|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
May 22, 2012 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Image:MariaTheresa.JPG|frame|H.I.M. Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria, Great Principess of Transylvania, Duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla Maria Theresa (Spellings differ from language to language, and several are listed at bottom) (May 13 1717 – November 29 1780) was the first and only female head of the Habsburg dynasty. She was Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia and ruler of other territories from 1740 until her death. She also became the Holy Roman Empress when her husband was elected Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperor. She was one of the so-called "enlightened absolutism|enlightened monarchs" (also refered to as "enlightened despots"). She was one of the most powerful rulers of her time, ruling over much of central Europe. Family Her Imperial and Royal Highness Maria Theresa, Princess Imperial and Archduchess of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia was the eldest daughter of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VI, whose sole male heir - his son Leopold Johann - died as an infant in 1716. In 1713 Charles issued the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713|Pragmatic Sanction which guaranteed his daughter the right to succeed to the Austrian throne and inherit his united lands on his death. Initially, many European monarchs agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction when it was issued. However, soon after Maria Theresa assumed the throne upon Charles' death on October 20, 1740, the War of Austrian Succession began. Maria Theresa was married to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine (province)|Lorraine. In the end, she had 16 children by him, with 11 daughters (all of whom had the first name "Marie") and 5 sons surviving to adulthood. Her youngest daughter was Marie Antoinette | Maria Antonia (better known under her French name Marie Antoinette) who would be promised in marriage to Louis, heir apparent to the king of France, later Louis XVI of France|King Louis XVI. After her husband's death, she 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. It was not until her death that he could fully exercise his powers. Her children were:
Relationship with her family Many people believe that Maria Theresa was the archetypical mother (indeed, many see her as a mother of the nation still today), loving but stern. Most agree that she had a very loving and caring attitude towards her husband, forgiving his many affairs. From the early years of their marital life, a number of anecdotes survive, one of which says that during their honeymoon, they managed to break a bed in one of the places they stayed. Another said that, when she received news that she had become a grandmother, she ran into the royal theater, only dressed in a nightgown, interrupted the play and shouted, in Viennese dialect, to the audience: "Denkt's enk, der Poldl hat an Buam, und grad auf mein' Hochzeitstag - alstern der is galant, is net wahr?" (which can be roughly translated to: "Can you imagine it, Leopold has a little boy, and just on my wedding anniversary ??? that's quite polite of him, isn't it`?") First years: wars during her reign Maria Theresa's father had assumed that she would yield the true power to her husband. Because of this, her father hadn't given Maria Theresa any information on the workings of the government, leaving her to learn the job on her own. Additionally, the army was weak and the treasury depleted due to two wars near the end of her father's reign. The War of the Austrian Succession began with Frederick II of Prussia invading and occupying Silesia. While Bavaria and France also invaded Austrian western territories, it was Frederick (later known as Frederick the Great) who became Maria Theresa's main foe during her reign. Therefore she focused her internal and external policies on defeating Prussia and regaining the lands that had been taken from Austria. In 1748, France gave the Austrian Low Countries that it conquered back to Maria Theresa. In exchange, Maria Theresa ceded Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to the Infante Felipe of Spain. She increased the number of troops in the army by 200%, changed taxes to guarantee a steady annual income to support the government and military. She centralized the government by combining the Austrian and Bohemian chancelleries, formerly separate, into one administrative office. Before this, justice and administration were overseen by the same officials, but she created a supreme court with the sole responsibility for upholding justice in her lands. These reforms strengthened the economy. She dropped the Kingdom of Great Britain as an ally on the advice of her state chancellor, Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, and allied with Russia and France. In 1752 she established a military academy, and in 1754 she established an academy of engineering science. She also