← The History Chicks : A Women's History Podcast
The History Chicks : A Women's History Podcast
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria Part 1
01:36:10
Destined from her cradle for a seat on the throne, Maria Theresa had to fight both the prejudices of her age AND some of the greatest warriors of the time in order to secure her empire.
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- [00:01]
A
Hello. Really really, really, really quick before we begin the show, are you New York City adjacent or a resident of New York City? We will be in your neighborhood. Come join us on our private party on a boat on September 14th of this year. How do you get a ticket? Go to likemindstravel.com and go to the Events tab. And what you're looking for is the History Chicks New York City dinner cruise. You can meet Susan and I and the travelers that have come from all over the nation to tour New York City with us. We hope to see you there.
- [00:37]
B
Welcome to the History Tricks, where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental. And here's your 30 second summary.
- [00:49]
A
Destined from her cradle for a seat on a throne, Empress Maria Theresa had to fight the prejudices of her age and some of the greatest warriors of the time in order order to secure her empire.
- [01:02]
B
The end.
- [01:05]
A
Let's talk about Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.
- [01:09]
B
But first, let's drop her into history. In 1740, in Georgian era England, Parliament passed a Plantation act allowing any foreign Protestants, Quakers or Jewish people who had been living in the American colonies to become British citizens. Down in one of those colonies, South Carolina legislature ruled that enslaved American people could not grow their own food. Learn to read, move freely about the area, assemble in groups or earn money. Plans began to build a charity school in Philadelphia. Eleven years later it became a reality. And 28 years after that, it became the University of Pennsylvania. Ivan VI became Emperor of Russia until he was overthrown a year later by his cousin Elizabeth Petrovna, that soon to be overthrown Emperor Ivan vi. He was also born this year, as was the Marquis de Sade and botanist Jeanne Baret, who would become the first woman to circumnavigate the world. King Frederick William I of Prussia and Empress Anna Ivanova of Russia both died. And in 1740, a 23 year old archduchess stepped up to the throne and took control of both her destiny and her empire.
- [02:27]
A
Archduchess Maria Theresa Valberga Amalia Christina of Austria was born on May 13, 1717 at the Hofburg palace in Vienna, the eldest of the two surviving children of Holy Roman Emperor Charles vi, who I am going to be calling Karl because it amuses me. And his wife, Empress Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel. Believe it or not, she's not the only one with that name. There are three very prominent ladies with that name. I'm like, I can't believe it.
- [02:57]
B
I know I was looking up how to pronounce it and they all popped up and I'm like, wait a second. Yeah, there's a lot of repeat names in here. So I think calling him Carl is an excellent idea.
- [03:09]
A
We should pause to give you a quick background on that title. Holy Roman Emperor. What does that mean? Here is the short, simplified version in the year 799. That is 799. Charlemagne saved the bacon of the Pope, gave him safe harbor from his enemies, literally the Romans, by the way, and then went back and laid down the law. And in grateful thanks, Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne, quote, Emperor of the Romans. The extent of the empire at this point was northern Italy, almost all of modern France, and most of Central Europe. That title, Emperor of the Romans, became traditionally, over time, the sort of training title for the Holy Roman Emperor. So that was the title you got when you were, like, the heir to it.
- [03:58]
B
Well.
- [03:58]
A
Oof. The story of the Holy Roman Empire is like a rock skipping over a lake. It's up, it's down, it's sideways fighting, scheming, inheriting. I mean, some years there's no emperor at all. Officially. It's complicated. The succession starts out pope driven and gradually moves to an election system with between 7 and and 10, depending on the era. Powerful princes called electors, having the job of choosing the next emperor. He was sort of the first among equals. But I assure you, if you hear a guy called an elector, he wields a big hammer no matter what the era. So we can't go over exactly what happened, but here's some highlights that affect us and our story. The very first Habsburg dynasty's chance at that Apple was in 1273. But it was in 1438 with Albert II, that Habsburg control began. That lasted all the way up to our story.
- [04:56]
B
I think it's important to realize that while all these electors do elect the next Holy Roman Emperor, it's also kind of a foregone conclusion. There's not a surprise who the next Holy Roman Emperor is going to be. And in this time, the chances of it being a Habsburg was very, very, very high.
- [05:19]
A
Yeah. All that to say that by the time Grandpa Emperor came to power, his name is Leopold, the Habsburgs had been in control for 200 years. And let's just say the boundaries have been fluid. We have powerful adversaries to the south, the Ottoman Empire, which we just covered in Gertrude Bell. We saw the end, didn't we, of the Ottoman Empire. But now, I assure you, they are in their full adversarial power. We have our arch enemy, France, to the west. Also our first Cousin, the King of France, by the way. Leopold would not even let French be spoken at court. The Sun King, we already know he's a Louis, Louis xiv. He was trying to gain territory by military means at all times. This aggression was just an acute problem, of course, but these two countries have had beef or rend flesh or boof, you know, since the Middle Ages. These are not friendly gentlemen at all, or countries or populaces. The powerful kingdom of Spain is just to the southwest and an infinity of smaller internal and external pressures. So there's a lot going on for Emperor Grandpa as a young man, honestly, who'd expected to go into the church? He was a second son and his brother died when Grandpa was only 14. So Grandpa found himself the next step to handle the weight of history. It's all on his shoulders. And at 18, he became the Holy Roman Emperor. I am constantly surprised by this, though I shouldn't be. You know, young, young adults given absolute boss hood, you know, from Queen Victoria to infinite amounts of people throughout history. I just, I just don't know. I mean, maybe they have an idealistic streak that'll work for the best, but. Yeah. Isn't it scary?
- [07:02]
B
No. Yes. Yeah, it is kind of scary. Also scary is being a woman at the time. Before Carl comes along, there are three wives of Leopold. All died very young, either in pregnancy or tuberculosis. I mean, it's a dangerous time to be a female. The third wife is Eleanor Magdalene of newburgh. She had 10 pregnancies that resulted in a birth. Six of those survived childhood. They were mostly girls. However, there were two boys, future Emperor Joseph I and our Carl.
- [07:37]
A
So Papa Carl was in the same position Grandpa had been. He was the spare, the second son. His older brother was doing great. Everybody was healthy. But when Carl was 15, the king of Spain died without children. And everyone was running their fingers across the family trees to see who they were going to support as the next heir.
- [07:57]
B
There's the Habsburgs of Austria, and then there's the Habsburgs to the south. And those are the people that were running Spain at the time. Those were also the people who had the physical deformity running through their genetic line called the Habsburg jaw. It's kind of an elongated jaw, and it worked its way deeply into the family DNA because this family, like a lot of royal families, like to marry within. So if you had the Habsburg jaw on your mama's and your papa's side, and then you married a cousin, you know, it's, it's, it was pretty prominent. Technically. It's called mandibular prognathism. Hmm.
- [08:37]
A
Well, okay. No matter what direction your finger's going on the family tree, there was an official heir. He was the grandson of the King of France. His name's Philip. That's who the King of Spain had specified. And of course, France was all about that. Spain too, by the way, which seems more important, but others, the Holy Roman Empire, Portugal, Netherlands, England, who had its own elector of Hanover, future King George, by the way, the first one, were uneasy with the balance of power tipping so far toward the French royal family. And they put forth their own candidate, Papa Carl. Now, I will tell you, the previous King of Spain had been a Habsburg, so that was their big hook. That is why they felt like they had the right to nominate their own candidate. It was French Bourbons versus Austrian Habsburgs, and armies squared up for 14 years. Over a million people died in the struggle. It was a whole mess. A whole mess. Now if we can just pull focus back to home, back to Austria, back to the Holy Roman Empire itself. Grandpa. King Leopold wanted no gray areas for his country after he died. He did not want what happened in Spain to happen at home when he left, inevitably, as one does to the heavenly regions. So even though he had two sons to follow him, Leopold looked at the next generation. Here's the trouble. The oldest son, Joseph, had only daughters, and unmarried papa had no children at all. And so they hammered out an agreement for inheritance with his sons. It's called the mutual pact of succession. Each of them had their own realms. Now, I mean, theoretically, was Spain really his? We don't know, but that's what we're operating on. So each man's non existent sons, future sons, would just follow in due course, their own papas, just like nature intends. But if one of the brothers died without sons, his brother would just absorb both kingdoms and they would again become one. The complication would come if neither of them had sons. Then the elder brother, Joseph's daughters would have absolute precedence over Karl's daughters, oldest to youngest. And in that way, the Habsburg history could just march on. That whole document was just a way to ensure that the Habsburg Empire could simply be passed in its entirety, all of a piece down the female line, temporarily, until we got to a male descendant. Well, this wasn't ideal, I will tell you, because parts of the empire fell under what's called Salic Law, which prohibited a woman from holding the supreme title. But never you mind. Surely they'll marry someone and he'll take over as the Emperor. Just be a wise who you marry him to brother sign. Okey dokey. It's really easy to sign something, by the way, when you have like 20 years of potential sons ahead of you. You know what I mean?
- [11:25]
B
Right. Well, and all throughout this story it's very easy to sign things and then go back seats on them. You know, it's like, all right, for right now I'm going to sign this, but don't hold me to it necessarily. Yeah.
