Posted
on October 20, 2015
On
this date in 1740, a young 23 year old woman lost her father.
But
she was not just any young woman, and he was not just any father!
Charles
VI had been Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Croatia, King of
Serbia, Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia, King in Germany, and
King of Naples, Sardinia, and Sicily!
As
he had ruled his empire and kingdoms, he was aware of the fact that
he had no living sons to inherit his throne. So, in 1713, he issued
an edict called the Pragmatic Sanction...
...An
edict that stated that females could inherit crown and properties.
That edict was meant to ensure that one of Charles's own daughters
could become empress and queen of all those realms, rather than the
crown passing to his brother or his sons.
Charles
VI ruled for almost 30 years, and that entire time he worked on
getting approval for his Pragmatic Sanction from other European
powers. These are the kingdoms who signed off on his Sanction, and
agreed that Charles VI's daughter Maria Theresa would inherit the
throne:
Great Britain France Saxony-Poland the Dutch Republic Spain Venice States of the Church Prussia Russia Denmark Savoy-Sardinia Bavaria the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire
So...obviously...mission
accomplished!
But
as soon as Charles VI died (from eating death cap mushrooms,
according to Voltaire!), these are the nations that reneged on their
promises to honor Maria Theresa as ruler, and immediately
attacked:
France Spain Saxony-Poland Bavaria Prussia
For
the first eight years of Maria Theresa's rule, she had to fight the
War of the Austrian Succession, despite her father's life's work,
which was that Sanction.
Maria
Theresa said later that she had not had the sort of education that
she needed to rule. Also, when she took the throne Austria was pretty
much bankrupt from wars, and the army that remained after not being
paid for a few months was pretty small. This is what Maria Theresa
said: “I found myself without money, without credit, without army, without experience and knowledge of my own and finally, also without any counsel because each one of them at first wanted to wait and see how things would develop.”
Wait
and see...if Maria Theresa was kicked off the throne, perhaps? Or if
she would be removed by being killed?
The
war dragged on for years, but eventually Maria Theresa was recognized
as the queen of many of her father's lands. She is listed as
Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Croatia, Queen of
Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria, and Galicia. Because a woman
cannot rule the Holy Roman Empire, Maria Theresa's husband Francis I
became Holy Roman Emperor, and through that marriage Maria Theresa
became Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Duchess of Lorraine, and
Grand Duchess of Tuscany.
Isn't
royalty weird? Can you imagine having so many titles?
 |
| Notice that this artist didn't do a very good job of painting the proportions of babies and children! |
Speaking
of “so many,” Maria Theresa had 16 children!
She had 11 daughters
(10 of whom were named Maria) and 5 sons, but only six lived to be
adults.
One of the most famous of her children was Marie Antoinette,
who grew up to become the Queen of France (and who later lost her
head!).
Her other children were queens and archduchesses and Holy
Roman Emperors and all manor of titled personages.
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