Maria Josepha (Marie Josephe Antonie Walburga Felicitas Regula, 30 March 1739 - 28 May 1767), Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Princess of Bavaria, was the daughter of Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria and Maria Amalia of Austria and the second wife of Emperor Joseph II. She was a member of the house of Wittelsbach and was born in Munich, Bavaria.
[edit] Marriage
On 23 January 1765 (age 25,) she married the widowed Joseph, King of the Romans, and heir of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, in Schönbrunn Palace. She was two years older than her husband.
The marriage 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, 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 as a "short, fat little person" with "ugly teeth". He admitted, however, that as far as her character was concerned, Maria Josepha was an "irreproachable woman" who loved him, and that he valued her for her positive traits but suffered because he could not love her.[1]
The marriage was probably never consummated. Joseph declined to sleep in their shared bedroom and even had the balcony which joined their rooms in Schoenbrunn Palace divided so that he never had to see his wife. Upon her father-in-law's death on August 18, 1765, Maria Josepha became Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire. Her mother-in-law, however, remained the most powerful and important figure in the Empire and at court in Vienna.
On May 28, 1767, after only two years of marriage, Maria Josepha died of smallpox as had her predecessor Isabella. 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.
Maria Josepha was buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, but Joseph did not attend her burial.[2]
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. In the end, the Habsburg dynasty gained only the Innviertel.[3]
[edit] Ancestors
| Ancestors of Maria Josepha of Bavaria |
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16. Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria |
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8. Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria |
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17. Maria Anna of Austria |
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4. Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria |
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18. Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy |
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9. Henriette Adelaide of Savoy |
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19. Christine Marie of France |
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2. Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor |
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20. Jakub Sobieski |
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10. John III Sobieski |
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21. Zofia Teofillia Daniłowicz |
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5. Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska |
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22. Henri de la Grange d'Arquien |
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11. Marie Casimire Louise de la Grange d'Arquien |
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23. Françoise de La Châtre |
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1. Maria Josepha of Bavaria |
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24. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor |
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12. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor |
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25. Maria Anna of Spain |
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6. Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor |
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26. Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine |
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13. Eleonore-Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuburg |
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27. Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt |
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3. Maria Amalia of Austria |
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28. George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
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14. John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
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29. Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt |
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7. Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick |
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30. Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern |
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15. Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate |
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31. Anna Gonzaga |
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[edit] References
- ^ This section and those following are translated from the German Wikipedia version of this article.
- ^ Idem. Helga Thoma: Ungeliebte Königin. Piper, 2006
- ^ Idem. Friedrich Weissensteiner: Die Töchter Maria Theresias. Heyne, 2002
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Duchess Marie Renate
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Duchess Maria Anna Karoline
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*also Princess of Bavaria
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| 16th generation |
Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen · Princess Margherita of Savoy · Princess Anne Eugénie of Arenberg · Princess Yolande of Ligne · Countess Xenia Czernicheva-Besobrasova · Princess Anna Gabriele of Wrede · Countess Helena of Toerring-Jettenbach · Countess Ludmilla of Gallen · Princess Laetitia of Arenberg** · Countess Margaret Kálnoky von Köröspatak** · Maria Espinosa de los Monteros^^** · Countess Valerie of Podstatzky-Lichtenstein** · Freiin Eva Antonia von Hofmann** · Princess Anna Amelie of Schönburg-Waldenburg** · Countess Hedwig of Lichem-Löwenburg** · Freiin Edith von Sternbach** · Princess Margaret of Hohenberg · Countess Marie Christine of Hatzfeldt-Dönhoff · Eugenia de Calonge^^ · Freiin Maria Theresia von Gudenus
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Estelle de Saint-Romain^^
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*also an infanta of Spain by marriage
**also a princess of Tuscany by marriage
***also a princess of Modena by marriage
^also an archduchess of Austria in her own right
^^did not have a royal or noble title by birth
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Tuscan princesses by marriage
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Princess Laetitia of Arenberg* · Countess Margaret Kálnoky von Köröspatak* · Maria Espinosa de los Monteros^* · Countess Valerie of Podstatzky-Lichtenstein* · Freiin Eva Antonia von Hofmann* · Princess Anna Amelie of Schönburg-Waldenburg* · Countess Hedwig of Lichem-Löwenburg* · Freiin Edith von Sternbach*
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| 14th Generation |
Elyssa Edmonstone^* · Countess Marie Gabrielle of Waldstein*
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^did not have a royal or noble title by birth
* also an archduchess of Austria by marriage
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Bavaria, Maria Josepha Of |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
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| Date of birth |
March 30, 1739 |
| Place of birth |
Germany |
| Date of death |
May 28, 1767 |
| Place of death |
Austria |
