Women Who Changed History Documentary Part One

the woman known to history has had Shep suit was born in ancient Egypt in approximately 1507 BC her father was stutt Moses the first a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled mainly from the city of Thebes which is now in the modern city of Luxor on the River Nile 500 miles south of the Mediterranean Sea sutmos of the first was a renowned military leader and oversaw the vast expansion of the ancient Egyptian empire eastwards into the Levant and southwards into Nubia now Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt he was likely the son of the previous Pharaoh amenhotep the first and a secondary wife but the Egyptians did not create family trees so identifying blood relations can be difficult her mother was ahmoza the principal wife of thutmosa the first but it is not known who ahmoza's parents were although it is highly likely that she was born into the royal family egyptologists have argued that she was the daughter of pharaoh amanhotep the first making her the sister and wife of footmosa so something that was common within the royal family however she was never given the title of King's Daughter instead she was referred to as the King's sister suggesting she was the sister of either amenhotep orthod moza akhmoza and her husband thought mosa the first had two daughters the eldest of whom was Hatshepsut and no surviving Sons which would become a problem for the dynasty was only the second historically confirmed woman to rule Egypt with the full titles and power of a pharaoh she belonged to the 18th Dynasty which ran from 1507 BC to 1458 BC and she ruled for over two decades from 1478 BC to 1458 BC Hatshepsut lived over 3500 years ago and to put into perspective how long the period of ancient Egyptian history is hatch episode lived over one thousand years after the building of the Pyramids of Giza and 100 years before Tutankhamun 200 years before Ramesses and 1400 years before the most famous female pharaoh Cleopatra little is known about hatch episode's childhood but her name which means foremost of noble ladies highlighted her prominent position within the royal family she certainly would have had important Royal duties to fulfill including being involved in religious rituals she is known to worship the cow goddess hathor in particular who was the goddess of love beauty music dancing fertility and pleasure and was also the protector of women there were 42 State gods and goddesses in total in the ancient Egyptian religion the most important of which was Amun ra the Sun God creator who was later seen as king of the Gods as the eldest daughter of the Pharaoh Hatshepsut would have been expected to marry the next Pharaoh a tradition which aimed to keep the Royal bloodline pure and So at around the age of 12 she married her half-brother foot Moses II becoming his principal wife as thutmosa II was younger than Hatshepsut she perhaps took over the Reigns of power in her husband's name when their father thought Moses the first died in 1493 BC by the time Hatshepsut came to full power in around 1478 BC Egypt as a unified country was already 17 centuries old as legendary King Menace had first ruled a unified Egypt in around 3100 BC as it is today the land of ancient Egypt was made habitable by the River Nile which cut through the desert and gave the names to the two regions of Egypt up Egypt which was upriver in the South and Lower Egypt down river in the north around the Nile Delta Region the king or pharaoh ruled both regions with the title of king of Upper and Lower Egypt lord of the two lands but there were distinct differences between the two areas they had different protector goddesses nehbet the vulture goddess in Upper Egypt and what jet the Cobra goddess in Lower Egypt the regions were also represented by different symbols the Lotus for the upper and the Papyrus for the lower which were often tied together to symbolize unity in those periods when Upper and Lower Egypt were United there was huge prosperity and astonishing cultural achievement they were true Golden Ages the first golden age occurred During the period of the Old Kingdom 2649 BC to 2100 BC this was the age of the pyramids disintegration and competing dynastic families brought this golden age to a temporary end a period called the first intermediate period from 2181 BC to 2055 BC the Middle Kingdom from 2030 BC to 1650 BC was the second Golden Age a time when Egyptian culture and literature flourished this period of growth had begun with the reunification of Upper and Lower Egypt by mentuhotep II however the beginning of the end of the Middle Kingdom was caused by a break in the Royal Line female pharaoh Sobek neferu died in 1802 BC without any heirs resulting in the collapse of the successful 12th Dynasty the next two dynasties which overlapped proved weak the 13th dynasty was forced to retreat southwards towards Memphis and failed to prevent a breakaway Dynasty forming the Breakaway 14th Dynasty ranged separately over the Nile Delta Region simultaneously the second intermediate period from 1650 BC to 1550 BC which followed saw Egypt once again divided in the north the hiksos dynasty arrived from Western Asia and its six Kings ruled as the 15th Dynasty in the South the kingdom of kush an early civilization in the region of Nubia Northern Sudan expanded its reach in the middle South the Egyptian Kingdom of Thebes or the 16th Dynasty and the 17th Dynasty it was during the 17th Dynasty that war was launched against hiksos rule who were eventually pushed out of Egypt by the thebans of the 17th Dynasty it was at this time that Upper and Lower Egypt were reunited by ahmoza the first of Thebes in 1550 BC and the third Golden Age began this brought ancient Egypt full circle as another theban meant to hotep II had United Upper and Lower Egypt at the start of the Middle Kingdom too also triggering a golden age in reunifying the country achmosa became the founder of the New Kingdom and the first king of the 18th Dynasty to which hatshep's suit also belonged as the period of foreign rule in Egypt came to an end Egypt began to build up its own Empire during the second intermediate period the cushites had raided the South prompting the Egyptians to expand further south into Nubia the kingdom of kush was firmly pushed back under hatshepsut's father thought Moses the first around 1500 BC and the earlier defeats of the exos during the second intermediate period saw the New Kingdom of Egypt expand into the Levant it was during this time just before hatshepsut's Reign that the Egyptian Empire attained its greatest territorial extent patch episode was directly related to these Empire expanding pharaohs as well as her father that mosa the first Hatshepsut was a blood relation of ahmoza the first the unifier of Upper and Lower Egypt and the first ruler of the New Kingdom but although they came from the same Dynasty tracing their family connections is difficult ahmosa the First's son amen hotep the first was his successor but after that the historical record becomes unclear amenhotep the first was succeeded by mosa the first but thoughtmoza never used the title King's son which puts a question mark over his connection to amenhotep some egyptologists have argued that that Moses wife Moser was amenhotep's Sister making that moza his son-in-law rather than biological son or he might have been amenhotep's son born of a lesser wife which would have restricted his use of the title King's Sun it is also possible that sutmosa was a general chosen by the airless amenhotep to rule however a violent coup can be ruled out as an explanation as the record suggests a peaceful transition of power occurred dynastic problems did not come to an end after the accession of footmosa the first a recurring issue was that Sons born to secondary wives and any female children were not considered ideal heirs thudmos are the first and his principal wife ahmoza had no surviving son only two daughters of whom had shepsut was the oldest that Moses the first did have a son that Moses II with a secondary wife would notret and it was thought best according to tradition the third most II be quickly married to his half-sister hachepsut this would bolster the credentials of that Moses II and preserve the direct Royal line egyptologists of the past have presented that most II as weak and frail this presentation was not necessarily rooted in fact it was fueled by a determination to present Hatshepsut as domineering a shrewd Hatshepsut was supposed to have manipulated her ineffective husband and essentially ruled in his name however public monuments paint a different picture a dutiful hatch episode is shown standing behind her husband showing appropriate fealty to him as the Pharaoh but the limited scale of that Moses II's building program hinders a deeper understanding of his Reign and the power his wife held that Moses II ruled only for a short time after his father's death he was succeeded by his wife and half-sister Hatshepsut for the same reason he himself had almost been passed over the lack of a son born of the principal wife just like his father thoughtmosa II did have a son with a secondary wife Isis this child foot Moses III could not immediately take the throne because he was very young and like with the accession of that Moses II there was some concern over the child's status as the son of a secondary wife the weakening of the direct Royal Line was a concern that could not be easily overlooked instead as tradition indicated Hatshepsut was to rule as co-regent for the young boy a role which soon grew to that of a co-ruler there had been precedence of widowed principal wives ruling as Regents and beautifully handling the Affairs of the government for their young Sons but the short life span of ancient Egyptians meant that young rulers and the requirement for Regents Was Not Unusual and hatshepsut's Royal credentials as both daughter and wife of past Pharaohs were unimpeachable but most of the third was recognized as king from the beginning of his co-regent period which ran from 1478 BC to 1473 BC monuments from the time showed the child King in the form of an adult as was traditional performing Royal duties and rituals had shepsut dressed in Royal female Garb is depicted off to one site demurely watching over her stepson but hatch episode's rise to full power was not inevitable at the start of their joint reign it was only several years later that hachepsut began appearing on monuments in the costume of the male Pharaoh indicating a change in status the first example we have of this gender swapping power dressing comes from the second year of the co-regent period with hatch episode depicted in the Karnak Temple complex in Thebes wearing the Robes of a female ruler but the crown of a male king this slow adoption of the symbols of the Pharaoh suggests that her rise to power was gradual rather than an Abrupt coup but in around 1473 BC hatchepsut took on the title of king of Upper and Lower Egypt and the regalia and other formal titles of the pharaoh of Egypt this was a permanent promotion hachep soot could not step down when thoughtmoza came of age as the role of pharaoh was a lifelong responsibility pharaohs could not abdicate or rule temporarily but even at this time when her power was at its height she ruled as a co-ruler with that Moses III the reasons behind hatshepsut's decision to take on the full titles of kingship are lost to history she may have been acting to safeguard the throne for that mosa III as the deaths of that Moses mother Isis and hatshepsut's mother ahmoza removed the remaining links to the previous Royal generation and perhaps left hatch episode feeling exposed although 19th and 20th century egyptologists were Keen to present Hatshepsut as an ambitious cunning woman with an unnatural hunger for power there is little evidence to support this view it was more likely that hachepsut's instinct was to continue to rule as co-regent in the name of footmosa III ruling with the full power of the Pharaoh and in her own name would have been a great risk given the existence of a legitimate Heir and The Limited precedence of female pharaohs but a political crisis perhaps a threat from an alternative branch of the royal family forced her hand she could not rule for that most with the title of King's mother because he wasn't her son his own mother Isis had been unable to take on the King's mother title because she had no Royal Blood between her own gender foot moza III's young age and his limited legitimacy as the son of a secondary wife hatchips options for establishing stable rule were very limited in the end she was the best place to rule as the daughter and principal wife of two pharaohs and the holder of the influential religious title of God's wife the title of God's wife of Amun had given her Authority even before her elevation to co-regent or co-ruler it was this title that won her the support of the priests the God's wife LED festivals to the god Amun one of the primordial Egyptian gods who was later merged with the ancient Sun God to become Amun ra and assisted the high priest in his sacred duties at the Great temple of Amun at kanak she was held in high regard because it was believed she had Direct interaction with Amun who was revered in Thebes as the Creator God and later King of the Gods the God's wife had enough influence and power to dictate policy as ancient Egypt was a priest-led society where religion and government were deeply intertwined hachap suit was the last God's wife for many decades perhaps because the role bestowed enormous power privilege and wealth on the woman who held this title hatchips experience leading religious rituals and working closely with the priests stood her in good stead for the duties of a pharaoh as well as leading religious processions and festivals pharaohs had a more direct Divine responsibility ancient Egyptians saw their pharaohs as a link between the gods and the human race pharaohs would be responsible for direct communication with the 42 State gods and goddesses and were charged with maintaining the cosmic order established during creation called ma'at in many cases pharaohs themselves were seen as semi-divine beings with some believed to be born of amunra including hapshid suit and when they died would become fully fledged Divine beings as well as the support of the priests hatch episode would have relied on the favor of the royal family and the courtiers arguments that the cunning Hatshepsut sought to overthrow her stepson and Rule alone are undermined by the fact that the ancient Egyptian royal family relied on the support of other Elite groups the risk of being overthrown would have reminded Hatshepsut that she was answerable to others it seems likely that the courtiers as well as the priests supported hapshadsut's rise to power only 70 years before her Reign Egypt had been divided during the second intermediate period with large regions ruled by other groups including the hiksos in the North and the kingdom of kush in the South courtiers relied on the royal family for their privileged positions and the loss of this Royal Line would have threatened their power and caused widespread turmoil stability and prosperity were the aims of the day and Hatshepsut along with The Shining Legacy of her father footmosa the first seem to offer just that there is no surviving evidence that suggests Hatshepsut faced any major challenges to her Reign although she technically ruled as a co-ruler with her stepson it was clear that hachapsut was in charge with her stepson happy to lead her Army and not use this power against her despite 19th and 20th Century attempts to present this co-ruling Duo as in conflict with that Moses seen as embittered by his Stepmother's Rising power there is little evidence of this the pieces of evidence which have reached Us in the present show a harmonious working relationship while he grew up that mosa valued hachapsut's experience of ruling including during her father's Reign while he fought in campaigns her guidance and her illustrious status as a direct descendant of the Royal bloodline without the public and Elite support hatch episode had won it is possible that the infant that mosa would have lost the throne to another it was perhaps the fear of her royal line losing the kingship that encouraged Hatshepsut to become Pharaoh her claim to more power was supported and she received the official regalia of the Pharaoh including the cut head cloth featuring The uraeus the rearing Cobra a traditional false beard and shendit Kilt many statues survive showing hatshepsuts in this androgynous Royal attire in reliefs she is shown striding forward and standing tall as well as the traditional Pious kneeling position rather than the demure postures of Egyptian female figures the feminine ankle length dress and closed feet stunts are rarely used in images of Hatshepsut women could have high status in ancient Egypt and had legal rights to property unlike in many other ancient and modern civilizations there had been examples of powerful Egyptian women including hachepsut's own mother ahmoza who wielded great influence at the King's Daughter throughout ancient Egyptian history many Mortal women were worshiped as goddesses and both before and after Hatshepsut women reigned as pharaohs a handcaus the first nidokris and Sobek neferro had all ruled in some capacity prior to hachep soot and nefer and faruatin tuasuretz and Cleopatra were just some of the important female rulers who came after her but there was no word for queen in ancient Egypt King's wife was the title given to those who married the Pharaoh the ruler was called the king or Pharaoh no matter their gender and female pharaohs that is women who ruled fully under their own name and with the regalia and titles of pharaoh were not common before Hatshepsut there had only been Sobek neferu who had reigned six dynasties before her and had taken on the male title of King as the office of pharaoh was a distinctly male one adaptation was necessary for female rulers the symbolism of ancient Egyptian kingship the crook and flail and the euras and masculine dress was designed for male rulers given that the role usually passed from father to son in the majority of the statues and works of art that have survived until the modern day Hatshepsut is presented as a masculine King this was one of the reasons why it took egyptologists so long to identify her hieroglyphic inscriptions said female King but the imagery was almost entirely masculine presenting herself as a male king wasn't deceitful it was tradition Egyptian art often presented things as they should be rather than how they are older Kings and infant Kings like that mosa III were also presented as having youthful trim masculine physiques she presented herself as other kings did relief scenes show hatshepsi completing historic kingly rituals from making offerings to the gods and celebrating festivals to trampling foreign captives in the form of a sphinx hachib soot did not completely hide her femininity as she took on the masculine attributes of the kingship she replaced the traditional male titles and epithets used on hieroglyphic labels on statues and reliefs with feminine variations her name was often followed up with daughter of Rey and The Feminine word ending she used led to grammatical oxymorons like his majesty herself in private spaces statues of hachap soot depicted her with a mix of male and female attributes two rare examples of these statues now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York show her with the masculine headdress of the Pharaoh combined with an obvious feminine silhouette or even in full feminine dress it was in public spaces such as on the processional way that her statues presented her as a young king in the prime of life when in Sphinx form kneeling or standing hatchips statues sought to portray her as the ideal male king she also called on the religious aspects of the Pharaoh to bolster her legitimacy she styled herself as matkare meaning truth is the soul of the sun god to emphasize her connection to Amun one myth even has her as the demigod child of our moon she aimed to highlight her moral responsibilities as Pharaoh ma'at meaning the truth order and Justice bestowed by the gods referred to her ability as the legitimate pharaoh to communicate with the gods this title plainly said that she was destined to help maintain my art and bring stability and prosperity to Egypt hachebsut's legitimacy was further bolstered by the proclamation of the Oracle of our moon the Oracle declared that hatch episode's rise to become Pharaoh was in fact amun's will hachepsut promoted the words of the Oracle by carving the following Proclamation on many of her grand monuments welcome my sweet daughter my favorite the king of Upper and Lower Egypt Thou Art the Pharaoh taking possession of the two lands but even the oracle's words did not make hatch episode lose sight of the fact that she was a co-ruler she ordered a relief to be made to Showcase her rise to power which showed both herself and that Moses III this relief was placed in the red Chapel a sacred building in the sanctuary of amunra at the Temple of Karnak which housed the usurhat Amun a golden boat used by the god Amun to travel around Boshi and her co-ruler that mosa were presented as men but Hatshepsut now took the place of Precedence the words of our moon via the Oracle and this visual representation of her power in a place sacred to our moon emphasized her divine right to be pharaoh to highlight her legitimacy had shepsut also emphasized her connection to her father Pharaoh thought mosa the first she appeared to idolize her father who had won Fame for his military victories and expansion when Hatshepsut was a young child he had returned from his victory against the cushions in Nubia with the naked body of a Nubian Chieftain displayed on the prow of his ship put Moses expansion of the Egyptian Empire had vastly increased its Prosperity by presenting herself as her father's chosen successor she tied herself to his illustrious Legacy and to a long line of successful pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty however historical evidence to support hatshepsut's claim of being her father's name successor has not been found the claim seems especially dubious given that hatch episode was married to her half-brother thutmosa II to strengthen his claim as Heir tradition dictated that Sons even those of secondary wives took precedence over the daughters historically women had only come to power when no male successor was available so it seems unlikely that tutmosa the first would have named Hatshepsut as his successor but hatchepsut ensured that her version of History would persevere by inscribing her claim on the walls of her Mortuary Temple at Deer El Bahari then his majesty said to them this daughter of mine tamun Hatshepsut may she live I have appointed as my successor upon my Throne she shall direct the people in every sphere of the palace it is she indeed who shall lead you obey her words unite yourselves at her command the Royal Nobles the dignitaries and the leaders of the people heard this proclamation of the promotion of his daughter the king of Upper and Lower Egypt mat Kari may she live eternally visual representations and inscriptions in buildings were important parts of Egyptian history and unsuccessful kingship without these architectural Works little would be known of ancient Egypt today but more importantly building programs gave the Pharaohs the opportunity for self-aggrandizement and Legend building the achievements of the Pharaohs would live on in their architectural Works long after they were gone and Hatshepsut understood this better than anyone hatchipsud has been remembered predominantly for her influence on the Arts her Reigns or a cultural Renaissance that was to have a lingering effect on Egyptian art and architecture for a millennium she was one of the most prolific Pharaoh Builders with thousands of projects throughout Upper and Lower Egypt and especially around the city of Thebes many temples were built to display her piety and bolster her claim to semi-divine status as the God's wife of Amun she also sought to promote her own accomplishments and show off the wealth her policies had brought to Egypt it was a chance for her to write her own story and ensure that she would not be forgotten her buildings were of a much grander style than her predecessors and was so impressive that later rulers attempted to claim them as their own she ordered the production of so much statuary that every major Museum in the world has pieces from hatch episode's reign in their ancient Egypt collections including a whole room dedicated to her pieces at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art the vastness of her building and statuary projects has left us important evidence about her as a ruler and about how she wanted to be perceived the grandest of all hatshepsut's building projects was as was traditional the mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut which still exists ancient Egyptian Mortuary temples were not so much about death as they were a celebration of the eternal life of the Pharaoh and their Union with the God our moon a mortuary Temple was built for hatchabsut in the complex at Daya al-bahari on the West Bank of the Nile River across the bank from the ancient city of Thebes and the modern city of Luxor it was built into the Cliff face looking towards the Karnak Temple complex on the opposite side of the Nile where prestigious temples and monuments had been built she chose a site that would add to her Prestige her Temple was built next to that of mendu hotep II the first king of the Middle Kingdom and the man who had reunified Upper and Lower Egypt the plot had originally been quarried for her father's tomb hatchipsud linked her own Mortuary Temple to that of her fathers showing her Devotion to him and tying their legacies together to emphasize her legitimacy she sought to present herself as the rightful successor and dutiful daughter of footmosa the first she even created a mortuary cult for him in her Temple and later moved his body there so that that they would lie there together and her father thought Moses the first were not the only Kings to designate their final resting places in this region hatchepsut's Mortuary Temple was so illustrious that future pharaohs built their own mortary temples near to hers forming what is now known as the Valley of the Kings architectural Innovation dominated the design of hatshepsut's Temple it began as a small project in the shadow of mentuhotep II's tomb the project grew into a large terrorist monument that had to be cut into the Cliff face showing impressive architectural skill it was enormous almost the size of Two and a Half football fields it featured so many Colonnades and Courtyards upon its Terraces that it appeared to rise up to the side of the mountain hachepsut moved away from the fortress-like designs used by her predecessors and pioneered Amore ornate aesthetically pleasing look her beautiful architectural style inspired many future building projects and Mortuary temples although many of the intricate elements of her original design are now missing there is enough evidence Left Behind to piece together what the temple would have looked like in its Heyday the lower levels of her Temple were softened with luscious Gardens and reflective pools the mer trees from the famous trade Expedition she sent to the semi-mythical Land of Punt were planted here to highlight her link with the gods and the wealth and exotic Goods she had brought to Egypt the likeness of hatch episode appeared in the Temple's design many times over over a hundred statues of the female pharaoh in the form of a sphinx lined the processional way these Hatshepsut sphinxes were placed here because the Sphinx was seen as a spiritual Guardian this form also had the benefit of removing any signs of gender the Sphinx was always the head of the Pharaoh and the body of a lion sometimes with the addition of Falcon's Wings more images of Hatshepsut were placed on the Temple's Terraces some of these statues were over 10 feet tall and were intended to be seen from a great distance several show Hatshepsut in devotional poses such as kneeling amongst offerings to the gods or even taking on the appearance of Osiris God of Resurrection the majority of the statues of Hatshepsut show her in a masculine light in the appearance of the traditionally male Pharaoh many of them have survived some whole and some in fragments into the present the centerpiece of the project was the jesser Jesus the holy of holies the center of the mortuary Temple which was accessed along a large Causeway it was a symmetrical multi-column structure similar in appearance to the Parthenon in Athens which was built nearly one thousand years later the jazzer jesuru sat back in the Cliff face and at the top of the grand Terraces in the jesser jesuru were Alters to Amun ra and to Hatshepsut where her cult would continue to worship her even after her death as well as their religious function Mortuary temples would glorify the Pharaoh the reliefs inside hapshadsut's Temple celebrated the achievements of her reign the trading expedition to semi-mythical punt on the Red Sea was represented on the relief Sailors and Traders load exotic luxury goods onto the Egyptian ships from pantherskins to frankincense as well as the Mur trees which were planted at the temple the accompanying inscription reads never were such things brought to any King since the world was this relief showed Hatshepsut as a successful economic and religious leader the trading mission to print was just one of many trade routes developed under her Reign and the prosperity they brought to Egypt was a significant part of the third Golden Age it also showed hapshitsut as a successful religious leader as these new exotic goods were thought to be especially desirable to the gods another significant relief showed hatshepsut's Divine conception and birth hachapsud encouraged the narrative that she was the biological daughter of the god Amun who had appeared to her mother in the form of her husband that Moses the first the later trend for emphasizing a Pharaoh's Divine birth is believed to have begun with Hatshepsut who needed to legitimize her claim to the throne hachepsut sought to highlight the sacred link between the Pharaoh and the Gods in particular her personal link with our moon it was the first time a pharaoh had built a mortari temple which was primarily a temple to the god Amun as well as the altar to our moon new religious rituals were established to celebrate our moon and his connection with the Pharaoh for example during a festival of the Dead the cult statue of Amun was sailed across the river to spend a night in hatshepsut's Tomb the religious rituals she created usually the privilege of male Kings would have been seen as important as the buildings she commissioned and were clear evidence that she was the legitimate Pharaoh the landscape of Egypt was fundamentally altered by hatshepsut's building projects as well as her Mortuary Temple India al-bahari she added and restored many more temples and monuments across Egypt monuments were constructed at the Temple of Karnak as was the tradition under most pharaohs the red Chapel was built here which was a religious Chapel dedicated to Amun and featured carvings showing key moments from hatshepsut's Life a pair of obelisks were constructed to celebrate her 16th year as Pharaoh this momentous construction was commemorated on a relief which showed the 450 ton obelisks being transported along the Nile by 27 ships as well as telling the story of her Reign the obelisks have allowed archaeologists a glimpse at hatshepsutian architectural design and construction the discovery of the unfinished Obelisk a broken version left in the Quarry in Aswan where it was made shows the hard work craftsmanship and Innovation which went into creating these monuments hachib should also ordered the restoration of great monuments the precinct of mutt the mother goddess of Egypt had been sacked during the exos occupation and was rebuilt under Hatshepsut the new design featured twin obelisks at the Temple's entrance that at the time were the tallest in the world one of them still stands today and is the second tallest ancient Obelisk still upright the restoration of the mutt Precinct was a building project so magnificent that later pharaohs pillaged it for features to bolster their own projects other important building projects ordered by Hatshepsut included the Temple of pakhet at Benny Hassan south of almenya the temple makes the culture's north and south of the area by being dedicated to both Bast and sakhmet two lioness War goddesses inside was a denunciation of the hiksos by Hatshepsut in it she claimed that the hexas occupation of Egypt had created a cultural decline that was reversed by Hatshepsut hisself the huge underground Temple was admired by the Greeks when they occupied Egypt during the ptolemag dynasty as a bore resemblance to their own Hunter goddess Artemis and was renamed by them the spios artemidos as with other impressive buildings a later Pharaoh this time seti the first of the 19th Dynasty attempted to wipe hatshepsut's name from the project and replace it with his own hatch episode also devoted time and money to Public Works programs these Works were mainly focused on the area around Thebes the dynastic and religious center of the footmoza Hatshepsut era a network of roads and sanctuaries were built which encouraged access to religious sites and were also used for Royal and Theological processions the transformation of the physical and ritual landscape of Egypt was not hatshepsut's only accomplishment she also brought huge wealth to Egypt by bolstering its diplomatic and trading links and by being uninterested in expensive Wars this was important as her Innovations in architecture and ritual art required huge expenditure it also pleased the elites who desired access to Exotic goods and wealth in order to display their status maintaining the golden age in short Hatshepsut the support and loyalty she needed to Roar hachepsut came from a line of economically and culturally successful pharaohs her ancestor ahmoza the first had reunified Egypt after the turbulent second intermediate period triggering a golden age and her father that Moses the first had strengthened Egypt leaving her a prosperous and expanding Nation to rule spurred on by the economic growth and stability of the last few decades the Elites in hatshepsut's court began to develop a Cosmopolitan Outlook an interest in the technological and luxury goods in East Africa and Arabia belonged to the 18th Dynasty period as a whole but was particularly significant under Hatshepsut there is archaeological evidence that new Goods arrived in Egypt during the early part of the 18th Dynasty from new musical instruments to oil hatch episode supported this more outward facing worldview and the desire for foreign Goods by building and reforming foreign ties she sent expeditions to foreign lands to the South and the East and encouraged foreign embassies to visit with diplomatic gifts which increased her Prestige she built new trading links to gain access to desirable goods from frankincense which was charred to make coal eyeliner to oil and the latest military weapons she worked to re-establish the trade networks disrupted by the higgsos occupation of Egypt she was particularly interested in reopening ancient trade routes as she sought to go back to the ancient traditions of kingship ritual and trade foreign trade was vital to a pharaoh because luxury goods were a symbol of royal power and legitimacy but also had an important religious aspect exotic Goods such as frankincense which was believed to make a place Divine through its smell and myrrh were thought to press the gods especially the god amoon whose name was used to legitimize hatshepsut's trade missions towards the middle of her Reign Hatshepsut sent a large trade Embassy Fleet to the semi-mythical Land of Punt this fleet was made up of five ships at 21 meters long each with several sails and 210 Sailors as punt was located somewhere on the Red Sea perhaps in East Africa or Arabia the fleet were required to Flat pack their ships and carry them over 100 miles from the River Nile to the Red Sea the expedition was successful and returned with frankincense gold Ivory exotic animals pantherskins and for the first time in recorded history live trees the expedition was commemorated in a relief at her Mortuary Temple and in many other tombs and temples on the West Bank of the Nile the prosperity which resulted from hatshepsut's diplomatic and trading policies was unhindered by military expenses although her father had won Fame through military victories and expansion hatchipsud pursued a peaceful firearm policy the only possible exceptions to her peaceful Reign were raiding expositions to biblos and the Sinai Peninsula and campaigns against Nubia and Kanan an early successful and short campaign in Nubia is shown on a relief at hatch episode's Temple though this militaristic relief does not take pride of place hachebsud's foreign policy was directed at diplomacy and trade an important element in hatshepsut's success was her astute selection of loyal officials these hand-picked officials controlled the key government posts that were essential for Effective rule from diplomacy to Monument building the most notable of these officials was senenmud who among many other titles was the overseer of all Royal Works senenmuth came from a non-royal non-elite family and perhaps had a military background he rose quickly within Royal circles after becoming the tutor of hatshepsut's daughter nefarure the number of his titles and responsibilities increased dramatically According to some egyptologists he had as many as 93 titles including the prestigious great Steward of a moon his responsibilities in this important role included taking care of the Estates of the god Amun which would have brought him huge material wealth as the overseer of all Royal Works he also played a leading role in match episodes building projects including possibly designing her Mortuary Temple the trust Hatshepsut had in him is evident in the responsibilities she gave him regarding her daughter her most prized God and the temple in which she would be laid to rest took advantage of his new wealth and Prestige by building himself two tombs and at least 26 statues more than any other non-royal the masses of images and text about selenmut represented a huge diversion in the way non-royals were presented he even had images of himself praying placed in hatshepsut's Temple though they were hidden discreetly behind doors which would have been left open when the public could enter the temple for ancient Egyptians this merging of Royal and non-royal effigies in a sacred Temple would have been unusual and even distasteful as selenmuth never married and Hatshepsut didn't remarry after her husband's death it has been suggested that they were lovers three somewhat unconvincing pieces of evidence have been used to support this claim firstly the titles and honors hatch episode bestowed on him despite his non-elite status secondly the fact that Cinnamon's name features in hatshepsut's mortuary Temple more than her husband's name and