Marie Antoinette Information

Posts Tagged ‘Emperor Joseph II’

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The story of Marie Antoinette should rightfully begin with some background on her powerful family.

Maria Theresa, the mother of Marie Antoinette, was born on May 13th, 1717. She was the daughter of the German Emperor Charles VI (1711-1740) and his wife Elizabeth von Braunschweig-WolfenbYttel.

This made Maria Theresa the eldest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, which at the time was the most powerful land in eastern Europe.

As of 1711, Emporer Charles VI (Marie Antoinette’s Grandfather) did not have a son to succeed his throne. An old European law, the Salic Law, prohibited a woman from inheriting her father’s kingdom. Concerned that he may not father a son, Charles VI issued a decree in 1713, known as the Pragmatic Sanction. This document guaranteed the right of succession to his daughter, Maria Theresa.

At this time, many of the great powers of Europe agreed to her succession of power, at a price. Upon the death of Charles VI in 1740, however, challenges to the Habsburg lands led to the War of the Austrian Succession.

Empress Maria Theresa was courageous, generous and many say kind. She respected the rights of others and expected others to respect her rights. In the later part of Maria Theresa’s rule, the empress focused more on human concerns, and less on financial and administrative improvements.

Maria Theresa was married to Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine. Maria Theresa had 16 children altogether by Francis Stephen. She had 11 daughters (all of whom had the first name “Marie”) and 5 sons surviving to adulthood.

Maria Theresa gave birth to baby Marie Antoinette

The Empress was thirty-eight years old when she gave birth to Marie Antoinette in 1755. She had been married for nearly twenty years and had produced four Archdukes and ten Archduchesses.

By the time Marie Antoinette was born, seven of the ten Archduchesses were living. Maria Theresa looked quite well after giving birth to Marie Antoinette, in a way she had not before.

Emperor Frances Stephen and many courtiers were present to congratulate Maria Theresa on the birth of her fifteenth child. The baby, Archduchess Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna (or Marie Antoinette), was small but healthy. Somehow, Maria Theresa knew beforehand that she was going to have a daughter. The room where Marie Antoinette was born at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna is now the Austrian President’s salon.

Marie Antoinette’s wet nurse

Soon after Marie Antoinette was born, she was handed over to an official wet nurse, called Constance Weber, wife of a magistrate. This is a routine practice since great ladies of that time do not nurse their own children. By being appointed to be Marie Antoinette ’s wet nurse, Constance Weber was to acquired great fortune for her entire family.

Marie Antoinette’s Father

Although Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen loved each other, they did have affairs. Francis Stephen, Marie Antoinette’s father, tended to take ladies from the court to bed, and had a liking to Princess Charlotte, who later retired to a convent and became the Abbess of Remiremont.

Francis Stephen died while attending marriage of his second son Leopold in Innsbruck. Maria Theresa ’s love for Francis Stephen was so deep that it changed her life forever when he died in 1765.

After the death of her husband, Maria Theresa painted her rooms black and wore only black mourning clothes for the rest of her life. She turned her attention towards marrying off her children to strengthen the empire.

Once Francis Stephen died, Marie Antoinette ’s life and her relationship with her mother, Maria Theresa, changed. Maria Theresa became withdrawn and Marie Antoinette saw her mother less and less frequently.

After her husband’s death, Maria Theresa made her son Joseph II co-regent of her Austrian dominions, but she actually kept most of the power to herself, which led to tension between her and her son.

After a long reign of fourty years, Maria Theresa died on November 29, 1780. In the 650 years of Hapsburg reign in Austria, Maria Theresa was the only woman to rule in her own right. She was succeeded by her son, Joseph, who became Emperor Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire.

Maria Theresia was buried in the Kapuzinergruft in Vienna. Her husband Francis’ tomb is also in the Kapuzinergruft.