- [11:38]
A
So I discovered they had an older sister from Grandpa Emperor's first wife who incidentally was grandpa's cousin and niece. Yes. And she was sister of the recently departed King of Spain. These family trees, Bushes.
- [11:56]
B
They're not trees.
- [11:57]
A
I will tell you. Joseph and Carl's aunt, who was a Margaret Teresa, was mathematically the most inbred member of the house of Habsburg. People track it. That is saying something. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because that older sister who had had a son by now both son and the mother, sister, aunt had passed away. I don't wish them ill, but for our purposes it's better because this is getting very complicated.
- [12:22]
B
Yeah, I know.
- [12:24]
A
Well, it's a good thing they nailed it down because grandpa King died just over a year later. Joseph is in Austria, Carl is in Spain. Ooh. So it was to Spain that Maria Theresa's mama, age 17, was sent to marry the 23 year old Carl King, question mark of Spain, question mark in Barcelona where he was living in order to bolster and anchor his claim to the Spanish throne.
- [12:49]
B
Now they had been betrothed since she was 13. You know, it's a business marriage like they all are. So she had very little say in the matter. She even had to convert from her Lutheran roots to Catholicism, which she very reluctantly did because it was her duty. Also her duty at the age of 13 was to be examined by a medical. That's air quotes in there professional to prove that she was fertile at 13. But she's married within four years after that.
- [13:22]
A
Well, Elizabeth was under great pressure to bear a son immediately. The rival Philip, the other king of Spain had a son named guess it, Louis. Because of course a French guy has to bring the concept of Louises to Spain and he actually in history is called Louis the first. So you know, there's more of them in Spain too, bringing the dynasty over. Well, Elizabeth's inability to conceive led to doctors and again that's in quote, doctors prescribing her ever increasing amounts of alcohol. So perhaps it's through a haze that she witnessed her husband's Sudden departure to take over in Austria. His brother had died, and Carl was now the ruler.
- [14:06]
B
So very, very reluctantly, Carl and Elizabeth went from Spain back to Vienna, bringing with them the fashions of the Spanish court, a lot of the traditions of it, bringing that into Vienna, which you can still see a lot of Spanish influences in Vienna now. It's pretty cool to be able to trace it back to them. But Karl kept the Spanish dress for the rest of his life. He liked it so much.
- [14:36]
A
Well, he was also 100% convinced that he was the rightful king of Spain. You know what I mean? It's kind of like how Mary Queen of Scots called herself the Queen of England.
- [14:46]
B
Right.
- [14:47]
A
And had that on her china and everything. They just kind of continued with the thought that that was not taken from them legally, you know. Back in Austria, Karl, the new ruler of Austria, had a problem. He didn't have any heirs of his own. He had no children. And, remember, he had signed away his future daughter's rights. They were to follow in the order of succession his two nieces that were existing. And he didn't think that was a good state of affairs. He decided, even though he had no children, he would issue an edict. It's called the pragmatic sanction. And all it meant was he fought hard to get this passed, too, was that his daughters, when they came, would immediately jump to the top of the order of precedence ahead of their cousins.
- [15:39]
B
Well, he had to fight hard to get it, because he had to get all these other countries and kingdoms to sign on and agree with him. It was a diplomatic miracle that he could get all these peoples to say, yep, okay, we're gonna make the pragmatic sanction the way it's gonna be. Toss out that thing that your dad did.
- [15:58]
A
And the point was moot, by the way, in 1716, because. Hooray, hooray. Empress Elizabeth presented the country with little Archduke Leopold, Johann Anton Joseph, Franz de Pa Helmet, Rudolph Ignatius Balthazar. Whoo. That's a lot.
- [16:15]
B
I know.
- [16:16]
A
Bells were rung, cannons were shot, operas were written. Wine barrels were tapped for all the common folk in the street. The Habsburgs are safe at last.
- [16:26]
B
Unfortunately, Leopold only survived seven months before he passed away and was buried in the family crypt.
- [16:34]
A
We actually saw his little coffin in the imperial crypt during our recent trip to Vienna.
- [16:41]
B
Yep.
- [16:42]
A
Despair. Despair at what Carl saw as the end of his dynasty filled his heart. And when our Maria Theresa was born about a year later, the disappointment at her gender and at his great loss sort of etched itself permanently on Papa's heart. I will tell you, he immediately took steps for everyone to realize that he had changed the order of succession during the course of Maria Theresa's baptism, which happened the same day she was born.
- [17:14]
B
In that procession into the church, the daughters of Joseph were at the back of the line behind the baby that was being baptized, signifying that Maria Teresa was ahead of them in line of succession. A lot is made about Elizabeth not attending that, but the baptism was held that same night. There's a lot of not only physical things that have to happen after you give a baby, but there was a lot of religious ceremony that went along as well, and she had to go through that. So that's the only reason why she wasn't at the baptism. But I found a lot of sources that were saying things like, she wasn't even there. You know, he did it so fast. But it was very traditional to do it that quickly. And it was also traditional that mom couldn't always make it.
- [17:59]
A
Well, and I could be wrong. I'm only a cradle Catholic, but it is my understanding that Catholic baptisms often happen as fast as possible after the birth, so.
- [18:08]
B
And I'm not a Catholic at all, but yes.
- [18:11]
A
So a year later, their second daughter, Maria Anna, was born. Dang it, Elizabeth, give me a son. More doctors crawled out of the woodwork or the stonework.
- [18:24]
B
Now they're looking not only to what they consider medical professionals, but also to superstition. For instance, there was a superstition in Bohemia, which was one of Carl's territories, that a son would be born to a rightfully crowned king in Prague. So Carl and Christina went to Prague to have a proper Bahamian coronation.
- [18:49]
A
A host of astrologers cast their horoscopes.
- [18:54]
B
There were prayers and incantations said over her. She was given a lot more wine. She had been given that years earlier because it was believed that it would stimulate her to give birth to a son. They went so far as to do things as bringing provocative male portraiture into the bedroom, as well as Carl, of course. But to stimulate her to give birth to a healthy, vigorous son, they also.
- [19:22]
A
Encouraged her to eat a diet full of fat, cheeses, meats, other rich foods to better prepare her body to host a boy child. And I have to tell you, when people are constantly at you to do something, of course you want it to stop you. You want to do whatever it is. And this poor lady, intelligent, beautiful, confident, a patron of music, a proponent of the outdoor life, was gradually reduced to an extraordinarily unhappy, unhealthy invalid who could no longer walk. The birth of their third daughter, Maria Amalia, seemed to make everyone very, very angry. This little girl died in childhood. So with two daughters only, Papa became absolutely obsessed with getting the leaders of the world on board with his pragmatic sanction, with his plan for inheritance. And some of his advisors told him you'd be far better off and you'd better serve Maria Theresa, your heir, by strengthening your military, by getting the country's finances in order. Like maybe could we apply some glue to this house of cards, please, instead of all of these insincere signatures. Sir, can we please chase some stability? Here's a summer challenge. Whenever I'm getting ready for another trip, deciding what to pack is very stressful. Except for the fact that there's always a cat in my suitcase, which is pretty cute. But oftentimes I'm doing it in a rush and, you know, things don't match. Maybe the clothes don't fit because of, you know, bread and wine. And then I discovered Quint, which has become my go to for high quality vacation essentials.
- [21:11]
B
They have things like European linen dresses, blouses, shorts from $30. There's washable silk tops. They even have luggage and jewelry. The amount of items that they have on quints is vast. I was just starting to go through my things for our New York trip, looking for things that would be good for September, a transitional time of the year. And I realized that somehow over the course of maybe the last year, I have put together a capsule wardrobe from Quince that is good for spring, summer, fall. I haven't looked at it for winter, but I think there's a lot of pieces in there that I could use in the wintertime too. It's just your basic travel capsule must haves. Cardigans, a silk skirt, tanks, tees, button downs, one dress that you can dress up and dress down. Bags all from Quint's and they're all going in my suitcase. And it makes packing so simple.
- [22:03]
A
The thing I like about Quint is that they use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices. I love that.
- [22:10]
B
And by partnering with factories, Quintz can cut out the cost of the middleman and they pass the savings on to us.
- [22:16]
A
So pack your bags with high quality essentials from quince. Go to quince.com chicks for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns.
- [22:26]
B
That's Quince Q U I N C E.com chicks to get free shipping and 365 day returns.
- [22:35]
A
Quince.com chicks from the moment of her arrival the presumptive heiress of Austria was a valuable piece in the chess game of Europe. When Maria Teresa was only 6 years old, a 15 year old boy named Prince Francis Stephen from the house of Lorraine was sent by his clever Papa to ideally make a good impression on the Emperor to the end of perhaps marrying the powerful daughter. He's another second son. I don't know how many times we can say this. He's another second son whose carefully prepared older brother died and threw the spare into play. So here he is relatively, but not completely unprepared to play his parts. Lorraine is, if you look at a map of France, it's like the upper right hand side of the hexagon. I guess that's the best I can say. And of course, France always thought it was France's and Lorraine's like, actually we've been an independent area since the 11th century and France is like really keep pretending. It was like a nightmare. They were constantly on the offensive, constantly having to box people out of their area. Well, Lorraine had been another piece of the chess game of Europe and they were getting tired of it. Also, Quiche Lorraine did not have cheese in it yet, which seems like maybe that's their problem. I fell down that rabbit hole about Quiche Lorraine. Didn't even have cheese in it until like way, way, way, way later. Didn't even come like to America until after World War II.
