Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg

Duchess Elisabeth
Archduchess of Austria
Portrait by Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder
Born21 April 1767
Treptow an der Rega, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia
Died18 February 1790 (aged 22)
Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Burial
Imperial Crypt
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1788)​
IssueArchduchess Ludovika Elisabeth
Names
Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise
HouseWürttemberg
FatherFrederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg
MotherPrincess Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt
ReligionRoman Catholicism
prev. Lutheranism

Elisabeth of Württemberg (Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise; 21 April 1767 – 18 February 1790) was a duchess of Württemberg by birth and an archduchess of Austria by her marriage to Archduke Francis of Austria.

Life

Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise was born on 21 April 1767, in Treptow an der Rega, Province of Pomerania (present-day Trzebiatów, Poland)[1] as the third daughter and eighth child of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and his wife, born Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt.[2]

At the age of fifteen, she was summoned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II, to Vienna.[3] There, she was educated in a convent of the Salesian sisters converted to Roman Catholicism in anticipation for her marriage to Joseph's nephew Francis, the son of his heir presumptive Leopold. They were married in Vienna on 6 January 1788. At this time, Emperor Joseph was in ill health; the young archduchess became close to the emperor and brightened his last years with her youthful charm.Category:All articles with unsourced statementsCategory:Articles with unsourced statements from May 2024[citation needed]

At the end of 1789, Elisabeth became pregnant; however, her condition was very delicate. On 15 February 1790, after attending the anointing of the sick for the dying emperor, Elisabeth fainted. On the night of 18 February, after a twenty-four-hour delivery, she prematurely gave birth to Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth, who lived for sixteen months. Despite an emergency operation to save her life, Elisabeth did not survive[4] and was buried in the Imperial Crypt. Her death was the final blow to the Emperor Joseph,[2] who died two days later.

Issue

  • Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth of Austria (18 Feb 1790 – 24 June 1791), died in infancy.

Archives

Elisabeth's letters to her parents, Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, written between 1780 and 1790, are preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart (Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart) in Stuttgart, Germany.[5][6] Elisabeth's letters to her brother, Charles Frederick Henry of Württemberg, are also preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart.[7]

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ "ULAN Full Record Display (Getty Research)". www.getty.edu. Retrieved 2025-12-27.
  2. 1 2 "BLKÖ:Habsburg, Elisabeth Wilhelmina Ludovica von Württemberg – Wikisource". de.wikisource.org (in German). Retrieved 2025-12-27.Category:CS1 German-language sources (de)
  3. ↑ Historische Commission bei der königl. Akademie der Wissenschaften (1878), "Friedrich Eugen, Herzog von Würtemberg", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Bd. 8, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1. ed.), München/Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 53, retrieved 2025-12-27
  4. ↑ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Archived from the original on 2024-06-21. Retrieved 2025-12-27.
  5. ↑ "Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth an ihre Eltern, Herzog Friedrich Eugen und Herzogin Sophie Dorothee 1780-1790". Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "1. Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth an ihre Eltern, Herzog Friedrich Eugen und Herzogin Sophie Dorothee 1780-1790". Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "2. Briefe der Prinzessin Elisabeth an ihren Bruder Karl Friedrich Heinrich und 1 Schreiben ihres Gemahles und 2 weitere an den Prinzen über deren Tod 1782-1790". Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  • Brigitte Hamann: Die Habsburger, ein biographisches Lexikon. Verlag Carl Ueberreuter, Vienna, 1988
Category:1767 births Category:1790 deaths Category:Deaths in childbirth Category:House of Habsburg-Lorraine Category:Austrian princesses Category:German Roman Catholics Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism Category:Duchesses of Württemberg (titular) Category:Burials at the Imperial Crypt Category:People from Trzebiatów Category:People from the Province of Pomerania Category:18th-century Austrian women Category:Wives of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor Category:Daughters of dukes
Category:1767 births Category:1790 deaths Category:18th-century Austrian women Category:All articles with unsourced statements Category:Articles with short description Category:Articles with unsourced statements from May 2024 Category:Austrian princesses Category:Burials at the Imperial Crypt Category:CS1 German-language sources (de) Category:Commons category link from Wikidata Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism Category:Daughters of dukes Category:Deaths in childbirth Category:Duchesses of Württemberg (titular) Category:German Roman Catholics Category:House of Habsburg-Lorraine Category:People from Trzebiatów Category:People from the Province of Pomerania Category:Short description is different from Wikidata Category:Wives of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor