Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy
Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy ( Spanish María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya , Italian Maria Luisa Gabriella di Savoia ; born September 17, 1688 in Turin , † February 14, 1714 in Madrid ) was a Savoyard princess and through her marriage to Philip V from 1701 Queen of Spain until her untimely death at the age of 25. Her life is very well documented by the extensive correspondence with family members.
Maria Luisa was married to the Spanish King Philip V at the age of twelve and found herself at the head of the Spanish government at the age of just 13 when her husband set out for military ventures in Italy . Although completely inexperienced in political matters and in governance, she quickly showed herself to be a very courageous regent in these tasks, despite her youth . For her age, she displayed an extraordinary persistence, which earned her the full recognition and loyalty of the Spanish grandees as well as the veneration of the people. Her commitment and resolute advocacy for her husband's rights and claims secured the House of Bourbon the crown of Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession . In addition to Louis XIV , Maria Luisa Gabriella was one of the most important pillars of her husband in these disputes, which were fought through both military and diplomatic means.
family
Maria Luisa Gabriella, known as Louison for short in the family circle , was the third daughter of Anne Marie d'Orléans and her husband Viktor Amadeus II , then Duke of Savoy and later King of Sicily and Sardinia , born in Turin. Through her mother, a daughter of Philip I de Bourbons and Henrietta Anne Stuart , she was not only related to the French King Louis XIV, but also to the English royal family. Another family bond with the French court came from 1697 through Marie Luisa Gabriella's older sister Maria Adelaide of Savoy , who married Louis , a grandson of Louis XIV and Duke of Burgundy , that year . Although she never saw her sister again after she left for France, she remained closely connected with her throughout her life; likewise her grandmother Maria Johanna von Savoyen , who was next to Maria Luisas Camarera mayor Marie-Anne de La Trémoille (called Madame des Ursins) always her closest confidante.
At the age of twelve the princess married Philip of Anjou, the younger brother of her French brother-in-law, who had become King of Spain as Philip V. She had four children with him, two of whom reached adulthood:
- Ludwig I (1707–1724), 1724 King of Spain
- Philipp (Emmanuel) (* / † 1709)
- Philipp Peter (1712-1719)
- Ferdinand VI. (1713–1759), from 1746 King of Spain
Life
Engagement and marriage
Maria Luisa Gabriella was raised by her governess Françoise de Lucinge, Countess of Noyers. Her mother and grandmother made sure that she and her older sister Maria Adelaide received a very solid and comprehensive education, which was unusual for daughters from the high nobility of Europe at the time .
In May 1701, Viktor Amadeus II received an official request from the Spanish king for the hand of his daughter Maria Luisa. The request was directed by Philip's grandfather, Louis XIV, who, through the desired connection, tried to pull the Duchy of Savoy over to France in the upcoming War of the Spanish Succession and thus to have an ally against the House of Habsburg. The Duke hesitated at first, but then gave his consent. The engagement of Maria Luisa and Philip V was announced on June 1, 1701 simultaneously in Turin and Madrid. A Spanish embassy under the leadership of Carlos Omodeis, Margrave of Castel Rodrigo and Almonacid, arrived in the capital of Savoy on September 8th to accompany the young bride to Spain by procurationem after a wedding . The wedding took place on the afternoon of June 11, 1701 in the Capella del Sudario of Turin Cathedral . Carlo Giuseppe Doria del Maro, the Duke's first almsman , presided over the ceremony at which the bridegroom was represented by the Prince of Carignan , Emanuel Philibert . The previous evening, the marriage contract had been signed which stipulated a dowry of 300,000 Silberécu for the future Queen of Spain . However, these did not have to be paid, but were offset against the debts of the Spanish crown to the House of Savoy .