- [24:10]
B
Wow.
- [24:10]
A
And then got like a bad rap in the 70s or 80s. Do you remember that book, Real Men Don't Eat Quiche?
- [24:16]
B
Quiche, Yep.
- [24:17]
A
That would be like Real men all over Lorraine have eaten quiche for like hundreds of years. That's all I'm. But they added Gruyere at some point. I think that's where it all like went.
- [24:26]
B
Oh, okay.
- [24:27]
A
To the positive. Yeah. Well, it's pretty obvious at court, although not in the public, what Francis deal was. Papa, he really did grow to like this kid a lot. A lot. I mean, treated him as a hunting companion. He was very officially non committal though, about marriage in case a better plan came along. But people were genuinely harsh to Francis, especially those who had candidates of their own to propose. So Francis is in at 15, a very strange situation where the emperor likes him and treats him sort of like a son or a favorite nephew.
- [25:03]
B
Yeah.
- [25:04]
A
And there's this potential awesome thing that could be snatched away at any time.
- [25:08]
B
Right.
- [25:08]
A
And everyone's mean to you all the.
- [25:10]
B
Time when he moves in. I mean, he's given an apartment at the Hofburg Palace. He was educated there, although his own father kind of dictated what he was going to be learning. But his. We can't actually say betrothed because it wasn't said. But this is a little girl. She's six. When he moves into the Hofburg, at.
- [25:32]
A
Least he's age appropriate. I mean, ish for the time.
- [25:34]
B
There's only a nine year age difference between the two of them, which isn't. Once you get to marrying, age isn't that big of a deal. But at 15 and 6, it's kind of a big deal.
- [25:43]
A
You know what? Mary Queen of Scots went to her potential husband's house and was raised there too much younger than that.
- [25:50]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [25:51]
A
Anyway, you'll read everywhere. Everywhere, Online. Everywhere, that Maria Teresa did not get any sort of good education, that her papa was so in denial about his chances of maybe having a son, that he didn't prepare Maria Theresa in any way. And I find that sort of startling. And I will say Papa and Mama did hold out hope of having a son for a very, very long time. Right. But other than, you know, military strategy and fisticuffs.
- [26:20]
B
Right.
- [26:21]
A
I don't know what else to say that.
- [26:23]
B
Yeah.
- [26:23]
A
You know, Maria Teresa really did get a pretty comparable basic education to any peer that had happened to be a boy person.
- [26:31]
B
I think maybe the disconnect happens because she wasn't educated as if she were a future ruler without all that military stuff. But everything else, she had the finest education with Jesuit tutors, from history to languages. She was fluent in both French and German. Now, her mother was German, but so was Maria Teresa's nanny named Countess Fuchs. And she spoke with a Viennese dialect, which is what Maria Theresa ended up picking up. Not the German of her mom, but the German of her nanny. She would be taught Latin and Italian and Spanish. She learned geography. She learned math from the court mathematician. She learned astronomy from the court astronomer. She learned to dance from the choreographer at the Vienna Opera House. Her history education came heavily from the Bible and also from the Habsburg family lineage. So that's. Her history lessons are not necessarily world history like we think of it, but she's getting all this education.
- [27:43]
A
I keep thinking, though, that when you're a Habsburg, a lot of world history is family history.
- [27:48]
B
That's true.
- [27:48]
A
I mean, you know.
- [27:49]
B
Yeah. It's like women's history is history. Yeah, exactly.
- [27:53]
A
So the Jesuits also put a great emphasis on Catholic doctrine and practice, of course, as this was an extraordinarily devout court. I will say, for everyone that says she didn't get an education. Latin is the language of scholars and government. You know, French is the language of diplomacy. I will say she didn't learn specifically the fine art of diplomacy per se, but I assure you, a lady person of the time of this rank likely developed this on her own as a coping mechanism. Like, that's the way you have to get through life is to be a natural diplomat. She was allowed to attend cabinet meetings at around 14. I read a disgruntled note from someone that was there that the young Maria Teresa seemed to regard the country as being simply held in trust. For her to do with that, she will. I'm like, well, all right. Did she say one thing? Because that's probably what would engender such vitriol. Did she say one thing at a meeting? Well, anyway, she also learned the feminine arts, as you said, of, of dancing and music and presumably needlework. Definitely deportment, which was key for all people at courts.
- [29:03]
B
She sang opera, she played the clavier, which is kind of like a harpsichord. She was taught to draw and paint by Austrian draftsmen. You know, they're bringing in the best of the best to teach her this stuff.
- [29:17]
A
So we can just put paid to the fact that Maria Theresa was kept in ignorance of things and not to worry her pretty little head, like her pretty little head with her giant blue eyes and her strawberry blonde hair, was also full of knowledge.
- [29:32]
B
Right.
- [29:33]
A
She was actually called, and I quote, a keen intellect with great understanding. So even in her time by men of the court, she was regarded as an intelligent person worthy of her education. So anyway, we just want to put that to rest.
- [29:49]
B
Yeah.
- [29:51]
A
When Maria Teresa was only eight, she was betrothed, possibly only informally, to nine year old Charles of Spain, who was a future king, and her seven year old sister similarly betrothed with a question mark to his slightly younger brother. So negotiations once that they were kind of public. The rest of Europe is like crossed arms. No. And, oh, we're not gonna. We're not doing this again. Right. I told you we need to keep the balance in Europe and this is not the way to do it. You're not going to like double helix your daughters to the sons of Spain. We're not going to have it. And so, you know, that was kind of canceled. But get this grossness. Remember those nieces? The two nieces that theoretically had to step behind the baby at the baptism and were now subordinates. Both of those ladies had married powerful men. Both of those ladies now had sons. And both of those ladies now wanted Maria Teresa to marry their sons. I Mean, what on earth circle is this? Yeah, I don't even understand the relationship.
- [30:56]
B
Well, they would be her cousins, right?
- [30:59]
A
Her cousins, Maria Teresa's sons. She would marry them, right?
- [31:03]
B
Uh huh. Well, that's the way this family works. That's the way a lot of these families worked, you know, marrying within the family.
- [31:10]
A
Well, see, they saw that as their own solution having been in their minds and their husband's minds, more importantly for the future, robbed of their rightful inheritance. So this was a way to get that back in the family, Right, man. Now, Francis Stephen was still around, by the way, being awesome as far as Maria Teresa was concerned.
- [31:31]
B
I think it might be like a fairy tale version that she wrote later in life. But she said of Francis Stephen, he was the sole object of all my deeds and my affection from the age of six.
- [31:44]
A
Like was he? Or is this a retcon because you happen to have a very long marriage. One of the books I read said that that was especially constructed to tell her daughters all about the strength of their parents marriage.
- [31:57]
B
Oh yeah. I don't even think just their daughters. I mean, I think everything was like my dad had picked him out from when I was a child. The end.
- [32:06]
A
Oh, you know what's kind of dirty to say that you fell in love with a guy at 6 when your daughters weren't allowed to marry for love. For the most part, yeah.
- [32:13]
B
Oh yeah, that's, that's a spoiler. Thanks a lot.
- [32:17]
A
Oh, well, that'll be part two. We'll all have forgotten by then.
- [32:19]
B
Yeah, that's.
- [32:21]
A
When Maria Teresa was 12, Francis became the Duke of Lorraine. But several years later, he found himself and his people pawns in the bigger country's games again. His dukedom was actually given to someone else. I mean, given to someone else as part of this round robin series of negotiations. It was so dirty. And he was given, quote, given Tuscany as a consolation prize. Although the guy that held the Dukedom of Tuscany was still alive. So, like you can have it when he died though, if that's cool. I mean, his future marriage to Maria Teresa was contingent, absolutely contingent on him formally renouncing his land, land that had been in his family since the 1200s.
- [33:13]
B
His mother was very much against this. This had been her home. And now her son is going to sign it all away to a different country just so that he can marry Maria Teresa. Francis Stephen wasn't crazy about signing this either. He had picked up his pen like three times to sign it before. He kind of held his nose and scribbled his name on the paper. And it was done.
- [33:39]
A
And, you know, the sad thing is, I think it was a done deal, even without Francis Stephen. I actually think it was a. How am I gonna say this. Gracious formality to allow him. Kind of like when those executives resign instead of being fired.
- [33:52]
B
Right.
- [33:53]
A
I think it was a way for him to save face. Cause I think that that. Like, what is that machine that flattens the road? Steamroller. I think the steamroller was coming, and there's nothing to be done. So I don't think he had a choice.
- [34:05]
B
No.
- [34:05]
A
Get a choice.
- [34:06]
B
Part of this whole deal was that he had to betroth his younger brother to Maria Teresa's sister, Maria Anna, so they could all keep it in the family.
