Sophie Friederike of Bavaria
Princess Sophie Friederike of Bavaria , full name Sophie Friederike Dorothea Wilhelmine of Bavaria (born January 27, 1805 in Munich , † May 28, 1872 in Vienna ), was Archduchess of Austria by marriage to Franz Karl of Austria .
She was the mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian of Mexico .
Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduke heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este were grandchildren of Sophie, the last emperor, Karl I , was her great-grandson.
biography
Childhood and youth
Sophie was the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife Karoline Friederike Wilhelmine von Baden , as well as a sister of Queen Elisabeth Ludovika of Prussia and twin sister of Queen Maria of Saxony .
The parents personally looked after the numerous children - contrary to the customs of the time. They wanted to educate these modern-thinking people, which despite all freedom of movement contained certain rules, such as: B. absolute punctuality, which came first. Sophie was considered a very pretty girl and was later accepted by King Ludwig I , her half-brother, into his famous gallery of beauties , which can still be viewed in Nymphenburg Palace today. For her father, the intention of Emperor Franz I of Austria to marry off his second-born son Franz Karl to Sophie was extremely important and so hardly any research was done about the future person and his siblings. The young woman's first meeting with her future husband was not to her liking; but political reasons had priority - the future candidate was second in line to the Habsburg throne and the actual heir to the throne would hardly ever ascend the throne due to his severe epilepsy. An ample trousseau has been put together. The wedding took place on November 4, 1824 in Vienna.
Next life
Only after six years of marriage and several miscarriages, after several spa stays in Ischl , the couple's first child, Franz Joseph , was born, two and three years later the sons Maximilian and Karl Ludwig and twelve years later Ludwig Viktor . She also had a daughter: Archduchess Maria Anna (1835–1840), who was only four years old: like her uncle, Emperor Ferdinand I , she suffered from epileptic seizures and died from them.
In the crisis of the Austrian monarchy in the revolutionary year of 1848 , Ferdinand I's abdication and a new beginning were the only opportunities. Sophie decided not to become empress herself by encouraging her husband Franz Karl, next in line to the throne, to step back in favor of their son Franz Joseph. Franz Joseph was able to become emperor on December 2, 1848 at the age of 18 without having previously been heir to the throne .
In the first years of his reign, Sophie (patroness of the ultramontanes ) was a great support to the too young and inexperienced emperor and was one of his most important advisors, especially when it came to a neo-absolutist policy to curb the ambitions of the Magyar upper class . Her daughter-in-law and niece, Empress Elisabeth , tried to compensate for this by being especially kind to the Hungarians.
According to Georg Markus , the view, which was widespread especially by Egon Caesar Conte Corti and later in the Sissi films, that Sophie was a “bad mother-in-law” for Elisabeth can not be upheld. Sophie therefore advocated that Elisabeth take care of her children herself and did not utter a bad word about the young empress in her correspondence with other family members.
Sophie was the godmother of her first granddaughter in 1855, who was also named after her: Sophie Friederike , daughter of Franz Joseph I and Elisabeth. The child died at the age of two.
After her favorite son Maximilian , Emperor of Mexico, was shot in Mexico in 1867, Sophie lost all courage to face life and only survived him by five years. After visiting the Burgtheater , she contracted severe pneumonia, from which she died.
Archduchess Sophie was buried in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna. The Duke of Reichstadt rested next to her (his body was transferred to Paris on Hitler's orders in 1940 ). Her husband Franz Karl rests next to her. A son, who was stillborn on October 24, 1840, rests between Sophie Friederike and her husband Franz Karl.
Her favorite son Maximilian rests in the same part of the crypt, but not next to her.
progeny
-
Franz Joseph I (1830–1916), Emperor of Austria
⚭ Princess Elisabeth in Bavaria, Sisi (1837–1898) -
Maximilian I (1832–1867), Emperor of Mexico
⚭ Princess Charlotte of Belgium (1840–1927) -
Karl Ludwig (1833–1896), Archduke, heir to the throne 1889–1896
⚭ 1st Princess Margarete of Saxony (1840–1858)
⚭ 2nd Princess Maria Annunziata of Naples-Sicily (1843–1871)
:: both son Franz Ferdinand of Austria- Este was heir to the throne 1896–1914
⚭ 3rd Princess Maria Theresa of Portugal (1855–1944) - Maria Anna Carolina (1835–1840), died of epilepsy
- Stillborn son (* / † October 24, 1840)
- Ludwig Viktor (1842–1919), Archduke
Letters
- Archduchess Sophie's three letters to Countess Ida Hahn-Hahn . June 22, 1859 to March 14, 1864
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Habsburg, Sophie (born January 27, 1805) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 7th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1861, p. 149 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Wolfsgruber, Cölestin: Sophie (Archduchess of Austria) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 772-774.
- Brigitte Hamann : Sophie. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 593 ( digitized version ).
- Egon Caesar Conte Corti : Elisabeth. The strange woman . 39th edition. Styria, Vienna 1982.
- Franz Herre : Sissi's mother-in-law: Sophie of Bavaria . Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich 1994
- Hellmut Andrics: The women of the Habsburgs . Heyne, Munich 1996. - New edition.
- Jetta Sachs-Collignon: Sophie of Austria: a life for Habsburg . Stieglitz, Mühlacker 1998
- Gerd Holler: Sophie, the secret empress . Weltbild-Verlag, Augsburg 2004
- Sigrid-Maria Großering : Sisi and her family . Ueberreuter, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-8000-3857-9 .
- Anna Ehrlich, Christa Bauer: Archduchess Sophie. The strong woman at the Viennese court. Franz Joseph's mother, Sisi's mother-in-law . Amalthea Signum Verlag, Vienna 2016.
- Helmut Hinkel: Ida Hahn-Hahn. Royal Mail. Correspondence with Queen Marie of Saxony, Queen Amalie of Saxony and Archduchess Sophie of Austria . Mainz 2016. ISBN 978-3-945751-50-3 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Sophie Friederike von Bayern in the catalog of the German National Library
- News of death in the Austrian press on Anno (Austrian Newspapers Online)
Remarks
- ↑ Georg Markus: No bad mother-in-law . In: Kurier , Vienna, October 20, 2013, p. 22. Kurier series It was very different , part 8, excerpt from Georg Markus' book of the same name, Amalthea, Vienna 2013
- ^ Fritz Reuter Literature Archive Berlin
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Sophie Friederike of Bavaria |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sophie of Austria |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Daughter of King Maximilian I of Bavaria |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 27, 1805 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Munich |
DATE OF DEATH | May 28, 1872 |
Place of death | Vienna |