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Coronations in the Past

The Coronation of Rulers and Their Wives in St. Martin’s Cathedral

Their Reigns Date of Coronation
Maximilian (1564-1576) 8 September 1563
Maria, his wife 9 September 1563
Rudolf (1576-1608) 25 September 1572
Matthias II (1608-1619) 19 November 1608
Anna, his wife 25 March 1613
Ferdinand II (1619-1637) 1 July 1618
Maria Anna, first wife of Ferdinand III 14 February 1638
Ferdinand IV (never ruled, died in 1654) 16 June 1647
Eleonora Maria, third wife of Ferdinand III 6 June 1655
Leopold I (1657-1705) 27 June 1655
Joseph I (1705-1711) 9 December 1687
Charles III (VI of the Holy Roman Empire) (1711-1740) 22 May 1712
Elisabeth Christine, his wife 18 October 1714
Maria Theresa (1740-1780) 25 June 1741
Leopold II (1790-1792) 15 November 1790
Maria Ludovika, third wife of Francis I (II of the Holy Roman Empire) 7 September 1808
Carolina Augusta, fourth wife of Francis I (II) 25 September 1825
Ferdinand V (1835-1848) 28 September 1830

In this period three further coronations took place in Sopron and one in Buda.

Maria Theresa

Charles III (VI) had died without a male heir and so his daughter Maria Theresa ascended to the throne of Hungary. But even after her pompous coronation in June 1741, Maria Theresa’s position still remained uncertain, so at a session of the Diet of Hungary in Bratislava on September 11, she requested financial and military support in her battle against the King of Prussia, Frederick the Great. The Hungarian counts lent her their support and with a yell of “Vitam et sanguinem” convincing her with their determination to sacrifice their “lives and blood” for the queen and defense of the Empire. The queen’s influence and the initiation of a number of reforms during her 40-year reign led to the reconstruction of the Castle as a royal residence and, by the end of her reign, she had allowed some of Bratislava’s fortifications to be torn down in order for the city to expand.

Maria Theresia