thirdly a statue now in the noise Museum in Berlin showing senenut hugging a female child believed to be hatshepsut's daughter nefaruri this third piece of evidence certainly highlights an unusual bond between senenut his Royal tuti nefarure and hapshitsut because non-aristocrats were not allowed to touch royalty however there is no strong evidence to support the argument that Hatshepsut and senenmuth had a physical relationship while an example of Temple graffiti showing a sexual relationship between a man and a woman who may or may not be wearing the headdress of the Pharaoh has been suggested as being Hatshepsut and senenmuth there is no evidence to support this identification it is clear that Hatshepsut trusted and relied upon her advisor senenut and that he had successfully he made a space for himself in the close-knit Royal Family Circle but there is no legitimate evidence that they were lovers after a long Reign which spanned two decades had shepsut died in the 22nd year of her rule although the precise date of her death is unclear her successor thought Moses III recorded the start of his Reign on the 16th of January 1458 BC in that year he took on the title ruler of ma'at For the First Time signaling that Hatshepsut had died she is thought of died in her late 40s and had lived what was considered a relatively long life in ancient times no record of the cause of death has survived it is believed that Hatshepsut was initially interned with her father that Moses the first as she had wished however footmos of the First's body was later moved elsewhere by Moses III hachepsut's mummy was perhaps also moved at this time with her new location most commonly believed to be in the Tomb of her nurse Citra in this change was perhaps ordered by manhotep II son of foot Moses III by a secondary wife as he sought to secure his own uncertain legitimacy to rule given this confusion hatshepsut's mummy has been difficult for egyptologists to find her Mortuary Temple recorded as tomb kv-20 did not contain any likely candidates but in 1902 archaeologist Howard Carter who found the tomb of Tutankhamun discovered a second possible location for hatshepsut's final resting place tomb kv-60 which had been the burial place of her nurse Citra in this second site seems to fit in with the story of her body being moved to a more discreet location by her successes inside this tomb two female mummies were found and one was positively identified as hatshepsut's nurse the other was not identified it was not until 2007 that archaeologists zahi hawat really least a statement to the scientific Community claiming that this second female mummy was indeed at shepsut the process of identification was unconventional as the DNA had not survived well enough for testing instead a missing tooth in a box with hatch episode's name on it was reunited with this mummy and it seemed to be a perfect fit if this was hadshepsut's mummy it can shed some light on her mysterious death this mummy showed signs of bone cancer perhaps caused by a benzopyrene carcinogenic skin lotion found with the body her family was said to suffer from a genetic inflammatory skin disease so perhaps the lotion had been used to soothe this condition however the tooth may have belonged to a later Royal Lady of the same name from the 21st Dynasty equally the hand position of the Mummy was that of a king's wife not a pharaoh which suggests it wasn't her in 20 11 the identification of the missing tooth was proven to be false the tooth was a lower molar while the mummy from kv-60 was missing an upper molar doubt was cast on hawas's Theory but calls for the DNA testing of the tooth were halted by hawas and the Cairo Museum who wanted to protect it against the destruction caused by the testing process to further complicate matters hatshepsuts funerary Furniture has been found at several different sites across the Valley of the Kings these items included a wide range of goods from a throne-like bedstead to red jasper game pieces or displaying her favored lioness symbol and a partial shabti or funerary figurine the true location of hatshepsut's mummy if hawas's mummy is to be discounted May simply never be found hatch episode's resting place has been hard to find because after two decades as Pharaoh she disappeared from history she's missing from the roll list of Kings and the scribes never mentioned her her many monuments and temples were ascribed to later pharaohs and she appears in vague references to a female ruler around that time sometimes as an a message or an amanenthe but her name had vanished Hatshepsut was returned to history in 1822 A.D when her name was found on a statue of what appeared to be a male ruler banjon Francois champagne decipher of the Rosetta Stone the hieroglyphic inscription on this masculine statue stated that it actually depicted a female ruler the statue had been found in the inner chambers of hatshepsut's Temple at Daya al-bahari everything in the public-facing areas had been completely erased even when habchatsu did appear in the historical narrative around the 19th century country egyptologists often described her as a usurper she was seen as a manipulative woman with an unnatural lust for power at the expense of her young stepson she was interpreted as a vain ambitious and unscrupulous Woman by Metropolitan museum curator William Hayes in 1953 who excavated her funerary temple in the 1920s alongside curator Herbert Winlock the scholarly consensus in the 19th and 20th centuries was that hatshepsud had seized power rather than inherited it discoveries of pits full of broken hapshit soot statues in the 1920s and 1930s only encouraged the view that hapshid soot had stolen the throne from Moses III who later Avenged himself upon her Legacy the attack on hatshepsut's image seems brutal enough to be personal the heads of her statue had been severed and the Cobra symbol of royalty hacked from her forehead the Pharaohs were regarded as Godlike often as the physical representation of the Gods so this defilement was Blasphemous other powerful women had been spared this treatment but Hatshepsut had ruled not as a King's mother as several other ancient Egyptian women had but as a female King these King's mothers were honored for Generations often more so than the principal wife showing that a woman holding power was not inappropriate to the ancient Egyptian mind but female remnants and female Pharaohs were handed out of History perhaps because they were succeeded not by their sons but by others with weaker ties to the Royal Line and limited legitimacy destroying the public memory of these female rulers would strengthen the position of these later Kings the attempted Erasure of hatshepsutra from history was carried out possibly towards the end of foot Moses III's Reign and more certainly during the reign of his son amanhotep II the Erasure was carried out in a haphazard way crude cover-ups and additions aimed to hide her name and image by replacing her with footmost the first authored Moses II Her Image was chiseled off stone walls her name was removed from monuments and gaps left in works of art the statues were pulled down and smashed in 1927 when curator Herbert Winlock discovered a pit full of smashed Hatshepsut statues he assumed this proved she had used up the throne and later been struck from history for this reason the real reason why this incomplete rewriting of history occurred is unknown answers posed by archaeologists have included self-promotion and cost saving there was a tradition of rulers reusing the grand burial monuments and statuary of older pharaohs for themselves it has been argued that amanhotep II as co-ruler toward the end of his father's Reign had ordered the defacing of hatshepsut's monuments his legitimacy was perhaps questioned by hatshepsut's Legacy as he was not related to her and she held the pure line of descent from the great old pharaohs he also broke from Royal tradition by not recording the names of his wives and ending the powerful roles and titles of Royal women including that of God's wife Bolder explanations that that Moses III had co-raigned with Hatshepsut unwillingly and had attempted to erase her from history out of bitterness have since been overturned tutmosa had the power as leader of her Army to overthrow Hatshepsut if he had so wanted even after her death her images remained in view on public buildings for 20 years during his Reign the haphazard nature of the erasures also challenges The View that that mosa was taking long-awaited revenge against hapshad soot the masses of images of her would not have survived to the present if the motive had been hatred and jealousy only the most visible most accessible images of hatsheps soot were removed access to her image was maintained beyond the reach of the public eye it has been suggested that her image and name survived out of the public eye because whoever had orchestrated her Erasure had wanted to avoid sacrilege Mortuary temples were built to honor the gods but also to provide a home for the cult of that particular Pharaoh The Cult of the Pharaoh would continue to worship the Pharaoh after they had died performing rituals which renewed the pharaoh's Divinity it was believed that after their death pharaohs became fully Divine and assimilated with Osiris God of reincarnation and ra god of the sun given this view of Egyptian kingship whoever erased Hatshepsut may have deliberately avoided tarnishing her divinity another theory was that that mosa aimed to relegate hatch episode to the position of regent the traditional role of powerful women in order to safeguard future royal succession patterns the achievements of hadshepsut's Reign was evidence that the traditional male role of pharaoh could be successfully held by a woman Hatshepsut proved more so than other ancient Egyptian female rulers that a woman could rule during a long prosperous and expansive period it would also have simplified that Moses III's own claim to the throne by implying that he inherited it directly from footmosa II the named heir of that Moses the first this would explain why only public celebrations of Hatshepsut and her accomplishments were erased and why her name was removed from King lists if the reinterpretation was an attempt to smooth the path for his son's succession this would explain why the attack on Hatch episode only began towards the end of Moses III's reign whatever the motive the brutal but haphazard Erasure of Hatshepsut resulted in an incomplete picture of her when she was rescued from history the destruction of her image and monuments has been dimly interpreted as evidence that she was a power-hungry woman who deserved to be erased but as cultural attitudes towards women in power have changed so too her views on Hatshepsut instead of asking how she had tricked her way to power and manipulated her stepson historians today debate the circumstances which allowed hatch episode to come to power her relationship with her co-ruler thought Moses III and why he might have tried to destroy her memory 20 years after her death she broke tradition by ruling as Regent for a son who was not her own she was only the second woman to become pharaoh and Rule under her own name she bolstered female kingship and built extensive temples to publicly celebrate her Reign many women went on to her positions of power including becoming Pharaoh after her but she was perhaps given this power by men seeking to further their own wealth and influence her Heritage and her record as the God's wife and as a placeholder ruler while her father was on Military campaigns had perhaps convinced Elites that she was uniquely placed to rule Egypt at a time of prosperity she was as historian karakuni States the only woman to have ever taken power as a king in ancient Egypt during a time of prosperity and expansion and then she was erased from history there is evidence to suggest that Hatshepsut herself was conscious that her Legacy might be deliberately buried on a second pair of obelisks at Karnak she had the following inscription inscribed now my heart turns this way and that as I think what the people will say those who shall see my monuments in years to come and who shall speak of what I have done although she temporarily disappeared from history and was not the most famous female pharaoh a distinction reserved for Cleopatra had shepsut arguably left the greatest cultural Legacy of any Pharaoh her monuments and temples inspired thousands of architectural works even after she was gone some of the greatest architectural wonders of the ancient world including her Mortuary Temple were built during her Reign masses of exotic Goods artifacts artworks and monuments found from hatshepsut's Reign showed that she laid the foundations of the golden age of the New Kingdom ancient Egypt undoubtedly flourished under her rule what do you think of hachepsut was she an effective and legitimate ruler or was she a scheming stepmother removed from history because she had stolen the throne please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching [Music] foreign All The Blood Countess murderer of 650 young women was born on the 7th of August 1560 at her family estate in nearby or in the east of the kingdom of Hungary 146 miles from Budapest her mother was baroness Anna bassery of the shonmio branch of the family and her father was Baron George viary of the akshed branch of the same family which meant that her parents were blood relatives the family had a long history dating back to 1310 and the direct translation of the name battery is good hero which is ironic given how Elizabeth has been remembered the term good hero was a reference to a family Legend involving a semi-mythical battery named Vitus who slayed a dragon which had been rampaging through the countryside in the year 900 and was rewarded with the name battery as well as akshed Castle the Family Estate which Baron George VI came to inherit and which was not actually built until the 1300s the battery coat of arms featured three beared dragon teeth on a blood red and white background as a reference to this family myth Elizabeth battery spent her childhood at etched Castle now known as nashet or great at Chet in the northern great plain region of Eastern Hungary near the modern border with Romania she was raised as a calvinist Protestant and was well educated as was appropriate for a young noblewoman from an influential family she mastered many languages including Latin German Hungarian and Greek and by many accounts was intelligent and headstrong throughout her childhood she apparently suffered from seizures and complained of headaches possibly caused by epilepsy a condition which ran through the battery family tree but at the time epilepsy was not understood and although Renaissance Scholars began investigating the idea that epilepsy was a manifestation of physical illness it was commonly seen as a moral or occult Affliction or as a sign of Madness and so it was hushed up living at the cross section between the Middle Ages and modernity a period termed the Renaissance by historians Elizabeth's life was full of contradictions she herself experienced a Renaissance style education as befitted a woman but science could not yet understand her medical condition she had taken up the relatively new Protestant Faith but came face to face with the lasting power of the Roman Catholic church and the Holy Roman Empire the great power of the region she was expected to embody the genteel idea of femininity but was exposed to the gore of medieval punishment war and violence as a young child and noblewoman Elizabeth would have seen the violent punishments meted out to on family servants and on those of a lower social order violence was desensitized in a way that could be hard to understand from the vantage point of the modern era whipping was a common form of punishment on landed States and the law across much of Europe handed down bloody punishments often exceeding the level of violence of the crime itself limbs would be cut off for petty theft women suspected of Witchcraft or unwomanly behavior were burnt alive or drowned and treason the most serious of all crimes was punished through grotesquely inventive methods of torture intended to kill and cause maximum pain only a few decades before Elizabeth's birth a peasants Revolt in 1514 was brutally suppressed and its leader yudhgud Doja was forced to sit on a burning Throne wearing a heated iron Crown watching the chopping up of his younger brother enduring hot pliers being forced into his skin and finally having his skin eaten by the other Rebels who faced a brutal death if they refused before he finally died for lesser crimes however punishments were decided at a local level Often by the landlord meaning that Elizabeth and her family were both responsible for and exposed to the violence of medieval punishments the battery family was very prominent and Powerful in 16th and 17th century Hungary and Poland as well as her Barren and baroness parents Elizabeth's uncle on her father's side Andrew bonaventura battery was the voiv order the highest ranking official of Transylvania as well as Chief Justice of Hungary and her uncle on her mother's side Stefan battery married the queen of Poland becoming the famous polish King Stephon Bartoli in 1575 adding to his titles of Grand Duke of Lithuania of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth and Prince of Transylvania several members of the batari family wore the title of Prince of Transylvania throughout and after Elizabeth's lifetime including two of her cousins sigismund and Gabrielle batari the battery family owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary now Hungary Slovakia and Romania and were extremely wealthy so wealthy that they lent money to many influential families including the habsburgs of Austria perhapsburgs were one of the most prominent royal families in medieval and early modern Europe with a dynasty which stretched from 1282 to 1918 spanning a total of 636 years the core Habsburg lands were in East Central Europe with its capital at Vienna in Austria although during Elizabeth's lifetime the Habsburg dynastic seat was moved to Prague from 1583 to 1611 but the house of Habsburg produced Kings of several countries including Hungary Croatia Bohemia Galicia lorimeria Spain and Portugal which therefore brought their respective colonies to under Habsburg control the habsburgs also claimed though later in history several principalities in Italy and the low countries as well as the 19th century Emperors of Austria and Austria hungry and even an emperor of Mexico the family expanded its power through war and fortuitous marriages but split into several branches most significantly in the mid 16th century when the Spanish and Austrian branches were divided after Charles V abdicated the long-term Habsburg strategy of using intermarriage to maintain close diplomatic relations between its family branches dangerously reduced the family gene pool resulting in disabilities and deformities including the infamously oversized Habsburg jaw the habsburgs reached the Zenith of their power in the late 1500s during Elizabeth's lifetime holding the title of Holy Roman Emperor for 368 years from 1438 to 1806 with only a small Gap in between from 1740 to 1745. the habsburgs were then the most powerful royal family ruling over the most powerful state in Europe in the Middle Ages although this single family dominated the position for centuries the Holy Roman Emperor was actually elected admittedly only by the elites the prince elects though the habsburgs did have a significant advantage in that Habsburg land made up a large portion of the Holy Roman Empire the Holy Roman Empire encompassed modern day Germany Austria czechia Switzerland the low countries Slovenia and parts of Eastern France Northern Italy Western Poland and Northern Croatia the Empire saw itself as the rightful inheritor of the legacy of Imperial Rome and promoted the Roman Catholic faith brutally throughout its territories it was in the Holy Roman Empire but protestantism first arose when Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses or protests on a church door in Wittenberg in modern Germany in 1517. a country in East Central Europe in the Middle Ages like Hungary would have to contend with the great power of the Holy Roman Empire and also that of the House of Habsburg the lives of the Hungarian nobility were often blighted by the whims of these powerful Neighbors in the west and after 1453 another threat lay in the East throughout Elizabeth's lifetime Hungary suffered the consequences of being surrounded by dangerous and Powerful Neighbors From the menacing power of the House of Habsburg to the frequent incursions from the ottoman Turks in the 16th century external events would dramatically impact domestic events in Hungary and as a result would have huge personal consequences for the life of Elizabeth pottery in 1490 Hungarian King Matthias corvinas a Renaissance King who was known as Matthias the just died and Hungary was left in decline in 1453 the Turks had taken Constantinople bringing an end to the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire protector of the Orthodox Catholic faith and the whole region around the Balkans had been left shaken King Matthias had created a mercenary Army known as the black Army to keep Hungary strong during a period of huge uncertainty and tension but his death brought the progress achieved under his Reign to an abrupt end his successes as king of Hungary were selected by a diet or National Assembly of important Nobles the nobility's preference for a weak King that could be easily controlled provided the opportunity for Turkish ruler Suleiman the Magnificent deceased part of Hungary after a rousing victory at mohach in 1526 during which the city of Buddha was burned down and the Hungarian King at the time ulasslo II was slain in battle the Throne of Hungary was then fought over between Ferdinand the first Archduke of Austria and later Holy Roman Emperor who wanted to claim Hungary for the Habsburg Empire and yanash zapoyo voivod of Transylvania and Commander of what remained of hungary's army Archduke Ferdinand relied on his impressive aristocratic connections to lay claim to the throne of Hungary he was the brother-in-law of the previous King and brother to the powerful Holy Roman Emperor Charles V yet the Hungarian nobility were divided the two branches of the batari family chose to support different sides in the struggle for power the shomio barteries that formed Elizabeth's maternal line supported Janos the voivorder while the etched batteries of Elizabeth's father backed the Habsburg Archduke in the hopes of support against the Turks whom Hungary had been attempting to hold back for over a century both yanosh and Ferdinand were elected as King by rival factions of the Hungarian nobility and lesser Gentry Elizabeth's father George swapped sides to support yanosh perhaps due to the rising influence of Anna's brother Stefan and the opportunity to strengthen the power of the battery line perhapsburg's stripped George of his castle buyak in retaliation as George cemented his new alliance by marrying Anna the two sides of the battery family were now United but the anger of the habsburgs at this betrayal was to be long-lasting janosh ruled Hungary through a turbulent period of peasant uprisings the capture of Buddha and seizure of Western Hungary by Archduke Ferdinand and an ill-fated alliance with the Turks when Yarosh died in 1541 Hungary was partitioned into three entities Habsburg Royal Hungary which boarded Austria in the west ottoman Hungary which included Central and Southern Hungary and the semi-independent principality of Transylvania in the East Elizabeth barteri was born in the principality of of Transylvania where elected Hungarian princes ruled often as vassals under either the ottoman Sultan or the habsburgs and her life was greatly impacted by both military conflicts against the Turks and by the machinations of the habsburgs who continued to rule part and later all of Hungary until 1918. Transylvania where much of the battery family's power was based prospered despite the tumultuous conditions the princes of Transylvania had their power guaranteed by a constitution and was seen as representatives of the three historic Nations the hungarians Saxons and hungarian-speaking teclas although trapped between the Muslim Turks and Catholic habsburgs Transylvania was also spared the religious Strife common in the period as the country's princes often promoted religious tolerance the nobility and many of its princes though notably not Elizabeth's Uncle Prince of Transylvania Stefan battery who was Roman Catholic were calvinist Protestants and protestantism flourished in Transylvania the Edict of torda in 1568 gave religious freedom to the Roman Catholic Lutheran calvinist and Unitarian churches though the Romanian or vlach nation and its Greek Orthodox Faith were excluded this edict represented the first legal guarantee of religious freedom in Christian Europe the Royal House of battery officially came to power in 1571 when the first battery Stefan ruled as voivoda then as prince in 1576 under first Ottoman and Ben Habsburg sovereignty it was during the battery Reign that the principality of Transylvania became a semi-independent state with relative Independence outside of Foreign Affairs which were controlled by its powerful neighbors under sigismund battery who served as Prince of Transylvania several times between 1586 and 1602 it entered the long Turkish war from 1593 to 1606 another stage of the two century-long struggle known as the ottoman Habsburg War which lasted from 1526 to 1791. the country formed part of the Christian Alliance against the Turks but the conflict also represented a four-way struggle with the habsburgs the autumn elements and another semi-independent region were lucky now a region of Southern Romania with Transylvania falling for a short time under the control of Habsburg Rudolph the first after 1601 who attempted to germanize the population and revive Catholicism in the region Rebellion against Habsburg rule led by Hungarian nobleman Stefan bochkai saw Transylvania enlarged and re-empowered but religious tensions and Military campaigns between Transylvania and the habsburgs were not at an end and holding power in Transylvania was a dangerous Balancing Act as the birthday family was Keen to expand the family's influence further Elizabeth was engaged to count ference II nadista at the age of 10 and sent as was the tradition at the time to live with the family of her husband to be at Castle Savar in West Hungary near the Austrian border now known as nadeshta Castle it was around the time that she was at Savar in her young teenage years that the first possible controversy about Elizabeth surfaced although the rumor actually originated long after her death it was said that she had had a relationship with a man of lower social status and had borne a child out of wedlock when count nadishta found out he is said to have had the man castrated and thrown to a pack of hungry dogs to be torn apart while he was still alive the child possibly a girl was said to have been Spirited Away or even murdered at nandajda's orders however this story is made questionable by either contemporary letters which praised Elizabeth's Chastity particularly later in her life when her husband was away at War and if the story was true it tells us much about the power and influence of the bartori family to have successfully forced through the union even after the damage to their daughter's reputation at the age of 15 Elizabeth was married to count ference II nadashta on the 8th of May 1575 at the palace of ranof natoprio which is in eastern Slovakia today the marriage was a political Arrangement between two old and important aristocratic families the importance of Elizabeth's own family is shown by the fact that she kept her own surname battery the eggshed rather than becoming a nadashde the count and Elizabeth had several children and it is commonly understood that many of her children died before reaching adulthood and that only two daughters and a son reached maturity Anna Catalin and Powell Elizabeth's children were raised as she herself had been by a governess and there was a good reason for this Elizabeth spent much of her married life managing her husband's estate as well as her own while he was away as a commander of Hungarian troops in the ottoman Habsburg Wars a war that Transylvania had again become involved in when it renounced its vassal ship to the Ottomans in bid for full Independence as her husband left in 1578 and did not return for several years Elizabeth took on the full management of her husband's business Affairs and their Estates and historical records have shown that Elizabeth was generally very successful at this her tasks involved defending her husband's Estates which were on the route to Vienna an important Habsburg City even though it was not at that time the dynastic seat providing medical care across the region and intervening on the behalf of destitute women who had lost their husbands and therefore their Financial Security in the war assessing the relations between landlords their tenants and the local people can be difficult but surveying surviving letters of complaints and petitions is often the best way to determine how vassals and local people felt about their landlords these written documents were the main form of complaint when grievances arose whether from petty theft or something more serious such as accusations of bodily harm arm however no letters of complaint neither hinting at the torture she supposedly subjected local girls to nor over minor grievances like the cost of the minorial taxes paid to the batteries have survived from this period which could suggest that Elizabeth's tenants and the local people were content with her rule while away fighting in the ottoman Habsburg War count nadashta built a reputation for Effective command and fearless bravery assisting in the seizure of several ottoman-held castles including Edge decom on the hilly banks of the Danube Northwest of Budapest in 1595. he was also known for his Fierce cruelty to ottoman prisoners of war with some stories outlining his grotesque defilement of the corpses of those who had died under torture including playing catch with their decapitated heads though the poor and violent treatment of captured enemy competence particularly non-christians was commonplace at this time upon his return from the war it is said that nadashdi taught Elizabeth methods of torture he had perfected in his army days and advised her on dishing out inhumane punishments to their servants including coating a young girl in Honey and leaving her outside to be bitten by ants and putting lit or oiled paper between her toes although undoubtedly inspired by her husband's bloodlust the majority of the violent crimes for which Elizabeth was accused were committed later after her husband's death stories of the way in which Elizabeth herself treated those who served her are perhaps not surprising considering that relations between Masters and servants at the time was so often fraught with violence a tale of Elizabeth striking a servant for accidentally tugging at her hair with a brush is really not far out of the common way and as a noble Elizabeth legally had the right to do as she wished to The Peasants under her rule even murdering a servant would only have resulted in a fine to allow financial compensation to be offered to the victim's family indeed once charges were brought against Elizabeth as we will soon discuss it was her responsibility for the deaths of noble children not violence against her servants or members of the lower social classes which were seen as immoral crimes and formed the most serious of the charges this is not to say of course the tales of Elizabeth's cruelty to her female servants were untrue they are just difficult accusations to prove given the lack of evidence stories spread at the time saying that Elizabeth took pleasure in causing pain and had been delighted by her husband's gift of a black claw reminiscent of the Dragon which featured in her family's founding myth which she strapped to her hand to Claw at the skin of her victims she apparently also enjoyed pushing needles under the nails of her poorest servant girls and responded to any signs of laziness or ineptitude with extreme violence including breaking the arm of one such unlucky servant azoda emphasized that a woman could not possibly commit such acts of evil alone Elizabeth's connections were caught up in the rumors there were unsubstantiated claims that she was taught about Satanism and Witchcraft by family members at a young age but it was not witchcraft a common accusation against rebellious women at the time which Elizabeth was to be charged with but torture and murder one woman in particular was said to have inspired Elizabeth's bloodlust Anna darvolia known as darvolia had long been a servant of the nadashda family but Rose to a prominent position in 1601 as Elizabeth's Confidant it was said that darvolia taught Elizabeth everything she knew about methods of inflicting pain and had instructed the other servants on how best to assist the Countess in her torture sessions these servants later claimed that when darvolia arrived the lady herself became crueler and crueler it was around this time between the rise of darvolia's influence and the slow decline of her husband's Health in the early 1600s that Elizabeth began luring young girls from the Lesser Gentry to join her gynecium or women's quarters a gynecium in the 1500s was not the same as the women's quarters of ancient Greece where the term gynaecium originated from in ancient times women would live the majority of their married lives in private their gynecium providing them with a completely separate sphere from men and a place for women of the household to gather together complete chores and leisure activities and learn important womanly crafts in 16th century Hungary the gynaecium was a place for the women of the household to gather but often also included unmarried young women who came sometimes great distances to learn in the women's quarters of influential Noble women girls and young women would learn quarterly etiquette be taught the dance steps they would need to prosper in court and attract a respectable husband learn how to manage a grand household and practice foreign languages something which would have been especially important in Hungary given that it was a country sandwiched between powerful neighbors where illustrious matches would require fluency in at least German and Hungarian needlecraft reading playing musical instruments games and other leisure activities would also have been part of the daily routine for the women Elizabeth who had mastered at least four languages in her Youth and had married a very respectable man would have been seen as the ideal Noble woman to instruct these young women of the Lesser Gentry but Elizabeth's kinesium had another function it was said that she had lured these young women to her castles to torture them no longer satisfied with torturing her servants and running out of new victims in the local area Elizabeth Drew in the daughters of the Lesser Gentry with her status and Promises of social advancement although it was certainly not out of the ordinary for an intelligent Noble woman like Elizabeth to take in and educate unmarried young women what did raise suspicion were the new numerous deaths which occurred amongst the young women in her care stories of Cruelty including starvation began to spread as strange injuries and disappearances plagued the gynosium after several of the young women there died Elizabeth announced that a cholera outbreak had been to blame but the number of bodies brought for burial in the local churchyard and the frequency with which the local priests were called made an investigation into the matter almost inevitable however while her husband was alive Elizabeth was shielded from open criticism and accusations count nadashta died on the 4th of January 1604 after 29 years of marriage to Elizabeth he had suffered from debilitating pain in his leg perhaps caused by his wartime experiences which left him permanently disabled in 1603 although the exact cause of his death is unknown the count left his widow and heirs under the care of yurg turuzo who was a powerful Hungarian magnets and Palatine of Hungary which made him the representative of the Monarch from 1609 to 16. despite being given this responsibility of care for Elizabeth and her children it was turzo who would eventually lead the investigation into Elizabeth's crimes tellingly Elizabeth had been left to manage the family's wealth and lands as her son was still an infant which made her a lucrative Target Elizabeth's downfall began in 1602 when rumors began to spread of the horrific crimes she had committed by 60 known 2 the priests on her Estates began to question the number of servants and young ladies at her gynecium who were dying from what Elizabeth said was cholera Elizabeth reportedly prevented the priests from examining the victim's bodies allowing them only to look at the victims faces which fueled further rumors nadurga's reputation and political connections had protected her before his death and even after 1604 Elizabeth's own power and wealth kept her safe for a while the first to speak out against her publicly was a Lutheran Minister eastvan magiar who denounced her both in public and at the Habsburg Court in Vienna soon the rumors were taken up as facts and word spread that Elizabeth was a serial killer and torturer of young women in October 1610 Elizabeth retreated to the isolated chair to Castle now called chartitsa in the mountains of Slovakia approximately 50 miles from Bratislava presumably hoping that by the time moves were made to arrest her the Steep roads to cheetah would be impassable due to winter storms and snow Elizabeth prepared to wield the considerable influence of the battery family if she was to be charged and was already in correspondence with her cousin Gabrielle battery the prince of Transylvania from 1608 to 1613. a formal investigation into Elizabeth's crimes was launched in 1610 when King Matthias II asked terzo his representative as the Palatine of Hungary to investigate Elizabeth letters and between turzo and the notaries on the case andras coresturi and Moses chiragi show that 52 witness statements against Elizabeth were collected by October 1610 and that this number had risen dramatically to over 300 by 1611. there were of course political motivations behind the investigation into Elizabeth historians have argued throughout the centuries about the crimes of Elizabeth battery and particularly in recent years as to whether she was the victim of a conspiracy there are three arguments commonly made which suggest that Elizabeth was set up the first relating to money the second and perhaps the most convincing power and the third religion it is possible that Elizabeth's excessive wealth and land ownership in the much fought over principality of Transylvania and her relative vulnerability as a Widow made her an easy and lucrative Target but the financial motive was even more personal for the Habsburg Matthias as count nadas de had lent matthias's predecessor a great deal of money and Matthias had reluctantly