Whenever we turn our eyes to the history of the royals who were crowned as Holy Roman Emperor, we will see that only males were referred within such an important title. Dating back to Charlemagne, the Emperor was normally elected by the independent Princes that compounded regions that in our contemporary days are known as Germany, but ruled from these lands until Transylvania, crossing Netherlands and Parma. Unlike other countries, such as England and Spain, for exmple, who accepted sole Queens, looking back to such an ancient title, it is surprising to notice that Maria Theresa, from the ancient House of Habsburg, was the only of her sex crowned as Holy Roman Empress. And this happened in 1740, with the death of her father. Even so, she had a husband to rule next to her side and afterwards, their son, Joseph II.
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was born in May 13, 1711, at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna. She was the eldest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and his wife, Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. By the time of her birth, her father was the only male heir to the house of Habsburg and her brother, Archduke Leopold, came to past away.
There was, then, an issue envolving the inheritance and after the birth of Maria Theresa, she was joined by a sister, Maria Anna, the Emperor reformed the old Salic Law, which did not allow a female to inherite the throne. Other European realms were consulted on the matter, so they would recognize Maria Theresa as heiress to Charles VI instead of his niece, Maria Amalia; in result, Great-Britain, Russia, Denmark, States of the Church, and others agreed to the treaty of Vienna.
Despite the said recognition, Maria Theresa was not raised to be an Empress, for her father believed she'd give away the powers to her husband when the crown was passed to her. She received a good education, but this, as we shall see next, proved to shape her to the role of a consort, not a leading ruler.
"Maria Theresa received the upbringing and education typical of a daughter of dynastic lineage, focusing on courtly deportment, music, dancing and languages. Even the choice of languages -exclusively the Romance languages of Latin, French, Italian and Spanish, but not the tongues of the Crown Lands such as Hungarian and Czech, as was otherwise customary for heirs to the throne - shows that she was not originally prepared for a future role as ruler. Apart fro this she was given an ordinary basic classical education on strictly Jesuit principles. She received no instruction in political theory, military, science or diplomacy."
When she came of age in marrying, her father was advised to make a political alliance to a prince of considerable influence in matters where Maria Theresa was not conducted properly, as regarded in the paragraph above concerning her education, but instead he gave the decision to his daughter. Maria Theresa was then married to the Duke of Lorraine, Francis Stephen, with whom she shared a very affectionate feeling, having a love relationship that would later result in 16 children.
She was 23 when Emperor Charles VI died. By the time of his death, the lands under his rule was left broken and weakened in consideration to the previous battles fought. The duchess of Lorraine then was crowned as Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Hungaria, Bohemia, Croatia, etc, and her husband was crowned as co-regent Francis I. But this succession would give trouble to the first years of Maria Theresa's reign, resulting in the War of Succession (1740-1748). In the next paragraphs, we can have a better comprehension to what was the cause of the conflict.
"Soon after her father's death Maria Theresa found herself confronted with the claims of German princely dynasties who saw themselves as having equal rights as heirs to the Habsburg dynasty through marriage to the daughters of Emperor Joseph I - that is, Maria Theresa's cousins."
The Habsburg Monarchy was on the brink of disaster. Maria Theresa's claim to her inheritance had not been recognize by some of the European Powers. In 1740, the Prussian King Frederick the Great invaded Silesia, firing the starting shot in the war of the Austrian Succession. Until peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748."
Frederick II of Prussia was joined by France and Bavaria, with Great-Britain and Russia in the opposite side. Resistance to recognize a woman before a traditional throne occupied by men followed until the end of war in 1748, but before that we must remember how "the archduchess was determined that her internal and external policies would focus on the strenghtening of her state and the creation of positive diplomacy in order to defeat the Prussian monarch. Maria Theresa was determined not to surrender to her enemies, but to reconquer all of her lands. She began by initiating reforms. Maria Theresa strenghtened the army by doubling the number of troops from her father's reign, reorganized the tax structure to insure a predictable annual income to support the costs of the government and army, and centralized an office to assist in the collection of the taxes. Economic reform fueled prosperity for her empire. The war ended with the loss of Silesia, but her state intact, and her husband recognized as Holy Roman Emperor."
Maria Theresa's reign is also remembered by domestic reforms as mentioned before. Concerned with the poor state left after previous wars in the army, also with the cust left in the economy of the lands she ruled, "Maria Theresa set about further reforming the Habsburg government, with Silesian exile Count Frederick William Haugwitz heading up the effort. Haugwitz's reform effort focused mainly on centralization of the empire's power. He assigned Bohemia and Austria to a joint ministry, and took power away from the Provincial Estates. As a result, the affected territories lent Austria's weakened army significantly more military power. Austria also benefitted from the wealth produced by those provinces' industries. Maria Theresa also (...) reorganized several government functions, combining them in a centralized General Directory."
