Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor

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Not to be confused with Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, later styled Francis I as
Emperor of Austria.

Francis I

Portrait by Martin van Meytens, c. 1745

Holy Roman Emperor

Reign 13 September 1745 – 18 August 1765

Coronation 4 October 1745, Frankfurt

Predecessor Charles VII

Successor Joseph II

Grand Duke of Tuscany

Reign 12 July 1737 – 18 August 1765

Predecessor Gian Gastone

Successor Leopold I

Duke of Lorraine

Reign 27 March 1729 – 9 July 1737

Predecessor Leopold

Successor Stanislas

Born 8 December 1708

Ducal Palace of Nancy, Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire

Died 18 August 1765 (aged 56)

Palace of Innsbruck, Austria

Burial Imperial Crypt

Maria Theresa of Austria

Spouse

(m. 1736)

Archduchess Maria Elisabeth

Issue
Archduchess Maria Anna
Archduchess Maria Carolina

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen

Archduchess Maria Elisabeth

Archduke Charles Joseph

Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor

Archduchess Maria Carolina

Archduchess Johanna Gabriela

Archduchess Maria Josepha

Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily

 Ferdinand, Duke of Breisgau

Maria Antonia, Queen of France

Maximilian Francis, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne

Names

Francis Stephen

House Lorraine

Father Leopold, Duke of Lorraine

Mother Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans

Religion Roman Catholicism

Signature

Francis I (Francis Stephen; French: François Étienne; German: Franz Stefan; 8

December 1708 – 18 August 1765)[1] was the Duke of Lorraine and Bar (1729–1737),
and later Grand Duke of Tuscany (1737–1765), who married Maria
Theresa of Austria and became the last non-Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor (1745–
1765) and Archduke of Austria (1740–1765). His wife effectively ruled Austria and
the Holy Roman Empire. They were the founders of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.
The oldest surviving son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, Francis left the duchy for the
deposed Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński in exchange for the Grand Duchy of
Tuscany as one of the terms ending the War of the Polish Succession in 1738. The
duchy and the ducal title to Lorraine and Bar passed to King Louis XV of France upon
Leszczynski's death in 1766, though Francis and his successors retained the right to
style themselves as dukes of Lorraine and Bar.

Contents

 1Early life
 2Marriage
 3Reign
 4Issue
 5Ancestry
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Early life[edit]
Silver coin: 10 paoli Grand Duchy of Tuscany - Francis, 1747

Silver coin: 1 conventionsthaler Augsburg Free City - Francis I, 1765

Francis was born in Nancy, Lorraine (now in France), the oldest surviving son

of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife Princess Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans. He
was connected with the Habsburgs through his grandmother Eleonore, daughter of
Emperor Ferdinand III. He was very close to his brother Charles and sister Anne
Charlotte.
Emperor Charles VI favoured the family, who, besides being his cousins, had served
the house of Austria with distinction. He had designed to marry his daughter Maria
Theresa to Francis' older brother Leopold Clement. On Leopold Clement's death,
Charles adopted the younger brother as his future son-in-law. Francis was brought up
in Vienna with Maria Theresa with the understanding that they were to be married, and
a real affection arose between them.
At the age of 15, when he was brought to Vienna, he was established in
the Silesian Duchy of Teschen, which had been mediatised and granted to his father by
the emperor in 1722. Francis succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine in 1729. In 1731
he was initiated into freemasonry (Grand Lodge of England) by John Theophilus
Desaguliers at a specially convened lodge in The Hague at the house of the British
Ambassador, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield.[2] During a subsequent visit to
England, Francis was made a Master Mason at another specially convened lodge
at Houghton Hall, the Norfolk estate of British Prime Minister Robert Walpole.[3]
Francis at the age of 15 in his hunting attire

Maria Theresa arranged for Francis to become "Lord Lieutenant" (locumtenens) of

Hungary in 1732. He was not excited about this position, but Maria Theresa wanted him
closer to her. In June 1732 he agreed to go to the Hungarian
capital, Pressburg (today's Bratislava).
When the War of the Polish Succession broke out in 1733, France used it as an
opportunity to seize Lorraine, since France's prime minister, Cardinal Fleury, was
concerned that, as a Habsburg possession, it would bring Austrian power too close to
France.
A preliminary peace was concluded in October 1735 and ratified in the Treaty of
Vienna in November 1738. Under its terms, Stanisław I, the father-in-law of King Louis
XV and the losing claimant to the Polish throne, received Lorraine, while Francis, in
compensation for his loss, was made heir to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which he
would inherit in 1737.
Although fighting stopped after the preliminary peace, the final peace settlement had to
wait until the death of the last Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany, Gian Gastone de'
Medici in 1737, to allow the territorial exchanges provided for by the peace settlement to
go into effect.
In March 1736 the Emperor persuaded Francis, his future son-in-law, to secretly
exchange Lorraine for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. France had demanded that Maria
Theresa's fiancé surrender his ancestral Duchy of Lorraine to accommodate
the deposed King of Poland. The Emperor considered other possibilities (such as
marrying her to the future Charles III of Spain) before announcing the engagement of
the couple. If something were to go wrong, Francis would become governor of
the Austrian Netherlands.
Elisabeth of Parma had also wanted the Grand Duchy of Tuscany for her son Charles III
of Spain; Gian Gastone de' Medici was childless and was related to Elisabeth via her
great-grandmother Margherita de' Medici. As a result, Elisabeth's sons could claim by
right of being a descendant of Margherita.
On 31 January 1736 Francis agreed to marry Maria Theresa. He hesitated three times
(and laid down the feather before signing). Especially his mother Élisabeth Charlotte
d'Orléans and his brother Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine were against the loss of
Lorraine. On 1 February, Maria Theresa sent Francis a letter: she would withdraw from
her future reign, when a male successor for her father appeared.

