Editing Maria Theresa (section)

==Accession==
[[File:Oath of Fealty to Maria Theresa.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Maria Theresa's procession through the [[Graben, Vienna|Graben]], a square on [[Vienna]], on 22 November 1740. The pregnant queen is on way to hear High Mass at [[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna|St. Stephen's Cathedral]] before receiving homage.{{sfn|Spielman|1993|p=207}}]]

Charles VI died on 20 October 1740, probably of mushroom poisoning. He had ignored the advice of [[Prince Eugene of Savoy]] who had urged him to concentrate on filling the treasury and equipping the army rather than on acquiring signatures of fellow monarchs.{{sfn|Ingrao|2000|p=129}} The Emperor, who spent his entire reign securing the Pragmatic Sanction, left Austria in an impoverished state, bankrupted by the recent Turkish war and the [[War of the Polish Succession]];{{sfn|Crankshaw|1970|p=3}} the treasury contained only 100,000 [[Austro-Hungarian florin|florins]], which were claimed by his widow.{{sfn|Morris|1937|p=47}} The army had also been weakened due to these wars; instead of the full number of 160,000, the army had been reduced to about 108,000, and they were scattered in small areas from the [[Austrian Netherlands]] to [[Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)|Transylvania]], and from [[Duchies of Silesia|Silesia]] to Tuscany. They were also poorly trained and discipline was lacking. Later Maria Theresa even made a remark: "as for the state in which I found the army, I cannot begin to describe it."{{sfn|Duffy|1977|pp=145–146}}

Maria Theresa found herself in a difficult situation. She did not know enough about matters of state and she was unaware of the weakness of her father's ministers. She decided to rely on her father's advice to retain his counselors and to defer to her husband, whom she considered to be more experienced, on other matters. Both decisions later gave cause for regret. Ten years later, Maria Theresa recalled in her ''Political Testament'' the circumstances under which she had ascended: "I found myself without money, without credit, without army, without experience and knowledge of my own and finally, also without any counsel because each one of them at first wanted to wait and see how things would develop."{{sfn|Browning|1994|p=37}}

She dismissed the possibility that other countries might try to seize her territories and immediately started ensuring the imperial dignity for herself;{{sfn|Browning|1994|p=37}} since a woman could not be elected [[Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Empress]], Maria Theresa wanted to secure the imperial office for her husband, but Francis Stephen did not possess enough land or rank within the Holy Roman Empire.{{efn|Francis Stephen was at the time Grand Duke of Tuscany, but Tuscany had not been part of the Holy Roman Empire since the [[Peace of Westphalia]]. His only possessions within the Empire were the [[Duchy of Teschen]] and County of Falkenstein.{{harvnb|Beales|2005|p=190}}.}} In order to make him eligible for the imperial throne and to enable him to vote in the [[imperial election]]s as [[king of Bohemia]] (which she could not do because of her sex), Maria Theresa made Francis Stephen [[coregency|co-ruler]] of the Austrian and Bohemian lands on 21 November 1740.{{sfn|Beales|2005|pp=182–183}} It took more than a year for the [[Diet of Hungary]] to accept Francis Stephen as co-ruler, since they asserted that the sovereignty of Hungary could not be shared.{{sfn|Beales|2005|p=189}} Despite her love for him and his position as co-ruler, Maria Theresa never allowed her husband to decide matters of state and often dismissed him from council meetings when they disagreed.{{sfn|Roider|1973|p=8}}

The first display of the new queen's authority was the formal act of [[Homage (medieval)|homage]] of the [[Lower Austria]]n Estates to her on 22 November 1740. It was an elaborate public event which served as a formal recognition and legitimation of her accession. The [[oath of fealty]] to Maria Theresa was taken on the same day in the Ritterstube of the [[Hofburg]].{{sfn|Spielman|1993|p=207}}