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Maria Theresa of Austria
Holy Roman Empress (consort), Queen of Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia and Slavonia, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
Reign	20 October 1740 - 29 November 1780
Titles	HIM The Dowager Holy Roman Empress HIM The Holy Roman Empress HM The Queen (of Hungary and Bohemia) HRH Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria
Born	13 May 1717
	Vienna
Died	29 November 1780
	Vienna
Buried	Imperial Crypt Vienna
Predecessor	Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Successor	Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Consort	Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
Issue	Archduchess Maria Elisabeth Archduchess Maria Anna Archduchess Maria Caroline Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II Maria Christina Archduchess Maria Elisabeth Archduke Carlos Joseph Archduchess Marie Amalie Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II Archduchess Maria Caroline Archduchess Maria Johanna Gabriela Archduchess Maria Josepha Queen Maria Caroline Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este Queen Marie Antoinette Archduke Maximilian Francis
Royal House	House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Maria Theresa (German: Maria Theresia, see also other languages; May 13, 1717 – November 29, 1780) was a reigning Archduchess of Austria, a Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and a Holy Roman Empress.

Maria Theresa was the oldest daughter of Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Emperor Charles VI, who promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction to allow her to succeed to the Habsburg monarchy. Opposition to her acceding to the throne led to the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740. After Emperor Charles VII, who claimed the throne, died in 1745, Maria Theresa obtained the imperial crown for her husband, Francis I. Though she was technically empress consort, Maria Theresa was the de facto ruler of the nation, and she began styling herself Holy Roman Empress in 1745. Maria Theresa had in fact already begun her rule in 1740 during the Austrian War of Succession.

Maria Theresa helped initiate financial and educational reforms, promoted commerce and the development of agriculture, and reorganized the army, all of which strengthened Austria's resources. Continued conflict with the Kingdom of Prussia led to the Seven Years' War and later to the War of the Bavarian Succession. She became dowager empress after the death of Francis and ascession of her son Joseph as emperor in 1765. Maria Theresa criticized many of Joseph's actions but agreed to the First Partition of Poland (1772). A key figure in the power politics of 18th century Europe, Maria Theresa brought unity to the Habsburg Monarchy and was considered one of its most capable rulers. Her 16 children also included Marie Antoinette, queen consort of France, and Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor.

Maria Theresa Walburga Amaliae Christina was born in Vienna, the eldest daughter of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, whose sole male heir - his son Leopold Johann - died as an infant in 1716. In 1713 Charles issued the Pragmatic Sanction which guaranteed his daughter the right to succeed to the Austrian throne and inherit his united lands on his death. Initially, many Northern European monarchs agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction when it was issued. One of the few not to sign was Frederick the Great of Prussia who, soon after Maria Theresa assumed the throne upon Charles' death on October 20, 1740, began the War of Austrian Succession.

Maria Theresa (age 11)

Maria Theresa was married to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, [Duke] of Lorraine. Unlike many monarchs of her time, she married for love. She had 16 children by him. Their eleven daughters all had the first name "Maria". ^[1] They also had five sons. The youngest daughter was Maria Antonia, better known under her French name, Marie Antoinette, who would be promised in marriage to the future King Louis XVI of France.

After her husband's death, Maria Theresa's son, Joseph II, succeeded in the elective monarchy of the Holy Roman Empire, maintaining the imperial Crown in the Habsburg line, in accordance with tradition. Maria Theresa then made 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 Joseph could fully exercise his powers.

Her children were:

Maria Theresa with her family

• Archduchess Maria Elisabeth (1737-1740). Maria Theresa's heiress presumptive between 1737 and 1740.
• Archduchess Maria Anna (1738-1789). Maria Theresa's heiress presumptive between 1740 and 1741.
• Archduchess Maria Caroline (1740-1741).
• Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741-1790), married Infanta Isabel of Spain (1741-1763), then Princess Marie Josephe of Bavaria (1739-1767); no surviving issue. Holy Roman Emperor from 1765; Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia and from 1780.
• Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (1742-1798), married Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen (1738-1822); no surviving issue.
• Archduchess Maria Elisabeth (1743-1808).
• Archduke Charles Joseph (1745-1761).
• Archduchess Maria Amalia (1746-1804), married Ferdinand, Duke of Parma (1751-1802); had issue.
• Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II (1747-1792), married Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain (1745-1792); had issue. Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 (abdicated 1790); Holy Roman Emperor from 1790; Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia from 1790.
• Archduchess Maria Caroline (stillborn 1748).
• Archduchess Maria Johanna Gabriela (1750-1762).
• Archduchess Maria Josepha (1751-1767).
• Queen Maria Caroline of Naples and Sicily (1752-1814), married King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily (1751-1825); had issue
• Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Duke of Breisgau (1754–1806), married Maria Beatrice d'Este, heiress of Breisgau and of Modena; had issue (Austria-Este). Duke of Breisgau from 1803.
• Queen Marie Antoinette of France and Navarre, born Maria Antonia (1755-1793); married Louis XVI of France (1754-1793).
• Archduke Maximilian Francis (1756-1801), Archbishop-Elector of Cologne: 1784.

