FRANCIS I of Austria (II as Holy Roman Emperor). — Born 12 Feb. 1768 at Florence, died 2 March 1835 at Vienna. Eldest son of Peter Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany (who ascended the imperial throne in 1765 as LEOPOLD II) and of Maria Luisa of Spain, he was destined from 1769 (when Joseph II, upon the death of his second wife, expressed his wish not to remarry) to govern the Austrian States. In 1774 the education of the young FRANCIS was entrusted to Count Colloredo. Slow of comprehension, of closed and distrustful character, indolent and indifferent, devoid of fantasy and imagination, he did not change these traits even in direct contact with Emperor Joseph II, who in 1784, as heir to the throne, had summoned him to the Hofburg in Vienna and took a lively interest in the education and conduct of his nephew. Upon the death of his uncle in 1790, FRANCIS, 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 created much uncertainty in Viennese circles regarding the political line to follow toward Paris. Intervention was finally decided upon, but after some initial successes the imperial troops had to evacuate the Austrian Netherlands. The First Coalition ended in 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio, which cost FRANCIS the loss of the aforementioned Netherlands and Lombardy but procured for him the acquisition of the Republic of Venice. The provisions of the Peace of Lunéville (1801), which concluded the Second Coalition, nearly annulled the hegemonic position of German Austria, and the Peace of Pressburg (1805), after the defeat at Austerlitz, cost FRANCIS not only the renunciation of territories obtained at Campo Formio but also of some Austrian lands. Having laid down the crown of the Holy Roman Empire on 6 Aug. 1806, FRANCIS once more tried his luck at arms in 1809, with no more fortunate outcome than before. 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 fallen and contributed greatly to the downfall of Bonaparte. At the Congress of Vienna Emperor FRANCIS acquired hegemony in the Italian peninsula and regained the prestige lost in Germany. In his relations with the Catholic Church and the Holy See, FRANCIS was inclined to eliminate points of controversy by mutual agreement through a concordat, but strong resistance from Josephinist circles made the realization of this desire impossible. His conduct was in every way reprehensible, for example, in the case of the imperial cabinet’s treatment both of the Venetian conclave and of the new pope PIUS VII, who encountered every sort of obstacle in his just desire to transfer to Rome.