Maria Theresa
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Maria Theresa was an amazing woman, born on May 13, 1717 as the eldest daughter of Emperor Charles VI. She inherited the throne at only twenty-three years old. Many people say that she "did honor to her throne and to her sex"(Gustafson 861). Throughout her rule she never allowed her love for her family to influence her sense of royal duty. She was one of the most capable people in the long line of monarchs in the Habsburg dynasty and one of the key figures in the power politics of eighteenth-century Europe. She was called the "she-fox" and even though she never learned to read correctly, she was definitely an irreplaceable ruler (Melavinsky 98).
Maria Theresa was born to German Emperor Charles VI and his wife Elizabeth Von Braunschweig-Wolfenbytlel on May 13, 1717. Charles being the emperor, had no male heirs, so the reign fell to his eldest daughter. However, an old European law 'the Salic law' prohibited a woman from inheriting her father's throne. So before he died, in fear that he may not have a son, Charles VI issued the Pragmatic Sanction which guaranteed the right of succession to his daughter...