This date in History. October 12, 1822: Dom Pedro of Portugal is proclaimed Emperor of Brazil.

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Empire of Brazil, Franz I of Austria, John VI of Portugal, Kingdom of Portugal, Maria II of Portugal, Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Pedro I of Brazil, Pedro IV of Portugal

Pedro I (October 12, 1798 – September 24, 1834), nicknamed “the Liberator”, was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Pedro IV, he reigned briefly over Portugal, where he also became known as “the Liberator” as well as “the Soldier King.”

Pedro was born on October 12, 1798 in the Queluz Royal Palace near Lisbon, Portugal. He was named after St. Peter of Alcantara, and his full name was Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim. He was referred to using the honorific “Dom” (Lord) from birth.

Pedro I-IV, Emperor of Brazil, King of Portugal and the Algarves.

Through his father, Prince Dom João (later King João VI of Portugal) Pedro was a member of the House of Braganza and a grandson of King Pedro III and Queen Maria I of Portugal, who were uncle and niece as well as husband and wife. His mother was Infanta Doña Carlota Joaquina of Spain (1775 –1830), and was by birth a member of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon and an Infanta of Spain and by marriage Queen consort of Portugal.

Doña Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen consort of Portugal.

King João VI of Portugal and the Algarves.

Eldest daughter of King Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma, she was married in May 1785 aged 10 with Infante João, Lord of the Infantado and Duke of Beja, second son of Queen Maria I of Portugal, in an attempt to cement ties between the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal.

Pedro’s parents had an unhappy marriage. Carlota Joaquina was an ambitious woman, who always sought to advance Spain’s interests, even to the detriment of Portugal’s. Reputedly unfaithful to her husband, she went as far as to plot his overthrow in league with dissatisfied Portuguese nobles.

As the second eldest son (though the fourth child), Pedro became his father’s heir apparent and Prince of Beira upon the death of his elder brother Francisco António in 1801. Prince Dom João had been acting as regent on behalf of his mother, Queen Maria I, after she was declared incurably insane in 1792. By 1802, Pedro’s parents were estranged; João lived in the Mafra National Palace and Carlota Joaquina in Ramalhão Palace. Pedro and his siblings resided in the Queluz Palace with their grandmother Maria I, far from their parents, whom they saw only during state occasions at Queluz.

In late November 1807, when Pedro was nine, the royal family escaped from Portugalas an invading French army sent by Napoleon approached Lisbon. Pedro and his family arrived in Rio de Janeiro, capital of Brazil, then Portugal’s largest and wealthiest colony, in March 1808. During the voyage, Pedro read Virgil’s Aeneidand conversed with the ship’s crew, picking up navigational skills.

In Brazil, after a brief stay in the City Palace, Pedro settled with his younger brother Migueland their father in the Palace of São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher). Although never on intimate terms with his father, Pedro loved him and resented the constant humiliation his father suffered at the hands of Carlota Joaquina due to her extramarital affairs. As an adult, Pedro would openly call his mother, for whom he held only feelings of contempt, a “bitch.” The early experiences of betrayal, coldness and neglect had a great impact on the formation of Pedro’s character.

The outbreak of the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Lisbon compelled Pedro I’s father to return to Portugal in April 1821, leaving him to rule Brazil as regent. He had to deal with threats from revolutionaries and insubordination by Portuguese troops, all of which he subdued. The Portuguese government’s threat to revoke the political autonomy that Brazil had enjoyed since 1808 was met with widespread discontent in Brazil. Pedro I chose the Brazilian side and declared Brazil’s independence from Portugal on September 7, 1822. On 12 October 12, 1822 he was acclaimed Brazilian emperor and by March 1824 had defeated all armies loyal to Portugal. A few months later, Pedro I crushed the short-lived Confederation of the Equator, a failed secession attempt by provincial rebels in Brazil’s northeast.

Emperor Pedro I of Brazil

Pedro’s character was marked by an energetic drive that bordered on hyperactivity. He was impetuous with a tendency to be domineering and short-tempered. Easily bored or distracted, in his personal life he entertained himself with dalliances with women in addition to his hunting and equestrian activities.

His restless spirit compelled him to search for adventure, and, sometimes in disguise as a traveler, he frequented taverns in Rio de Janeiro’s disreputable districts. He rarely drank alcohol, but was an incorrigible womanizer. His earliest known lasting affair was with a French dancer called Noémi Thierry, who had a stillborn child by him. Pedro’s father, who had ascended the throne as João VI, sent Thierry away to avoid jeopardizing the prince’s betrothal to Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria.

Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria.

She was born Caroline Josepha Leopoldine Franziska Ferdinanda of Habsburg-Lorraine in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II (Franz I, Emperor of Austria) and his second wife, Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily. Among her many siblings were Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.

On May 13, 1817, Pedro was married by proxy to Maria Leopoldina. When she arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 5 November 5, she immediately fell in love with Pedro, who was far more charming and attractive than she had been led to expect. After “years under a tropical sun, his complexion was still light, his cheeks rosy.” The 19-year-old prince was handsome and a little above average in height, with bright dark eyes and dark brown hair. “His good appearance”, said historian Neill Macaulay, “owed much to his bearing, proud and erect even at an awkward age, and his grooming, which was impeccable. Habitually neat and clean, he had taken to the Brazilian custom of bathing often.” The Nuptial Mass, with the ratification of the vows previously taken by proxy, occurred the following day. Seven children resulted from this marriage: Maria (later Queen Maria II of Portugal), Miguel, João, Januária, Paula, Francisca and Pedro (later Emperor Pedro II of Brazil).

A secessionist rebellion in the southern province of Cisplatina in early 1825, and the subsequent attempt by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata to annex it, led the Empire into the Cisplatine War. In March 1826, Pedro I briefly became king of Portugal before abdicating in favor of his eldest daughter, Dona Maria II. The situation worsened in 1828 when the war in the south resulted in Brazil’s loss of Cisplatina. During the same year in Lisbon, Maria II’s throne was usurped by Prince Dom Miguel, Pedro I’s younger brother. The Emperor’s concurrent and scandalous sexual affair with a female courtier tarnished his reputation. Other difficulties arose in the Brazilian parliament, where a struggle over whether the government would be chosen by the monarch or by the legislature dominated political debates from 1826 to 1831. Unable to deal with problems in both Brazil and Portugal simultaneously, on April 7, 1831 Pedro I abdicated in favor of his son Dom Pedro II, and sailed for Europe.

Pedro I invaded Portugal at the head of an army in July 1832. Faced at first with what seemed a national civil war, he soon became involved in a wider conflict that enveloped the Iberian Peninsula in a struggle between proponents of liberalism and those seeking a return to absolutism. Pedro I died of tuberculosis on 24 September 1834, just a few months after he and the liberals had emerged victorious. He was hailed by both contemporaries and posterity as a key figure who helped spread the liberal ideals that allowed Brazil and Portugal to move from absolutist regimes to representative forms of government.

Except for bouts of epilepsy that manifested in seizures every few years, Pedro had always enjoyed robust health. The war, however, undermined his constitution and by 1834 he was dying of tuberculosis. He was confined to his bed in Queluz Royal Palace from September 10. Pedro dictated an open letter to the Brazilians, in which he begged that a gradual abolition of slavery be adopted. He warned them: “Slavery is an evil, and an attack against the rights and dignity of the human species, but its consequences are less harmful to those who suffer in captivity than to the Nation whose laws allow slavery. It is a cancer that devours its morality.” After a long and painful illness, Pedro died at 14:30 on September 24, 1834. As he had requested, his heart was placed in Porto’s Lapa Church and his body was interred in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza

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History of Germany. Part VIII: The Imperial Title and the Holy Roman Empire.

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Charlemagne, Charles the Great, Conrad I of Germany, Golden Bull, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, Imperial Title, Otto the Great, Pope John XII, Pope Leo III, Voltaire

In this final post on the history of the development of the Holy Roman Empire, I will summarize what I’ve previously written along with an examination of the imperial title itself. Very often Royal titles give an indication and history of the country at certain points in History.

The Kingdom of Germany started out as the eastern section of the Frankish kingdom, which was split by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The rulers of the eastern area thus called themselves rex Francorum, king of the Franks, and later just rex. A reference to the “Germans”, indicating the emergence of a German nation of some sort, did not appear until the eleventh century, when the pope referred to his enemy Henry IV as rex teutonicorum, king of the Germans, in order to brand him as a foreigner. The kings reacted by consistently using the title rex Romanorum, King of the Romans, to emphasize their universal rule even before becoming emperor. This title remained until the end of the Empire in 1806, though after 1508 Emperors-elect added “king in Germany” to their titles. ote: in this and related entries, the kings are called kings of Germany, for clarity’s sake)

Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire

On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne (Charles I the Great) as Emperor, reviving the Imperial title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the earlier ancient Western Roman Empire in 476. The title continued in the Carolingian family until 888 and from 896 to 899, after which it was contested by the rulers of Italy in a series of civil wars until the death of the last Italian claimant, Berengar I, in 924.

