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FRANCIS IV

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 937 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FRANCIS IV . (1779–1846) See also:duke of See also:Modena, was the son of the See also:archduke See also:Ferdinand, See also:Austrian See also:governor of See also:Lombardy, who acquired the duchy of Modena through his wife See also:Marie See also:Beatrice, heiress of the See also:house of See also:Este as well as of many fiefs of the Malaspina, Pio da See also:Carpi, See also:Pico della See also:Mirandola, Cibo, and other families. At the See also:time of the See also:French invasion (1796) Francis was sent to See also:Vienna to be educated, and in 1809 was appointed governor of See also:Galicia. Later he went to See also:Sardinia, where the exiled See also:King See also:Victor See also:Emmanuel I. and his wife Maria See also:Theresa were living in retirement. The latter arranged a See also:marriage between her daughter Marie Beatrice and Francis, and a See also:secret See also:family compact was made whereby if the king and his two See also:brothers died without male issue, the Salle See also:law would be changed so that Francis should succeed to the See also:kingdom instead of See also:Charles See also:Albert of See also:Carignano (N. Bianchi, Storia della diplomazia europea in Italia, i. 42-43). On the fall of See also:Napoleon in 1814 Francis received the duchy of Modena, including See also:Massa-See also:Carrara and Lunigiana; his See also:mother's See also:advice was " to be above the law . . . never to forgive the Republicans of 1796, nortolisten to the complaints of his subjects, whom nothing satisfies; the poorer they are the quieter they are " (Silingardi, " Ciro Menotti," in Rivista europea, See also:Florence, 188o). The duke was well received at Modena; inordinately ambitious, strong-willed, immensely See also:rich, avaricious but not unintelligent, he soon proved one of the most reactionary despots in See also:Italy. He still hoped to acquire either See also:Piedmont or some other See also:part of See also:northern Italy, and he was in See also:touch with the Sanfedisti and the Concistoro, reactionary See also:Catholic. associations opposed. to the See also:Carbonari; but not always friendly to See also:Austria. Against the Carbonari and other Liberals he issued the severest edicts, and although there was no revolt at Modena in 1821 as in Piedmont and See also:Naples, he immediately instituted judicial proceedings against the supposed conspirators.

Some 350 persons were arrested and tortured, 56 being condemned to See also:

death (only a few of them were executed) and 237 to imprisonment; a large number, however, escaped, including See also:Antonio See also:Panizzi (afterwards director of the See also:British Museum). The ferocious See also:police See also:official Besini who conducted the trials was afterwards murdered. The duke actually proposed to See also:Prince Metternich, the Austrian See also:chancellor, an agreement whereby the various See also:Italian rulers were to See also:arrest every Liberal in the See also:country on a certain See also:day, but the project See also:fell through owing to opposition from the courts of Florence and See also:Rome. At the See also:congress of See also:Verona Metternich made another See also:attempt to secure the Piedmontese See also:succession for Francis, but without success. The duke became ever more despotic; Modena swarmed with spies and informers, See also:education was hampered, See also:feudalism strengthened; for the duke hoped to consolidate his See also:power by means of the See also:nobility, and the least expression of liberalism, or even failure to denounce a Carbonaro, involved arrest and imprisonment. But See also:strange to say, in 1830. we find Francis actually coquetting with revolution. Having lost all See also:hope of acquiring the Piedmontese See also:throne, he entered into negotiations with the French Orleanist party with a view to obtaining its support in his plans for extending his dominions: He was thus brought into touch with Ciro Menotti (1798–1831) and the Modenese Liberals; what the nature of the connexion was is still obscure, but it was certainly See also:short-lived and merely served to betray the Carbonari. As soon as Francis learned that a See also:conspiracy was on See also:foot to gain See also:possession of the See also:town, he had Menotti and several other conspirators arrested on the See also:night of the 3rd of See also:February 1831, and sent the famous See also:message to the governor of Reggio: " The conspirators are in my hands; send me the hangman " (there is some doibt as to the authenticity of the actual words). But the revolt See also:broke out in other parts of the duchy and in Rornagna, and Francis retired to See also:Mantua with Menotti. A provisional See also:government was formed at Modena which proclaimed that " Italy is one," but the duke returned a few See also:weeks later with Austrian troops, and resistance was easily quelled. Then the See also:political trials began; Menotti and two others were executed, and hundreds condemned to imprisonment. The See also:population was now officially divided into four classes, viz.

" very loyal, loyal, less loyal, and disloyal," and the reaction became worse than ever, the duke interfering in the minutest details of See also:

administration, such as hospitals, See also:schools, and roads. New methods of See also:procedure were introduced to See also:deal with political trials, but the ministerial See also:cabal by which the country was administered intrigued and squabbled to such an extent that it had to be dismissed. On the loth of February 1846 Francis died. Although he had many domestic virtues and charming See also:manners, was charitable in times of See also:famine, and was certainly the ablest of the Italian despots, Liberalism was in his eyes the most heinous of crimes., and his reign is one See also:long See also:record of barbarous persecution. (L.

End of Article: FRANCIS IV

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