Francis I (Francis Stephen; 8 December 1708 - 18 August 1765) was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.
He was born in Nancy, Lorraine (now in France), the oldest surviving son of Leopold Joseph, duke of Lorraine, and his wife Elizabeth Charlotte, daughter of Philippe I, duc d'Orleans and Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine. He was connected with the Habsburgs through his grandmother Eleanore, daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III, and wife of Charles Leopold of Lorraine, his grandfather.
Emperor Charles VI favored the family, who, besides being his cousins, had served the house of Austria with distinction. He had designed to marry his daughter Maria Theresa to Francis' older brother Clement. On Clement's death, Charles adopted the younger brother as his future son-in-law. Francis was brought up in Vienna with Maria Theresa on the understanding that they were to be married, and a real affection arose between them.
1759 HA Francis I Taler - PCGS AU-53
At the age of 15, when he was brought to Vienna, he was established in the Silesian Duchy of Cieszyn, which had been mediatized and granted to his father by the emperor in 1722. He succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine in 1729, but the emperor, at the end of the War of the Polish Succession, agreed to compensate the French candidate Stanislaus Leszczynski for the loss of his crown in 1735 and persuaded Francis to exchange Lorraine for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
On 12 February 1736 Francis and Maria Theresa were married, and they went for a short time to Florence, when he succeeded to the grand duchy on the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici, the last of the ruling house of Medici. His wife secured in the Treaty of Fussen his election to the Empire on 13 September 1745, in succession to Charles VII, and she made him co-regent of her hereditary dominions.
Francis was well content to leave the wielding of power to his able wife. He had a natural fund of good sense and some business capacity and was a useful assistant to Maria Theresa in the laborious task of governing the complicated Austrian dominions, but his functions appear to have been primarily secretarial. He also took a great interest in the natural sciences. He was a member of the Freemasons.
Francis was quite the philanderer and was known for his many indiscreet affairs, notably one with Princess Auersperg, who was thirty years his junior. This particular affair has been remarked upon the letters and journals of visitors to the court and his children.
He died suddenly in his carriage while returning from the opera at Innsbruck on 18 August 1765. He is buried in tomb number 55 in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.
Maria Theresa and Francis I had sixteen children- their youngest daughter was the future queen consort of France, Marie Antoinette (1755-1793). He was officially succeeded by his eldest son Joseph II although the real power remained with his wife.
Posted 09/12/2009 6:35 pm
