July 12, 1651: Birth of Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress

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Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Austrian House of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empress, Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, King Carlos II of Spain, King Felipe IV of Spain, Spanish House of Habsburg

Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain (July 12, 1651 – March 12, 1673). By marriage to Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Infanta Margaret Theresa was Holy Roman Empress, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia. Infanta Margaret Theresa was also an Archduchess of Austria by right of belonging to the House of Habsburg.

Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain was the first child of King Felipe IV of Spain born from his second marriage with his niece Archduchess Mariana of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Ferdinand I (1608-1657) and Infanta Maria Anna of Spain (Felipe IV’s sister).

Because of this avunculate marriage, Infanta Margaret’s mother was nearly thirty years younger than her father.

Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress

Margaret’s paternal grandparents were King Felipe III of Spain and his wife Archduchess Margaret of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, the daughter of her paternal grandparents.

The marriage of her parents was purely made for political reasons, mainly the search for a new male heir for the Spanish throne after the early death of Balthasar Carlos, Prince of Asturias in 1646. Besides him, the other only surviving child of Felipe IV’s first marriage was the Infanta Maria Theresa, who later became the wife of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre.

After Margaret, between 1655 and 1661, four more children (a daughter and three sons) were born from the marriage between Felipe IV and Mariana of Austria, but only one survived infancy, the future King Carlos II of Spain.

Margaret did not develop the serious health issues and disabilities (because of the close consanguinity of her parents) that her younger brother had shown since his birth. During her childhood she was once seriously ill, but survived.

According to contemporaries, Margaret had an attractive appearance and lively character. Her parents and close friends called her the “little angel”. She grew up in the Queen’s chambers in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid surrounded by many maids and servants. The Infanta loved candies, which she constantly hid from the physicians who cared for the health of her teeth.

Both Margaret’s father and maternal grandfather Emperor Ferdinand III loved her deeply. In his private letters King Felipe IV called her “my joy”. At the same time, Margaret was brought up in accordance with the strict etiquette of the Madrid court, and received a good education.

In the second half of the 1650s at the imperial court in Vienna the necessity developed for another dynastic marriage between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the House of Habsburg. The union was needed to strengthen the position of both countries, especially against the Kingdom of France.

At first the proposals were for Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of Felipe IV, to marry the heir of the Holy Roman Empire, Archduke Leopold. But in 1660 and under the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the Infanta was married to the French King Louis XIV; as a part of her marriage contract, she was asked to renounce her claims to the Spanish throne in return for a monetary settlement as part of her dowry, which was never paid.

Then began discussion about a marriage between Margaret and the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (who was her maternal uncle and paternal cousin).

Leopold I (June 9, 1640 – May 5, 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Archduchess Margaret of Austria (Felipe III’s first cousin once removed).

Leopold became heir apparent in 1654 by the death of his elder brother Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Elected in 1658, Leopold ruled the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1705, becoming the longest-ruling Habsburg emperor (46 years and 9 months). He was both a composer and considerable patron of music.

However, the Madrid court hesitated to agree to this proposal, because the infanta could inherit the Spanish crown if her little brother died.

The count of Fuensaldaña, Spanish ambassador in France, suggested the infanta as a possible bride for King Charles II of England. However, King Felipe IV rejected this idea, replying that the King of England should look for a wife in France.

In October 1662, the new Imperial ambassador in the Spanish Kingdom, Count Francis Eusebius of Pötting, began one of his main diplomatic assignments, which was the celebration of the marriage between the Infanta and the Emperor.

On April 6, 1663, the betrothal between Margaret and Leopold I was finally announced. The marriage contract was signed on December 18. Before the official wedding ceremony (which, according to custom, had to take place in Vienna) another portrait of the Infanta was sent, in order for the Emperor to know his bride.

Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress

King Felipe IV died on September 17, 1665. In his will, he did not mention Margaret’s betrothal; in fact, the context in which the document was prepared suggests that the late monarch still hesitated to marry his daughter to his Austrian relative because he sought to ensure her rights as sole ruler of the Spanish crown in case of the extinction of his male line.

Mariana of Austria, now Dowager Queen of Spain and Regent of the Kingdom on behalf of her minor son Carlos II, delayed the wedding of her daughter. The marriage was agreed upon only after intense Imperial diplomacy efforts.

On April 25, 1666, the marriage by proxy was finally celebrated in Madrid, in a ceremony attended not only by the Dowager Queen, King Carlos II and the Imperial ambassador but also by the local nobility; the groom was represented by Antonio de la Cerda, 7th Duke of Medinaceli.

On April 28, 1666 Margaret traveled from Madrid to Vienna, accompanied by her personal retinue. The Infanta arrived at Denia, where she rested for some days before embarking on the Spanish Royal fleet on July 16, in turn escorted by ships of the Order of Malta and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Then (after a short stop in Barcelona because Margaret had some health issues) the cortege sailed to the port of Finale Ligure, arriving on August 20. There, Margaret was received by Luis Guzman Ponce de Leon, Governor of Milan.

The cortege left Finale on September 1, and arrived in Milan ten days later, although the official entry was not celebrated until 15 September. After spending almost all September in Milan, the Infanta continued the journey through Venice, arriving in early October in Trento.

At every stop Margaret received celebrations in her honor. On October 8, the Spanish retinue arrived at the city of Roveredo, where the head of Margaret’s cortege, Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 8th Duke of Alburquerque officially handed the Infanta to Ferdinand Joseph, Prince of Dietrichstein and Count Ernst Adalbert von Harrach, Prince-Bishop of Trento, representants of Leopold I.

On October 20, the new Austrian cortege left Roveredo, crossing the Tyrol, through Carinthia and Styria, and arrived on November 25, at the district of Schottwien, twelve miles from Vienna where the Emperor came to receive his bride.

