Maria Leopoldine of Austria

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Youth portrait of Maria Leopoldine of Austria, Empress of Brazil

Maria Leopoldine Josepha Caroline of Austria (born January 22, 1797 in Vienna , † December 11, 1826 in the Boa Vista Palace near Rio de Janeiro ) was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and, by marriage, Empress of Brazil and Queen of Portugal .

Childhood and youth at the Viennese court

Maria Leopoldine of Austria

Archduchess Leopoldine, affectionately known as Poldl by the Viennese , was born in Vienna in 1797. She was the fifth child, the fourth daughter of Emperor Franz I of Austria (1768-1835) and his second wife, Princess Maria Theresa of Naples-Sicily (1772-1807). Maria Leopoldine was educated at the Viennese court with her sisters Marie Louise (1791–1847), Marie Clementine (1798–1881) and Marie Caroline (1801–1832). The early death of her mother Maria Theresa after a premature birth in April 1807 hit ten-year-old Leopoldine very hard. After the emperor had remarried a year later, she became very close to her young stepmother Maria Ludovika Beatrix von Modena (1787–1816), who she also liked to accompany on her travels. In the summer of 1810, the Empress and her stepdaughter Leopoldine, who were taking a cure in Karlsbad , met Goethe . He adored the highly educated Empress several poems.

Even as a child, Leopoldine was interested in many things. Her fields of activity included botany, butterfly studies and mineralogy. She received drawing lessons from an early age; some pictures are preserved in the picture archive of the Austrian National Library. She mastered French, Italian and Latin perfectly. Her feeling for the language later also made it easier for her to learn Portuguese .

After her favorite sister Marie Louise had been married to Napoleon (1769–1821) in 1810 , Leopoldine was busy writing letters. Even Napoléon recognized the special relationship between his young wife and Leopoldine and wrote:

"I would have liked to see Leopoldine and all your brothers and sisters whom I love for your sake."

The fifteen-year-old Leopoldine is described as a real Habsburg: blonde, blue-eyed and endowed with the large “ Habsburg lip ” that gave her a lot of grief. When the Archduchess received a magnifying mirror from Marie Louise, she replied:

"It's no wonder, when I look inside, that my lips seem particularly large to me, since it enlarges 3 times."

When Marie Louise decided to leave her little son Franz (1811–1832), the Duke of Reichstadt, to be educated in Vienna, Leopoldine took care of her little nephew with great joy. On July 9, 1816, she informed Marie Louise:

“Your son was visiting us yesterday, he looks excellent and is good to eat; dear papa had the grace to put him under my supervision, which I took with great pleasure. So he sat with me at dinner, and dear papa and I assure you without flattering that he entertained me royally with the secrets he confided to me. "

Engagement and marriage

In 1816 negotiations began regarding a marriage between the Portuguese Crown Prince Dom Pedro (1798–1834) and Archduchess Leopoldine. Emperor Franz was not a big proponent of this connection, as he knew about the immoral way of life and the epilepsy of the Crown Prince. At the urging of Metternich , who was completely in control of the emperor, he finally gave in.

Leopoldine wrote euphorically to her sister Marie Louise in Parma:

A big decision! But he is composed ... Brazil is a wonderful, gentle stretch of the sky, a blessed country and has honest and good-natured inhabitants ... The portrait of the prince still makes me half foolish ... He is as beautiful as Adonis.

Archduke Ludwig , an uncle of the bride, wrote to Marie Louise:

Leopoldine will sit on one of the greatest thrones in the world; there she can botanize and collect minerals.

Archduke Rainer (1783-1853), another uncle, commented on the event in a much more critical and forward-looking manner:

Who knows if any of the family will ever see her again. It is a farewell just like a dying man. With this fear the Archduke was to be proved right.

On May 13, 1817, Leopoldine was married to Dom Pedro by proxy in St. Augustin , the wedding church of the Habsburgs in Vienna. Her uncle Archduke Karl acted as deputy .