The very next day, Maria Luisa Gabriella left her hometown for Spain - incognito according to the terms of her marriage contract . She was accompanied not only by the Spanish embassy, but also by numerous members of the Savoyard court, for example the Princess of Carignan and her two daughters and the Princess of Soissons. On September 18th, the tour group arrived in Nice , where Maria Luisa Gabriella met her Camarera mayor Marie-Anne de La Trémoille for the first time . The stay there lasted eight days, which were characterized by attending church services, banquets, receptions and processions. Then the young queen embarked for Barcelona on September 25th . Due to a storm, however, it only went as far as Marseille . From there, Maria Luisa, who had suffered badly from her seasickness, asked Louis XIV to be able to cover the rest of the journey by land, which was granted to her by the French king. From Marseille it went via Aix , Nîmes and Montpellier to Perpignan , where the young queen unexpectedly had to part with her Savoyard entourage, although it was originally agreed that some of the ladies-in-waiting should accompany her as far as Barcelona. The abrupt change in travel plans was the work of Madame des Ursins, which Maria Luisa wanted to remove from the influence of her governess as quickly as possible.
The newly wed couple met for the first time on November 3rd in Figueres , where a second wedding ceremony took place on the same day in the local parish church . At the wedding meal arranged afterwards, half Spanish and French dishes should be served, because Maria Luisa Gabriella did not like Spanish cuisine. Her Spanish court ladies did not want to accept this break with their culture and only served their new mistress the Spanish dishes. The young queen was so angry about the impertinence of her assigned ladies of honor and the ignoring of her wishes that she announced on the evening of their marriage that she wanted to return to Turin and refused to give her newly wed husband the traditional wedding night. Maria Luisa's announcement caused a stir in the Spanish court. Her maids of honor had to apologize to her many times and express their deepest regret before the young queen abandoned her plan. The incident showed the Spanish royal court that this young girl had an extremely strong will and taught the court society not to treat her like a small child even though she was not yet 13 years old. The incident contributed in no small part to the fact that in the future Maria Luisa completely relied on Marie-Anne de La Trémoille, who came from France, instead of Spanish court ladies.
First reign
Shortly after arriving in Madrid, the young queen began to reform some of the old customs of the Spanish royal court. It began with the change in Spanish fashion, which - compared to the French clothes she was used to - was too stiff and uncomfortable for her. In order not to snub the Spanish court too much, however, she always wore the traditional Spanish court costume on official occasions, but ordered that her court ladies otherwise have to wear fashion à la française . Another immediately noticeable change was that Maria Luisa Gabriella had the dwarfs popular with the Habsburg predecessors removed from the Spanish court. Not only were she deeply suspicious of them, but she also considered them spies in the service of the Habsburgs.
Although the marriage - as was customary at the time - was arranged for purely political reasons, the couple were deeply fond of each other. Meanwhile, the War of the Spanish Succession had broken out, and imperial troops under the leadership of Prince Eugene had invaded the Duchy of Milan, which belonged to Spain, and held it. When Philip V left Spain for Italy on April 8, 1702 in order to recapture the territory, it was initially planned that his wife should accompany him because the two did not want to separate. Maria Luisa Gabriella was already looking forward to the trip because she hoped to be able to see her family again, but she finally bowed to the wishes of Louis XIV and stayed in Spain to take over the reign while her husband was absent. The 13-year-old was completely inexperienced in political matters and in running a state, but was able to rely on the active support of her knowledgeable Camarera mayor and her minister Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero , Archbishop of Toledo . In addition, it fell to the difficult task of building the loyalty of the Spanish grandees to the Bourbon dynasty, which had only recently been established on the throne. This was all the more difficult because radical reforms were necessary to clean up the shattered Spanish finances , which the Spanish aristocrats did not like because they did not want to lose their old privileges. From 1703 she was helped with this delicate undertaking by Jean Orry , sent from the French court . Maria Luisa introduced the innovation that the Spanish Council of State met twice a day, in which she herself participated. Although she did not like the excruciatingly long meetings of the Council of State, her conscientiousness and perseverance in handling the tasks at hand earned her the great admiration of the council members, because up until that point in Spain one was not used to the monarchs working seriously. In addition to the meetings, which lasted up to six hours, the regent usually spent her days in audiences and visiting churches and monasteries . When Allied troops made up of English and Dutch soldiers invaded the Iberian Peninsula while her husband was away, Maria Luisa was also given the task of defending the Spanish heartlands and coordinating their reconquest.