Marriage[edit]

Francis I and his family (by Martin van Meytens)

They married on 12 February in the Augustinian Church, Vienna. The wedding was held
on 14 February 1736. The (secret) treaty between the Emperor and Francis was signed
on 4 May 1736. On 5 January 1737, instruments of cession were signed at Pontremoli
between Spain and the Empire, with Spain ceding Parma, Piacenza and Tuscany to the
Holy Roman Empire and the Empire recognizing Don Carlos of Spain as King of Naples
and Sicily.[4] On 10 January, the Spanish troops began their withdrawal from Tuscany,
and were replaced by 6,000 Austrians.[5] On 24 January 1737 Francis received Tuscany
from his father-in-law.[6] Until then, Maria Theresa was Duchess of Lorraine.
Gian Gastone de' Medici, who died on 9 July 1737, was the second cousin of Francis
(Gian Gastone and Francis' father Leopold were both great-grandchildren of Francis II,
Duke of Lorraine), who also had Medici blood through his maternal great-great-
grandmother Marie de' Medici, Queen consort of France and Navarre. In June 1737
Francis went to Hungary again to fight against the Turks. In October 1738 he was back
in Vienna. On 17 December 1738 the couple travelled south, accompanied by his
brother Charles to visit Florence for three months. They arrived on 20 January 1739.
In 1744 Francis' brother Charles married a younger sister of Maria
Theresa, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria. In 1744 Charles became governor of the
Austrian Netherlands, a post he held until his death in 1780.

Reign[edit]
Coat of arms of Francis I

In the Treaty of Füssen, Maria Theresa secured his election as Emperor, which took
place on 13 September 1745. He succeeded Charles VII, and she made him co-
regent of her hereditary dominions.
Francis was well content to leave the wielding of power to his able wife. He had a
natural fund of good sense and brilliant business capacity and was a useful assistant to
Maria Theresa in the laborious task of governing the complicated Austrian dominions,
but he was not active in politics or diplomacy. However, his wife left him in charge of the
financial affairs, which he managed well until his death. [7] Heavily indebted and on the
verge of bankruptcy at the end of the Seven Years' War, the Austrian Empire was in a
better financial condition than France or England in the 1780s. He also took a great
interest in the natural sciences.
Francis was a serial adulterer, many of his affairs well-known and indiscreet, notably
one with Princess Maria Wilhelmina of Auersperg, who was thirty years his junior. This
particular affair was remarked upon in the letters and journals of visitors to the court and
in those of his children.[8]
He died suddenly in his carriage while returning from the opera at Innsbruck on 18
August 1765. He is buried in tomb number 55 in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.
Maria Theresa and Francis I had sixteen children, amongst them the last pre-
revolutionary queen consort of France, their youngest daughter, Marie
Antoinette (1755–1793). Francis was succeeded as Emperor by his eldest son, Joseph
II, and as Grand Duke of Tuscany by his younger son, Peter Leopold (later Emperor
Leopold II). Maria Theresa retained the government of her dominions until her own
death in 1780.

