Archduchess Maria Johanna of Austria (german: Maria Johanna Gabriele Josefa Antonia; 4 February 1750 23 December 1762) was an
Archduchess of Austria
The Archduchy of Austria (german: Erzherzogtum Österreich) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empire's southeastern peripher ...
as the eleventh child of
Empress Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
and
Emperor Francis I
Francis I (Francis Stephen; french: François Étienne; german: Franz Stefan; 8 December 1708 – 18 August 1765) was Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Grand Duke of Tuscany. He became the ruler of the Hol ...
. She was originally meant to marry
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...
, however, the marriage plans were never finalised due to Maria Johanna’s death due to
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
.
Childhood
Maria Johanna was born on 4 February 1750 at the
Hofburg Palace
The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn ...
in Vienna, Austria, as the eleventh child and eighth daughter of
Emperor Francis Stephen I and
Empress Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
. She was raised in the ''Kindskammer'' with her many siblings, though she was particularly close with her sister
Maria Josepha,
whom was born a year after Maria Johanna in 1751. The two were educated together and had the same tutors.
Maria Johanna strictly studied
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
,
French,
Italian
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** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Spanish
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* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
,
German
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* Germany (of or related to)
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**Ger ...
,
English
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, history, geography,
land surveying
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
, mathematics, and theology—from the age of three.
She was also taught how to dance and sing, and was known to have excelled at these subjects.
She often gave musical performances, as she loved to sing.
She also loved to
act.
Additionally, Maria Johanna and her sisters were highly educated in dance and singing. While her brothers were taught to play different instruments, Maria Johanna and her sisters were given singing lessons. A special theatre was built at the
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Schönbrunn ; Central Bavarian: ''Schloss Scheenbrunn'') was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its root ...
, specially for the children; Maria Johanna and her siblings gave frequent musical performances. All in all, Maria Johanna and her sister Maria Josepha "developed satisfactory, worked hard at their lessons and were involved in numerous festivities in which they participated enthusiastically."
Betrothal
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
and
King Charles III of Spain
Charles III (born Charles Sebastian; es, Carlos Sebastián; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain (1759–1788). He also was Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); Kingdom of Naples, ...
both agreed that Maria Johanna’s sister,
Maria Amalia, would marry Charles’ son
Ferdinand III, King of Sicily and IV of Naples, however, Charles later wanted to break off the engagement due to Maria Amalia being five years older than Ferdinand. Since Maria Johanna was just one year older than Ferdinand, she was betrothed to him instead.
Death
In the second half of the eighteenth-century,
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
was ravaging through the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
.
Leopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a German composer, violinist and theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook ''Versuch einer gründlichen ...
, father of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
, wrote that "in the whole of Vienna, nothing was spoken of except smallpox. If 10 children were on the death register, 9 of them had died from smallpox." In December 1762, Maria Johanna caught the disease and died on 23 December; her painful death was described by her sister-in-law
Isabella
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. Her mother, Maria Theresa, found comfort in the fact that before her death Maria Johanna made a complete confession of her sins to a Catholic priest. Maria Theresa wrote to Maria Johanna’s sister,
Maria Christina:
Your sister has confessed her sins for three-quarters of an hour, with a preciseness, repentance and devotion which brought her confessor to tears; since then, she is very weak. I cannot thank the loving God enough that he gives me this comfort; I give her completely into his hand and expect that her destiny cannot be anything than happy."
Aftermath
The loss of Maria Johanna to smallpox, along with that of other members of the family, contributed to Maria Theresa’s decision to have the younger members of her family
inoculated, and the subsequent acceptance of smallpox inoculation in Austria.
Ancestry
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Johanna Gabriela Of Austria, Archduchess
1750 births
1762 deaths
18th-century Austrian people
18th-century Austrian women
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Deaths from smallpox
Austrian princesses
Burials at the Imperial Crypt
Burials at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna
Infectious disease deaths in Austria
Daughters of emperors
Children of Maria Theresa
Royalty and nobility who died as children
Daughters of kings