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| House of Habsburg-Lorraine Haus Habsburg-Lothringen | |
|---|---|
 Genealogical arms since 6 August 1806 | |
| Parent house | House of Habsburg (enatic) House of Lorraine (agnatic) |
| Country | |
| Founded | 1736; 289 years ago (1736) |
| Founder | Maria Theresa andFrancis I, Holy Roman Emperor |
| Current head | Karl von Habsburg |
| Final ruler |
|
| Titles | List of titles
|
| Style(s) | |
| Motto | A.E.I.O.U. andViribus Unitis |
| Deposition | Austria-Hungary: 1918 (Charles I & IV relinquished participation in state affairs following the end ofWorld War I) |
| Cadet branches |
|
TheHouse of Habsburg-Lorraine (German:Haus Habsburg-Lothringen) originated from the marriage in 1736 ofFrancis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, andMaria Theresa ofAustria, later successivelyQueen of Bohemia,Queen of Hungary,Queen of Croatia andArchduchess of Austria. Its members form the legitimate surviving line of both theHouse of Habsburg and theHouse of Lorraine, and they inherited their patrimonial possessions from thefemale line of the House of Habsburg and from themale line of the House of Lorraine.
The House of Lorraine's branch ofVaudémont andGuise become the main branch after a brief interlude in 1453–1473, when the duchy passed in right ofCharles de Bourbon's daughter to her husband,John of Calabria, aCapetian. Lorraine reverted to the House of Vaudémont, a junior branch of the House of Lorraine, in the person ofRené II, who later added to his titles that ofDuke of Bar.
The House of Habsburg takes its name fromHabsburg Castle, a fortress built in the 1020s by CountRadbot ofKlettgau inAargau (now inSwitzerland). His grandson,Otto II, was the first to take on the name of the fortress as his own, addingGraf von Habsburg ("Count of Habsburg") to his title. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum during the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, and in 1273, Radbot's seventh-generation descendant,Rudolph of Habsburg, becameRoman-German King. He moved the family's power base to theDuchy of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918.
The House of Habsburg-Lorraine still exists today, and the head of the family isKarl von Habsburg.[1] The current house orders are theOrder of the Golden Fleece, theImperial and Royal Order of Saint George and theOrder of the Starry Cross.
The first member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to rule over theHoly Roman Empire wasJoseph II, a sovereign raised during theEnlightenment. By the new ideals he brought, he implemented many reforms, most of which were to the detriment of the clergy. Upon his death in 1790, he was succeeded by his brotherLeopold II, who in 1791invited Europe's powers to help the French royal family stifle the ideals of the revolution without military intervention. He died a few days beforeFrance declared war on Austria.
In 1792, Leopold II's sonFrancis II was crowned emperor inFrankfurt. After the beheading of the French sovereigns, he – along with the other European sovereigns – created theFirst Coalition against Revolutionary France. The coalition initially recorded some success but soon began to withdraw, especially inItaly, where the Austrians were repeatedly defeated by the Corsican generalNapoleon Bonaparte.
With theTreaty of Campo Formio in 1797, theDuchy of Milan was handed over to France, while the Austrians gainedVeneto,Istria andDalmatia. This pact was followed by others that reduced the dominion of the Habsburgs to Austria, Bohemia and Hungary. Francis II was also forced todissolve the Holy Roman Empire, but he had already proclaimed himselfEmperor of Austria, in order to retain his imperial status.
After the defeats atLeipzig (1813) andWaterloo (1815), Napoleon was exiled to the island ofSaint Helena, where he died. In the same year as Waterloo, theCongress of Vienna was established, with which the Restoration began. The Congress demanded the restoration of the old regimes. Austria recovered all the Italian, Slavic and German territories that it had lost during theNapoleonic Wars, and theHoly Alliance was also established betweenAustria,Russia andPrussia, which had the task of suppressing all the pro-French or independence revolutionary movements that would have erupted in Europe.
In the years that followed, Francis II pursued a centralization policy on the advice of ChancellorMetternich; but precisely because of it, and emerging ideals of independence, theRevolutions of 1848 broke out, which wracked all of Europe. This led to the expulsion of Metternich from theImperial Chancellery and the rise ofFranz Joseph, replacingFerdinand I, who was forced to abdicate in favour of the 18-year-old man.