inherited the debt Elizabeth had reportedly traveled to matthias's court several times in an attempt to call in this debt a move which irritated Matthias and failed to result in any payments the fact that this debt was canceled after Elizabeth was arrested shows the importance of money to the investigation perhapsberg battery relationship was extremely strained even without the debt the influence of Elizabeth's family in the region represented a threat to the political interests of the habsburgs who desired control over Transylvania and sought to lessen the influence of both the Ottomans and the powerful local nobility Matthias II a Habsburg and brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and a future Holy Roman Emperor himself had been pronounced king of Hungary in 1608 but Hungary was still partitioned and there were frequent attempts by local Nobles to break away from Habsburg hegemony and revive their rights to elect their own Kings one of these rebellions which had aimed to reassert transylvania's Independence had been led by sigismund Bartley Elizabeth's cousin who was later jailed for conspiracy against the emperor in 1610-1611 and Elizabeth had spoken out in support of her cousin equally another cousin Gabriel battery then Prince of Transylvania had his eye on expanding his territory into Royal Hungarian lands and Elizabeth had pledged to support him financially and provision him with troops at the same time as investigating Elizabeth turizo was attempting to negotiate peace with Gabriel battery and was well aware of the damaging impact that removing Elizabeth from the political field would have on her cousin's cause perhaps Elizabeth's family were targeted because they were Protestant at a time when Protestant Catholic tensions were escalating in the run-up to the 30 Years War which lasted from 1618 to 1648. this war would see the future Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II attempt to impose Roman Catholicism on his domains including in Transylvania and would spark violent Rebellion from the Protestants of Eastern and Central Europe the difference in religion may have heightened the tension between the batteries and the Catholic habsburgs but several of Elizabeth's relatives including her uncle King Stefan battery of Poland were catholic and the suggestion that the investigation was a Catholic Habsburg plot against the calvinist Protestant Elizabeth ignores the fact that the first accusations were made by a Lutheran Minister perhaps religious differences can explain why few went to Elizabeth's defense once accusations were made but this ignores the fact that religious toleration was much more common in Transylvania at this time than in the rest of the region the argument that the investigation against Elizabeth was motivated by religious differences seems far less convincing than the motives of money and power on the 30th of December 1610 the investigation was ramped up and turizo arrested Elizabeth and five suspected accomplices all of them servants at chair to Castle for torture and multiple murders carried out between 1590 and 1610 although it was later said that turzo had caught Elizabeth in the act of torturing a young girl in her torture chamber Elizabeth was actually arrested while eating an evening meal at the dinner table with several guests despite turizo's declaration that he had caught her red-handed a claim preserved through time in a letter he had written to his wife Elizabeth had been arrested and detained before the discovery of any victims therefore leaving open the possibility that she was set up turismo's open statement that he had found a dead girl and another kept alive as prey in the castle whipped up the villagers and spurred further rumors of Elizabeth's crimes given that no physical evidence of this bloody scene was presented at trial it can be argued that Turismo deliberately misrepresented or even completely fabricated the horror scene of dead and wounded patients which he classified as Elizabeth's victims turizo certainly had much to gain from Elizabeth's downfall not only the chance to seize her Estates and wealth to which he had tenuous rights as the guardian of her and her children as appointed by her dying husband but also to further his political career by January 1611 the case was brought to trial the witness testimonies formed a central part of the trial but the majority of the witnesses gave only second-hand testimonies it was reported that the majority of Elizabeth's victims had been girls aged 10 to 14 years old who had as members of the Lesser Gentry been sent to Elizabeth's gynecium to receive instruction from the Countess some witnesses named relatives who had died at the gynosium or reported seeing traces of torture on dead bodies in the graveyards and other unmarked locations of the three first-hand testimonies offered during the trial two came from two court officials Benedict deseo and Jacob thirashi who claimed to have personally witnessed the Countess torture and kill young servant girls one of the Court officials stated that a servant girl had been found to have burns on her hands but no explanation or evidence was offered as to whether these Burns were the result of a kitchen accident or of malicious torture by A demented mistress no physical evidence or corroborating testimonies were presented to confirm anything stated in these reports by the court officials the third first-hand testimony came from an injured girl apparently found at the scene named Anna who testified that the Countess had hurt her and damaged her hand and arm but the fact that she was later awarded 50 gold pieces 15 pounds of Wheat and a small farm in cheetah and had twice changed her story about how her arm had been hurt cast's doubt on her testimony at the trial of Elizabeth's accomplices it was reported that there had been 650 victims but this statistic came solely from the testimony of a servant girl named Susanna who claimed that Court official Jacob firasi had seen the number in one of Elizabeth's private books but could not confirm this herself the book was never revealed to the court and Phil rassi himself did not mention it in his own testimony the number of victims more commonly reported in the trial was between 50 and 60. given that the majority of the evidence came from hearsay and that no physical evidence was presented it can be hard to know whether Elizabeth was actually guilty of any or all of the crimes for which she was punished further confusion from The Trial was caused by the testimonies of Elizabeth's servants and accomplices two servants Ilona yo the former wetness for the countess's children and her friend tortilla centesh confessed under torture to being accomplices in Elizabeth's crimes however these testimonies are invalid in Modern Eyes as they were extracted under duress both women had their fingers torn out with a pair of red hot pincers and were then buried alive another servant Janos oivari was executed though in a less painful manner due to his Youth and most likely his gender and his body joined that of Yo and sentesh on the pyre a fourth servant erzi mayorova who was denounced as a witch and apparently told Elizabeth to lure young Noble women for torture when she ran out of local victims was burned alive after being recaptured following an escape attempt and a fifth katharina benitzka an elderly Washerwoman who was also an accomplice was only given a life sentence in prison after it was proved that she had been abused by the other servant women the sixth and more Sinister figure said to have been involved in the torture and murders was Elizabeth's companion Anna darvolia or darvolia who had died before the arrests were made but the other servants admitted under torture that it was darvolia who had taught Elizabeth Witchcraft and demonic methods of torture any kernel of Truth to be found in these claims against darvolia is hidden by the brutal tactics used to extract this information from the accused and it seems likely that the other serpents simply found the deceased darvolia an easy target to blame it was only later during the torturous interrogations that Elizabeth's servants began to blame the Countess herself for the horrific crimes while her servants began pointing the finger of blame at her Elizabeth aimed to clear her name by asking the mother of a deceased girl from her gynecium to make a statement that her daughter had died from natural causes after her claims that cholera had killed the girls at her gynecium were rejected she had first blamed one of the girls for killing the others then openly blamed all unexplained deaths and injuries on her servants claiming that their sadism was beyond her control because even she was afraid of them yet it was too late to stop the rumors that were swirling against her the second-hand testimonies detailing the torture methods which Elizabeth used on the young women in her care sparked further rumors and gossip word went around that Elizabeth and her accomplices had used hot tongs needles and freezing water to harm the young girls and her own servants it was said that Elizabeth took such pleasure from these torches that she would use her teeth to tear away the skin of her victims and bathe in the blood of her young victims as a youth enhancing Beauty regime it was said that as her crimes escalated so too did the network which she used to facilitate them as well as the servants implicated in Elizabeth's crimes Noble women such as lady Anna velika lady euded pogan and Lady shell were also accused of luring girls to Elizabeth's carnassium once her supply of local female servants had dried up Elizabeth's youngest daughter Catalin was also alleged to have participated in at least one torture session at cheetah castle where it was rumored that Elizabeth had installed a torture chamber in the dungeons yet it was only the servants who were ever called to trial Elizabeth herself was never called to trial and although two trials had been held after her arrest to unpick her crimes and pass judgment on her accomplices on the 2nd January 1611 and 7th of January 1611 she was denied her rights as a noble woman to attack and Court lawsuits and receive judgment instead her son Paul and two of her sons-in-law Nicola jarinsky and yurg drewget negotiated with turso to avoid the loss of battery property to the crown letters between shrinsky and terzo showed that the plan had been to send her to a nunnery but after the Scandal became public it was decided that she would be kept under strict house arrest in her isolated castle at cheetah but King Matthias Keen to reduce the power of this powerful Transylvanian family was displeased with this deal although the king had initially wanted her to stand trial so he could seize her land and wealth King Matthias finally agreed to the punishment of house arrest turizo had worked hard to convince the king that house arrest was the more prudent punishment for a Hungarian noblewoman of Elizabeth's status and fame given the nasty precedence that a trial and execute ocean could set including for turizo himself who was from the Hungarian nobility and was also a Protestant wary of alienating the already rebellious nobility of Transylvania King Matthias agreed to house arrest rather than a formal trial if his debts to the battery family were canceled a request which was complied with By Elizabeth's son Paul the conditions of Elizabeth's house arrest are hazy it was later said that she was kept in a bricked-up room but this idea is undermined by the presence of a bodyguard in her apartment and rumors of an escape attempt in many accounts whether confined to a bricked up room or free to wander around the castle Elizabeth's years under house arrest were spent as her earlier years had been in lavish surroundings with servants attending to her needs and wants Elizabeth died on the 21st of August 1614 aged 54 at cheetah castle in the Kingdom of Hungary she died while still under house arrest and because she had never been brought to trial succeeded in leaving her Estates lands and possessions to her children other than the historical damage to the family's reputation the greatest loss that the battery family suffered over Elizabeth's crimes was the forced renunciation of King matthias's debts a sizable amount of money and interest that was never prepaid to the battery family Elizabeth's body was reportedly moved from the local Cemetery at cheetah after the villages caused an uproar at the presence of a serial killer in their graveyard the new location of Elizabeth's body has never been discovered perhaps she was interred in a nameless grave in the bartori family crypt at her childhood home of ex-shed Castle or at her birth home of nirbatar or perhaps the rumors that she was secretly reburied deep in the church area of chair de Castle are to be believed however when a possible grave in the Crypt of cheetah church was opened in 1938 it was found to be empty Elizabeth's final resting place like the question of the extent of her guilt remains lost to history saying it is difficult to find out about the extent of Elizabeth's alleged crimes is an understatement the first written accounts of Elizabeth's story were penned over a hundred years after her death and the only first-hand evidence used in the trials and later published came from yurg turzo and his team to make matters even more complicated myths have been added on top of myths with blood-bathing and claims of vampirism particularly obscuring the real crimes committed the myth that she bathed in the blood of her young victims to retain her youth first appeared in print in tragica Historia by Jesuit scholar lashloturotzi in 1729 which was the first written account of the battery case this myth seems to have circulated amongst the superstitious local peasantry and was written down uncritically by turoczi the myth was later repeated and published much more widely around Europe in Hungarian historian Matthias Bell's account in 1742 which quoted directly from tarotsis by the time that actual reports from the trial were published for the first time in 1817. the tales of Elizabeth's unnatural demonic thirst for blood had set in although neither the blood drinking nor blood bathing were mentioned in the trial scripts these myths have lasted throughout history the rise of batteries bloodthirsty reputation coincided with the Vampire scares that haunted Europe in the early 18th century vampires had always had a prominent place in Eastern European folklore since the medieval period however during the 17th and 18th centuries famine disease and social instability gave rise to new levels of fear and tension which culminated in A Renewed belief in the Supernatural and in Old superstitions it may have been the Age of Reason but the belief in Vampires was so widespread that the austro-hungarian government undertook official reports on vampire outbreaks across Eastern Europe and Scholars wrote academic papers on the phenomenon witchcraft magic miracles and possession by evil spirits were other common explanations for the terrible things that happened in this tumultuous period but it was the vampire the activities of a living corpse which inflamed the imagination of Eastern European people the first vampire is to transcend the world of oral folklore and appear in the pages of literary Works appeared in 18th century poetry and they soon became the central figures of gothic fiction when John Willian polidori published his the vampire in 1819 a short story which had come from the contest between polidori Mary Shelley Lord Byron and Percy Shelley the same contest from which Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein came the Macabre tastes in literature in the 18th and early 19th centuries resulted in a caricature of Elizabeth which conceals as much about her as it reveals the focus on vampirism in retellings of her story has led to the sexualization and demonization of Elizabeth from rumors of lesbianism to the determined tracing of satanic teachings through her family tree and acquaintances perhaps these stories of demonic Cults and Sinister connections original donated from the common belief at the time that women were not capable of violence for its own sake or perhaps thinking of her as a supernatural and demonic monster was easier to palette than the realization that an ordinary woman might commit such crimes as well as her gender Elizabeth's class has certainly had an impact on the story of The Blood Countess the idea of a noble woman abusing her aristocratic power and literally draining the blood of the poor would have struck a powerful note with popular and National European movements at the time the literary obsession with depicting Eastern European counts and countesses as bloodthirsty vampires in their Gothic isolated castles is so commonplace that it has become a cliche it has also been suggested that Elizabeth provided inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula along with Vlad the Impaler three-time voivoida of wallachia Romania and although her association with both Transylvania and Crimes of the blood made Elizabeth a natural subject for vampire tales there is no evidence that she was truly an inspiration for Dracula as there is no mention of her in Stoker's notes but her epithets The Blood Countess and Countess Dracula have determined her Legend the modern world seems determined to remember Elizabeth as the bloody Countess numerous films have presented her as a vampire S Type character from her appearance in necropolis in 1970 to Blood Countess in 2015 and she was labeled by Guinness World Records in 2018 as the most prolific female murderer despite the lack of physical evidence and Reliance on hearsay the Gory Sensational and often sexualized nature of Elizabeth's story has often outweighed the search for evidence her work as an educator of young girls as a countess and supporter of War widows and her own intellectual achievements have been hugely overshadowed by these rumors of barbarity that can never be proved or disproved while it is certain that Elizabeth lived at a time when wealthy powerful and isolated women were targeted with accusations of Witchcraft and Demon worship the extent of her supposed crimes seems almost too large to have been entirely made up assessing Elizabeth barteri is a difficult task because much of what is known about her is based on rumor and hearsay on the one hand it seems likely that Elizabeth was caught up in a conspiracy no physical evidence of torture or murder was presented at the trials and Elizabeth herself never gave testimony the trials relied heavily on hearsay evidence and the investigation in the first place was ordered and carried out by two men with much to gain from Elizabeth's conviction King Matthias II who wanted his debts cleared and to increase his control over the semi-independent Transylvania and yurichturzo who had his eye on Elizabeth's wealth and Estates Elizabeth's own story is overshadowed by the political motivations of those around her and little is known about her Beyond her supposed crimes on the other hand it seems incontrovertible that Elizabeth was unusually cruel to her servants and that too many young daughters of the Gentry died in her care to have been caused by accident or epidemic although the figure 650 is likely a gross exaggeration of the number of women killed by The Blood Countess perhaps the real figure is closer to the 50 which was referenced more often in the trial making Elizabeth a prolific serial killer but not a mass murderer of Epic Proportions as she has sometimes been portrayed The Blood Countess myths that grew up around Elizabeth have no doubt flourished more because she was from Transylvania than because she was actually a blood drinking blood-bathing Mass murdering psychopath but the answers to the questions of who the real Elizabeth battery was and how many people she actually tortured and killed will never be uncovered as Macabre rumors have long filled the gaps left by limited historical evidence what do you think of Elizabeth battery the blood contest was she guilty of 600 grisly murders or was she merely an unusually sadistic but powerful woman who had many enemies please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much [Music] the woman known to history as Catherine de Medici was born on the 13th of April 1519 in the City of Florence in Renaissance Italy her mother was Madeleine De La Tour doverne Countess of bulonia who came from an aristocratic background and was descended from an ancient and influential French family with links to the French ruling Elite her father was Lorenzo de Medici ruler of Florence from 1516-1519 and Duke of urbino unlike his wife Lorenzo did not come from an aristocratic family but the Medici family had risen to prominence in the 1430s after making a fortune in banking and acquiring Power by financing several European royal families the medicis promoted the cultural Renaissance in Florence and went on to rule the city for over 300 years from 1434 to 1737. many medicis including Catherine made impressive images and several medicis were elected as Pope Catherine's parents had been married for a year before her birth their Union had been planned as part of an alliance between King Francis the first of France and Lorenzo's Uncle Pope Leo the tenth against their Mutual rival Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian the first as a result of her father's Heritage Catherine was perceived as a noble woman but not as a member of the upper echelons of the Italian aristocracy however her family did wield huge power wealth and influence which would be important in securing Catherine an advantageous match when she reached marrying age Catherine was an only child and was orphaned not long after her birth her mother died of either Pupa or fever caused by an infection picked up during childbirth or the plague only a few days after Catherine's birth on the 28th of April 1519 a father died 21 days after his daughter's birth possibly from syphilis on the 4th of May 1519 at the Villa Medici at caregi in Florence he was buried in the Medici Chapel of Florence's Church of San Lorenzo which was adorned in true Medici Style with Michelangelo's sculpture pinceroso which represented the Duke Lorenzo's tomb has often been confused with that of his illustrious grandfather Lorenzo the Magnificent which also had a Michelangelo sculpture Catherine spent her childhood past between various prominent relations including her paternal grandmother alfonsina Orsini and after she died in 1520 her aunt Clarice de Medici where she was raised along with her cousins she was raised as a Roman Catholic and received an education befitting a noble woman from nuns in Florence and Rome in line with the expectation that Catherine would make an advantageous marriage possibly to a foreign Prince she would have been taught to speak fluently in Italian French and Latin at the very least Grand plans for Catherine's upbringing had been made by more than just her grandmother and aunt King Francis the first of France had wanted Catherine to be raised at the French Court no doubt in order to see her married to a French Aristocrat or even one of his own Sons but Pope Leo the tenth blocked this scheme as he planned to have her marry ippolito de Medici Lord of Florence Pope Leo made Catherine Duchess of urbino in line with his plan but then annexed most of the duchy of urbino in the name of the Papal States reducing her status after the death of Pope Leo the 10th in 1521 Medici power and the Vatican was interrupted until Cardinal giulio Del Medici was elected as Pope Clement VII in 1523 it was during this period between the Medici popes that Catherine's status as Duchess of urbino became became contentious the title and lands of the Duke of urbino were given to Francesca Maria the first de la roverly by Pope Leo's successor Adrian VI the Florentine people continued to refer to Catherine as duchessina meaning the little Duchess referencing her claim to the duchy of urbino during this time Catherine stayed in the Palazzo Medici ricardi the first Medici Palace the occasional workplace of great artists like Donatello Michelangelo and Botticelli and the modern day seat of local government in Florence in 1527 the majitus were overthrown in Florence by a faction which opposed Pope Clement's representative Cardinal Silvio pasarini Catherine was taken hostage and moved from Convent to Convent finally she found consistency and peace at Santisima anusiata Deli murati for three years a period which she described as the happiest of her entire life this momentary interlude and a life defined by political maneuverings must have seemed tranquil however the City of Florence was not permanently lost to the medicis with an eye on europe-wide political events and in order to gain support for the recapture of Florence Pope Clement crowned the Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain Charles V in an elaborate and sacred ceremony in the San petronio Basilica in Bologna on the 24th of February 1530 the coronation aimed to heal the political and religious divides which had blown up when the mutinous Spanish German and Italian troops of Charles V had sacked Rome in 1527. the alliance would also be used against the threat posed by the ottoman Turks who were seeking dominance in Eastern Europe and had reached Vienna an important Royal City in the Holy Roman Empire in 1529 Charles V's Military Support in Florence was well rewarded as Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be awarded the honor of being crowned by a pope the retaking of Florence began in October 1529 and lasted until the city surrendered on the 12th of August 1530. during The Siege there were calls for Catherine's execution and even for her naked exposure and use by the troops for sexual gratification but this period of Siege and her residence in santissima and usiata Deli murati ended for Catherine when Pope Clement called her to Rome in 1530 in order to find her a husband while in Rome at the bequest of Pope Clement Catherine had many suitors the most illustrious of her suitors was King James V of Scotland who sent the Duke of Albany to arrange the marriage on two separate occasions once in April 1530 and again seven months later in November although Catherine did not marry the eager Scottish King their stories would later become entwined when Catherine helped to raise his daughter Mary Queen of Scots a second influential Suitor was Henry Duke of Olia second son of King Francis the first of France and the Future King Henry II Henry belonged to the valuar dynasty which had ruled France since the 14th century by early 1533 Henry was openly courting her and he was to be a fortuitous match for the wealthy but common-born Catherine Catherine de Medici and Henry Duke of earlier were married at eglise San ferreo Les Augusta in Marseille on the 28th of October 1533 when Catherine was 14. the wedding was an extravagant affair with a grand display of gift-giving and festivities which went on late into the night the couple and their distinguished guests celebrated with dancing and feasting and Henry jousted his favorite pastime for his new wife's hand after leaving the ball the couple consummated their marriage apparently under the watch of King Francis the first who was determined to see the union properly joined that morning the couple were visited and blessed in their marital bed by Pope Clement in the first year of marriage Catherine saw little of her husband who openly took Mistresses it was said that Henry was gloomy and introverted because he had spent four years as a captive in Spain during the formative years of his youth that Catherine's intelligence wit and keenness to please made favorable Impressions on the leaders of the French Court however this favorable start to her life in France was quickly reversed the death of her uncle Pope Clement on the 25th of September 1534 undermined Catherine's position and influence at court the situation worsened when Pope Clement's successor Alessandro fanezi broke off the alliance with France and ceased to pay Catherine's large Dowry King Francis the first apparently lamented Catherine's reversal of Fortune and the marriage which had once seemed so fortunate by announcing the girl has come to me Stark naked as well as her tenuous position as a now dowry-less Foreigner Catherine was also under huge pressure to provide the valuar dynasty with the air and spare which would ensure the Dynasty's survival the stakes were even higher in France as under salic law an ancient Frankish civil law code only males could Ascend the throne Catherine greatly desired a son a blessing which would cement her position in France but in the first 10 years of their marriage the couple had no children at all the pressure to conceive built when Henry's older brother the dofar of France Francis died of a fever in 1536 rumors began to spread that either Catherine or the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had poisoned the dofa Catherine became the sole Target of blame for the lack of a legitimate Heir when Henry publicly acknowledged his affair with Philippa dusi and the birth of his daughter Diane in 1537. it was at this time that divorce was discussed and many clamored for Catherine to be sent back to Italy in a period when witch hunting was reaching its peak rumors that Catherine practiced witchcraft began to circulate feeding into the image of her as the black queen which has persisted to today as a woman's role was viewed in terms of her ability to create and sustain life infertile women were seen as unnatural and as witches with the opposite power that of destroying Health life and fertility Catherine's connection with the astrologer and Seer Nostradamus and even more suspicious through Jerry brothers who it was believed engaged in necromancy and the Black Arts did little to help Catherine's reputation after trying every natural and superstitious remedy for inducing pregnancy including drinking mules urine Catherine finally gave birth to her first child and Son Francis on the 19th of January 1544 she went on to have a daughter Elizabeth on the 2nd of April 1545 and a further eight children seven of whom survived infancy she succeeded in providing the dynasty with five boys who could inherit the throne the future Francis II Louis the future Charles IX the future Henry III and Francis Duke of angu the future of the valuar dynasty was now secure but Catherine's pregnancies did nothing to improve her marriage her husband was devoted to his favorite mistress Diane de putier who was 19 years his senior Catherine's influence was rooted solely in her motherhood as her husband ignored her and she would later become very skilled at presenting herself as the devoted mother of future kings and of France itself the death of King Francis the first on the 31st of March 1547 made Catherine Queen consort of France she was crowned in the Basilica of San Dani the resting place of many French Kings and a former medieval abbey church in Northern Paris on the 10th of June 1549 but she was to enjoy no political influence as Queen consort besides wielding the nominal power of regent during her husband's travels abroad the days of Catherine's power and influence were all still ahead of her instead of utilizing the wisdom and skill of his wife Henry promoted the influence of his mistress Diana Poitier giving her the shadow of shen also it was even reported by the Imperial Ambassador that Henry would sit on Diane's lap discuss politics with her and stroke her breasts when in company Diane did not see Catherine as a threat having already essentially usurped her position and privileges as the wife of the king Diane actually encouraged Henry to spend time with Catherine and to sire more legitimate children with her in 1556 Catherine almost died in childbirth the Royal surgeons only saved her life in a terrible exchange for the life of one of her twin girls Joan who died in the womb while Victoria survived but only for seven more weeks as the king's physician advised Henry against having any more children with Catherine he stopped visiting her and instead spent all of his time with his long-term mistress Diane Catherine would have no more children along with her own children Catherine played a role in raising Mary Queen of Scots daughter of her once tutor James V of Scotland Mary's mother Mary of geese was the sister of Henry's Boyhood friend Francis Duke of geese and had married King James V of Scotland in 1538 Mary of geese ruled Scotland as Regent for her daughter Mary who had taken the throne when she was less than one week old Mary Queen of Scots lived at the French Court from the age of five and was promised in marriage to Catherine's eldest son the dofa Francis Francis and Mary were married on the 24th of April 1558 8 when Francis was 15 years old and Mary was 17 years old they would be married for only two years due to the premature death of Francis in 1559 Catherine's eldest daughter Elizabeth became the second among her children to marry the marriage like Catherine's own was part of a political Alliance after the death of Catherine's father Lorenzo de Medici in 1492 the balance of power and economic growth of Catherine's Home Country Italy collapsed this combination of wealth and political instability Drew in Italy's enemies and for over 50 years from 1494 to 1559 the Italian Peninsula became a Battleground between the French valois Dynasty the habsburgs the ottoman Turks and the English these long Italian Wars sometimes called the Habsburg valuar wars were brought to an end on the 3rd to the 4th of April 1559 when Henry II signed the piece of Cato cambrasis with Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth the First of England the treaty was sealed with the marriage of the 13-year-old Elizabeth to King Philip II of Spain Othello Cafe Catholic the union was celebrated in Paris on the 22nd of June 1559 with five days of jousting festivities bowls and masks a form of courtly entertainment from Italy in which participants dance and exchange gifts with their host while in Disguise despite the lavishness of the entertainments the marriage was only a proxy wedding as the couple themselves were not present Henry took part in the celebratory jousting boldly wearing his mistress Diane's black and white colors he was Victorious against his friend the Duke of geese and the Duke of namur but was knocked off his saddle by Gabrielle delorge the Earl of Montgomery in an honorable joust insisting on riding out again against Montgomery Henry's face was shattered by Montgomery's Lance reeling from The Clash with blood pouring down his face and large flinters buried deep in his eye and head Henry was carried away Catherine Diane and Francis the dofa are said to have all fainted at the terrible sight after the splinters were removed from his eye and brain at the Chateau de tonel the king lay in a shifting State Catherine stayed with him but Diane stayed away for fear of being expelled by the queen over the next 10 days Henry sat up to dictate letters and listened to music but began to lose his sight speech and reason finally dying on the 10th of July 1559 at the age of 40. from this day Catherine adopted the broken Lance as her emblem inscribed with the words lacrimai hink hink dolor meaning from this come my tears my pain and warming black for the rest of her life in memory of her husband Catherine recognized that image cultivation was an important part of successful kingship and worked to promote an image of herself as a faithful Widow and devoted mother in 1559 at 40 years old Catherine took her first steps into the political Spotlight after her husband's death she insisted on being called Queen Mother rather than doija which solidified the image of herself she wanted to project that of a loving and devoted mother and the title Amplified her closeness to the next Monarch her son Francis Francis II Catherine's oldest son became king of France at the age of 15. his coronation was held in Rheem on the 21st of September 1559 it was said that the crown was so heavy that Francis couldn't hold it up alone and required trusted Nobles to help hold it in place on his head it was rumored that Francis was frail and of ill health he had married Mary Queen of Scots the year before and in what has been called a coup d'etat Francis the Duke of geese and his brother Charles Cardinal of Lorraine seized power moving themselves into the Louvre palace with the young couple the house of geese were staunch supporters of the Roman Catholic cause but after failing to Aid the Catholics in Scotland the old alliance between Catholic France and Scotland was dissolved causing the geezers to focus their Catholic campaign on France out of necessity Catherine worked with the geezers because she was not guaranteed a role in francis's government as he was deemed old enough to rule alone in France the Royal age of majority was 14. yet she was to wield greater power as the mother of the king than she had done as the wife of the king king Francis II's official acts began with this being the good pleasure of the queen my lady mother and I also approving of every opinion that she holdeth am content and command that Catherine exploited her Newfound Authority she forced Diane de Poitier to hand over the crown jewels and vacate the Chateau de chenonsu before proceeding to undo all of Diane's building work there all those at the court and in government who had been patronized by Diane were quickly replaced including Jean Bertrand Keeper of the seals of France who who was succeeded by Chancellor Francois Olivier who had been dismissed by Diane a few years previously as the gays brothers and the new French government set to policy making the issue of the religious conflict was becoming desperate religious divisions had grown across the whole of Europe as the Protestant Reformation ignited by Martin Luther's criticism of the Roman Catholic Church Unleashed a complex political and religious storm which engulfed the whole of Europe and France in particular the valois royal family were catholic but France had a growing Protestant population and its neighbors including Great Britain the Netherlands Scandinavia and parts of Germany were turning to protestantism the Huguenot where a group of French Protestants who followed the reformed or calvinist Protestant Faith they made up almost 10 percent of the French population and practiced their religion publicly the Huguenot were vocal in their criticism of the Catholic Church denouncing the pope as a tyrant holding false sway over God's creation religious violence was played out on the streets of France lynchings and murders had religious motivations churches were sacked sacred texts were destroyed and the bodies of saints were dug up and burned clearly the government had to do something but the policies of the geese brothers did not at all fit with Catherine's preferred course of action the geese Brothers began persecuting Protestants but Catherine adopted a more moderate stance and spoke out against the persecutions although she had been raised as a Roman Catholic and had been related to several popes the depth of her religious conviction was questioned as she prioritized peace over religious principles whether her conciliatory policy was rooted in her lack of religious conviction her belief in freedom of worship desire for peace at any cost or more likely her