Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (German: Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel; 28 August 1698 - 21 December 1750) was the Holy Roman Empress from 1711 until 1740 as the wife of Charles VI,^[1] who was Holy Roman Emperor. She was the daughter of Louis Rudolph, who was the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She was also the mother of Maria Theresa, who was Archduchess of Austria in her own right, or suo jure.

Elisabeth Christine was born in 1690 in the Duchy of Brunswick,^[2] and she was the oldest daughter of Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick, and Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen.^[2] She was the Protestant religion when she was born.^[3]

She changed her religion when she married Archduke Charles of Austria, and she became Roman Catholic in 1707, before their wedding in 1708.^[2][3] Her grandfather, Anthony Ulrich, the Duke of Brunswick, urged her to do this.^[4] One of the reasons that Elisabeth married Charles was because she was beautiful and charming.^[5]

In 1700, the King of Spain, Charles II, died, and Elisabeth's husband Charles wanted to become the next king,^[6] but so did Philippe, Duke of Anjou, so they started a war which was called the War of the Spanish Succession.^[3] The war went on for fourteen years. Since Philippe already had a son, everybody wanted Elisabeth to have one too. But Elisabeth did not like Spain, and even though she had influence, she did not like Spanish etiquette.^[5]

Charles had to leave Spain when his brother Joseph I died in 1711 and he became Holy Roman Emperor, and had leave Spain.^[5] This made Elisabeth the new Holy Roman Empress. But she had to stay in Spain because Charles still wanted it, so she stayed to look loyal to the Spaniards, but the war was lost after Charles had to give up Catalonia,^[5] and she went to Austria to become Empress.

Elisabeth lost most of her influence when she moved to Vienna.^[7] It was there in the spring of 1716 that she gave birth to her first child, Archduke Leopold Johann, which made the Viennese royal court happy.^[8] But in the autumn of the same year, Leopold died when he was less than a year old, which was common back then^[9]. When that happened, Elisabeth was already pregnant again,^[8] but when she gave birth for the second time, the baby was a daughter who was named Maria Theresa.^[8] This put pressure on Elisabeth to have another son. Two more daughters, named Maria Anna (1718-1744) and Maria Amalia (1724-1730) came after,^[7] but she had no more sons.

Some extreme fertility (having children) treatments were used after that. When she was pregnant in 1725, Elisabeth was told to drink a lot of red wine by her doctors, which did not make her have a son, but made her addicted to alcohol.^[7] These treatments also made her gain a lot of weight and giving her breathing problems and rheumatism.^[7]

Even though Elisabeth didn't have a lot of influence, her marriage to Charles helped Austria to become an ally of Prussia when her niece, also named Elisabeth Christine, married Frederick, who was the crown prince of Prussia.^[10] But after his father King Frederick William I and Elisabeth's husband died in the same year, 1740, now that he was king Frederick II of Prussia, he began the First Silesian War against her daughter Maria Theresa,^[11] who inherited the Habsburg lands.

Her husband Charles VI died in late 1740.^[6] Not a lot is known of what Elisabeth did after this until she died in 1750, but it is known that she had depression in these years.^[7] She died in the winter of 1750,^[3] and she was buried in the Imperial Crypt, Vienna, where members of the Habsburg family are also buried.^[12]

Elisabeth Christine and her husband had four children, but only two lived to grow up and get married:

• Archduke Leopold Johann (13 April 1716 – 4 November 1716), died in infancy
• Maria Theresa (13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780), became Arduchess of Austria and Queen of Bohemia and Hungary in her own right^[13] (not by marrying) and Holy Roman Empress by marrying Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor^[13]; had children
• Archduchess Maria Anna (26 September 1718 – 16 December 1744), married Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, died in childbirth; no children
• Archduchess Maria Anna (5 April 1724 – 19 April 1730), died in childhood

1. ↑ Backerra, Charlotte. "Royal Studies Journal". Disregarding Norms: Emperor Charles VI and His Intimate Relationships. Winchester University Press. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} "DNB, Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek". portal.dnb.de. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} "BLKÖ:Habsburg, Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig – Wikisource". de.wikisource.org (in German). Retrieved 2025-09-12.
4. ↑ Hoeck, Wilhelm (1845). Anton Ulrich und Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel (in German). Verlag der Holle'schen Buch-, Kunst- und Musikalien-Handlung. p. 6.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Historische Commission bei der königl. Akademie der Wissenschaften (1877), "Elisabeth Christine, Prinzessin von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Bd. 6, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1. ed.), München/Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 11, retrieved 2025-09-12
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "Charles VI | Holy Roman Emperor, Austrian Succession & Pragmatic Sanction | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} "Elisabeth Christine and the desperate struggle to ensure the continuation of the dynasty". Die Welt der Habsburger. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} "Kaiserin Elisabeth Christine anlässlich der Geburt von Erzherzog Leopold Johann". sammlung.belvedere.at (in German). Retrieved 2025-09-12.
9. ↑ Roser, Max (2023-04-11). "Mortality in the past: every second child died". Our World in Data.
10. ↑ Atkinson, Emma Willsher (1858). Memoirs of the queens of Prussia. Robarts - University of Toronto. London : W. Kent. p. 213.
11. ↑ "Silesian Wars | Seven Years' War, Prussia, Austria | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
12. ↑ "Capuchin Crypt Vienna | The burial place of the Habsburg emperors". www.kapuzinergruft.com. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} "Maria Theresa | Biography, Facts, Accomplishments, & Children | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2025-09-11. Retrieved 2025-09-13.