Maria Theresa of Spain

Names
	Spanish: María Teresa de Austria y Borbón

Maria Theresa of Spain
Maria Theresa of Spain
	Portrait by Henri and Charles Beaubrun
Queen consort of France
Tenure	9 June 1660 – 30 July 1683
Born	10 September 1638; El Escorial, Crown of Castile
Died	30 July 1683 (aged 44); Palace of Versailles, Kingdom of France
Burial	Basilica of St Denis
Spouse	Louis XIV (m. 1660)
Issue; more...	Louis, Grand Dauphin; Marie Thérèse, Madame Royale; Philippe Charles, Duke of Anjou;
Names
Names
	Spanish: María Teresa de Austria y Borbón
House	Habsburg
Father	Philip IV of Spain
Mother	Elisabeth of France
Signature

Maria Theresa of Spain (Spanish: María Teresa de Austria; French: Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche; 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV.^[1]^[2] She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of King Philip IV and Elisabeth of France, and was also an Archduchess of Austria as a member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg.^[3]

Her marriage in 1660 to King Louis XIV, her double first cousin, was arranged with the purpose of ending the lengthy war between France and Spain.^[4] Famed for her virtue and piety, she saw five of her six children die in early childhood, and is frequently viewed as an object of pity in historical accounts of her husband's reign, since she was often neglected by the court and overshadowed by the King's many mistresses.

Without any political influence in the French court or government (except briefly in 1672, when she was named regent during her husband's absence during the Franco-Dutch War),^[5] she died aged 44 due to complications from an abscess on her arm. Her grandson Philip V inherited the Spanish throne in 1700 after the death of her younger half-brother, Charles II. The resulting War of the Spanish Succession established the House of Bourbon as the new ruling dynasty of Spain, where it has reigned with some interruption until the present time.

^ Whitfield, J. H. (June 1969). "La Belle Charite II: Racine, Molière and the Pastor Fido". Italian Studies. 24 (1): 76–92. doi:10.1179/its.1969.24.1.76. ISSN 0075-1634.
^ Khan, Samra Sarfraz; Hussain, Irum Iqbal (2019). "Matrimony and Monarchy: The Failure of Bourbon-Habsburg Matrimonial Alliance". Journal of History and Social Sciences. 10 (2). doi:10.22555/jhss.v10i2.93. ISSN 2221-6804. S2CID 216542130.
^ Fichtner, Paula Sutter (2003), Fichtner, Paula Sutter (ed.), "Creating a State", The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490–1848: Attributes of Empire, European History in Perspective, London: Macmillan Education UK, pp. 59–88, doi:10.1007/978-1-137-10642-1_3, ISBN 978-1-137-10642-1, retrieved 2023-09-18
^ Nevile, Jennifer (2008-06-25). Dance, Spectacle, and the Body Politick, 1250–1750. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21985-5.
^ "Marie-Therese D'autriche". Chateau de Versailles. Retrieved 25 November 2023.

[1] Whitfield, J. H. (June 1969). "La Belle Charite II: Racine, Molière and the Pastor Fido". Italian Studies. 24 (1): 76–92. doi:10.1179/its.1969.24.1.76. ISSN 0075-1634.

[2] Khan, Samra Sarfraz; Hussain, Irum Iqbal (2019). "Matrimony and Monarchy: The Failure of Bourbon-Habsburg Matrimonial Alliance". Journal of History and Social Sciences. 10 (2). doi:10.22555/jhss.v10i2.93. ISSN 2221-6804. S2CID 216542130.

[3] Fichtner, Paula Sutter (2003), Fichtner, Paula Sutter (ed.), "Creating a State", The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490–1848: Attributes of Empire, European History in Perspective, London: Macmillan Education UK, pp. 59–88, doi:10.1007/978-1-137-10642-1_3, ISBN 978-1-137-10642-1, retrieved 2023-09-18

[4] Nevile, Jennifer (2008-06-25). Dance, Spectacle, and the Body Politick, 1250–1750. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-21985-5.

[Chateau-5] "Marie-Therese D'autriche". Chateau de Versailles. Retrieved 25 November 2023.

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