Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
1708 – 1765 · Generation XVI · Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1745–1765) · Habsburg-Lorraine
Francis (1708 – 1765). Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1745–1765). Married Maria Theresa in 1736. Francis Stephen of Lorraine; Duke of Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany; co-founder of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Raised at the Viennese court from his teens on the understanding that he would marry the emperor’s daughter, he paid a steep price for the match: the settlement of the War of the Polish Succession obliged him to surrender his ancestral Lorraine to the deposed Polish king Stanisław, taking the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in compensation. As emperor he was the last monarch of the Holy Roman Empire not born a Habsburg. Maria Theresa kept the reins of government but gave him charge of the monarchy’s finances, which he handled well. In 1731, at a lodge specially convened in The Hague, he was initiated into freemasonry. Their son Joseph succeeded him as emperor.
One of 20 people of Habsburg-Lorraine (from 1736) in this archive. Maria Theresa’s marriage carried the inheritance into a new name, which its heirs still bear.
Partners
- Married Maria Theresa (1717 – 1780) in 1736 — 9 children together
Children
- Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1741 – 1790)
- Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747 – 1792)
- Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793)
- Maria Carolina of Austria (1752 – 1814)
- Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (1746 – 1804)
- Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (1742 – 1798)
- Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (1743 – 1808)
- Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este (1754 – 1806)
- Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (1756 – 1801)
Life
- 1708 — Born
- 1736 — Married Maria Theresa
- 1765 — Died