Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

• Born in 1500 in Ghent (Low Countries), became ruler there as a child

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

• Born in 1500 in Ghent (Low Countries), became ruler there as a child

• 1516 King of Spain

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

• Born in 1500 in Ghent (Low Countries), became ruler there as a child

• 1516 King of Spain
• In 1519 inherited Habsburg Heriditary Lands, but transferred them to his brother
two years later (to secure successions; in some generations only one male heir)

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

• Born in 1500 in Ghent (Low Countries), became ruler there as a child

• 1516 King of Spain
• In 1519 inherited Habsburg Heriditary Lands, but transferred them to his brother
two years later (to secure successions; in some generations only one male heir)
• Holy Roman Emperor (1530)

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

• His brother Ferdinand became ruler in the Habsburg lands

à division of the Habsburg family into a Spanish and an Austrian line

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
• A Habsburg who became King of Spain AND Holy Roman Emperor (1530)
à ruled over territories in Europe, the Americas, and East Indies

• His brother Ferdinand became ruler in the Habsburg lands

à division of the Habsburg family into a Spanish and an Austrian line

• Era of the Lutheran Reformation

o Strictly opposed Martin Luther, but had to make concessions
o Peace of Augsburg 1555 (principle “cuius regio, eius religio” – resulted in a
divided confessional map: some provinces Lutheran, some Catholic

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 Let’s go back in time again by 200 years …

Charles V and the Empire “on which the sun never set”
Era of the Lutheran Reformation
o Strictly opposed Martin Luther, but had to make concessions
o Peace of Augsburg 1555 (principle “cuius regio, eius religio” – resulted in a
divided confessional map: some provinces Lutheran, some Catholic

Tiziano, Emperor Charles in Armour

Mid-16th century
 1683, Vienna

Ottoman Wars

– Battle of Mohacs 1526

– Siege of Vienna in 1529
– Battle of Vienna 1683
Kahlenberg, Polish King John III Sobieski helped free the city
Europe,
1600
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Prerequisite: the “Pragmatic Sanction” (1713)

Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Prerequisite: the “Pragmatic Sanction” (1713)

v indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter (indivisible and inseparable):
all Habsburg lands declared an integral whole, cannot
be divided [e.g. after inheritance]
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Prerequisite: the “Pragmatic Sanction” (1713)

v indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter (indivisible and inseparable):
all Habsburg lands declared an integral whole, cannot
be divided [e.g. after inheritance]
v Undivided heritage should go to the ruler’s son, but
if there was none à daughter
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Prerequisite: the “Pragmatic Sanction” (1713)

v indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter (indivisible and inseparable):
all Habsburg lands declared an integral whole, cannot
be divided [e.g. after inheritance]
v Undivided heritage should go to the ruler’s son, but
if there was none à daughter
v Habsburg Empire becomes a “nation state”
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• married Francis Stephan of Lorraine (Lothringen) in 1736

Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• married Francis Stephan of Lorraine (Lothringen) in 1736

• new family name “Habsburg-Lothringen”
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• married Francis Stephan of Lorraine (Lothringen) in 1736

• new family name “Habsburg-Lothringen”
• FS became Holy Roman Emperor in 1745
• Titles that Maria Theresa’s father had (ruler of Habsburg
lands: Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, etc. PLUS
Holy Roman Emperor) now divided between the couple
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

In June 1746 the Prussian envoy at the Viennese court, Count Otto
Christoph von Podewils, penned the following description of the
monarch, who was then twenty-nine:

Her figure is of over rather than under medium stature. It was very
fine before her marriage, but the numerous births she has
undergone, together with her corpulence, have made her extremely
heavy. Nonetheless, she has an easy gait and majestic posture. Her
appearance is elegant even though she spoils it by the way she
dresses. The little English hoop skirt she wears disfigures her. She
has a full, round face and a clear brow. The well-shaped eyebrows
are, like her hair, blonde, without any reddish sheen. Her eyes are
large, lively and at the same time very gentle, to which the colour,
which is pale blue, contributes. Her nose is small, neither curved nor
turned upwards, her mouth is a little large but rather beautiful, her
teeth white, her smile pleasant. Her neck and throat are well-
formed. Arms and hands wonderful. Her complexion cannot be any
less than this, to judge by what one can see, despite the scant care
she has given it. She usually has a high colour. Her expression is
open and cheerful, her way of addressing people friendly and
graceful. One cannot deny that she is attractive.
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• “War of Austrian Succession”

Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• “War of Austrian Succession”

• Prussian King Frederick the Great invades Silesia
• Wars until 1748
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• “War of Austrian Succession”

• Prussian King Frederick the Great invades Silesia
• Wars until 1748
• she was recognized as a ruler
• but Prussia now a rival state
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Reforms (“Enlightened Absolutism”)

Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Reforms (“Enlightened Absolutism”)

• Modern bureaucracy: unified, centralized;

professionalization of civil service
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Reforms (“Enlightened Absolutism”)

• Modern bureaucracy: unified, centralized;

professionalization of civil service

• Military reform (e.g. education: academy founded)

Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Reforms (“Enlightened Absolutism”)

• Modern bureaucracy: unified, centralized;

professionalization of civil service

• Military reform (e.g. education: academy founded)

• Economic reforms (no internal tariffs), tax reform

(nobility and church taxed)
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• Reforms (“Enlightened Absolutism”)

• Modern bureaucracy: unified, centralized;

professionalization of civil service

• Military reform (e.g. education: academy founded)

• Economic reforms (no internal tariffs), tax reform

(nobility and church taxed)

• 1774: compulsory schooling for children in all

Habsburg Hereditary Lands (long-term project!)
Maria Theresa (1717–1780)

• 16 children
• Two of them would succeed her
• One of the Marie Antoinette, married to Louis XVI
Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

• 11000 new laws, to govern every aspect of the
empire
Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

• 11000 new laws, to govern every aspect of the
empire
• Serfdom Patent: basic civil liberty for serfs
Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

• 11000 new laws, to govern every aspect of the
empire
• Serfdom Patent: basic civil liberty for serfs
• Continued education and public health reforms
Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

• 11000 new laws, to govern every aspect of the
empire
• Serfdom Patent: basic civil liberty for serfs
• Continued education and public health reforms
• Ordered change of educational language from
Latin to German
Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

• 11000 new laws, to govern every aspect of the
empire
• Serfdom Patent: basic civil liberty for serfs
• Continued education and public health reforms
• Ordered change of educational language from
Latin to German
• Reform Church, limit its influence
• 2/3 of monastaries disbanded
• limit influence
• alter services, rites etc.

• Patent of Toleration (1781): religious freedom for

Lutherans, Calvinists, and Orthodox; extended
religious freedom for Jews
Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

• 11000 new laws, to govern every aspect of the
empire
• Serfdom Patent: basic civil liberty for serfs
• Continued education and public health reforms
• Ordered change of educational language from
Latin to German
• Reform Church, limit its influence
• 2/3 of monastaries disbanded
• limit influence
• alter services, rites etc.
Joseph II (ruled 1780–1790)

• “the” enlightened ruler

• 11000 new laws, to govern every aspect of the
empire
• Serfdom Patent: basic civil liberty for serfs
• Continued education and public health reforms
• Ordered change of educational language from
Latin to German
• Reform Church, limit its influence
• 2/3 of monastaries disbanded
• limit influence
• alter services, rites etc.

• Patent of Toleration (1781): religious freedom for

Lutherans, Calvinists, and Orthodox; Edict of
Tolerance (1782) extended religious freedom for
Jews
• Battle of Austerlitz, 1805
• Austrian Empire, 1804–1867