The eldest son of futureEmperor Leopold II andMaria Luisa of Spain, Francis was born inFlorence, where his father ruled asGrand Duke of Tuscany. Leopold became Holy Roman Emperor in 1790 but died two years later, and Francis succeeded him. His empire immediately became embroiled in theFrench Revolutionary Wars, the first of which ended in Austrian defeat and the loss of the left bank of theRhine to France. After another French victory in theWar of the Second Coalition,Napoleon crowned himselfEmperor of the French. In response, Francis assumed the title of Emperor of Austria. He continued his leading role as Napoleon's adversary in theNapoleonic Wars, and suffered successive defeats that greatly weakened Austria as a European power. In 1806, after Napoleon created theConfederation of the Rhine, Francis abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor, which in effect marked the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Following the defeat of theFifth Coalition, Francis ceded more territory to France and was forced to wed his daughterMarie Louise to Napoleon.
In 1813, Francis turned against Napoleon and finally defeated him in theWar of the Sixth Coalition, forcing the French emperor to abdicate. Austria took part as a leading member of theHoly Alliance at theCongress of Vienna, which was largely dominated by Francis's chancellorKlemens von Metternich, culminating in a new European order and the restoration of most of Francis's ancient dominions. Due to the establishment of theConcert of Europe, which resisted popular nationalist and liberal tendencies, Francis was viewed as areactionary later in his reign. Francis died in 1835 at the age of 67 and was succeeded by his son,Ferdinand I.
1770 painting byAnton Raphael Mengs depicting Archduke Francis at the age of 2
Francis was a son ofEmperor Leopold II (1747–1792) and his wifeMaria Luisa of Spain (1745–1792), daughter ofCharles III of Spain. Francis was born inFlorence, the capital ofTuscany, where his father reigned asGrand Duke from 1765 to 1790. Though he had a happy childhood surrounded by his many siblings,[1] his family knew Francis was likely to be a future Emperor (his uncleJoseph had no surviving issue from either of his two marriages), and so in 1784 the young Archduke was sent to the Imperial Court inVienna to educate and prepare him for his future role.[2]
Emperor Joseph II himself took charge of Francis's development. 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'smartinet method of improving the young Francis was "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 "failed to lead himself, to do his own thinking." Nonetheless, Francis greatly admired his uncle, if rather in fear of him. To complete his training, Francis was sent to join an army regiment inHungary and he settled easily into the routine of military life.[4] He was present at thesiege of Belgrade which occurred during theAustro-Turkish War.[5]
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.[6] The strain took a toll on Leopold and by the winter of 1791, he became ill. He gradually worsened throughout early 1792; 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.
As the head of theHoly Roman Empire and the ruler of the vast realms of Central and Eastern Europe, Francis felt threatened by theFrench revolutionaries and laterNapoleon's expansionism as well as their social and political reforms which were being exported throughout Europe in the wake of the conquering French armies. Francis had a fraught relationship with France. His auntMarie Antoinette, the wife ofLouis XVI and Queen consort of France, was guillotined by the revolutionaries in 1793, at the beginning of his reign, although, on the whole, he was indifferent to her fate.[7]
Francis I asAustrian Emperor wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, undated
On 11 August 1804, in response to Napoleon crowning himself as emperor of the French earlier that year, he announced that he would henceforth assume the title of hereditary emperor of Austria as Francis I, a move that technically was illegal in terms of imperial law. Yet Napoleon had agreed beforehand and therefore it happened.[8][a]
During theWar of the Third Coalition, the Austrian forces met a crushing defeat atAusterlitz, and Francis had to agree to theTreaty of Pressburg, which greatly weakened Austria and brought about the final collapse of theHoly Roman Empire. In July 1806, under massive pressure from France, Bavaria and fifteen other German states ratified the statutes founding theConfederation of the Rhine, with Napoleon designated Protector, and they announced to theImperial Diet their intention to leave the Empire with immediate effect. Then, on 22 July, Napoleon issued an ultimatum to Francis demanding that he abdicate as Holy Roman Emperor by 10 August.[10][11]
Five days later, Francis bowed to the inevitable and, without mentioning the ultimatum, affirmed that since the Peace of Pressburg he had tried his best to fulfil his duties as emperor but that circumstances had convinced him that he could no longer rule according to his oath of office, the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine making that impossible. He added that "we hereby decree that we regard the bond which until now tied us to the states of the Empire as dissolved"[12] in effect dissolving the empire. At the same time he declared the complete and formal withdrawal of his hereditary lands from imperial jurisdiction.[13] After that date, he continued to reign as Francis I, Emperor of Austria.
In 1809, Francis, deeming another war with France as inevitable and influenced by hawks in Vienna,attacked France again, hoping to take advantage of thePeninsular War embroiling Napoleon inSpain. He was again defeated, and this time forced to ally himself with Napoleon, ceding territory to the Empire, joining theContinental System, and wedding his daughterMarie-Louise to the Emperor. TheNapoleonic Wars drastically weakened Austria, making it entirely landlocked and threatened its preeminence among the states of Germany, a position that it would eventually cede to theKingdom of Prussia.
