Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Francis I
Emperor and Archduke of Austria King of Hungary, Croatia, Slavonia, Italy, and Bohemia (more...)
Holy Roman Emperor (more...)
Reign	March 1 1792 - August 6 1806
Predecessor	Leopold II
Emperor of Austria (more...)
Reign	August 11 1804 - March 2 1835
Successor	Ferdinand
Spouse	Elisabeth of Württemberg Maria Louisa of Austria-Este Maria Theresa of Naples Caroline Augusta of Bavaria
Issue
Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth of Austria Marie Louise, Empress of the French Ferdinand Maria Leopoldina, Empress of Brazil Archduchess Clementina, Princess of Salerno Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Full name
Francis Joseph Charles
Detail Titles and styles
HI&RM The Emperor of Austria HI&RM The Holy Roman Emperor HI&RH Archduke Francis of Austria
Royal house	House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Leopold II
Mother	Maria Louisa of Spain
Born	February 12, 1768 Florence
Died	March 2, 1835 Vienna

Francis II (German: Franz II, Heiliger Römischer Kaiser) (12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August, 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. In 1804 he had founded the Austrian Empire and became Francis I of Austria (Franz I.), the first Emperor of Austria, ruling from 1804 to 1835, so later he was named the one and only Doppelkaiser (double emperor) in history. For the two years between 1804 and 1806 Francis used the title and style by the grace of God elected Roman Emperor, always August, hereditary Emperor of Austria and he was called the Emperor of both Germany and Austria. He was also Apostolic King of Hungary as I. Ferenc and King of Croatia and Slavonia. Francis I continued his leading role as an opponent of Napoleonic France in the Napoleonic Wars, and suffered several more defeats after Austerlitz. The proxy marriage of state of his daughter Marie Louise of Austria to Napoleon I on March 10, 1810 was assuredly his most severe defeat.

Early life

Francis was a son of Emperor Leopold II (1747 – 1792) and his wife Maria Luisa of Spain (1745 – 1792), daughter of Charles III of Spain. Francis was born in Florence, the capital of Tuscany where his father reigned as Grand Duke from 1765–90. Though he had a happy childhood surrounded by his many siblings,^[1] his family knew Francis was likely to be a future Emperor (his uncle Joseph had no surviving issue from either of his two marriages), and so in 1784 the young Archduke was sent to the Imperial Court in Vienna to educate and prepare him for his future role.^[2]

Emperor Joseph himself took charge of Francis's development, and his disciplinarian regime was a stark contrast to the indulgent Florentine Court of Leopold. The Emperor wrote that Francis was "stunted in growth", "backward in bodily dexterity and deportment", and "neither more nor less than a spoiled mother's child". Joseph concluded that "…the manner in which he was treated for upwards of sixteen years could not but have confirmed him in the delusion that the preservation of his own person was the only thing of importance."^[2]

Joseph's martinet method of improving the young Francis were "fear and unpleasantness".^[3] The young Archduke was isolated, the reasoning being that this would make him more self-sufficient as it was felt by Joseph that Francis "fail[ed] to lead himself, to do his own thinking". Nonetheless, Francis greatly admired his uncle, if rather feared him. To complete his training, Francis was sent to join an army regiment in Hungary and he settled easily into the routine of military life.^[4]

After the death of Joseph II in 1790, Francis's father became Emperor. He had an early taste of power while acting as Leopold's deputy in Vienna while the incoming Emperor traversed the Empire attempting to win back those alienated by his brother's policies.^[5] The strain told on Leopold, and by the winter of 1791 he became ill. He gradually worsened throughout early 1792, and, on the afternoon of 1 March Leopold died, at the relatively young age of 44. Francis, just past his 24th birthday, was now Emperor much sooner than he had expected.

