Empress Maria Theresa's Sons

maria theresa's sixteen children the sons Maria Teresa was one of the most powerful women in history her husband and son got to hold the title of Emperor but she was the real power she reformed and modernized her empire all while giving birth to 16 children five of whom or sons despite their mother's power the boys were favored over their sisters and educated to be leaders two were Holy Roman emperors and shared the ideals of enlightened reform though with differing amounts of success one held a lifelong grudge against his elder brother and one was Beethoven's first patron here are the stories of the five sons of Maria Teresa Yosef was his parents fourth child and long-awaited male heir his arrival was met with great rejoicing even though it coincided with the beginning of the war of Austrian succession he was a bright young man and received an Enlightenment education heavy in the works of Voltaire and was given the practical political training his mother had been denied Maria Teresa's great rival king frederick ii of prussia was set out as an excellent example for him at 19 he was married to the beautiful princess Isabella of Parma he loved her dearly finding her both intellectually stimulating and charming Isabella however it was more enamored of his sister Maria Cristina and it was rumoured that the two young women were lovers Isabella was fond of Joseph but she lived in mortal terror of becoming pregnant and dying in childbirth as her mother had so she often avoided her husband's affection the couple had one child a daughter named Maria Teresa after her grandmother Isabella suffered postpartum depression after the birth which was exacerbated by a quick succession of two miscarriages and another pregnancy six months pregnant Isabella contracted smallpox and went into labor prematurely the child died shortly after birth and Isabella grief-stricken followed her a few days later yosef was heartbroken he devoted himself to his surviving daughter and refused to consider remarrying in 1765 his father died and Yosef became Emperor and his mother's co-ruler he and his mother had differing opinions on many subjects Yosef wanted to promote religious tolerance relieve the peasantry of feudal burdens remove restrictions on trade and knowledge and liberate the serfs but his mother always had the final say and Yosef felt stifled and frequently threatened to abdicate one thing about which mother and son did agree was their own despotic right to rule in 1769 he met with his mother's rival and his own role model Frederick the Great of Prussia the two rulers got on well and began discussing slicing up Poland between them under political pressure Joseph married his second cousin Princess Maria Joseph of Bavaria maria Yosef admired her husband but felt intimidated by his intellect he treated her coldly and avoided her as much as possible two years into their unhappy marriage Maria Josepha fell ill with smallpox and Yosef did not visit her on her deathbed though he later regretted his callousness Joseph never remarried Joseph's only surviving child Maria Teresa died of lung disease at the age of seven the Emperor was traumatized by her death and never recovered in 1775 Frederick the Great fell ill and Joseph assembled an army to march on Silesia a long disputed territory but Frederick recovered and Yosef was forced to back down in 1777 he paid a visit to his sister Marie Antoinette now queen of France he was able to talk to King Louis the sixteenth and get to the bottom of why he and his bride had still not consummated their marriage after seven years armed with his brother-in-law's advice Louis soon deflowered Marie and she gave birth to a daughter the following year based on his observations in France Yosef predicted that a revolution might be coming soon in 1780 empress maria theresa died and joseph finally held the reins of power alone he asked his unmarried sisters to leave court as he shunned the presence of women and wanted to end what he called their women's republic he moved quickly in pursuit of his own goals of enlightened despotism he wanted to be a benevolent father to his people and to make them happy but only in strict accordance with his own ideas of what was best for them which didn't always fit the reality of his people's lives he granted limited freedom of religion secularized Churchland made use of the german language compulsory and abolished the death penalty and serfdom he decreed that peasants must be paid in cash rather than labour obligations but this policy was violently opposed by the nobility and the peasants as their barter economy lacked money the people grew indignant at the emperor and his secret police interfering with nearly every aspect of their lives Hungarians in particular were infuriated and rebellion broke out there in the Austrian Netherlands and in other territories at 46 Josef was worn down from fighting losing battles and was abandoned by his followers his chief minister refused to visit him for two years and his brother and heir Leopold refused his offer of Co rulership and remained in Florence at last joseph recognized that his servants could not or would not carry out his plans with the empire near collapse he was forced to back down on many of his reforms he died in 1790 at the age of 48 his epitaph reads here lies joseph ii who failed in all he undertook Charles Yosef was the second and favored son of his mother and father he had a deep rivalry and hatred of his older brother Yosef he ridiculed Yosef for his haughtiness and thought himself to be more deserving of the imperial crown because he had been born to his mother after she became Empress he often said that when the time came he meant to contend with his brother over the Empire the rivalry between the brothers was brought to an end when Charles Joseph died of smallpox two weeks shy of his 16th birthday while his mother sat at his bedside in tears her beloved son told her you should not weep for me to your mother for if I lived I would have brought you many more tears you have to wonder how history might have been different if there had been an emperor charles Yosef instead Leopold as the third son was not expected to inherit much and was trained from an early age for the priesthood but when his elder brother Charles Joseph died at fifteen plans were changed Leopold would inherit his father's Grand Duchy of Tuscany at seventeen he was married to infanta maria luisa of spain daughter of king charles the third his father died while the family was travelling to attend his wedding so he and his new bride travelled to Florence to take their place as Grand Duke and Duchess Leopold's father Emperor Francis Stephen had been granted Tuscany after the Medici family who had