Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria

Life

Early life

Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha was born on 30 December 1654 as the third child and daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (1608–1657) and his third wife, Eleonora Gonzaga (1630–1686). She also had had seven half-siblings from the previous two marriages of her father, only four of whom were still alive at the time of her birth. Two months after she was born, her eldest full sibling, Archduchess Theresa Maria Josepha (1652–1653) died at the age of one and a half years. Her only younger sibling, Archduke Ferdinand Joseph Alois (1657–1658) was born in 1657 and died in infancy.

Marriage

On 25 October 1678, twenty-four-years-old Maria Anna married twenty-years-old Electoral Prince Johann Wilhelm (John William) (1658–1716) from the House of Wittelsbach in Wiener Neustadt. He was the eldest son and heir of Philip William, Elector Palatine (1615–1690), and the brother-in-law of Maria Anna's eldest brother, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640–1705). The wedding ceremony was performed by Archbishop Leopold Karl von Kollonitsch. The couple settled in Düsseldorf and led an elaborate household there. In 1679, her father-in-law gifted them the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Upon Philip William's death, Johann Wilhelm became Elector Palatine and Duke of Neuburg.

Issue

During her marriage, Maria Anna gave birth to two children, but neither survived infancy:

• Son (born and died 6 February 1683).
• Son (born and died 5 February 1686).

Death

Maria Anna died of tuberculosis during a visit to Vienna. She was buried there in the Imperial Crypt beneath the Capuchin Church, the principal place of burial for members of the House of Habsburg.