political Acumen Catherine succeeded in crafting a place for herself in the political sphere in opposition to the geezers the hard line starts taken up by the geese Brothers fueled the conflict the Huguenot looked to Antoine de bourbon king of Navarre and then to his brother Louis de boabor Prince of Conde for support to topple the geezers with the rise of religious violence the Royal Court was moved to the Fortified Chateau of ambua in the Loire Valley in central France the Duke of geese then launched a surprise attack on the Huguenot in the woods nearby and killed many including the huguenotes commander La Reno di as Catherine and her Court watched many of the rebels were slain drowned in the river or was strung up around the battlements Catherine found an ally for her strategies for defending the law in the face of the growing Anarchy when Chancellor Michelle Dola pittal was appointed in June 1560. neither Catherine nor the new Chancellor agreed with the practice pursued by the geese Brothers a punishing Protestants who were peaceful and worshiped privately Catherine and Chancellor de lopital put their policy of conciliation to an assembly of the privy council at Fontainebleau on the 20th of August 1560. historians have seen this stroke of effective diplomacy as an early example of Catherine's talent for statesmanship as she set her policy for peace in opposition to the geese Brothers meanwhile the prince of conde's army began attacking towns in the south of France in the Autumn of 1560. Catherine ordered the prince of Conde to the Royal Court and when he arrived had him imprisoned tried for offenses against the crown and sentenced to death his life was saved by the timely death of the king the result of an ear infection or abscess in his brain showing her astutinous Catherine recognized that her son's death was imminent and made a pact with Antoine de bourbon a Huguenot leader to the benefit of her second son Charles Antoine de bourbon agreed to renounce his right to the Regency of the Future King Charles IX in return for the release of his brother so when Francis II died on the 5th of December 1560 Catherine was appointed governor of France by the privy Council for the first time she was to have sweeping powers after her rise into the government Catherine wrote a letter to her daughter Elizabeth expressing her views about power my principal aim is to have the honor of God before my eyes in all things and to preserve my authority not for myself but for the conservation of this Kingdom and for the good of all your brothers the coronation of Charles IX saw Catherine's influence solidified the nine-year-old Charles IX is said to have cried through his coronation Catherine kept him close during the start of his Reign reportedly sleeping in his chamber and certainly presiding over his counsel policy making State business and patronage Charles was not just vulnerable due to his youth like his older brother he was not a healthy child the Venetian Ambassador reported that Charles was an admirable child child though he is not robust he favors physical exercises that is too violent for his health for he suffers from shortness of breath the Frailty of the boy on the throne was compounded by the volatile situation in France at the time Catherine sees the Reigns of power for her frail son but she never controlled the whole country as France was engulfed in a civil war large swathes of the country were ruled by noblemen and religious divides impeded political power Catherine summoned the church leaders from both sides of the religious divide to solve their doctrinal differences leaders of the Catholic and Protestant churches in France met on Catherine's instructions to find a compromise between their religious convictions despite Catherine's optimism the colloquy of prasi as this meeting was called failed and on the 13th of October 1561 the meeting dissolved itself without her permission politics had blinded Catherine to reality she had failed to understand the religious divides which were impeding the functioning of political power she believed that getting the religious leaders to agree would resolve everything and completely underestimated the strength of religious convictions in an attempt to make a success of her conciliation policy Catherine issued the edict of sahaja men in January 1562 the edict aimed to promote tolerance between the religious groups and pacify the Protestants however the massacre of vasi on the 1st of March 1562 undid all her efforts the Duke of geese and his men attacked worshiping huguenots in a barn at vasi killing 74 and wounding 104. geeze was treated as a hero by the Parisian population the huguenots called for Revenge for the next 30 Years France flittered between states of outright Civil War and an uneasy truce within a month of the infamous Massacre of vasi huguenotes Louis de borbo and admiraj Gaspar ducolini had raised an army of 1800 and formed a useful alliance with England the Duke of giza's hard-line policy towards the huguenots fueled Huguenot victories who began seizing tone after tone Catherine met with Admiral colony to find a compromise but the talks reached a stalemate and Catherine resorted to meeting violence with violence the Royal Army struck swiftly laying Siege to Huguenot held Roar Catherine visited the field herself against the warnings of her advisors and attended the deathbed of Huguenot leader Antoine de bourbon king of Navarre when he was fatally wounded but the Catholic Triumph was short-lived as on the 18th of February 1563 a spy Potro de merey killed the Duke of geese with an aquibus the first gun fired from the shoulder and resembling a rifle at the siege of orlia triggering a blood Feud amongst the aristocratic families on either side of the religious divide Catherine was delighted at gisa's death as his hand was removed from her son's government she reportedly told the Venetian Ambassador that if mesuta gears had perished sooner peace would have been achieved more quickly finally the war was brought to an end on the 19th of March 1563 with the signing of the Edict of amwas also known as the Edict of pacification but France's problems were not over as the English retained a power base on the French Coast so Catherine rallied both Huguenot and Catholic forces to retake lahav from the English these successors did not change the fundamental fact that Catherine's power was not her own on the 17th of August 1563 it was declared the parliament of raw that Charles IX had now reached majority age and could rule alone but Charles continued to show little interest in the technicalities of ruling and Catherine continued to steer him intent on Reviving loyalty to the crown after a tumultuous period Catherine took a long Tour of France with Charles from January 15 54 to May 1565 she aimed to bolster the Edict of amwas the hard one piece and promote unity and to this end she held talks with Jean dalbrae the Protestant queen regent of Navarre wife of the late Antoine de borbo and mother of King Henry III of Navarre that her attempts at Unity were not received with praise from everyone when visiting her daughter Elizabeth her son-in-law the devotely Catholic Philip of Spain refused to see her and instead sent the Duke of Alba to tell her to tackle heresy more brutally advice which Catherine ignored Catherine's conciliatory policies were failing to bring the religious conflict to an end on the 27th of September 1567 the huguenots attempted to Ambush the king an event known as the surprise of Mo and the Civil War continued the French Court fled to Paris to escape the encroaching violence Bloodshed and civil unrest continued well after another Peace settlement was agreed the Peace of longjumur on the 22nd to 23rd of March 1568. the surprise of Mo marked a turning point in Catherine's policy towards the Huguenot she finally abandoned her policy of compromise for one of repression once the huguenots had targeted the king in June 1568 she told the Venetian Ambassador that the huguenots were traitors and praised the Duke of Alba's reign of terror in the Netherlands where Calvinists and rebel were executed in their thousands the royalist Army forced the huguenots to retreat to the Fortified stronghold of La Rochelle on the west coast where Gian dalbrae and her 15 year old son Henry of Navarre joined them around this time Zha wrote to Catherine expressing her desire to die rather than abandon her God and religion Catherine who had always underestimated the religious conviction of the Huguenot to cry jar AS the most Shameless woman in the world Catherine saw Jean's decision to Rebel as a deliberate dynastic threat rather than a move fueled by religious conviction but despite Catherine's anger fighting on was no longer an option on the 8th of August 1570 the Peace of sahaja main or lay was signed because the Royal Army had run out of money despite Catherine's decision to pursue a more hard-line policy this latest peace actually conceded wider Toleration to the huguenots than ever before whether this was the result of the throne's weak negotiating position or part of Catherine's old and preferred conciliatory policy is unclear with a temporary piece in place Catherine sought to bolster valois interests and Power by setting up several Grand dynastic marriages in 1570 King Charles IX married Elizabeth of Austria daughter of Maximilian II Holy Roman Emperor in a proxy wedding in spayer in modern day Germany Catherine also sought a match between one of her sons and England's Elizabeth the first but this idea never took off she worked to replenish the family's connection with Philip II of Spain after his wife and her oldest daughter Elizabeth died in childbirth in 1568. she planned to marry her youngest daughter Margaret to Philip and also sought a union between Margaret and Henry of Navarre the son of Xiao adalbrae to combine valwa and bourbon interests however Margaret was secretly involved with Henry of geese son of the late Duke of geese which resulted in a beating from her mother Catherine and her brother the king when they found out Catherine succeeded in luring Gian to court and convinced her to agree to a marriage between Margaret and Jean's son Henry with the caveat that Henry be permitted to remain a Huguenot the wedding that took place on the 18th of August 1572 at Notre Dame Paris was overshadowed somewhat by the recent death of jar who was taken ill upon her arrival in Paris it was said that Catherine had murdered her with poisoned gloves the rumor that Catherine had killed John dalbray was not the most damaging rumor about her circulating that summer in 1572 Catherine's reputation was to be stained by the events of the sun Bartholomew's Day Massacre which began only days after her daughter Margaret's wedding on the 21st of August 1572 three days after The Royal Wedding which had brought influential huguenots to Paris Admiral Colony the Huguenot leader was shot while walking home from the Louvre a smoking aquabus was discovered in a window but the culprit escaped colony was treated by surgeon ambros paret Who removed the bullet from his elbow and amputated a damaged finger with a pair of scissors Catherine made a tearful visit to Colony despite apparently receiving the news of this attack without any display of emotion and promised revenge on his attacker several historians have blamed Catherine for the attack on Coligny others have pointed to the geese family or to a Spanish people plot to end colony's influence on the king whatever the truth the bloodbath that followed grew quickly out of control two days later on the 23rd of August 1572 the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre broke out Roman Catholic mobs murdered Protestant huguenots or mass Innocents were targeted including children the elderly and pregnant women bodies were thrown into the river saying and corpses were hung in the streets paintings of the Carnage on the streets of Paris show unimaginable Horrors and often such as the painting by Protestant painter Francois Dubois the black clad figure of Catherine looking coldly upon the violence it was said that Catherine was party to Charles IX decision to kill them all As he aimed to strike first against unexpected Huguenot Revenge attack for the shooting of colony the slaughter lasted for a week and spread outwards from Paris across much of France where it lasted into the Autumn becoming a season of Slaughter as historian Jewel Michele put it in total approximately three thousand Protestants were killed in Paris and a further seventy thousand across the whole of France after the Bloodshed finally abated in Paris Catherine's reputation was in tatters but she was not downcast her son-in-law Henry of Navarre knelt at an altar as a Roman Catholic on the 29th of September having converted to avoid death and as the ambassadors reported Catherine had laughed triumphantly at the site the legend of the wicked Italian The Black Queen spread from this moment she was accused of being a disciple of Machiavelli of using the tactics of his Treatise the prince to remember move all of her enemies in one deadly blow it was a well-targeted criticism given that Machiavelli had dedicated the prince to Catherine's father Lorenzo the huguenots responded to the massacre with propaganda a tactic made doubly effective by their Mastery of the relatively new art of printing with a printing press within weeks propaganda papers were produced and distributed or mass and Catherine was their natural Target in 1575 a particularly influential manuscript by an anonymous author titled disco mervill de la vie action de Medici blamed Catherine for the massacre and announced her as the epitome of female evil the manuscript became a bestseller and triggered an avalanche of propaganda and accusations against Catherine her reputation as a devoted Queen Mother was permanently blackened and old prejudices against her as a duplicitous Florentine and power hungry Medici resurfaced the black clothes she wore as an ongoing sign of her loyalty to her late husband were turned into the costume of an Angel of Death the document had achieved its aim of preventing Catherine from consolidating her power after the death of her second son Charles IX some even called for her to be put on trial for the murder of the huguenots the debate over the level of responsibility Catherine held for the horrific events of Saint Bartholomew's day is still ongoing some historians have argued that Catherine perhaps ordered the assassination of several Protestant leaders while they were together in Paris for the wedding but that the scale and unpredictability of the actions of the mob could not have been ordered or controlled by anyone yet Catherine had almost always opted for a conciliatory path she wanted unity and peace for the sake of political stability and the longevity of the valois dynasty she had organized the wedding between her own daughter and Henry of Navarre and had invited prominent Huguenot to the celebrations in Paris it seems unlikely that she would then set out to ruin this opportunity for Unity which she herself had created by calling forth a violent mob to Massacre the Huguenot and she continued to act in line with her policy of conciliation well after the massacre and its aftermath but the Protestants and anyone who had become tired of Catherine's moderate policies remained convinced that she was to blame for the massacre as with the painting by Protestant painter Francois DuBois and the Disco mervier manuscript the criticism of Catherine would play out loudly on the public stage and in the realm of the Arts Catherine would not take it lying down Catherine believed as many Renaissance princes and Scholars did that power depended as much on cultural display as on Force she had inherited the Medici family's taste for Fine Art and became a patroness of the Arts bolstering French culture as much as her family had in Florence in an age of declining loyalty to the monarchy she used the Arts to increase The Prestige of the valuar dynasty launching an artistic patronage program which lasted for three decades she tapped into the rising popularity of portraiture by inviting resident portrait artists to the French court and commissioning thousands of portraits of her family although she spent enormous sums of money on the Arts there was little permanent Legacy of her work the festivals and entertainments she arranged and the school of artists she patronized did not live on after she was gone only her love for architecture left a lasting Mark including several restored Royal palaces two new palaces she had built in Paris the twilery and the hotel de la rent as well as the Italian Renaissance style tomb in which she and her husband would lay two years after the events of the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre another dynastic crisis threatened to unseat Catherine and the valois line King Charles IX died at the age of 23 of tuberculosis apparently calling out Catherine's name with his last dying breath leaving no air Charles was succeeded by his brother Henry Duke of orju Henry was recalled from the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth where he had been elected King the year before abandoning this throne for the crown of France Henry came to the throne as an experienced and grown man unlike his two older brothers although Catherine was grieved by Charles's death writing to Henry that she was grief-stricken to have witnessed such a scene and the love which he showed me at the end it was said that Henry was her favorite son she added in her letter to him that her only consolation is to see you here soon as your kingdom requires and in good health for if I were to lose you I would have myself buried alive with you despite the advantages of experience maturity and health Henry proved to be as equally fitful as his brothers when it came to displaying interest in the tasks of government Henry's disinterest in ruling was perhaps rooted in his religious devotion he showed much more interest in displays of piety pilgrimage and flagellation than in the politics of ruling Justice Francis and Charles had Henry relied heavily on Catherine when it came to the practicalities of ruling so even though Catherine did not have the formal powers of a regent as she had when Charles had ruled as a minor she continued to hold huge power and influence over the government Henry's coronation was held at Rheem Cathedral on the 13th of February 1575 and two days later he married Luis De Laurent the demore his choice thwarting Catherine's plans for a political marriage to a foreign princess this marriage was a childless one which had deep consequences for Catherine's family Henry III's Heir was his younger brother Francis Duke of alanson but instead of fulfilling his duties as dofa Francis exploited the Anarchy of the Civil Wars to his own Advantage despite Catherine summoning him for a six-hour telling off about his subversive behavior in March 1578 Francis would not be stopped and the valuar dynasty looked set to crumble Francis allied with the Protestant princes against the crown and his brother Henry III and besieged Paris in the spring of 1576. the resulting piece of Monsieur francis's nickname and edictor bewley was granted by Catherine on the 6th of May 1576 and represented a huge concession to Huguenot demands Protestants were now permitted to Worship in public build their own churches and were guaranteed representation in the strongly Catholic Parliament a guarantee which would later be rescinded by the state's general of Bloor and caused the return of Henry of Navarre to his calvinist religion and to Leading armed Rebellion there was also to be a compensation for the families of the victims of the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre it was said that Francis forced Catherine and Henry to pass the ACT many Catholics were extremely opposed to these concessions and particularly to the recognition given to Protestant political organizations and formed their own political organization called the Catholic league in protest as well as deepening religious grievances the peace treaty also failed to bring an end to francis's dangerous Behavior francis's Army launched a disastrous intervention in the low countries in the middle of 1584 but in June of that year Francis died of consumption despite their differences Catherine then wrote I Am So wretched to live long enough to see so many people die before me although I realize that God's will must be obeyed that he owns everything and that he lends Us only for as long as he likes the children whom he gives us the death of her youngest son was a dynastic Calamity she had no more living Sons to inherit the throne and any surviving daughters were not eligible to rule due to their gender the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre now became air presumptive to the French crown although Catherine had wisely married her youngest daughter Margaret to Henry of Navarre she could rely on her daughter Margaret little more than she could rely on her Troublesome son Francis Duke of alanson Margaret had returned to the French Court without her husband in 1582 and Catherine was overheard berating her daughter for taking lovers after being sent back to her husband Margaret fled again in 1585 retreated to her property at Aja and begged her mother for money Catherine sent only enough money for food in an attempt to force Margaret to return home but Margaret moved on to the Fortress of Carla and took another lover a nobleman called dobiak Catherine demanded that Henry of Navarre act to resolve his marital difficulties before shame was brought upon them all and in October 1586 he locked Margaret up in the Chateau do so derbyak was executed though not as Catherine had wished in front of Margaret Catherine cut Margaret it out of her will and never saw her again Catherine's control over the crown had reduced since the reign of her Elder two sons but she still functioned as Henry's chief executive of government and as a traveling Diplomat she traveled widely across the kingdom enforcing his authority and trying to head off war in 1578 at the age of 59 she embarked on an 18-month Journey around the south of France to meet Huguenot leaders her efforts one Catherine knew respect from the French people and on her return to Paris in 1579 she was greeted outside the city by the Parliament and large crowds the Venetian Ambassador gerolamo lipomano wrote of Catherine she is an indefatigable princess born to tame and Governor people as unruly as the French they now recognize her merits her concern for Unity and are sorry not to have appreciated her sooner Catherine herself however was under no Illusions about the desperate situation facing the valuar Dynasty and on the 25th of November 1579 she wrote to the king you are on the eve of a general Revolt anyone who tells you differently is a liar as Catherine had predicted many leading Roman Catholics were appalled by her attempts to appease the Huguenot and in particular by the Edict of bewley which had furthered Protestant rights local Catholic leagues were formed with the aim of protecting the Catholic religion and Catholic privileges from rising protestantism after the death of Francis the dofa in 1584 the Duke of geese assumed the leadership of the Catholic league in order to block the succession of Huguenot Henry of Navarre and put Henry's Catholic Uncle Cardinal child de bilbor on the throne instead geese recruited powerful Catholic princes Nobles and Bishops formed a union with Spain under the Treaty of joyville and readied for war against the Heretics by 1585 King Henry III had to face the reality of war against the Catholic League who was stirring up the civil a war once more Catherine apparently counseled Henry on the delicate nature of the situation but also warned him that peace is carried on a stick she wrote to her favorite son to take care especially about your person there is so much treachery about that I die of fear trapped in a difficult situation Henry was unable to fight both the Catholics and the Protestants at the same time both of whom had larger and better resourced armies than his own Henry decided to initially seek peace with the Catholics and on the 7th of July 1585 signed the Treaty of nemour agreeing to meet all of the League's demands even paying its troops then driven by his religious convictions Henry retreated into hiding to fast and pray taking with him his personal bodyguard a loyal Force known as the 45 and leaving Catherine to find a resolution to what was quickly becoming a constitutional crisis the valois monarchy had lost control of the country to make matters worse a europe-wide Catholic backlash against the Protestants was on the rise in 1587. the in stability in France forced Henry III and Catherine to refuse assistance to England after the execution of Mary Queen of Scots on the 8th of February 1587 caused Fury amongst the Catholic world and the Spanish prepared to launch its Armada against England recognizing the vulnerability of royal power in France the Spanish Ambassador apparently told King Philip II of Spain that the abscess was about to burst the Catholic League honored their treaty with the Spanish and seized control of much of northern France to allow the Spanish Armada access to French ports with his rule completely undermined by the Catholic league and widespread religious divisions Henry then made several mistakes seeing that Paris was vulnerable Henry hired Swiss troops to help him defend the city and himself but the parisians took it upon themselves to defend the city and built barricades in the streets on the 12th of May 1588. they refused to take orders from Henry and announced that they would take orders only from the Duke of geese Catherine reportedly forced her way through the barricades to mass the people acquiescing to her passing and then as chronicler lestuel reported cried all through lunch she later wrote to Statesman and future Chancellor pompond to beliedra never have I seen myself in such trouble or with so little light by which to escape acting upon his mother's Sage advice ice Henry fled Paris just in time and signed the act of Union on the 15th of June 1588 giving in to the League's latest demands to give himself the chance to fight again another day then Henry made his second mistake on the 8th of September 1588 Henry dismissed all of his ministers without warning as the French Court gathered for a meeting of the Estates atypically he had not conferred with Catherine about this decision and she was kept in the dark about the events while she suffered from a lung infection Henry's mistake and the even greater one which followed effectively ended Catherine's days of power and the valwa dynasty at the meeting of the Estates Henry thanked Catherine for everything she had done calling her mother of the king and mother of the state then on the 23rd of December 1588 Henry invited the Duke of geese to visit him at the Chateau de Bois again without conferring with Catherine and reacted to resolve all of the problems facing him and made his third great mistake as geez entered the king's chamber for the proposed meeting the 45 Henry's bodyguard stabbed geese to death symbolically at the foot of the king's bed simultaneously Henry's men captured eight members of the geese family including the Duke of giza's brother and the Cardinal of geese Louis II who was later hacked to death in the palace dungeons once the murders were complete Henry finally shared his decisions with Catherine begged her for forgiveness and excused his Brash and violent scheme as an attempt to prevent geese doing the same to him although Catherine's initial reaction to these events cannot be known her son's actions had certainly not reflected her own cautious and shrewd diplomacy on Christmas day she prayed with a friar and lamented o Wretched Man what has he done pray for him I see him rushing towards his ruin when she visited her old friend Cardinal de bourbon on the 1st of January of 1589 a promise that he would be freed soon was met with the Cardinal's derision as he responded your words Madame have led us all to this Butchery Catherine died only a few days later on the 5th of January 1589 at the age of 69. it is likely that she died from pleurisy an inflammation on the lungs the condition which had kept her bed bound in December and which had perhaps encouraged her son to move against the Duke of geese without conferring with her first it was generally believed that Catherine's life had been shortened by the stress and by her anger at her son's rash actions as Paris was still held by enemies of the crown Catherine could not be buried there with her husband instead she was initially buried at the Sasso ver Dubois Church imblua near the Chateau Royal de blois where she had died her body was later moved to the Basilica Cathedral of sandani in Northern Paris the traditional resting place for french monarchs of the period and placed next to her husband Henry II this reinterment was arranged by Henry II's illegitimate daughter with Philippa duchy Diane de France Duchess of angulam the tomb of Henry and Catherine an elaborate temple-like structure with four statues representing the cardinal virtues of prudence Justice fortitude and Temperance was desecrated during the French Revolution in October 1793 like those of many other kings and queens of France however the tomb was saved by archaeologist Alexandra Lenoir and preserved at the Museum of French monuments during the second bourbon restoration between 1815 and 1830 the tomb was returned to the Basilica of San Denis Catherine was not outlived by her son for very long as Henry III was stabbed to death by Jacques clemor eight months after Catherine's initial burial when he was killed Henry had been besieging Paris with Henry of Navarre who went on to succeed him as King Henry IV of France the death of Catherine's last son represented the end of almost three centuries of valois rule and brought the house of bourbon to power Catherine had outlived all of her children except Henry who died only months later and Margaret who she had disowned King Henry IV later said of Catherine his mother-in-law and enemy what could a woman do left by the death of her husband with five little children on her arms and two families of France who were thinking of grasping the crown our own and the geezers was she not compelled to play stray change parts to deceive first one and then the other in order to guard as she did her sons who successively reigned through the wise conduct of that shrewd woman I am surprised that she never did worse Catherine had risen to become the most powerful woman in 16th century Europe Born Into The prominent Medici family then the rulers of Florence and famous patrons of the Arts she Rose to become the queen of France by marriage to King Henry II and wielded immense power as the queen mother of three French Kings Francis II Charles IX and Henry III the last French King of the valuar dynasty but her Legacy has been mired by attitudes towards powerful women and foreigners and by the controversies which coincided with her time as the power behind the French Crown the complexity of the civil and religious wars which her three sons ruled through make assessing her difficult Catherine's influence over her sons their governments and their policy making made her an easy target for blame the blame she carried whether justly or not for the persecutions carried out under her son's Rule and especially the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 when thousands of Huguenot were killed tainted her memory Catherine has been remembered as the black queen as a follower of Machiavelli's Cutthroat political theories rather than as a queen mother who pursued policies of conciliation patronized the Arts and above all worked to save the valuar dynasty although Catherine's ruthlessness is not a fabrication of historians as it comes through clearly in her letters and in the words of those who knew her there is much more to her story like many female rulers before and after her she has been flattened out by history made into a two-dimensional character as her moniker The Black Queen shows while the complexities of her character and the situation are ignored her Authority was hugely limited by the effects of the Civil Wars and in the context of the political and religious turmoil her policies appear to simply be desperate measures to keep the valois monarchy on the throne from her policy of conciliation with the Huguenot and marriage of her own daughter to the Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre to her patronage of the Arts in an attempt to glorify the monarchy without Catherine it seems likely that her sons would have held onto the throne in their lifetimes what do you think of Catherine der Medici was she the black queen that history has remembered her as or was she the devoted mother and politically astute woman which she hoped to be remembered as please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching the woman known to history as Empress Maria Teresa was born on the 13th of May 1717. in the hofberg palace in the center of the city of Vienna as Maria Theresa valberga Amalia Christina her father was Emperor Charles VI ruler of the Holy Roman Empire Archduke of Austria king of Hungary and Bohemia and head of the House of Habsburg as such Charles was one of the most powerful rulers in early 18th century Europe Maria Theresa's mother was Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick volsonburger a daughter of the Duke of Brunswick wolfenbuttle one of the most powerful German Lords of the day she had married Charles in 1708 and three years later he succeeded his brother Joseph the first as head of the House of Habsburg and the Holy Roman Emperor at that time Charles and Elizabeth still did not have any children perhaps partly owing to Charles's homosexuality however his accession as emperor in 1711 placed an onus on the pair to produce an heir a son Leopold was born in 1716 but the child was Ill from birth and died just over six months later thus when Maria Theresa was born the following may she was her parents only surviving child another daughter Maria Anna would follow in September 1718. a third daughter Maria Amalia was born in 1724 but she died in 1730 no further Sons were born a fact which would have a significant bearing on Maria Therese's life Maria Therese's childhood was typical of a princess during the 18th century a period of lavish Court ceremonial and pageantry as such much of her education centered on learning to dance sing play music and engage in the other Pursuits which were The Preserve of the Austrian Court as well as other European courts in a profoundly Catholic country it was perhaps unsurprising that her tutors were members of the Society of Jesus or Jesuits it was from these tutors that she learned the core subjects of the humanist educational curriculum which had been disseminated around Europe during the Renaissance Latin rhetoric grammar poetry history and moral philosophy however that was supplemented by new subjects addressing the emerging Sciences following the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century much of her time would have been spent away from her family as was typical of the Courts of the time and spent instead with her own household staff additionally her relationship with her father was poor in large part owing to the fact that Charles had yearned for a son as an heir and as a replacement for the deceased Leopold and he was devastated when a daughter was born in 1717. nevertheless Maria Theresa was his Heir and in 1731 when she was 14 years old and deemed to be entering her adult years by the standards of the time her father began allowing her to sit in on meetings of the government Council though he never consulted her on policy matters the nation which Maria Theresa was destined to one day rule over had emerged as one of Europe's great powers in The Strangest of ways it was based entirely around the house of Habsburg the family which carved out Austria as its own fiefdom the family was descended from a relatively minor lord of the Alpine region who had built a fortress in Switzerland in the 11th century which was known as the Habsburg Castle later the family adopted this name they gradually expanded their land Holdings into Austria in the high Middle Ages and from 1452 down to the mid-18th century every Holy Roman Emperor hailed from the house of Habsburg this combined with the shrewd series of marriage alliances saw the territory which the habsburgs ruled directly expand to cover most of modern-day Austria the titles of Duke and then Archduke of Austria followed later Ferdinand of Habsburg succeeded as king of hunger degree and Bohemia further territorial Acquisitions in what is now Belgium and Northern Italy ensured that by the time of Maria Theresa's birth the austrians controlled the territory approximating to modern-day Austria Hungary the Czech Republic Croatia and much of Slovakia as well as the duchy of Milan and the kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples in Italy the habsburgs ruled Austria as absolute monarchs in line with the absolutist principles which had emerged in countries like France Russia Austria and Prussia in the 17th century this approach was the opposite of that of countries like Britain and the Dutch Republic where parliamentary bodies were becoming more powerful by way of contrast in Austria the state was governed by the head of the House of Habsburg as Holy Roman Emperor Archduke of Austria and king of Hungary and Bohemia the ruler in this case Maria Theresa's Father Charles VI appointed a narrow collection of all-powerful ministers who managed the government on his behalf Austria was also one of the most monolithically Roman Catholic States in Europe although it did have a number of important religious minorities notably a substantial Jewish population many Protestants in Bohemia and Hungary and both Eastern Orthodox Christians and some Muslims in the Balkan territories the economy of Austria was underdeveloped by comparison with countries like England the Dutch Republic and Sweden being primarily based on agriculture while it was also well behind its Western European rivals in terms of its education system furthermore its military was no rival for its northern neighbor Prussia whose military was the most effective in Europe and whose King Frederick William the first had transformed the nation into a major rival of Austria's in Central Europe this was the realm which Maria Theresa would rule one day her father had made plans to ensure this even before she was born when he had become Archduke and Holy Roman Emperor in 1711. Charles was the last male Heir in the direct line of the House of Habsburg Austria at the time followed the salic law which prohibited women from succeeding to the throne but in order to widen the base of possible heirs and ensure that the habsburg's territories did not pass to another European royal family when he died Charles had what is known as the pragmatic sanction past in 1713. this stipulated that all of the territories which he ruled in Central Europe the low countries and Italy could pass undivided to a female Heir thus increasing the possibility that the Habsburg line would not die out it was a fortuitous decision for when he died many years later Charles would only leave