Pod Insights Hot History Maria Theresa About this episode The big mommy of Europe, we're talking about the one and only female Habsburg ruler, Maria Theresa. Mother of Marie Antoinette, fighter for compulsory education, patron of the arts and all around master of statescraft there is a reason she goes down in history as one of the 18th centuries biggest baddies!
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0:30 Speaker 01 Have you ever wondered how movements start? I'm Ashley C. Ford, host of Into the Mix, a Ben & Jerry's podcast about joy and justice. This season, we're talking to unexpected progressive heroes who found purpose in unexpected places. People like Marley Diaz, making sure every kid sees themselves in books. Kyle Mesteth, a native skateboarder building a movement for kids nationwide. Joy Aladakun, whose music moves from protests to daily commute. Find out how they started something bigger than themselves, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
1:00 Speaker 02 Hello and welcome back to a brand new episode of Hot History. I am so excited to have you guys listening along with me as we talk about all the things in history that you probably should know, but don't. In today's episode, team, we are taking it back to the chandelier-lit courts of 18th century Europe, where powdered wigs were a must and diplomacy was a deadly game. Amongst them, many fell, and even more forgotten, but there are a few who loom large in our history books. And for me, there are few who are as impactful as Maria Theresa of Austria. She was born into power, surrounded by ceremony and tradition, but her own reign was anything but simply ceremonial. As
1:43 Speaker 02 the first and only female ruler of the Habsburg Empire, she inherited a crumbling state and turned it into a modernized, European powerhouse, fending off enemies, overhauling institutions, and even birthing a future queen of France along the way. So let's get into it.
2:16 Speaker 02 Alright guys, the year is 1717 and the city is Vienna, Austria, capital of the Habsburg Empire. And on May 13th, Maria Theresa Walberger Amalia Christina was born. Now, she was the daughter of Emperor Charles VI, who was Emperor of the Habsburg Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. But how is that possible? It seems like a lot of titles for one dude and kind of illegal. But the Habsburg family, who originally Swiss, originated in the 12th century. And through a series of strategic marriages, they ruled over a vast dominion, including Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Spain, the Netherlands and more. So that's the Habsburgs pre 1438.
3:00 Speaker 02 But in 1438, the current Habsburg Emperor Albert II of Austria was also made Holy Roman Emperor. And from that point forward, the title of Holy Roman Emperor, which I'm just gonna say HRE, guys, I'm not saying Holy Roman Emperor this whole episode, was held almost exclusively by Habsburgs for nearly 400 years until the HRE's dissolution in 1806. But what the hell was the Holy Roman Empire? Well, it was a vast political entity in Central Europe. And it was made up of hundreds of semi-independent states, so it wasn't a nation like, say, France or Spain or Austria was.
3:43 Speaker 02 It was kind of more like a federation, or kind of like the Commonwealth today, kind of very loosely. Now, the point of this federation was ultimately the secular protection of Christendom. So you have the Pope as the religious protector, and then you have the Holy Roman Emperor as the secular arm of Christendom's dominion.
4:07 Speaker 02 The very first HRE was actually Charlemagne. And he was crowned by the Pope in eight hundred, but all the emperors after thirteen fifty six were instead elected by seven powerful princes throughout Christendom, which meant that it ultimately became a deeply competitive and highly, highly political game. As I said, it was Albert the Second of Austria, the Habsburg ruler, who eventually became HRE in fourteen thirty eight, and his predecessors who continued the rule almost exclusively for the next four hundred years. So Maria Theresa's dad is not just a king, he is a king emperor. Also key to note that there are different branches of the Habsburg tree, guys.