Power struggles at the Spanish court
When Philip V returned from Italy in mid-January 1703 to take over the business of government in Spain himself, the new French ambassador, Cardinal César d'Estrées , arrived with him to replace Henri d'Harcourt , who had been ill for some time . Maria Luisa had high hopes in him, because she expected - according to the stories of Marie-Anne de La Trémoille - a man extremely skilled in political matters who would help the king to drive the enemy troops out of the Spanish kingdom, but her expectations were bitterly disappointed. The cardinal got involved in the intrigues at the Spanish court, which smoldered permanently, especially between the French and Spanish parties. The 75-year-old also did not want to accept the fact that he did not have unrestricted access to the royal couple, and argued with Madame des Ursins about powers. This had a great influence on Maria Luisa's decisions, who in turn was asked for advice by her husband about every little thing - not only in state affairs. After the king's return, it was his young wife and her mature Camarera mayor who ruled Spain. At Estrée's instigation, Louis XIV planned towards the end of January 1703 to recall the all-powerful Marie-Anne de La Trémoille, which plunged the queen into deep despair. Through numerous letters to the French king, in which she expressed her grief, she managed to change his mind so that Louis XIV left the decision about Madame des Ursin's stay at the Spanish court to his grandson. Unsurprisingly, he made a decision according to his wife's will, so that - much to Estrées' displeasure - his adversary stayed in Spain. Since that incident, Maria Luisa hated the French ambassador and, for her part, carried out his recall, which finally took place on August 10, 1703. At the request of Marie-Anne de La Trémoille, the cardinal was replaced by his nephew Jean d'Estrées , because the Camarera mayor hoped to have in him a more compliant man than his uncle had been. But the hope was deceptive, because Abbé Estrées turned out to be much more independent than expected and also came into opposition to Marie-Anne.
At the end of September / beginning of October 1703, Maria Luisa Gabriella's father left the alliance with France and sided with the Habsburgs, which hit his daughter hard. Nevertheless, she kept up regular correspondence with her female relatives in Turin. Maria Luisa then suffered another heavy blow in March of the following year: In the constant quarrels and struggles for supremacy on the side of the Spanish royal couple, the Trémoille was defeated by their former favorite Estrées and was removed from office by Louis XIV. But the Sun King had not counted on the young queen's strong will. She resisted any change suggested by her husband's grandfather and took a blockade stance against all advice and orders that came from France. Due to the great influence on her husband, he took a similar attitude to herself, so that Ludwig's plans with his grandson threatened to fail. Maria Luisa wrote so many letters to him and Madame de Maintenon that Marie-Anne de La Trémoille was finally granted an audience in Versailles in the spring of 1705 , during which she was given the opportunity to justify herself to the French crown. The talks Madame des Ursins at Versailles were a complete success, and in the summer of 1705 she returned to Madrid in triumph - reinstated in office and dignity. Her adversary, Estrées, was replaced by Michel Jean Amelot , seigneur de Gournay and President of the Paris Parliament , and Marie-Anne's influence on Spanish politics has since been greater than ever.
