Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine (15 October 1711 3 July 1741) was

Queen of Sardinia This is a list of consorts of the Savoyard monarchs. Countess of Savoy, 1003–1416 Duchess of Savoy, 1416–1713 ;As courtesy title Queen of Sardinia, 1720–1861 Between 1859 and 1861 the Kingdom of Sardinia incorporated the majo ...

as the wife of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. She was born a Princess of Lorraine as the daughter of

Leopold, Duke of Lorraine Leopold the Good (11 September 1679 – 27 March 1729) was Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1690 to his death. Through his son Francis Stephen, he is the direct male ancestor of all rulers of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, including all Emperors of ...

and

Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (13 September 1676 – 23 December 1744) was a ''petite-fille de France'', and Duchess of Lorraine and Bar by marriage to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine. She was regent of Lorraine and Bar during the minority (1729– ...

. She became the ''coadjutor bishop'' of Remiremont Abbey in 1734, before her marriage to Charles Emmanuel III. She died from

puerperal fever Postpartum infections, also known as childbed fever and puerperal fever, are any bacterial infections of the female reproductive tract following childbirth or miscarriage. Signs and symptoms usually include a fever greater than , chills, lower ...

, after childbirth.

Early life (1711–1736)

Princess Elisabeth Therese was born on 15 October 1711 at the

Château de Lunéville The Château de Lunéville, which had belonged to the Dukes of Lorraine since the thirteenth century, was rebuilt as “the Versailles of Lorraine” by Duke Léopold from 1703 to 1723, from designs of Pierre Bourdict and Nicolas Dorbay and then ...

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

. She was the seventh daughter and eleventh child of Leopold Joseph of Lorraine and his wife,

. As a Princess of Lorraine, she was entitled to the style of ''Highness'' as well as the rank of '' foreign princess'' in France. During the coronation of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

in October 1722, Elisabeth Therese, her mother, and her sisters Anne Charlotte and Marie Louise went to the French royal court. Elisabeth Therese's grandmother, Princess Palatine, found her three granddaughters very charming as well as attractive, though Anne Charlotte was deemed the most beautiful. In the spring of 1725, the young French king, Louis XV, was fifteen and unmarried. He was engaged to

Mariana Victoria of Spain Mariana Victoria of Spain ( pt, Mariana Vitória; 31 March 1718 – 15 January 1781) was an '' Infanta of Spain'' by birth and was later the Queen of Portugal as wife of King Joseph I. She acted as regent of Portugal in 1776–1777, during the l ...

, but the young princess was sent back to Spain because she was too young to conceive. As a result, Élisabeth Charlotte began negotiations to marry Elisabeth Therese to the king. However, this was met with opposition from the king's prime minister, the

Duke of Bourbon Duke of Bourbon (french: Duc de Bourbon) is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of ...

, who arranged for the king to marry an obscure Polish princess later that year. The Duke of Bourbon stated that marriages between kings of France and princesses of Lorraine always resulted in strife, and that the

House of Lorraine The House of Lorraine (german: link=no, Haus Lothringen) originated as a cadet branch of the House of Metz. It inherited the Duchy of Lorraine in 1473 after the death without a male heir of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine. By the marriage of Fra ...

was too closely related to the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

, which would cause discontent and conflict within the French nobility. de Goncourt, Edmond et Jules (1906).
La duchesse de Châteauroux et ses soeurs
'' Paris, France (in French). Her father died in 1729 amid negotiations regarding a marriage between the then seventeen-year-old Elisabeth Therese and her recently widowed cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans. He refused outright, much to the annoyance of her mother. The match having come to nothing, her mother named her daughter the '' coadjutrice'' of Remiremont Abbey on 19 October 1734. The Remiremont Abbey was closely associated with the House of Lorraine. In 1736, her brother, the Duke of Lorraine, married Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter and

heiress apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor , house = Habsburg , spouse = , issue = , issue-link = #Children , issue-pipe = , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date ...

. The union between the House of Lorraine and the House of Habsburg allowed a more prestigious marriage for the unwed princess. The already twice widowed Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia asked for her hand in late 1736.

Queen of Sardinia (1737–1741)

She married the King of Sardinia by proxy on 5 March 1737 at

, with the Prince of Carignan, who was the prince's brother-in-law, acting as the king. The day after the proxy marriage, she left for

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

, where she arrived on 14 March. Her brother, the

Duke of Lorraine The rulers of Lorraine have held different posts under different governments over different regions, since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established region were kings of ...

, raised a dowry for her, and the marriage contract was signed in Vienna by the Duke and Duchess of Lorraine and

Emperor Charles VI Charles VI (german: Karl; la, Carolus; 1 October 1685 – 20 October 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the thron ...

. The couple married in person on 1 April 1737. Charles Emmanuel III was her half-first cousin, his mother being

Anne Marie d'Orléans Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) was Queen of Sardinia by marriage to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during the War of the Spanish Succession. ...

, her mother Élisabeth Charlotte's half-sister. The marriage would produce three children, but only one would live to adulthood. She and her husband arrived in Turin on 21 April.Calmet Augustin: ''Histoire de Lorraine...depuis l'entrée de Jules César dans les Gaules jusqu'à la cession de la Lorraine, arrivée en 1737'', A. Leseure, 1757, p 309, 70

Death and burial

Elisabeth Therese died at the Palace of Venaria aged 29, having fallen ill with puerperal fever after childbirth.Foucault: ''Histoire de Léopold I, duc de Lorraine et de Bar, père de l'Empereur'', Paris, 1791, p 340 She was buried in the Cathedral of Saint Giovanni Battista in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. She was moved to the Royal Basilica of Superga in 1786 by her stepson Victor Amadeus III.

Issue

# Prince Carlo Francesco of Savoy (Carlo Francesco Maria Augusto; 1 December 1738 – 25 March 1745) died in childhood. # Princess Maria Vittoria of Savoy (Vittoria Margharita; 22 June 1740 – 14 July 1742) died in infancy. # Prince Benedetto of Savoy (Benedetto Maria Maurizio; 21 June 1741 – 4 January 1808) married Princess Maria Anna of Savoy, no issue.

Ancestry

References and notes

Bibliography

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External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Elisabeth Therese Of Lorraine 1711 births 1741 deaths 18th-century French women People from Lunéville Princesses of Lorraine House of Savoy Sardinian queens consort Deaths in childbirth Burials at Turin Cathedral Burials at the Basilica of Superga 18th-century people from Savoy Royal reburials