4:49 Speaker 02 You have the Spanish Habsburg, who ruled, obviously, Spain, the Americas, Naples, Milan, and the Netherlands, and they are primarily known for four things. Philip the Second, the Spanish Armada, the Inquisition, and incest. Yeah, the majority of the Spanish Habsburg were disabled in some capacity due to the proximity of their bloodlines, AKA uncles fucked nieces, daughters married sons, and they all got messed up. Then there are the Austrian Habsburgs, who held on to Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, and the Holy Roman Empire, and survived much longer than their Spanish counterparts,
5:27 Speaker 02 evolving into the Habsburg-Lorraine Dynasty through our own girl, Maria Theresa's marriage. But we're getting a little too ahead of ourselves, so let's come back to baby Maria Theresa. Now, her father here married Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolffen-Battle, and they had several children, but only one survived, Maria Theresa. This is a problem, because like many monarchs at the time, Charles was obsessed with dynastic continuity. The Habsburg lands were not simply inherited like property. They were a real complex web of titles, traditions, and feudal obligations. And women had occasionally ruled parts of Europe at this time,
6:12 Speaker 02 but not over the full Habsburg dominions. This was crazy, and never, ever, ever, ever, ever as Holy Roman Empresses.
6:22 Speaker 02 But Charles had no choice. He had no male heirs and so he set about securing his daughter's future as empress. He was not going to compromise on this and to do so, he issued what is called the pragmatic sanction in seventeen thirteen. Now, this is a legal edict which declared that his hereditary lands could be passed by a daughter if he had no sons, which is all well and good, but for this to stand, he needed other monarchs to actually recognise it. And that was the real challenge, one which Charles spent his entire life as a father
7:06 Speaker 02 trying to accomplish. Over the next two decades, he worked tirelessly and often expensively to secure international recognition for the pragmatic sanction. He bribed, negotiated and made concessions to ensure that other European powers would honour his daughter's succession. Such a king, love you, Charles, but it did place a huge, huge responsibility and burden on the shoulders of his young daughter. The entire Habsburg Empire, guys, and the Holy Roman Emperor for that matter, literally lied on the shoulders of this one little girl. And while Charles spent his life fighting for her inheritance,
7:47 Speaker 02 he never really spent any time training her to actually take it over. Young Maria Theresa's education was largely focused on religion, languages, music and the arts, of which she was a ongoing and prolific patron throughout her entire life. But political theory and governance were not courses included in her syllabus, something which should have sunk the young twenty-three-year-old Maria Theresa when her father eventually died and she did become an empress. But it didn't. You see, after Charles' death, and in spite of all the incredible work he had done to try and get others to honour the pragmatic sanction, no one listened or cared.
8:27 Speaker 02 It was a bloodbath following his death, and Maria Theresa was placed in the epicentre of the fallout. France, Bavaria, Prussia and Spain all challenged her claim to the Habsburg lands, and despite having never sat on a council, commanded an army or signed a single treaty, Maria Theresa fought for her birthright tooth and nail during what became known as the War of the Austrian Succession. Now Maria Theresa had a keen memory. She had a strong moral compass, charisma and most importantly, the right Habsburg blood. And within months, she was issuing orders, rallying troops and organising resistance.
9:09 Speaker 02 She surrounded herself with talented ministers and worked tirelessly to strengthen the military, stabilise the economy and modernise the bureaucracy surrounding her. Basically, she refused to give an inch on her position as Empress of Austria, but did make strategic sacrifices in order to hold on to key territories and power makers. But it was one thing for a woman to be Empress of Austria, and like I said, another entirely for Christendom to have a Holy Roman Empress. This was simply never, ever going to happen, like, like ever, guys, it just was not imaginable.
9:47 Speaker 02 So in seventeen forty-five, she had her husband Francis Stephen elected Holy Roman Emperor, ensuring Habsburg prestige continued. He was the figurehead, but she did the work. So even though the map changed a little during the Austrian succession, Maria Theresa's position as monarch was actually stronger in seventeen forty-eight than it had been in seventeen forty, when her father had died. So like a really genuinely incredible piece of statesmanship, or stateswomanship, I should say.
10:18 Speaker 02 So let's take a sidestep here and talk about said new Holy Roman Emperor, Maria's husband Francis Stephen of Lorraine. So the couple married in seventeen thirty six and unlike most marriages of the time, it was a genuine love match. The couple had known each other since childhood and with Francis a member of the Lorraine Dynasty of France, Maria the Habsburgs, the pair were a true political force. Now Francis was no booby. He was actually intelligent and had been educated in statescraft and philosophy, which Charles VI had hoped would provide the brains behind the throne when Maria Theresa eventually inherited.