Emperor

As the leader of the large multi-ethnic Habsburg Empire, Francis felt threatened by Napoleon's call for liberty and equality in Europe. Francis had a fraught relationship with France. His aunt Marie Antoinette died under the guillotine at the beginning of his reign. Francis, on the whole, was indifferent to her fate (she was not close to his father Leopold, and Francis had met her, but when he was of an age that was too young for Francis to remember). Georges Danton attempted to negotiate with the Emperor for Marie Antoinette's release from captivity, but Francis was unwilling to make any concessions in return.^[6] Later, he led Austria into the French Revolutionary Wars and was defeated by Napoleon. By the Treaty of Campo Formio, he ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France in exchange for Venice and Dalmatia. He again fought against France during the Second and Third Coalition, when after meeting crushing defeat at Austerlitz, he had to agree to the Treaty of Pressburg, which effectively dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, weakening the Austrian Empire and reorganizing present-day Germany under a Napoleonic imprint.

In 1809, Francis attacked France again, hoping to take advantage of the Peninsular War embroiling Napoleon in Spain. He was again defeated, and this time forced to ally himself with Napoleon, ceding territory to the Empire, joining the Continental System, and wedding his daughter Marie-Louise to the Emperor. Francis essentially became a vassal of the Emperor of the French. The Napoleonic wars drastically weakened Austria and threatened its preeminence among the states of Germany, a position that it would eventually cede to the Kingdom of Prussia.

Austrian Royalty House of Habsburg-Lorraine Francis I (Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor) Children include    Archduchess Marie Louise    Ferdinand I    Archduchess Maria Leopoldina    Archduchess Clementina    Archduke Franz Karl Grandchildren include    Franz Joseph I    Archduke Maximilian    Archduke Karl Ludwig    Archduke Ludwig Viktor Great-grandchildren include    Archduke Franz Ferdinand    Archduke Otto Franz Ferdinand I Franz Joseph I Children    Archduchess Sophie    Archduchess Gisela    Crown Prince Rudolf    Archduchess Marie Valerie Grandchildren include    Archduchess Elisabeth Marie Charles I Children include    Crown Prince Otto    Archduke Robert    Archduke Felix    Archduke Karl Ludwig    Archduke Rudolf Grandchildren include    Archduchess Andrea    Archduchess Monika    Archduchess Michaela    Archduchess Gabriela    Archduchess Walburga    Archduke Karl    Archduke Georg    Archduke Lorenz Great-Grandchildren include    Archduke Ferdinand    Archduke Amedeo

In 1813, for the fourth and final time, Austria turned against France and joined Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Sweden in their war against Napoleon. Austria played a major role in the final defeat of France—in recognition of this, Francis, represented by Clemens von Metternich, presided over the Congress of Vienna, helping to form the Concert of Europe and the Holy Alliance, ushering in an era of conservatism and reactionism in Europe. The German Confederation, a loose association of Central European states was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to organize the surviving states of the Holy Roman Empire. The Congress was a personal triumph for Francis, where he hosted the assorted dignitaries in comfort,^[7] though Francis undermined his allies Tsar Alexander and Frederick William III of Prussia by negotiating a secret treaty with the restored French king Louis XVIII.^[8]

The federal Diet met at Frankfurt under Austrian presidency (in fact the Habsburg Emperor was represented by an Austrian 'presidential envoy').

Domestic policy

The events of the French Revolution impressed themselves deeply into the mind of Francis, and he came to distrust 'radicalism' in any form. In 1794, a 'Jacobin' conspiracy was discovered in the Austrian and Hungarian armies.^[9] The leaders were put on trial, but the verdicts only skirted the perimeter of the conspiracy. Francis's brother Alexander Leopold (at that time Palatine of Hungary) wrote to the Emperor admitting "Although we have caught a lot of the culprits, we have not really got to the bottom of this business yet." Nonetheless, two officers heavily implicated in the conspiracy were hanged and gibbeted, while many others were sentenced to imprisonment (where many died in the conditions).^[10]

Francis was by nature suspicious,^[11] and set up an extensive network of police spies and censors to monitor dissent^[10] (in this he was following his father's lead, as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany had the most effective secret police in Europe).^[2] Even his family did not escape attention. His brothers, the Archdukes Charles and Johann had their meetings and activities spied upon.^[12] Censorship was also prevalent. The author Franz Grillparzer, a Habsburg patriot, had one play suppressed solely as a 'precautionary' measure. When Grillparzer met the censor responsible, he asked him what was objectionable about the work. The censor replied "Oh, nothing at all. But I thought to myself 'One can never tell'."^[13]

