Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female monarch of the Habsburg dynasty. She reigned over Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Milan, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma, ruling for forty years until her death. Maria Theresa was born early in the morning of 13 May 1717, at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna. She was the second and eldest surviving child of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Maria Theresa

She was by traditional law not allowed to be her father’s successor, but the passing of Charles VI’s Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 allowed a daughter to rule in his stead should he not produce a male heir. After his death, however, Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria renounced the agreement and invaded Silesia, sparking a nine-year power struggle known as the War of the Austrian Succession. Maria Theresa remained in power but was forced to surrender the territory of Silesia, which she later tried and failed to recapture during the Seven Years’ War, a major battle that pitted Prussia and Great Britain against Austria, France, Russia, Spain, and Sweden.

Maria Theresa, at a glance:

Reign: 20 October 1740–29 November, 1780
Birth: 13 May, 1717
Father's Name: Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI
Mother's Name: Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Religion: Roman Catholic
Pragmatic Sanction: 1713
Married: 1736
Father died: 1740
Coronation: 25 June, 1741
Had herself crowned King of Bohemia: 1743
Husband died; Joseph became Holy Roman Emperor and co-ruler of Austria: 1765
Came down with a severe case of smallpox: 1767
Died: 29 November, 1780 (in Hofburg Palace, Vienna. Aged 63)
Burial: Imperial Crypt, Vienna