Maria Josepha Antonia Walburga Felicitas Regula of Bavaria (20 March 173928 May 1767) was
Holy Roman Empress
The Holy Roman Empress or Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (''Kaiserin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches'') was the wife or widow of the Holy Roman Emperor. The elective dignity of Holy Roman emperor was restricted to males only, but some empresse ...
,
Queen of the Romans
German queen (german: Deutsche Königin) is the informal title used when referring to the wife of the king of the Kingdom of Germany. The official titles of the wives of German kings were Queen of the Germans and later Queen of the Romans ( la, ...
,
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 periph ...
,
Grand Duchess of Tuscany
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was founded in 1569. It succeeded the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy was initially ruled by the House of Medici, until their extinction in 1737. The grand duchy passed to the House of Lorraine, and then, to its cad ...
, among other titles, by her marriage to
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. By birth, she was a Princess and Duchess of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
as the daughter of
Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VII (6 August 1697 – 20 January 1745) was the prince-elector of Bavaria from 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor from 24 January 1742 to his death. He was a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and his reign as Holy Roman Emperor thus marked the ...
, Elector of Bavaria, and Archduchess
Maria Amalia of Austria.
Family
A member of the
House of Wittelsbach, she was born in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, Bavaria. Maria Josepha was the seventh and youngest child of Charles Albert,
Elector of Bavaria
The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic state in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
, and
Holy Roman Emperor. Her mother, Maria Amalia, was an
Archduchess
Archduke (feminine: Archduchess; German: ''Erzherzog'', feminine form: ''Erzherzogin'') was the title borne from 1358 by the Habsburg rulers of the Archduchy of Austria, and later by all senior members of that dynasty. It denotes a rank within ...
of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
by birth. Her maternal grandparents were
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
, father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
, mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Vienna, Austria
, death_date =
, death_place = Vienna, Austria
, burial_place = Imperial Crypt, Vienna
, r ...
, and
Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (21 April 1673 – 10 April 1742) was Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Germans, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Bohemia, Archduchess consort of Austria etc. as the spouse of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.
...
. Her paternal grandparents were
Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and
Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska
Theresa Kunegunda ( pl, Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, german: Kurfürstin Therese Kunigunde) (4 March 1676 – 10 March 1730) was a Polish princess, Electress of Bavaria and of the Electorate of the Palatinate. By birth she was member of the House ...
, the daughter of the King of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
John III Sobieski. Josepha's mother, Archduchess Maria Amalia, was also a first cousin to her future mother-in-law, Empress
Maria Theresa, and therefore Josepha was a second cousin to her future husband, Joseph, King of the Romans.
Josepha's mother, Archduchess Maria Amalia, gave birth to seven children, only four of whom lived through to adulthood. Maria Josepha's siblings included her brother
Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian III Joseph, "the much beloved", (28 March 1727 – 30 December 1777) was a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Bavaria from 1745 to 1777.
Biography
Born in Munich, Maximilian was the eldest son of Holy Roman Empero ...
, and two sisters
Maria Antonia, Electress of Saxony, and
Maria Anna Josepha, Margravine of Baden-Baden.
Marriage
![Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress by Martin van Meytens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Maria_Josepha_of_Bavaria%2C_Holy_Roman_Empress_by_Martin_van_Meytens.jpg)
Maria Josepha was first
married by proxy
A proxy wedding or proxy marriage is a wedding in which one or both of the individuals being united are not physically present, usually being represented instead by other persons. If both partners are absent a double proxy wedding occurs.
Marriage ...
on 13 January 1765, to her
second cousin
Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...
, the widowed Joseph,
King of the Romans, and heir of Empress
Maria Theresa of Austria
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) ...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, Germany. Upon her arrival to Vienna from Munich, her husband did not seem to be dissatisfied with his new wife and neither did the entourage who greeted the princess. She and Joseph formally married on 25 January 1765, 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 ...
in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, amidst suitable festivities. The marriage, however, was never happy; it had taken place only under pressure from Joseph's mother, Maria Theresa, who wanted her son to provide an heir to the throne. Joseph, however, had never wanted to remarry after the death of his beloved first wife,
Isabella of Parma
Isabella of Bourbon-Parma (, ; 31 December 1741 – 27 November 1763) was a princess of Parma and infanta of Spain from the House of Bourbon-Parma as the daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma. She became an archduchess of Austria and princess of B ...
, although he had made some overtures toward Isabella's younger sister,
Maria Luisa of Parma. Maria Luisa, however, was already promised to the
Crown Prince of Spain and, in any case, was not interested.
Joseph did not find Maria Josepha physically attractive either—he described her in a letter when he first saw her as, "She is twenty five. She has never had smallpox, and the very thought of the disease makes me shudder. Her figure is short, thickset, and without a vestige of charm. Her face is covered with spots and pimples. Her teeth are horrible." However,
Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg
Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (german: Wenzel Anton Reichsfürst von Kaunitz-Rietberg, cz, Václav Antonín z Kounic a Rietbergu; 2 February 1711 – 27 June 1794) was an Austrian and Czech diplomat and statesman in the Habsburg mona ...
