Maria Theresia of Austria

The Ceding of Lorraine

The marriage of Maria Theresa and Francis of Lorraine came with quite a few consequences. Francis had succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine in 1729, but as part of a solution to the War of the Polish Succession, Emperor Charles VI asked that Francis give away Lorraine to the deposed King of Poland for [read more]

Maria Theresia of Austria

The birth of a future Empress – Maria Theresa of Austria

On 13 May 1717, Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina, the future Holy Roman Empress, was born to Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in the early morning at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was baptised in the Roman Catholic Church later that evening. Her godmothers were named as Holy Roman Empress Wilhelmine Amalia, an aunt and Eleonor [read more]