More regency
When Philip V went to Aragon at the beginning of 1706 to put down some revolts and uprisings in favor of the Habsburg party at the head of his troops, his young wife was again unwillingly at the head of the government. Spain suffered heavy military losses that year. Barcelona had been captured and occupied by the Habsburgs; it had successfully withstood a siege by Spanish and French soldiers. With the exception of Castile , which was loyal to its Bourbon king, all the Spanish provinces were in the hands of the enemy. Then enemy troops even advanced on Madrid, so that Maria Luisa had to flee from them and leave the capital. In a hurry she went to Burgos and had to fear all the way there that she would be captured by her husband's opponents. When she arrived in Burgos, she had her jewels brought to France by courier in order to sell or pawn them there and use the proceeds to finance her husband's troops. The jewelry also included a white pearl the size of a nutmeg known as La Peregrina , and a diamond called El Estanguo . Nevertheless, it could not be prevented that the Habsburg pretender to the throne Karl could take Madrid without much resistance and was proclaimed King of Spain there on June 25, 1706 . Philip's soldiers, however, managed to retake Madrid under the leadership of Marshal Berwick , so that the king and queen were able to return to the capital in October of that year to the great cheer of the population. Maria Luisa's joy at finally seeing her husband again, however, was clouded by the news that Spanish soldiers in Italy had suffered a severe defeat in the siege of Turin.
An official announcement by the Spanish royal family on January 27, 1707 announced what many courtiers had been waiting for: Maria Luisa Gabriella was pregnant. On August 25, at 10 a.m. in Madrid, she gave birth to the heir to the throne, Louis , Prince of Asturias. After the birth, her health deteriorated noticeably, but this was initially postponed to her second pregnancy, which was officially announced on September 1, 1708. Despite her poor health, the Queen continued to be deeply involved in Spanish politics. Together with Madame des Ursins, she tried at the beginning of 1708 to pull her father back to the Spanish side. However, their efforts were unsuccessful. In the meantime, Louis XIV had recognized the need for peace to be concluded as quickly as possible and was therefore ready to make great concessions to his opponents; he did not even rule out the Bourbon renunciation of Spain. Maria Luisa, however, vigorously defended her interests throughout the peace negotiations, which were to last five years. She had a decisive influence on the fact that her husband vigorously rejected the demands of Great Britain, the Habsburgs and the Netherlands, which made his surrender of the Spanish throne a condition of peace. When the rumor spread in Spain that the French king wanted to withdraw all his troops from Spain and henceforth no longer support his grandson, the queen allayed the fears that Philip might be able to leave for France by publicly announcing that she would accept a French order to surrender oppose and want to defend the throne to the last, as long as the people only stand behind her. On July 2, 1709, with great sympathy from the court, she gave birth to her second son, Philipp-Emmanuel, who died just a few days after his birth.
In 1710 Maria Luisa - again in charge of the reign due to the absence of her husband - had to leave Madrid again to get to Vittoria in the Pyrenees in safety from advancing imperial and English troops . At her urging, Louis XIV sent the Duke of Vendôme , Louis II Joseph de Bourbon , to Spain as military commander in September of that year , and the fortunes of war began to turn gradually, while the regent in her bleak Pyrenees exile was as good as it was went the state affairs headed. Her health was badly damaged and she felt so bad that she had the plan to go to Bagnères-de-Bigorre for a cure , also at the risk that the Spanish people would misinterpret their trip as a flight to France and they would misinterpret their subjects with it could demoralize. Meanwhile, Madrid managed to recapture, and Charles of Austria had to vacate the capital in November of that year. However, due to her poor physical condition, Maria Luisa's return was out of the question for the time being. In March 1711 she had a severe fever , so that the court was already expecting her death. For days the queen hovered between life and death before, contrary to expectations, her condition improved in April and she was at least out of danger. But recovery was very slow, in June 1711 Maria Luisa Gabriella was still ill. Only in July did her weakened body allow her to travel to Corella before she and Philipp returned to Madrid in November.
