Was Maria Theresa Of Austria Jewish?

Maria Theresa of Austria was a devout Catholic and a bigot who despised Jews and Protestants. She believed that religious unity was necessary for a peaceful public life and explicitly rejected the idea of religious tolerance. She was probably the most anti-Jewish monarch of her time, and her animosity was well-known and not kept secret. In 1744, she expelled the Jews from Prague, and in 1777, she wrote of the Jews:

> I know of no greater plague than this race, which on account of its deceit, usury and avarice is driving my subjects into beggary. Therefore as far as possible, the Jews are to be kept away and avoided.

However, she did grant audiences to Jews and profited from the services of court Jews such as Diego d'Aguilar, Israel von Hoenigsberg, and Wolf Wertheimer. She also pursued mercantilist policies that granted special privileges to Jews, allowing them to establish factories on the condition that gentile labour was employed.

Maria Theresa expelled the Jews from Prague in 1744

Maria Theresa, the Holy Roman Empress and ruler of the Habsburg dominions, was known for her passionate hatred of Jews. On December 18, 1744, she signed an edict that ordered the expulsion of all Jews from her kingdom. The Jews were to be banished from Prague by the end of January 1745 and from her hereditary dominions of Moravia and Bohemia by June of the same year.

The edict was a result of accusations that the Jews were disloyal during the War of the Austrian Succession when Prague was invaded and occupied by the French and the Bavarians. Maria Theresa's anti-Jewish stance was influenced by the traditional prejudices of her ancestors and those of her time. She believed that religious unity was necessary for a peaceful public life and rejected the idea of religious tolerance. She despised Jews and Protestants and ordered their expulsion to remote parts of her realm on several occasions.

Maria Theresa's expulsion of the Jews from Prague and her hereditary dominions was eventually revoked in 1748 due to economic considerations and international pressure from other countries, including Great Britain. Despite her deep-seated hatred for Jews, she did grant them some protections and privileges, such as forbidding the forcible conversion of Jewish children to Christianity and supporting Jewish commercial and industrial activity within Austria.

She was a devout Catholic and despised Jews and Protestants

Maria Theresa was a devout Catholic and a strong believer in the divine right of kings. She despised Jews and Protestants and was known for her anti-Semitism. She believed that religious unity was necessary for a peaceful public life and explicitly rejected the idea of religious tolerance. She advocated for a state church and contemporary travellers criticised her regime as bigoted, intolerant and superstitious.

Maria Theresa's religious views were reflected in her policies. She expelled the Jews from Prague in 1744, dissolving the largest Jewish community in the Monarchy and forcing 20,000 people to leave the city within a short space of time. She also expelled the Jewish community from Hodonin in 1774. She granted audiences to Jews from behind a partition and declared in 1777 that she knew "no worse plague for the state than this nation, because of its deceitfulness, its usury". She also stated that Jews "bring the state more harm than good".

Maria Theresa's hatred of Jews was not without exception. She did revoke the expulsion of the Jews from Prague in 1748 after international intervention on their behalf. She also profited from the services of Jews such as Diego d'Aguilar, Israel von Hoenigsberg, and Wolf Wertheimer. She granted special privileges to Jews, allowing them to establish factories on the condition that gentile labour be employed. She forbade the baptism of Jewish children against the will of their parents. She also issued a statute for Moravian Jewry in 1754 and confirmed the judicial autonomy of Lombardian Jewry in 1742 and 1752.

Maria Theresa also despised Protestants and regarded them as heretics. She tried to convert them to Catholicism and formed commissions to seek out secret Protestants and intern them in workhouses, where they would be given the chance to subscribe to approved statements of Catholic faith. If they accepted, they were allowed to return home. However, any sign of a return to Protestant practice was treated harshly, often by exile. She exiled Protestants from Austria to Transylvania, including 2,600 from Upper Austria in the 1750s.

She was the first female heir to the Habsburg throne

Maria Theresa was the first female heir to the Habsburg throne. She was the eldest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. However, she was not brought up as a future ruler, as her parents kept hoping for a son. Maria Theresa received an education typical of a daughter of dynastic lineage, focusing on courtly deportment, music, dancing and languages. She was not taught political theory, military science or diplomacy.

When it became clear that Charles VI would not have a son, the search began for a husband for Maria Theresa, who would rule in her name. In 1736, she married Franz Stephan of Lorraine, who had arrived at the Viennese court at a young age and had been groomed as the son-in-law and successor of Charles VI.

