Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche, Marie-Caroline de Naples et la Méditerranée des Habsbourg
Marie-Therese of Austria, Marie-Caroline of Naples and the Mediterranean of the House of Habsburg

Summary/Abstract: In the second half of the 18th century, Marie-Therese of Austria sought an intelligent way of placing her numerous heirs throughout Europe in order to consolidate her diplomatic system. This notwithstanding, the ideas of the „Lumieres” were not seen in the same way by the Empress and her children, who were far removed from the way of life or of government that Marie-Therese would have wished for. The Instructions that she addressed to her daughter, Marie-Caroline, who became Queen of the Two Sicilies in 1768, and which are still conserved in the Hungarian archives, enable us to have a far greater insight into the ambitions of the Empress, as well as informing us about the Italian Risorgimento, the individual desiderata of the Habsburgs and the history of Naples, where „there is great affection for the English and much mistrust of France. It would ill become you to show any preference for the English, being as you are married to a prince of the House of Bourbon and with us being intimately linked with France.”

• Details
• Contents