Death and Legacy
| "She never bothers about her health, but relies entirely upon her vigorous body for strength and endurance. She is warm-blooded and, even in the middle of winter, often sits by an open window ... Her physician scolds her dreadfully about this, but she only laughs at him." |
| Prussian ambassador's letter to Frederick the Great, c. 1748. |
It is unlikely that Maria Theresa ever completely recovered from the smallpox attack in 1767, as 18th-century writers asserted. She suffered from shortness of breath, fatigue, cough, distress, necrophobia and insomnia. She later developed edema.
The empress fell ill on 24 November 1780, ostensibly of a chill. Her physician Dr. Störk thought her condition serious. By 28 November, she asked for the last rites, and the next day, at about nine o'clock in the evening, she died surrounded by her remaining children. With her, the House of Habsburg died out and was replaced by the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Joseph, already co-sovereign of the Habsburg dominions, succeeded her.
Maria Theresa left a revitalised empire that influenced the rest of Europe throughout the 19th century. Her descendants followed her example and continued reforming the empire. The acquisition of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria gave the empire an even more multinational character that would ultimately lead to its destruction. Her introduction of compulsory schooling, as a means of Germanisation, eventually triggered the revival of Czech culture.
The empress is buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna next to her husband in a coffin she had inscribed during her lifetime.
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