The title was revived again in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries. Some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while other historians, myself included, prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, describing a gradual assumption of the imperial title and role.

The exact term “Holy Roman Empire” was not used until the 13th century, but the concept of translatio imperii, the notion that the sovereign ruler held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Rome, was fundamental to the prestige of the title of emperor. The office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. The mostly German prince-electors, the highest-ranking noblemen of the empire, usually elected one of their peers as “King of the Romans”, and he would later be crowned emperor by the Pope; the tradition of papal coronations was discontinued in the 16th century.

Imperial Title

Coronation Chair of Charlemagne at Achen.

It is important to distinguish between the universalist and localist conceptions of the empire, which remain controversial among historians. According to the former, the empire was a universal monarchy, a “commonwealth of the whole world, whose sublime unity transcended every minor distinction”; and the emperor “was entitled to the obedience of Christendom”. According to the latter, the emperor had no ambition for universal dominion; his realm was limited in the same way as that of every other ruler, and when he made more far-reaching claims his object was normally to ward off the attacks either of the Pope or of the Byzantine emperor. According to this view, also, the origin of the empire is to be explained by specific local circumstances rather than by overarching theories.

According to Ohnsorge, for a long time, it had been the custom of Byzantium to designate the German princes as spiritual “sons” of the Romans. What might have been acceptable in the fifth century had become provoking and insulting to the Franks in the eighth century. Charles came to believe that the Roman emperor, who claimed to head the world hierarchy of states, was, in reality, no greater than Charles himself, a king as other kings, since beginning in 629 he had entitled himself “Basileus” (translated literally as “king”).

Historian Onhsorge finds it significant that the chief wax seal of Charles, which bore only the inscription: “Christe, protege Carolum regem Francorum [Christ, protect Charles, king of the Franks], was used from 772 to 813, even during the imperial period and was not replaced by a special imperial seal; indicating that Charles himself felt to be just the king of the Franks. Finally, Ohnsorge points out that in the spring of 813 at Aachen Charles crowned his only surviving son, Louis, as the emperor without recourse to Rome with only the acclamation of his Franks. The form in which this acclamation was offered was Frankish-Christian rather than Roman. This implies both independence from Rome and a Frankish (non-Roman) understanding of empire.

After the coronation of Charlemagne, his Successors in the Carolingian family retained the title of Emperor for years to come, but divisions of territory and in-fighting over supremacy of the Frankish state weakened its importance. This why, after the death of Berengar I of Italy (Lombards) in 924, the last Carolingian to hold the Imperial title; who ruled over a small territor, the Imperial title fell by the wayside during a comparatively brief interregnum between 924 and the coronation of Otto the Great in 962.

The papacy itself never forgot the title nor abandoned the right to bestow it. With the resurgence of the Imperial title with the coronation of Otto the Great in 962 is taken as marking the transition from the Frankish Empire to the Holy Roman Empire. Under the Ottonians, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire.

Imperial Crown of Emperor Rudolf II.

The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was “August Emperor of the Romans” (Romanorum Imperator Augustus). When Charlemagne was crowned in 800, he was styled as “most serene Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, governing the Roman Empire,” thus constituting the elements of “Holy” and “Roman” in the imperial title. The word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents.

The word Roman was a reflection of the principle of translatio imperii (or in this case restauratio imperii) that regarded the (Germanic) Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, despite the continued existence of the Eastern Roman Empire. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser (“Roman-German emperor”) is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, and that of German Emperor (Deutscher Kaiser) on the other. The English term “Holy Roman Emperor” is a modern shorthand for “emperor of the Holy Roman Empire” not corresponding to the historical style or title. 

The term sacrum (i.e., “holy”) in connection with the German Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was “August Emperor of the Romans” (Romanorum Imperator Augustus). When Charlemagne was crowned in 800, he was styled as “most serene Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, governing the Roman Empire,” thus constituting the elements of “Holy” and “Roman” in the imperial title.

King of the Romans

The title originally referred to any elected king who had not yet been granted the Imperial Regalia and title of “Emperor” at the hands of the Pope. Later it came to be used solely for the heir apparent to the Imperial throne between his election (during the lifetime of a sitting Emperor) and his succession upon the death of the Emperor.

