97 



MARGARET. 



MARIA THERESA. 



93 



he was one of the earliest composers of eminence, his works have been 

 open to all, and he has been more or less imitated by many writers of 

 vocal music in parts. Handel and Purcell, as Dr. Burney remarks, 

 did not disdain to become his debtor. 



MARGARET, daughter of Waldemar III., king of Denmark, married 

 in 1363 Haquin, king of Norway, on the death of Waldemar. In 1375 

 Margaret's son Olaue, then a minor, succeeded to the crown of Denmark 

 under the guardianship of his mother. His father Haquin dying, 

 Marparet was acknowledged queen of Norway. Olaus died in 1387, 

 and the Danes also acknowledged Margaret as their queen. She turned 

 her arms against Albert, king of Sweden, who was not popular with 

 his subjects, defeated him, and made him prisoner, and was then 

 acknowledged queen of Sweden. After seven years' confinement, she 

 released Albert, on condition of his formally renouncing the crown of 

 Sweden. In 1396 the estates of the three kingdoms assembled at 

 Calmar, where it was agreed that in future they should all be ruled by 

 one and the same sovereign. This act was called the ' Calmar Union.' 

 On this occasion Margaret designated her nephew Erick as her successor. 

 She difd in November 1411, being fifty-nine years of age. 



Margaret had many great qualities ; but her political conduct, espe- 

 cially in her transactions with Sweden, was marked by duplicity and 

 violence. To the Danes however she proved a good queen. She loved 

 pomp and splendour, was brave and resolute, and had rather the 

 qualities of the stronger eex than those of her own. [ERICK XIIL of 

 Sweden.] 



MARGARET OF ANJOU. [HENRY VI.] 



MARGARET OF RICHMOND. [HENRY VII.] 



MARGARITO'NE D'AREZZO, a celebrated old Italian painter, 

 sculptor, and architect, was born at Arezzo, about 1215, or perhaps a 

 little later, but he was probably at least twenty years older than 

 Cimabue, who was born in 1240. Margaritone was a painter of the 

 Qreek or Byzantine school, and of great reputation in his day. He 

 executed many works in Arezzo. both in tempera and in fresco ; in the 

 latter style he painted the whole interior of the old church of San 

 Clemeiite, which, with other buildings, was destroyed by the Duke 

 Cosmo de' Medici in 1547, to make room for improvement in the forti- 

 fications of Arezzo. Most of Margaritone's works have now perished ; 

 but one, which, according to Vasari, Margaritone considered oue of his 

 masterpieces, namely, ' San Francesco,' painted for a convent in 

 Sargiano, still exists, and is engraved in Lastri's ' Etruria Pittrice,' i. 7. 

 Vasari speaks highly of a picture on canvass, illustrating the lives of 

 the Virgin and John the Baptist, in small figures, and in which, says 

 Vaeari, Margaritone much surpassed his larger works; but this picture 

 has also perished. There is still an old painted wooden crucifix by 

 Margaritone in the church of Santa Croce at Florence, where it is 

 placed by the side of a similar work by Cimabue. Margaritone's fame 

 waa very great in his time, but it was almost wholly eclipsed by the 

 reputation of Cimabue and Giotto. He had a peculiar way of stretching 

 and priming his canvasses ; they were primed with plaster mixed with 

 size or glue made of strips of parchment, and were stretched and 

 fastened with the same glue upon a pannel. 



In sculpture, says Vasari, Margaritone was more successful than in 

 painting. There is still by him, hi the cathedral of Arezzo, a reclining 

 marble statue of Gregory X. over the tomb of that pope, which was 

 also constructed by Margaritone ; in the upper part of the tomb was 

 also Gregory's painted portrait, but this has been defaced by time : 

 this monument, according to Vasari, is Margaritone's masterpiece. 

 As an architect, Margaritone conducted the building of the cathedral 

 of Arezzo, some time after the death of Jacopo Lapo, but according to 

 the design of that architect, from about 1277 until 1289, when a war 

 broke out between Arezzo and Florence. He died at Arezzo, probably 

 shortly after 1289, aged seventy-seven, and was buried in the old 

 cathedral of that place. 



MARIA THERE'SA, archduchess of Austria, queen of Hungary 

 and Bohemia, and empress of Germany, born in 1717, was the eldest 

 daughter of Charles VI. of Austria, emperor of Germany. [CHARLES VI.] 

 In 1724 Charles by his will, known by the name of the Pragmatic 

 Sanction, regulated the order of succession in the family of Austria, 

 declaring that, in default of male issue, hid eldest daughter should be 

 heiress of all the Austrian dominions, and her children after her. The 

 Pragmatic Sanction wag guaranteed by the diet of the empire, and by 

 all the German princes individually, and also by several other powers 

 of Europe, but not by the Bourbons. 



In 1736 Maria Theresa married Francis of Lorraine, who, by the 

 peaca of Vienna of the preceding year, had been recognised as the 

 future grand-duke of Tuscany, after the death of Gian Gastone, the last 

 offspring of the house of Medici. Gian Gastone died in July 1737, 

 and Tuscany became subject to Francis, who in January 1739 repaired 

 to Florence with his consort. Upon the death of Charles VI., in 1740, 

 the king of Prussia, the elector of Bavaria, the elector of Saxony, 

 France, Spain, and the king of Sardinia, agreed to dismember the 

 Austrian monarchy, to parts of which each of those powers lai'l claim. 

