surviving) son succeeded his father as Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The newlyweds settled at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where they would live for the next twenty-five years.

Maria Luisa and Leopold had sixteen children. Because his elder brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor had no children, Leopold became the founder of the main line of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Leopold was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1790 after the death of his childless brother Joseph. At that time, he abdicated the throne of Tuscany in favor of his second son Ferdinand. Leopold, Maria Luisa, and their family moved to Vienna, Austria. After only seventeen months as Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II died suddenly and unexpectedly on March 1, 1792.

Less than three months after the sudden death of her husband, Maria Luisa also died suddenly, aged 46, on May 15, 1792, at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was buried next to her husband in the Tuscan Crypt at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria. Their early deaths left their nine youngest children, all under the age of 18, orphans.

Maria Luisa’s tomb

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Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor
(reigned 1792 – 1806, Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806, reigned 1804 – 1835 as Franz I, Emperor of Austria)

Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor was the son of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Luisa of Spain. Franz reigned as Holy Roman Emperor from 1792 until 1806 when the Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806. He also reigned as King of Bohemia (1792 – 1835), King of Hungary and Croatia, (1792 – 1804), Archduke of Austria (1804 – 1835), and Emperor of Austria (1804 – 1835).

Austria took part in the French Revolutionary Wars, lasting from 1792 until 1802, resulting from the French Revolution, which saw the rise of an unknown French general named Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th-century, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II feared that Napoleon could take over the personal, hereditary Habsburg lands within the Holy Roman Empire, so in 1804 he proclaimed himself Emperor Franz I of Austria. Two years later, after Napoleon’s victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved and lands that had been held by the Holy Roman Emperor were given to Napoleon’s allies creating the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Kingdom of Württemberg, and the Grand Duchy of Baden.

Franz married four times. In 1788, he married Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg, who died in 1790 due to childbirth complications the day before her husband became Holy Roman Emperor. Her child lived only four months. In 1790, Franz married his double first cousin Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. The couple had twelve children with seven surviving childhood. Maria Theresa died due to childbirth complications delivering her twelfth child who also died. Next, Franz married another first cousin Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este in 1808. The couple had no children and had no children, and Maria Ludovika died in1816 of tuberculosis at the age of 28. Finally, Franz married Caroline Augusta of Bavaria in 1816. The couple had no children and Caroline Augusta survived Franz by thirty-eight years.

On March 2, 1835, the day after the 43rd anniversary of his father’s death, Franz died suddenly of a fever at the age of 67. Franz’s remains lie in Franz’s Vault in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria, surrounded by the tombs of his four wives.

Tomb of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II/Emperor Franz I of Austria; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Franz’s tomb surrounded by the tombs of his four wives; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Elisabeth of Württemberg, Archduchess of Austria

Elisabeth of Württemberg, the first wife of Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor was the daughter of Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg and Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Elisabeth married Archduke Franz (the future emperor) in 1788 when she was 20 years old.

Elisabeth was very close to Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and his final illness in February 1790 greatly upset the then-pregnant Elisabeth. She fainted upon seeing the dying emperor and on February 18, 1790, gave premature birth to a daughter Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth, who lived only four months. The labor had lasted more than 24 hours and Elisabeth, age 22, died because of complications. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph died two days later. Archduchess Elisabeth was buried at the Capuchin Church in Vienna Austria, in the Imperial Crypt in Franz’s Vault where her husband and his three other wives are also buried.

Tomb of Elisabeth; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, Holy Roman Empress, Empress of Austria

The second wife of Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily was the daughter of Ferdinand IV & III of Naples and Sicily (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies) and Marie Caroline of Austria. She was named after her maternal grandmother Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress. In 1790, at the age of 18, she married her double first cousin Archduke Franz of Austria. This was the only one of Franz’s four marriages that resulted in surviving children. Seven of their 12 children survived to adulthood. Maria Theresa gave birth to her twelfth child, Archduchess Amalia Theresa, on April 6, 1807. The baby died the following day and Maria Theresa died at Hofburg Palace in Vienna on April 13, 1807, at age 34 due to childbirth complications. She was buried at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria in the Imperial Crypt in Franz’s Vault where her husband and his three other wives are also buried.

Tomb of Maria Theresa; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este, Empress of Austria

Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este, Empress of Austria

The third wife of Franz I, Emperor of Austria, Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este was the daughter of Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d’Este and Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este, who was a son of Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria. In 1808, Maria Ludovika married her first cousin Franz I, Emperor of Austria. Their marriage was childless. Maria Ludovika was very strong in her opinions against Napoleon and opposed the marriage of her step-daughter Marie Louise to Napoleon in 1809. Empress Maria Ludovika died of tuberculosis on April 7, 1816, at the age of 28, and was buried at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria in the Imperial Crypt in the Franz’s Vault where her husband and his three other wives are also buried.

Tomb of Maria Ludovika; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, Empress of Austria

Caroline Augusta of Bavaria was the daughter of Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria and Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. Caroline Augusta was married twice. First, she married Crown Prince Wilhelm of Württemberg (the future King Wilhelm I of Württemberg) in 1808. This marriage was childless and was dissolved in 1814. In 1816, Caroline Augusta married Franz I, Emperor of Austria, and again the marriage was childless.

Caroline Augusta played no role in politics instead, she devoted herself to charitable activities. Through her efforts, child-care institutions, hospitals, and homes for workers were built. After her husband, Emperor Franz I of Austria died in 1835, Caroline Augusta lived in Salzburg to stay out of the way of her half-sister Sophie who had married Franz’s son Archduke Franz Karl in 1824. Caroline Augusta survived her husband by 38 years, dying at age 81 on February 9, 1873, and was buried at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria in the Imperial Crypt Franz’s Vault where her husband and his three other wives are also buried.

Tomb of Caroline Augusta; Credit – © Susan Flantzer

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