If in general she had learned to manage politics, thankfully aided by good advisors, turning our eyes to the familiar background, we will see she faced no less difficulties there, though. Some sources claim her husband had one or two mistresses, but even so, it seems they still had an affectionate relationship. The Holy Roman Empress filled with expectations laid upon her: she gave birth in a total of 16 children, of whom 10 survived childhood.
As they grew, she'd marry some of them to the greatest houses of Europe, though some of her daughters were not sent away due to health issues. Her favourite daughter, Maria Christina, was the only one who married for love, and even so it was a good match, politically speaking. Her favourite son, Prince Karl Joseph, was no heir to the imperial crown but his death at the age of 16 was a blow to the family. Marie Antoinette, her youngest and most famous child, was crowned Queen of France in a tender age against general expectations.
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was born in May 13, 1711, at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna. She was the eldest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and his wife, Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. By the time of her birth, her father was the only male heir to the house of Habsburg and her brother, Archduke Leopold, came to past away.
There was, then, an issue envolving the inheritance and after the birth of Maria Theresa, she was joined by a sister, Maria Anna, the Emperor reformed the old Salic Law, which did not allow a female to inherite the throne. Other European realms were consulted on the matter, so they would recognize Maria Theresa as heiress to Charles VI instead of his niece, Maria Amalia; in result, Great-Britain, Russia, Denmark, States of the Church, and others agreed to the treaty of Vienna.
Despite the said recognition, Maria Theresa was not raised to be an Empress, for her father believed she'd give away the powers to her husband when the crown was passed to her. She received a good education, but this, as we shall see next, proved to shape her to the role of a consort, not a leading ruler.
"Maria Theresa received the upbringing and education typical of a daughter of dynastic lineage, focusing on courtly deportment, music, dancing and languages. Even the choice of languages -exclusively the Romance languages of Latin, French, Italian and Spanish, but not the tongues of the Crown Lands such as Hungarian and Czech, as was otherwise customary for heirs to the throne - shows that she was not originally prepared for a future role as ruler. Apart fro this she was given an ordinary basic classical education on strictly Jesuit principles. She received no instruction in political theory, military, science or diplomacy."
When she came of age in marrying, her father was advised to make a political alliance to a prince of considerable influence in matters where Maria Theresa was not conducted properly, as regarded in the paragraph above concerning her education, but instead he gave the decision to his daughter. Maria Theresa was then married to the Duke of Lorraine, Francis Stephen, with whom she shared a very affectionate feeling, having a love relationship that would later result in 16 children.
She was 23 when Emperor Charles VI died. By the time of his death, the lands under his rule was left broken and weakened in consideration to the previous battles fought. The duchess of Lorraine then was crowned as Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Hungaria, Bohemia, Croatia, etc, and her husband was crowned as co-regent Francis I. But this succession would give trouble to the first years of Maria Theresa's reign, resulting in the War of Succession (1740-1748). In the next paragraphs, we can have a better comprehension to what was the cause of the conflict.
"Soon after her father's death Maria Theresa found herself confronted with the claims of German princely dynasties who saw themselves as having equal rights as heirs to the Habsburg dynasty through marriage to the daughters of Emperor Joseph I - that is, Maria Theresa's cousins."
The Habsburg Monarchy was on the brink of disaster. Maria Theresa's claim to her inheritance had not been recognize by some of the European Powers. In 1740, the Prussian King Frederick the Great invaded Silesia, firing the starting shot in the war of the Austrian Succession. Until peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748."
Frederick II of Prussia was joined by France and Bavaria, with Great-Britain and Russia in the opposite side. Resistance to recognize a woman before a traditional throne occupied by men followed until the end of war in 1748, but before that we must remember how "the archduchess was determined that her internal and external policies would focus on the strenghtening of her state and the creation of positive diplomacy in order to defeat the Prussian monarch. Maria Theresa was determined not to surrender to her enemies, but to reconquer all of her lands. She began by initiating reforms. Maria Theresa strenghtened the army by doubling the number of troops from her father's reign, reorganized the tax structure to insure a predictable annual income to support the costs of the government and army, and centralized an office to assist in the collection of the taxes. Economic reform fueled prosperity for her empire. The war ended with the loss of Silesia, but her state intact, and her husband recognized as Holy Roman Emperor."
Maria Theresa's reign is also remembered by domestic reforms as mentioned before. Concerned with the poor state left after previous wars in the army, also with the cust left in the economy of the lands she ruled, "Maria Theresa set about further reforming the Habsburg government, with Silesian exile Count Frederick William Haugwitz heading up the effort. Haugwitz's reform effort focused mainly on centralization of the empire's power. He assigned Bohemia and Austria to a joint ministry, and took power away from the Provincial Estates. As a result, the affected territories lent Austria's weakened army significantly more military power. Austria also benefitted from the wealth produced by those provinces' industries. Maria Theresa also (...) reorganized several government functions, combining them in a centralized General Directory."