Holy Roman Empress

The Infanta formally entered Vienna On December 5, 1666. The official marriage ceremony was celebrated seven days later. The Viennese celebrations of the imperial marriage were among the most splendid of all the Baroque era, and lasted almost two years.

Despite the age difference, (the Emperor was 11 years her senior) and Leopold I’s unattractive appearance and Margaret’s health problems, according to contemporaries they had a happy marriage. The Empress always called her husband “Uncle” and he called her “Gretl”. The couple had many common interests, especially in art and music.

During her six years of marriage, Margaret gave birth to four children, of whom only one survived infancy:

Maria Antonia (1669 –1692), Archduchess of Austria, who inherited her mother’s claims to the Spanish throne, married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and was the mother of Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, claimant to the Spanish throne.

The Empress reportedly inspired her husband to expel the Jews from Vienna, because she believed that they were to blame for her children’s deaths. During the Corpus Christi celebration of 1670, the Emperor ordered the destruction of the Vienna synagogue and a church was built on the site on his orders.

Even after her marriage, Margaret kept her Spanish customs and ways. Surrounded almost exclusively by her native retinue (which included secretaries, confessors, and doctors), she loved Spanish music and ballets and therefore hardly learned the German language.

Death

Weakened due to six pregnancies in six years (which included four living childbirths and two miscarriages) and four months into her seventh pregnancy, Margaret died on March 12, 1673, at the age of 21. She was buried in the Imperial Crypt, in Vienna.

Only four months later, the widower Emperor – despite his grief for the death of his “only Margareta” (as he remembered her) – entered into a second marriage with Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, the first child and eldest daughter of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, by his wife and first-cousin Anna de’ Medici.

Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

On her father’s side, her grandparents were Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and his wife Claudia de’ Medici (after which she received her first name); on her mother’s side, her grandparents were Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his wife Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria.

After Margaret’s death, her rights over the Spanish throne were inherited by her only surviving daughter Infanta Maria Antonia, who in turn passed them to her only surviving son Prince Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria when she died in 1692.

After Joseph Ferdinand’s early death in 1699, the rights of inheritance were disputed by both Emperor Leopold I and King Louis XIV of France, son-in-law of King Felipe IV and a grandson of King Felipe III of Spain. The outcome of the War of the Spanish Succession was the creation of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon in the person of King Felipe V, Margaret’s great-nephew and a grandson of King Louis XIV of France.

November 20, 1629: Birth of Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.

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Elector Ernst-August of Hanover, Ernst August of Hanover, George I of Great Britain, George Wilhelm of Brunswick, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, Prince-Bishop of Osnabruck, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia), Sophie of the Palatinate

Ernst August (November 20, 1629 – January 23, 1698) was ruler of the Principality of Lüneburg from 1658 and of the Principality of Calenberg from 1679 until his death. He was appointed as the ninth Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692, but died before the appointment became effective.

Ernst August was born at Herzberg Castle near Göttingen, Principality of Calenberg, the youngest son of Georg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Calenberg, and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt.

On September 30, 1658, he married Sophia of the Palatinate in Heidelberg. She was the daughter of Friedrich V, Elector Palatine and Princess Elizabeth of England, and granddaughter of King James I-VI of England and Scotland. Sophia had been betrothed to Ernst August’s older brother, Georg Wilhelm, who did not want her. When she married Ernst August instead, releasing Georg Wilhelm from this obligation, Georg WIlhelm ceded to Ernst August his claim to Lüneburg.

As the fourth son, Ernst August had little chance of succeeding his father as ruler. Therefore, the couple had to live in the Leineschloss at the Hanover court of Ernst August’s eldest brother Christian Ludwig. However, in the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, it had been agreed between the Catholic and Protestant powers that the rulership of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück should alternate between the two churches, and that the respective Protestant bishops should be members of the House of Welf.

When the Osnabruck throne became vacant in 1662, the family appointed Ernst August Prince-Bishop. Ernst August and Sophia moved to Iburg Castle, together with their two living sons and Sophia’s niece Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (future sister-in-law of Louis XIV of France). In 1667 they began to build a more up-to-date residence, Osnabruck Palace, and in 1673 they moved there. Their youngest son was born there in 1674.

Christian Ludwig died childless in 1665, leaving Lüneburg to the second brother, Georg Wilhelm who had ceded his right to Ernst August, who thus succeeded to that title. Georg Wilhelm kept the district of Celle for himself. In 1679, Ernst August inherited the Principality of Calenberg from the third brother Johann Friedrich. In 1680 the family moved back to Hanover.

In 1683, against the protestations of his five younger sons, Ernst August instituted primogeniture, so that his territory would not be further subdivided after his death, and also as a pre-condition for obtaining the coveted electorship. He participated in the Great Turkish War on the side of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1692, he was appointed Prince-Elector by the Emperor, thus raising the House of Hanover to electoral dignity, the elevation becoming effective in 1708 when confirmed by the Imperial Diet.

He was nonetheless recognized as Elector of Hanover, the very first. Ernst August died in 1698 at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover. He was succeeded as Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire by his eldest son, Georg Ludwig, later King George I of Great Britain.

His main residences were the Leineschloss, in Hanover, and the Herrenhausen, a summer residence a short distance outside the city. Ernst August and Sophia had the Great Garden at Herrenhausen enlarged after Italian and Dutch models, creating one of the most distinguished baroque formal gardens of Europe.

October 20, 1685: Death of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor.

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Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, King Carlos II of Spain, King Felipe VI of Spain, Pragmatic Sanction, War of the Austrian Succession, War of the Spanish Succession

Charles VI (October 1, 1685 – October 20, 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. Archduke Charles was the second son of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and of his third wife, Princess Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Archduke Charles was born on October 1, 1685. His tutor was Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein.