Francis presented himself as an open and approachable monarch (he regularly set aside two mornings each week to meet his imperial subjects, regardless of status, by appointment in his office, even speaking to them in their own language),^[14] but his will was sovereign. In 1804, he had no compunction about announcing that through his authority as Holy Roman Emperor, he declared he was now Emperor of Austria (at the time a geographical term that had little resonance). Two years later, Francis personally wound up the moribund Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Both actions were of dubious constitutional legality.^[15]

Later years

Monarchical Styles of Emperor Francis II of Austria
Reference style	His Imperial Majesty
Spoken style	Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style	My Lord

Francis was a devoted family man, and a main point in the political testament he left for his son and heir Ferdinand was "Preserve unity in the family and regard it as one of the highest goods". In many portraits (particularly those painted by Peter Fendi) he was portrayed as the patriarch of a loving family, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.^[16]

On March 2 1835, 43 years and a day after his father's death, Francis died in Vienna of a sudden fever aged 67, in the presence of many of his family and with all the religious comforts.^[16] His funeral was magnificent, with his Viennese subjects respectfully filing past his coffin in St. Stephen's Cathedral for three days.^[17] Francis was interred in the traditional resting place of Habsburg monarchs, the Kapuziner Imperial Crypt in Vienna's Neue Markt Square. He is buried in tomb number 57, surrounded by his four wives.

After 1806 he used the titles: "We, Francis the First, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria; King of Jerusalem, Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria; Archduke of Austria; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Würzburg, Franconia, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola; Grand Duke of Cracow; Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Sandomir, Masovia, Lublin, Upper and Lower Silesia, Auschwitz and Zator, Teschen and Friule; Prince of Berchtesgaden and Mergentheim; Princely Count of Habsburg, Gorizia and Gradisca and of the Tyrol; and Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria".

Gallery

Silver Thaler of Francis I, struck 1821
By the time the coin was minted, Francis had abdicated the title of "Holy Roman Emperor," and his title had changed to Francis I of Austria. Obverse: (Latin) FRANCISCVS I, D[EI] G[RATIA] AVSTRIAE IMPERATOR, or in English, "Francis I, by the Grace of God, Emperor of Austria"	Reverse: (Latin) HVN[GARIAE] BOH[EMIAE] LOMB[ARDIAE] ET VEN[ETIARUM] GAL[ICIAE] LOD[OMERIA] IL[LYRIAE] REX A[RCHIDUX] A[VUSTRIAE] 1821, or in English, "King of Hungary, Bohemia, Lombardy-Venetia, Galicia, Lodomeria, and Illyria, Archduke of Austria 1821."

Ancestry

Marriages

Francis II married four times:

1. On January 6, 1788, to Elisabeth of Württemberg (April 21, 1767 – February 18, 1790), who died bearing a short-lived daughter, Ludovika Elisabeth of Austria (1790–1791)
2. On September 15, 1790, to his double first cousin Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies (June 6, 1772 – April 13, 1807), daughter of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (both were grandchildren of Empress Maria Theresa and shared all of their other grandparents in common), with whom he had twelve children, but only seven reached adulthood:
3. On January 6, 1808, he married again to another first cousin, Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este (December 14, 1787 – April 7, 1816) with no issue. She was the daughter of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and Maria Beatrice d'Este, Princess of Modena.
4. On October 29, 1816, to Karoline Charlotte Auguste of Bavaria (February 8, 1792 – February 9, 1873) with no issue. She was daughter of Maximilian I of Bavaria and had been previously married to William I of Württemberg.

Children

From his first wife Elisabeth of Württemberg, one daughter, and his second wife Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies, eight daughters and four sons:

See also

• German monarchs family tree

References

Books

• Fraser, Antonia - Marie Antoinette: The Journey : Phoenix 2002, ISBN 0-75381-305-X
• Wheatcroft, Andrew - The Habsburgs : Embodying Empire : Penguin 1996, ISBN 0-14-023634-1
• Richard Reifenscheid, Die Habsburger in Lebensbildern, Piper 2006

Notes

External links

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