If in general she had learned to manage politics, thankfully aided by good advisors, turning our eyes to the familiar background, we will see she faced no less difficulties there, though. Some sources claim her husband had one or two mistresses, but even so, it seems they still had an affectionate relationship. The Holy Roman Empress filled with expectations laid upon her: she gave birth in a total of 16 children, of whom 10 survived childhood.
As they grew, she'd marry some of them to the greatest houses of Europe, though some of her daughters were not sent away due to health issues. Her favourite daughter, Maria Christina, was the only one who married for love, and even so it was a good match, politically speaking. Her favourite son, Prince Karl Joseph, was no heir to the imperial crown but his death at the age of 16 was a blow to the family. Marie Antoinette, her youngest and most famous child, was crowned Queen of France in a tender age against general expectations.
It was Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and one of her daughters, though, who most resembled the Empress, inheriting her looks, especially in political aspects. Though earlier in her reign she favoured enlightened, liberal ideas, after the French Revolution, Antoinette's favourite sister turned to be conservative. The former Queen of Naples had two granddaughters who were Empresses themselves: Marie Louise, second wife of Napoléon I of France, was styled Empress of the French; and her younger sister, Leopoldina, who was the first Empress of Brazil.
Antoinette's own daughter was too Queen of France, though briefly. In other words, Maria Theresa of Austria had her blood in every dynastic house, be in Europe or in the tropics, as in Brazil's royal family, still found alive.
Looking back to the aspects of the reign of the only woman styled as Holy Roman Empress, not as consort, we will find good and bad positions as we would probably find in another ruler. She remained conservative all of her life, a cause of political frictions she had with her son, Joseph. With the death of his father, he was apointed co-regent, and however enlightened he could be as monarch, Joseph was limited in rulling by his mother. For a moment of her life, Maria Theresa considered abdicating, but she never did. She continued with reforms, limiting the power of Church, despite being pious herself.
In short, she was a woman of her time, though in many ways she did not behave as one. She struggled to remain at the throne that was hers by birth right, and peace was mostly what Empress tried to seek, even if she grew more systematic in her latest years. She favoured the peasants in her policies and avoided wars; her reign is also marked for sending away from the Habsburg lands the Society of Jesus and papal bulles would only be sent with her authorization. A woman of peace, no doubt, stuck into her beliefs, she succeeded in where many failed before her.
It was at the age of 63 that Maria Theresa, sometimes styled the Great, died. She left Joseph to rule as Joseph II and a good legacy to those who succeeded her.
Sources:
http://catolicismo.com.br/index.cfm
https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/2ophz4/til_maria_theresa_is_marie_antionettes_mother/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa
http://www.biography.com/people/maria-theresa-9398965#late-reign-and-death
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/maria-theresas-children
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/maria-theresa-heiress
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/maria-theresa-eyes-her-contemporaries
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/dark-side-maria-theresa
http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/mariatheres.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Maria_Theresa.aspx
Antoinette's own daughter was too Queen of France, though briefly. In other words, Maria Theresa of Austria had her blood in every dynastic house, be in Europe or in the tropics, as in Brazil's royal family, still found alive.
Looking back to the aspects of the reign of the only woman styled as Holy Roman Empress, not as consort, we will find good and bad positions as we would probably find in another ruler. She remained conservative all of her life, a cause of political frictions she had with her son, Joseph. With the death of his father, he was apointed co-regent, and however enlightened he could be as monarch, Joseph was limited in rulling by his mother. For a moment of her life, Maria Theresa considered abdicating, but she never did. She continued with reforms, limiting the power of Church, despite being pious herself.
In short, she was a woman of her time, though in many ways she did not behave as one. She struggled to remain at the throne that was hers by birth right, and peace was mostly what Empress tried to seek, even if she grew more systematic in her latest years. She favoured the peasants in her policies and avoided wars; her reign is also marked for sending away from the Habsburg lands the Society of Jesus and papal bulles would only be sent with her authorization. A woman of peace, no doubt, stuck into her beliefs, she succeeded in where many failed before her.
It was at the age of 63 that Maria Theresa, sometimes styled the Great, died. She left Joseph to rule as Joseph II and a good legacy to those who succeeded her.
Sources:
http://catolicismo.com.br/index.cfm
https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/2ophz4/til_maria_theresa_is_marie_antionettes_mother/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa
http://www.biography.com/people/maria-theresa-9398965#late-reign-and-death
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/maria-theresas-children
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/maria-theresa-heiress
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/maria-theresa-eyes-her-contemporaries
http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/dark-side-maria-theresa
http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/mariatheres.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Maria_Theresa.aspx
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