The territory of East Francia was not referred to as the Kingdom of Germany or Regnum Teutonicum (Latinised from Old High German diutisc) by contemporary sources until the 11th century. During this time, the king’s claim to coronation was increasingly contested by the papacy culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy. After the Salian heir apparent Henry IV, a six-year-old minor, had been elected to rule the Empire in 1056 he adopted Romanorum Rex as a title to emphasize his sacred entitlement to be crowned Emperor by the Pope. Pope Gregory VII insisted on using the derogatory term Teutonicorum Rex (“King of the Germans”) in order to imply that Henry’s authority was merely local and did not extend over the whole Empire. Henry continued to regularly use the title Romanorum Rex until he finally was crowned Emperor by Antipope Clement III in 1084. Henry’s successors imitated this practice, and were also called Romanorum Rex before and Romanorum Imperator after their Roman coronations.

Medieval practice

Candidates for the kingship were at first the heads of the Germanic stem duchies. As these units broke up, rulers of smaller principalities and even non-Germanic rulers were considered for the position. The only requirements generally observed were that the candidate be an adult male, a Catholic Christian, and not in holy orders. The kings were elected by several Imperial Estates (secular princes as well as Prince-Bishops), often in the imperial city of Frankfurt after 1147, a custom recorded in the Schwabenspiegel code in about 1275.

Originally all noblemen present could vote by unanimous acclamation, but later a franchise was granted to only the most eminent bishops and noblemen, and according to the Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Emperor Charles IV only the seven Prince-electors had the right to participate in a majority voting as determined by the 1338 Declaration of Rhense. They were the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne as well as the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Saxon duke, and the Margrave of Brandenburg. After the Investiture Controversy, Charles intended to strengthen the legal status of the Rex Romanorum beyond Papal approbation. Consequently, among his successors only Sigismund and Frederick III were still crowned Emperors in Rome and in 1530 Charles V was the last king to receive the Imperial Crown at the hands of the Pope (in Bologna). Gradually the election became the privilege of a group of princes called electors, and the Golden Bull of 1356 formally defined election proceedings. The Golden Bull remained effective as constitutional law until the Empire’s dissolution in 1806.

After his election, the new king would be crowned as King of the Romans (Romanorum Rex), usually at Charlemagne’s throne in Aachen Cathedral by the Archbishop of Cologne. Though the ceremony was no more than a symbolic validation of the election result, it was solemnly celebrated. The details of Otto’s coronation in 936 are described by the medieval chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae. The kings received the Imperial Crown from at least 1024, at the coronation of Conrad II. In 1198 the Hohenstaufen candidate Philip of Swabia was crowned Rex Romanorum at Mainz Cathedral (as was King Rupert centuries later), but he had another coronation in Aachen after he had prevailed against his Welf rival Otto IV.

Not all Kings of the Romans made this step, sometimes because of hostile relations with the Pope, or because either the pressure of business at home or warfare in Germany or Italy made it impossible for the King to make the journey. In such cases, the king might retain the title “King of the Romans” for his entire reign.

Later developments

The title Romanorum Rex became functionally obsolete after 1508, when the Pope permitted King Maximilian I to use the title of Electus Romanorum Imperator (“elected Emperor of the Romans”) after he failed in a good-faith attempt to journey to Rome. At this time Maximilian also took the new title “King of the Germans” or “King in Germany” (Germaniae rex, König in Germanien), but the latter was never used as a primary title.

The rulers of the Empire thereafter called themselves “Emperors” without going to Rome or soliciting Papal approval, taking the title as soon as they were crowned in Germany or upon the death of a sitting Emperor if they were elected as heir to the throne.

It is interesting to note that not all monarchs listed as Holy Roman Emperors held the imperial title, holding only the title King of Germany. Several rulers were crowned King of the Romans (King of Germany) but not emperor, although they styled themselves thus, among whom were: Conrad I of Germany and Henry I the Fowler in the 10th century, and Conrad IV, Rudolf I, Adolf and Albert I (all from the house of Habsburg) during the interregnum of the late 13th century.

Also, depending on the source one uses that lists the the emperors, there is disagreement to who was or was not a Holy Roman Emperor. For example, both Conrad I and Henry I the Fowler are included on some lists despite never holding the Imperial title, while other lists do not include them. Some lists do not include Berengar I of Italy, the last to hold the Imperial title.

Sorry to belabor the point but, Traditional historiography assumes a continuity between the Carolingian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, while a modern convention takes the coronation of Otto I in 962 as the starting point of the Holy Roman Empire.

In conclusion The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western and Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also included the neighboring Kingdom of Bohemia and Kingdom of Italy, plus numerous other territories, and soon after the Kingdom of Burgundy was added. Its size gradually diminished over time, particularly from 1648 onward, and by the time of its dissolution, it largely contained only German-speaking territories plus the Kingdom of Bohemia which was bordered by the German lands on three sides.

