Maria Theresa

"In The Fall of the House of Habsburg (1963), Edward Crankshaw dealt with the final century of the longest-reigning dynasty in Europe. In Maria Theresa he has returned to this story at an earlier critical period, beginning in 1740, in order to give us a heroic picture of the only woman to rule the Habsburg lands. Outwardly, her Catholic Majesty's realm was constantly embroiled in politics and wars. The maneuvers of the upstart Frederick of Prussia, the jockeying of France and Britain for Continental power, the westward aspirations of Catherine of Russia, the wars of succession, the first partition of Poland--all helped to change the shape of Europe. Maria Theresa herself, however, was most concerned with the domestic affairs of her dominion, and her actions on the home front give Edward Crankshaw an unparalleled chance to show us the life of the times in a land where feudalism and autocracy lingered late. He makes us understand how her arch-conservatism, as it seemed, was necessary to hold together a congeries of peoples that were ready to fly apart, and how her relentless defense of her Church, which now might seem bigotry, expressed her deepest and most sincere convictions. Strong in defense of her heritage and her Church, Maria Theresa yet brought to Austria the most modern teaching methods and greatest doctors; she encouraged science and promoted judicial and land reforms. Her reign enjoyed not only the traditional splendor of court life--the magnificent fetes, the progresses from one palace to another--but also a flowering of the arts, especially music and architecture. Vienna was in its heyday; Schönbrunn was built; Haydn, Gluck, and Mozart flourished. This is a brilliant character study of a fascinating woman. She was strong-willed, practical and intelligent, courageous but thoroughly feminine, and deeply devoted to her family. She bore sixteen children. Her intimate correspondence with her daughter Marie Antoinette on the eve of the French Revolution is one of history's most touching and revealing sidelights."--Dust jacket.