Maria Theresa
1717 – 1780 · Generation XVI · Archduchess of Austria (r. 1740–1780)
Maria Theresa (1717 – 1780). Archduchess of Austria (r. 1740–1780). Married Francis in 1736. Only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions; Charles VI's heir; founded the Habsburg-Lorraine line by marrying Francis Stephen. Her accession was the signal for the powers to break their word: Frederick the Great seized Silesia, while France, Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria repudiated the Pragmatic Sanction they had recognised. Rallying the Hungarians to her cause, she fought the eight-year War of the Austrian Succession and held nearly everything but Silesia, which she failed to win back in the Seven Years’ War. Though her husband and eldest son were officially co-rulers, she governed as an autocrat, driving reforms of administration, finance, medicine, and schooling with ministers such as Kaunitz, reorganising the army, and promoting trade and agriculture. Her piety had its shadow: Protestants, Jews, and Freemasons all met her hostility, and more than once she had whole communities — Prague’s Jews, Austria’s secret Protestants — banished to distant parts of her dominions.
Line of descent: Rudolf I of Germany → Albert I of Germany → Albert II, Duke of Austria → Leopold III, Duke of Austria → Ernest, Duke of Austria → Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor → Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor → Philip I of Castile → Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor → Charles II, Archduke of Austria → Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor → Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor → Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor → Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor → Maria Theresa.
Parents
- Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685 – 1740)
- Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1691 – 1750)
Partners
- Married Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708 – 1765) in 1736 — 9 children together
Children
- Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1741 – 1790)
- Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747 – 1792)
- Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793)
- Maria Carolina of Austria (1752 – 1814)
- Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (1746 – 1804)
- Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (1742 – 1798)
- Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (1743 – 1808)
- Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este (1754 – 1806)
- Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (1756 – 1801)
Life
- 1717 — Born
- 1736 — Married Francis
- 1780 — Died