"The world's most famous coin," the Maria Theresa thaler. The Latin inscription is M[ARIA] THERESIA D[EI] G[RATIA] R[OMANORVM] IMP[ERATRIX] HV[NGARIAE] BO[HEMIAE] REG[INA], or in English, "Maria Theresa, by the Grace of God, Empress of the Romans, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia." This particular coin was struck in Vienna in 1890, although production continued for many years after her death.

Maria Theresa's father had not given her any training in government, leaving her to learn for herself. Additionally, the army was weak and the treasury depleted as a result of two wars near the end of her father's reign. The War of the Austrian Succession began when Frederick II of Prussia invaded and occupied Silesia. While Bavaria and France also invaded Austria's western territories, it was "Frederick the Great" who became Maria Theresa's primary foe during her reign. Therefore, she focused her internal and external policies towards the defeat of Prussia, which would help her regain the lands which had been taken from Austria. In the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), France gave the Austrian Netherlands that it conquered back to Maria Theresa. In exchange, Maria Theresa ceded Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to the Infante Philip of Spain. By giving up these lands, Maria Theresa revealed her vulnerability. After having been defeated in the First and Second Silesian Wars, Maria Theresa began to modernize her realms with the assistance of Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Haugwitz. Defeat, however, reduced her morale and effectiveness as a ruler.^{[citation needed]} She increased the size of the army by 200% and increased taxes in order to guarantee a steady income for the government, and in particular for the military. She centralized the government by combining the Austrian and Bohemian chancellaries, formerly separate, into one administrative office. Before these changes, justice and administration had been overseen by the same officials- afterwards, she created a supreme court with the sole responsibility of upholding justice in her lands. These reforms strengthened the economy and the state in general.

Maria Theresa, like the other Hapsburgs, was a devout Roman Catholic. She was educated by Jesuits at Mariazell, and in later life lacked the religious cynicism of royal contemporaries such as Frederick II of Prussia. Her conservative outlook involved an intolerant view of other faiths. In 1741, she expelled the Jews from Prague. Her political distrust of Great Britain rested in part on her view of the established Church of England, whom she regarded as Protestant heretics.

Maria Theresa dropped Great Britain as an ally on the advice of her state chancellor, Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, and allied with Russia and France. She established the Theresian Military Academy (the first worldwide) in 1752 and an academy of engineering science in 1754. She also demanded that the University of Vienna be given money to make the medical faculty more efficient. When she felt her army was strong enough, she prepared an attack on Prussia in 1756. However, it was Frederick II who attacked first, invading Saxony, another ally of Austria, thus initiating the Seven Years' War. The war ended in 1763 when Maria Theresa signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg, recognizing Prussian ownership of most of Silesia.

Maria Theresa I of Austria

Her husband Francis died two years later. Maria Theresa's devotion to him was so great that she dressed in mourning until her own death 15 years later. During this time, she 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. However, she allowed him only limited powers because she felt that he was too rash and arrogant.

In the 1760s, smallpox claimed several victims in the royal family. Maria Theresa was infected and received last rites in 1767, although she recovered. Afterward, Maria Theresa became a strong supporter of inoculation (a predecessor immunisation method to smallpox vaccination), setting a strong example by requiring all of her children to be inoculated.

In the later years of her reign, Maria Theresa focused on reforming laws along the lines of enlightened absolutism, especially to strengthen the economy of the Habsburg territories, especially after the loss of Silesia.