- [34:17]
A
Well, I hope it was all worth it. On February 12, 1736, Francis Stephen and Maria Theresa were married in the Augustinian Church in Vienna.
- [34:29]
B
He was 28. She was 18. He was in silver and ivory. She was in white, drenched in diamonds. Like, not just on her body. They were woven into her dress. And his mother refused to come. That's how upset she was about the whole selling of the ancestral lands. I don't blame her. She laid blame where it was due. She didn't blame her son. She blamed Carl and said as part of her reason quote, as for the Emperor, I would rather die at this moment than come under his dominion.
- [35:02]
A
Mm. Mm. Well, I mean, there was a lot of resentment, if you think about. People just disregarded their hundreds of years of history.
- [35:09]
B
Right.
- [35:10]
A
And it just. They snapped their fingers and it was supposed to disappear. And then Francis Stephen was sort of complicit in allowing it to just disappear without a fight. So I think that's why she was so angry. Well, now Maria Teresa is no longer an archduchess. Maria Teresa was now operating with the status of the wife of a visiting king. Isn't that interesting? But instead of going away to her husband's house, the way royal brides often do. Well, guess what? Her husband didn't have a house. He didn't have a land. So they stuck around for a while under the roof of her parents, which is a giant roof. I mean. Yeah, they went to visit Tuscany upon her husband's official acquisition. When the last Medici died, that was what it took. We haven't covered the Medicis yet. We're going to do that soon. Well, she wielded actually considerable influence in Tuscany. Here's the part. Okay. So later, Maria Theresa said that her father hadn't prepared her for rule. But this little sojourn in Tuscany Was pretty good at what I'm going to call the soft skills of ruling. She corresponded with all the noble families and the members of the religious world. She received representatives of foreign countries. She was an influence monger. She was sought to put words in the ear of the Emperor. She traded favors and I mean, there was a lot going on.
- [36:42]
B
Yeah, she was very educated in what she knew, what she was supposed to do, and she did it right from the get go.
- [36:47]
A
Somebody called it social capital. Social and political capital is what she learned to wield while they were in Tuscany. And unfortunately, as her reputation grew, Francis Stevens reputation really went down. And I quote, how about this? What a shame that so spectacular a woman is married to such a weak man.
- [37:08]
B
Ouch.
- [37:09]
A
It was bad, Francis. Stephen was sent to kind of handle something on the battlefield with the Ottomans, and it was such an embarrassing series of losses. He lost a bunch of land. I mean, did he lose it? Was he not prepared? I mean, everyone blamed him. It was easy to blame him as foreigner. They even called him anoland having French spy. I'm paraphrasing.
- [37:33]
B
Wonder what that sounds like in French.
- [37:35]
A
Maria Theresa had three daughters in a row. And normally, of course, we have seen poor Miss Elizabeth. We've seen what happens. But unlike her mother, you know who got the blame for the three daughters in a row? Francis. I mean, that's refreshing.
- [37:50]
B
Yes. Finally putting blame where it's due.
- [37:54]
A
I know, I know, the Y chromosome.
- [37:57]
B
Yeah, that's right, that's right. And she did get pregnant within the first year. Unlike her mother, she has a baby right off the bat. And for the next 20 years of our story, you need to just assume that she's either pregnant or recovering from pregnancy the entire time.
- [38:19]
A
And I'm sorry to say that two of the three of these daughters died in childhood. So that's also the specter hanging over all parents of this time. Well, papa died on October 20, 1740, of mushroom poisoning. And not, not like somebody tried to. Well, maybe like, not like somebody tried to poison him, but like he ate mushrooms that oughtn't be eaten.
- [38:43]
B
Yeah, it was his favorite Hungarian dish. It was mushrooms boiled in oil. And it's something he had all the time when he was at his hunting lodge. But this time it didn't agree with him.
- [38:55]
A
All those survival experts on alone give me absolute agita. Do you really know what you're eating? You know about mushrooms? How they say some of them help you see God, some of them help you meet God, and some just taste good on pizza.
- [39:09]
B
Right?
- [39:10]
A
It's not like mushrooms are dicey. Mushrooms and berries. I learned berries from the Hunger Games. Like, don't eat them.
- [39:16]
B
Well, anyway, he became very ill and was rushed back to Vienna, where he told Francis. Stephen, it is my greatest comfort to know that my daughter is in such good hands. I don't know if that's revisionist history or not. What do you think?
- [39:33]
A
Well, you know what, though? He'd known this guy since he was 15, and sometimes parents want to think the best of people. He's been in loco. I don't know. Is it parentus parentus. 4 a decade at this point. He wants to think the best.
- [39:47]
B
Yeah, no, I. Okay, yeah. No, I hope it's true.
- [39:50]
A
And why not give a guy, if it's true, a boost of confidence, right at the end, gets the last gift you can give.
- [39:57]
B
Right?
- [39:57]
A
Right.
- [39:58]
B
He did last 10 days after that fateful meal and died at the age of 55.
- [40:03]
A
So early.
- [40:04]
B
I know. He was on the throne for 30 years.
- [40:07]
A
Well, Maria Theresa became the Empress of Austria, obviously, right away. She was invested officially in a ceremony really tantamount to a coronation at St Stephen's Cathedral, which we both have been to. And I have lit a candle for my mama within such. One of Papa's very, very last acts toward his daughter was imploring her to listen to the advice of his, now her advisors. It was remarkably poor advice. The country was literally bankrupt from assorted wars and mismanagement. The army was only 80,000 men who hadn't been paid for about half a year. You know what, though? Maybe it was because he didn't listen to his advisors, because, you know, they kept telling him, get this crap in order. You know, this is the house of cards. It's going to fall apart. You're not spending your energies in the right place. And you know what? I just now thought of that. Maybe he was telling her, don't do what I did.
- [41:01]
B
Right.
- [41:02]
A
Also, a lot of the advisors were not very brave. They were very conservative. They liked the status quo. They liked things as they were. And so they were not going to give any radical advice.
- [41:14]
B
These guys had been in these positions for years. They had been advisors to Carl for a very long time. They were very old men, and there was nothing in them that said we should make some radical changes here. You know, there's nothing in them that would have them look at a woman as young as Maria Teresa and think that they didn't know more than her.
- [41:37]
A
Oh, yes.
- [41:38]
B
Oh, you know, kind of like, little lady, let us just tell you what to do kind of thing.
- [41:45]
A
And it's gonna take strength of character to go against that, I think. And, you know, there's a little bit of shock right now. Also, think about how nervous you were on your wedding day. Even though everyone there loved you or whatever, it was still weird and surreal. Here's Maria Teresa at the head of this giant empire. Mm. Are we confident everyone loves us or respects us? Well, we're not. Because the neighbor states were literally rubbing their hands together in glee about this fabulous opportunity for land they saw in front of them. They could not be more open about it either. Maria Teresa later wrote, quote, I found myself without money, credit, army experience, or knowledge of my own. And finally, also without any counsel, because each and every one of them wanted to wait and see how things would develop. Also in the background, side note, there had been a spate of bad weather, so the crops had failed. So the crops had failed. The vintages had failed, the prices were high. The public was angry. Evidently, her dad had done a lot of policing of the game, you know, the wild animals, and didn't allow people to hunt them, which is not unusual for nobility. But they also were allowed to eat everybody's crops. And in a time of scarcity, people were in open revolt. Like, they felt like they could rebel against her in the way they hadn't against her father. So, like, everybody's sort of sensing an opportunity. She was actually compelled to basically have professional hunters come in and slay a bunch of these animals. Her father never would have done that, but in order to keep the peace, you know, so even within the environs of where she's living, still there's unrest because she's a young woman. Warmer days are calling. We just put a weird little pool in the backyard. And that's where I want to be. You know what I mean? That's where I want to be. I do not want to be in the kitchen with the oven on.
- [43:47]
B
Right.
- [43:47]
A
And that is where factors no prep, no mess meals come in. Because in two minutes, chef approved. Even Chris Grimm approved. That says something, ready to eat in two minutes. So no matter how busy we are, literally floating around not being busy, we always have time to enjoy nutritious meals that taste great.
- [44:08]
B
You need one of those floaty tables so you could eat in the pool. Is that a thing?
- [44:12]
A
I mean, I see you get in the pool. I don't know.
- [44:15]
B
Well, only one way to find out. I say give it a shot. Factors fresh, never frozen. Meals are dietitian approved and ready to eat in two minutes. My Family is loving having that two minute meal right there in the refrigerator. Because the days are longer. We want to be outside. We've had this beautiful spell of some very nice weather. Who wants to come in and cook something? Not us. We want to go in, fix ourselves a delicious meal, two minutes and go back out and eat it on the porch. Because if I spill there I know what happens.
- [44:48]
A
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- [45:21]
B
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- [45:44]
A
So the Holy Roman Emperor cannot be a woman. That's just a fact. So she could be the Empress of Austria and Bohemia and etc etc, but she could not be the Holy Roman Emperor. And naturally enough, Maria Theresa wanted it to go to her husband. Had her dad thought for five seconds about this, he could have named at any point Francis Stephen. Remember that subsidiary title Emperor of the Romans, designating him the heir.
- [46:12]
B
Yep.