, had wanted Joseph to marry Maria Josepha because of the Bavarian connection, so she was ultimately selected to be Joseph's bride.
A month after his wedding, Joseph sent off a long, self-pitying letter to his first wife's father. He did not have anything in common with his new wife, he admitted; however, as far as her character was concerned, Maria Josepha was an "irreproachable woman" who loved him, and he valued her for her positive traits but suffered because he could not love her. Even her enemies admitted that Josepha was amiable, obliging, friendly to all, and disposed to every kind or benevolent sentiment; but her understanding was narrow as well as deficient in cultivation. Joseph further added, "I will keep the path of honour, and if I cannot be an affectionate husband, at least she will have in me a friend, who appreciates her good qualities and treats her with every imaginable consideration." Despite this, Joseph never kept his word.
As time went on he did more than treat Josepha with perfect frigidity. Maria Josepha's sister-in-law,
Archduchess Maria Christina, once wrote: "I believe if I were his
oseph'swife and so maltreated I would run away and hang myself on a tree in Schonbrunn." Despite Joseph's cold behaviour towards her, Maria Josepha had loved her husband with much ardour and was deeply affected by his unkindness towards her. Being of a meek and timid disposition, and conscious of her own inferiority, she trembled and turned pale whenever she came in her husband's presence. The only member of the imperial family who took the poor young queen under his wing was her father-in-law, Emperor
Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to:
* Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407)
* Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450
* Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547
* Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...
; and when Francis died shortly after her marriage, she had no real support in the court. Upon Francis I's death on 18 August 1765, Maria Josepha became
Empress of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
following her husband's accession to the throne. Her mother-in-law, however, remained the most powerful and important Power figure in the Empire and at court in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
.
Maria Josepha and Joseph's short-lived marriage did not produce any children, but for much of the two years of her marriage, Josepha's state of health led her and others to suppose that she was pregnant. In October 1765, in sentences delicately omitted by Arneth from a published version of a letter to his younger brother
Leopold
Leopold may refer to:
People
* Leopold (given name)
* Leopold (surname)
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons''
* Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...
, Joseph wrote: 'As for my empress, there is no change. She has no illness but considerable disturbance. She
osephamaybe pregnant though without the slightest swelling. I just don't understand it, and I console myself with the happy life I lead as a bachelor husband.'
Next month, he wrote: 'I live almost as a bachelor, getting up at 6 o'clock in the morning, going to bed at 11, seeing my wife only at table and touching her only in bed.' In the same month, Josepha's mistress of the household retired, because she could no longer bear to contemplate the ''tableau de ce mauvais menage''. Apparently, the young empress had made matters worse for herself by telling her troubles to her servants.
Death
![GrabMaria Josepha](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/GrabMaria_Josepha.JPG)
On 28 May 1767, after only two years of marriage, Maria Josepha died of
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 ...
, as had her predecessor Isabella. Upon the young empress' death, the Court immediately plunged into mourning. Her husband did not visit her during her illness, although her mother-in-law, Maria Theresa, did. In doing so, Maria Theresa also caught the disease, but survived.
In Joseph's first reaction to receiving the news of his wife's death, he had told some of his intimates some remarks which imply regrets for the coldness he had shown to her. He further brought himself to tell his sister-in-law,
Duchess Maria Antonia, that his wife had been "for so many reasons worthy of respect". Maria Josepha was buried in the
Imperial Crypt in Vienna, but Joseph did not attend her burial.
The unloved young empress played a role in her husband's life once more after her death, when he laid claim to a large part of Bavaria in 1778–1779. He based his claim on, among other grounds, his marriage to his Bavarian second wife. This conflict eventually grew into the
War of the Bavarian Succession
The War of the Bavarian Succession (; 3 July 1778 – 13 May 1779) was a dispute between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and an alliance of Saxony and Prussia over succession to the Electorate of Bavaria after the extinction of the Bavarian br ...
. In the end, the Habsburg dynasty gained only the
Innviertel
The Innviertel (literally German for "Inn Quarter"; officially called the ''Innkreis''; ) is a traditional Austrian region southeast of the Inn river. It forms the western part of the state of Upper Austria and borders the German state of Bavari ...
.
Ancestry
References
Bibliography
*
Derek Edward Dawson Beales (1987). ''Joseph II.: In the Shadow of Maria Theresa, 1741–1780. Vol. 1''. Cambridge University Press. .
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Josepha of Bavaria
Holy Roman Empresses
German queens consort
Duchesses of Bavaria
Austrian royal consorts
Duchesses of Teschen
Maria Josepha
18th-century House of Habsburg
Nobility from Munich
1739 births
1767 deaths
Deaths from smallpox
Burials at the Imperial Crypt
Infectious disease deaths in Austria
18th-century women of the Holy Roman Empire
Daughters of emperors
Children of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Daughters of kings