Marie-Therese of Spain Habsburg ¹

   Another name for Marie-Therese was Marie-Thérèse of Austria.

  General Notes:

Marie-Thérèse Of Austria
b. Sept. 10, 1638, El Escorial, Spain
d. July 30, 1683, Versailles, Fr.
French MARIE-THÉRÈSE D'AUTRICHE, Spanish MARÍA TERESA DE AUSTRIA, queen consort of King Louis XIV of France (reigned 1643-1715).


As the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and Elizabeth of France, Marie-Thérèse was betrothed to Louis by the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), which ended a 24-year war between France and Spain. Under the terms of the pact, she agreed to renounce her claim to succession to the Spanish throne in return for a large dowry. The couple was married in June 1660. On the death of Philip IV and the accession of young Charles II to the Spanish throne in 1665, Louis XIV claimed that since Marie-Thérèse's dowry had never been paid, her renunciation was void. Accordingly, he conquered part of the Spanish Netherlands in his wife's name (War of Devolution, 1667-68). Meanwhile, Marie-Thérèse had proved unable to hold Louis's affection. A year after their marriage he took the first of a succession of royal mistresses. The queen suffered his infidelities in silence, and on her death Louis is reported to have said, "This is the only trouble she has ever caused me." Of Marie-Thérèse's five children, only one, the dauphin Louis (d. 1711), lived to maturity.

  Noted events in her life were:

• Interred: St Denis, France.

Marie-Therese married Louis XIV of France de Bourbon, son of Louis XIII of France de Bourbon and Anne of Austria Habsburg, on 9 Jun 1660 in St. Jean-de-Luz, France. (Louis XIV of France de Bourbon was born on 5 Sep 1638 in St Germain-en-Laye, France and died on 1 Sep 1715 in Versailles, France.)

  Marriage Notes:

All of Louis's legitimate children were by his first wife, Maria Theresa. Louis also had several illegitimate children by mistresses. Only one of the legitimate children survived early childhood. ²