- [46:13]
A
He made no such provision in any way. And so here we are with a vacancy, you know, that can't be filled by the actual ruler of Austria. She tried. She made him the co ruler of Austria and Bohemia because he didn't have enough land to qualify. It was no good, by the way, because you know who got the job? The husband of the quote, rightful heir, oldest lady cousin. He was elected. He was elected. And I have to tell you, I can see why he thought he should be the boss. Honestly, like if you think bigger picture in a manosphere where you marry an heiress and take on her lands. You know what I mean?
- [46:50]
B
Right?
- [46:51]
A
In his mind, his wife was the deprived rightful heir of all of Austria and therefore he should be the Holy Roman Emperor. And it's a sign that a lot of people agreed with him because he was elected Holy Roman Emperor.
- [47:04]
B
Yeah.
- [47:05]
A
So the demands came from inside the family and out. And oh, was there an enemy waiting just outside the borders?
- [47:14]
B
That enemy's name was King Frederick of Prussia. Later history. We'll remember him as Frederick the Great, but now he's just kind of Frederick the Sneaky, Frederick the Combative, Frederick the Backstabby. He's not a great guy. And he came about it very honestly. He was born just five years before Maria Teresa. So they are about the same age. Maria tres father was even Frederick's godfather. Frederick's father, the then King of Prussia and his wife, who just happened to be George II of England's sister. Talking about how closely everything's tied together. He was very militaristic. He was a very cruel leader. He did not appreciate that his eldest son was leaning towards a more artistic and philosophical bent. He was party loving, he was flute playing. And that is not the image that his father saw. The future King of Prussia. He wanted somebody that was, you know, just like him. So young Frederick, under his father's instructions, had a tightly scheduled military inspired education. He was nine and he was given a regiment of 300 soldiers. He was physically and emotionally beaten by his father and the people who worked for his father. For instance, as he grew into a teenager, he really had this penchant for flamboyant clothes and brightly colored things. And he had gotten a red dressing and grew his hair long until his father saw him one day. Frederick was playing music with another man. And literally playing music with another man.
- [48:54]
A
Not a euphemism, right?
- [48:55]
B
In this case, it was actual music. And Papa King walked in. Well, that is not what he wanted to see his son doing. So the King of Prussia, Frederick's father, really just beat the crap out of him. He cut his hair, he threw the robe in the fire. And really, he was almost about to kill his son for this behavior. Until somebody stopped him. Until his servants had to pull him off of his son. That's how cruel this guy was.
- [49:25]
A
Sometimes I wonder how any royal personages ever end up medium. Okay, I will say in Maria Theresa's case, it was, as far as I'm concerned, it was her nanny, or Aya, as they called her, who she called Mama, as a matter of fact, saw that nanny every day more than her mother. So at least Maria Teresa had her. Valued her highly, by the way. Kept her around as an adult too. But Frederick, poor Frederick. But he really does exhibit poor behavior as a grown man. Yes, but we just wanted to give you a little background so that you would know that he might have been okay.
- [50:00]
B
Yeah, he might even have been married to Mary Teresa.
- [50:04]
A
I'm glad it didn't happen. But there was a thought at one point that Maria Teresa should marry Frederick. It would be. Basically, it would be clash of the titans, you know, if everyone was not brought up to love each other. Or whatever. But they could not overcome the religious objections. One was Protestant, one was Catholic. It's a good thing. Would have united two very powerful kingdoms. But I'm glad it didn't happen.
- [50:28]
B
But would he? I don't know if he would have been the guy he ended up being. Because one of the things that happened after that beating incident is he attempted to run away with his best trusted pal. And they were caught and imprisoned and found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. His dad's orders that his own son and his friend who were trying to escape the country, were sentenced to death. One day, Frederick was taken from his cell, told it was execution day, and assumed that it was his own, only to find his buddy's neck on the block. And Frederick was forced to watch his beheading. That's going to cause some kind of mental break, I would think. I mean, that's.
- [51:10]
A
That is unhinged behavior. That is unhinged. You know, I just. Sometimes you get across these stories and it's just you kind of can't believe it.
- [51:20]
B
I know. Well, then he threw him back in prison. His father threw him back in prison for a full year. And every time the king appeared, Frederick would appear very docile and repentant. He threw himself at his father's mercy. What he's doing now is playing the game that his father wants to see. So Frederick wore the uniform, he did the military training. He made his person, the person that his father wanted to see just to bide his time until his father died. But at that point, all of that cruelty was inside of him.
- [51:53]
A
So flash back to where we are. With the newly crowned Maria Teresa, Frederick the Great invaded Silesia, which is a kind of resource heavy place. Maria Theresa called the jewel of the empire. He wrote to her at first with a polite explanation. He called her masseur. My sister. Like, basically, I have taken this so our enemies won't.
- [52:20]
B
Right?
- [52:21]
A
But within that was a significant threat. Hey, why don't you give this to me as my reward or I'll join your enemies. How about it? That wasn't even a secret. It wasn't even sly. Francis was like, give him some of it. Give him some of it and maybe he'll be our ally. And you know what Maria Teresa said? What Susan and I say, you give him some, he'll keep taking more as well everyone else because they've seen it, it works. So we are gonna fight with what is what we ask, with what, with who they're. Unfortunately, the enemies came out of the woodwork, Bavaria, Spain, like France. Of course. France. We could have just called that France. Blah. You know, defeat. It makes a little more sense why they hated Marie Antoinette so much later.
- [53:07]
B
Yeah.
- [53:07]
A
You know, if with this background. Well, anyway, defeat after defeat. Let's just call Maria Theresa and Austria beleaguered. Beleaguered. Somebody had made it as close as Linz, which, Susan and I can tell you is a relatively short bus ride to Vienna. I mean, it would take a lot longer on a horse or whatever. I mean, there was a plan to divide Austria between Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and Spain that was drawn up by officials in France. This was not looking good in the minds of Europe. The House of Austria was over. Vienna was freaking out. They were getting ready for a siege. Freaking out. Well, on March 13, 1741, Maria Teresa had given birth to a boy. Hallelujah. Hooray. Are we saved? Not hardly, but at least it's a sign of hope, you know? Couldn't have come at a better time for Maria Teresa's mental state. I suppose. Maybe it was a light in the darkness. So she had an heir. But how could she protect his birthright? Maria Teresa struggled, struggled to find a solution as her enemies were picking away at her dominions from every side. She was in an absolutely desperate situation.
- [54:28]
B
Beckett. You know, it's nice.
- [54:30]
A
Hmm?
- [54:31]
B
It's nice when you don't have to think about things that are going into your suitcase, when you're going away for, say, a weekend to go to a wedding. And Honey Love has come to the rescue as far as that's concerned, Summer.
- [54:44]
A
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- [55:27]
B
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- [56:10]
A
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B
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- [56:37]
A
Maria Teresa herself had thought it was important to do whatever she could to cement her position throughout the realm. And as a matter of fact, during all these military campaigns, had been out of town preparing for her coronation as the ruler of Hungary. Throughout her lifetime, Papa had forbidden his daughters from horseback riding. I thought that was very interesting. Unfortunately, for speed of getting this nailed down, officially, there was a giant, let's call it equestrian element to the traditional program of events.
- [57:10]
B
This is just three months after she gave birth, so she's still recovering, but she's taking writing lessons so that she can do the official coronation ceremonies in.
- [57:20]
A
Hungary on June 25, 1741, after a religious ceremony in which she wore the ancient crown and mantle of the very first king of Hungary and 80 pounds of regalia. Can you imagine? I would just be staggering around like, no, my knees are not ready.
- [57:38]
B
And I just want to stop for a second because that, like the robe that she had to wear, it was 700 years old. So in addition to all this heaviness, it's very old. And does it smell? I can only imagine.
- [57:53]
A
Honestly, you know, I think everything smells. Yeah. Like, I think the past just has a blanket sort of smell. Yeah. That we are not accustomed to.
- [58:02]
B
And not like a library.
- [58:05]
A
No, let's call it organic.
- [58:07]
B
Organic.
- [58:10]
A
So if it did smell, probably nobody noticed. Well, anyway, Maria Teresa, in whatever level of stink she rode in all the time, also rode a giant black horse up a hill made from. And I don't want to be disrespectful, but like dirt, soil, earth, like land, let's say shovelfuls of land from all the kingdom's counties. That's another term that's probably not accurate, but like all the little sections of Hungary, had supplied earth for this hill. That's very symbolic. At the top of this hill, she raised her sword, which is enough of a workout, by the way, and turned the horse and herself in the four directions of the compass. While promising to defend Hungary against all enemies. She rode side saddle, which people are like, oh, my gosh, side saddle. But honestly, I sat on a side saddle. I want to say I'm losing track of our trips. I think it was at Blenheim Palace. I have a picture. Maybe you can tell from the picture. I don't know.
- [59:08]
B
I don't know.
- [59:09]
A
It's actually very comfortable. It holds your knee, the upper knee, very securely. I was very surprised. I didn't think. I thought it was a rickety affair. Oh, no. But I can see how you would get one giant buttock.
- [59:21]
B
Yeah.