In a famous assessment of the Empire, the political philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778) remarked sardonically: “This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”

History of Germany Part VII: Otto the Great and the founding of the Holy Roman Empire.

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Berengar of Fruili, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Germany, Kingdom of Italy, Otto I the Great, Otto the Great, Pope John XII

After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, the briefly reunited Carolingian Empire broke apart, and was never restored. According to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm “spewed forth kinglets”, and each part elected a kinglet “from its own bowels”. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy. The last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924.

Berengar I (c. 845 – April 7, 924) was the king of Italy from 887. He was the Roman Emperor between 915 and his death in 924. He is usually known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Friuli from 874 until at least 890, but he had lost control of the region by 896.

Berengar rose to become one of the most influential laymen in the empire of Charles the Fat, and he was elected to replace Charles in Italy after the latter’s deposition in November 887. His long reign of 36 years saw him opposed by no less than seven other claimants to the Italian throne. His reign is usually characterised as “troubled” because of the many competitors for the crown and because of the arrival of Magyar raiders in Western Europe. He was the last emperor before Otto the Great was crowned in 962, after a 38-year interregnum.

Otto I (November 23, 912 – May 7, 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great, was German king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Heinric I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, the daughter of the local count Dietrich and his wife Reinhild, a noblewoman of Danish and Frisian descent.

Otto inherited the Duchy of Saxony and the kingship of the Germans upon his father’s death in 936. He continued his father’s work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies. This reduced the various dukes, who had previously been co-equals with the king, to royal subjects under his authority. Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to strengthen royal authority and subjected its clergy to his personal control.

The Hungarians (Magyars) invaded Otto’s domain as part of the larger Hungarian invasions of Europe and ravaged much of Southern Germany. Though Otto had installed the Margraves Hermann Billung and Gero on his kingdom’s northern and northeastern borders, the Principality of Hungary to the southeast was a permanent threat to German security. The Hungarians took advantage of the kingdom’s civil war and invaded the Duchy of Bavaria in spring 954. Though Liudolf, Duke of Swabia, and Conrad, Duke of Lorraine, had successfully prevented the Hungarians from invading their own territories in the west, the invaders managed to reach the Rhine River, sacking much of Bavaria and Franconia in the process.

The Hungarians, encouraged by their successful raids, began another invasion into Germany in the spring of 955. Otto’s army, now unhindered by civil war, was able to defeat the invasion, and soon the Hungarians sent an ambassador to seek peace with Otto. The ambassador proved to be a decoy: Otto’s brother Henry I, Duke of Bavaria, sent word to Otto that the Hungarians had crossed into his territory from the southeast. The main Hungarian army had camped along the Lech River and besieged Augsburg. While the city was defended by Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg, Otto assembled his army and marched south to face the Hungarians.

Otto and his army fought the Hungarian force on August 10, 955 at the Battle of Lechfeld. Under Otto’s command were Burchard III, Duke of Swabia and Bohemian troops of Duke Boleslaus I. Though outnumbered nearly two to one, Otto was determined to push the Hungarian forces out of his territory. According to Widukind of Corvey, Otto “pitched his camp in the territory of the city of Augsburg and joined there the forces of Henry I, Duke of Bavaria, who was himself lying mortally ill nearby, and by Duke Conrad with a large following of Franconian knights. Conrad’s unexpected arrival encouraged the warriors so much that they wished to attack the enemy immediately.”

While Otto was fighting the Hungarians with his main army deployed in Southern Germany, the Obotrite Slavs in the north were in a state of insurrection. Count Wichmann the Younger, still Otto’s opponent over the King’s refusal to grant Wichmann the title of Margrave in 936, marauded through the lands of the Obotrites in the Billung March, causing the followers of Slavic Prince Nako to revolt. The Obotrites invaded Saxony in the fall of 955, killing the men of arms-bearing age and carrying off the women and children into slavery. In the aftermath of the Battle of Lechfeld, Otto rushed to the north and pressed far into their territory. A Slav embassy offered to pay annual tribute in return for being allowed self-government under German overlordship instead of direct German rule.[80]Otto refused, and the two sides met on October 16, at the Battle of Recknitz. Otto’s forces gained a decisive victory; after the battle, hundreds of captured Slavs were executed.

