Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (governor)

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Maria Elisabeth of Austria

Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (Linz 13 February 1680 – Mariemont, Morlanwelz 26 August 1741), was the governor of the Austrian Netherlands between 1725 and 1741.

Maria Elisabeth was a daughter of Emperor Leopold I and Eleonore-Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuburg. She well educated and fluent in Latin, German, French and Italian. She never married. In 1725, she was appointed Prince Eugene of Savoy's successor as the regent governor of the Austrian Netherlands by her brother, Charles VI.

Maria Elisabeth was described as a forceful administrator and a popular regent. Her independent politics, however, were not always appreciated in Vienna. She suspended the East India Company in 1727 and closed it in 1731.

She had enough financial means at her disposal to uphold an elaborate court which stimulated culture and music. Among others, she patronized Jean-Joseph Fiocco, her maestro di cappella who dedicated several oratorios to her between 1726 and 1738. The architect Jean-Andre Anneessens designed the palace Mariemont for her, where she spent her summers.

She died suddenly and unexpectedly at Mariemont, upon which she was displayed at a public Lit-de-parade in Brussels 29 August. When she died at the age of 61, she was first buried in Brussels, but moved to Vienna in 1749, where she lies now in the Imperial Crypte next to her brother Charles.

Ancestors

Family of Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (governor)

16. Charles II of Austria               8. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor                       17. Maria Anna of Bavaria               4. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor                             18. William V, Duke of Bavaria               9. Maria Anna of Bavaria                       19. Renata of Lorraine               2. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor                                   20. Philip II of Spain               10. Philip III of Spain                       21. Anna of Austria               5. Maria Anna of Spain                             22. Charles II of Austria (= 16)               11. Margaret of Austria                       23. Maria Anna of Bavaria (= 17)               1. Maria Elisabeth of Austria                                         24. Philip Louis, Count Palatine of Neuburg               12. Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg                       25. Anna of Jülich-Cleves-Berg               6. Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine                             26. William V, Duke of Bavaria (= 18)               13. Magdalene of Bavaria                       27. Renata of Lorraine (= 19)               3. Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg                                   28. Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt               14. George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt                       29. Magdalene of Brandenburg               7. Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt                             30. John George I, Elector of Saxony               15. Sophia Eleonore of Saxony                       31. Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia

Preceded by Count Wirich Philipp von Daun

Governor of the Austrian Netherlands 1724–1741

Succeeded by Count Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau