Francis I of Austria (II as Holy Roman Emperor)

FRANCIS I OF AUSTRIA (II as Holy Roman Emperor). - B. 12 Feb. 1768 in Florence, d. 2 March 1835 in Vienna. The firstborn son of Peter Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany (who ascended the imperial throne in 1790 as Leopold II) and of Maria Luisa of Spain, he was destined from 1769 onward (when Joseph II, upon the death of his second wife, expressed the wish not to marry again) for the government of the Austrian states. In 1774 the education of the young F. was entrusted to Count Colloredo. Slow of understanding, of a closed and distrustful character, apathetic and indifferent, devoid of fantasy and imagination, he did not change these characteristics of his even through direct contact with the emperor Joseph II, who in 1784, as heir to the throne, had had him come to the Hofburg in Vienna and took a keen interest in the education and the attitudes of his nephew. Much [was done] by his uncle in 1790; F., after the brief imperial interlude of his father, which lasted no more than two years, obtained the government of the Austrian states.

The times were exceedingly difficult. The events in France had produced in court circles much uncertainty about the political line to follow toward Paris. In the end intervention was decided upon, but, after some initial success, the imperial troops had to evacuate the Austrian Netherlands. The first coalition ended in 1797 with the Treaty of Campoformio, which cost F. the loss of the aforementioned Netherlands and of Lombardy, but procured for him the acquisition of the Republic of Venice. The provisions of the Peace of Lunéville (1801), which put an end to the second coalition, almost entirely annulled Austria's hegemonic position in Germany, and the Peace of Bratislava (1805), after the defeat of Austerlitz, cost F. not only the renunciation of the territories obtained at Campoformio but also of some Austrian lands. Having laid down on 6 Aug. 1806 the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, F. once again tried the fortune of arms in 1809, with an outcome no more fortunate than the previous ones. To save what could be saved, the following year he gave his daughter Maria Luisa in marriage to Napoleon. At the same time he entrusted the direction of foreign affairs to Metternich, who slowly raised Austria from the abyss into which it had plunged and contributed greatly to the fall of Bonaparte. With the Congress of Vienna the emperor F. acquired hegemony in the Italian peninsula and regained the prestige lost in Germany. In relations with the Catholic Church and with the Holy See, F. was inclined to eliminate the points in dispute by common agreement, by means of a concordat, but the strong resistance coming from Josephinist circles made the realization of this desire impossible. Equally reprehensible was in every way, for example, the conduct of the imperial cabinet both with regard to the Conclave of Venice and with respect to the new pope Pius VII, who encountered every sort of obstacle in his just desire to move to Rome.

Silvio Furlani