Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria or Marie Josefa (German: Maria Josepha von Habsburg, Erzherzogin von Österreich, Polish: Maria Józefa Habsburżanka); (born December 8, 1699, in Vienna - died November 17, 1757, in Dresden) was Archduchess of Austria; after her marriage, Electress of Saxony and Queen of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. She was born an Archduchess of Austria as a daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Marriage and children
On August 20, 1719, Maria Josepha married Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony (1733-1763), who became King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as August III the Saxon. Through this marriage between the Houses of Wettin and Habsburg, Frederick Augustus II's father, August II the Strong, hoped to place Saxony in a better position should there arise a war of succession to the Austrian territories. The couple's eldest surviving son, Frederick Christian, eventually succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony.
The children of Maria Josepha and August were:
- Friedrich August (1720-1721);
- Joseph (1721-1728);
- Frederick Christian (1722-1763), Elector of Saxony;
- Maria Amalia Christina (1724-1760), who married Charles III of Spain;
- Maria Margaretha (1727-1734);
- Maria Anna Sophia (1728-1797), who married Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria;
- Franz Xaver (1730-1806), Regent of Saxony, 1763 – 1768;
- Marie-Josèphe (1731-1767), who married Louis, dauphin de France (1729-1765), son of King Louis XV of France (1710-1774), and became the mother of Louis XVI of France;
- Carl Christian (1733-1796), Count of Courland;
- Maria Christina Anna (1735-1782), Reigning Abbess of Remiremont;
- Maria Elisabeth Apollonia (1736-1818);
- Albert Kasimir August (1738-1822);
- Clemens Wenzeslaus (1739-1812), Elector and Archbishop of Trier; and
- Maria Kunigunde Dorothe (1740-1826), Reigning Abbess of Thorn and Essen.
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