Beschreibung:

MARIA THERESA, Empress of Austria (1717-1780). Two letters signed ('Maria Theresia'), to Leopold von Weingarten, Secretary at the Prussian court, and to Carl Wilhelm Friederich, Margrave of Brandenburg and Duke in Prussia, Vienna, 18 February and 23 March 1744, together 2 pages, folio , integral address leaves; and a note signed to Count Esterhazy, [n.p.], 2 November 1770, approving a schedule (not present) (short tear, not affecting text); [ and :] EUGÈNE DE SAVOIE (1663-1737). Letter signed ('Eugenio di Savoya') as Captain General of the Emperor in Milan, to representatives of the state of Milan, 15 July 1711, instructing a payment of 7,117 scudi to Carlo Filiberto d'Este, Captain General of the Cavalry, 2 pages, folio , papered seal (browned); and a document with the signature of Marie Terese, wife of Louis XIV of France, 1665. Maria Theresa's letter to von Weingarten encloses both original and copy of a letter to the Prussian King (not present), and gives instructions for the preparation of posthorses (178 carriage horses and 27 for riding should be kept ready); her letter to Carl Wilhelm Friederich introduces a new minister, Franz Christoph von Demerath, appointed to facilitate the advance of her armies through neutral states. There is an oddity about the recipient of the second letter: Margrave of Brandenburg and Duke in Prussia were titles held by the King of Prussia, then Frederick the Great, with whom Maria Theresa was in a state of constant hostility at this period, which was to re-ignite with the invasion by Frederick of Bohemia in August 1744. (5)