Celebrations for Otto’s victory over the pagan Hungarians and Slavs were held in churches across the kingdom, with bishops attributing the victory to divine intervention and as proof of Otto’s “divine right” to rule. The battles of Lechfeld and Recknitz mark a turning point in Otto’s reign. The victories over Hungarians and Slavs sealed his hold on power over Germany, with the duchies firmly under royal authority. From 955 on, Otto would not experience another rebellion against his rule and as a result was able to further consolidate his position throughout Central Europe.

Liudolf’s death in the fall of 957 deprived Otto of both an heir and a commander of his expedition against King Berengar II of Italy. Beginning with the unfavorable peace treaty signed in 952 in which he became Otto’s vassal, Berengar II had always been a rebellious subordinate. With the death of Liudolf and Henry I, Duke of Bavaria, and with Otto campaigning in northern Germany, Berengar II attacked the March of Verona in 958, which Otto had stripped from his control under the 952 treaty, and besieged Count Adalbert Atto of Canossa there. Berengar II’s forces also attacked the Papal States and the city of Rome under Pope John XII. In autumn 960, with Italy in political turmoil, the Pope sent word to Otto seeking his aid against Berengar II. Several other influential Italian leaders arrived at Otto’s court with similar appeals, including the Archbishop of Milan, the bishops of Como and Novara, and Margrave Otbert of Milan.

After the Pope agreed to crown him as Emperor, Otto assembled his army to march upon Italy. In preparation for his second Italian campaign and the imperial coronation, Otto planned his kingdom’s future. At the Imperial Diet at Worms in May 961, Otto named his six-year-old son Otto II as heir apparent and co-ruler, and had him crowned at Aachen Cathedral on 26 May 961. Otto II was anointed by the Archbishops Bruno I of Cologne, William of Mainz, and Henry I of Trier. The King instituted a separate chancery to issue diplomas in his heir’s name, and appointed his brother Bruno and illegitimate son William as Otto II’s co-regents in Germany.

Otto’s army descended into northern Italy in August 961 through the Brenner Pass at Trento. The German king moved towards Pavia, the former Lombard capital of Italy, where he celebrated Christmas and assumed the title King of Italy for himself. Berengar II’s armies retreated to their strongholds in order to avoid battle with Otto, allowing him to advance southward unopposed. Otto reached Rome on January 31, 962; three days later, he was crowned Emperor by Pope John XII at Old St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pope also anointed Otto’s wife Adelaide of Italy, who had accompanied Otto on his Italian campaign, as empress. With Otto’s coronation as emperor, the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdom of Italy were unified into a common realm, later called the Holy Roman Empire.

The kingdom/Empire had no permanent capital city. Kings traveled between residences (called Kaiserpfalz) to discharge affairs. However, each king preferred certain places; in Otto’s case, this was the city of Magdeburg. Kingship continued to be transferred by election, but Kings often ensured their own sons were elected during their lifetimes, enabling them to keep the crown for their families. This only changed after the end of the Salian dynasty in the 12th century.

The Holy Roman Empire became eventually composed of four kingdoms. The kingdoms were:
* Kingdom of Germany (part of the empire since 962),
* Kingdom of Italy (from 962 until 1648),
* Kingdom of Bohemia (since 1002 as the Duchy of Bohemia and raised to a kingdom in 1198),
* Kingdom of Burgundy (from 1032 to 1378).

This date in History: September 10, 1898. Assassination of Empress Elisabeth of Austria

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Austrian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Elisabeth of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph, Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Geneva Switzerland, Kingdom of Hungary, Luigi Lucheni

Elisabeth of Bavaria (December 24, 1837 – September 10, 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria.

Born Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Munich, Bavaria, she was the fourth child of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, the half-sister of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Nicknamed Sisi, she enjoyed an informal upbringing before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I at the age of sixteen. The marriage thrust her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was unprepared and which she found uncongenial. She came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867.

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria

The death of her only son, Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, and his mistress Mary Vetsera, in a murder–suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which Elisabeth never recovered. She withdrew from court duties and travelled widely, unaccompanied by her family. In 1890, she had a palace built on the Greek Island of Corfu that she visited often. The palace Achilleion, featuring an elaborate mythological motif, served as a refuge. She was obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty, which were already legendary during her life. At 172 cm (5 feet 8 inches), Elisabeth was unusually tall. Even after four pregnancies she maintained her weight at approximately 50 kg (110 pounds, 7 st 12 lbs) for the rest of her life. She achieved this through fasting and exercise, such as gymnastics and riding.

