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.