Following the death of Carlos II of Spain, in 1700, without any direct heir, Charles declared himself King of Spain—both were members of the House of Habsburg. The ensuing War of the Spanish Succession, which pitted France’s candidate, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, Louis XIV of France’s grandson, against Austria’s Charles, lasted for almost 14 years. The Kingdom of Portugal, Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and the majority of the Holy Roman Empire endorsed Charles’s candidature.

Carlos III, as he was known, disembarked in his kingdom in 1705, and stayed there for six years, only being able to exercise his rule in Catalonia, until the death of his brother, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; he returned to Vienna to assume the imperial crown.

Not wanting to see Austria and Spain in personal union again, the new Kingdom of Great Britain withdrew its support from the Austrian coalition, and the war culminated with the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt three years later. The former, ratified in 1713, recognised the Duke of Anjou as King Felipe V of Spain; however, the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Austrian Netherlands and the Kingdom of Sardinia – all previously possessions of the Spanish—were ceded to Austria.

To prevent a union of Spain and France, Felipe was forced to renounce his right to succeed his grandfather’s throne. Charles was extremely discontented at the loss of Spain, and as a result, he mimicked the staid Spanish Habsburg court ceremonial, adopting the dress of a Spanish monarch, which, according to British historian Edward Crankshaw, consisted of “a black doublet and hose, black shoes and scarlet stockings”.

Charles’s father and his advisors went about arranging a marriage for him. Their eyes fell upon Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the eldest daughter of Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen. On August 1, 1708, in Barcelona, Charles married her by proxy. 

Succession to the Habsburg dominions

When Charles succeeded his brother in 1711, he was the last male Habsburg heir in the direct line. Since Habsburg possessions were subject to Salic law, barring women from inheriting in their own right, his own lack of a male heir meant they would be divided on his death.

The Pragmatic Sanction of April 19, 1713 abolished male-only succession in all Habsburg realms and declared their lands indivisible, although Hungary only approved it in 1723.

Charles had three daughters, Maria Theresa (1717-1780), Maria Anna (1718-1744) and Maria Amalia (1724-1730) but no surviving sons.

When Maria Theresa was born, he disinherited his nieces and the daughters of his elder brother, Emperor Joseph I, Maria Josepha and Maria Amalia. It was this act that undermined the chances of a smooth succession and obliged Charles to spend the rest of his reign seeking to ensure enforcement of the Sanction from other European powers.

In total, Great Britain, France, Saxony-Poland, the Dutch Republic, Spain, Venice, States of the Church, Prussia, Russia, Denmark, Savoy-Sardinia, Bavaria, and the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire recognised the sanction. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria and Prussia later reneged. Charles died in 1740, sparking the War of the Austrian Succession, which plagued his successor, Maria Theresa, for eight years.

At the time of Charles’ death, the Habsburg lands were saturated in debt; the exchequer contained a mere 100,000 florins; and desertion was rife in Austria’s sporadic army, spread across the Empire in small, ineffective barracks. Contemporaries expected that Austria-Hungary would wrench itself from the Habsburg yoke upon his death.

Despite the predicaments faced by Charles, the territorial extent of his Habsburg lands was at its greatest since the days of his cognatic ancestor Emperor Charles V, reaching the Southern Mediterranean and including the Duchy of Milan.

The Emperor, after a hunting trip across the Hungarian border in “a typical day in the wettest and coldest October in memory”, fell seriously ill at the Favorita Palace, Vienna, and he died on October 20, 1740 in the Hofburg. In his Memoirs Voltaire wrote that Charles’ death was caused by consuming a meal of death cap mushrooms. Charles’ life opus, the Pragmatic Sanction, was ultimately in vain.

Maria Theresa was forced to resort to arms to defend her inheritance from the coalition of Prussia, Bavaria, France, Spain, Saxony and Poland—all party to the sanction—who assaulted the Austrian frontier weeks after her father’s death. During the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession, Maria Theresa saved her crown and most of her territory but lost the mineral-rich Duchy of Silesia to Prussia and the Duchy of Parma to Spain.

July 12, 1651: Birth of Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain. Part II.

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Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, House of Bourbon, House of Habsburg, King Louis XIV of France, Margaret Theresa of Spain, Philip IV of Spain, Philip V of Spain, War of the Spanish Succession

Holy Roman Empress and German Queen

The Infanta Margaret-Theresa formally entered Vienna On December 5, 1666. The official marriage ceremony was celebrated seven days later. The Viennese celebrations of the imperial marriage were among the most splendid of all the Baroque era, and lasted almost two years.

The Emperor Leopold ordered the construction of an open-air theatre near the present Burggarten, with a capacity of 5,000 people. For Margaret-Theresa’s birthday in July 1668, the theatre hosted the premiere of the opera Il pomo d’oro (The Golden Apple). Composed by Antonio Cesti, the opera was called the “staging of the century” by contemporaries due to its magnificence and expense. The year before, the Emperor gave an equestrian ballet where he personally mounted on his horse, Speranza; due to technical adaptations, the ballet gave spectators the impression that horses and carriages were hovering in the air.

Margaret-Theresa, Holy Roman Empress

Despite the age difference, Leopold was 26 and Margaret-Theresa was 15 at the time of the marriage, according to contemporaries they had a happy marriage. The Empress always called her husband “Uncle” and he called her “Gretl”. The couple had many common interests, especially in art and music.

During her six years of marriage, Margaret gave birth to four children, of whom only one survived infancy:

* Ferdinand Wenceslaus Joseph Michael Eleazar (1667-1668), Archduke of Austria.
* Maria Antonia Josepha Benedicta Rosalia Petronella (1669-1692), Archduchess of Austria, who inherited her mother’s claims to the Spanish throne, married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and was the mother of Joseph-Ferdinand of Bavaria.
* John Leopold (born and died 20 February 1670), Archduke of Austria.
* Maria Anna Josepha Antonia Apollonia Scholastica (February 9, 1672 – 23 February 1672), Archduchess of Austria.