- [59:22]
A
And so a lot of people had side saddles that went both directions to prevent the one buttock from becoming Popeye Buttock. Yeah. And, you know, in an era of voluminous skirts, maybe that wasn't even a deal, but you don't want to look at yourself with one giant buttock. So anyway, she was a woman doing.
- [59:39]
B
Something that only men had done, and she just said, I'm going to do it the right way, not any womanly way. So she just did it. And while wearing the colors of hungry.
- [59:48]
A
I might add, upon swearing the coronation oath, Maria Teresa was now Re Hungarii, the King of Hungary. Yes, you heard me. There had been some debate beforehand as to whether she was going to be called Rex, or, as they would have said in Latin at the time, Regina. Although in deference to both Saskatchewan and Queen Victoria. I'm going to go with the modern pronunciation, which may or may not have taken hold just about this time. I don't know where the dividing line is. There was precedent in a previous Hungarian Queen, Mary I of anjou from the 1300s, who had also been deemed to be Rex rather than the less powerful Regina. That was ultimately cited as precedent for Maria Teresa. Regina was felt to give an impression of. This is a word I'm making up consortitude, like, not ultimately, Queen Scent was like the second place type of thing. She was Rex, you know, the big cheese. Later that year, Maria Theresa spoke before the Hungarian Parliament and asked Hungary for help. Now, in reality, this speech was the culmination of extensive negotiations behind the scenes between powerful members of Parliament, other nobles, also a continuation of the land grants and other rights concessions that her father had given in order for The Hungarians to sign the pragmatic sanction that put Maria Theresa in this seat in the first place. Like so, there was some hard headed give and take behind the scenes during the weeks of equestrian training, you know, but the dramatic, almost fairy tale, like overblown story that has come down through history admittedly has a lot more oomph to it. So we should probably tell you. So the story goes. Story is in capital letters. In her arms, Maria Theresa, in front of this group of men held a fretful crown. Prince Joseph, the little baby, just a few months old, the heir, moved by her eloquence and tears. You know, I'm just a girl standing in front of boys for chivalry and rescue. You know, like the gallant Hungarian nobles vow in Latin, our life and blood for our king. Maria Theresa, in reality, during her speech, whatever it was, before the parliament, one man yelled out, she would have more luck asking the demons of hell for help rather than depending on the Hungarians. But it looks like that guy must have been in the minority because she got a significant number of troops gathered for the battle ahead.
- [62:27]
B
And I know going in, she, she saw that that was the prize because Frederick was, you know, scheming behind her back and trying to ally himself with all these different countries to take over all of her territories. So she's needing an army stronger than the one just in Austria. So I think the whole time that she's, you know, practicing the writing and riding up the hill and stuff, she's eyeing the men of Hungary who could be called to arms, you know, in support of her.
- [62:57]
A
Now, she ended up being a pretty good military strategist. She reluctantly and at the very beginning reached a settlement with Frederick, giving him Silesia after all. Although secretly she was intending at the earliest possible point to go get it back. So speaking of scheming. Yeah, it was a giant bummer though, to say the least. It broke her heart at the time. It was very necessary because her main goal was to reduce the number of fronts her new army was fighting on. The French had occupied some territory, including the Bohemian capital of Prague. I'm sorry to say that this, this major loss was about the time the electors of the Holy Roman Empire rejected her husband Francis and elected as emperor that char, the husband of the older cousin, the only non Habsburg to serve in that capacity since 1438. Mm. He was a Wittelsbach, not a Habsburg.
- [63:50]
B
Right.
- [63:50]
A
It was a slap in the face, you know, but how about these apples? What's German for apples? Apples. On the day of Charles's Coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt, Habsburg forces occupied his capital, it's Munich. They held Munich until shortly before Charles's death three years later. Ha cha cha. But you know, I shouldn't celebrate that necessarily. Like I said earlier, I do understand Charles's feelings about being the real ruler. I don't agree with it, but I get his reasoning. Like in his mind there's nonsense happening.
- [64:23]
B
Right, right.
- [64:23]
A
And of course while he's away, the mice played and took his capital. I mean, don't leave it even, you know, you know, to leave your napkin on your chair or whatever. Like don't leave it.
- [64:33]
B
I know.
- [64:34]
A
So they took it. That was a big win. I mean, psychologically, I think upon the.
- [64:38]
B
Death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles, who again had lost his base, you know, he was kind of exiled in some ways from his home. Upon his death, it's when the Habsburgs were able to make their move again and Franz Stephen was elected Holy Roman Emperor.
- [64:56]
A
The man we have been referring to as Francis, but his Francis, no one called him Franz. That's actually more dignified. I know, it's the same guy.
- [65:04]
B
Yeah. I really believe that Maria Teresa was very proud of her husband. She sat in the audience during his coronation. She was beaming as the ceremony went on. Very proud of him. And I think her husband needed that ego boost of becoming a Holy Roman Emperor. I mean that's a huge ego boost. Even though I think in the back of his mind he knew that his role was going to be mostly symbolic. He was still wearing crown, you know, he still had the title.
- [65:32]
A
Well, he had brought it back to the family, you know, that's gotta feel good too. He's the only one that could do it.
- [65:40]
B
Right.
- [65:40]
A
Because his wife literally was barred by her gender from assume. There's nothing that she could do. And so he was able to give that gift to the empire, I guess.
- [65:49]
B
Right, right. I don't wanna lessen his contribution. But it was a lesser contribution, I guess.
- [65:55]
A
More on that later. We'll talk about how things went. The war of the Austrian succession as this complicated, ever changing, I might even call it amoeba, like conflict is called, continued until Maria Teresa was 31. And during the eight war years, Maria Teresa had six more children. Maria Cristina, who was born on her mother's 25th birthday, were only on 25. Two sons, three more daughters, including the second of the three, Maria Carolinas and the second of the two, Maria Elizabeth. At the conclusion of this conflict there were a few border changes. The only major one being Silesia was still gone. It broke her heart over and over. But the main result, honestly, was that Maria Teresa was able to keep the empire together. In fact, bring it closer together as a more cohesive unit. So despite territory lost or gained, what she did get was some street cred, you know.
- [66:49]
B
Oh, yeah, in a very valuable. In the moment, on your feet, rolling with it, education and military strategy. She also learned to never, ever trust Frederick. She even told her ambassador, the King of Prussia only wishes to lull me to sleep and to attack me again when I least dream of it. She went into the whole thing thinking that he was an ally and quickly found out that he wasn't and learned very fast that he's not the guy to turn to. This was also a huge revelation for Franz Steven because he and Frederick were actually friends for many years.
- [67:28]
A
Maria Teresa decided that never again would she be perceived by the world as weak or vulnerable. She had been working on her strategies the whole time. The world was going mad out there, and now it was time to act. Now that there was some peace, the very first thing on her list was reforming the army. And she proposed establishing a standing army of well over a hundred thousand men, probably 60,000 more than her father had bothered to keep. And strategically, 30,000 more than Frederick. I mean, specifically Frederick's peacetime army in Prussia, just for good measure, just to make sure she had the numbers, you know, in case he reared his ugly head again.
- [68:06]
B
And not just numbers. I mean, she's giving them an education. They're going to be soldiers, you know, they're getting a military education. It's not like, you know, drop your hoe in the field and come, you know, take up arms. For me, it's, here's your weapon. This is what we're going to do. We're going to talk strategically.
- [68:22]
A
Yeah, it's not a reserve army.
- [68:24]
B
She created an actual physical school for the officers of this army. So these are now all trained people.
- [68:31]
A
Well, in hopes of attracting those second sons of the nobility to serve and, you know, third and 15th, and however many sons there were, not everybody can inherit. So she tried to make it a respectable, prestigious career. There's a lot to be said for making something attractive, which is, of course, why the Sun King got people to hold his candle instead of taking his throne. You know, like, there's a good strategy of making. Making something a prize, and she was wise about that.
- [68:57]
B
Franz Steven did have an official role. He was extremely good with financial issues. So Maria Teresa gave him that job. You know, he was the finance guy. So he had a Very important role, you know, he actually did. It wasn't a figurehead. He was actually the money guy.
- [69:15]
A
The. That is the other arena that she wished her father had handled before she ever took the crown, that of financial matters. Their unfortunately for everyone working on it, there was a historical structure that had been working against the emperors for some time. Each of the provinces, they're called crown lands, had their own sort of parliament, their own individual group. It was called a Diet. Confusing for English speakers. It was like representatives from the local nobility, from the local church, maybe even from the local town bourgeoisie. Anyway, each year they negotiated their taxes with the emperor. Now, number one, that's rickety as heck. And that gives the provinces just enormous amount of control over the Empress. You know, the central government can never plan for anything because they don't know how much money is going to be in the budget next year, you know. And also, if you're a diet, you could use your secret displeasure to secretly reduce the amount if you were feeling away, you know, like, how dare you. So she and her husband had an economic advisor named Graff von Halquitz. I did not know that Graff meant Count. So Steffi Graff's name is noble.
