November 29 1780

In memoriam of an Empress!

Maria Theresa, Walpurga, Amalia, Christina, by the Grace of God, Dowager Empress of the Romans, Queen of Hungary, of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, etc.; Archduchess of Austria; Duchess of Burgundy, of Styria, of Carinthia and of Carniola; Grand Princess of Transylvania; Margravine of Moravia; Duchess of Brabant, of Limburg, of Luxemburg, of Guelders, of Württemberg, of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Milan, of Mantua, of Parma, of Piacenza, of Guastalla, of Auschwitz and of Zator; Princess of Swabia; Princely Countess of Habsburg, of Flanders, of Tyrol, of Hennegau, of Kyburg, of Gorizia and of Gradisca; Margravine of Burgau, of Upper and Lower Lusatia; Countess of Namur; Lady of the Wendish Mark and of Mechlin; Dowager Duchess of Lorraine and Bar, Dowager Grand Duchess of Tuscany

230 years ago Maria Theresa of Austria died at 63!

As the oldest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, she was Archduches of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. To allow her to succeed, her father Charles VI, he issued the Pragmatic Sanction, which led to the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740. 

Her education, mostly by priests, did not effectively prepare her to rule. This young woman was allowed to marry for love Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine in 1736, an unusual thing to do, since in those days a future ruler married for the good of country and empire. So that France might not object to the prospect of an eventual incorporation of Lorraine into the empire, Francis Stephen was forced to exchange his beloved province for the rather less valuable Tuscany.
After a happy  marriage of 3 years which produced only 3 daughters Maria Theresa's father died and without preparation to rule, the young woman of 23 succeeded to the throne.

Initially, Francis Stephen was designated co-regent. He was charged with restoring the finances of the empire, a task to which he brought considerable ability but not the time necessary to do it. The treasury was empty, the army had not been well supported.  Her father's long time political advisor Prince Eugene of Savoy had warned that Austria's neighbors would not recognize the obligations they had subscribed to in the Pragmatic Sanction. And in the ensuing squabbles for territory, Bavaria, supported by France, laid claims to a considerable portion of the Hapsburg lands. On the other hand, Spain wanted the empire's Italian territories.

Into the fray now enters the newly minted Frederick II of Prussia, offering to support Maria Theresa. To pay for this help Austria would cede to Prussia her province of Silesia.  Vienna rejected this demand.
Frederick then sent his troops into Silesia in December 1740. Bavaria and France soon joined in, and the 8-year War of the Austrian Succession was underway.  After some inital successes, Frederick II did not want a French hegemony in central Europe. So he agreed to an armistice and Austria was, in 1742, able to concentrate its forces against the French and Bavarians, whom they threw out of Bohemia.

Frederick came back into the war in 1744, withdrew again the next year, in which, the Bavarian Charles VII having died, Francis Stephen was elected Holy Roman Emperor, ruling as Francis I. The war was ended at last in 1748, Austria having to give up Silesia to Prussia, also losing the Italian districts of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to France. The loss of Silesia, the mineral rich province of all, was very painful for Austria.



Maria Theresa's reign was instrumental in financial (The Maria Theresa thaler (MTT) is a silver bullion-coin that has been used in world trade continuously since it was first minted in 1741) and educational reforms, promoting commerce and the development of agriculture, and reorganized the army, all of which strengthened Austria's resources. Having learned her job under the most difficult conditions during the war, she had soon found among the members of the high court aristocracy a number of able men. Among whom, men such as counts Sinzendorf, Sylva-Tarouca, and Kaunitz, were placed in responsible positions as administrator of the governmental reforms.
The actual work of reform, with the explicit end of strengthening Austria, was given to Silesian Count Frederick William Haugwitz whose aim was to centralize. Provincial Estates were shorn of their authority. Industry, seen as a producer of wealth to help the state, was given the go ahead.  This system produced excellent results in the provinces, including an increase in military contributions by the districts of 150 percent.  Hungary nobility, being as usual, contrary, ensured that the system was not successfully employed there. Kaunitz, who felt he was the better 'saviour' continued to undermine Haugwitz.

Finally,1753 saw Kaunitz elevated to state chancellor of foreign policy with unrestricted powers.  As Austrian ambassador to France, he had convinced himself that Austria's defeat in the recent war had been due to bad selection of allies, primarily the idea that England did not help Austria. His main goal was to block in Prussia with a strong coalition of Saxony, Sweden, and Russia. In 1755 Kaunitz's diplomacy succeeded in the formation of an alliance with Austria's old enemy France. Prussia and England joined forces and since Frederick II was not giving up, in1756 he opened hostilities which were to become known as the Seven Years War. 1762 the death of Empress Elisabeth brought about a Russian withdrawal from the war, resulting in a hopeless situation for Austria and so in 1763 peace was concluded, and Silesia stayed Prussian.

Marie Antoinette

Despite the fact that Maria Theresa developed the habit of governing autocratically, excluding Francis Stephen, the marriage was a happy one.  The birth of Archduke Joseph in 1741  assured the male succession. 16 children in all were born to the couple in the 20 years of marriage. Barely taking time out to give birth she had seven during the long struggle for Austria's survival, alone! Maria Theresa was rather shrewd in arranging politically advantageous marriages for her children. "Tu Felix Austria Nube".. alas the fate of one is only too well known. Maria Antonia (left picture), forever after known as Marie Antoinette of France who went to the gallows during the French Revolution.



After the Emperor died of a stroke, Maria Theresa was inconsolable. For some time she thought of  turning the government over to Joseph, who was then 24.  Her ministers, with Kaunitz in the lead, managed to dissuade her from retiring to a monastery. But returning to public life, she seemed a different woman,  wearing only black. She gave up participating in the events of what had been a lighthearted court; and religious devotion to religion seemed to come very close being fanatical and even bigoted.

At his father's death Joseph had been appointed co-regent. A compromise between his autocratic mother and Joseph was arrived, he was to take charge of army reform and to share with Kaunitz the responsibility of making foreign policy.

Archduke, later Emperor Joseph

The 15 years of the co-regency were a time of continual struggle between mother (a reactionary) and son (a progressive). The archduke was in favor of religious toleration, anathema to his mother.  Maria Theresa took a distinctly more favorable stance to peasant emancipation than Joseph. She opposed Joseph's  attempt to acquire Bavaria, which, as she had feared, led to war with Prussia in 1778. Since Joseph was rather inept as war strategist and in foreign affairs, she was successful in negotiating a peace that gave the Innviertel to Austria.

Although it is true that throughout the co-regency Joseph wanted to instigate changes, some of the major reforms of the period are undoubtedly due to the desires of Maria Theresa, especially the new penal code of 1768 and of the abolition of judicial torture in 1776, standardizing both judicial proceedings and punishments. Even though deeply religious, Maria Theresa strongly defended  the rights of the state vis-à-vis the Church.

Resulting in 1777 in the banishment of the Society of Jesus, when Maria Theresa joined a number of other European monarchs in taking this step But of course, the Jesuits didn't fade away, they came back soon enough!


Emperial Happy Family

During the months of 1780 Maria Theresa's health gave out. She died on November 29 of that year, probably of a heart condition which may not surprise anyone after years of stress in war and peace, 16 children, some of whom died before her,  and the loss of her beloved Husband!
Tu Felix Austria,  mit Galgenhumor (a kind of sad/funny/realistic/sarcastic kind of humor endemic to Vienna specifically ;-) or so we Viennese think):