The Empress was intensely anti-Semitic, and inspired her husband to expel the Jews from Vienna, because she believed that they were to blame for her children’s deaths. During the Corpus Christi celebration of 1670, the Emperor ordered the destruction of the Vienna synagogue and a church was built on the site on his orders.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

Even after her marriage, Margaret-Theresa kept her Spanish customs and ways. She did not speak German, and the arrogance of her native retinue led to a strong anti-Spanish sentiment among the imperial court. The courtiers openly expressed the hope that the weak Empress would soon die and thus give Leopold I the opportunity of a second marriage.

Death

During her last pregnancy Margaret-Theresa fell ill with bronchitis; this, along with her already weakened health due to four living childbirths and at least two miscarriages during her marriage, caused her early death on March 12, 1673, at the age of 21.

She was buried in the Imperial Crypt, in Vienna. Only four months later, the widower Emperor – despite his grief for the death of his “only Margareta” (as he remembered her) – entered into a second marriage with Archduchess Claudia-Felicitas of Austria, member of the Tyrol branch of the House of Habsburg.

After Margaret-Theresa’s death, her rights over the Spanish throne were inherited by her only surviving daughter Maria-Antonia, who in turn passed them to her only surviving son Prince Joseph-Ferdinand of Bavaria when she died in 1692.

After Joseph-Ferdinand’s early death in 1699, the rights of inheritance were disputed by both Emperor Leopold I and King Louis XIV of France, son-in-law of King Felipe IV, and grandson of King Felipe III. The outcome of the War of the Spanish Succession was the creation of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon in the person of King Felipe V, Margaret’s great-nephew.

Daughter

Archduchess Maria-Antonia of Austria

Archduchess Maria-Antonia of Austria (January 18, 1669 – December 24, 1692) the eldest daughter and only surviving child of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and his wife Infanta Margaret-Theresa of Spain. She was the heir to the Spanish throne after her maternal uncle Carlos II of Spain from 1673 until her death. Archduchess Maria-Antonia of Austria was an Electress of Bavaria by marriage to Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria.

On July 11, 2020, I featured Maria-Antonia of Austria’s husband, Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, here on the blog.

https://europeanroyalhistory.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/july-11-1662-birth-of/

July 12, 1651: Birth of Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain. Part I.

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Austrian Habsburgs, Balthasa-Carlos, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, House of Habsburg, Louis XIV of France, Margaret-Theresa of Austria, Maria-Anna of Spain, Philip IV of Spain, Prince of Asturias, Spanish Habsburgs

Infanta Margaret-Theresa of Spain (12 July 1651 – 12 March 1673) was, by marriage to Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia.

Infanta Margaret-Theresa of Spain

Infanta Margaret-Theresa was born on July 12, 1651 in Madrid as the first child of King Felipe IV of Spain born from his second marriage with his niece Mariana of Austria. Because of this avunculate marriage, Margaret’s mother was nearly thirty years younger than her father.

Her mother, Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria (December 24, 1634 – May 16, 1696), was the the second child of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III and Infanta Maria-Anna of Spain, daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Archduchess Margaret of Austria (the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria-Anna of Bavaria)

King Felipe IV of Spain and Portugal (father)

Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria (mother)

Maria-Anna of Austria and her husband Emperor Ferdinand III were first cousins continuing a long line of multiple cousin and niece/uncle marriages between the Austrian and Spanish branches of the House of Habsburg.

Infanta Margaret-Theresa of Spain also was the elder full-sister of King Carlos II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs. She is the central figure in the famous Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez, and the subject of many of his later paintings.

The marriage of her parents was purely made for political reasons, mainly the search for a new male heir for the Spanish throne after the early death of Balthasa-Carlos, Prince of Asturias in 1646.

Besides him, the other only surviving child of Felipe IV’s first marriage was the Infanta Maria-Theresa, (Margaret-Theresa‘s half-sister) who later became the wife of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre. After Margaret-Theresa, between 1655 and 1661, four more children (a daughter and three sons) were born from the marriage between Felipe IV and Maria-Anna of Austria, but only one survived infancy, the future King Carlos II of Spain.

Margaret-Theresa

Margaret-Theresa did not develop the serious health issues and disabilities (because of the close consanguinity of her parents) that her younger brother Carlos had shown since his birth. During her childhood she was once seriously ill, but survived. According to contemporaries, Margaret-Theresa had an attractive appearance and lively character. Her parents and close friends called her the “little angel”.

She grew up in the Queen’s chambers in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid surrounded by many maids and servants. The Infanta loved candies, which she constantly hid from the physicians who cared for the health of her teeth. Both Margaret-Theresa’s father and maternal grandfather Emperor Ferdinand III loved her deeply. In his private letters King Felipe IV called her “my joy”. At the same time, Margaret-Theresa was brought up in accordance with the strict etiquette of the Madrid court, and received a good education.

In the second half of the 1650s at the imperial court in Vienna the necessity developed for another dynastic marriage between the Spanish and Austrian branches of the House of Habsburg. The union was needed to strengthen the position of both countries, especially against the Kingdom of France. At first the proposals were for Maria-Theresa (Margaret-Theresa’s half-sister) to marry the heir of the Holy Roman Empire, Archduke Leopold Ignaz. But in 1660 and under the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the Infanta was married to the French King; Louis XIV, and as a part of her marriage contract, she was asked to renounce her claims to the Spanish throne in return for a monetary settlement as part of her dowry, which was never paid.

Then began discussion about a marriage between Margaret-Theresa and the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (who was her maternal uncle and paternal cousin). However, the Madrid court hesitated to agree to this proposal, because the infanta could inherit the Spanish crown if her little brother died. The count of Fuensaldaña, Spanish ambassador in France, suggested the infanta as a possible bride for King Charles II of England. However, King Felipe IV rejected this idea, replying that the King of England should look for a wife in France.