In 1813, for the fifth and final time, Austria turned against France and joinedGreat Britain,Russia, Prussia and Sweden in theirwar against Napoleon. Austria played a major role in the final defeat of France—in recognition of this, Francis, represented byClemens von Metternich, presided over theCongress of Vienna, helping to form theConcert of Europe and theHoly Alliance, ushering in an era of conservatism in Europe. TheGerman 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, who hosted the assorted dignitaries in comfort,[14] though Francis undermined his alliesTsar Alexander andFrederick William III of Prussia by negotiating a secret treaty with the restored French kingLouis XVIII.[15]
The violent events of the French Revolution impressed themselves deeply into the mind of Francis (as well as the other European monarchs), and he came to distrust radicalism in any form. In 1794, a "Jacobin" conspiracy was discovered in the Austrian and Hungarian armies.[16] The leaders were put on trial, but the verdicts only skirted the perimeter of the conspiracy. Francis's brotherAlexander Leopold (at that timePalatine 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 werehanged andgibbeted, while numerous others were sentenced to imprisonment (many of whom died from the conditions).[17]
Medallion of Francis I, designed byPhilipp Jakob Treu inBasel,Switzerland on 13 January 1814. This was the date in theWar of the Sixth Coalition when the allied monarchs of Austria, Prussia, and Russia crossed the Rhine at Basel into France.
Francis was from his experiences suspicious and set up an extensive network of police spies and censors to monitor dissent[17] (in this he was following his father's lead, as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany had the most effective secret police in Europe).[18] Even his family did not escape attention. His brothers, the ArchdukesCharles andJohann had their meetings and activities spied upon.[19] Censorship was also prevalent. The authorFranz 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'."[20]
In military affairs Francis had allowed his brother, theArchduke Charles, extensive control over the army during the Napoleonic wars. Yet, distrustful of allowing any individual too much power, he otherwise maintained the separation of command functions between theHofkriegsrat and his field commanders.[21] In the later years of his reign he limited military spending, requiring it not exceed forty millionflorins per year; because of inflation this resulted in inadequate funding, with the army's share of the budget shrinking from half in 1817 to only twenty-three percent in 1830.[22]
Francis presented himself as an open and approachable monarch (he regularly set aside two mornings each week to meet with his imperial subjects, regardless of status, by appointment in his office, even speaking to them in their own language),[23] 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.[24]
To increase patriotic sentiment during the war with France, the anthem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" was composed in 1797 to be sung as the Kaiserhymne to music byJoseph Haydn.[25] The lyrics were adapted for later Emperors and the music lives on as the German national anthem "Deutschlandlied".
On 2 March 1835, 43 years and a day after his father's death, Francis died in Vienna of a sudden fever at aged 67, in the presence of many of his family and with all the religious comforts.[26] His funeral was magnificent, with his Viennese subjects respectfully filing past his coffin in the court chapel of theHofburg palace[27] for three days.[28] Francis was interred in the traditional resting place of Habsburg monarchs, theImperial Crypt in Vienna's Neue Markt Square. He is buried in tomb number 57, surrounded by tombs of his four wives.
Francis passed on a main point in the political testament he left for his son and heirFerdinand: to "preserve unity in the family and regard it as one of the highest goods." In many portraits (particularly those painted byPeter Fendi) he was portrayed as the patriarch of a loving family, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.[26]
On 15 September 1790, to his double first cousinMaria Teresa of the Two Sicilies (6 June 1772 – 13 April 1807), daughter of KingFerdinand I of the Two Sicilies (both were grandchildren of EmpressMaria Theresa and shared all of their other grandparents in common), with whom he had twelve children, of whom only seven reached adulthood.
Monument in the inner courtyard of theHofburg in Vienna, showing him as the last RomanImperator, in a pose similar to theAugustus of Prima Porta statueGolden dedication inscription at theÄusseres Burgtor of theHofburg Palace in Vienna of "FRANCISCUS I.IMPERATOR AUSTRIAE MDCCCXXIV" (Francis I. Emperor of Austria 1824)The emperor wearing a number of orders and decoration such as the Golden Fleece, Order of Maria Theresa, Order of Leopold, Order of Saint Stephen, and others (portrait byJoseph Kreutzinger,c. 1815)
From 1804 with the proclamation of the Empire of Austria until his abdication as Holy Roman Emperor in 1806 his grand title started "By the Grace of God anointedRoman Emperor,ever Increaser of the Realm andKing in Germania ("von Gottes Gnaden erwählter Römischer Kaiser, zu allen Zeiten Mehrer des Reichs sowie König in Germanien).
^Later he was dubbed the firstDoppelkaiser (double emperor) in history.[9] For the two years between 1804 and 1806, Francis used the title and styleby the Grace of God elected Roman Emperor, ever Augustus, hereditary Emperor of Austria and he was called theEmperor of both the Holy Roman Empire and Austria.
^Gagliardo, John G. (1980).Reich and Nation. The Holy Roman Empire as Idea and Reality, 1763–1806. Indiana University Press. pp. 279–280.ISBN978-0-2531-6773-6.OL4401178M.
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.
Generations are numbered from the children ofFrancesco de' Medici, firstGrand Duke of Tuscany. Later generations are included but the grand duchy was abolished in 1860.
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