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Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria

1748–1748

Born
17 Sep 1748, Schönbrunn Palace
Country of birth
Austria
Died
17 Sep 1748, Schönbrunn Palace
facts
9
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth17 Sep 1748, Schönbrunn PalaceProbable1 source
  • Death17 Sep 1748, Schönbrunn PalaceProbable1 source
  • EventstillbirthConfirmed1 competing claim1 source
  • Eventdied on day of birthConfirmed1 competing claim1 source
  • ParentFrancis I, Holy Roman EmperorConfirmed1 source
  • ParentMaria Theresa of AustriaConfirmed1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Schönbrunn Palace

    Birth, Schönbrunn Palace

  2. Died · Schönbrunn Palace

    Death, Schönbrunn Palace

What was it like?

The world around Schönbrunn Palace, 1748: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Archduchess was born around the same time as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Vittorio Alfieri, and Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Known for

In their life

  • stillbirth
  • died on day of birth
Born around the same time

  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    1749 · German writer, artist, natural scientist and politician (1749–1832)

  • Vittorio Alfieri

    1749 · Italian noble, dramatist and poet (1749–1803)

  • Lorenzo Da Ponte

    1749 · Italian opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest (1749–1838)

  • Francisco Goya

    1746 · Spanish painter and printmaker (1746–1828)

  • Pierre-Simon Laplace

    1749 · French mathematician and astronomer (1749–1827)

  • Edward Jenner

    1749 · English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination (1749–1823)

Fashion

Feast day versus daily wear

For feast days, people wore finer clothing, such as a blouse made of fine linen, whereas daily work clothes were made of coarse linen.

Personal cleanliness through body linen

In 18th-century Vienna, ordinary men typically owned between six and ten shirts, while women owned between seven and eleven shifts, which were essential for maintaining hygiene and a respectable appearance.

Music

Trumpets and timpani dominated Viennese ceremonies

During the 1740s, trumpets and timpani were the most frequently documented instruments in Vienna, performing at royal festivals, university ceremonies, and significant church events.

Masquerade balls were a social highlight

During the carnival season, masquerade balls were highly popular, with noble guests often wearing costumes of lower social orders, such as cooks, servants, or exotic figures.

Getting around

Travel times by carriage in the 1700s

In the 18th century, a 30-kilometer trip between St. Pölten and Melk took 5 to 7 hours, while a 115-kilometer journey to St. Florian took 20 to 28 hours.

Around 1745–1745

Slow boat transport on the Inn River

In 1745, a boat trip on the Inn River between Kufstein and Hall took eight days, requiring 50 to 60 horses for towing.

Daily life

Separate kitchens and private livestock in households

Wealthy merchant households like the Spänglers in Salzburg maintained separate "common" and "good" kitchens to distinguish between daily cooking and the storage of expensive, prestigious tableware. They even kept chickens in their own courtyard to supplement food supplies bought at the city markets.

Crowded homes and shared urban infrastructure

Most residents lived in rented rooms or shared apartments where cooking, sewing, child care, and sleeping often occurred in the same few rooms. Homes relied on tiled stoves for heat and fuel, and daily movement was shaped by access to neighborhood wells and fountains.

Food

Beverages of the ordinary people

While the wealthy enjoyed wine, poorer women in Vienna often drank water mixed with vinegar to cool themselves during hot summers. By the 1730s, beer consumption was rising, and Viennese residents drank about three times as much wine as beer, though beer was increasingly becoming a staple drink.

Meager diet of the common people

The vast majority of the population ate very meagerly, relying on dishes made from legumes like peas, beans, and lentils, as well as porridges made from millet, oats, or barley. Meat was only rarely served to the common person.

Prices and wages
Around 1749–1749

Vienna wages and meat prices 1749

By 1749, the daily wage for a worker in Vienna remained 15 Kreuzer, but the price of beef had risen to 8.93 Kreuzer per kilogram.

Around 1755–1755

Jewelry cost 307 gulden in 1755

A gold smith received 307 gulden for jewelry for a wedding in 1755, demonstrating the high cost of luxury items in the mid-18th century.

Work
Around 1749–1754

Land Measured by Cow-Feeds

In salt mining regions like Aussee, worker families held small plots of land measured in cow-feeds (Kuhfuhren), representing the pasture required for one cow. These plots were essential for families to supplement their meager wages with their own milk and livestock.

Around 1753–1753

Resistance to changing pay cycles

In 1753, salt workers successfully resisted an attempt to switch from weekly to four-weekly wage payments to keep their economy stable.

Family

Parents

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.