Maria Theresa
eBook - ePub

Maria Theresa

The Habsburg Empress in Her Time

  1. 944 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Maria Theresa

The Habsburg Empress in Her Time

About this book

A major new biography of the iconic Austrian empress that challenges the many myths about her life and rule

Maria Theresa (1717–1780) was once the most powerful woman in Europe. At the age of twenty-three, she ascended to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, a far-flung realm composed of diverse ethnicities and languages, beset on all sides by enemies and rivals. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger provides the definitive biography of Maria Theresa, situating this exceptional empress within her time while dispelling the myths surrounding her.

Drawing on a wealth of archival evidence, Stollberg-Rilinger examines all facets of eighteenth-century society, from piety and patronage to sexuality and childcare, ceremonial life at court, diplomacy, and the everyday indignities of warfare. She challenges the idealized image of Maria Theresa as an enlightened reformer and mother of her lands who embodied both feminine beauty and virile bellicosity, showing how she despised the ideas of the Enlightenment, treated her children with relentless austerity, and mercilessly persecuted Protestants and Jews. Work, consistent physical and mental discipline, and fear of God were the principles Maria Theresa lived by, and she demanded the same from her family, her court, and her subjects.

A panoramic work of scholarship that brings Europe's age of empire spectacularly to life, Maria Theresa paints an unforgettable portrait of the uncompromising yet singularly charismatic woman who left her enduring mark on the era in which she lived and reigned.

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Yes, you can access Maria Theresa by Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, Robert Savage in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Political Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents
  5. Translator’s Note
  6. Map of Habsburg Territories
  7. 1. Prologue
  8. 2. The Heiress Presumptive
  9. Plate Section 1
  10. 3. The War of Succession
  11. 4. Empress, Emperor, Empire
  12. 5. Reforms
  13. Plate Section 2
  14. 6. Body Politics
  15. 7. Distinctions and Refinements
  16. 8. The Seven Years’ War
  17. 9. Dynastic Capital
  18. 10. Mother and Son
  19. Plate Section 3
  20. 11. The Religion of Rule
  21. 12. Strangers Within
  22. 13. Subjects
  23. 14. The Autumn of the Matriarch
  24. Plate Section 4
  25. 15. Epilogue
  26. Acknowledgments
  27. Abbreviations
  28. Notes
  29. References
  30. Genealogical Tables
  31. Illustration Credits
  32. Index of Names