behind female Heirs of whom Maria Teresa was the oldest however as we will see the pragmatic sanction was not accepted unequivocally by others who had a claim to the Habsburg territories when the day came for Maria Theresa to succeed her father already in the mid-1720s extensive consideration had been given in Vienna to Maria Theresa's potential husband one possible Contender was Leopold Claymore heir to the duchy of Lorraine in eastern France and a Scion of the French Royal House of bourbon however his premature death from smallpox in the summer of 1723 ended speculation on this front another Suitor was Prince Frederick of Prussia the heir to King Frederick William the first who was just a few years older than Maria Theresa a marriage alliance with the prussians was viewed as favorable at the Austrian Court as it would potentially neutralize Prussia as a threat to Austria in Central Europe but Prussia was a solidly Protestant State and the match was ultimately unacceptable to the Roman Catholic establishment in Vienna as a result Charles betrothed his daughter and heir to Prince Charles of Spain a younger son of Philip V the king king of Spain from 1724 onwards the match which carried the possibility of Austria and Spain being ruled by a husband and wife a scenario which would have hugely Disturbed the balance of power amongst Europe's great States was unacceptable to countries like Britain and France and under pressure from these nations Charles VI abandoned the arrangement in the late 1720s in the event the other powers were correct to be concerned as Prince Charles of Spain did eventually become king of Spain in 1759 following the death of his childless brother Ferdinand VI in response to these developments Charles increasingly looked towards Francis Stephen the younger brother of the deceased Leopold clemor of Lorraine as a potential husband for Maria Theresa the house of Lorraine was particularly favored by the Austrian ability for their Ultra Catholic credentials and Francis Stephen had been brought to the Austrian Court in Vienna all the way back in 1723 in order to observe him as a possible marriage partner other suitors came and went in the 1720s but when the possibility of marrying Prince Charles of Spain fell through in the late 1720s Francis Stephen was increasingly viewed as Maria's likely husband he became a more attractive Prospect owing to the fact that he was potentially going to succeed the childless Grand Duke of Tuscany in Italy zhangastone de merigi this would potentially make Maria Theresa Duchess of Tuscany one day further cementing our Austria's control over the Italian Peninsula by the mid-1730s it was clear that Maria would marry Francis and they were finally officially betrothed in January 1736 they married just two weeks later it would be a tempestuous relationship in which Maria Theresa was possessive of her husband but he never betrayed any sense that he had married her for any reason other than the political Ambitions of himself and his family while Maria Theresa's marriage to Francis Stephen was being negotiated and then agreed in the 1730s Austria was involved in two Wars which had a significant bearing on Maria's future Reign the war of the Polish succession was fought between 1733 and 1735. it was sparked by a civil war over the succession to the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth following the death of King Augustus II in 1733. most of Europe's major Powers became involved in order to further their own Ambitions Austria supported the claim of augustus's son Augustus III who eventually became king the fighting ended in 1735 but full peace terms were not agreed until the signing of the Treaty of Vienna in 1738. through this Austria's preferred candidate for the throne of Poland Augustus III was recognized as the ruler of the Commonwealth by the other European powers but in return Austria was forced to see the kingdom of Naples in Italy to Spain while Maria's new husband Francis also had to renounce his claim to the duchy of Lorraine in France thus Austria gained influence to the east in Poland but lost influence to the West in eastern France and southern Italy more broadly the war confirmed both the weakness of Poland as well as how its politics were now determined by its neighbors Paving the way for the gradual carving up of its territory and division amongst its neighbors many years later another conflict which had broken out in 1735 just as the active fighting in the war of the Polish succession was coming to an end was the russo-turkish war between the 15th and 17th centuries the Ottoman Empire had been the preeminent power in the Balkans expanding aggressively and even placing Vienna under a major Siege in 1683 which under other circumstances might have resulted in the conquest of the city yet by the 18th century the Ottomans were entering a period of steep decline as they failed to keep Pace with the technological and Military advancements underway amongst Europe's christian powers as this occurred Austria and Russia the Ottomans two Northern Neighbors in the Balkans and the Black Sea engaged in a series of Wars to rest control of territory from the Turks the conflict which erupted between Russia and the Ottomans in 1735 was one such war of Adventure Russia overran the Ottomans possessions in the Crimea within a few months following which Charles VI decided to enter the war on Russia's side against the Turks however his armies lost a series of engagements in the Balkans in 1737 and 1738 highlighting the weaknesses of the Austrian military and when the Treaty of Belgrade was signed in 1739 it did not result in territorial gains for Austria however the war set the template for Russia and Austria to begin dismantling the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans and the Black Sea a process which would continue throughout Marriott's long Reign and well into the 19th century the Treaty of Belgrade was one of the last major acts of the reign of Maria Theresa's Father Charles VI died on the 20th of October 1740. most likely from having consumed poisonous mushrooms while on a hunting trip in Hungary upon his death Maria succeeded in line with the pragmatic sanction to become the first female ruler of the House of Habsburg Arch Duchess of Austria queen of Hungary and Bohemia and shortly afterwards the first Empress of the Holy Roman Empire her accession was formally recognized five weeks later when the Austrian Estates paid homage to her in Vienna on the 22nd of November the previous day she had appointed Francis as co-ruler to assuage doubts about Austria having a female ruler and he would co-rule with her as Francis the first of Austria although Maria would wield greater Authority during their reign however there was no time to enjoy her accession the father had been a poor ruler who had left the Austrian treasury deeply mired in debt as a result the Austrian military which had been weakened as a result of the Polish and Turkish Wars of the 1730s was unpaid and thousands of men had begun to Desert however Charles had failed to train his daughter in matters of statecraft and she had no experience of ruling when she ascended a problem which was compounded by the incompetence of several of Austria's leading government ministers at the time these problems were further added to within weeks when several of the European powers made it clear that they would not accept Maria Theresa's accession calling into question the legal validity of the pragmatic sanction which Charles had passed in 1713 allowing a daughter of his to succeed to all of his territories in particular Charles of Bavaria the ruler of the electorate of Bavaria as Prince elector and head of one of the most powerful German states had a claim to the Habsburg territories if the validity of the pragmatic sanction was to be questioned he also appealed to the scores of other German states and free cities to refuse to accept a female ruler of the Holy Roman Empire as with so many other European conflicts of the 18th century a number of other powers soon joined in the conflict to further their own dynastic and territorial Ambitions as a result within weeks of Maria's accession the war of the Austrian succession had erupted pitting Austria Britain the Dutch Republic and Hanover against Bavaria France and Prussia it would last for eight years and in due course Spain and Sweden allied with Bavaria while Russia joined the war on Austria's side the war had an international dimension for powers like France Britain Spain and the Dutch Republic which each had extensive overseas colonies but for Maria Theresa and her government the fighting was largely confined to Central Europe her forces were on the back foot from the beginning Frederick II who had succeeded his father as King of Prussia in May 1740 had been preparing for the inevitable succession of Maria and he invaded Austria in mid-December 1740. the Prussian Army was the greatest fighting force in Europe in the 18th century and it easily overran much of Austria's Northern Territories in the final weeks of 1740. in particular Frederick was able to occupy the province of Silesia this was a long contested region which straddled the borders between Prussia Austria and the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth it is rich in minerals and Frederick wanted possession of its valuable Minds thus his quick occupation of Silesia in the winter of 1740 was a major victory to begin with and he would secure the province at the end of the war this was probably the foremost result of the conflict for Austria and Prussia as it tilted the economic equilibrium within Germany in favor of the prussians going forward The Wider War lasted until 1748 though the bulk of the fighting was over by 1745 after which time the main antagonists entered into peace negotiations at the city of aachen near cologne in Western Germany the resulting Treaty of EX Le Chapel was primarily negotiated for Austria by Britain and Maria Theresa severely resented her virtual exclusion from the peace talks some of the terms were favorable to her nonetheless for instance all Sites agreed to accept the legal validity of the pragmatic sanction and so recognized Maria as the rightful ruler of all the Habsburg territories and as Holy Roman Empress the male title of which had briefly been held by Charles of Bavaria during the War ending three centuries of uninterrupted Habsburg holding of that title however in return for her formal recognition as empress archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia Maria had to seed Elysia officially to Prussia while also relinquishing some of her territories in Italy to Spain and recognizing the independence of the duchies of mordina and Jenna were there the other terms primarily concerned Britain and France and their overseas colonies as such Maria had gained formal recognition of her right to rule from Europe's Powers but at the loss of Austrian influence in Italy and the province of Silesia the latter of which was a particularly bitter pill to swallow and which Maria would obsess over recovering for the remainder of her reign Maria's determination to oversee the war effort from Vienna in the 1740s was complicated by her almost continuous pregnancies within weeks of marrying Francis in 1736 she was already pregnant and she remained so for most of the next 20 years eventually giving birth to 16 children between 1737 and 1756 11 girls and five boys one of her daughters died during birth while both of her first two daughters Maria Elizabeth and Maria Carolina born in 1737 and 1740 died in infancy of the other 13 children several more would die before reaching their adult years Charles Joseph Maria Johanna and Maria josefa all being Carried Away by a smallpox wave which devastated Austria in the 1760s consequently only 10 of her 16 children survived into their adult years but they would generally lead long lives by the standards of the time a male Heir arrived in the spring of 1741 in the shape of Archduke Yosef while three more Sons Leopold Ferdinand and Maximilian France would all outlive their mother and Maria was assured that there would be no further succession crises pursuing from her own passing as we will see later a number of her daughters would also play important roles in the dynastic politics of Europe during the second half of the 18th century despite their growing brood of children Maria Therese's marriage to Emperor Francis was never a happy Union although Maria was initially determined to forge a close and happy Union with her husband he never warmed to his Austrian wife and became a Serial adulterer as the years went by some of this was open knowledge at court which must have caused considerable distress for Maria for instance when the Countess Maria Wilhelmina from niperg arrived to the Austrian Court in Vienna in the mid-1750s as a 17 year old maid of honor to the empress Francis quickly began an affair with her despite being 30 years older than her this particular infidelity lasted for several years and Francis was Indiscreet enough that foreign dignitaries to the court of Vienna wrote about it when reporting to their governments back in London Paris and Madrid these issues aside Francis had a very good business mind and while Maria oversaw most aspects of the governance of her Realms herself she delegated oversight of the Austrian treasury to Francis over the course of a quarter of a century he transformed Austria from one of Europe's Most indebted Nations to one of its most financially sound States Maria's own style of governance was reflective of the government's system espoused by absolute monarchs throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries while such rulers in France Austria Russia and other absolute monarchies were effectively all-powerful and did not defer to any Parliament or legislative assembly they nevertheless left responsibility for the day-to-day running of government in the hands of a clique of ministers who they appointed to run the country often with a very powerful chief minister overseeing Affairs at the Austrian Court these leading officials were known as the kaheimrat kaheim meaning secret and as such the heimrat would be the closest political confident of the monarch similar to a secretary of state in England during Maria's Reign the most powerful geheimerat was venzel Anton Prince of khalnitzelberg counties Rose to prominence as Austrian ambassador to France and became state chance and Minister for foreign affairs in 1753 posts he would effectively monopolize for the next 40 years much of his foreign policy mirrored Maria's inclinations in seeing Prussia and its ruler Frederick II as Austria's foremost Nemesis he was the most powerful politician in 18th century Austria though other counselors such as Matthias France Graf Von turinsky Bishop of berno and his charinsky relatives also played important roles in the governance of Maria's Realms she was never far from Affairs either and while countetts and others managed the day-to-day business of government the empress was consulted regularly and ultimately had to sanction all major domestic reforms and foreign policy decisions some of the foremost domestic issues facing Austria during Maria's Reign concerned religion the house of Habsburg were amongst the great champions of Roman Catholicism in Europe during the early modern period and had fought hard to prevent the rise of protestantism in Austria itself with success but Maria's forebears had inherited and conquered territories since the 16th century which had large religious minorities within them in particular Bohemia and Hungary were a patchwork of Catholics Jews and various types of Protestants including lutherans hussites Calvinists and moravians as a zealous Roman Catholic Maria aimed to convert her Protestant subjects or at least create a religiously pure core to her territories in line with this she exiled thousands of Protestants who were living in Upper Austria to the remote Transylvania region in the Eastern extremities of the Habsburg lands around what is now Western Romania in tandem working noses were established in Hungary and Bohemia to forcibly inter Protestants in them and try to convert them to Catholicism this was just the latest effort by a Habsburg Monarch to convert the Protestants of these regions to Catholicism and like all her predecessors before her Maria's policies failed major Protestant minorities remained a feature of both Hungary and Bohemia through to Modern Times while Maria Theresa's approach towards her Protestant subjects was to attempt to forcibly convert them she adopted an altogether different policy regarding the Jews of the Habsburg territories tens of thousands of Jews had settled in Austria Bohemia and Hungary in the late medieval period following their expulsion from countries like England and France there was a sizable Jewish population here as a result by the 18th century Maria exhibited the anti-semitic views which were typical of many zealous Catholics during the early modern period and she actively persecuted them for much of her Reign for instance in 1747 a toleration tax was issued aimed primarily at the Jews of Hungary where the greatest concentration of Jews in the Habsburg lands was to be found this imposed a heavy tax on Jews in towns like Buddha with the threat of forced expulsion from the Habsburg lands if they did not pay this many the poorer Jews were consequently forced to migrate eastwards to the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth which had a long history of Toleration of the Jewish people others remained and paid the tax it was lightened as the years went by and Maria Theresa's anti-semitic policies were loosened in general from the late 1750s onwards as the empress was influenced by the courtier Abraham Mendel taben The Unofficial leader of the Jewish community in Hungary who gained considerable influence at the court in Vienna at this time in time the Toleration tax was removed altogether in the 1790s and cities like Vienna and Budapest would retain their significant Jewish communities through to the 20th century the war of the Austrian succession was far from the only conflict which Austria became embroiled in during Maria's long Reign when that conflict ended a general realignment of the European balance of power began for decades Austria and Britain had been allied with each other to check the growth of French power on the continent but the war of the 1740s had convinced King George II's government in England that Austria was no longer capable of doing so militarily therefore in the late 1740s and early 1750s Britain had begun cultivating Prussia as a new continental Ally this in turn led to Austria drifting towards a French alliance with the ultimate goal of reacquiring Silesia in a new war with Prussia kaunitz was the architect of this new foreign policy though Maria actively supported him the end result of all this maneuvering was the Diplomatic revolution of 1756 the two prongs of which were a formal and anglo-pression Alliance and a rival agreement reached between France and Austria that same year under the terms of the first Treaty of Versailles this in turn pulled Austria and Prussia into a war which had been underway between Britain and France since 1754. primarily over their respective colonies in North America where France still controlled the region around Eastern Canada and the British colonies covered what is now the east coast of the United States the entry of Maria Theresa's nation and others like Prussia into the conflict in 1756 commenced what is known as the Seven Years War which would last down to 1763. as with the war of the Austrian succession before it the Seven Years War was primarily fought between Britain and France and on this occasion the fighting extended to their colonies in North America the West Indies and even India leading many historians to call this the first global war Austria's role in it was largely confined once again to Central Europe where advied with Prussia for control of parts of Germany Frederick II had overrun the electorate of Saxony in northeastern Germany in the first weeks of the conflict in 1756 an action which angered many other European powers such as Sweden and Russia as Prussia had not declared war on Saxony and these are the Northern and Eastern European powers were worried about pressure requiring too much power in Central Europe too quickly yet Austria could not respond immediately given its inferior military accordingly a second treaty was agreed with France in 1757 whereby the French government agreed to send troops to Aid Austria against Prussia and provided 12 million florins in funding it also provided for Austria Sweden and Russia to divide prussia's Territory between them if they secured complete victory in the war in return Maria agreed to relinquish some of her territory in the Austrian Netherlands around modern-day Belgium to the house of bourbon which ruled France and Spain with this agreement in place Austria went on the offensive with aid from Sweden and Russia against Prussia Maria's armies won a significant victory over the prussians at the Battle of Colin in Bohemia in the summer of 1757 while further successes followed at the battles of hock Kirk in Saxony in October 1758 of kunisdorf in Brandenburg in August 1759 and of Lansford in the summer of 1760. with these Maria's armies were able to launch raids against the Prussian capital of Berlin and even briefly occupied the city but diplomatic realignments in the early 1760s changed the face of the conflict in Central Europe again in 1762 Russia agreed to the Treaty of Saint Petersburg with Frederick II of Prussia following the accession of Tsar Peter III in Russia in the first weeks of 1762. Sweden made peace as well soon afterwards with both powers was agreeing to end the conflict without taking any territory from Prussia this was a major diplomatic coup for Frederick which left Austria alone to fight Prussia in Germany in this change situation Frederick was able to launch a new offensive against Maria's armies and sadly defeated the austrians at the Battle of berkersdorf in what is now Southwestern Poland on the 21st of July 1762 The Wider war between France and Britain was also drawing to an inexorable conclusion and was defeated berkersdorf the Austrian and Prussian government entered into concerted peace negotiations the seven years war came to an end in 1763 numerous treaties were agreed between the different powers the Treaty of Paris was the main agreement between Britain and France and was effectively a victory for Britain which secured control over New France laying the foundations for British Canada Britain also emerged as the predominant European colonial power in India the main treaty which involved Maria Theresa and Austria was the Treaty of hubertusburg this was primarily with Prussia but also involved a number of other German states particularly Saxony the terms of it were rather simple it largely returned the borders of Prussia Austria and Saxony to where they had been at the commencement of hostilities in 1756 it could therefore be viewed as a failure for Maria Theresa as she and counted had brought Austria into the war with the goal of retaking Silesia from Prussia however in reality Austria was the Victor at the start of the conflict prussia's Army was so Superior to Austria and saxonis that it would have reasonably expected to acquire significant new territories at the expense of Saxony had it done so it would have acquired a predominant position in Germany sooner than it did but through shrewd diplomatic and military alliances with France Sweden and Russia and the victories which her armies won against Prussia between 1757 and 1760 Maria's government managed to curb Russia's Ambitions for the time being at the end of the Seven Years War Maria and her counselors realized that there was little chance of recovering Silesia from Prussia and that the wars which Austria had engaged in for 15 of the first 23 years of her Reign had been largely fruitless consequently she would focus primarily on domestic reform within the Habsburg lands for the remainder of her life this was a period of pronounced change in the government's societies and economies of Europe driven by the ideas of the Enlightenment the enlightenment was a general intellectual movement of the 18th century which followed from the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century during it writers like Voltaire Jean-Jacques Rousseau John Locke David Hume Emmanuel Kant Adam Smith Thomas Payne and Benjamin Franklin began questioning the values of their societies and governments in Britain France the British colonies in North America and Prussia the morality of established Society was questioned as were its political systems while many called for a rational approach to economic progress and scientific investigation in time the ideas of the Enlightenment would lead to the American and French revolutions and major reform movements in countries like Britain Austria did not have a major domestic Enlightenment and there are no Austrian writers and thinkers of the 18th century to rival Voltaire Rousseau or pain the religious and political environment of the Habsburg lands was simply too conservative and too wedded to Catholicism to welcome these ideas openly however the ideas emerging in France Britain and elsewhere nevertheless seeped into Austrian society and as a consequence Maria Teresa's Reign is seen as marking a move towards enlightened despotism whereby an absolute monarch initiated a considerable reform program despite the over invert conservatism of the ruler and the society in question one element of this enlightened despotism concerned reform of the internal workings of government in Vienna Maria's natural inclinations when it came to the institutions of government were conservative but she was aware that changes needed to occur to modernize Austria following the weakness of her father's Reign therefore she initiated a wide-ranging overhaul of her government's bureaucracy one which was overseen by Friedrich Wilhelm Von hogwitz by 1760 Von hogwitz had established a wide-ranging civil service which employed over ten thousand officials across the Empire this streamlined the implementation of government directives and improved the government's ability to collect taxes and customs duties where previously the more remote parts of the Habsburg dominions in parts of Croatia Eastern Hungary and Transylvania had barely experienced any government oversight for Generations although she was hampered by a wide range of traditional privilege villages in Hungary and elsewhere which Exempted the Nobles there from most taxes the central Administration was reformed in tandem particularly the chancellery while our councilor states which acted as a Cabinet of ministers advising Maria Theresa was in existence from 1760 onwards finally the operation of the Law Courts and the judicial system was standardized through the compilation of the Codex teresianos a compendium of existing Austrian and Bohemian laws named after the empress although Hungary continued to operate under its own distinct legal system these institutional advances were supplemented by extensive economic reform much of this was spearheaded by Maria Theresa's husband Francis in the 1740s and 1750s who in association with the Finance Minister Franz Joseph Tusa sought to Foster the growth of joint stock companies in Austria which by the mid-18th century was lagging far behind the more advanced trading and Commercial nations of Western Europe notably Britain and the Dutch Republic this along with increased taxation revenues and greatest savings and efficiencies in the running of the court and government ensured that Austria went from a severely indebted Nation when Maria Theresa succeeded her father in 1740 to one which was running a surplus 40 years later this improved financial situation also allowed Maria's government to begin investing in improving and modernizing the Austrian military a task which was also delegated to Von hugvitz under his leadership a standing army of over 100 000 trained troops was created but these still remained inferior to the average Prussian Soldier further economic and social reforms followed in the 1770s a census of the Habsburg Realms at the start of the decade allowed Mario's ordinary subjects to express their Grievances and many revealed the owner's burden of serfdom across the Habsburg territories with many serfs or as they were known in Bohemia robota a check word from which the word robot is derived revealing that they work seven days a week for poor wages all while living in considerable poverty Maria introduced further reforms as a result to break up the great Estates of the Austrian and Bohemian Nobles and distribute some of their lands amongst the peasantry but her subjects would have to wait until the reign of her son before serfdom was officially abolished in the Habsburg territories another medieval Legacy which was gradually eradicated from Austrian Society in the course of Maria's Reign was the widespread belief in witchcraft beginning in the 14th century when the arrival of the Bubonic plague to Europe had led to an increase in the belief that malevolent agents of the devil were living in communities all over the continent the number of witch hunts had increased particularly in Germany Switzerland and adjoining countries tens of thousands of alleged witches most of them women were murdered as a result of this frenzied witch craze in the 16th and 17th centuries but as greater rationality entered Society following the Scientific Revolution the belief in witches and the willingness to prosecute people for alleged occult activity declined nevertheless there were still instances of extreme violence the prolonged Salzburg Witch Trials of the 1670s and 1680s had resulted in 130 39 people being executed for witchcraft in this particular Austrian City while Maria was inclined to believe in the Supernatural she was nevertheless opposed to the use of torture to extract supposed confessions from alleged witches when Magda logo a herbalist from the town of Khloe in the Habsburg Croatian territories was accused of Witchcraft in 1758 and subsequently tortured and condemned to death Maria intervened personally to order that she be acquitted on the grounds that her confession had been extracted under duress loganair was consequently allowed to return home and the case set a major precedent in the prosecution of witches in the Habsburg dominions henceforth rational arguments and evidence would have to be presented to gain a conviction and the use of torture to extract confessions was effectively prohibited with this The Witch Trials effectively came to an end while the use of torture was officially prohibited in the Habsburg dominions in 1776 while certain elements of Maria Theresa's Reign were Progressive in line with Enlightenment principles other aspects of her domestic policies favored overt social control in line with zealous Roman Catholicism one notorious example of this was establishment at Maria's Express order of the Kosh Heights commission or Chastity Commission in 1752 this sought to suppress any form of sexual activity which was deemed to be at odds with Catholic teaching prostitution was curtailed in the major cities and sexual liberality was viewed escance at the court despite the actions of the empress's own husband indeed this opposition to adultery was extended throughout the Habsburg dominions and fines and other penalties were imposed forth with homosexuality was also widely condemned and prohibited as were sexual relations between adherents of different religions harsh punishments were imposed on anyone found guilty of these offenses including public floggings deportations and even the death penalty for serious repeat offenders to enforce these laws a form of morality police was established one which monitored libertarian Social Clubs in cities like Vienna while many of Maria's domestic policies were of debatable success or wisdom her approach towards improving education in Austria and The Wider Habsburg dominions was truly enlightened in 1746 she established the teresiano in Vienna an academy for training young Austrian men in the Sciences languages and other subjects such as mathematics and history as training for them to staff the growing professional bureaucracy which was emerging in Austria during her Reign but her major successes in this respect primarily came in the 1770s after the census of 1770-1771 revealed the scale of illiteracy in Austria and further afield in Bohemia Hungary and the other Balkan territories in response to this Maria ordered the creation of a universal system of primary education whereby children from across her dominions would receive schooling between the ages of 6 and 12. teacher training academies were established in tandem to provide more instructors yet Maria would not live to see the fruits of these Endeavors as it was the 1780s and 1790s before literacy levels in Austria and other parts of the Habsburg territories began to increase considerably nevertheless if there was a policy area where Maria Theresa was truly an Enlightenment ruler it was in the field of educational reform the same might also be said at Maria's approach towards the medical Revolution which was occurring across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries had a corollary to the Scientific Revolution in this case her enlightened approach was informed by her own personal experiences and tragedies as smallpox was the most brutal disease of the 18th century this virus is a much more hazardous cousin of chickenpox and cowpox smallpox generally incubates for two weeks then leads to four or five days of initial symptoms followed by a week and a half when the rash begins then worsens and leads to pus-filled sores and then finally a week and a half in which the fever breaks and the sufferer begins to either recover or else dies upwards of 20 percent of those who contracted the disease died from it and in the 18th century this resulted in nearly half a million deaths across Europe every year while even for the those who survived many were often left with Dreadful scarring on their skin once the disease abated much of it on the victim's face in the 1760s Austria was hit by a particularly virulent wave of smallpox one which killed three of Maria's children she contracted the disease herself in 1767 and while it did not kill her the devastation it caused for her family ensured that Maria became a prominent advocate of medical reforms thereafter back in 1745 Maria Teresa had employed the Dutchman here at Von Sweden as the Royal Physician now in the mid-1760s she instructed him to begin gathering information on what the best practices were for combating smallpox trials had been underway for years in Britain and elsewhere to develop what would eventually become known as a vaccine for the deadly disease and although it would be some time before Edward Jenner successfully produced a smallpox vaccine the basic principles for how to produce one were known by the 1760s from Sweden was skeptical that's a method being trialled by Robert Sutton and his son David in England would prove effective but it was successfully demonstrated to provide immunity to the disease to several dozen children in Austria in the late 1760s consequently like King George III and Queen Charlotte in Britain Maria Theresa was an early patron of vaccination experiments other medical reform which she pioneered included the establishment of a Medical Academy under from Sweden's directorship the regulation of apothecries and other purveyors of drugs and the prohibition of lead as a substance from which drinking vessels could be made as knowledge concerning lead poisoning grew the death of her three children was not the only fatality which struck Maria Theresa's family in the 1760s on the 18th of August 1765 while returning in his Carriage from the Opera at Innsbruck her husband Francis died suddenly he was just 56 years of age and his death may have been the result of a major heart attack despite his serial infidelity over the years Maria Theresa was devastated by his passing she remained in morning attire for the rest of her life and had the walls of her apartments in the hofberg palace painted black France's death also had extensive implications for the governance of the Empire and the Habsburg territories while Maria had been accepted as the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1740s it was always assumed that a man should be co-ruler with her and so when Francis died Maria's eldest son and Heir was effectively promoted to become co-ruler with her acquiring the title of Holy Roman Emperor and the other titles attendant on the head of the House of Habsburg Maria was still the more senior of the pair but Joseph played an active role in the governance of the Habsburg dominions for the last decade and a half of her life it would be a tempestuous co-rule with Yosef frustrated by both his mother's overly conservative approach to domestic affairs and her seeming lack of ambition for Austria on the international stage as all of these events were occurring in the 1760s Maria was also managing the marital Affairs of her many daughters the Sons and Daughters of Royal houses were bargaining chips in the early modern period used to forge alliances with other states moreover in the case of the House of Habsburg judicious marriage alliances were what had allowed it to rise from a minor Noble family withholdings in the Alps region to one of Europe's most powerful royal families consequently Maria was determined to pursue an advantageous dynastic policy through her daughter's marriages Maria Carolina for example was married in 1768 to Ferdinand IV king of Naples and Sicily while Maria Amalia was betrothed to the Duke of Parma both marriages were designed to restore Habsburg influence in some of the Italian territories which it had relinquished control over following the war of the Austrian succession another daughter Maria Christina with whom Maria Teresa was particularly close married Albert Casimir Duke of teshan in 1766 though the marriage failed to British children who lived into adulthood and Christina like her Father Was a Serial adulterer easily the most significant marriage porn in Maria Theresa's use of her daughters as part of her dynastic strategy was her youngest daughter she was born as Maria Antonia in 1755 but the world knows her primarily by the name she would adopt later in her life Marie Antoinette in order to further cement the alliance which had been established between Austria and France back in 1756 Maria Theresa and King Louis XV of France agreed to marry two of their children in the 1760s in 1768 when Maria Antonia was just 13 mature Jacques de Vermont a member of Louis XV Court arrived to Vienna to begin tutoring Antonia in French and the culture of the French court at Versailles by this time it had been determined that she would marry the heir to the French throne the dolphar Louis Auguste who was just a year older than her they were finally wed in the early summer of 1770 when he was 15 and Antonia was 14. the marriage was initially problematic and Louis is believed to have suffered from some sexual dysfunction but in the Years following his accession as King Louis XVI in 1774. they became closer and eventually