Assassination

Elisabeth spent little time in Vienna with her husband. Their correspondence increased during their last years, however, and their relationship became a warm friendship. On her imperial steamer, Miramar, Empress Elisabeth travelled through the Mediterranean. Her favourite places were Cape Martin on the French Riviera, and also Sanremo on the Ligurian Riviera, where tourism had started only in the second half of the nineteenth century; Lake Geneva in Switzerland; Bad Ischl in Austria, where the imperial couple would spend the summer; and Corfu Greece.

In 1898, despite warnings of possible assassination attempts, the 60-year-old Elisabeth traveled incognito to Geneva, Switzerland. However, someone from the Hôtel Beau-Ravage revealed that the Empress of Austria was their guest.

At 1:35 p.m. on Saturday September 10, 1898, Elisabeth and Countess Irma Sztáray de Sztára et Nagymihály, her lady-in-waiting, left the hotel on the shore of Lake Geneva on foot to catch the steamship Genève for Montreux. Since the empress despised processions, she insisted that they walk without the other members of her entourage, including her bodyguards.

They were walking along the promenade when the 25-year-old Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni approached them, attempting to peer underneath the empress’s parasol. According to Sztáray, as the ship’s bell announced the departure, Lucheni seemed to stumble and made a movement with his hand as if he wanted to maintain his balance. In reality, in an act of “propaganda of the deed”, he had stabbed Elisabeth with a sharpened needle file that was 4 inches (100 mm) long (used to file the eyes of industrial needles) that he had inserted into a wooden handle.

Lucheni originally planned to kill Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans (1869–1926); but the Pretender to throne of France had left Geneva earlier for the Valais. Failing to find him, the assassin selected Elisabeth when a Geneva newspaper revealed that the elegant woman traveling under the pseudonym of “Countess of Hohenembs” was in fact the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

After Lucheni struck her, the empress collapsed. A coach driver helped her to her feet and alerted the Austrian concierge of the Beau-Rivage, a man named Planner, who had been watching the empress’s progress toward the Genève. The two women walked roughly 100 yards (91 m) to the gangway and boarded, at which point Sztáray relaxed her hold on Elisabeth’s arm. The empress then lost consciousness and collapsed next to her.

Sztáray called for a doctor, but only a former nurse, a fellow passenger, was available. The boat’s captain, Captain Roux, was ignorant of Elisabeth’s identity and since it was very hot on deck, advised the countess to disembark and take her companion back to her hotel. Meanwhile, the boat was already sailing out of the harbor. Three men carried Elisabeth to the top deck and laid her on a bench. Sztáray opened her dress, cut Elisabeth’s corset laces so she could breathe. Elisabeth revived somewhat and Sztáray asked her if she was in pain, and she replied, “No”. She then asked, “What has happened?”and lost consciousness again.

Countess Sztáray noticed a small brown stain above the empress’s left breast. Alarmed that Elisabeth had not recovered consciousness, she informed the captain of her identity, and the boat turned back to Geneva. Elisabeth was carried back to the Hotel Beau-Rivage by six sailors on a stretcher improvised from a sail, cushions and two oars.

Fanny Mayer, the wife of the hotel director, a visiting nurse, and the countess undressed Elisabeth and removed her shoes, when Sztáray noticed a few small drops of blood and a small wound. When they then removed her from the stretcher to the bed she was clearly dead; Frau Mayer believed the two audible breaths she heard the Empress take as she was brought into the room were her last. Two doctors, Dr. Golay and Dr. Mayer arrived, along with a priest, who was too late to grant her absolution. Mayer incised the artery of her left arm to ascertain death, and found no blood. She was pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m. Everyone knelt down and prayed for the repose of her soul, and Countess Sztáray closed Elisabeth’s eyes and joined her hands.

No matter how reluctant or resentful she was of the title, Elisabeth had been the Empress of Austria for 44 years.

When Franz Joseph received the telegram informing him of Elisabeth’s death, his first fear was that she had committed suicide. It was only when a later message arrived, detailing the assassination, that he was relieved of that notion. The telegram asked permission to perform an autopsy, and the answer was that whatever procedures were prescribed by Swiss Law should be adhered to.

The autopsy was performed the next day by Golay, who discovered that the weapon, which had not yet been found, had penetrated 3.33 inches (85 mm) into Elisabeth’s thorax, fractured the fourth rib, pierced the lung and pericardium, and penetrated the heart from the top before coming out the base of the left ventricle.

On Wednesday morning, Elisabeth’s body was carried back to Vienna aboard a funeral train. The inscription on her coffin read, “Elisabeth, Empress of Austria”. The Hungarians were outraged and the words, “and Queen of Hungary” were hastily added. The entire Austro-Hungarian Empire was in deep mourning; 82 sovereigns and high-ranking nobles followed her funeral cortege on the morning of September 17, to the tomb in the Capuchin Church.

