Maria Theresa
Maria Theresia
Archduchess of Austria · Queen of Bohemia · Queen of Hungary · Holy Roman Empress (consort)
1717 – 1780
Biography
The only female ruler of the Habsburg lands and the figure who held the dynasty together at the moment of its greatest peril. Within weeks of her accession Frederick the Great invaded Silesia, and most of Europe followed by attacking the supposedly indefensible inheritance of a young woman. She lost Silesia but kept everything else, reformed her army, education system, and bureaucracy, and bore sixteen children, including two emperors and the queen of France.
Events
Charles VI, last male Habsburg in the senior line, issued an edict on 19 April 1713 declaring that the Habsburg hereditary lands were indivisible and could pass to a female heir if no male existed. He spent the next twenty-seven years securing the recognition of every European court for the eventual succession of his daughter Maria Theresa. Most of those guarantees were violated within months of his death, plunging Europe into the War of the Austrian Succession.
Also there: Charles VI
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