demanded that the University of Vienna be given the money to make the medical faculty more efficient. When she felt her army was strong enough, she prepared to attack Prussia in 1756. Frederick II attacked first however, invading Saxony, another ally of Austria, beginning the Seven Years' War. The war ended in 1763 with Maria Theresa signing the Treaty of Hubertusberg which recognized Prussian ownership of Silesia. Image:Kaiserin Maria Theresia (HRR).jpg|left|thumb|Maria Theresa I of Austria Her husband died two years later. Her devotion to him was so great that she dressed in mourning clothes until her own death 15 years later and became more closeted from her people. Her focus changed from attempting to regain Silesia, to maintaining the peace. She also recognized Joseph II, her eldest son, as coregent and emperor. She allowed him only limited powers because she felt he was too rash and arrogant. Later years: civil reforms In the later years of her reign, she focused on reforming laws and some see her as being relatively progressive for her time. However, many agree that she did not do this out of genuine care for their population (at least not directly), but for the greater good of the state. In the 1760s, smallpox claimed a few victims in the royal family. Even Maria Theresa got infected and she did receive the last rites in 1767, but she recovered. Afterwards, she became an outspoken supporter of vaccination and made sure that all of her children received vaccinations against small pox. In 1771, she issued the Robot Patent, a reform that regulated the serf's labor payments in her lands, providing them some relief. Other important reforms included the outlawing of witch-burning and torture, and for the first time in Austrian history, capital punishment was taken off the penal code, it was replaced with forced labor. However, the death penalty was later reintroduced. Historians mostly agree that Maria Theresa did not solely act out of care for her population, but rather to strengthen the economy of the Habsburg territories, especially after the loss of Silesia. This was also the main reason for the introduction of mandatory education in 1774 - the goal was to form an educated class from which civil servants could be recruited. Another installation of hers was a decency police which was to patrol everywhere, especially Vienna and apprehend anyone suspected of doing something that could be deemed indecent (some say this was due to her husband's supposed infidelity). Arrested prostitutes, for example, would be sent into villages in the eastern parts of the realm which led some contemporary writers to note that these villages had 'exceptionally beautiful women' living there. She died in 1780, the only female to rule during the 650-year-long Habsburg dynasty. She is buried in tomb number 56 in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II succeeded her.
Czech: Marie Terezie French: Marie Th??r??se German/Dutch: Maria Theresia Hungarian/Slovak: M??ria Ter??zia Romanian: Maria Tereza Polish: Maria Teresa Croatian/Serbian/Slovenian: Marija Terezija Maria Theresa Thaler start box succession box six to two|before=Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles III|title1=List of Hungarian rulers|Queen of Hungary|title2=List of rulers of Bohemia|Queen of Bohemia|title3=List of rulers of Austria|Archduchess of Austria|title4=Duke of Parma|Duchess of Parma|title5=Duke of Parma|Duchess of Piacenza|title6=Duke of Parma|Duchess of Guastalla|years1=1741-1780|years2=1743-1780|years3=1740-1780|years4=1740-1748|years5=1740-1748|years6=1740-1748|after1=Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II|after6=Philip of Parma|Philip end box
category:Rulers of Austria Category:Rulers of Styria Category:Dukes of Carinthia Category:Counts of Tyrol Category:Hungarian monarchs Category:Bohemian monarchs Category:Dukes of Parma Category:Dukes of Milan Category:1717 births|Maria Theresa of Austria Category:1780 deaths|Maria Theresa of Austria Category: Habsburg Category:Empresses Category:Queens regnant <!-- interwiki --> cs:Marie Terezie de:Maria Theresia es:Mar??a Teresa I eo:Maria Tereza (A??stria) fr:Marie-Th??r??se Ire de Hongrie hr:Marija Terezija Austrijska it:Maria Teresa d'Asburgo he:???????? ???????? lb:Maria Theresia vun ??istr??ich hu:M??ria Ter??zia nl:Maria Theresia van Oostenrijk ja:???????????????????????? no:Maria Theresia pl:Maria Teresa pt:Maria Teresa da ??ustria ro:Maria Terezia sk:M??ria Ter??zia sl:Marija Terezija sv:Maria Teresia uk:?????????? ?????????????? This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Maria Theresa of Austria".
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
![[F]](/images/site.gif){kind=small}
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
All informatin on the site is © www.woman-health.org 2002-2011. Last revised: January 2, 2011 Are you interested in our site or/and want to use our information? please read how to contact us and our copyrights. To let us provide you with high quality information, you can help us by making a more or less donation: |