Margaret-Theresa

In October 1662, the new Imperial ambassador in the Spanish Kingdom, Count Francis Eusebius of Pötting, began one of his main diplomatic assignments, which was the celebration of the marriage between the Infanta Margaret-Theresa and the Emperor Leopold I. Negotiations by the Spanish side were led by Ramiro Núñez de Guzmán, Duke of Medina de las Torres. On April 6 1663, the betrothal between Margaret and Leopold I was finally announced. The marriage contract was signed on December 18. Before the official wedding ceremony (which, according to custom, had to take place in Vienna) another portrait of the Infanta was sent, in order for the Emperor to know his bride.

King Felipe IV died on September 17, 1665. In his will, he did not mention Margaret-Theresa’s betrothal; in fact, the context in which the document was prepared suggests that the late monarch still hesitated to marry his daughter to his Austrian relative because he sought to ensure her rights as sole ruler of the Spanish crown in case of the extinction of his male line. Maria-Anna of Austria, now Dowager Queen and Regent of the Kingdom on behalf of her minor son Carlos II, delayed the wedding of her daughter.

The marriage was agreed upon only after intense Imperial diplomacy efforts. On April 25, 1666, the marriage by proxy was finally celebrated in Madrid, in a ceremony attended not only by the Dowager Queen, King Carlos II and the Imperial ambassador but also by the local nobility; the groom was represented by Antonio de la Cerda, 7th Duke of Medinaceli.

On April 28, 1666 Margaret-Theresa traveled from Madrid to Vienna, accompanied by her personal retinue. The Infanta arrived at Denia, where she rested for some days before embarking on the Spanish Royal fleet on July 16, in turn escorted by ships of the Order of Malta and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Then (after a short stop in Barcelona because Margaret had some health issues) the cortege sailed to the port of Finale Ligure, arriving on August 20.

There, Margaret-Theresa was received by Luis Guzman Ponce de Leon, Governor of Milan. The cortege left Finale on September 1 and arrived in Milan ten days later, although the official entry was not celebrated until September 15. After spending almost all September in Milan, the Infanta continued the journey through Venice, arriving in early October in Trento. At every stop Margaret-Theresa received celebrations in her honor.

On October 8, the Spanish retinue arrived at the city of Roveredo, where the head of Margaret-Theresa cortege, Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 8th Duke of Alburquerque officially handed the Infanta to Ferdinand Joseph, Prince of Dietrichstein and Count Ernst Adalbert von Harrach, Prince-Bishop of Trento, representants of Leopold I. On October 20, the new Austrian cortege left Roveredo, crossing the Tyrol, through Carinthia and Styria, and arrived on 25 November 25, at the district of Schottwien, twelve miles from Vienna where the Emperor came to receive his bride.

July 11, 1662: Birth of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

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Elector of Bavaria, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, House of Wittelsbach, King Carlos II of Spain, Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria, Prince Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, War of the Spanish Succession

Maximilian II Emanuel (July 11, 1662 – February 26, 1726), also known as Max Emanuel or Maximilian Emanuel, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also the last governor of the Spanish Netherlands and Duke of Luxembourg. An able soldier, his ambition led to conflicts that limited his ultimate dynastic achievements. By virtue of his electoral title, the Elector of Bavaria was a member of the Council of Electors in the Imperial Diet as well as Archsteward of the Holy Roman Empire.

Maximilian II Emanuel, Prince-Imperial Elector of Bavaria

He was born in Munich to Ferdinand-Maria, Elector of Bavaria and Princess Henriette-Adelaide of Savoy (d.1676). His maternal grandparents were Victor-Amadeus I of Savoy and Christine Marie of France, daughter of King Henri IV.

Maximilian II Emanuel inherited the elector’s mantle while still a minor in 1679 and remained under his uncle Maximilian-Philipp’s regency until 1680. By 1683 he was already embarked on a military career, fighting in the defence of Vienna against the attempt of the Ottoman Empire to extend their possessions further into Europe.

He returned to court for long enough to marry Archduchess Maria-Antonia of Austria, (Maria Antonia Josepha Benedicta Rosalia Petronella; January 18, 1669 – December 24, 1692) daughter of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Margaret-Theresa of Spain. She was the heir to the Spanish throne after her maternal uncle Carlos II of Spain from 1673 until her death.

The birth of Archduchess Maria-Antonia of Austria was the result of the inbreeding chronic in the Habsburg family during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Her father Leopold was her mother’s maternal uncle and paternal first cousin once removed. Also, her maternal grandparents, King Felipe IV of Spain and Queen Mariana, were uncle and niece.

Archduchess Maria-Antonia of Austria

The marriage between Elector Maximilian II Emanuel and Archduchess Maria-Antonia of Austria occurred on July 15, 1685 in Vienna, Austria. This marriage was very unhappy since the couple disliked each other, but it was successful in producing the desired heir for both Bavaria and the Spanish monarchy. Maximilian II Emanuel’s fame was assured when, in 1688, he led the capture of Belgrade from the Turks, with the full support of Serbian insurgents under the command of Jovan Monasterlija.

In the War of the Grand Alliance he again fought on the Habsburgs’ side, protecting the Rhine frontier, and, being the Emperor’s son-in-law and the husband of the King of Spain’s niece, was appointed governor of the Spanish Netherlands in late 1691.

Maximilian II Emanuel, by virtue of his marriage to Archduchess Maria-Antonia, the sole child of Emperor Leopold I’d Spanish marriage, was one of the more serious claimants to the Spanish inheritance of Carlos II of Spain, and the birth of his son Joseph-Ferdinand in October 1692 immediately created a new pretender to the Spanish throne.

