Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony
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Maria Anna Sophie Sabina Angela Franziska Xaveria, Princess of Poland and Saxony (29 August 1728 in Dresden – 17 February 1797 in Munich) was a daughter of Augustus III of Poland and Maria Josepha of Austria. She was married to the Bavarian Elector Maximilian III Joseph in 1747.
Having no children and heir, Maria Anna negotiated with Frederick II of Prussia after her husband's death in 1777 to secure Bavaria's independence against Austria and to support the succession rights of the Wittelsbach branch Palatinate Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld in Bavaria, since the new Elector Charles Theodore proceeded to cede Lower Bavaria to Austria. A secret treaty with Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II had been concluded, in exchange for Lower Bavaria Charles Theodore was to receive the Austrian Netherlands close to his dominions, the Palatinate, Jülich and Berg.
These plans failed with the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which the Prussian king stifled the Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria. When Emperor Joseph II tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund.
Maria Anna spent the rest of her life in Fürstenried Palace and enjoyed the gratitude of the Bavarian people and the heirs of the Zweibrücken branch Charles II, Duke of Zweibrücken and his brother Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria who finally succeeded Charles Theodore in 1799.
[edit] Ancestry
| Preceded by Maria Amalia of Austria |
Electress of Bavaria 1747-1777 |
Succeeded by Elizabeth Augusta of Sulzbach |
