15 July marks two weddings between Habsburg archduchesses and Wittelsbach dukes of Bavaria, exactly fifty years apart. Both unions were intended to strengthen the alliance between the two houses against the French Bourbons.
The marriage of Maria Anna, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand II, to her maternal uncle Maximilian I of Bavaria in 1635 was considered happy and affectionate. Maximilian was an attentive husband and father, and Maria Anna enjoyed a rare degree of influence in state affairs – an unusual balance in royal marriages of the time. Their union lasted sixteen years until Maximilian’s death. Maria Anna was granted the regency of Bavaria during her son’s minority and remained his close advisor until her own death in 1665.
In contrast, the marriage between Maria Antonia, daughter of Emperor Leopold I, and her second cousin Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria in 1685 proved unsuccessful. The couple had little in common, and Maria Antonia, distressed by the Duke’s ongoing infidelity, eventually returned to Vienna, where she gave birth to their only surviving child, Joseph Ferdinand. Due to the complicated dynastic entanglements too intricate to summarise briefly, Maria Antonia was considered a potential heiress to the soon-to-be-vacant Spanish throne – a claim that, upon her early death, passed to her son. Tragically, Joseph Ferdinand died at the age of six.
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