10:58 Speaker 02 This, of course, wasn't necessarily, as she essentially became a real self-taught sovereign, learning from experience and relying on her instincts and incredible work ethic rather than Francis. So he just wasn't really needed when it came to ruling. He was, however, needed in one area, the bedroom. And together, the couple had a whopping sixteen children, thirteen of whom survived to adulthood. Henry VIII would have absolutely frothed this woman. And you can hardly blame her about wanting to secure the line for the Habsburgs, given what she went through with her own father. At the end of the day, yes, Maria Theresa is an incredible female ruler, a true matriarch
11:43 Speaker 02 in every sense of the word. And despite the fact she fought tooth and nail for every inch of power she gained, she knew that women rulers would be the end of her dynasty, which is why the birth of her first son, Joseph II, was so significant. But she wasn't going to leave it to chance that he survived, hence the huge clan of children. But Joseph II, despite being the eldest son, was not the most famous of Maria Theresa's children. That honour goes to none other than the doomed Queen of France herself, Marie Antoinette. That's right, Maria Theresa's eight child was born in seventeen fifty five into the hustle and bustle of the Viennese court.
12:26 Speaker 02 Under Maria Theresa and Francis, life within the imperial palaces was a mix of domestic and political. The Emperor and Empress lived and worked surrounded by their children, ministers, tutors and servants, in a kind of imperial bubble. Their meals were formal but shared. The children had strict schedules with lessons, prayers and court appearances, but had free time out in nature, with the women's education usually being far more lax. What was not compromised on, however, was religious piety, personal discipline and dynastic pride, which Maria and Francis drilled into their children from a very young age. In comparison to the other royal and imperial courts at the time, the Habsburgs were more
13:10 Speaker 02 relaxed and spent their time together as a family which they all cherished. So Maria Theresa really was the ultimate working mum. She ran her empire and her family with strategy and precision in mind and saw her motherhood as both a personal mission and a state duty, using her offspring as instruments of imperial policy. Amongst her children, we have Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Francis the Second, future Emperor of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor, Maria Christina, Princess of Saxony, Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma, Leopold the Second, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Maria Carolina, Queen
13:53 Speaker 02 of Naples and Sicily, and Maximilian Francis, Archbishop Elector of Cologne. I mean, guys, imagine Christmas gatherings with this lot. I think they would be quite the nightmare. Now, having sent her children off into the courts of European power, Maria used them all to sway the powers at B for Austria's sake. By writing thousands upon thousands of letters to each of them about everything. This woman literally had an opinion on every single detail of their, of their lives. She gave them advice on everything from diet to politics. And while she did genuinely love her children and really mourned their losses,
14:37 Speaker 02 she was a conductor and they were her instruments. Through their marriages, Maria Theresa managed to end old feuds with longtime enemy France, consolidate Habsburg presence in Italy, connect with Spain via the Palmer dynasty, strengthen the Holy Roman Empire estate through Saxony, and all in all, secure the Habsburg line in Austria.
15:03 Speaker 02 It's why Maria Theresa is so famous. She didn't just rule her empire, she mothered it into power. Overcoming the questions of her inheritance by sacrificing small losses in order for long-term wins, including having her husband elected as HRE. She then went on to strengthen Austria's position within its own borders through vast reforms and economic programs, while also championing culture and heritage through the patronage of artists like Mozart. She introduced compulsory schooling, reduced church power, rebuilt and expanded the army and reformed courts by limiting torture and introducing standardized laws. But her true stroke of genius came from the fierce use of her children
15:48 Speaker 02 as powerful political tools, which she used to deploy her ruthless strategic vision. She extended her reach across borders and dynasties, ensuring that Austria was never isolated and that the Habsburg legacy would survive long, long after her death. A true power monger in every sense of the word.
