Episode 251: Maria Theresa of Austria, Part One
Destined from her cradle for a seat on the throne, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had to fight both the prejudices of her age and some of the greatest warriors of the time to secure her empire. Her life was so large, it’s going to require two episodes! In this one, we begin with a little background on her family, you may have heard of them? The Habsburgs? They of a 700-year dynasty? There were a lot of wars, fluid country lines, alliances, and lands that extended across modern-day Europe that helped shape the world that Maria Theresa was born into, and we give you an outline of that history.
Maria Theresa Walburga Amelia Christina was born on May 13, 1717, at her family home, Hofburg Palace, in Vienna, Austria. Her father was Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, and her mother was Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Maria Theresa was the oldest of two surviving children, both daughters, which sent the lives of her parents, her mother especially, into turmoil.
An heir! They need an heir! And, oooof, they tried and the cockamamie methods to get that male child were extreme. Also extreme was her father’s methods to extend the line of succession to his daughters on the chance that a son never survived. When it looked like that son wasn’t going to come, he made sure that his eldest daughter was as prepared as possible to lead the family and control their lands. This meant an education (not exactly that of a lad, but pretty close) and lining up a strategic betrothal in the form of Duke Francis Steven of Lorraine.
Maria Theresa was only 23 when Papa Karl (that’s what we call him, there are a lot of people with the same name in this story) passed away. At that point, not only was she married to a man who understood his place, but she was ready for the responsibilities ahead of her. She, not her husband as some believed would happen, stepped into the ruling role which was pretty unusual for both the family and the times. But, as prepared as she was, she was in for some pretty rough times at the beginning.
Maria Theresa’s natural intelligence helped her learn skills of diplomacy, military strategy, and how to juggle the many varied challenges of her enormous territory and responsibilities…all while being pregnant and giving birth to 16 children, 10 of which survived to adulthood. She streamlined and centralized her government, wheeled and dealed with allies, and built a standing army to protect her borders (usually from a nearby ruler who history remembers as Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.) Heck, she even got the vampire scare under control. Yes, vampires.
We cover her life up through the first 20 years of her rule but there’s so much more ahead in Part Two.
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
Media recommendations will be on the shownotes for Part Two, but to tide you over we talked a bit about two contemporaries of Maria Theresa: Madam de Pompadour (from 2011 when we were just baby podcasters) and Catherine the Great, Part One and Two. Maybe go give their episodes a listen to learn their incredible stories!
Also, we have a Pinterest board for every episode, here is Maria Theresa’s!
