![]() The loss of his beloved wife and their newborn child was devastating for Joseph, after which he felt keenly reluctant to remarry, though he dearly loved his daughter and remained a devoted father to Maria Theresa.įête organized to celebrate the marriage of Emperor Joseph II to Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria. Progressively ill with smallpox and strained by sudden childbirth and tragedy, Isabella died the following week. In November 1763, while six months pregnant, Isabella fell ill with smallpox and went into premature labor, resulting in the birth of their second child, Archduchess Maria Christina, who died shortly after being born. Pregnancy was again provoking melancholy, fears and dread in Isabella. She remained bedridden for six weeks after their daughter's birth.Īlmost immediately on the back of their newfound parenthood, the couple then endured two consecutive miscarriages-an ordeal particularly hard on Isabella-followed quickly by another pregnancy. Her own pregnancy proved especially difficult as she suffered symptoms of pain, illness and melancholy both during and afterward, though Joseph attended to her and tried to comfort her. Isabella was fearful of pregnancy and early death, largely a result of the early loss of her mother. The marriage of Joseph and Isabella resulted in the birth of a daughter, Maria Theresa. Isabella also found a best friend and confidant in her husband's sister, Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen. Isabella's father was Philip, Duke of Parma.) Joseph loved his bride, Isabella, finding her both stimulating and charming, and she sought with special care to cultivate his favor and affection. (The bride's mother, Princess Louise Élisabeth, was the eldest daughter of Louis XV of France and his popular wife, Queen Marie Leczinska. Joseph married Princess Isabella of Parma in October 1760, a union fashioned to bolster the 1756 defensive pact between France and Austria. Marriages and children The arrival of Isabella of Parma on the occasion of her wedding to Joseph II, 1760 (painting by Martin van Meytens) His practical training was conferred by government officials, who were directed to instruct him in the mechanical details of the administration of the numerous states composing the Austrian dominions and the Holy Roman Empire. His formal education was provided through the writings of David Hume, Edward Gibbon, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the Encyclopédistes, and by the example of his contemporary (and sometimes rival) King Frederick II of Prussia. Joseph was born in the midst of the early upheavals of the War of the Austrian Succession. He died with no surviving children and was succeeded by his younger brother Leopold II. He was a supporter of the arts, and most importantly of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. ![]() ![]() His policies are now known as Josephinism. False but influential letters depict him as a somewhat more radical philosophe than he probably was. He has been ranked with Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia as one of the three great Enlightenment monarchs. Meanwhile, despite making some territorial gains, his reckless foreign policy badly isolated Austria. Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism however, his commitment to secularizing, liberalizing and modernizing reforms resulted in significant opposition, which resulted in failure to fully implement his programs. He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the union of the Houses of Habsburg and Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I, and the brother of Marie Antoinette, Leopold II, Maria Carolina of Austria and Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma. Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam English: Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. ![]()
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