In 1711, Charles VI found himself as the sole remaining male Habsburg. As an old European law, the Salic Law, prohibited a woman from inheriting her father's kingdom, Charles VI issued a decree in 1713, known as the Pragmatic Sanction. This document guaranteed the right of succession to his daughter. At the time, many of the great powers of Europe agreed to her succession, but at a price.

When Charles VI died in 1740, challenges to the Habsburg lands led to the War of the Austrian Succession. Maria Theresa was determined to strengthen her state and create positive diplomacy to defeat her enemies. She initiated reforms, strengthening the army, reorganising the tax structure, and centralising an office to assist in the collection of taxes. Economic reform fuelled prosperity for her empire.

Maria Theresa was the only woman to rule the Habsburg dominions in her own right. She was also one of the most successful Habsburg rulers, male or female, while bearing sixteen children between 1738 and 1756.

She was a reformer against her will

Maria Theresa was a reformer against her will. Her reign has always been celebrated as a heyday of the Monarchy, but she was not concerned with liberating her people from ecclesiastical or feudal tutelage. Her reforming zeal was intended to bring about the greatest possible benefit for the state and the dynasty. Her aim was to secure Habsburg dominion and to develop military and political capability so that Austria should not fall behind the other European Great Powers.

Maria Theresa's rule was characterised by an attempt to modernise and centralise the country. She had a conservative understanding of monarchical rule, seeing herself as having been entrusted with her office as ruler by divine right. Thus, it was to God, and not her people, that she had to justify her actions. She was guided not by reason, belief in progress and tolerance, or the principles of just rule as demanded by the Enlightenment, but strove to fulfil the task with which she had been entrusted by divine providence according to the best of her knowledge and belief.

Maria Theresa's conservative cast of mind also manifested itself in her religious understanding: she remained a pre-Enlightenment Catholic throughout her life. This resulted in continued intolerance towards non-Catholics. Under her rule, Protestants continued to be persecuted, and an inglorious climax was reached when the Jews were expelled from Prague in 1744. The largest Jewish community at that time in the Monarchy was dissolved, and 20,000 individuals had to leave the city within a short space of time.

Maria Theresa's deep attachment to the Catholic faith did not stop her from taking measures to limit the influence of the Catholic Church on the state. These included restricting papal authority to theological matters and bringing the organisation of ecclesiastical structures under state control. This represented the first step towards the state church realised by her successor, Joseph II.

She was a conservative ruler who believed in the divine right of kings

Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, was a conservative ruler who believed in the divine right of kings. She was a pious Catholic who despised Jews and Protestants, and on certain occasions ordered their expulsion to remote parts of the realm. She believed that religious unity was necessary for a peaceful public life and explicitly rejected the idea of religious tolerance. She advocated for a state church and contemporary travellers criticised her regime as bigoted, intolerant and superstitious.

Maria Theresa's conservative understanding of monarchical rule meant that she saw herself as having been entrusted with her office as ruler by divine right. She believed she was answerable to God, not her people, and that she had been chosen by divine providence to fulfil a task to the best of her knowledge and belief. She was guided not by reason, belief in progress and tolerance, or the principles of just rule as demanded by the Enlightenment.

Maria Theresa's religious views influenced her approach to governance. She was not concerned with liberating her people from ecclesiastical or feudal tutelage. Instead, her reforms were intended to benefit the state and the dynasty. She wanted to secure Habsburg dominion and develop military and political capability so that Austria would not fall behind the other European Great Powers. She was a reformer against her will, often influenced by advisors who had been shaped by Enlightenment ideas.

Maria Theresa's pre-Enlightenment Catholicism resulted in continued intolerance towards non-Catholics. Under her rule, Protestants continued to be persecuted. An inglorious climax was reached when the Jews were expelled from Prague in 1744. The largest Jewish community at that time in the Monarchy was dissolved and 20,000 individuals had to leave the city within a short space of time. She granted audiences to Jews from behind a partition. She declared in 1777 that she knew "no worse plague for the state than this nation, because of its deceitfulness, its usury," and noted that the Jews "bring the state more harm than good".

However, her deep attachment to the Catholic faith did not stop the empress from taking measures to limit the influence of the Catholic Church on the state. These included restricting papal authority to theological matters and bringing the organisation of ecclesiastical structures under state control. This represented the first step towards the state church realised by her successor, Joseph II.

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