In 1771, she and Joseph II issued the Robot Patent, a reform that regulated a serf's labor payments in her lands, which provided some relief. Other important reforms included outlawing witch-burning and torture, and, for the first time in Austrian history, taking capital punishment off the penal code, as it was replaced with forced labor. It was later reintroduced, but the progressive nature of these reforms remains noted. In 1772 Maria Theresa founded the Imperial and Royal Academy of Science and Literature in Brussels. Mandatory education was introduced in 1774; the goal was to form an educated class from which civil servants could be recruited.

Another innovation of Maria Theresa's was the decency police which was to patrol everywhere, especially Vienna, and apprehend anyone suspected of doing something that could be deemed indecent (possibly due to her husband's supposed infidelity). Arrested prostitutes, for example, would be sent into villages in the eastern parts of the realm, leading some contemporary writers to note that these villages had 'exceptionally beautiful women' living there.

Maria Theresa died in Vienna 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 succeeded her.

Austrian Royalty House of Habsburg-Lorraine Armorial of the Holy Roman Empire Maria Theresa & Francis I Children include    Joseph II    Archduchess Maria Christina    Archduchess Marie Amalie    Leopold II    Archduchess Marie Caroline    Archduke Ferdinand    Archduchess Marie Antoinette    Archduke Maximilian Grandchildren include    Francis IV of Modena    Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph II Leopold II Children include    Archduchess Maria Theresia    Francis II    Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany    Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen    Archduke Alexander Leopold    Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary    Archduke Johann    Archduke Rainer    Archduke Louis    Archduke Rudolph Grandchildren include    Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany    Archduchess Maria Theresa    Archduke Albert, Duke of Teschen    Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska    Archduke Joseph Karl Francis II

• Her Royal Highness Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (13 May 1717–20 October 1740)
• Her Majesty The Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (20 October 1740–13 September 1745)
• Her Imperial Majesty The Holy Roman Empress (13 September 1745–18 August 1765)
• Her Imperial Majesty The Dowager Holy Roman Empress (18 August 1765–29 November 1780)

Maria Theresa was actually proclaimed King, rather than Queen, of Hungary upon her ascension to the Hungarian throne. Normally, however, she was styled Queen of Hungary.

Her title after the death of her husband:

Maria Theresa, by the Grace of God, Dowager Holy Roman Empress; 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 on the Wendish Mark and of Mechlin; Dowager Duchess of Lorraine and Bar, Dowager Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

Maria Theresia von Gottes Gnaden Römische Kaiserin Wittib, Königin zu Hungarn, Böheim, Dalmatien, Croatien, Slavonien, Gallizien, Lodomerien, usw., Erzherzogin zu Österreich, Herzogin zu Burgund, zu Steyer, zu Kärnten und zu Crain, Großfürstin zu Siebenbürgen, Marggräfin zu Mähren, Herzogin zu Braband, zu Limburg, zu Luxenburg und zu Geldern, zu Württemberg, zu Ober- und Nieder-Schlesien, zu Mailand, zu Mantua, zu Parma, zu Piacenza, zu Guastala, zu Auschwitz und Zator, Fürstin zu Schwaben, gefürstete Gräfin zu Habsburg, zu Flandern, zu Tirol, zu Hennegau, zu Kyburg, zu Görz und zu Gradisca, Marggräfin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches, zu Burgau, zu Ober- und Nieder-Laußnitz, Gräfin zu Namur, Frau auf der Windischen Mark und zu Mecheln, verwittibte Herzogin zu Lothringen und Baar, Großherzogin zu Toskana.

• Croatian and Slovenian: Marija Terezija
• Czech: Marie Teresie^[2]
• Dutch and German: Maria Theresia
• Finnish: Maria Teresia
• French: Marie Thérèse
• Greek: Μαρία Θηρεσία, Maria Theresia
• Hebrew: מריה תרזה‎
• Hungarian and Slovak: Mária Terézia
• Italian, Portuguese and Polish: Maria Teresa
• Latvian: Marija Terēzija
• Romanian: Maria Tereza
• Russian: Мария Терезия
• Serbian: Марија Терезија
• Spanish: María Teresa
• Swedish: Maria Teresia
• Ukrainian: Марія Тереза

Marianne Faithfull portrayed Maria Theresa in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Maria Theresa of Austria

• Entry in aeiou.at
• Baroque Absolutism Country Studies - Austria
• Book by M. Goldsmith (1936) about Maria Theresia (eLibrary Austria Project - eLib at)