had four children but Marie Antoinette as she became known was always an unpopular figure in France and she became a lightning rod for discontent with the monarchy there in the 1780s Maria Theresa would die many years before her daughter ultimately ended up imprisoned by the Revolutionary government of the country which Maria plotted to make her queen of the latter part of Maria Theresa's Reign was also significant in initiating one of the most profound political and territorial changes which would occur in Eastern Europe in the early modern period one which would have implications down to the 20th century for many years the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth had been the sick man of Europe This vast State once covered a geographical area equivalent to modern-day Poland much of Western Ukraine and Western belarussia and parts of the Baltic states like Lithuania and Latvia as well as portions of Slovakia however after peaking in power in the 16th century it had lost ground to its neighbors Russia Prussia and Austria during the course of the 17th century hamstrung by an overly powerful aristocracy and a backwards economic system the war of the Polish succession a few years before Maria Theresa became empress and head of the House of Habsburg had demonstrated exactly how weak the Commonwealth was as the other European powers determined who would rule Poland between the 1770s and 1790s the Commonwealth's three major neighbors Austria Russia and Prussia would effectively divide up the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth between them in a process known as the partitions of Poland the driving force behind the first partition of Poland which occurred in 1772 was Frederick II of Prussia his motive was a desire to have Russia concentrate on expanding its territorial Empire in Poland rather than by acquiring more territory from the Ottoman Empire Maria Therese's government despite its conflicts with Prussia over the years was inclined to favor this approach and so in the late 1760s the three powers began applying pressure on King Stanislaus II Augustus of Poland and the Polish same or Parliament to allow them to take some of the Commonwealth lands from it some of the Polish religious and political establishment formed themselves into an opposition group known as the bar Confederation and tried to resist this through armed opposition but this had failed by 1772 and the first partition of Poland ensued in this Russia acquired extensive territory in what is now Belarus including the city of vitabsk Prussia seized a smaller but more valuable chunk of land along what is now the border of Northeastern Germany one which Consolidated its control of the important Baltic trading Port of dansec while Maria Theresa's government obtained a stretch of land in Southeastern Poland and Western Ukraine including the city of leviv this new territory was formed into the kingdom of Galicia and lodumeria Austria would remain in control of these territories for a century and a half although Maria Theresa would not live to see it the first partition of Poland was followed by a second partition in 1792 and a third in 1795 the latter of which brought the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth to an end and left Austria Prussia and Russia as the three hegemonic powers in Eastern Europe after this Austria controlled nearly half of Poland including the cities of Lublin and krakov Poland was not the only area where Austria acquired new territory in the final decade of Maria Theresa's Reign while the empress was determined to avoid involving Austria in another major pan-european war in the aftermath of the Seven Years War she was nevertheless concerned to expand Austrian influence in the Balkans Russia had entered a new war with the Ottoman Empire in 1768 one which lasted for six years down to 1774 but unlike the war between the two states back in the 1730s this new russo-turkish war ended in a major victory for Catherine the Great of Russia under the terms of the Treaty of kuch which was agreed in 1774. Russia was left in complete possession of the Crimean Peninsula and also acquired territory in what is now the southern Ukraine and parts of Moldavia and Northern Romania the treaty made clear exactly how weak the Ottoman Empire was by the 17 1970s not to be outdone Maria's government immediately began applying diplomatic pressure on the Sultan's regime in Constantinople to be granted the territory of bukovina a part of Moldavia a scenario which the Sultan's government agreed to in 1775. this pointed towards the growing rivalry in the Balkans to replace the Ottomans as the dominant power there a rivalry which would continue for the next century and a half in the last years of her Reign Maria was pulled directly into a conflict in southern Germany in large part owing to her son's machinations Yosef had set eyes on the electorate of Bavaria in the 1760s where the current ruler Maximilian III of the House of wittelsbach was the last of his line and his marriage had proved childless as such when Joseph married maximilian's sister Maria josefa in 1765. it was with the goal of potentially acquiring Bavaria someday now in December 1777 Maximilian died resulting in a succession dispute Joseph immediately sought to divide the electorate between the house of Habsburg and charl tedora a cousin of Maximilian however another cousin of the electors asha's Auguste had an equally strong claim and wished to succeed Maximilian as ruler of all of Bavaria War ensued a conflict known as The War of the Bavarian succession in which Charles Auguste soon called upon the aid of Frederick II of Prussia who invaded Bohemia however before the war could expand into a more destructive conflict Catherine the Great of Russia intervened sending Joseph a warning that if he did not drop his claims to Bavaria she would send 50 000 troops to Aid Prussia against him Yosef promptly desisted and in the ensuing Treaty of Tashan received the territory of in theater in the Border region between Austria and Bavaria hence the war did end in some limited territorial gains for the house of Habsburg Maria had largely allowed Yosef to act unhindered in his pursuit of Bavaria despite having considerable reservations about the wisdom of his strategy indeed there was a pattern here of the empress allowing her son and heir to determine a large number of policy Matters by the 1770s as her health failed Maria had never fully recovered after her brush with smallpox years earlier and her health deteriorated further thereafter by the time of the war of the Bavarian succession she was suffering from chronic fatigue insomnia and chest issues which may have been partial bronchitis she had also gained considerable weight although it is unclear to what extent this was obesity or swelling owing to edema a condition which causes chronic fluid retention given all of this when she fell ill in late November 1780 many believed it was just the latest episode in her ongoing record of poor health but in the days that followed it became clear that she was nearing death on the 28th of November the last rites were administered and the following day Maria Teresa the only female ruler of the House of Habsburg in its 650-year history died at 63 years of age following a considerable State funeral she was interred in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna next to her husband Francis upon her death Maria Therese's son Joseph finally became Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Austria in his own right over the next 10 years he engaged in a wide-ranging program of Reform which eclipsed his mother's own efforts one which has led him to being viewed as a paragon of enlightened despotism through his and his mother's rule Austria had emerged as one of the great European powers by the time the French Revolution broke out in 1789 as the French people reacted to a series of crises in France during the 1780s and made Marie Antoinette the subject of much of their anger Austria would form a huge part of the Grand Alliance of the European powers which resisted France's expansion throughout the 1790s and under Napoleon in the 1800s yet it could not prevent Napoleon abolishing the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 nevertheless in advance of this decision the ruler of Austria at that time Francis II Maria Theresa's grandson had himself declared emperor of Austria in 1804. in due course Austria would emerge as one of the major Victors of the Napoleonic Wars and the Austrian Empire which Maria Teresa had done much to lay the groundwork for in the 18th century would control much of Italy for the first half of the 19th century engaged in a race with Russia to replace the declining Ottoman Empire as the preeminent power in the Balkans and challenging Prussia as the nation which would unite Germany under its rule Maria Theresa was the longest-serving monarch of the Habsburg lands during the 18th century and her Reign was accordingly a very significant one it is difficult to know whether to assess her time as empress archduchess and queen as a success or not on the one hand there is no doubt that Austria lost its hegemonic status in Central Europe during her Reign and Prussia emerged as a great rival for power in Germany but Maria can hardly be blamed for this development the seeds of which were sown in the emergence of the Prussian military as the greatest fighting force in Europe in the early 18th century and which was augmented by the accession of Frederick II one of the most capable rulers anywhere in Europe in the early modern period Maria's achievement was in slowing the rise of Prussia by forging a new alliance with France in the mid-1750s similarly Maria's Reign might be viewed as a failure for Navi implementing enough reforms in line with the ideas of the Enlightenment but she was the ruler of a profoundly conservative country one which she nevertheless began to reform Paving the way for greater successes during the reign of her son Joseph moreover Maria Theresa slowed the rise of Prussia and began reforming Austria despite the negative attitudes towards her which led to her being viewed as an illegitimate Sovereign for much of her reign in the end her success was to stabilize Austria and leave it stronger when she died in 1780 than it had been when she first succeeded to the throne 40 years earlier all of which was achieved in spite of the impediments placed in front of her what do you think of Maria Theresa was she a strong-willed female ruler who is more than a match for the male monarchs of her time or should she be considered a calculating Tyrant of the Habsburg oncion regime please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching the woman known to history as Marie Antoinette was born on the 2nd of November 1755. at the hofberg palace in Vienna her parents Holy Roman Emperor Francis the first and Empress Maria Theresa of Austria gave her the name of Maria Antonia josefa Johanna her birth was welcomed but not particularly celebrated as she was the second to last of 16 children 10 of whom would survive to adulthood since each of her sisters as well as her mother were also named Maria the 15th child of the emperor and Empress of Austria was called Madame Antoine and sometimes Antoinette within the family despite her illustrious Habsburg lineage few including her own parents imagined that her life or experiences would be especially consequential certainly not more than her own mother whose strength intelligence and skill at statecraft and diplomacy had made her one of the most celebrated Queens ever to rule in Europe it is unlikely that anyone could have predicted that Madame Antoine the youngest archduchess of Austria would ever attain greater notoriety all that she would in fact become one of the most famous and Infamous women in history Antoine was born during a period of notable diplomatic and geopolitical tension in Europe Austria had recovered control of most of the territories lost or challenged during the war of Austrian succession a decade before say for Silesia which was still held by Maria Theresa's inveterate enemy Frederick the great of Prussia when Prussia signed a treaty with England France's greatest rival in both Europe and the overseas Colonial World Austria immediately turned to France as a potential ally despite the long history of wary hostility between the two countries when Antoine was just six months old her parents cemented their new alliance with King Louis XV of France by proposing her betrothal to the king's grandson Louis Auguste Duke De Berry who was just one year older than Antoine the marriage which was not officially approved until the two children were 12 and 13 respectively would figure prominently in a series of crises which would spark Revolution and War and not just in France but throughout Europe Antoine was born on what is known as All Souls day or the Day of the Dead in various Catholic traditions because it is a day of mourning associated with death the Austrian royal family always observed Antoine's birthday the day before on All Saints Day Not only was the day of her birth inauspicious but that very same day a massive earthquake wreaked Untold destruction and caused thirty thousand deaths in Lisbon Portugal the king and queen of Portugal who had been asked to serve as Antoine's godparents were forced to flee their ruined Capital naturally these coincidences were not really observed or remarked upon for years the communication barriers of the time period meant that weeks elapsed before word of the disaster reached Vienna and neither were the Portuguese king and queen actually expected to arrive for Antoine's christening since baptisms were invariably performed within three days of birth and proxies almost always stood in for royal godparate but upon reflection during the decades and centuries following Marie Antoinette's death one could be forgiven for remarking on the implied foreboding surrounding her birth especially given the ultimately tragic course of her life and manner of her death from the beginning an ill fate seemed to follow the little princess despite her obscure place in her family Antoine seems to have had a fairly happy childhood although her early life is not particularly well documented her eldest siblings were nearly two decades older than she but five of them were close enough to her in age to be both Playmates and schoolroom companions while Antoine loved all of her brothers and sisters she was especially close to her sister Charlotte who was three years older she also enjoyed a strong relationship with her eldest brother Yosef the future Holy Roman Emperor despite the vast difference in their ages Maria Therese's children seemed to view her with a mixture of love and fear she was committed to her family loved her children and took her responsibilities as a mother very seriously but as empress of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia in her own right she also had the stewardship of an Empire where he had to raise his father the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI had enacted a special International treaty in 1713 known as the pragmatic sanction which recognized his eldest daughter as his Heir in the absence of a son he then arranged Maria Therese's marriage to the former Duke of Loren Francis Stephen after the death of Charles VI Maria Theresa acceded to the hereditary rule of Austria Bohemia and Hungary while securing her new husband's election to the position of Holy Roman Emperor since the title could not be held by a woman it was the empress herself however who wielded the real power and shouldered most response disabilities Maria Theresa's Devotion to duty was such that she reportedly continued to read and sign important state papers while in her child birthing bed so loath was she to waste time historians have observed that the empress's vast responsibilities gave her a Brusque and hard quality even with those closest to her despite her noted encouragement of a close family life she was also constantly critical of her children and especially insistent upon arranging their marriages with the greatest possible benefit for the Austrian Empire in mind the Latin motto of the Austrian habsburg's Bella gerand aliyai to Felix Austria nube translates to let others wage war the happy Austria marry virtually none of Maria Therese's children were permitted to choose their own spouses and all were expected to do their Duty and marry to strengthen the dynasty Maria Amalia and Maria Carolina known within the family as Charlotte had both been required to marry Royal suitors of dubious character or capacity for the benefit of Austria on the eve of Charlotte's wedding to the mentally unstable king of Naples the Empress Maria Theresa wrote so long as she fulfills her Duty towards God and her husband and earns her salvation even if she is unhappy I will be satisfied even Maria Chris Christina her mother's favorite had to concede Maria Theresa's harder qualities you know the manner in which she loved her children she wrote a few years after her mother's death mixed in with her love there was always a dose of mistrust and a coldness palpable as for the young Antoine like most of her siblings her own love for her mother was always Complicated by the empress's criticism and by her generally low opinion of Antoine's attitude intelligence and capabilities the little archduchess had a much closer and warmer relationship with her father Francis the first did not have much in common with his wife his noted pursuit of pleasure contrasted sharply with her firm work ethic and he seemed more interested in amusements like hunting gambling and Mistresses than in ruling Francis seemed content to hold his largely ceremonial position however and while it is true that Maria Theresa held the real state power she relied heavily on Francis to manage Austria's financial affairs considering the financial precariousness of many of Europe's Royal treasuries during the mid to late 18th century Francis actually acquitted himself quite well in these duties the most unfortunate aspect of francis's and Maria Theresa's marriage was that she almost certainly loved him more than he loved her Francis the young Duke of Loren had been quote adopted into the Austrian Court at the age of 14. as Emperor Charles VI intended him to marry his eldest daughter and Heir Maria razor was said to have loved Francis from the very beginning feelings he did not return although he did seem to hold a genuine affection respect and liking for her he unfortunately proved to be compulsively Unfaithful during his marriage and his incurable and often Indiscreet philandering saddened his wife nevertheless as a group his family seemed to adore him he was described as cheerful Lively teasing and playful when relaxed in the company of his children and he showed them all including his youngest daughter Antoine the sort of affection and warmth which their own mother often did not the Austrian royal family had several residences and pleasure palaces but lived primarily at the hofberg palace during the colder months and at the schoenborn palace during the warmer months both of these palaces were formal Royal residences where politics and diplomacy were regularly formulated and power duly exercised courtiers ambassadors bureaucrats and other dignitaries visited these palaces daily and interacted formally with the royal family however both palaces had been constructed and improved over time with a view to preserving a sphere of privacy for the family unlike other mid-18th Century European Royals the Austrian habsburgs maintained a noted distinction between the public and the private in contrast the French royal family was on display every hour of the day even their bathing and dressing routines might be attended by government ministers and France's greatest Nobles each of tomb was fully convinced of their right to have such access to the Royal Family in contrast Austrian Royal palaces were built with much sharper distinctions between public Chambers for official receptions and audiences and private Chambers which were accessible only at the express invitation of the royal family as a result Antoine and her siblings grew up enjoying a relaxed informal Family Life which was quite different to their European Royal contemporaries naturally the children of Maria Theresa and Francis the first were expected to be present and play their Royal roles in public functions but they also regularly had opportunities for family Recreation out of the public eye the Austrian Habs folks enjoyed outdoor activities together such as sledding in the winter months and riding and hunting in the warmer months Vienna was one of the richest cultural centers in Europe and so naturally the whole family were lovers and patrons of the Arts whether it was in public for the entertainment of the court or in private for their own Amusement the royal family particularly enjoyed music dancing and staging amateur theatricals together from an early age Antoine had been exposed to the performance and tutelage of some of the greatest musicians composers and dancers in Europe she had the privilege of meeting the six-year-old Prodigy Wolfgang Mozart who was just two months younger than herself when he visited shenbrun Palace to play for the royal family in October 1762 her dancing instructor was one of the greatest ballet masters of the day Jean Georges nover and her music teacher was the famed composer Christoph williband who secured the official patronage of Maria Theresa the same year Antoine was born naturally the Arts formed a major part of Antoine's education and she proved to be quite talented in multiple artistic Pursuits she was a particularly fine dancer and was described by contemporary observers as exceptionally graceful and poised even as a small child Antoine also proved to be a fine musician she was Adept at the harp and the harpsichord she could sight read music at a professional level by the time she reached adolescence and she was said to have had a lovely singing voice but beyond her noted artistic accomplishments she was not a particularly good student she eventually came to enjoy her history lessons but remained uninterested in any other academic subjects when her new tutor matir Jacques abede Vermont arrived from France in 1768 to assess her previous education and begin to prepare her for her role as the wife of the dolphin he was shocked and horrified to discover that the 12 year old princess could scarcely write in her own native language this is rather surprising considering that the Austrian habsburgs had access to the very best educational resources to be had in Europe and several members of Antoine's immediate family were quite well read and scholarly additionally Vienna was one of the foremost cities in Europe for intellectualism sophistication and a Cosmopolitan approach to learning a sizable proportion of the Viennese and several of the habsburgs themselves would trilingual regularly speaking German which their local subject spoke Italian because they ruled several regions in Italy as well and French because it was the lingua Franca of 18th century Europe at barely 13 years of age Antoine only spoke her first language French with any fluency though her speech was overlaid by a great money German linguistic elements and she spoke with a strong German accent a number of potential factors may have contributed to her generally unimpressive academic performance Antoine's father the emperor was the former Duke of Loren whose first language was also French although he became emperor of Austria albeit in a largely ceremonial position he steadfastly refused to speak or even to learn German Behavior which might well have influenced his daughter additionally Antoine's principal governess was described by some sources as having been rather neglectful of her young people Antoine always disliked reading and it is possible that she was permitted to neglect those lessons she did not enjoy further Antoine's parents might not have considered her poor education important enough to rectify until he became virtually certain that she would wed the dofa in France no one at the Austrian Court seemed to care much about Antoine's education or training perhaps because until her marriage to the Future King of France became assured no one thought her particularly worth teaching for any purpose other than being a pretty ornament to a Royal Court her tutor Abe de vermonde wrote that his pupil had a tendency towards laziness and frivolousness which is unsurprising in a child with so little structure or consistency in her Early Education he expressed confidence however in what he perceived to be her natural intelligence despite the gaps in her education Antoine proved to be a quick learner Vermont noted that when sufficiently motivated to learn she grasped new lessons quickly and used reason admirably to suggest solutions to problems under his tutelage Antoine's literacy and learning capacity improved quickly and dramatically though the Austrian habsburgs appeared to lead the most Charmed of lives even for a royal family they would have their share of tragedy it is quite remarkable for 18th century Europe that in a family of 16 children only three did not survive infancy another Scourge was to visit the Austrian royal family repeatedly that of smallpox six members of Antoine's immediate family contracted the disease at one time or another during the late 1750s and 1760s including the empress herself this spurt Maria Theresa to mount an inoculation campaign in Vienna and both Antoine and her younger brother Maximilian received the new procedure which involved introducing biological material from people infected with the virus this early vaccine method was exponentially more dangerous than modern methods but luckily both children survived and without scarring three of Antoine's oldest siblings Charles Maria Johanna and Maria josefa died of the smallpox virus during the 1760s the family suffered another cruel blow with the sudden death of Emperor Francis the first in August of 1765 from either a stroke or a heart attack Empress Maria Teresa was devastated going at once into deepest mourning she wore only widows black for the rest of her life nine-year-old Antoine was as shattered as the rest of the family Legend has it that prior to his final departure for Innsbruck he bid his family farewell but turned back on impulse to embrace his youngest daughter once more Francis the first died just days later in his Carriage while returning from the Opera in a memorandum to his will he admonished his children to be careful on whom they bestowed their friendship and not to be too hasty to place their trust in others he further enjoined them to avoid gambling and other dissolute behaviors those with the benefit of hindsight might claim that all of this was good advice for young Antoine and many his historical commentators have condemned her for seeming to have ignored it in the ensuing years in April of 1770 an anxious 14 year old Antoine said farewell to her family her friends and her country her mother urged her to conform herself to her new husband and his family and to use all of her charm and amiability to win the favor of the French Court do so much good to the French people she wrote that they can say that I have sent them an angel King Louis XV and her fiancee the dolphin Louis met Antoine's Carriage at compien near the Austrian border with France before being presented to her new family Antoine first went through a ritualistic change of attire which was entirely symbolic on an island in the Rhine River the traditional border between Austria and France Antoine's attendance helped her remove all of her clothing and jewelry brought from Austria and dressed her in French garments and jewels despite the fact that the grand Court costume she had been wearing previously was also designed in the French style the most popular fashion in Europe Maria Antonia Madame Antoine the Habsburg princess of Austria was no more she was now to be known as Marie Antoinette Madame ludovan a French princess apprehensive and immediately homesick she wept as her Austrian attendance bid her farewell but tried to collect herself sufficiently to be presented to King Louis and her fiancee the donpha Maria Teresa and Antoine's eldest brother Yosef the new Holy Roman Emperor had impressed upon her the great importance of Austria's alliance with France the knowledge that responsibility for nurturing the tenuous New Alliance rested with her must have been daunting indeed on the 18th of May 1770 Marie Antoinette and Louis Augusta bourbon were married in the Royal Chapel at Versailles if his bride was nervous Louis who was just a year older at 15 was equally so observers noted that his posture remained stiff throughout the service and that his hands shook as he placed the ring on his bride's finger sadly their apprehension was warranted their first several years of marriage would be strained and difficult and would have a lasting impact on their public reputations but first Marie Antoinette was dazzled by the Grandeur and magnificence of the French Court Versailles had become the gold standard for palaces in Europe and was endlessly copied by other European Royals in fact Schoenberg Palace in Antoine's native Vienna was constructed very much like a miniature Versailles but the princess was impressed by the scale and exquisite detail of the original she quickly learned that fashion aesthetic appeal refinement wit and charm were key to earning the admiration of the French aristocracy and Royal Court and accordingly set out to please determined to be the most fashionable charming and sought-after woman in France Marie Antoinette was initially quite a success at Versailles King Louis XV took an instant liking to her for her warmth vivaciousness and impressive musicianship because the king liked her the Dothan's early experiences at the French Court were promising and it may have been King Louie's favor which kept certain criticism of the young princess in Czech for a Time despite the admiration which her beauty and Youthful energy inspired she was still just a young teenager and ill-trained for the role at which she was immediately expected to excel like many 14 year olds might have done she mishandled relationships with several important political figures at court including Le tonde the king's elderly sisters who considered themselves the Arbiters of conduct at the French Court Marie Antoinette was taken aback by the utter lack of privacy involved in being a member of the French royal family having grown up accustomed to a clear distinction between public political spaces and private spaces enjoyed only by family members she was horrified to find that she was virtually never permitted to be alone or to carry out the minutest personal tasks for herself her resistance to Royal protocol and her sometimes open mockery of it made her husband's elderly great aunts dislike her additionally she managed to alienate courteous from powerful aristocratic families when she removed them from her household service in favor of younger livelier others whom she liked better Marie Antoinette also made an enemy of Madame De Berry the king's official mistress whom she refused even to politely acknowledge during her first months at Versailles moreover most of King Louie's advisers had opposed an Austrian match for the duffa and distrusted the princess on General principle those at Versailles who feared the potential influence she might exert over the delfa on Austria's behalf scathingly nicknamed her the Austrian sadly Marie Antoinette's new husband had been firmly indoctrinated by his tutors with this same suspicious distrust of both the Austrian Alliance and his new bride making an already difficult marriage between two young and inexperienced teenagers more complicated still and Marie Antoinette were as different from one another as two people could possibly be they were both blue eyed and her ash blonde hair was just a few Shades Darker than his but that was where their similarities ended where she was Lively and extroverted he was shy and awkward he struggled with indecision while she was Resolute and quick to act he loved to read a Pastime she had never enjoyed even his great height contrasted sharply with her slight stature for Louis stood six feet four inches tall which was quite impressive for 18th century France although he admitted privately that he eventually came to love his wife after a fashion and did indeed find her beautiful he continually refused to consummate the marriage a state of affairs which remained unchanged for the first seven years of the Union the initial lack of consummation is hardly surprising consider during the extreme Youth of the bride and groom who were only 14 and 15 years old respectively since sexual matters were rarely discussed even amongst family members when the young couple were left alone on their wedding night they likely did not know what to do they were almost certainly terribly nervous and had only just met one another a few days before Louis wrote in his diary that he simply went to sleep on his wedding night as well as the following two nights with Versailles being the least private place in all France especially for the royal family the lack of consummation between the dofa and the idofan was immediately public knowledge an unconsummated marriage meant that there was not yet any possibility of Royal children and heirs to safeguard the French throne since this was an important matter of state courtiers were quick to bring the news to King Louis XV the Old King was fond of both his grandson and his granddaughter-in-law and seemed to show some understanding he insisted that no one should try to press the issue with the dofa and express confidence that the young couple would settle into their marriage in time Empress Maria Theresa was not nearly as patient with what she viewed as her daughter's mistakes and shortcomings the correspondence between Maria Theresa and Marie Antoinette during her first several years at Versailles strongly highlights the difficult relationship between mother and daughter kept well informed by her spies at Versailles the empress constantly criticized Antoine for alienating members of the French court for her excessively luxurious and extravagant lifestyle and most of all for failing to cajole or entice her husband into finally consummating the marriage Maria Theresa scolded her daughter for allowing herself to become the focus of French tabloid gossip for her frivolity and flightiness she castigated Antoine for failing to pursue self-improvement encouraged her to read more and warned her that she did not have the intelligence the talent the culture or the character to withstand the much worse criticism the empress believed would certainly follow Marie Antoinette often responded defensively to these letters expressed sorrow and hurt that her mother should believe the worst about her and assured Maria Theresa that she did indeed have the best interests of France and the Austrian Alliance at heart as her mother predicted it did not take very long for Marie Antoinette to develop a reputation for frivolous extravagance historians and biographers have speculated that her ostentatious and decadent tastes which she had developed in the early years of her marriage especially after she became Queen were partly an attempt to compensate for her unhappiness not only did she remain physically unfulfilled but also emotionally distanced from her husband who persisted for several years in wariness of his wife and suspicion for her Austrian loyalties on the 10th of May 1774 King Louis XV succumbed to smallpox dying in his bed at Versailles at the age of 64. he was highly unpopular towards the end of his Reign and few besides his grandson seemed to mourn him in any genuine fashion the French people now looked to Louis XVI with both hope and optimism the new King was young just 19 and while he did not have the Panache or the commanding presence of his grandfather Louis XV or his third great-grandfather Louis XIV he was perceived to be a kind genuine bright and conscientious young man all promising qualities for a potentially great and fair ruler Queen Marie Antoinette was initially quite popular with the French people as well renowned for her beauty style and charm but four more years passed without a consummation of the royal marriage and the longer the situation remained unchanged the more the public image of the king and queen began to suffer Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette grew even further apart as husband and wife after they ascended the French throne Louis Rose early attended to the business of the day and went to bed early Antoine on the other hand loved to stay up late and rarely Rose earlier than 10 or 11 in the morning he enjoyed reading riding and hunting and tended to be shy and soft-spoken in company she loved the gaiety and distraction of evenings in Paris attending the theater the Opera or masked balls she spent lavishly on fabulous clothes and jewelry wearing wigs as high as three feet tall often dressed with towering puffs of netting and plumes of feathers she adored gambling and frequently lost exorbitant sums at paris's gaming tables this Behavior earned her the very uncomplementary nickname of Madame deficit among the French public who were becoming increasingly convinced that her spending was contributing as much as anything to France's economic problems if Marie Antoinette was compensating for loneliness and unfulfillment in her marriage then perhaps Louis was doing the same after he became king Louis gifted his wife with the estate known as Le Petit Triano in the grounds of Versailles which had once belonged to Louis XV official mistress Madame de pompadour knowing that Marie Antoinette found the total lack of privacy at Versailles Tyson and confining Louis gave her the estate as her private Haven she could receive only Those whom she wished to invite and she could renovate and improve the house and grounds at her pleasure the king also regularly settled all of his wife's considerable debts quietly and without censoring her it is possible that a sense of guilt may have played a role in Louis's remarkable Indulgence of his Queen's every whim in the summer of 1777 Antoine's elder brother Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II visited France quietly and unofficially on his mother's behalf to ascertain the health of the French Austrian Alliance and in particular his sister's troubling marriage he and Louis apparently got on well so much so that Louis took Joseph into his confidence about his sexual problems historians long supposed that Louis XVI might have had some sort of physical condition which made sexual activity unpleasant or painful such as fimosis the theory that the king underwent circumcision to address such a condition has been mostly rejected by more recent historians rather they point to the letters that Joseph II wrote to his mother and brother Leopold which indicate that Louie's sexual impediments were psychological and probably arose from embarrassment at his lack of knowledge and experience and from an intense anxiety or fear of sex itself it did not help the situation that her husband's reluctance in the marriage bed made Antoine frustrated resentful and far less willing to attempt any supportive persuasion