- [70:21]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [70:22]
A
Graff von Halquitz. Anyway, upon his advice, the imperial couple proposed negotiating with each DIET Only every 10 years. And they would set the amount to be collected for an entire decade. And of course, everybody out there in the provinces were not happy with this. But of course, she made certain via carrot, if that's what it took, or stick, if that's what it took, by hook or by crook, that each province agreed to it. And so now she could look and plan 10 years into the future. And, you know, that's an enormous advantage to what her father had to deal with.
- [70:54]
B
Another part of her reorganization was her inner circle. You know, she had those old guys that she had inherited, but they were dying off, and she was able to replace them with people that she thought could do the job properly, not necessarily because of their family ties, but because of what they could bring intellectually to her. One of these men was a man named Count Emmanuel da Silva Teruca. Now, that doesn't sound German, because it's not. He was Portuguese. He had moved to Vienna and had known Maria Teresa her whole life. He was a little bit older than her, but she looked at him as a very wise man. And his entire job was to tell her the absolute truth. She wanted him to not sugarcoat anything. I mean, can you imagine being presented with that job? Look, sir, What I'd like you to do is tell me the truth when I'm messing up, you need to tell me, I mean, how do you take that job? You know, like, wait a second. This seems like a recipe for me to lose my head or something, but.
- [71:53]
A
I think that's the role that fools used to have in the courts of old because, you know, they made them dress crazy. Like, you can be like. No, it was all comedy. When I told you, you were being an idiot, right?
- [72:04]
B
Jingle, jingle, yeah.
- [72:06]
A
All they dispensed with maybe was the need for the hiding of what the true job was. I don't know. I say that takes a leader of integrity to purposely not want to be surrounded by yes men. If you think about it like, how tiring is that? You can't ever rely on anything.
- [72:21]
B
No. She even put it in writing. You want to talk about whys? Because he was hesitating. So she put it in writing. From now on, without intermission, you are to tell her where her heirs and to explain with perfect openness her faults of character.
- [72:37]
A
That's his job, man. The scary but awesome. I mean, that's. That's a job with a lot of. A lot of power, I think. And if done right, it could garner a lot of respect from an enlightened ruler. So I am very proud of everybody concerned. Yeah.
- [72:51]
B
And he did it so well. I mean, right away he started going. He said she was too rough and too unaccommodating and too impatient with other people. She needed to take more time with her decisions. He told her that she was trying to be everywhere, at too many balls, too many social events and not prioritizing sleep. He put her on a schedule. She was up at 4 and had business meetings and there was a quiet lunch later, there was rest, there was a walk, and then there was. I mean, her whole day was organized. It was all structured, I knew.
- [73:24]
A
And a Portuguese count.
- [73:25]
B
I know now it doesn't look like there's a lot of time in there for her family, which there isn't. But again, she was pregnant for 20 years, so there must have been enough time.
- [73:39]
A
During this peace time, in fact, Maria Teresa had five more children, four girls and a boy, including the third of the three, Maria Carolinas and an old friend of ours, 15th child, Maria Antonia, who we have covered here on the show as Marie Antoinette. Now, honestly, when I was expecting jot, I couldn't even keep down anything except grilled cheese sandwiches on rye and hot chocolate. And I did have a full time job, but I felt a Little pale, honestly, in comparison to things Maria Teresa has accomplished. I read somewhere that it, and I'm paraphrasing here, because I don't have it in front of me, that it was something like her combination of masculine power and feminine power that made people stand in awe of her. Like the undisputed feminine power of producing 15 children. It would ultimately, of course, be 16 with the birth of her last child, Maximilian, the following year. But it was that combination of power and Mother Earthness, as evidenced by her pregnancies, that kind of made people stand in awe. Like she's embodying all of the authority that the world has to give. I don't know. I'm sorry to say. Her husband was in no way faithful, by the way, despite all those pregnancies, he had a roving eye. But unlike in France, things were conducted at a much more discreet level. And this was the thing that the husband and wife fought about the most. Naturally enough. You know, Naturally enough, the imperial couple, unlike most of the royal establishments of Europe, actually shared a bedroom. That's handy. But Francis shared other people's bedrooms, too, at least temporarily, for the entirety of their marriage, sometimes for years at a time. Although they kind of kept it on the low, low. The court knew. The court knows everything. But, you know, in general, Francis, though he technically had power with Maria Theresa, he was not allowed to have much of a say about anything but what she gave him to focus on. People found him amiable, charming when he turned it on. He was a bit of good company to hang out with. Everybody liked the guy. The marriage was considered, even by the participants, to be a happy one. And in this era of arranged marriages, where you meet the guy five days before you marry him, I imagine someone that's known you since you were six is probably pretty comfortable.
- [75:39]
B
I agree.
- [75:40]
A
And Maria Teresa took care to craft her public image that this was so to others as well. She took care to present the vast Austrian royal family as a large, close, happy family. Now, honestly, the further you got down in the birth order, the less you actually even saw your mother. Much less knew her very well. It was a strategy, though, that when ambassadors or other notables came to Vienna, the children were called to present themselves and surround their mother. It was sort of a PR campaign, an image bolstering Allah Instagram Moms of today.
- [76:12]
B
Yeah.
- [76:13]
A
You know, Marie, you know what I thought of?
- [76:15]
B
I always thinking of the Sound of Music, you know, when the von Trapp kids come and sing the song for the guests. Oh, yeah, yeah, Kind of like that. Yep.
- [76:23]
A
While Marie Antoinette herself, remember, number 15 once told a friend, and I quote, Marie Antoinette, by means of this calculated demonstration of closeness, she evoked the belief that she herself supervised her children's upbringing, which obviously she did not hardly really saw them. But you do use what you've got. We've said that a lot on the show. You use whatever tools you are given. And we are going to go more into children as tools. Of course, in part two, for now, they are set dressing.
- [76:55]
B
Yeah.
- [76:55]
A
They will have a more practical use later on.
- [76:59]
B
Well, there's that portrait of the family and the kids are almost. They're not necessarily off in the distance, but they're not prominent in the portrait. The sons are. The daughters are kind of misty. But the whole point of the portrait was to show what you were just talking about. It was this big, strong, healthy family that was leading the entire empire.
- [77:21]
A
There was actually some thought that she was trying to increase the population of her dominions also. And this was a good way to show, like, look what the ideal is, this large, healthy, happy family. You too could have a large, healthy, happy family.
- [77:45]
B
You know, when you smell something and it just instantly transports you back to a certain time in a certain place.
- [77:51]
A
Scent is very, very wired in to your memory.
- [77:56]
B
It is. And the scents that always make me the happiest and the glowiest from the inside are scents that remind me of the beach. And Osea's andaria algae body oil smells like the beach to me. It's kind of got the mandarin orange, grapefruit, lime cypress smell, which has nothing to do with the beaches where I grew up in New England. But for some reason, maybe it smells like the sand and the beach roses and the scent of it going through the grasses. There's just something about it transports me right back to the beach. And the product is amazing.
- [78:31]
A
It's not just the scent, though. This body oil is clinically proven to instantly improve skin elasticity and deeply moisturize, leaving skin silky and sun soft with the post vacation glow.
- [78:43]
B
And you can get 10% off your first order with code chicks@o Malibu.com and find out for yourself about that post vacation glow. I'll tell you, this is my body oil lotion combination and I just ordered another set of it because I love it so much when I get out of the shower and my skin is still a little damp. I put the body oil on and it's not like lathering yourself up with baby oil. It's kind of a dry oil, if that makes any sense at all. And Then I put the lotion on after that's all absorbed and I am absolutely glowy. Not just from the inside but also from the outside.
- [79:21]
A
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- [79:40]
B
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- [79:54]
A
Samples with every order and free shipping on orders over $60. Head to o s e malibu.com and use code chicks for 10%. Just a quick note, Just a quick note. The next three and a half minutes or so involves some graphic imagery for the mind. So if you have small children, you might just put your earphones on. We're not going to talk about like specific things, but it might be just a little too scary for, you know, 10:00 in the morning, I'm thinking, ooh, I don't know if I have a 4 year old in the car with me if I wanna explain this.
- [80:40]
B
Maria Teresa was so good at juggling all these different and varied things. She's not just doing things militaristically, she's not just doing things economically. She's also doing things like the vampire scare back when she was still a tot. Reports were coming out of Prussia of people who had died in return and attacked and killed others. Obviously folklore, but so much so that their bodies were being exhumed from graves. And the hoax reports began to circulate even farther to Poland, to Hungary, to Silesia, to Austria, to Lorraine. You know, all of these Habsburg's territories papers were written and documentation air quotes was recorded as graves were getting dug up in the wake of several deaths in one particular area or another. It was an epidemic of bodies looking better than they had when they were buried. Stomachs were bloated, fingernails and hair were still growing. They must be feeding on something, right? They must be feeding on other people. This is where that image of the vampire started to grow and to become a thing.
- [81:52]
A
Not for nothing, Transylvania is part of the Habsburg Empire, correct?
