Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (governor)

Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (13 December 1680 in Linz – 26 August 1741 in Mariemont, Morlanwelz), was the governor of the Austrian Netherlands between 1725 and 1741.

Portrait of Maria Elisabeth of Austria by Jan van Orley

Life

Maria Elisabeth was a daughter of Emperor Leopold I and Eleonore-Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuburg. She was well educated and fluent in Latin, German, French and Italian. She never married.

Governor

In 1725, she was appointed Prince Eugene of Savoy's successor as the regent governor of the Austrian Netherlands by her brother, Charles VI.

Maria Elisabeth was described as a forceful administrator and a popular regent. Her independent politics, however, were not always appreciated in Vienna. She suspended the Ostend Company in 1727 and closed it in 1731.

Joyous Entry into Brussels of Archduchess Maria Elisabeth on 9 October 1725 by Andreas Martin

She had enough financial means at her disposal to uphold an elaborate court which stimulated culture and music. Among others, she patronized Jean-Joseph Fiocco, her maestro di cappella who dedicated several oratorios to her between 1726 and 1738.

The architect Jean-Andre Anneessens designed the palace Mariemont for her, where she spent her summers.

Death

She died unexpectedly at Mariemont, upon which she was displayed at a public Lit-de-parade in Brussels 29 August. When she died at the age of 61, she was first buried in Brussels, but moved to Vienna in 1749, where she lies now in the Imperial Crypte next to her brother Charles.

Ancestors

References
  1. Eder, Karl (1961), "Ferdinand II.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 5, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 83–85; (full text online)
  2. Eder, Karl (1961), "Ferdinand III.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 5, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 85–86; (full text online)
  3. Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 100.
  4. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria Anna von Bayern" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 7. p. 23 – via Wikisource.
  5. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Philipp III." . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 7. p. 120 – via Wikisource.
  6. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria Anna von Spanien" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 7. p. 23 – via Wikisource.
  7. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Margaretha (Königin von Spanien)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 7. p. 13 – via Wikisource.
  8. Breitenbach, Josef (1898), "Wolfgang Wilhelm", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 44, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 87–116
  9. Fuchs, Peter (2001), "Philipp Wilhelm", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 20, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 384; (full text online)
  10. Wolf, Joseph Heinrich (1844). Das Haus Wittelsbach. Bayern's Geschichte (in German). p. 281.
  11. Becker, Wilhelm Martin (1964), "Georg II.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 6, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 217; (full text online)
  12. Louda, Jirí; MacLagan, Michael (1999). Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe (2nd ed.). London: Little, Brown and Company. table 84.
  13. Flathe, Heinrich Theodor (1881), "Johann Georg I. (Kurfürst von Sachsen)", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 14, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 376–381
  • Cécile Douxchamps-Lefevre : Marie-Élisabeth. In: Nouvelle Biographie nationale de Belgique, Bd. 2 (1990), S. 267–270.
Preceded by
Count Wirich Philipp von Daun		 Governor of the Austrian Netherlands
1724–1741		 Succeeded by
Count Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau

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