Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Theresa was the sovereign ruler of the Habsburg territories from 1740 until she died in 1780 and was the only female to hold the position. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria, Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and Holy Roman Empress.

Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina, Archduchess of Austria was born at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria on May 13, 1717, the second and eldest surviving child of Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Maria Theresa’s siblings:

  • Leopold Johann, Archduke of Austria (born and died 1716), died aged seven months
  • Maria Anna, Archduchess of Austria (1718 – 1744), married Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, no children, died in childbirth
  • Maria Amalia, Archduchess of Austria (1724 – 1730), died aged six-years-old

Maria Theresa’s only brother died several weeks before she was born and her two younger siblings were sisters. The fact that Maria Theresa’s father did not have a male heir caused many problems. Maria Theresa’s grandfather Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I devised the Mutual Pact of Succession, a succession device secretly signed by his elder son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, and his younger son, Maria Theresa’s father the future Holy Roman Emperor  Karl VI in 1703. The Mutual Pact of Succession stated that the Habsburg hereditary lands would be inherited by both of the brothers’ respective male heirs. However, if one should fail to have a son, the other one would succeed him in all the Habsburg hereditary lands. If both brothers died without sons, the daughters of Joseph, the elder brother, would have absolute precedence over the daughters of Karl, the younger brother, and the eldest daughter of Joseph would ascend to the thrones of all the Habsburg hereditary lands.

When Joseph died on April 17, 1711, his brother, Maria Thersa’s father Karl succeeded him as the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI. However, Karl’s only son died in infancy and upon his death, the Habsburg hereditary lands should have gone to Joseph’s daughter Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria. However, Karl VI’s Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 annulled the Mutual Pact of Succession and made his future daughters the heirs to the Habsburg hereditary lands instead of Maria Josepha. When Karl died in 1740, Maria Theresa’s succession to the Habsburg hereditary lands led to the War of Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748) which ended in the confirmation of Maria Theresa’s Habsburg titles.

Maria Theresa married Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine on February 12, 1736, in the Augustinian Church in Vienna. Throughout his reign, Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI expected to have a male heir and never really prepared Maria Theresa for her future role as sovereign.  Upon her father’s death in 1740, Maria Theresa became Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia in her own right. She was unable to become the sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire because she was female. The Habsburgs had been elected Holy Roman Emperors since 1438, but in 1742 Karl Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria and Prince-Elector of Bavaria from the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VII. He died in 1745 and via a treaty Maria Theresa arranged for her husband Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine to be elected Holy Roman Emperor. Despite the snub, Maria Theresa wielded the real power.

Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen at their wedding breakfast, by Martin van Meytens; Credit – Wikipedia

On February 12, 1736, in the Augustinian Church in Vienna, Francis Stephen married Maria Theresa. The couple had sixteen children but eight of them died in childhood and four of the eight died from smallpox:

Maria Theresa with her family; Credit – Wikipedia

Even though he had 16 children with his wife, Francis was not faithful during his marriage and had many affairs.  Despite being the nominal Holy Roman Emperor, he was content to leave the act of reigning to his wife.  Francis died suddenly in 1765 at the age of 56 in his carriage while returning from the opera.  His son Joseph succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor although Maria Theresa continued to wield the real power.

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

Tomb of Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Franz I; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

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