16:13 Speaker 02 Following the death of her husband in seventeen sixty five, Maria went into mourning for the rest of her life and never remarried, but even then, she still ran her family and her empire with unwavering discipline until her own death in seventeen eighty of ill health. I love Maria Theresa. People had so much to say about her motherhood, you know, she did literally utilise all of her children, she moved them across the chessboard of Europe, but I think for any woman to be able to fight such resistance when her father died and be smart enough, again, this woman had no kind of political schooling, she didn't spend time with her father talking
16:58 Speaker 02 about, you know, governance and, and how he had, had wrangled this giant, not only one empire but two. So for her to be able to strategically pick which things to give up, which battles to fight, when to pull on her motherhood, when to pull on her womanhood is really incredible. So we've covered nearly sixty three years of history when looking at the life of Maria Theresa, but who else is kicking around at the same time? Well, Queen Elizabeth the First died a hundred and fourteen years before Maria Theresa was born. Versailles was built eighty one years before Maria Theresa was born, while Galileo, Galilee, died seventy five years before she was born.
17:42 Speaker 02 George Washington was born fifteen years after Maria Theresa, Napoleon fifty two years after, while her own daughter, Maria Antoinette, was beheaded thirteen years after her mother's death. Thank God Maria Theresa never would have survived it. I also think she wouldn't have allowed it, they definitely would have gone to war. Catherine the Great was also born twelve years after Maria Theresa, Queen Victoria was born thirty nine years later. Meanwhile, Tiffany and Co was founded fifty seven years after her death, which like, again, just blows my mind, histories timelines are crazy. So it is a pretty cool intersection of time with lots of history's bigwigs starting to make moves which formed our modern world.
18:26 Speaker 02 So what influence does Maria Theresa have on modern times today? Well, first and foremost, she is without a doubt the architect of the modern Austrian state. The structure of Austria's government today still bears traces of her reforms and many ministries and institutions were founded by her have now evolved into modern equivalents such as the ministries of justice, education and finance. Her move to enforce compulsory education was incredibly radical at the time, especially for a Catholic monarch and especially for a woman. And it forms much of the values we see in universal education worldwide, as well as within Austria itself, a nation who deeply value education and tertiary studies.
19:11 Speaker 02 Most of all for me though, like I've said before, her real legacy is the path that she paved for future female leaders. Her success challenged gender norms of the 18th century and set a powerful precedent which sees her in the company of other incredible women throughout time like Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great and Queen Victoria. Quite the company to keep. She also renovated and redefined the significance of Schomburg Palace in Vienna, turning it into a Rococo masterpiece, which I know for a fact, given I was just there and let me tell you, her legacy looms large in that place. There is portraits in every corner and initials and monograms on every curtain.
19:54 Speaker 02 She really, truly was an architect of her own legacy and a historical force to be reckoned with. And lastly, how is Maria Theresa remembered in pop culture? She is nowhere near as omnipresent as her daughter Marie Antoinette, but she does appear in a Sofia Coppola film about said Queen of France as the loving but domineering mother. She is also present in several of the TV adaptations, including The Sigh, which ran from 2015 to 2018, and the 2022 BBC mini-series titled Marie Antoinette.
20:31 Speaker 02 She had her own Austrian Czech miniseries titled Maria Theresa, which ran from 2017 to 2021, and has several very, very large and imposing statues in her honour throughout Vienna. She is, of course, featured in several notable documentaries, including one of my favourites ever, guys. I really recommend if you haven't seen it. It's called The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of the European Dynasty. And that brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History. A quick download for you guys. If you'd like to support us, then you can find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts as Hot History. Follow us on TikTok at Hot dot history and on Instagram at Hot History Club.
21:13 Speaker 02 As always, team, it is a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you. And tune in next time as we take a dual time jumper for the very first time here on the Hot History Podcast. We are first going back into the depths of ancient Egypt as we look at the life of King Tutankhamun, the boy king, and then bringing it all the way forward to 1920s Cairo and London as we talk about the most famous archaeologist in world history. The man who discovered King Tut's tomb, Mr Howard Carter. See you then, guys.
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