Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
HOUSE OF 791
See also:power in See also:Italy. A See also:mass of See also:northern Italy, including her former possessions in See also:Milan and the neighbourhood, and also the lands recently forming the See also:republic of See also:Venice, was made into the See also:kingdom of See also:Lombardy-See also:Venetia, and this owned the See also:emperor of See also:Austria as See also: By the loss of the predominance in Germany conceded to it by the See also:treaties of See also:Vienna, and by the shifting of its " centre of gravity " eastward, the Habsburg monarchy, however, perhaps gained more than it lost. One necessary result, indeed, was the See also:composition (Ausgleich) with Hungary in 1867, by which the latter became an See also:independent state (Francis Joseph being crowned king at Pest in See also:June 1867) See also:bound to the See also:rest of the monarchy only by the machinery necessary for the carrying out of a See also:common policy in matters of common See also:interest. This at least restored the loyalty of the Hungarians to the Habsburg See also:dynasty; it is too soon yet to say that it secured permanently the essential unity of the Habsburg monarchy. By the See also:system of the Dual Monarchy the rest of the Austrian emperor's dominions (Cis-Leithan) were consolidated under a single central See also:government, the See also:history of which has been mainly that of the See also:rival races within the empire struggling for See also:political predominance. Since the development of the constitution has been consistently in a democratic direction and the Slays are in a See also:great See also:majority, the tendency has been for the German See also:element—strong in its social status and tradition of predominance—to be swamped by what it regards as an inferior See also:race; and a considerable number of Austrian " Germans " have learned to look not to their Habsburg rulers, but to the power of the German empire for political salvation. The tendency eastwards of the monarchy was increased when in 1878 the See also:congress of See also:Berlin placed Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austrian rule. Old ambitions were now revived at the expense of the See also:Ottoman empire, the See also:goal of which was the See also:port of See also:Salonica; and not the least menacing aspect of the question of the near See also:East has been that the rivalry of Italy and the Habsburg monarchy has been transferred to the See also:Balkan See also:peninsula. Yet, in spite of internal dissensions arising out of questions fundamentally insoluble, and in spite of the See also:constant See also:threat of See also:external complications that may See also:lead to war, the Habsburg monarchy as the result of the changes in the 19th and loth centuries is seemingly stronger than ever. The See also:shadow of universal claims to empire and sonorous but empty titles have vanished, but so have the manifold rivalries and entanglements which accompanied the Habsburg rule in Italy and the See also:Netherlands and Habsburg preponderance in Germany. The monarchy is stronger because its See also:sphere is more defined; because as preserving the See also:pax See also:Romana among the jostling races of eastern See also:Europe, it is more than ever recognized as an essential element in the maintenance of See also:European See also:peace, and is recognized as necessary and beneficial even by the ambitious and restless nationalities that chafe under its rule. A few words must be said about the See also:cadet branches of the Habsburg See also:family. When, in 1765, Francis I. died and Joseph II. became emperor, the See also:grand-duchy of See also:Tuscany passed by See also:special arrangement not to Joseph, but to his younger See also:brother See also:Leopold. Then in 1791, after Leopold had succeeded Joseph as emperor, he handed over the grand-duchy to his second son, Ferdinand (1769–1824). In 18o1 this See also:prince was deposed by Napoleon and Tuscany was seized by France. Restored to the Habsburgs in the See also:person of Ferdinand in 1814, it remained under his rule, and then under that of his son Leopold (1797–1870), until the rising of 18J9, when the Austrians were driven out and the grand-duchy was added to the kingdom of Sardinia. A similar See also:fate attended the duchy of See also:Modena, which had passed to the Habsburgs through the See also:marriage of its heiress See also:Mary See also:Beatrice of See also:Este (d. 1829) with the See also:archduke Ferdinand (1754–1806), brother of the emperor Leopold II. From 1814 to 1846 this duchy was governed by Ferdinand's son, See also:Duke Francis IV., and from 1846 to 1859 by his See also:grandson, Francis V. This family became See also:extinct on the See also:death of Francis V. in 1875.
In addition to his successor Francis II., and to Ferdinand, grand-duke of Tuscany, the emperor Leopold II. had eight sons, five of whom, including the archduke See also: The grand-duke's See also:fourth son was the archduke John Nepomuck Salvator, who, after serving in the Austrian army, resigned all his rights and titles and under the name of Johann Orth took command of .a sailing See also:vessel. He is supposed to have been drowned off the See also:coast of See also:South See also:America in 1891, but reports of his continued existence were circulated from time to time after that date. Of the emperor Leopold's other sons the archduke Charles, perhaps the most distinguished soldier of the family, See also:left four sons, including See also:Albert, duke of See also:Teschen (1817–1895), who inherited some of his father's military ability. Charles's family was in 1909 represented by his grandsons, the sons of the archduke Charles Ferdinand (1818–1874). The archduke Joseph (1776–1847), See also:palatine of Hungary, was represented by a grandson, Joseph See also:Augustus (b. 1872), and the archduke Rainer (1783–18J3), See also:viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, by a son Rainer (b. 1827), and by several grandsons. The eldest and reigning See also:branch of the family was in 1909 represented by the emperor Francis Joseph, whose father was the archduke Francis Charles (1802–1878), and whose grandfather was the emperor Francis II. Francis Joseph's only son See also:Rudolph died in 1889; consequently the See also:heir to the Habsburg monarchy was the emperor's nephew Francis Ferdinand (b. 1863), the eldest of the three sons of his brother Charles Louis (1833–1896). In 1875 Francis Ferdinand inherited the See also:wealth of the Este family and took the title of archduke of Austria-Este; in 1900 he contracted a morganatic marriage with See also:Sophia, countess of Chotek, renouncing for his sons the See also:succession to the monarchy. Thus after Francis Ferdinand this would pass to the sons of his brother, the archduke See also:Otto (1865–1906). One of the emperor's three See also:brothers was See also:Maximilian, emperor of See also:Mexico from 1863 to 1867.
With the exception of Charles V. the Habsburgs have produced no statesmen of great ability, while several members of the family have displayed marked traces of See also:insanity. Nevertheless they secured, and for over 350 years they kept, the first place among the potentates of Europe; a dignity in origin and theory elective becoming in practice hereditary in their house. This position they owe to some extent to the tenacity with which they have clung to the various lands and dignities which have passed into their See also:possession, but they owe it much more to a See also:series of fortunate marriages and opportune deaths. The See also:union of Maximilian and Mary of See also:Burgundy, of See also: Weihrich, Stammtafel zur Geschichte des Hauses Habsburg (Vienna, 1893). For the history of the Habsburg monarchy see Langl, Die Habsburg and die denkwurdigen Statten ihrer Umgebung (Vienna, 1895) ; and E. A. See also:Freeman, See also:Historical See also:Geography of Europe (1881). Two See also:English books on the subject are J. See also:Gilbart-See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
[back] HOURS, CANONICAL |
[next] HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic lang... |