Franz Joseph (1830–1916) was the last member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to hold any significant political or military authority in Europe. At the beginning of his reign (1848–1916), Austria was the dominant power in Central Europe, whilst Vienna emerged as one of the greatest metropolitan cities on the continent. The emperor, however, waged theSecond Italian War of Independence and theAustro-Prussian War. Both ended in defeats, which put an end to Austrian supremacy in Italy and Germany, as well as accelerating the gradual decline of the dynasty.
In 1867, Franz Joseph granted effective autonomy to theKingdom of Hungary within the Austrian Empire under the terms of theAusgleich; politically and militarily they were united, but in terms of internal policy and administration, they became separate entities. The title of the head of state became "Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary", although he was also referred to as "Emperor of Austria-Hungary".
With the growing interest ofAustria-Hungary andRussia in the Balkans, strong tensions were created between the Habsburgs and Russia, eventually leading Austria-Hungary to enter into an alliance withGermany andItaly.
In 1914, with theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand inSarajevo, theFirst World War broke out between theCentral Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany,Bulgaria and theOttoman Empire) and theEntente Powers (theBritish Empire,France, Russia and others).
In 1916, Franz Joseph died and was succeeded by his grandnephew,Charles I. Charles (the last sovereign), upon losing the war, renounced the exercise of power but did not abdicate. He was forced into exile on April 3, 1919. TheHabsburg dominions were subsequently divided into independent republics.
The House of Habsburg-Lorraine refused to swear its allegiance to the newRepublic of Austria, therefore family members were forced into exile and their property was confiscated. The law of exile still applies to the descendants of Emperor Charles under the same conditions. In 1961,Otto von Habsburg, the late head of the house and formerly a member of theEuropean Parliament, relinquished the monarchy and the succession rights of his descendants in exchange for an end to exile. He was known in the Republic of Austria as Dr. Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, since the Republic does not officially recognise titles of nobility.[citation needed]
The current leader of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine isKarl von Habsburg, who succeeded his father Otto as head of the imperial house after his father renounced the role in 2007. Karl is the eldest grandson of the last emperor of Austria-Hungary, Charles I, and hisheir apparent is his eldest son,Ferdinand Habsburg, an Austrian racing driver.
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Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747–1792).svg)
Emperor Francis I (1768–1835)Emperor Ferdinand I (1793–1875)
Archduke Franz Karl (1802–1878)Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830–1916)Crown Prince Rudolf (1858–1889).svg)
Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (1832–1867); married toCharlotte of BelgiumArchduke Karl Ludwig (1833–1896)Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914);morganatic marriage toSophie, Duchess of HohenbergArchduke Otto Francis (1865–1906)Emperor Charles I (1887–1922)Crown Prince Otto (1912–2011)Archduke Robert of Austria-Este (1915–1996)Archduke Felix (1916–2011)Archduke Carl Ludwig (1918–2007)Archduke Rudolf (1919–2010)Archduke Maximilian Eugen (1895–1952)Archduke Ferdinand (1918–2004)Archduke Heinrich (1925–2014)
Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1769–1824), founder of the Tuscany branch of the imperial house.Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1797–1870)Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1835–1908)Archduke Gottfried (1902–1984)Archduke Georg (1905–1952)Archduke Karl Salvator, Prince of Tuscany (1839–1892)Archduke Leopold Salvator, Prince of Tuscany (1863–1931)Archduke Anton (1901–1987)Archduke Franz Salvator, Prince of Tuscany (1866–1939)Archduke Hubert Salvator (1894–1971)Archduke Theodore Salvator (1899–1978)Archduke Clemens Salvator (1904–1974); married to Elisabeth Gfn Rességuier de Miremont [marriage retroactively approved as dynastic (only in Austria)][2]Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary (1776–1847)Archduke Joseph Karl (1833–1905)Archduke Joseph August (1872–1962)Archduke Joseph Francis (1895–1957) |  |  |
| Arms of Archdukes & Archduchesses before 11 February 1896 | Arms of Archdukes & Archduchesses after 11 February 1896 | Arms of Archdukes & Archduchesses of the Tuscan branch |
