Maria Beatrice d'Este (1750-1829)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maria Beatrice d'Este, 1772, Château de Versailles
Maria Beatrice d'Este, ca.1774

Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'Este (also Maria Beatrix von Este * April 7, 1750 in Modena , † November 14, 1829 in Vienna ) from the Este family was the last and sole heir of her famous family. The married Archduchess of Austria brought her father's inheritance, the Duchies of Modena and Reggio and her mother's inheritance, the Duchy of Massa and Carrara , to the House of Habsburg-Lothringen and thus became the founder of the Austria-Este line . From 1790 to 1797 and from 1814 to 1829 she was the ruling Duchess of Massa and Carrara , while the Duchy of Modena-Reggio had already been annexed by France in 1796 during her father's lifetime. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815 it was restituted to Maria Beatrice's son and ruled by the descendants, together with Massa-Carrara, until 1859.

Parentage, Youth and Marriage

Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'Este was born on April 7, 1750 as the first child and the only daughter of the Duke of Modena , Ercole III. d'Este , and his wife Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina (daughter of Duke Alderano of Massa and Carrara) born in Modena. When her younger brother Rinaldo, the family owner of the Este family , died a few months after his birth in 1753, she became the sole heir to the Duchy of Modena and the Duchy of Reggio due to the lack of male heirs. In addition, she inherited the Duchy of Massa and Carrara from her mother .

As the heiress of four duchies, Maria Beatrice was a coveted figure on the European marriage market and caught the attention of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria , who tried to establish advantageous dynastic relationships between the House of Habsburg and Italian princely houses as part of her marriage plans . Maria Theresa, who forged marriage plans for her fourteen surviving children at an early age, intended to combine the Duchy of Modena with the House of Habsburg.

Archduke Ferdinand Karl was therefore betrothed to the Duke of Modena's only daughter, Maria Beatrice, at an early age. On October 15, 1771, the 17-year-old Duke finally married Maria Beatrice d'Este (also known as Maria Beatrix d'Este), four years his senior in Milan . Part of the wedding celebrations were the premieres of the operas Il Ruggiero by Johann Adolph Hasse and Ascanio in Alba by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . The marriage between Ferdinand Karl and Maria Beatrice was a happy one.

progeny

Ferdinand Karl and Beatrice d'Este

Maria Beatrice and her husband had nine children and founded the Austria-Este line.

  1. Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (1773–1832) ∞ Viktor Emanuel I of Sardinia
  2. Joseph Franz (1775–1776)
  3. Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este (1776–1848) ∞ Karl Theodor of Bavaria and Count Ludwig von Arco
  4. Franz (IV). von Österreich-Este (1779–1846), from 1814 to 1846 Duke of Modena
  5. Ferdinand Karl Josef von Österreich-Este (1781–1850), from 1830 Governor General of Galicia
  6. Maximilian Joseph (1782–1863), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
  7. Maria Antonia of Austria-Este (1784–1786)
  8. Karl Ambrosius of Austria-Este (1785–1809), Archbishop of Gran
  9. Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este (1787–1816) ∞ Emperor Franz I of Austria

Marriage, widowhood and death

Maria Beatrice d'Este

In 1780 Ferdinand Karl became governor of Lombardy , with the support of his wife. Politically he remained as powerless as his older sister Maria Christine of Austria as governor of the Netherlands. Joseph II did not give his brother much leeway. Nevertheless, the couple was very popular with the population, mainly because of their social commitment. Maria Beatrice devoted herself personally to the upbringing of her children, with a particular focus on her youngest daughter Maria Ludovika.

After the death of her mother (1790) Maria Beatrice succeeded her as Duchess of Massa and Carrara. In the wake of the French Revolution , the two duchies were declared a Cispadan Republic in 1796, which became part of the Cisalpine Republic the following year . The Este family was compensated for the loss of the Duchy of Modena with the Habsburg possessions of Breisgau and Ortenau in the Peace of Lunéville in 1801 ; In 1803 the last duke, Ercole III, died. d'Este without a male heir. The inheritance rights of the only daughter, Maria Beatrice, to her paternal inheritance passed, since no female succession was allowed here, to her eldest son Franz in 1803.

Napoleon's invasion of Milan in 1796 forced Ferdinand Karl and his family to flee from the French troops. After stays in Trieste and Brno , the Duchess and some of the children settled in Wiener Neustadt , while Ferdinand Karl and his older sons moved into residence at Belvedere Palace in Vienna.

Ferdinand Karl died at the end of 1806. Maria Beatrice, now widowed, became empress mother in January 1808 due to the marriage of her daughter Maria Ludovika to Franz I of Austria. She was very interested in politics, had a lively correspondence with her youngest daughter and tried hard to get her inheritance back. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, she regained control of Massa and Carrara and, in addition, by virtue of the provisions of the Congress of Vienna, the imperial fiefs in the Lunigiana , while her eldest son, Francis IV, now became Duke of Modena and Reggio. After she died on November 14, 1829 at the age of 79, the territory she ruled was united with Modena. Maria Beatrice found her final resting place in the Vienna Capuchin Crypt .

In 1806 she bought the Stockhammer Gardens in what is now the 3rd district of Vienna with a small garden palace, which Alois Pichl had converted into the Palais Modena-Este in 1810/11 . It was demolished in 1916 and in the inter-war period the fashion park district was created on the site of the gardens . In 1811 she also bought a palace in Vienna's Herrengasse , which has been called Palais Modena ever since , and had it converted by Pichl in a classical style.

In 1862 the Beatrixgasse in Vienna- Landstrasse (3rd district) was named after her and in 1916 the place Am Modenapark ; the fashion park is also named after her.

literature

Web links

Commons : Maria Beatrice d'Este  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Este, Maria Beatrice d '
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Este, Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d '(full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duchess of Massa and Carrara
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1750
PLACE OF BIRTH Modena
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1829
Place of death Vienna