Issue[edit]
№ Name Birth Death Notes
Archduchess Maria 5 February
1 6 June 1740 died in childhood, no issue
Elisabeth of Austria 1737
2 Archduchess Maria 6 October 19 died unmarried, no issue
 November
Anna 1738
1789
Archduchess Maria 12 January 25 January
3 died in childhood likely from smallpox, no issue
Carolina of Austria 1740 1741
married 1) Princess Isabella Maria of Parma (1741–1763),
Holy Roman 13 March 20 February married 2) Princess Marie Josephe of Bavaria (1739–1767) –
4
Emperor Joseph II 1741 1790 second cousin, had issue from his first marriage (two
daughters, who died young)
Archduchess Maria 13 May 24 June married Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen (1738–
5
Christina of Austria 1742 1798 1822), her second cousin, had issue (one stillborn daughter)
22
Archduchess Maria 13 August
6 September died unmarried, no issue
Elisabeth of Austria 1743
1808
Archduke Charles 1 February 18 January
7 died of smallpox, no issue
Joseph of Austria 1745 1761
Archduchess Maria 26 February
8 9 June 1804 married Ferdinand, Duke of Parma (1751–1802), had issue.
Amalia of Austria 1746
married Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain (1745–1792), had
Holy Roman 1 March issue. Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 (abdicated
9 5 May 1747
Emperor Leopold II 1792 1790), Holy Roman Emperor from 1790, Archduke of
Austria, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia from 1790.
17 17
1 Archduchess Maria
September September died during birth.
0 Carolina of Austria
1748 1748
Archduchess Maria 23
1 4 February
Johanna Gabriela December died of smallpox, no issue
1 1750
of Austria 1762
1 Archduchess Maria 19 March 15 October
died of smallpox, no issue
2 Josepha of Austria 1751 1767
7
1 Archduchess Maria 13 August married King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily (1751–
September
3 Carolina of Austria 1752 1825); had issue
1814
Archduke 24 married Maria Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Massa, heiress of
1
Ferdinand of 1 June 1754 December Breisgau and of Modena, had issue (Austria-Este). Duke of
4
Austria 1806 Breisgau from 1803.
2
1 Archduchess Maria 16 October married Louis XVI of France and Navarre (1754–1793) and
November
5 Antonia of Austria 1793 became Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre.
1755
Archduke
1 8 December 27 July
Maximilian Franz Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, 1784.
6 1756 1801
of Austria

Ancestry[edit]
showAncestors
of Francis I,
Holy Roman
Emperor[9]
See also[edit]
 Franz Joseph Toussaint
 Kings of Germany family tree
 List of people with the most children
 Francis Stephen Award

References[edit]
1. ^ Encyclopedia of Austria: Franz I
2. ^ Audrey Carpenter, John Theophilus Desaguliers: A Natural
Philosopher, Engineer and Freemason in Newtonian England,
(London : Continuum, 2011), ISBN 978-1-4411-2778-5, p. 47
3. ^ Malcolm Davies, The masonic muse  : songs, music, and musicians
associated with Dutch freemasonry, 1730–1806. (Utrecht : Koninklijke
Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 1995), ISBN 90-
6375-199-0, pp. 22–23
4. ^ Hargreaves-Mawdsley, W. N., Eighteenth-Century Spain 1700–
1788: A Political, Diplomatic and Institutional History. Palgrave
Macmillan UK. London, 1979. ISBN 978-1-349-01805-5
5. ^ Hale, Florence and the Medici, Orion books, p 192. London,
1977, ISBN 1-84212-456-0.
6. ^ Maria Theresia und ihre Zeit. Exhibition from 13 May till October
1980 in Vienna, Schloss Schönbrunn, p. 28, see also pp. 37, 38, 41,
47, 52, 53 for the other details described here.
7. ^ Jean-Paul Bled, Maria-Theresa
8. ^ Farquhar, Michael (2001). A Treasure of Royal Scandals, p.89.
Penguin Books, New York. ISBN 0-7394-2025-9.
9. ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de
tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe
actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all
the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living]
(in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 81.

External links[edit]
  Media related to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor at
Wikimedia Commons
 Tomáš Kleisner – Jan Boublík, Coins and Medals of the
Emperor Francis Stephen of Lorraine Prague
2011 ISBN 978-80-7036-316-4
  This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Francis I.
(emperor)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. p. 933.

Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor

House of Lorraine
 Born: 8 December 1708 Died: 18 August 1765

Regnal titles
Preceded by Grand Duke of Tuscany Succeeded by
Gian Gastone de' Medici 1737–1765 Leopold II
Duke of Lorraine Succeeded by
Preceded by 1729–1737 Stanisław I
Leopold Duke of Teschen
1729–1765
King in Germany Succeeded by
Preceded by 1745–1764 Joseph II
Charles VII Holy Roman Emperor
1745–1765
Archduke of Austria
Preceded by Ruler of the Austrian Netherlands Succeeded by
Maria Theresa 21 November 1740–1765 Maria Theresa
as sole ruler as sole ruler
with Maria Theresa

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Grand Dukes of Tuscany

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Categories: 
 1708 births
 1765 deaths
 18th-century Holy Roman Emperors
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  Grand Dukes of Tuscany
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 Austrian Roman Catholics
 Austrian people of French descent
 Roman Catholic Freemasons
 House of Habsburg-Lorraine
 Hereditary Princes of Lorraine
 Dukes of Teschen
 Dukes of Lorraine
 Grand Princes of Tuscany
 Jure uxoris kings
 Princes of Lorraine
 Fellows of the Royal Society
 Grand Masters of the Order of the Golden Fleece
 Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria
 Burials at the Imperial Crypt
 People from Nancy, France
 18th century in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany
 18th-century French people
 Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England
 Recipients of the Military Order of Maria Theresa
 Dukes of Carniola
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western, Central and

Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its
dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.