In October 1698, William III of England and Louis XIV of France concluded the First Partition Treaty, which gave the Spanish crown with the Indies to Joseph-Ferdinand, Milan to Emperor Joseph’s younger son Archduke Charles, and the rest of Spanish Italy to France.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

The unexpected death of Joseph-Ferdinand four months later voided this plan and in the Second Partition Treaty, the Bavarian portion of the inheritance was allotted to Archduke Charles. By the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, Maximilian II Emanuel, who had long-term imperial aspirations, had hoped that his governorship of the Spanish Netherlands might yet reap the reward of a share of the Spanish inheritance from either Leopold or, failing him, Louis XIV. Allying himself with the French against Austria, his campaign against Tyrol in 1703 did not have success and his plans were then frustrated by the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

Elector Maximilian II Emanuel was again forced to flee the Netherlands after the Battle of Ramillies on May 23, 1706 and found refuge at the French court in Versailles where his late sister Archduchess Maria-Anna (1660–1690) had been the wife of Prince Louis, the Grand Dauphin.

Back in Bavaria, Maximilian II Emanuel focused on architecture projects to balance the failure of his political ambitions. It was bitter for him to witness the royal elevation of the German princes Augustus II the Strong of Saxony became King of Poland (1697), Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg became King Friedrich I in Prussia (1701) and Elector Georg-Ludwig of Hanover became King George I of Great Britain and Ireland 1714) as well as of his cousin Victor-Amadeus II of Savoy became the King of Sardinia (1713) while his own political dreams could not be realized.

Maximilian II Emanuel supported the new wars of the Habsburg against the Turks with Bavarian auxiliary forces (1717). In 1724 he created a union of all lines of the Wittelsbach dynasty to increase the influence of his house. The Wittelsbach Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel, his son Clemens-August of Cologne, Charles III Philipp, Elector Palatine of the Rhine and Franz-Ludwig of Trier had at that time four votes at their disposal for the next imperial election.

Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska of Poland

Maximilian II Emanuel second marriage was to Theresa Kunegunda (Polish: Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, German: Kurfürstin Therese Kunigunde) (March 4, 1676 – March 10, 1730) was a Polish princess, She also served as Regent of the Palatinate in 1704–05.

She was a daughter of John III Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d’Arquien. Theresa was baptized in Jaworow on July 19, 1676, having for godfather Charles II, king of England and for godmother Marie-Thérèse of Austria, wife of Louis XIV.

The crown of the Holy Roman Empire was sought for either Maximilian II Emanuel or his son Charles-Albert. Already in 1722 Charles-Albert had been married to the Habsburg princess Archduchess Maria-Amalia of Austria. Charles-Albert was elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles VII (1697-1745) in 1742. A member of the House of Wittelsbach, as the son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Charles VII’s reign marked the end of three centuries of uninterrupted Habsburg imperial rule.

Charles VII Albert, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles VII was, however, related to the Habsburgs both by blood and by marriage. After the death of emperor Charles VI in 1740 he claimed the Archduchy of Austria due to his marriage to Archduchess Maria-Amalia of Austria, the niece of Charles VI, and was from 1741 to 1743 as Charles III briefly King of Bohemia.

In 1726, Maximilian II Emanuel died of a stroke. He is buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche in Munich.

May 25, 1786. Death of King Pedro III of Portugal

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Archduchess of Austria, Brazil, Duke of Braganza, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Infanta Benedita of Portugal, John V of Portugal, Joseph I of Portugal, Joseph of Brazil, Kingdom of Portugal, Maria I of Portugal, Pedro III of Portugal

Pedro III (July 5, 1717 – May 25, 1786), nicknamed the Builder, became King of Portugal jure uxoris by the accession of his wife and niece Queen Maria I in 1777, and co-reigned alongside her until his death.

Pedro III, King of Portugal

Pedro was born at 12:00 noon on July 5, 1717 in the Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, Portugal.nHe was baptized on August 29, and was given the name HRH Prince Pedro Clemente Francisco José António de Braganza of Portugal.

His parents were King João V and his wife Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria, who was a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Eleanor-Magdalene of Neuburg. Archduchess Maria-Anna was a sister of Holy Roman Emperors Joseph I and Charles VI. Through her brother Charles, she was an aunt of Maria Theresa, Empress Consort of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, and Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Archduchess of Austria in her own right.

King João V of Portugal (father of King Pedro III and King José I of Portugal)

Archduchess Maria-Anna of Austria (mother of King Pedro III and King José I of Portugal)

Pedro was a younger brother of King José I of Portugal. Their maternal Eleanor-Magdalene of Neuburg, was the older sister of Maria-Sophia Elisabeth of Neuburg (1666-1699) who was Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Pedro II from 1687 until her death in 1699. A popular queen, she was noted for her extraordinary generosity and for being the mother of the famously extravagant King João V of Portugal.
Reign

Pedro married his niece Infanta Maria, Princess of Brazil, on June 6, 1760, at which time she was the heiress presumptive to the throne then held by his brother King José I of Portugal. Infanta Maria, Princess of Brazil was the daughter of King José I of Portugal and Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, daughter of King Felipe V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese. The elder sister of King José I of Portugal was Infanta Barbara of Portugal married the future Fernando VI of Spain.

Queen Maria I of Portugal

At the time of their marriage, Maria was 25 and Pedro was 42. Despite the age gap, the couple had a happy marriage.

With the death of King José I on February 24, 1777, the throne passed to his daughter who ascended the throne as Queen Maria I. According to custom, Pedro thus became King of Portugal as Pedro III in right of his wife (jure uxoris), who he reigned with jointly. They had six children, of whom the eldest surviving son succeeded Maria as João VI on her death in 1816.

Pedro III made no attempt to participate in government affairs, spending his time hunting or in religious exercises.
He also defended the high nobility of Portugal, and sponsored the petitions of those accused in Távora affair, whose rehabilitation was subject of new lawsuits, in which the heirs demanded the restitution of their confiscated properties.