Joseph's visit and interventions between the king and queen of France did after all bear fruit so to speak a few weeks after his departure for Vienna Marie Antoinette happily informed her mother in a letter that after seven years her marriage had been quote finally and perfectly consummated I do not think I am pregnant yet she wrote but at least have the hope of being so very soon the queen was right the following year on the 19th of December 1778 Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child a girl whom she named Marie Therese Charlotte after her mother and her favorite sister the birth of a child and the progress they had made in their marriage helped the king and queen build a closer more trusting relationship and although their first child was not a son the royal family enjoyed a rise in popularity for a Time the birth of a daughter meant that there might soon be a dove farm for France as well 100 or more years earlier these developments might have been enough to improve political stability and reduce criticism of the monarchy but France in the mid to late 18th century was undergoing dramatic social political and ideological changes teaching on the cusp of a new world whose values were utterly incompatible with the traditional images and prerogatives of royalty Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had both been raised in the rarefied atmosphere of the European royalty neither one of them knew anything about how the people of their countries lived and remained almost completely insulated from the deep cracks forming in the Bedrock of French society but France's strictly hierarchical and deeply unequal social system was subjected to intense economic pressure during the mid to late 18th century largely thanks to the costs of War France's conflicts with her European neighbors during the previous few decades and Lou the 16th generous support of the American Revolution with the aim of weakening Britain had pushed the French treasury to the very brink of financial ruin at the same time the French people were suffering through periodic waves of hunger due to multiple consecutive poor harvests High food prices and persistently high taxes caused alarming bouts of civil unrest as enraged and desperate people struggled simply to house and feed their families in addition to these serious structural problems the ideas of the Enlightenment had begun to thoroughly permeate French society making Republican sympathizers out of some Aristocrats many members of the bourgeoisie and of working-class people alike inspired by the American Revolution and by the increasingly valued Notions of government accountability the abolition of noble privilege and the intrinsic rights held by each individual person the ideas of philosoph and revolutionaries threatened the power and legitimacy of the French monarchy at the moment of its greatest weakness Marie Antoinette gave birth to three more children during the 1780s a dolphin for France in December 1781. Kristen Luis Josef zavier Francois and two more children Louis Xiao in March 1785 and Marie Sophie Ellen bertrix in July of 1786 despite the appearance of Greater stability and Domesticity within the royal family the public reputations of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette continued to decline the years during which their marriage had remained unconsummated had taken their toll on the public perceptions of both the king and the queen Louis was perceived as weak ineffective and his sexual shortcomings were equated with an inability to govern competently the queen was viewed as domineering greedy and exploitative of her husband's weakness in the scurrilous libel or Scandal sheets circulating through France Louis XVI sometimes depicted as a castrated Pig smiling dumbly and lazily Marie Antoinette was often lampooned in the tabloids for her luxurious extravagance and suspected political domination of her husband on Austria's behalf but more than this the public attacks launched against the queen in the libel tended to be sexual in nature and they became increasingly darker more obscene and more threatening the closer France came to the 1789 revolutionary watershed during the years in which her marriage had remained unconsummated rumors had begun to circulate that she must have enjoyed many even countless lovers This is highly unlikely but some historians now believe there is sufficient proof to confirm that Marie Antoinette had at least one intimate love affair during her marriage with the Swedish count Axel Von ferson the count was handsome dashing an adventurer who upon his return from fighting the British in the American Revolution devoted himself to Marie Antoinette remaining her closest advisor and friend felsen was a frequent guest at Le Petit Triano during the 1780s and the queen gave him the bedchambered chest above hers it is perhaps worth noting that her husband Louis XVI is believed to have never spent even one night at Le Petit Triano although he occasionally spent the day there with his family at his wife's station traditionally historians have reserved judgment about the nature of the relationship between count ferson and Marie Antoinette due to the fact that the majority of their correspondence has either been lost purposely destroyed or heavily redacted later on however in 2016 historians working in French and Swedish archives claimed to have found and finely decoded multiple letters which verify that ferson and the queen were indeed intimately involved and deeply in love for many years because of the existing public stain on her moral virtue becoming a mother did nothing to repair the Queen's reputation her detractors were quick to suggest that none of her children not even the dofa were fathered by the king although Le Petit Triano was meant to be a Haven of freedom from the court for Marie Antoinette she probably did not realize that her activities there did much to undermine her reputation Queens of France did not traditionally enjoy privacy the pursuit of which only gave the public reason to believe that the queen might have something to hide sexual immorality was the vice most often imagined however the way that the queen renovated the property was also controversial she spent extravagantly to create a rustic Farm Retreat on the estate even hiring a peasant family to attend livestock and produce food meanwhile she her friends and her children dressed in simple white muslin lounged over picnics and acted in amateur theatricals together in which they played peasant roles such as milkmaids and shepherdesses the idea of the queen spending huge amounts of money play acting and being a peasant while the real people at the bottom of France's social ladder were starving seemed an example of cruel ignorance and disregard for all but Royal women consequence Marie Antoinette likely never thought about how her actions appeared to others until it was too late following the birth of her children Marie Antoinette began to withdraw from the social World which had characterized her first years as dofan and queen of France but it did little to repair her extremely negative Public Image she began to take a more active interest and role in politics and Louis seemed increasingly open to her advice particularly surrounding bureaucratic and Military appointments her tendency to intercede for Austria however did nothing to endear her to those at court who had always distrusted the Austrian Alliance additionally she was seen far less often in Parisian ballrooms or at gaming tables and had begun to show much more restraint in her fashion choices and a more economical approach to her demands on the treasury but many of these efforts were too little too late the period between 1787 and 1789 featured a Confluence of Economic and public relations disasters which led Francis monarchy the oldest in Europe to the very edge of collapse 1787 was a difficult year for Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI Madame Sophie the infant daughter succumbed to tuberculosis at just 11 months old a few months later the queen still mourning her daughter was approached by the Parisian Jewelers Burma and basant and offered the chance to purchase a fabulous diamond necklace originally made for Louis xv's mistress Madame de Bari it featured a staggering 647 diamonds of incredible Clarity and cut and would be worth approximately 7 million Euros or 8 million US Dollars Today the queen admired the necklace but promptly declined to buy it when a group of Thieves hatched a conspiracy to steal the necklace they duped a gullible aristocratic Cardinal into believing that Marie Antoinette wished him to quietly buy the necklace for her and that she would reimburse him later desperate to rise in the Queen's favor the Cardinal eagerly consented when the money became due the king and queen were outraged two of the thieves had fled with the necklace which of course they never delivered to Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI ordered the Cardinal's arrest as a co-conspirator since the Cardinal came from one of France's most powerful noble families it is hardly surprising that the Palomar of Judges who were also overwhelmingly aristocratic found him not guilty on all counts Marie Antoinette was devastated the proclamation of the Cardinal's innocence implied that the theft must have been the Queen's fault for coveting the necklace and indeed the affair de Collier de la Ren or the affair of the Queen's necklace as the debacle became known did more than anything else to destroy her reputation During the period between 1787 and 1789 the mental and physical health of Louis XVI began to deteriorate he confronted stress by drinking heavily and overeating he lapsed more and more frequently into bouts of crippling depression out of necessity Marie Antoinette now became more directly involved in French politics and exercised more power than she ever had before with her husband on the verge of a nervous breakdown she began to attend King's Council meetings with Louise Chief ministers struggled to address the economic crisis threatening to bankrupt France she was unfortunately ill-prepared to step into such a role and knew little about politics or economics still her actions demonstrate a determination to hold her family and the French monarchy together having had Role Models like her mother Marie Antoinette perhaps could not help but believe it her duty to rise to the occasion she was instrumental in the appointment and dismissal of several Finance ministers each for various reasons unable to find a way out of the debt crisis which was slowly crushing the country efforts were made to enlist the help of France's Nobles but not enough of them were willing to give up their trade monopolies or tax exemptions to help rescue the economy finally in desperation the king called a meeting of the Estates General the closest thing to a parliament or national legislature that France had ever had Louie's summoning of the Estates General was quite unprecedented representatives of the three Estates of French society the clergy the nobility and the common people had not met since 1614. because the participants were pursuing such different goals during the proceedings of the Estates General nothing was accomplished the Third Estate representing the overwhelming majority of the French people advocated for the creation of a constitutional French Republic while neither Louis XVI nor Marie Antoinette could ever imagine sharing power with elected politicians the conservative nobility defended their traditional privileges while numerous others demanded solutions to France's bread crisis which was starving the urban and rural poor alike the talks went nowhere a month after the opening of the Estates General on the 4th of June 1789 the seven-year-old dofa died of tuberculosis because all France was preoccupied with the next meeting of the Estates General there was little public discussion or acknowledgment of the Royal Family's loss Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were devastated my poor little boy is dead the queen wrote just days later and the nation hardly seemed to notice on the 20th of June when the king and queen were still in mourning for their son representatives of the Third Estate arrived at Versailles to find the door to their meeting room locked believing that the king had ordered them locked out they moved instead to a nearby tennis court where they collectively declared themselves France's national assembly and vowed not to disband until they had formulated a constitution the newly formed National Assembly began at once to propose debate and Institute reforms alarmed about the way these developments continued to proceed without the sanction of the monarchy Marie Antoinette convinced the king to move a contingent of Swiss troops closer to Paris this led to riots in the city as the fearful populace wondered if their own government would launch an attack against them and against the changes proceeding in the National Assembly on the 14th of July the rage boiled over resulting in the storming of the ancient Fortress known as the Bastille the release of its Prisoners the raid of its Armory and the murder of the prison's Governor Paris had exploded into chaos and violence at two o'clock in the morning the King was abruptly awakened in Versailles and informed that the Bastille had been taken is it a Revolt the king asked no sire came the reply it's a revolution after the fall of the Bastille Royal Authority quickly unraveled a great Fear Rose Among Aristocrats across the country that further uprisings of the people were imminent and many began to quietly leave France most of the extended royal family and many high-ranking courtiers departed Versailles in the following days Marie Antoinette was also strongly in favor of flight but when Louis XVI stated firmly that he would not consider leaving she resolutely decided to remain at the side of her husband and children events began to move more swiftly in the coming months the National Assembly worked tirelessly to enact their new Constitution and reforms but the far more urgent food crisis was causing unrest all over France on the 5th of October rumors were circulating in Paris about a Grand Banquet being given at Versailles for the high-ranking members of the king's Swiss guard anger exploded among the women in the Street Markets of the city why should there be feasting and plenty of Versailles while bread remained unaffordable for most parisians and their own children starved armed with knives pitchforks Cleavers clubs whatever they could lay their hands on several hundred women marched toward Versailles to demand bread they were joined by a great many other men and women later in the day and in their numbers they overwhelmed the palace guards a mob rampaged through Versailles directly toward Marie Antoinette's bed chamber killing two of her guards she heard them coming and escaped through a secret door just seconds before they burst in and fled to her husband's bed chamber howling with rage to find her gong the mob destroyed the Queen's bed the Marquis De Lafayette arrived just in time at the head of the National Guard to restore order at Versailles that night Louis XVI Marie Antoinette and their two children Departed the palace for the last time never to return they were escorted by the mob and members of the National Guard to the tuileri Palace in the center of Paris where they could be more closely watched and guarded the enormous pressure under which the royal family now found themselves had opposite effects on Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette Louis slipped deeper into his depression and indecision while his wife became more motivated to action than she had ever been before the next two years saw an extraordinary learning and maturation process for the queen who found that it had now fallen to her to hold the monarchy together if at all possible since the death of her son a few months before she seemed to have grown up overnight and in the coming months she would play the dangerous game of double agent on the one hand she worked closely with members of the National Assembly and later France's legislative and constituent assemblies to influence policy it was largely thanks to Marie Antoinette's intervention but Louis XVI retained his power to declare war and veto legislation despite her perception of France's new critical power Brokers as a pack of Mad Men she tried to work with Republicans like the Compton mirabo the mayor of Paris Sean Silvan Bai and the Marquis De Lafayette whom she despised as much as he loathed her but at the same time as she collaborated with the leaders of the Revolution earning their respect for her determination bravery intelligence and dignity she also stayed up late night after night secretly writing coded letters to monarchist allies throughout Europe particularly to her family in Austria she covertly kept these contacts informed of developments in France it is unclear now exactly what her ultimate intentions were but she appeared determined to keep channels of potential Escape open and also perhaps the possibility of one day retaking France from the revolutionaries it is possible that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI might have been able to rise to the challenge of a constitutional monarchy but there was little they could do about the Deep divisions which were forming among revolutionary leaders and among the people of France in general no longer content with a constitutional monarchy at the end of noble and clerical privilege many were now in favor of dispensing with both the monarchy and the church altogether after the death of mirabo her greatest Ally among the revolutionary leaders Marie Antoinette began to contemplate escape from France more seriously the Revolution was radicalizing more every day the queen managed to convince her husband to flee before their freedom of movement was restricted any further and Escape became impossible late at night on the 14th of June 1791 the royal family slipped quietly into a carriage outside the tulari palace less than an hour later they had escaped Paris and were on their way to the Austrian border with count Axel ferson who had helped Marie Antoinette orchestrate their escape driving the carriage once they were Far Enough From Paris Louis ordered the count to leave ostensibly because he did not want to seem to be accepting the assistance of a foreigner to flee France however it is just as likely that he was eager to send his wife's lover away for his own peace of mind the royal family made it as far as varen where Louis who had stepped out of the carriage only for a moment was recognized by the local postmaster incredibly the man had only ever seen the king's face on his coinage it is a testament to how poorly executed the Escape was that Louis was recognized their Carriage clothing and Luggage were too luxurious and expensive and worse when their belongings were searched the king's Royal regalia and Crown were found as well now truly prisoners reviled by their own people who believed that they would have brought Austrian armies to invade France the royal family were escorted by the National Guard back to Paris the crowds lining the roots of their Carriage were eerily silent on pain of death from General Lafayette but watched the king and queen pass with hostile accusing eyes the following year saw the revolution become more radical still as the Jacobins Rose to power Marie Antoinette made a final attempt to work for the promotion of the constitutional monarchy notably by establishing a correspondence and policy collaboration with Antoine baranov probably the most moderate and influential member of the constituent assembly at that time however by April France had declared war on Austria the mood in Paris grew more tense and competitive throughout the summer fear of an Austrian Invasion to restore the monarchy spurred an attack on the twilery palace by September the assembly had abolished the monarchy only weeks later there was a city-wide Massacre of all royalists suspected sympathizers and counter-revolutionaries then being held in paris's jails the royal family was moved to much more secure and heavily guarded quarters in the Fortress known as the temple the family had a few months of Peace together but in December the former Louis XVI now known as citizen Louis Cape was put on trial for treason he was found guilty and sentenced to be executed by guillotine in January 1793 he was permitted to say a private goodbye to his family before going to his execution the next day with dignity and quiet courage the loss of her husband made Marie Antoinette's cleave all the closer to her children but within a few months her son Louis sharl and her eldest daughter Marie Therese were taken away from her also the dofa was viewed as a serious threat a potential King in Waiting his jailers subjected the seven-year-old Prince to terrible emotional and physical abuse doing everything possible to indoctrinate him with the ideals of the Revolution Marie Antoinette's daughter would eventually escape to Austria but poor Louis shall would die in the temple of tubercular fever at the age of 10. Marie Antoinette was now entirely bereft and on the eve of the announcement that she would be put on trial for treason she was moved to a bare squalid dark cell in the dilapidated Fortress known as the concierge Marie Antoinette's trial was a farce she was accused of conspiring with Austria against France of careless profligacy with the country's Treasury and of moral and sexual degeneration it is now known that the queen did indeed regularly provide intelligence to Austria and to other European allies but at the time of her trial there was absolutely no evidence that she had lacking any concrete evidence the proceedings turned into a rehashing of all the baseless rumors which had been published about her in the Scandal sheets over the years her judges even tried to add an accusation of incest to the list of charges Louis Charles jailus had somehow coerced him to accuse his own mother of molesting him when asked why she did not respond to the charge Marie Antoinette replied stonerly nature refuses to answer such a charge brought against a mother I appeal in this matter to all mothers present in the court there was an abashed and shameful silence and then several women called out to her in sympathy and support the judges pursued the incest charge no further but found Marie Antoinette guilty of treason nonetheless when asked if she had anything to say she replied I was a queen and you took away my crown a wife and you took away my husband a mother and you took away my children my blood alone remains take it if you wish but do not make me suffer long on the morning of the 16th of October 1793 Marie Antoinette changed from her one remaining black dress into one of shabby white brought to her by her jailers her hands were bound behind her and she was led from her cell in the concierge to the Courtyard where a small open cart waited as it wounds slowly through the streets of Paris the crowds jeered and shouted obscenities at the still silent figure in white she looked decades older than her 38 years but kept her head up and her bearing add expression dignified journalists who turned out to watch Marie Antoinette's execution later wrote that she bore herself with all the Unapologetic haughtiness of the most unrepentant criminal yet if she had wept and wailed and begged for her life the same commentators likely would have denigrated her for being a coward the queen went to her death with Incredible courage up on a platform in the the middle of the place de la revolucion the guillotine stood waiting surrounded by a crush of people noisily exhorting Marie Antoinette to her execution she climbed the few steps without faltering or hesitating and accidentally trod on The Executioner's foot the last words she spoke seemed to encapsulate everything she had experienced from the day she had arrived in France to this terrible final moment pardon me sir she said quietly I did not do it on purpose resolutely she knelt before the block the blade fell there was an eerie silence for an instant and then a Roar as the Executioner held up the Queen's head before the baying crowd for more than a century following her death Marie Antoinette's Legacy had been one of unapologetic and luxurious success of completely tone deaf conduct and governance and disregard for the suffering of others these charges are merited to a certain extent especially if one considers what it cost France to support the royal family in the decadent style in which they had always lived it is true that as Queen she had made many mistakes but more and more historians in recent decades have begun to rehabilitate Her Image and to assert that she did not deserve what happened to her she had been ill-prepared and ill-trained to fill the role that had been thrust upon her when she was little more than a child nothing more than a Pawn on her mother's dynastic chessboard she had done what she believed was expected of her as Queen of France but being completely insulated from the changing World outside Versailles she had no idea that such a thing as public sentiment was now powerful enough to destroy her she had been a scapegoat and it was a testament to the deep and dark streak of misogyny running through French society that people could believe that her supposed greed sexual voraciousness and domination of her husband had been solely responsible for the king's weakness his failure to embrace the Revolution and for France's collapse as tragic as it was the execution of Louis XVI made a terrible kind of sense in the context of the Revolution as long as the king remained alive there would be plots to restore him to the throne and the new constitutional French Republic would never be safe yet it is difficult to view the execution of Marie Antoinette as similarly necessary all authority had been vested in Louis not his Queen she had no power any longer to pose a threat to the revolutionaries who held her prisoner rather than an act of Justice Marie Antoinette's sham trial and execution resembles an act of public rage far more than the king it was she who was the most hated person in France regardless of what could or could not be proven about her very few of the accusations leveled against her in the libel and the public rule Mill had any basis in fact not even the most famous misquote from the queen let them eat cake as she was believed to have replied when told that the French had no bread to eat Marie Antoinette's execution was a symbolic sacrifice to the revolution her blood would be an expiation to show that for France there could be no oh going back what do you think of Marie Antoinette was she truly a doomed woman caught in historical circumstances which she could never have controlled did she waste opportunities to work with reformers and help keep the revolution moderate or was the fall of France's monarchy the radicalization of the Revolution and the coming of the terror all inevitable please let us know what you think in the comments section and as always thank you very much for watching foreign the woman known to history as Queen Victoria was born on the 24th of May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London her mother was Princess Victoria Marie Louise of sax Coburg sarfield from the Royal House of sax Coburg and gota in modern East Central Germany the daughter of a Duke and a countess she had been married to Charles Prince of leinengan a small state in modern Bavaria in southern Germany and from her husband's death in 1814 she served as Regent for her young son from her first marriage Carl in 1818 Princess Victoria gave up the Regency to marry again this time to Prince Edward of Britain Victoria's father was Prince Edward Duke of Kenton strathearn fourth son of King George III Edward was from the house of Hanover a royal line which originated from northern Germany and his father was king of both Britain and Hanover although George III never visited Hanover and spoke English as his first language when they married in 1818 Princess Victoria became Duchess of Kent and together they had one child Victoria her father died of pneumonia in 1820 only eight months after the birth of his only child Victoria's mother had given birth to the Future Queen at 4 14 am in the dining room of Kensington Palace a strange decision that was actually based on rational thinking as hot water could be easily brought up from the kitchen she was also unusually delivered by a female doctor Shah Charlotte Hayden Reich Von siebold who coincidentally also delivered her future husband Prince Albert at the time of her birth Victoria was fifth in line to the British crown she was privately christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury Charles Manor Sutton on the 24th of June 1819 in the cupola room at Kensington Palace she was baptized as alexandrina Victoria alexandrina after one of her godparents SAR Alexander the first of Russia and Victoria after her mother while her royal title was her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Kent she was described as a studious thoughtful and quietly serious child qualities which would stand her in good stead when she became Queen in 1837 the house of Hanover to which Victoria belonged had ruled Britain since 1714. the first two Hanoverian monarchs George the first and George II ruled as King of Great Britain and Ireland in addition to the separate title of of king of Hanover but Victoria's grandfather George III was the first to rule the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the official Union of the two kingdoms on the 1st of January 1801. the hanoverians like their predecessors since the Glorious Revolution of 1688 were constitutional monarchs which meant they had limited power with law making in the hands of the elected House of Commons and House of Lords an ovarian Britain was a political anomaly in Europe where absolute monarchies reigned Victoria's grandfather George III had overseen moments of huge transformation both for Britain and the world under George III the British Empire began a rapid expansion that would reach its peak under Victoria though many of Britain's North American colonies were lost when the United States of America gained its freedom after victory in the American war of independence conflict on European Shores reduced after multiple Wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France led to the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. the Hanoverian era saw industrialization and immense social change transformed Britain and the world innovators like the engineer izombard Kingdom Brunel inventor of the first computer Charles Babbage and inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell belonged to this period the fires of the Industrial Revolution were kept lit by the worker Brunell in particular as through the start of the 19th century Brunel built the roads Railways and the first all-iron steamship the SS Great Britain that connected Britain's industry and Commercial Networks before Victoria came to the throne in 1837 goods and people moved around Britain by Stagecoach at an average speed of 12 kilometers per hour during her Reign the building of the railways increased this to 30 kilometers per hour by the 1830s and to 80 kilometers per hour by the 1850s raw materials came to Britain on steamships feeding the hungry cotton Mills of the north and bringing new goods and exotic foods to the British Market the face of Britain was changing as Agriculture and imports supported a huge growth in the population from 11 million at the start of the 19th century to 37 Million by the end of Victoria's reign in 1901. this growing population became increasingly urbanized living in the growing industrial towns and working in the factories Mills and mines powered the Industrial Revolution by the end of the Victorian era the towns streets and factories of Britain were thriving and uniform in appearance due to the cheap importing of building materials town planning had to adapt to the swell of urban dwellers and by 1900 Pavements and Street lighting improved many towns and most new build homes had electricity running water drainage indoor lavatories and gas for cooking with the rise of industrial progress came demands for social change trade unions became the voice of the exploited workers and campaigners began to call for political reform although women could still not vote several political reforms were passed during Victoria's reign which opened up politics secret voting was introduced in 1872 to prevent voter intimidation and laws were passed to prevent the bribing of Voters in 1883 but MPS were still not paid until 1911 meaning that working men could not get elected to Parliament without financial support from donors or trade unions education improved when in the 1870s the government took responsibility for educating children aged 5 to 10 and by 1900 ninety percent of children regularly attended School although children in rural areas were often pulled out of school to help with the Harvest religion was also a major topic of debate in Parliament at this time in particular about laws controlling what people could do on Sundays new churches continue to be built and not just ones belonging to the Church of England Catholic churches were also built in this period as religious toleration was on the rise but an underneath the progress Innovation and prosperity the Britain of Victoria and her Hanoverian predecessors was a place of harsh poverty laws Rife crime and over punitive punishment pollution prostitution slums and begging Victoria herself was deeply socially conservative and believed that people should not move out of the social class into which they were born Victoria even opposed women being given the vote describing the idea as a mad and wicked Folly it was during Victoria's reign that the British Navy ruled the Seas and the British Empire reached its peak the Victorian age was to be remembered as a golden era for Britain at the time of Victoria's birth it seemed unlikely that she would become Queen at all she was only fifth in line for the throne but by the time she turned 18 she had become the heir to the throne due to the quick succession of deaths of her relatives when Victoria was born her Uncle George Prince of Wales was acting as a regent while King George III was suffering from a debilitating mental illness which grew worse towards the end of his Reign her uncle ruled as Regent for nine years and finally ascended the throne in 1820 becoming King George IV even after the death of the incapacitated George III the problems for the British Monarchy were far from over George IV married the Catholic Widow Maria Ann fitzherbert in 1785 in a secret and illegal ceremony any children they produced would not be viewed as legitimate and so George was finally persuaded to marry Princess Caroline of Brunswick in 1795. this second marriage though legal and approved by the elites and public alike did not have a happy ending the couple had one child a daughter princess Charlotte together before separating causing a public Scandal George IV had already proved unpopular due to his spoiled nature greed and dissolute Behavior then in 1817 George IV's only daughter princess Charlotte died while giving birth to a stillborn son two generations of heirs had vanished and a desperate race to produce a legitimate Heir began between the king's unmarried Brothers the second oldest brother Frederick Duke of York had already married Princess Frederica Charlotte to Prussia but the couple had no children and Frederick died in 1827. the third brother William Duke of Clarence later King William IV abandoned his long-term mistress and married Princess Adelaide of sax meningan after Frederick's death William was next in line to the throne and any legitimate children he had would become his heirs ahead of his younger brother Edward the Fourth son but William had no legitimate children Victoria's father Edward Duke of Kent was the fourth son of George III and he quickly married Victoria's mother Princess Victoria in 1818 in order to continue the line of succession the widowed Victoria already had two children from a previous marriage her daughter princess Theodore would become Victoria's beloved half-sister and companion upon her birth Victoria took her place in the order of succession behind her Uncle William IV any of his surviving children and her own father at eight months old Victoria's world was overturned when her father died suddenly in January 1820 the family were left with large debts and found themselves under the controlling hand of Sir John Conroy Edwards equity and an ex-officer and the Royal household artillery who claimed that Victoria's father had asked him to take care of his widowed wife and child when she turned four Victoria began her education under the tutoring of Reverend George Davies her new tutor was said to be patient and polite and encouraged her to develop her talents she completed her lessons according to a strict timetable and was particularly good at languages learning to speak French German Italian and Latin as well as the English which she used at home she also benefited from the guidance of a singing teacher the opera singer Luigi leblage and drawing lessons from esteemed painter Richard westall a rigorous education was not the only hardship in Victoria's childhood her childhood was strictly regimented by her mother The Duchess of Kent and John Conroy her mother increasingly depended on the controlling Conroy parkly because of the limitations of her English Conroy was highly ambitious and exerted his influence Over The Duchess and Victoria with the the intention of controlling the throne a tactic that would have been especially effective if Victoria were to ascend the throne under the age of 18 and so require her mother to act as Regent the Regency Act of 1830 had made provision for Victoria's mother to rule as Regent if King William IV died before Victoria reached majority age a decision which displeased William as he distrusted The Duchess Conroy set about attempting to increase the popularity of The Duchess who was unpopular amongst the wider royal family strict rules were established to govern the Royal household and Victoria in particular rules which became known as the Kensington system as a result of these rules Victoria grew up in isolation and naivety all forms of Independence were frowned upon and she was constantly supervised she wasn't allowed her own bedroom and had to sleep on a small bed in her mother's room she was not even permitted to walk down the stairs without holding someone's hand in case she fell Victoria later described her childhood at Kensington Palace as isolating and demoralizing given this isolation the child Victoria had very few friends and was left to entertain herself some of Victoria's favorite childhood Hobbies included drawing writing stories and making costumes for her collection of dolls with her beloved governess baroness lazen she also kept a diary and wrote over 60 million words across her lifetime she spent hours playing on her own or with her little dog the King Charles Spaniel Dash and even had trousers made for him she referred to this time as one of the loneliest of her life and had only her equally loved governess and her dog