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Names
	Francis Stephen

Francis I
Francis I
Imperator Romanorum
	Portrait of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (by Martin van Meytens, c. 1745
Holy Roman Emperor
Reign	13 September 1745 – 18 August 1765
Coronation	4 October 1745; Frankfurt Cathedral
Predecessor	Charles VII
Successor	Joseph II
Grand Duke of Tuscany
Reign	12 July 1737 – 18 August 1765
Predecessor	Gian Gastone
Successor	Leopold I
Archduke of Austria (jure uxoris)
Reign	20 October 1740 – 18 August 1765
Predecessor	Charles III
Successor	Maria Theresa and Joseph II
Co-ruler	Maria Theresa
Duke of Lorraine and Bar
Reign	27 March 1729 – 9 July 1737
Predecessor	Leopold
Successor	Stanislas
Born	8 December 1708; Lunéville, Duchy of Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire
Died	18 August 1765 (aged 56); Hofburg, Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empire
Burial	Imperial Crypt
Spouse	Maria Theresa (m. 1736)
Issue	Archduchess Maria Elisabeth; 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 Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este; Marie Antoinette, Queen of France; Maximilian Francis, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne;
Names
Names
	Francis Stephen
House	Lorraine
Father	Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
Mother	Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans
Religion	Catholicism
Signature

Francis I (Francis Stephen; French: François Étienne; German: Franz Stefan; Italian: Francesco Stefano; 8 December 1708 – 18 August 1765)^[1] was Holy Roman Emperor from 1745 to 1765, Archduke of Austria from 1740 to 1765, Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1729 to 1737, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1737 to 1765. He became the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Austria, and Tuscany through his marriage to his second cousin Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Emperor Charles VI. Francis was the last non-Habsburg monarch of the Empire. The couple were the founders of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, and their marriage produced sixteen children.

Francis was the oldest surviving son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, and the French princess Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans. Duke Leopold died in 1729 and was succeeded by his son. In 1736, Francis married Maria Theresa. In 1738, he left the Duchy of Lorraine and Bar 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. Following the death of his father-in-law, Charles VI, in 1740, Francis and Maria Theresa became the rulers of the Habsburg domains. Maria Theresa gave her husband responsibility for the empire's financial affairs, which he handled well. Francis died in 1765 and was succeeded by their son, Joseph II, who co-ruled Austria alongside Maria Theresa.

Early life

Francis was born in Lunéville, Lorraine (now in France), the fourth and 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.^[2] 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 Habsburg 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.^[2]

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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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 chief 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.

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.

Although fighting stopped after the preliminary peace, the final peace settlement had to wait until the death of Gian Gastone in 1737, to allow the territorial exchanges provided for by the peace settlement to go into effect.

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

Francis and Maria Theresa married on 12 February 1736 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.^[5] On 10 January, the Spanish troops began their withdrawal from Tuscany, and were replaced by 6,000 Austrians.^[6] On 24 January 1737 Francis received Tuscany from his father-in-law.^[7] 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

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.^[2]

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.^[2] However, his wife left him in charge of the financial affairs, which he managed well until his death.^[8] Heavily indebted and on the verge of bankruptcy at the end of the Seven Years' War, the Habsburg monarchy was in a better financial condition than France or Great Britain in the 1780s.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[9]

He died suddenly in his carriage while returning from the opera at Innsbruck on 18 August 1765.^[2] 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

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

Coat of Arms

Coat of arms	Coat of arms (Shield variant)	Coat of arms (Shield variant with supporters)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor^[10]

8. Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine

4. Charles V, Duke of Lorraine

9. Claude Françoise of Lorraine

2. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine

10. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

5. Eleonore of Austria

11. Eleonora Gonzaga

1. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor

12. Louis XIII of France

6. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans

13. Anne of Austria

3. Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans

14. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine

7. Elizabeth Charlotte of Simmern

15. Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel

References

^ Encyclopedia of Austria: Franz I
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Chisholm 1911.
^ 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
^ 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
^ 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
^ Hale, Florence and the Medici, Orion books, p 192. London, 1977, ISBN 1-84212-456-0.
^ 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.
^ Jean-Paul Bled, Maria-Theresa
^ Farquhar, Michael (2001). A Treasure of Royal Scandals, p. 89. Penguin Books, New York. ISBN 0-7394-2025-9.
^ 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

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.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 933.

Regnal titles
Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor House of Lorraine Born: 8 December 1708 Died: 18 August 1765
Preceded by Gian Gastone de' Medici	Grand Duke of Tuscany 1737–1765	Succeeded by Leopold II
Preceded by Leopold	Duke of Lorraine 1729–1737	Succeeded by Stanisław I
Preceded by Leopold	Duke of Teschen 1729–1765	Succeeded by Joseph II
Preceded by Charles VII	King in Germany 1745–1764
Preceded by Charles VII	Holy Roman Emperor 1745–1765
Preceded by Maria Theresa as sole ruler	Archduke of Austria Ruler of the Austrian Netherlands 21 November 1740–1765 with Maria Theresa	Succeeded by Maria Theresa as sole ruler