Theresa Kunegunda ( pl, Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, german: Kurfürstin Therese Kunigunde) (4 March 1676 – 10 March 1730) was a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
princess
Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince.
Princess as a subs ...
,
Electress of Bavaria
An Electress (, ) was the consort of a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the Empire's greatest princes.
The Golden Bull of 1356 established by Emperor Charles IV settled the number of Electors at seven. However, three of these wer ...
and of the
Electorate of the Palatinate
The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...
. By birth she was member of the
House of Sobieski
The House of Sobieski (plural: Sobiescy, feminine form: Sobieska) was a prominent magnate family of szlachta, Polish nobility in the 16th and 17th centuries from which the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jan III Sobieski originated. ...
and by marriage member of the House of Wittelsbach. She also served as Regent of the Palatinate in 1704–05.
Biography
She was a daughter of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania John III Sobieski and his wife,
Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien
Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien ( Polish: Maria Kazimiera Ludwika d’Arquien), known also by the diminutive form "Marysieńka" (28 June 1641 – 30 January 1716) was a French noblewoman who became the queen consort of Poland and gra ...
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
.
Theresa was educated in painting and music, Latin, Italian and French. At the beginning of 1692, her father planned to marry her to the Prince of Denmark, but this project was subsequently abandoned.
Wedding
On 15 August 1694, at the age of nineteen, she married
Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of Bavaria
Maximilian, Maximillian or Maximiliaan (Maximilien in French) is a male given name.
The name " Max" is considered a shortening of "Maximilian" as well as of several other names.
List of people
Monarchs
*Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459†...
, governor of the
Spanish Netherlands
Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: PaÃses Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...
. He was a former comrade in arms of her father and widower of
Maria Antonia of Austria
Maria Antonia Josepha Benedicta Rosalia Petronella of Austria (18 January 1669 – 24 December 1692) was an Electress of Bavaria as the wife of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. She was the eldest daughter and only surviving child o ...
. The marriage took place by proxy in Warsaw, her oldest brother standing in for Max Emanuel. She would not meet the latter until 1 January 1695 in Brussels. Her journey, paid for by her mother, lasted approximately 50 days and was accompanied by splendors. Her dowry was 500,000 thalers.
Regency
In the Spanish Netherlands, Theresa gave birth to six children before the family moved to Munich in May 1701. Following the evacuation of the Bavarian court from the Spanish Netherlands after the defeat of the Battle of Blenheim (13 August 1704), she became Regent of the Government of the Elector of Bavaria. The move was smart since, legally, the war was against the Elector and not Theresa. It was the only time a woman ruled the Bavarian Electorate. However, Emperor Leopold I forced her to sign the treaty of Ilbersheim on 5 November 1704. This included a
cease-fire
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
and gave Theresa the Munich Rentamt, one of the four administrative districts of the Duchy of Bavaria, while the rest of Bavaria is placed under the military supervision of the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
. At the beginning of this phase, Theresa strove to decide in collaboration with Max Emanuel but the courier took too long for this to be effective. She also had to face the defection of part of the Bavarian nobility in favour of the emperor.
Exile
On 21 December 1704 she gave birth to the last of her sons. In February 1705, she left to meet her mother in
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, PÃ dova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
following the discovery of written correspondence between her husband and Agnès Le Louchier, the Countess of Arco, his mistress. Upon her return in May, the imperial army would not allow him to return to Munich, in violation of the treaty of Ilbersheim. Her four sons were looked after by the Austrians in
Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...
while her two youngest boys and her daughter remained in Munich.
After the
battle of Ramillies
The Battle of Ramillies (), fought on 23 May 1706, was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand Alliance – Austria, England, and the Dutch Republic – the battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon a ...
, on 23 May 1706, Max Emanuel was forced to flee the Spanish Netherlands and found refuge at the court of France located in
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
. Max Emmanuel would live with his French mistress Agnès Le Louchier during his exile from 1704 to 1715.
Theresa negotiated her return to Munich from the Emperor by asking for the help of the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702 until 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as ...
. She tried to use the
Duke of Modena
Emperor Frederick III conferred Borso d'Este, Lord of Ferrara, with the Duchy of Modena and Reggio in 1452, while Pope Paul II formally elevated him in 1471 as Duke of Ferrara, over which the family had in fact long presided. This latter territo ...
and the
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 ...
as mediators, but to no avail. On the domestic level, the financial and military retributions imposed by
Joseph I Joseph I or Josef I may refer to:
*Joseph I of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch in 1266–1275 and 1282–1283
* Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678–1711)
*Joseph I (Chaldean Patriarch) (reigned 1681–1696)
*Joseph I of Portugal (1750–1777) ...
created many revolts and she lost a son. Consequently, Theresa spent ten years in exile in Venice, not returning until 1715 when the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
ended and Max Emanuel regained his electorate on 7 September 1714 by the Treaty of Baden. Despite a short reign of seven months, Theresa left a positive balance where in particular the role of the nobility was improved.
Later life
On 8 April 1715 she finally reunited with her husband. She founded the Servitinnen monastery in Munich dedicated to Saint Elisabeth the same year.
On the death of her husband in February 1726, she did not remarry but retired to Venice. She died in 1730 and rests in the Theatine Church 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 ...
.
Children
She was the mother of ten children by her husband, including Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII and
Clemens August of Bavaria
Clemens August of Bavaria (german: Clemens August von Bayern) (17 August 1700 – 6 February 1761) was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria and Archbishop-Elector of Cologne.
Biography
Clemens August (Clementus Augustus) was born in ...
Elector
Elector may refer to:
* Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors
* Elector, a member of an electoral college
** Confederate elector, a member of ...
of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, though only six of them survived till adulthood.
*A stillborn child (1695)
*Maria Anna Karoline (1696–1750), a nun
*
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 ...
(1697–1745),
King of Bohemia
The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman E ...
, and
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 ...
*Philip Maurice Maria (1698–1719), posthumously elected
Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim
This list records the incumbents of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim (german: link=no, Bistum Hildesheim). Between 1235 and 1803 the bishops simultaneously officiating as rulers of princely rank (prince-bishop) in the Prince-Bishopric of ...
Bishop of Freising
The following people were bishops, prince-bishops or archbishops of Freising or Munich and Freising in Bavaria:
Bishops of Freising
* St. Corbinian (724–730); founded the Benedictine abbey in Freising, although the diocese was not orga ...
and
Bishop of Liège
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
*Maximilian Emanuel Thomas (1704–1709), Prince of Bavaria, died in childhood