She was a daughter of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of LithuaniaJohn III Sobieski and Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien. Theresa was baptized in Jaworow on July 19, 1676, having for godfather Charles II, king of England and for godmother Marie-Thérèse of Austria, wife of Louis XIV. Theresa was educated in painting and music, Latin, Italian and French. At the beginning of 1692, her father planned to marry her to the Prince of Denmark, but this project was subsequently abandoned. On August 15, 1694, at the age of nineteen, she married Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. He is a former comrade in arms of her father and widower of Maria Antonia of Austria. The marriage takes place by proxy in Warsaw, her oldest brother standing in for Max Emanuel. She will not meet the latter until 1 January 1695 in Brussels. Her journey, paid by her mother, lasts approximately 50 days and is accompanied by splendors. Her dowry is 500,000 thalers. From the Spanish Netherlands, Theresa gave birth to 6 children before the family moved to Munich in May 1701. Following the evacuation of the Bavarian court from the Spanish Netherlands after the defeat of the Battle of Blenheim, she became Princess Regent of the Government of the Elector of Bavaria. The move is smart since, legally, the war was against the Elector and not Theresa. It was the only time a woman ran the Bavarian Electorate. However, Emperor Leopold I forced her to sign the treaty of Ilbersheim on November 5, 1704. This included a cease-fire and gave Theresa the Munich Rentamt, one of the four administrative districts of the Duchy of Bavaria, while the rest of Bavaria is placed under the military supervision of the Austrian Empire. At the beginning of this phase, Theresa strives to decide in collaboration with Max Emanuel but the courier takes too long for this to be effective. She also had to face the defection of part of the Bavarian nobility in favour of the emperor. On December 21, 1704, she gave birth to the last of her boys. In February 1705, she left to meet her mother in Padua following the discovery of written correspondence between her husband and the Countess of Arco, Agnès Le Louchier, his mistress. Upon her return in May, the imperial army will not allow him to return to Munich, in violation of the treaty of Ilbersheim. Her four sons are looked after by the Austrians in Klagenfurt while her two youngest boys and her daughter are in Munich. After the battle of Ramillies, on May 23, 1706, Max Emanuel was forced to flee the Spanish Netherlands and found refuge at the court of France located in Versailles. Max Emmanuel will live with his French mistress Agnès Le Louchier during his exile from 1704 to 1715. Theresa negotiates her return to Munich from the Emperor by asking for the help of the Republic of Venice, Pope Clement XI, Prince Eugene of Savoy and Anna, queen of England. She tried to use the Duke of Modena and the Grand Duchess of Tuscany as mediators, but to no avail. On the domestic level, the financial and military retributions imposed by Joseph I created many revolts and she lost a son. Consequently, Theresa spent ten years in exile in Venice, not returning until 1715 when the War of the Spanish Succession ended and Max Emanuel regained his electorate on September 7, 1714 by the Treaty of Baden. Despite a short reign of 7 months, Theresa leaves a positive balance where in particular the role of the nobility was improved. April 8, 1715, she finally meets her husband and founded the Servitinnen monastery in Munich dedicated to Saint Elisabeth the same year. On the death of her husband in February 1726, she did not remarry and once her eldest son Charles VII became emperor, she retired to Venice. She died in 1730 and rests in the Theatine Church in Munich.
