Maria Theresa

Maria Theresa (1717–80), archduchess of Austria, queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740–80), and wife of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. As a result of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, she acquired the Habsburg lands upon the death of her father, Emperor Charles VI (1740); the War of the Austrian Succession, in which she lost Silesia to Prussia but gained the election of her husband, Francis of Lorraine, as emperor, was immediately launched against her. She later allied with France in the Seven Years War against Prussia but was defeated. A capable ruler, she introduced administrative, agrarian, and fiscal reforms and maintained a strong army. After 1765 she shared her powers with son Joseph II, one of 16 children, including Marie Antoinette of France and Emperor Leopold II.