for company although Victoria grew to resent her isolation and the rules created by Conroy they did in some ways work in her favor her mother and Conroy's determination to keep her weak and dependent on them by keeping her away from people they thought undesirable including her father's family and especially King William IV who had several illegitimate children had backfired her absence from court ensured she wasn't associated with her unpopular uncles and predecessors George IV and William IV equally archival research by the historic Royal palaces curators has suggested that Victoria's later recollection of her unhappy childhood was misremembered there is plenty of evidence that her mother loved her deeply and spoiled Victoria she was surrounded by her beloved governess and supportive tutors she even enjoyed trips to the coast the theater and the ballet which she loved the most she also went on several Royal tours around the country between 1830 and 1835 an avid writer she recorded these excursions and noted down her impressions of the country she wrote of her shock after seeing the black country in the West Midlands so named because of the smog caused by Iron making and coal mining on one of her earliest trips the country is very desolate everywhere smoking and burning coal heaps intermingled with Richard huts and carts and little ragged children to William IV's annoyance Victoria was greeted warmly by crowds of people at every point of her Journeys William disliked the way that these tours seemed to present Victoria as his rival rather than his Heir and compared them to Royal progresses a medieval Royal tour in which the king would be greeted at every town he stopped in with formal ceremonies and festivals Victoria too disliked these tours partly because of their exhausting nature and partly because of William's disapproval but her mother forced her to continue with them in 1835 Conroy made his biggest attempt to solidify his control over the future queen during another tour Victoria contracted a severe fever while at Ramsgate a Seaside town in southeast England and Conroy and her mother took advantage of her state to Badger her into making Conroy her private secretary but Victoria resisted as she had during all of Conroy's previous attempts to get himself an official position on her staff as her uncle the king finally approached the end of his life Victoria was viewed as the nation's hope she emerged from her isolation and from the strict rules of her mother and Conroy as a bright New Prospect a new start for the monarchy on the 20th of June 1837 Victoria was awoken early at 6am to receive some unexpected visitors at Kensington Palace who were bearing important news she went downstairs and unusually saw these visitors alone and while still wearing her dressing gum Chief among her visitors was Lord Cunningham the Lord Chamberlain the most senior officer of the royal household who told her that her uncle the king had died at 2 12 a.m Victoria was now Queen and at age 18 she was old enough to rule a low one of the first actions that Victoria took was having her bed removed from her mother's bedroom this was not the only step she took to break free from the influence of her mother and Conroy that day the day of her accession Victoria dressed in morning black to honor her uncle and made her first public appearance as Queen alone stepping confidently out of her mother's Shadow her first official appearance was a success 97 counselors cabinet ministers and officials arrived in the red Saloon at Kensington Palace for their first meeting with the new Queen the Duke of Wellington later described this Gathering of the accession council and noted that despite the new Queen's petite size Victoria was only five foot one she had not only filled her chair she filled the room flushed with the success of her first appearance Victoria set about asserting her influence and crafting a new life for herself she fled the confinement of the Kensington system and left Kensington Palace itself for buck Buckingham Palace which became her main residence she dismissed Conroy and kept her mother at arm's length by installing her in a distant apartment in Buckingham Palace and later in a house in belgrave square a governess baroness lazen was invited to live in Buckingham Palace as Victoria's companion it was around this time that Victoria dropped her first name alexandrina and went solely by Victoria despite her outward confidence Victoria did admit to feeling nervous on her coronation day held on the 28th of June 1838 the coronation Drew thousands of people out onto the streets to catch a glimpse of the young new Queen Victoria later wrote in her diary that the sight of the cheering and waving crowd from her carriage calmed her nerves how proud I felt to be queen of such a nation the coronation itself did not run smoothly the bishop fumbled his lines and called the ceremony to an end too early an elderly peer had a fall and the coronation ring was placed onto the incorrect finger but the elated public would not remember these mishaps as they enjoyed fireworks and Affair at Hyde Park as well as free access to the theaters across London as with many important moments in Victoria's reign care was taken to allow the public a glimpse of the Monarch and a chance to celebrate the monarchy unlike her coronation the first year of Victoria's reign passed without any serious missteps her Youth and distance from her unpopular predecessors encouraged a rose-tinted view of her Reign many people looked forward to a new and hopeful era under her rule her petite size youth inexperience and gender resulted in people underestimating her her gender had barred her from taking up the Throne of Hanover upon which her predecessors had sat because ancient salic law excluded women from Hanoverian succession instead her father's unpopular younger brother Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland became king of Hanover as well as Victorious Heir until she had a child but Victoria was determined to succeed as Monica Britain writing in her diary I shall do my utmost to fulfill my duty towards my country I am very young and perhaps in many although not all things inexperienced but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have her Rosy first year was followed by a harder second one partly as a result of her over-dependence on her favorite administers and advisors particularly prime minister Lord Melbourne of the Whig party and King Leopold of Belgium Victoria's Reliance on Melbourne and their close relationship caused rumors to spread that the new Queen was under the prime minister's influence and even despite a large age gap of 40 years that they were having a secret romantic relationship a rumor that has never been proven it seems more likely that the inexperienced Victoria relied on Melbourne for advice and looked up to him as a father figure given that Melbourne was widowed and childless many including Aristocrat and diarist Charles greville noted that he was passionately fond of her as he might be of his daughter if he had one in the year 1839 two political scandals threatened to tarnish Victoria's reputation the first was a court Intrigue involving lady Flora Hastings a lady in waiting to Victoria's mother who it was rumored was expecting an illegitimate child with Conroy an abdominal growth later proved in a post-mortem to be a large tumor on the liver fueled these rumors Victoria who harbored deep resentment against Conroy and her mother for her restricted childhood believed the rumors and demanded evidence lady Flora initially refused to submit to an intimate medical examination only acquiescing to an examination in February which proved that she was a virgin the Hastings family Conroy and the opposing Tories turned the press against the queen claiming that she had spread false rumors about lady floor order and Victoria was histat during public appearances to make matters worse another political Scandal quickly succeeded the first the bedchamber crisis of 1839. Lord Melbourne had resigned as prime minister after the liberal radicals and tories voted against a bill to suspend the Constitution of Jamaica the bill passed by a narrow majority and removed political power from the plantation owners who had resisted the abolition of slavery a Tory government was to be formed under Robert peel but Victoria's refusal to allow peel to appoint her ladies of the bed chamber as was the political custom caused a political crisis when peel refused to govern under the restrictions Victoria had imposed Melbourne returned to office and many questioned Victoria's ability to rule as a constitutional Monarch a figure who should sit above and apart from the politics of parliament when support for Melbourne and the House of Commons finally dried up in 1841 the ladies of the bedchamber most associated with the Whigs were replaced as peel became prime minister during the 1841 general election just as the dominance of her mother and Conroy had waned Lord Melbourne's influence over Victoria was also to come to an end her next confidante and chief political advisor was to have the greatest impact on her life and Reign her husband German Prince Albert of sax Coburg and gota Victoria and Prince Albert had first met in May 1836 Albert who was also Victoria's cousin was invited to visit Kensington Palace by Victoria's mother and under the encouragement of his uncle King Leopold of Belgium a union between them had been planned by their families almost from birth despite King William IV's disapproval he had wanted to avoid another Coburg Royal match and preferred Prince Alexander of the Netherlands as a Suitor Victoria and Albert had already become friends during Albert's visit in 1832 6 but it wasn't until 1839 that Victoria decided she was ready for marriage on the 23rd of November 1839 Victoria summoned the privy Council to Buckingham Palace to declare her intention to marry Albert she had carefully evaluated the parade of eligible princes which had been sent her way and concluded that Albert was extremely handsome with a most delightful countenance she had already written to Albert's Uncle King Leopold at the age of 17 before she was ready for marriage thanking him for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me in the person of dear Albert he possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy Victoria's decision to marry Albert was complex as Queen love could not be the only motivator for marriage though Victoria did love Albert she decided to marry partly because she needed support with her royal responsibilities and partly to win public approval when on the 15th of October 1839 she proposed to Albert as Royal protocol demanded Victoria gushed at his acceptance the couple embraced and Victoria later wrote joyfully in her diary oh how I adore and love him I cannot say Victoria and Albert's wedding on the 10th of February 1840 was a public Affair it was the first Royal Wedding which had been planned with public enjoyment in mind the people of London enjoyed a view of Queen Victoria in an open carriage ride on her way way to the ceremony at the chapel Royal at Saint James's Palace Victoria wore a fashionable White Satin Court dress instead of Royal robes appearing as the woman she was as well as a queen the style has been copied by bride since she also wore an orange blossom wreath over her veil a brooch made by Albert and earrings and a necklace made of Turkish diamonds Prince Albert wore the uniform of a British Field Marshal photographs were taken of the happy couple in their wedding clothes and were shared widely Victoria's wedding the white dress carriage ride through the streets the cheering crowds set the pattern for all future Royal weddings involving the main line of descent of the royal family a Fanfare of trumpets announced the bride's procession Lord Melbourne headed the procession with the queen following on the arm of her Uncle Prince Augustus Frederick Duke of Sussex who took the place of her late father Victoria reveled in her marriage it became a true love match she wrote in her diary that her wedding day had been the happiest day of my life the couple enjoyed a short but sweet honeymoon and proceeded happily into married life together despite Victoria's status as Queen both Albert and Victoria were traditionalists they both believed that the man should be the dominant one in any marriage yet Albert proved to be a devoted husband and Victoria's first pregnancy in 1840 helped to ease the situation as her pregnancy progressed Albert supported her reading her the daily dispatchers from the government when she wasn't well enough to get up they worked closely together on side-by-side desks at Buckingham Palace and Albert gradually became in effect Victoria's private secretary taking on more of her responsibilities as she approached the end of her pregnancy and began increasingly devoting herself to Motherhood and her family Albert had encouraged Victoria to work towards improving her relationship with her mother and it was while the pregnant Victoria and Albert were on route to visit The Duchess that 18 year old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her as she passed in her carriage Oxford's gun was fired twice but either the bullets missed or as he later claimed the gun was not loaded he was tried for high treason found not guilty on the grounds of insanity was committed to an insane asylum and later deported to Australia in the aftermath of the attack Victoria's popularity rose and the Hastings Affair and bedchamber crisis were forgotten but this assassination attempt and the acquittal of Oxford encouraged further attacks including in 1842 1849 1850 1872 and 1882 later in life Victoria showed great bravery when after dodging an assassination attempt while out riding along the mall in London on the 29th of May 1842 she agreed to ride out again on the following day so that John Francis there would be a assassin could be lured out and caught in the act by plain clothed policemen but Victoria's popularity among her subjects was most rooted in her motherhood and the perfect image of the royal family she created Victoria and Albert were devoted parents and were thrilled by the arrival of their first child Princess Victoria or Vicky their family quickly grew despite the difficulties Victoria experienced during pregnancy their first child Vicky was followed by Albert Edward the future Edward VII Alice Alfred Helena Louise Arthur Leopold and Beatrice Victoria suffered postnatal depression after many of her pregnancies and vehemently disliked breastfeeding by the time of her eighth and 9th pregnancies she promoted the use of chloroform as pain relief despite the protestations of the clergy who saw it as against biblical teachings and some members of the medical profession who thought it was dangerous the royal couple shared a great interest in their children and took great pleasure in raising and educating them they presented an image of a happy family to the world sharing their Joy on holidays and birthdays with the public through the new Illustrated newspapers Albert took an active role in parenting spending lots of time playing with his children unlike many aristocratic fathers at the time Victoria happily described her husband's wonderful relationship with their children in her diary he is so kind to them and romps with them delightfully Albert crafted joyful scenes of domestic Christmases popularizing festive Traditions such as decorating a Christmas tree which have survived into present-day British homes the image of the happy domestic royal family added to Victoria's popularity she became a symbol of medical Harmony and domestic Bliss widely known to be driven by strong moral convictions which made her very popular with the rising middle classes her financial Prudence meant that she successfully cleared her father's debts and she ran a relatively simple home for a royal in sharp contrast to the excesses of her predecessors Victoria recognized that public opinion Rose when she openly devoted herself to her children and letting Albert take over some of her royal duties proved to be a wise decision upon their marriage Albert had been granted the formal title of hrh Prince Albert that had been popularly known as hrh Prince consort a title which Victoria formalized on the 29th of June 1857. the effective working partnership between Victoria and Albert was summed up by Charles greville in 1845 when he wrote they are one person and he likes and she dislikes business Albert aimed to create a new powerful role as Prince consort recognizing a rival and influence over his wife Albert persuaded Victoria to send her confident baroness lazen back to Germany for a quiet retirement after the death of prime minister Melbourne in 18 1942 Victoria became entirely dependent on Albert Albert's wise guidance and connections proved invaluable to Victoria but she still took ownership over decisions which were important to her as the Great Famine tore through Ireland killing over a million people and displacing another million Victoria was denounced as the famine Queen in Ireland in January 1847 she donated 2 000 pounds of her personal money to the British relief Association an amount worth several million in today's money the greatest donation made by any individual she supported the repeal of the Corn Laws which were keeping the price of grain artificially high and fueling the devastating impact of the famine for Irish people she boldly ignored Protestant opposition to support the increase of an annual Grant from the British government to Saint Patrick's College mainuth a dilapidated Catholic Seminary in Ireland later rumors of Victoria's Cold indifference to the plight of the Irish and the story that she had only donated five pounds to the relief and had given the same amount to Battersea dogs home on the same day were fabricated Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1849 when the famine was almost at an end was a success though it had no lasting impact on the growth of Irish nationalism Victoria and Albert both took a keen interest in Europe and especially in improving foreign relations between Britain and France Victoria became the first British monarch to visit a French monarch since King Henry VII had visited King Francis the first of France in 1520 through Albert Victoria was related to the house of orlia via the coburgs and visited King Louis Philippe the first in Normandy twice in 1843 and 1845 when Louis Philippe returned the visit in 1844 he became the first French King to visit a British sovereign and when he was deposed during the Revolutions of 1848 he sought Exile in England demonstrations in England by the chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract the widespread support that revolutionary movements were seeing on the European continent Albert was also responsible for the great exhibition of 1851 which was designed as a public celebration of technological innovation and the growth of trade Albert was very intelligent and highly interested in trade industry Art and Science the great exhibition featured over 100 000 exhibits from across the world and even displayed the famous Kohinoor diamond from India as Albert was socially conscious perhaps more so than his wife the great exhibition was fairly priced to allow anyone to visit the top price season ticket of three guineas was equivalent to over two thousand pounds in today's money but there were also cheap day tickets available at the reasonable price of one shilling over 6 million people visited the great exhibition it gave many people their first taste of The Wider world and was widely laudered as a huge success Victoria herself was so enthralled by her husband's project that she visited the exhibition almost every day for three months the great exhibition also had foreign admirers Napoleon III of France invited Victoria and Albert to the exposition Universal in August 1855 after visiting the royal couple in London earlier that year they were also guests of honor at an extravagant ball at the Palace of Versailles and visited the tomb of Napoleon the First on their trip Victoria and Albert also sought to bolster relations with Albert's German Homeland in 1858 Albert's favorite child Vicky their firstborn was married at age 17 to Prince Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia the future Kaiser of Germany on the 25th of January 1858 at the Royal Chapel of Saint James's palace in London Albert hoped that the liberal education he had given his daughter would help her steer Prussia and later the German Empire into a liberal constitutional monarchy based on the British model but he hugely miscalculated overestimating the strength of the very small middle class in Prussia and underestimating the popularity of conservatism Vicky was not to have the happy life which her father had when he married into a foreign royal family Vicky was criticized for her overly British views on monarchy and her English Origins she was ostracized by the Royal House of the hernzollens the conservatives at the Berlin court and her Rising political opponent Otto von Bismarck as tensions deepened between her childhood nation and the nation of her marriage Vicky became very unpopular and suffered through the fortuitous managers of their nine children Victoria and Albert successfully made connections to foreign royal families across the European continent many of the thrones of Europe belonged to or were closely related to Victoria's nine children and her 42 grandchildren of the eight grandchildren which their eldest child Vicky gave them Sophie who went on to marry a Greek Prince becoming queen of Greece the marriage of their second child Prince Albert to princess Alexandra of Denmark resulted in connections with Denmark and when their own child moored married the king to Norway several connections were formed with the German States including through the marriage of their third child Princess Alice to Grand Duke Louis IV of the German state of Hess their daughter Alex went on to marry the last tsar of Russia Nicholas the second connections with Russia had already been formed when Victoria's fourth child Prince Alfred was married to the Grand Duchess Marie daughter of Tsar Alexander II their fifth child princess Helena married Prince Frederick Christian of schleswick Holstein further solidifying relations with the German states however their sixth child Princess Louise broke the mold by marrying a commoner John Douglas Sutherland Campbell who became the Duke of Argyll a prominent MP and governor-general of Canada this unique marriage actually had the support of Victoria British prime minister Disraeli and the general public as many feared yet another German marriage Prince Arthur child number seven and a military Enthusiast he had risen to the rank of field Marshal married Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia their eighth child and youngest boy Prince Leopold married Princess Helena Frederica of waldek and parmont another German State although he died two years after this happy Union was formed due to hemophilia a genetic condition which spread through Victoria's network of descendants across Europe a condition which particularly harmed the Russian royal family when the soul heir to the throne Alex a the son of Victoria's granddaughter Alex and Tsar Nicholas was found to Harbor the often deadly disease as Victoria's husband Albert had died when their ninth and last child Princess Beatrice was four years old Victoria rejected any potential suitors and kept her close as a companion at the age of 27 Beatrice finally met her love match Prince Henry of battenberg at a family wedding and although Victoria remained opposed to the match for eight months the couple eventually wore her down and they married with her blessing under the condition that they live in Britain their daughter Victoria would marry into the Spanish royal family introducing the hemophilic gene into another European Dynasty on the whole Victoria and Albert had succeeded in their aim of building connection Nations across Europe with the managers of their nine children and 42 grandchildren but their goal of europe-wide Peace failed enormously as the first world war broke out even with three cousins on the Rival Thrones of Britain Russia and Germany Victoria's life and her happy family were blown apart in 1861 when her mother died although they had not had a perfect relationship Victoria felt huge grief when she discovered in her mother's papers that she had in fact deeply loved her daughter worst tragedy followed when the person she depended on most for support and strength her husband Albert also died Albert Fell ill of typhoid fever and died on the 14th of December 1861 at the young age of 42. Victoria was heartbroken and never moved Beyond her grief she wrote to her uncle Leopold that my life as a happy one is ended the world is gone for me her royal duties and the carefully honed image of the royal domestic family came under threat during a privy council meeting three weeks after Albert's death Victor Toria was so full of grief that she couldn't speak consumed by Deep grief Victoria wore morning black and minimal jewelry for the rest of her life and withdrew from public gaze which was disastrous for her Public Image her depression caused her to put on weight which further discouraged her from making public appearances she became very lonely and over compensated by dominating her children's time and obsessively keeping the memory of their father alive Victoria's seclusion LED people to assume that she was incapable of doing her job she lost her confidence and avoided public appearances other than her official government duties retreating Behind the Walls of her favorite Royal residences Balmoral and Scotland Osborne house on the Isle of Wight and Windsor Castle the public began to lose respect for the queen and some even began to call for the abolition of the monarchy doctors who came to see Victoria feared that she was mentally ill she remained in self-imposed seclusion until the early 1880s when her family in particular her uncle Leopold confidants and prime minister Disraeli finally convinced her to appear more in public under their encouragement she agreed to visit The Gardens of The Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and to take a drive through London in an open courage but it was really two men John Brown and Abdul Kareem who succeeded in pulling Victoria out of her grief enough to fully repair Her Image and become involved in the political sphere once more John Brown a plain speaking Highlander and Victoria's manservant became one of her favorites in 1861. Victoria described his constant presence as a real Comfort but not everyone approved of his influence over the Queen the Press suggested the two were secretly married and brown became very unpopular within the Royal household a fact which did not dissuade Victoria in the slightest Brown helped Victoria deal with her deep grief and treated her as a woman rather than a queen in 1866 Victoria stepped back into the political sphere attending the state opening of parliament for the first time since Albert's death and openly supporting the Reform Act of 1867 which extended voting rights to many Urban working men the second of Victoria's confidance was even more unpopular with the court than John Brown Abdul Karim was Victoria's personal servant and munchie or teacher from India from 1887 to the end of her life Karim perhaps attracted more Prejudice and jealousy than brown due to ideas of racial superiority which were widespread at the time and because he was from a low social background but as with brown Victoria did not listen to the advice and jealous mutterings of others Kareem taught Victoria the Urdu language which she became fluent in and about Indian culture which fascinated her Victoria's notes from her lessons still survive along with many of her other writings the queen became increasingly interested in the British Empire and the latter part of her Reign and devoted much time and energy to promoting the expansion and glorification of the Empire by the end of Victoria's reign the British Empire covered more than a fifth of the world's land mass and included nearly one in four people including the entire Indian subcontinent as well as large parts of Africa and several Caribbean islands between 1815 and 1914 approximately 400 million people and 10 million square miles were added to the Empire the majority of which occurred during Victoria's long Reign the wars of Victorious era were often once fought on Distant Shores an exception being the Crimean War which was fought against Russia in 1854 to 1856 it was during this war that the First Victoria Cross was awarded it was the first official honor granted to ordinary servicemen for bravery the British Army and Royal Navy were involved in conflicts in Afghanistan China India Ghana against the Ashanti people in eastern southern Africa against the Zulus Egypt and in South Africa against the boers Victoria was not naive about the cost of Empire she was very much in favor of expansionism and the Empire and deeply approved of prime minister disraeli's expansionist foreign policy if we are to maintain our position as a first-rate power we must be prepared for attacks and Wars somewhere or other she saw the expansion of the British Empire as necessary for civilization and for protecting native people from aggressive rulers on the 1st of May 1876 Victoria was crowned Empress of India a title bestowed on her by parliamentary vote although she had been both interested and involved in the ruling of India long before then in the 1840s she had registered her disgust at the behavior of the East India Company a semi-private corporation that ran the British territories in India and profited hugely from trade in the region in 1856 she wrote I always feel sorry for those poor deposed Indian princes Victoria had actually met one of the men deposed by the British duleep Singh the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire who had been deposed by the British in 1848 and was invited to meet Victoria and Albert in 1854 after he had converted to Christianity despite an attempt to return to Lahore and take back the throne in later life he was reconciled with Victoria in 1890 when she gave him a full pardon Victoria would become the Godmother to Singh's daughter Princess Sofia alexandrovna dulip Singh who became a prominent English suffragette and campaigned for women's rights outside Hampton Court Palace where Victoria had allowed her family to live despite her interest in India her Mastery of the Urdu language and her friendship with Abdul Kareem Victoria never visited India as well as her investiture as empress of India Victoria's popularity was restored by the extravagant celebrations of her golden jubilee in 1887 marking 50 years of her Rule and the Diamond Jubilee in 1897 celebrating 60 years her appearances in public caused Great excitement and her open Smile as she processed through London on an open carriage ride on the day of her golden jubilee was one of very few moments when Victoria's smile was captured on camera but Victoria did not forget her grief in private writing on the day of her golden jubilee the day has come and I am alone by 1897 Victoria's popularity and her confidence were fully restored she became seen as the nation's grandmother and received thousands of congratulatory messages for her Diamond Jubilee from across the world she sent a telegraph message of thanks to her subjects from my heart I thank my beloved people may God bless them the huge outpouring of national pride led to the era being known as Victorian Britain the lack of major Wars to fund during her Reign especially in comparison with the decades following her Reign and the huge New Wealth generated by industry and trade resulted in a larger and more affluent middle and upper class which could afford to spend more on Leisure Town Parks began to open the first in Preston Lancashire and Cricket football rugby and athletic clubs were established music Halls theaters readings and comic operators became increasingly popular and museums opened including the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1852 for those not living in poverty the Victorian age was truly a golden period by 1901 at the age of 81 Victoria was becoming frail had lost a lot of weight and had to use a wheelchair to move around she moved to Osborne house on the Isle of Wight for peace and to avoid the spotlight the few people who saw her at this time said she seemed to have shrunk to half the person she had been she suffered from osteoarthritis a condition which made her joints painfully stiff and her surviving dresses from this period were altered to accommodate a dowager's hump a hump on her upper back caused by spinal collapse the last year of Victoria's life had been hard she had lived to see the death of her second son Alfred in July 1900 who had died after the suicide of his own son the breakdown of his marriage and excessive drinking her favorite grandson Christian Victor child of her daughter Beatrice died in October 1900 of malaria along with his father the sorrow perhaps shortened Victoria's life as her companions noted that not only her stature but also her spirit seemed to be shrinking and she lost her appetite despite being nearly blind Victoria continued to write in her diary until her last entry on the 13th of January 1901 when her strength began to leave her her first grandson Wilhelm II the German Kaiser rushed to her side as her death loomed joining her son and successor Edward VII Victoria died on the 22nd of January in 1901 at the age of 81 in her grandson's arms on the Isle of Wight she had ruled for almost 64 years the longest reign of any British monarch up to that point in keeping with the Queen's wishes her body was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil and brought back to London her funeral procession passed through streets full of mourners on its way to Saint George's Chapel at Windsor where her funeral was held her eldest son King Edward VII walked behind her coffin accompanied by her third son Prince Arthur and Grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II her funeral was simple and respectful as she had requested Victoria was then laid to rest with her husband Albert at the Royal Mausoleum near Frogmore house in the grounds of Windsor Castle she had asked for certain items to be buried with her including some jewelry plaster casts of her children's hands and Albert's dressing up she had also secretly asked her trusted Royal doctor to add a photograph of John Brown and a lock of his hair to her left hand above the mausoleum door were inscribed Victoria's words farewell best beloved here at last I shall rest with thee with thee in Christ I shall rise again Victoria was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of sax Coburg and gota on the 22nd of January in 1901. Victoria never believed that she as a woman was the best person to be Monarch she believed like many of her contemporaries that men made the best leaders but by the time of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 no one not even Victoria herself could doubt that a woman was capable of being the Monarch despite several years of unpopularity when she became a reclusive Widow Victoria was immensely popular especially in the 1880s and 1890s she appeared to many to be a benevolent matriarchal figure above politics only after her death and the release of her Diaries and letters to the extent of her deep political influence become clear although constrained by the constitutional monarchy she represented Victoria took advantage of her rights that is the right to be consulted the right to encourage and the right to warn as SAS Walter badgett stated and more than once she altered the direction of policies and politicians by wielding her influence Victoria despite her lack of confidence had been a skilled politician who successfully presented herself as a devoted wife and mother which home-loving victorians idolized identified with strict standards of personal morality Victoria brought stability to a monarchy which had been rocked by a series of unreliable and often unpopular Kings she had made the monarchy more accessible for example by opening up her birthplace Kensington Palace to the public in 1899 by setting the public-oriented tone of her own and future Royal weddings and through her public appearances such as at the great exhibition Victoria's reign took Britain through a tumultuous period of industrial economic technological and social change she had overseen huge expansion abroad and stability and growth at home and her Reign was remembered by the victorians and their descendants as a golden age of British greatness yet in some ways her Legacy and the legacy of her era has become more contentious over time as historians evaluate the cost of industrial progress and expansion abroad the experiences of non-british subjects of the Empire and the poor in Britain are now being included in The Narrative of the Victorian age Victoria's investiture as empress of India and her role as leader of the Empire complicates her Legacy Victoria and Albert's intention to promote peace in Europe by establishing a network of alliances through Royal marriages represented another failure although Victoria was fondly known as the grandmother of Europe and had successfully married off her nine children and 42 grandchildren into several Royal European houses war was not avoided by the turn of the 20th century Victoria's grandchildren were on the Thrones of Germany Russia Denmark Greece Norway Romania and Spain but her vision of a peaceful Europe was not to come to pass as her own grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II LED Germany into war against Britain in 1914 amongst her notable Descendants the three cousins Kaiser Wilhelm II Tsar Nicholas II and King Edward VII have often been blamed by historians for the outbreak of the first world war but Victoria and Albert's Legacy lives on as their living descendants still sit on several European Thrones from her links to present-day monarchs to the history of the Victorian age that British children are taught at school Victoria endures the image of her as a stately old lady clad in her black morning attire has defined her to this day but a more complex image of Victoria and her era is coming to light what do you think of Queen Victoria was she a passive woman dominated by powerful male advisors and far removed from the suffering of her people or was she a complex and intelligent ruler who did what she could within the limitations of a constitutional monarchy please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching [Music] foreign

Channel: The People Profiles

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Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel, biography documentary channel, biography channel, biography highlights, biography full episodes, full episode, biography of famous people, full biography, biography a&e, biography full episode, biography full documentary, bio, history, life story, mini biography, biography series on tv, full documentary biography, education, 60 minutes, documentary, documentaries, docs, facts

Id: emIgA9tdUoM

Length: 370min 21sec (22221 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 08 2023