- [81:57]
B
It is. Absolutely. No, not for nothing at all. What Village People started doing was beheading these corpses and burning their bodies and driving stakes into them. Does that sound at all like a vampire? Why? Yes. Yes, it does. It got to a point that Maria Teresa was like, these reports are getting ridiculous. So she sent her personal physician out to investigate. He reported back on two things. People were dying and seemingly healthy corpses were being dug up. And it was not related. The latter was just a normal process of decomposition. He said it had nothing to do with an undead person. It had everything to do with the illness that they died of and how their body was decomposing. So she issued an actual decree that all of this behavior was now illegal and was never fact based. So she's using science to make these decrees. Ah, I love it. Now that she has controlled the supernatural world and brought science into it, how about something that is actually more fitting for government? So Maria Teresa and her dream team were focusing on internal affairs. She held the very first census all across her lands. People were sent in to count people. They had had no idea how many people were living in villages, in territories before this. And now it was documented, they knew how much they were bringing in on taxes. It wasn't just take this tax money and throw it into the tax pit and we'll play with that money there. They knew how much they were bringing in so they could. Budget seems so simple to us. But at the time it was kind of revolutionary. So she's handling so much in different areas at the same time. Now there is a very dark side of her rule as well. And it was her level of antisemitism. Remember, she's extremely Catholic. And within the first four years of her rule, she ordered all Jewish people to leave Prague and Bohemia. That's 10,000 people in Prague alone in the wintertime. So that's like one in four citizens of the city were told to just leave. And as they fled, they were fleeced by locals for lodging and food. And they had to leave everything behind, which was of course stolen. The authorities complained and said that this was really unrealistic and cruel, that their lives were sent into dangerous turmoil, that diseases could spread. So she did concede on a couple points and let them remain in Bohemia, but not in Prague. What was happening was that the Jewish people were being used as, tell me if you heard this before, scapegoats for any kind of problems that were going on in her realm. Anything economic, anything war related, it somehow was the fault of the Jewish people. It would take three years of this and three years of hearing protests from heads of state all over Europe before she would lift this order. And again, it wasn't for humanitarian reasons. She didn't suddenly grow this big heart for Jewish people, it was for the financial ones.
- [85:12]
A
While Maria Theresa and her advisors focused on internal reform, for bad or good, her new state chancellor, another Graff, Graf von Kaunitz. I like saying things like that, it's powerful. He worked the diplomatic preparations for the ultimate reconquest of Silesia that just never left her as an obsession. I have to say we have another former subject coming into play right now because the giraffe von Kaunitz chose to approach a powerful woman in France that we have already covered. The King of France's mistress, Madame Pompadour. He approached her and asked for her to speak to the King about an unprecedented, largely secret alliance between his mistress, Maria Theresa and the King of France. It was shocking to me that it worked because a series of treatises of Versailles, treaties of Versailles were signed by these parties. It was a treaty of neutrality and mutual defense. Two of them. So they went in for the simple thing on the first one and in the second one they specified which parts of Prussia everybody was going to get at the end of a conflict, which is putting the cart before the horse. But at least they're both thinking the same direction, I guess, which is the key. Most importantly though, France promised never to enter Austrian territory and never to renew its alliance with Prussia. I think Frederick had burned some bridges. He was making a lot of people mad. The Empress of Russia hated him, you know what I mean? Like he was not making friends. And so everybody's kind of like, you know what? Why are we even talking to this guy? Why are we talking to this guy right now? This is very complicated. We're not going to get into all of the back and forth. But the result of all these assorted negotiations was something called the reversal of alliances. Traditionally you've had the sets of enemies, you know, France versus Britain, that's very famous, very long lasting and also translated over to the New World. And then you have what we've been talking about, Austria versus Prussia. But now, of course, Austria had abandoned their traditional Great Britain in favor of France. King George the Hanoverian could no longer be a hundred percent relied on to put German interests first. You know what I mean? Like he was becoming more British. Irritating.
- [87:39]
B
How dare.
- [87:41]
A
Yeah. And so Prussia had to turn to Britain for support. It's called the slow quadrille, which is interesting. So like generations and centuries of history are just turning over like one of those giant icebergs that you're like. And all of a sudden it's blue, it's different, it's turned completely upside Down. And that is what happened. It's historically very, very weird.
- [88:02]
B
That's an interesting name for it because it is like a dance, right? You know those dances at the time where you were with one partner and then suddenly you spin and turn kind of like a human kaleidoscope, and suddenly you're partnered up with somebody else. That's a great name for it.
- [88:19]
A
The ensuing. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, the ensuing conflict was the Seven Years War, the Great war of the mid 18th century. Now we know it here in the United States as the French and Indian War. Most of the key results of this conflict happened over here anyway. The main result being that the British dominated the French and were able to begin taking hold in Canada. I think we can argue that's a significant development. Canadians. Do you agree?
- [88:45]
B
Yeah.
- [88:47]
A
Back home, Maria Theresa and her allies never really did manage to penetrate Prussia or even really put it down effectively, though, they wore the man down, the man, personal man, to the point of despair, honestly. Hooray. That's more than people expected, because, among other things, Frederick the Great was known as a military genius. Well, over in Russia, Empress Elizabeth died, and her successor, Peter, worshipped Frederick the Great. And he was determined not only to end Russia's war against Prussia, but also to join Prussia in fighting against Austria and France. Maybe he could fight with his heroes. This is that crazy man that used to fight all those wars with actual men instead of toy soldiers, including shooting. He is a cray cray person. We've talked about him before. Before he could implement such a radical change in policy. Guess what happened? We've covered it before. His wife, former subject Catherine the Great, deposed him, and her action was simply to end the war, Just end it. Catherine, later the Great, she's not the Great yet. She'd been born in Prussian Pomerania, which province had suffered greatly from Russian aggression. And so she's like, no, we're not doing that anymore. There's three key women in this conflict. Or four, if you count Madame Pompadour.
- [89:56]
B
Right. Frederick actually called the group the Three Petticoats, even though there's four. I know.
- [90:01]
A
Well, I don't think he knew about Madame Pompadour's.
- [90:03]
B
Oh, that's true inclusion. Yep.
- [90:06]
A
Yep.
- [90:06]
B
I'm like, why wouldn't they? Four. Yeah, four.
- [90:08]
A
That's why I said, if you count Madame Pompadour.
- [90:10]
B
I'm counting Madame Pompadour because that for a mistress to take on that initiative, you know, and to actually be successful at it, it's impressive.
- [90:19]
A
I think Madame Pompadour is pretty powerful influence. Honestly, we cover her before. We should probably put her episode in the. In the link. There was a long standing respect for her intellect in that court. So.
- [90:30]
B
Right.
- [90:31]
A
So good. Yeah. The three petticoats brought down the King of Prussia. So with the great quadrille and all the new alliances and all the new policies in place, young Maria Teresa had matured into her role. And from now on, it was going to be an entirely different game.
- [90:51]
B
And that's where we're gonna have to stop this episode. There is so much more ahead that we decided to break it into two.
- [90:57]
A
So we'll see you in a couple of weeks for part two. Check out our Pinterest board for Maria Teresa for more pictures, including the Imperial Crypt. We were actually just there, believe it or not, and saw Maria Teresa's immense, massive. I hope I have a picture of it with a person in it so you can tell the scale of it all.
- [91:18]
B
The crypt, or of that statue of her right there in the middle. Okay. Yeah.
- [91:22]
A
Of the crypt. Yeah. We were actually in the underground Imperial Crypt that has a gift store, which seems.
- [91:29]
B
That's actually the one museum gift shop that I did not buy anything.
- [91:33]
A
I bought a shirt for my son. And then I was like, well, that's a. That's a different scenario. Really?
- [91:39]
B
Okay, that tracks. What? Did it say something?
- [91:41]
A
No, it was just a graphic representation of one of the figures on the corners of one of a. Oh, that's actually pretty like a veiled. A veiled night or whatever. Yeah, it was fine.
- [91:50]
B
Yeah.
- [91:51]
A
Well, that'll do it for us. We are so excited to bring you part two in two weeks. Have a fabulous, fabulous summertime outside or inside adventure, whichever you choose. And we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening.
- [92:03]
B
Bye.
- [92:04]
A
If you liked what you heard today, you know the drill. Tell a few friends about us or leave a review for us on Apple Podcasts. Another reminder, if you are a resident of New York City or New York City adjacent, please come join us on September 14th for our dinner cruise. We're going to have about 50 travelers from all across the United States with us. We have a boat, we have music. There will be things to drink, things to eat, a great view of the city and camaraderie for all. For Tickets, go to likemindstravel.com and look for the Events tab. The song in the middle is Jigue a l'anglo by the period appropriate composer, Jorg Teleman. Honestly, I tried to find some Clavier music. Evidently, that's how you pronounce it Clavier, but the closest I could get was harpsichord. We'll take it. The song at the end is alright, We Fight by Louie Ling and the Bombs. I thought it was a good representation of a young woman getting herself together, psyched up to really face all of her enemies. And also it reminded me lot of the movie Tank Girl. I don't know why. Maybe the spirit of the thing, the underdog fighting against the powerful enemy. It's not on the soundtrack, but it should have been. See you next time for part two.
- [94:21]
B
Wi fi. Wi fi. Yeah.
- [94:29]
A
The time is now?
- [94:34]
B
The time is now? The time is now.
- [95:17]
A
Okay. La, la, la. Okay, I think we're good. Do I hit stop? Okay, stop.