Maria Josepha of Austria

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, Kurfürstin (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.

[edit] Marriage and children

María Josefa of Austria, Queen of Poland.

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 of Bourbon, Dauphin of 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.