MARIA THERESA

born May 13, 1717, Vienna died Nov. 29, 1780, Vienna German Maria Theresia archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia (174080), wife and empress of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I (reigned 174565), and mother of the Holy Roman emperor Joseph II (reigned 176590). Upon her accession, the War of the Austrian Succession (174048) erupted, challenging her inheritance of the Habsburg lands. This contest with Prussia was followed by two more, the Seven Years' War (175663) and the War of the Bavarian Succession (177879), which further checked Austrian power. Additional reading A. von Arneth, Geschichte Maria Theresias, 10 vol. (186379), is a basic chronicle. Empress Maria Theresa, by Robert Pick (1966), covers her life up to 1757 and contains a valuable bibliography. Sentimental biographies abound; the most informative is Eugen Guglia, Maria Theresia: Ihr Leben und ihre Regierung, 2 vol. (1917). J.F. Bright's primarily diplomatic study, Maria Theresa (1897), is useful. By far the most judicial appraisal of Maria Theresa's domestic policies is to be found on pp. 1118 of C.A. Macartney, The Habsburg Empire 17901918 (1968). Prince J.J. Khevenhuller's diaries, 174873, published as Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias, 7 vol., ed. by Khevenhuller and Schlitter (190725), are indispensable. So are two memoirs of Maria Theresa reissued as Maria Theresias politisches Testament (1952). The various collections of Maria Theresa's surviving letters to her children, her friends, and some of her servantsnotably Marie Antoinette: Correspondance secrte entre Marie-Thrse et le Cte. de Mercy-Argenteau, avec les lettres de Marie-Thrse et de Marie-Antoinette, ed. by Arneth and Geoffroy, 3 vol. (187475)offer splendid views of her behaviour and her thinking.