Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria

Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (20 December 1654 – 4 April 1689) was an Austrian archduchess who became Electoral Princess of the Palatinate as the wife of Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine.

Life

Early life Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha was born on 20 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. Her eldest full sibling, Archduchess Theresa Maria Josepha (1652–1653) died at the age of one and a half years, and her only younger sibling, Archduke Ferdinand Joseph Alois (1657–1658) also died in infancy.

Electoral Princess of the Palatinate 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.

Ancestry