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Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

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Charles VI
Johann Gottfried Auerbach 002.JPG
Charles wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, by Martin van Meytens
Holy Roman Emperor[show]
Reign 12 October 1711 20 October 1740
Coronation 22 December 1711, Frankfurt
Predecessor Joseph I
Successor Charles VII
Born 1 October 1685
Hofburg Palace, Vienna
Died 20 October 1740 (aged 55)
Palais Augarten, Vienna
Burial Imperial Crypt
Spouse Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel
Issue
Detail
Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress
Archduchess Maria Anna
Archduchess Maria Amalia
Full name
German Karl Franz Joseph Wenzel Balthasar Johann Anton Ignaz
House Habsburg
Father Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg
Religion Roman Catholicism
Signature Charles VI's signature
Charles VI (1 October 1685 20 October 1740; German Karl VI.) succeeded his elder
brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (as Charles II), King of
Hungary and Croatia, Serbia and Archduke of Austria (as Charles III) in 1711. He
unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain following the death of his relative,
Charles II, in 1700. He married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel, by
whom he had his two children Maria Theresa, the last Habsburg sovereign, and Maria
Anna, Governess of the Austrian Netherlands.

Four years before the birth of Maria Theresa, faced with his lack of male heirs,
Charles provided for a male-line succession failure with the Pragmatic Sanction of
1713. The Emperor favoured his own daughters over those of his elder brother and
predecessor, Joseph I, in the succession, ignoring the decree he had signed during
the reign of his father, Leopold I. Charles sought the other European powers'
approval. They exacted harsh terms Britain demanded that Austria abolish its
overseas trading company.[1] In total, Great Britain, France, Saxony-Poland, the
Dutch Republic, Spain,[2] Venice,[3] States of the Church,[3] Prussia,[4] Russia,
[3] Denmark,[4] Savoy-Sardinia,[4] Bavaria,[4] and the Diet of the Holy Roman
Empire[4] recognised the sanction. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria and
Prussia later reneged. Charles died in 1740, sparking the War of the Austrian
Succession, which plagued his successor, Maria Theresa, for eight years.

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Early years
1.2 Succession to the Habsburg dominions
1.3 Death and legacy
2 Children
3 Titles, styles, honours and arms
3.1 Titles and styles
3.2 Titles
4 Heraldry
5 Ancestors
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]

The future Emperor Charles VI


Archduke Charles (baptized Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar
Johannes Antonius Ignatius), the second son of the Emperor Leopold I and of his
third wife, Princess Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, was born on 1 October 1685. His
tutor was Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein.

Following the death of Charles II of Spain, in 1700, without any direct heir,
Charles declared himself King of Spainboth were members of the House of Habsburg.
[5] The ensuing War of the Spanish Succession, which pitted France's candidate,
Philip, Duke of Anjou, Louis XIV of France's grandson, against Austria's Charles,
lasted for almost 14 years. The Kingdom of Portugal, Kingdom of England, Scotland,
Ireland and the majority of the Holy Roman Empire endorsed Charles's candidature.
[6] Charles III, as he was known, disembarked in his kingdom in 1705, and stayed
there for six years, only being able to exercise his rule in Catalonia, until the
death of his brother, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; he returned to Vienna to assume
the imperial crown.[7] Not wanting to see Austria and Spain in personal union
again, the new Kingdom of Great Britain withdrew its support from the Austrian
coalition, and the war culminated with the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt three
years later. The former, ratified in 1713, recognised Philip as King of Spain,
however, the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Austrian Netherlands and
the Kingdom of Sardinia all previously possessions of the Spanishwere ceded to
Austria.[8] To prevent a union of Spain and France, Philip was forced to renounce
his right to succeed his grandfather's throne. Charles was extremely discontented
at the loss of Spain, and as a result, he mimicked the staid Spanish Habsburg court
ceremonial, adopting the dress of a Spanish monarch, which, according to British
historian Edward Crankshaw, consisted of a black doublet and hose, black shoes and
scarlet stockings.[8]

Charles's father and his advisors went about arranging a marriage for him. Their
eyes fell upon Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel, the eldest child of
Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbttel. She was held to be strikingly
beautiful by her contemporaries.[9] On 1 August 1708, in Barcelona, Charles married
her by proxy. She gave him two daughters that survived to adulthood, Maria Theresa
and Maria Anna.

Succession to the Habsburg dominions[edit]


Lack of sons irked Charles and eventually led to the promulgation of the Pragmatic
Sanction of 1713, a document which abolished male-only succession (hitherto
effective in all the Habsburg realms except for Hungary, where Charles only
succeeded to get it approved in 1723) and declared his lands indivisible.[10] The
Emperor favoured his own daughters over those of his elder brother and predecessor,
Joseph I, in the succession, ignoring the Mutual Pact of Succession he had signed
during the reign of his father, Leopold I. For the next twenty years, Charles
sought approval of the Sanction from the other European powers. They exacted harsh
terms for instance, Britain demanded that Austria abolish the Ostend Company.[11]
In total, Great Britain, France, Saxony-Poland, the Dutch Republic, Spain,[12]
Venice,[3] States of the Church,[3] Prussia,[4] Russia,[3] Denmark,[4] Savoy-
Sardinia,[4] Bavaria,[4] and the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire[4] recognised the
sanction. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria and Prussia later reneged.

Charles VI with his wife Empress Elisabeth Christine and their daughters in 1730
For a short time, however, it seemed that the Pragmatic Sanction was gratuitous,
when Elisabeth Christine gave birth to a baby boy in 1716. But he died soon after.
A year later, Maria Theresa, his elder surviving child, was born. Contemporaries
wrote that at her baptismal ceremony, Charles, despite his best efforts, appeared
upset at the child's gender.[13] The next year saw the arrival of another girl,
Maria Anna.

Charles was successful in the Austro-Turkish War of 171618, adding Banat to


Hungary, and establishing direct Austrian rule over Serbia and Oltenia (Lesser
Wallachia). This extended Austrian rule to the lower Danube.[6]

The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720) followed. It too ended in an Austrian
victory; by the Treaty of The Hague (1720), Charles swapped Sardinia, which went to
the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus, for Sicily, the largest island in the
Mediterranean, which was harder to defend than Sardinia.[14] The treaty also
recognised Philip V of Spain's younger son, Don Carlos (the future Charles III of
Spain), as heir to the Duchy of Parma and Grand Duchy of Tuscany; Charles had
previously endorsed the succession of the incumbent Grand Duke's daughter, Anna
Maria Luisa, Electress Palatine.[15]

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