King José I of Portugal

Pedro III was moderately friendly toward the Jesuits, who had been banished from Portugal and its overseas empire in 1759, largely at the behest of the Marquis of Pombal. Pedro III had taken some of his early education from the Jesuits, explaining this. His affection had little effect; Pope Clement XIV ordered the Jesuits suppressed across Europe in 1773.

Maria I (December 17, 1734 – March 20, 1816) was the first undisputed queen regnant of Portugal and the first monarch of Brazil. With Napoleon’s European conquests, her court, then under the direction of her son João, the Prince Regent, moved to Brazil, then a Portuguese colony. Later on, Brazil would be elevated from the rank of a colony to that of a kingdom, with the consequential formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.

Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza

The eldest son of Pedro III and Maria I was Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza (August 20, 1761 – September 11, 1788) was the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Portugal until his death in 1788. Infante José died of smallpox at the age of 27, causing his younger and ill-prepared brother, Infante João, to become heir-apparent and eventually King. João’s reign would be a turbulent one, seeing the Napoleonic invasion of Portugal and the loss of the Portuguese Empire’s largest and wealthiest colony, Brazil.

Marriage of Infante José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza

On February 21, 1777, when Infante José, was 15 years old, he married his 30-year-old aunt the Infanta Benedita of Portugal. Benedita was an attractive woman and the main candidate for the wife of José. The marriage was the express wish of the dying King José I of Portugal.

Infanta Benedita of Portugal

This union is an example of the most inbred unions in European Royal History. As we have seen, Infante José was the product of an Uncle-Nice marriage and then he proceeded to marry his own aunt, the sister of his mother!

Thankfully they had no children, however she miscarried twice: in 1781 and in 1786. Three days after their wedding, is when José’s grandfather and Benedita’s father the old King José died, and his mother succeeded as queen regnant. Infante José became the new crown prince, being accorded the titles Prince of Brazil and 14th Duke of Braganza.

King Pedro III died at the age of 68 on May 25, 1786.

April 17, 1711: death of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.

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Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Gypsies, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, Philip III of Spain, Philip IV of France, Romani

Joseph I (Joseph Jacob Ignaz Johann Anton Eustachius; July 26, 1678 – April 17, 1711) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Emperor Leopold I from his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, a Wittelsbach Princess and the oldest of 17 children born from Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg (since 1685 Elector Palatine) and his second wife Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Bohemia and Archduke of Austria

Although he was the first son and child born of his parents’ marriage, he was his father’s third son and seventh child and Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg was his third wife. Previously, Joseph’s father, Emperor Leopold, was first married to Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain (1651–1673) in 1666. She was the daughter of King Felipe IV of Spain, from his second marriage with his niece Mariana of Austria. Her mother, Mariana of Austria, was nearly thirty years younger than her father. This made Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain both her husband’s niece and his first cousin.

Margaret Theresa’s paternal grandparents were King Felipe III of Spain and his wife Archduchess Margaret of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, the daughter of her paternal grandparents.

Emperor Leopold and his first wife Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain had four children, one of whom survived infancy.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Bohemia and Archduke of Austria.

Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg

Emperor Leopold I then married Claudia Felicitas of Austria. Claudia Felicitas was born in Florence on May 30, 1653. She was the first child and eldest daughter of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, by his wife and first-cousin Anna de’ Medici. On her father’s side, her grandparents were Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and his wife Claudia de’ Medici (after which she received her first name); on her mother’s side, her grandparents were Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his wife Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria. Claudia Felicitas gave him two short-lived daughters. Thus, Joseph had six half-siblings.

In April 1676 after Claudia Felicitas died, almost immediately began Leopold began to search for a new wife, urged by the need of a male heir. This time Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg was chosen, over Duchess Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria (later Dauphine of France), Princess Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark (later Queen consort of Sweden) and many other potential candidates.

The first meeting between Leopold I and Eleonore took place two days before the wedding and they made a favourable impression on each other. The wedding took place in Passau on 14 December 1676, and was somewhat private as ambassadors of foreign countries were not invited.

The new Empress soon proved her fertility, and within months she became pregnant with her first child, future Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor. In total, Eleonore gave birth to ten children, of whom only five survived to adulthood.

Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph was crowned King of Hungary at the age of nine in 1687 and King in Germany at the age of eleven in 1690. He succeeded to the thrones of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire in 1705 after his father died.

Joseph continued the War of the Spanish Succession, begun by his father against Louis XIV of France, in a fruitless attempt to make his younger brother Charles (later Emperor Charles VI) King of Spain. In the process, however, owing to the victories won by his military commander, Prince Eugene of Savoy, he did succeed in establishing Austrian hegemony over Italy. Joseph also had to contend with a protracted revolt in Hungary, fomented by Louis XIV. Neither conflict was resolved until the Treaty of Utrecht, after his death. Although he never formally ceased to be a Roman Catholic, Joseph (unlike his parents and most of his other relatives) was not particularly devout by nature.He had two great enthusiasms: music and hunting.

Joseph also endeavoured to strengthen his position in the Holy Roman Empire – as a means of strengthening Austria’s standing as a great power. When he sought to lay claim to imperial rights in Italy and gain territories for the Habsburgs, he even risked a military conflict with the Pope over the duchy of Mantua. Joseph I was threatened with excommunication by Pope Clement XI on 16 June 1708.

Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg

On February 24, 1699, he married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Vienna. She was the youngest daughter of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg, and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate. Early on, the Holy Roman Empress Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg decided that Wilhelmine Amalia would be her daughter-in-law.