 Maria Theresa however, with a spirit nud decision remarkable for her 

 age, lost no time in repairing to Vienna and taking possession of 

 Austria, Bohemia, and her other German states; slie then proceeded 

 to Presburg, took the oaths to the constitution of Hungary, ami was 

 solemnly proclaimed queen of that kingdom in 1741. Frederic of 

 Prwaia offered the young queen his friendship on the condition of her 



sioo. Div. VOL. iv. 



surrendering Silesia to him, but she resolutely refused, and Frederic 

 invaded that province. The elector of Bavaria on his part, assisted by 

 French auxiliaries, invaded Austria and Bohemia, and pushed his 

 troops to the gates of Vienna. Maria Theresa, being obliged to quit 

 her capital, repaired to Presburg. Convoking the Hungarian diet, she 

 appeared in the midst of that assembly with her infant son Joseph iu 

 her arms. She told the magnates, prelates, and deputies, that " being 

 assailed by enemies on every side, forsaken by her friends, and finding 

 even her own relatives hostile to her, she had no hopes except in their 

 loyalty, and that she had come to place under their protection the 

 daughter and the sou of their kings." This heart-atirriug appeal was 

 answered by a burst of chivalric enthusiasm. The Hungarian nobles, 

 drawing their swords, unanimously cried out, " Moriamur pro Rege 

 nostro Maria Theresa," and the whole military force of Hungary was 

 soon in arms to defend their queen. Her troops under General Keven- 

 huller and Prince Charles of Lorraine, her brother-in-law, fought 

 gallantly, and drove the French and Bavarians out of the hereditary 

 states. In the meantime Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, was 

 elected emperor of Germany, by the diet assembled at Frankfurt, by 

 the name of Charles VII. 



Frederic of Prussia soon made peace with Maria Theresa, who was 

 obliged to surrender Silesia to him. She also made not only a peace 

 but a treaty of alliance with the King of Sardinia against the French 

 and Spaniards, who were kept iu check on the side of Italy. In 1743 

 the French were entirely driven out of Bohemia. In 1744 Frederic 

 again declared war against Maria Theresa, and invaded Bohemia ; but 

 the elector of Saxony, who had made his peace with her, sent the 

 queen reinforcements, which obliged the Prussians to evacuate the 

 country. In 1745 Charles VII. died, and Francis, Maria Theresa's 

 husband, was elected emperor. In 1746 the Austrian aod Piedmoutese 

 troops obtained great advantages in Italy ; they gained the battle of 

 Piaceuza against the French and Spaniards, and occupied Genoa, 

 which however they afterwards lost through a popular insurrection. 

 In 1747 the war continued to rage iu Italy and Flanders, with various 

 success. In 1 748 the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle terminated the war 

 called "the war of the Austrian succession," and Maria Theresa was 

 left in peaceful possession of all her hereditary dominions, except 

 Silesia, which the King of Prussia kept. 



In 1756 began the Seven Years' War, between France, Austria, and 

 Russia on one side, and Frederic of Prussia on the other. [FREDERIC II.] 

 It ended in 1763, leaving both Austria and Prussia with the same 

 boundaries as before. In 1765 Maria Theresa lost her husband, for 

 whom she continued to wear mourning till her death, and her son 

 Joseph was elected emperor. [JOSEPH II.] She however retained iu 

 her hands the administration of her dominions, and devoted all her 

 cares to promote their prosperity and to the improvement of the 

 people under her sway. 



The only important act of Maria Theresa's political life with which 

 she can be reproached is her participation in the first partition of 

 Poland. The plan however did not -originate with her, and she for 

 some time refused to accede to the treaty of partition drawn up by 

 Prussia and Russia in 1772, until she was plainly told that Russia 

 and Prussia would effect the dismemberment of Poland without her 

 consent, and that by refusing to accede to it she would only endanger 

 her own dominions. Prince Kaunitz and her own son Joseph II. 

 urged her to join the two other powers ; she was told that Gallicia 

 and other parts of Poland were ancient dependencies of the crown of 

 Hungary, and at last she cave her assent. 



The improvements which Maria Theresa made iu her dominions 

 are many and important. In 1776 she abolished the torture in her 

 hereditary states, and in the kingdoms of Hungary and bohemia. 

 In 1777 she abolished the rural and personal services which the 

 peasants of Bohemia owed to their feudal superiors, and commuted 

 them for a sum of money. Literary piracy was forbidden under 

 severe penalties. Between the years 1774-78 she occupied herself 

 with the establishment of a general system of popular education in 

 her dominions. She divided the schools into three classes : 1, 'normal 

 schools,' one in each province, to serve as a model for all the. other 

 schools in the province; 2, ' principal schools,' in thu large towus; 

 3, ' communal schools,' in the small towns and villages. A central 

 commission of studies was also appointed to superintend the whole, 

 which received annual reports, and examined candidates for the 

 masterships. 



Maria Theresa was a sincere Roman Catholic, but not a blind 

 devotee of the court of Rome, and she knew how to discriminate 

 between the temporal and spiritual jurisdictions. In her instructions 

 to the Junta, or Board of Public Economy, dated June 1768, she 

 states the principle that " everything which is not of diviue institu- 

 tion is subject to the supreme legislative authority of the state." 

 Agreeably to this principle she made several important reforms in the 

 temporalities of the clergy : she suppressed the pensions charged at 

 Home upon benefices ; she forbade the alienation of lauded property 

 in favour of ecclesiastical bodies ; she ordered all the property of the 

 clergy to be registered ; she placed the convents under the jurisdiction 

 of the respective bishops, and in temporal matters under that of tiie 

 civil magistrate. She put a check to the arbitrary power of the 

 Inquisition, which still existed in her Italiau dominions : she took out 

 of its hands the censorship of books and gave it to a couimi.-sion of 



u 



