Joseph continued theWar of the Spanish Succession, begun by his father againstLouis XIV of France, in an attempt to make his younger brotherCharles (later Emperor Charles VI)King of Spain. In the process, however, owing to the victories won by his military commander, PrinceEugene of Savoy, he did succeed in establishing Austrian hegemony over Italy. Joseph also had to contend with a protracted revolt in Hungary, fomented by Louis XIV. Neither conflict was resolved until theTreaty of Utrecht, after his death.
His motto wasAmore et Timore (Latin for "Through Love and Fear").[2] Like his father and grandfather, he was a composer.[3]
Archduke Joseph at the age of six (byBenjamin Block, 1684)
Born inVienna, Joseph was educated strictly byCharles Theodore, Prince of Salm, and became a good linguist. Perhaps due to the influence of his formerly Protestant tutor he was a less devout Catholic than his parents and other relatives and developed into an adherent of the earlyAge of Enlightenment.[4] He had two great enthusiasms: music and hunting.[4]
Although Joseph was the first son and child born of his parents' marriage, he was his father's third son and seventh child. Previously, Leopold had been married to InfantaMargaret Theresa of Spain, who had given him four children, one of whom survived infancy. He then marriedClaudia Felicitas of Austria, who gave him two short-lived daughters. Thus, Joseph had six half-siblings. In 1684, the six-year-old Archduke had his first portrait painted byBenjamin Block. At the age of nine, on 9 December 1687, he was crowned King of Hungary; and at the age of eleven, on 23 January 1690, King of the Romans.
Prior to his ascension, Joseph had surrounded himself with reform-hungry advisors and the young court of Vienna was ambitious in the elaboration of innovative plans. He was described as a "forward-looking ruler".[4] The large number of privy councillors was reduced and attempts were made to make the bureaucracy more efficient. Measures were taken to modernize the central bodies and a certain success was achieved in stabilizing the chronically poor Habsburg finances. Joseph also endeavoured to strengthen his position in the Holy Roman Empire—as a means of strengthening Austria's standing as a great power. When he sought to lay claim to imperial rights in Italy and gain territories for the Habsburgs, he even risked a military conflict with the Pope over theDuchy of Mantua.[4] Joseph I was threatened with excommunication byPope Clement XI on 16 June 1699.[6]
In Hungary, Joseph had inherited thekuruc rebellion from his father Leopold I: once again, nobles inTransylvania (Siebenbürgen) had risen against Habsburg rule, even advancing for a time as far as Vienna. Although Joseph was compelled to take military action, he refrained—unlike his predecessors—from seeking to teach his subjects a lesson by executing the leaders. Instead, he agreed to a compromise peace, which in the long term facilitated the integration ofHungary into the Habsburg domains.[4] It was his good fortune to govern the Austrian dominions and to be head of the Empire, during the years in which his trusted general, Prince Eugene of Savoy, either acting alone in Italy or with theDuke of Marlborough in Germany andFlanders, was beating the armies of Louis XIV of France. During the whole of his reign, Hungary was disturbed by the conflict withFrancis Rákóczi II, who eventually took refuge in theOttoman Empire. The emperor reversed many of the authoritarian measures of his father, thus helping to placate opponents. He began the attempts to settle the question of the Austrian inheritance by apragmatic sanction, which was continued by his brotherCharles VI.[5]
During theRákóczi's rebellion (1703–1711) in the Kingdom of Hungary, Joseph's government was also faced with various religious and ethnic challenges. Significant portion of Hungarian nobility and people belonged to theReformed Church (Calvinists). Hoping to gain full religious freedom and equality, Hungarian Calvinists were supportive for the Rákóczi's movement, thus forcing the imperial court in Vienna to reexamine some staunch pro-Catholic policies.[7] In the same time, eastern and southern regions of the Kingdom were also inhabited byEastern Orthodox Christians, mainlySerbs andRomanians. In order to secure their loyalty, Joseph issued (in 1706) official confirmation of religious liberties that were previously granted to Eastern Orthodox subjects by his father, late emperor Leopold I. In 1708, Joseph confirmed the establishment of theMetropolitanate of Krušedol.[8]
In 1710, Joseph extended his father's edict ofoutlawry against theRomani (Gypsies) in the Habsburg lands. Per Leopold, any Romani who entered the kingdom was to be declared an outlaw byletters patent. If the same person returned to Bohemia a second time, they were to be "treated with all possible severity". Joseph ordered that in theKingdom of Bohemia they were to have their right ears cut off; in theMargraviate of Moravia, the left ear was to be cut off; in Austria, they would be branded on the back with abranding iron, representing thegallows. These mutilations were to enable the authorities to identify Romani who had been outlawed and returned. Joseph's edict specified "that all adult males were to be hanged without trial, whereas women and young males were to be flogged and banished forever." Officials who failed to enforce the edict could be fined 100reichsthaler. Helping Romani was punishable by a half-year'sforced labor. "Mass killings" of Romani were reported as a result.[9]
During thesmallpox epidemic of 1711, which killedLouis, Grand Dauphin and three siblings of the future EmperorFrancis I, Joseph became infected. He died on 17 April in theHofburg palace. He had previously promised his wife to stop having affairs, should he survive.
The Emperor was buried in theImperial Crypt, resting place of the majority of the Habsburgs. His funeral took place on 20 April, in tombno. 35 inKarl's Vault. His tomb was designed byJohann Lukas von Hildebrandt, decorated with pictures of various battles from the War of Spanish Succession.Josefstadt (the eighth district ofVienna) is named for Joseph.
On 24 February 1699, he marriedWilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Vienna. They had three children and their only son died ofhydrocephalus before his first birthday. Joseph had a passion for love affairs (none of which resulted in illegitimate children) and he caught asexually transmittable disease, probablysyphilis, which he passed on to his wife while they were trying to produce a new heir. This incident rendered hersterile.[4] Their father, who was still alive during these events, made Joseph and his brother Charles sign theMutual Pact of Succession, under which Joseph's daughters would have precedence over Charles's daughters, in case neither fathered a son. This ruling, which made no provision for the accession of Charles's daughterMaria Theresa, led to theWar of the Austrian Succession.
^abLouda, Jirí; MacLagan, Michael (1999).Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe (2nd ed.). London: Little, Brown and Company. table 84.
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.