Prince Salm was instrumental in speaking for her candidacy. The adviser of Eleonor, Marco d’Aviano, had convinced her that Wilhelmine Amalia, being pious and older than Joseph, could act as a tempering influence and discontinue his sex life outside of marriage, and to Leopold, he claimed that he had a vision that the pair would be happy. She was subjected to medical examination to establish if she was fertile, and though she was senior to Joseph, which was initially to her disadvantage, it was decided that her mental maturity would benefit fertilization.

Maria Josepha of Austria, Queen of Poland

Maria Amalia of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

They had three children and their only son, Archduke Leopold Joseph, died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday. Their eldest daughter was Maria Josepha of Austria (Maria Josepha Benedikta Antonia Theresia Xaveria Philippine, Polish: Maria Józefa; December 8, 1699 – November 17, 1757) was the Queen of Poland by marriage to Augustus III. Their last child was Maria Amalia of Austria (Maria Amalie Josefa Anna; October 22, 1701 – December 11, 1756) was herself Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Germans, Queen of Bohemia, Electress and Duchess of Bavaria as the spouse of the Wittelsbach Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII. Charles VII (1697-1745) was the Prince-elector of Bavaria from 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor from January 24, 1742 until his death in 1745.

Emperor Joseph had a passion for love affairs (none of which resulted in illegitimate children) and he caught a sexually transmittable disease, probably syphilis, which he passed on to his wife while they were trying to produce a new heir. This incident rendered her sterile.

In 1710, came a decision that would leave a black mark on his reign. Joseph I, issued an edict against the Romani (Gypsies), ordering “that all adult males were to be hanged without trial, whereas women and young males were to be flogged and banished forever.” In addition, in the kingdom of Bohemia, Romani men were to have their right ears cut off; in the March of Moravia, the left ear was to be cut off. In other parts of Austria, they would be branded on the back with a branding iron, representing the gallows. These mutilations enabled authorities to identify the individuals as Romani on their second arrest. The edict encouraged local officials to hunt down Romani in their areas by levying a fine of 100 Reichsthaler for those failing to do so. Anyone who helped Romani was to be punished by doing a half-year’s forced labor. The result was mass killings of Romani across the Holy Roman empire.

Despite such viciousness Emperor Joseph reversed many of the authoritarian measures of his father, thus helping to placate opponents. He began the attempts to settle the question of the Austrian inheritance by a pragmatic sanction, which was continued by his brother Charles VI.

During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, le Grand Dauphin and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Joseph became infected. He died on April 17, in the Hofburg Palace at the young age of 32. He had previously promised his wife to stop having affairs, should he survive.

Accession of Ferdinand III as Holy Roman Emperor.

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Archduke of Austria, Austria, Carl X Gustav of Sweden, Ferdinand III, France, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, Sweden

Ferdinand III (July 13, 1608 – April 2, 1657) was Holy Roman Emperor from February 15, 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. He was the last emperor to have real power over the Holy Roman Empire.

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Ferdinand was born in Graz, the eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand II of the House of Habsburg and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria. Educated by the Jesuits, he became Archduke of Austria in 1621, King of Hungary in 1625, and King of Bohemia in 1627.

In 1627 Ferdinand enhanced his authority and set an important legal and military precedent by issuing a Revised Land Ordinance that deprived the Bohemian estates of their right to raise soldiers, reserving this power solely for the monarch.

Having been elected King of the Romans in 1636, he succeeded his father as Holy Roman Emperor in 1637. He hoped to make peace soon with France and Sweden, but the war dragged on, finally ending in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia (Treaty of Münster with France, Treaty of Osnabrück with Sweden), negotiated by his envoy Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff, a diplomat who had been made a count in 1623 by his father Ferdinand II.

During the last period of the war, in 1644 Ferdinand III gave all rulers of German states the right to conduct their own foreign policy (ius belli ac pacis) – the emperor hoped to gain more allies in the negotiations with France and Sweden. This edict, however, contributed to the gradual erosion of the imperial authority in the Holy Roman Empire.
After 1648 the emperor was engaged in carrying out the terms of the treaty and ridding Germany of the foreign soldiery. In 1656 he sent an army into Italy to assist Spain in her struggle with France, and he had just concluded an alliance with Poland to check the aggressions of Carl X Gustav of Sweden when he died on April 2, 1657. He was succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor by his second surviving son, Leopold I (1640-1705).

Marriages and children

On February 20, 1631 Ferdinand III married his first wife Archduchess Maria Anna of Spain (1606–1646). She was the youngest daughter of Felipe III of Spain and Margaret of Austria. They were first cousins as Maria Anna’s mother was a sister of Ferdinand’s father. They were parents to six children:
* Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (8 September 1633 – 9 July 1654)
* Maria Anna “Mariana”, Archduchess of Austria (22 December 1634 – 16 May 1696). Married her maternal uncle Felipe IV of Spain.
* Philip August, Archduke of Austria (15 July 1637 – 22 June 1639)
* Maximilian Thomas, Archduke of Austria (21 December 1638 – 29 June 1639)
* Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705)
* Maria, Archduchess of Austria (13 May 1646)

In 1648, Ferdinand III married his second wife, Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria (1632–1649). She was a daughter of Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, and Claudia de’ Medici. They were first cousins as male-line grandchildren of Karl II, Archduke of Austria, and Maria Anna of Bavaria. They had a single son:
* Karl Josef, Archduke of Austria (7 August 1649 – 27 January 1664). He was Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from 1662 to his death.

In 1651, Ferdinand III married his 3rd wife Eleonora Gonzaga (1630–1686). She was a daughter of Charles IV Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel. They were parents to four children:
* Theresia Maria Josefa, Archduchess of Austria (27 March 1652 – 26 July 1653)
* Eleonora Maria of Austria (21 May 1653 – 17 December 1697), who married first Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, and then Charles Léopold, Duke of Lorraine.
* Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (30 December 1654 – 4 April 1689), who married Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine.
* Ferdinand Josef Alois, Archduke of Austria (11 February 1657 – 16 June 1658)