Crown Princess of Brazil

The now Crown Princess set out for Rio de Janeiro, where she made a solemn move in November 1817 after a three-month journey. On November 6th, 1817, the wedding of Leopoldine and Pedro took place in the Royal Chapel of the City Palace.

Since Dom Pedro was abundantly uneducated, Leopoldine quickly gained growing influence over her husband. Pedro discussed all government matters with Leopoldine until Brazil declared independence and usually followed her advice. In January 1822, Pedro, to whom the government of Brazil had been left by his father, initiated extensive autonomy for Brazil - a decisive step in the history of this country, which can definitely be traced back to Leopoldine's influence.

When Pedro decided to travel to São Paulo in 1822 , he left Leopoldine as regent. In September 1822 Pedro - conjured up by Leopoldine - proclaimed Brazil's independence from Portugal.

Empress of Brazil

Empress Maria Leopoldine of Brazil
Leopoldine as regent, 1822

On December 1, 1822, he was coronated as Emperor of Brazil. At that time Leopoldine was reported to have had “a clear, incorruptible judgment on the situation in our country”.

Leopoldine drew Austrian scientists and painters to Brazil. She also initiated scholarly expeditions which produced valuable results. The palm genus Leopoldinia Mart , for example, is a tribute to its services to science . been named after her. In her old home in Vienna she supported the creation of the Brazilian Museum.

From 1822 onwards, a gloomy shadow fell over the initially relatively harmonious marriage of Leopoldine and Pedro. On the trip to Sao Paulo the emperor had met a woman, Dona Domitilia , whom he officially introduced as his mistress at court. In order to ridicule Leopoldine, she was appointed the Empress's first lady-in-waiting at Pedro's instigation. Leopoldine also had to experience that Domitilia gave the emperor an illegitimate daughter and was raised to the high nobility. The little daughter was brought up naturally with her half-siblings.

The personal disputes between the imperial couple increased so much that Pedro no longer shrank from beating and mistreating Leopoldine. He also used every opportunity to humiliate and ridicule her in front of the court. In the last year of her life, severely depressed, she wrote to Marie Louise in Parma:

At least hear the emergency cry of a victim who [...] does not ask for revenge from you, but for pity.

On December 1, 1826, Pedro is said to have kicked the pregnant Leopoldine in the stomach during a dispute so badly that it triggered a premature birth. Leopoldine died just ten days later, on December 11, 1826 in the Boa Vista palace near Rio de Janeiro. It is believed that the abuse of Pedro and the resulting miscarriage wiped out the life of Leopoldine, who was not yet 30 years old.

Three days after her death, Leopoldine was buried in the Ajuda nunnery. Since the monastery was later demolished, Leopoldine's remains were transferred to the Santo Antônio monastery in 1911.

Empress Maria Leopoldine of Brazil with her children

On September 7, 1954, the anniversary of the Brazilian declaration of independence, the empress found her final resting place in the mausoleum of the Ipiranga monument in Sao Paulo.

The municipality of Santa Leopoldina (originally Cachoeiro de Santa Leopoldina ) was named after Leopoldine.

progeny

Leopoldine had seven children with her husband Pedro, but died in 1826 as a result of a miscarriage:

literature

Web links

Commons : Maria Leopoldine von Österreich  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Birkhäuser, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7643-2390-6 , p. 334 ( preview in Google book search ).
predecessor Office successor
Charlotte Johanna of Spain Queen of Portugal
1826 		Auguste de Beauharnais
predecessor Office Successor
--- Empress of Brazil
December 1822 to December 11, 1826 		Amélie von Leuchtenberg
personal data
SURNAME Maria Leopoldine of Austria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maria Leopoldine Josepha Caroline
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archduchess, Empress of Brazil
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 1826
Place of death Boa Vista Palace near Rio de Janeiro