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After the birth of her third son, Philipp Peter Gabriel on July 7, 1712, the queen was permanently worse off from March 1713. Her fourth pregnancy and the grief over the news of her sister's untimely death did the rest to weaken her further. The signing of the Peace of Utrecht on May 22, 1713 did little to raise them. He secured Philip V the Spanish throne and the Spanish colonies in America, but in return he had to renounce all Italian and Dutch possessions and his claim to the French throne. That May the Queen made her last public appearance in Madrid, after which she hardly ever left her apartment. On her 25th birthday, she was in such bad shape that she was unable to even accept the Court's congratulations on her special day. The premature birth of their fourth child, the future King Ferdinand VI. , on September 23 at four in the morning was accordingly accompanied by complications, and left Maria Luisa weaker than ever. Even the doctors specially appointed from Turin could not help the queen. Louis XIV even sent his personal physician Jean Adrien Helvétius in February 1714 , but he too was powerless. Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy only survived the peace agreement she had longed for and which she had helped shape for the Spanish side by only seven months. She died of tuberculosis at eight- thirty in the morning on February 14 and was buried in the Pantheon of Kings of El Escorial Monastery.
literature
- Émile Bourgeois: Une Reine et une Œuvre. Marie-Louise de Savoie, pure d'Espagne (1708–1716) . In: La Grande Revue . Volume 18, 1st delivery, Paris 1901, pp. 130-160 ( online ).
- Gemma Giovanini: Le donne di Casa Savoia. Dalle origini della famiglia fino ai nostri giorni . 2nd Edition. LF Cogliati, Turin 1903, pp. 299-309 ( online ).
- Andrea Merlotti: Maria Luisa Gabriella di Savoia, regina di Spagna. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 70: Marcora – Marsilio. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2007.
- Lucien Perey : A pure de douze ans. Marie Louise Gabrielle de Savoie, pure d'Espagne . Calman-Lévy, Paris 1905 ( online ).
- Girolamo Rossi: Maria Luigia Gabriella di Savoia, sposa di Filippo V re di Spagna, in Nice in September 1701. Memorie e documenti . In: Miscellanea di storia italiana . Volume 33. Bocca, Turin 1895, pp. 347-388.
- Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles: María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya . In: Ensayo de un Diccionario de Mujeres Célebres . Aguilar, Madrid 1959.
- Federigo Sclopis di Salerano: Marie-Louise-Gabrielle de Savoie, pure d'Espagne. Étude historique . J. Civelli, Turin et al. a. 1866 ( online ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 7.
- ^ Hugh Noel Williams: A rose of Savoy. Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, mother of Louis XV . Methuen & Co., London [1909], p. 291 ( online ).
- ^ A b CV of Maria Luisa Gabriella on cronologia.leonardo.it , accessed on 23 September 2012.
- ↑ a b A. Merlotti: Maria Luisa Gabriella di Savoia, regina di Spagna . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani .
- ↑ a b L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 41.
- ↑ a b L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 583.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 79.
- ^ Henry Kamen: Philip V of Spain. The King Who Reigned Twice . Yale University Press, 2001, ISBN 0300087187 , p. 12.
- ↑ É. Bourgeois: Une Reine et and Œuvre , p. 140.
- ↑ É. Bourgeois: Une Reine et and Œuvre , p. 152.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 201.
- ↑ É. Bourgeois: Une Reine et and Œuvre , p. 135.
- ^ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , pp. 300-301.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 381.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , pp. 401-402.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 451.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 464.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 484.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 487.
- ^ F. Sclopis di Salerano: Marie-Louise-Gabrielle de Savoie, pure d'Espagne , p. 159.
- ↑ L. Perey: Une reine de douze ans , p. 568.
- ^ F. Sclopis di Salerano: Marie-Louise-Gabrielle de Savoie, pure d'Espagne , p. 167.
- ^ Peter Pierson: The History of Spain . Greenwood, Westport, Conn. 1999, ISBN 0-313-30272-3 , p. 75 ( online ).
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| Maria Anna of the Palatinate |
Queen of Spain 1701–1714 |
Elisabetta Farnese |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Savoy, Maria Luisa Gabriella of |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Queen and Regent of Spain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1688 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Turin |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 14, 1714 |
| Place of death | Madrid |