ruled there for nearly two centuries died out Francis Stephen had been more concerned with politics in the Holy Roman Empire and had done little in Tuscany other than tax it heavily for the first five years of his reign young Leopold held only nominal authority under the supervision of councilors appointed by his mother but at 22 he returned to Vienna to ask the Empress to remove the councilors once he held real power in Tuscany Leopold said about lowering taxes and removing many restrictions on industry and personal freedom which had been in place since the rule of the Medicis as he had no standing army to pay for he was able to reinvest in the state and funded several profitable public works he was the first ruler in modern history to outlaw the death penalty he promoted medical education smallpox inoculation built new hospitals and reformed the inhumane system of care for the mentally ill despite bringing Tuscany to prosperity Leopold's cold manner made him unpopular with his people it was said that his heart was made of Braves he was also notorious for his many extramarital affairs his most famous mistresses were Lady Anna Gore cowper and ballerina Livia Raimondi with whom he fathered a son and granted a palace Leopold's wife Maria Luisa was a cheerful and good-natured woman and had been raised to endure any hardship of marriage without complaint she turned a blind eye on her husband's many dalliance 'as all while giving birth to sixteen children making Leopold the founder of the new habsburg-lorraine dynasty Leopold had respect for the rights of citizens and desired harmony between the populace and the government he was interested in the creation of a constitution as the new government of the United States of America was enacting this was a radical idea at the time and met with opposition even from those who would have benefited however his constitutional plans did not come to pass as he inherited the Holy Roman Empire from his brother and was called away to Vienna in 1790 the brothers Joseph and Leopold had always been close like Joseph Leopold was an enlightened despot but his efforts on the smaller stage of Tuscany were better considered and much more successful in the final years of Joseph's life Leopold observed the many missteps and overly radical and authoritarian edicts his brother was enacting and distanced himself from them feeling his death approaching Joseph begged his brother and heir to return to Vienna as co-ruler but Leopold felt it prudent to avoid getting tangled up in his brothers policy and remained in Florence after Joseph died Leopold returned to Vienna as Emperor and immediately began making concessions to joseph's reforms pacifying the many groups who were near revolution one of his more radical steps was to remove the freedom granted by his brother to thousands of serfs despite smoothing over many problems within the Empire Leopold faced external threats on all sides he wanted to send troops west to support his sister Queen marie-antoinette of France who had been arrested amid the French Revolution but he knew that catherine the great of russia was waiting on the eastern border ready to attack instead he supported a rescue attempt the French Royals tried to fleet in a carriage but King louia France was recognized and arrested only a few miles from the border the new French Revolutionary Government posed an increasing threat to the Empire and Leopold attempted to enlist the aid of Britain and Russia against France but was unsuccessful in 1792 Emperor Leopold died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 44 it was rumoured that he may have been poisoned by one of his many enemies at home and abroad though he had only been Emperor for two years his rule was highly regarded especially in comparison to his older brother Yosef he was succeeded as Emperor by his son francis ii Ferdinand the fourth son was engaged at nine to the 13 year old Maria Beatrice de state the only living child of Duke heir called the third of Modena Ferdinand thus became the heir to the Duchy of Modena at 17 he married Maria Beatrice festivities for their wedding included Mozart's opera Ascanio in Alba while his father-in-law was still alive Ferdinand was granted the governorship of Milan and he moved there with his new bride the couple had ten children in 1796 Napoleon invaded Milan and forced the family to flee a year later a treaty between france and austria granted duke and cole the Duchy of breisgau in southern germany in 1803 the 75 year old Duke heir Cole died and Ferdinand succeeded him as Duke of breisgau and Duke of Medina in name only two years later yet another treaty between Napoleon and the Holy Roman Empire forced Ferdinand to give up Breisgau he died the following year at 52 eight years later his son Francis the fourth was recognized as Duke of Medina by the Congress of Vienna Maximilian Francis was Maria Theresa's 16th and last child at 24 he succeeded his uncle Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine as Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights an order which had been established in 1192 to protect pilgrims on the way to the Holy Land at 28 he became Archbishop and elector of Cologne in this position he set up court in Bonn he was a lover and patron of music he maintained a musical establishment in which lead Whig von Beethoven's grandfather was choir master and his father was a tenor he recognized the extraordinary musical ability of young Beethoven appointed him assistant organist and later gave him leave to visit Vienna and study under Mozart but when his mother fell ill Beethoven was unable to go Maximilian Francis later funded Beethoven's time in Vienna studying under Hyden Salieri and other in 1794 bond was overrun by French revolutionary troops and maximilian francis was forced to flee to vienna where he lived the rest of his life beethoven planned to dedicate his first symphony to his first patron but maximilian francis died before it was completed at the age of 45 if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching you

Channel: Lindsay Holiday

Views: 166,989

Rating: 4.9444814 out of 5

Keywords: history, game of thrones, documentary, royal family, nobility, royalty, sex, bbc, the crown, british history, england, scandal, murder, royal wedding, pregnancy, feminist, women, incest, inbreeding, inbred, europe, wwi, historic costumes, princess, duchess, bride, austria, germany, holy roman empire, 1700s, enlightenment, marie antoinette, empress maria theresa, vienna, hungary, powdered wig, historic fashion, imperial family, emperor joseph ii, Ludwig van Beethoven, mozart, emperor leopold ii, Maximilian

Id: S1lp9qMACfo

Length: 15min 4sec (904 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 31 2020