The Assassin

Lucheni was apprehended upon fleeing the scene and his file was found the next day. He told the authorities that he was an anarchist who came to Geneva with the intention of killing any sovereign as an example for others. Lucheni used the file because he didn’t have enough money for a stiletto.

His trial began the next month, in October. He was furious to find that capital punishment had been abolished in Geneva, and wrote a letter demanding that he be tried in another canton, such that he could be martyred. He received the sentence of life imprisonment.

Lucheni wrote his childhood memoirs while in Geneva’s Évêché prison. He was harassed in prison and his notebooks were stolen. He was found hanged in his cell on October 19, 1910. His head was preserved in formaldehyde and transferred to Vienna in 1986.

History of Germany Part VI: Kingdom of East Francia and the Kingdom of Germany.

Tags

Arnulf of Carinthia, Charlemagne, Conrad of Thuringia, Duke of Bavaria, East Francia, Franconia, Henry of Saxony, Henry the Fowler, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Germany, Sawbia, Saxony

We’ve now reached the point in our survey of German History and the origins of the Holy Roman Empire that motivated me to do this history to begin with. After the treaty of Verdun in 843 and the establishment the Kingdom East Francia to first usage of the term Holy Roman Empire in the thirteenth century, this area of Central Europe was constantly in flux at a time when England and France (and later Spain) were moving toward being a centralized nation state. It is also at this juncture when terminology such as Kings of East Francia, King of the Germans and Roman Emperor have considerable overlap denoting the fact that the monarchy in German lands was constantly evolving.

Kingdom of East Francia/Germany

East Francia continued the Frankish tradition of dividing the lands among the sons of the king, as East Francia itself was divided into three parts at the death of Louis the German (875). These sub-kingdoms were ruled by the three sons of Louis the German and were traditionally referred to as “Saxony”, (ruled by Louis the Younger) and “Bavaria”, (ruled Carloman) and “Swabia” and also East Francia (or “Alemannia”), ruled by Charles the Fat who briefly reunited the entire Carolingian Empire (West and East Francia) in 882.

Regional differences existed between the peoples of the different regions of the kingdom and each region could be readily described by contemporaries as a regnum, (Kingdom) though each was certainly not a kingdom of its own. The common Germanic language and the tradition of common rule dating to 843 preserved political ties between the different regna and prevented the kingdom from coming apart after the death of Charles the Fat. The work of Louis the German to maintain his kingdom and give it a strong royal government also went a long way to creating an East Frankish (i.e. German) state.

Charles the Fat, King of East Francia, Emperor.

Charles the Fat was deposed in 888 by nobles and in East Francia Arnulf of Carinthia was elected king. The increasing weakness of royal power in East Francia meant that dukes of Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Saxony and Lotharingia (called the Stem Duchies) turned from appointed nobles into hereditary rulers of their territories. Kings increasingly had to deal with regional rebellions.

After the death of Louis III the Child on September 24, 911, the last ruler of the Carolingian dynasty, Conrad the Younger of Thuringia was elected was elected king of Rex Francorum Orientalium (East Francia) on November 10, 911 at Forchheim by the rulers of Saxony, Swabia and Bavaria. Conrad was the son of duke Conrad of Thuringia (called the Elder) and his wife Glismut, probably related to Ota, wife of the Carolingian emperor Arnulf of Carinthia and mother of Louis the Child.

Since King Conrad I of East Francia was one of the dukes of the Stem Duchies he found it very difficult to establish his authority over them. Duke Hienrich of Saxony was in rebellion against Conrad I until 915 and the struggle against Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria cost Conrad I his life. On his deathbed Conrad I chose Heinrich of Saxony as the most capable successor.

Heinrich I, King of East Francia, Duke of Saxony

This election of Heinrich of Saxony as King changed the kingship from Franks to Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne.

Any firm distinction between the kingdoms of Eastern Francia and the Kingdom of Germany is to some extent the product of later retrospection. It is impossible to base this distinction on primary sources, as the name Eastern Francia for the kingdom remains in use long after the name Kingdom of Germany comes into use.

Under Arnulf of Carinthia the terminology Rex Francorum Orientalium was largely dropped and the kingdom, when it was referred to by name, was simply Francia. When it was necessary, as in the Treaty of Bonn (921) with the West Franks, the “eastern” qualifier appeared once more. Henry I refers to himself as rex Francorum orientalium, “king of the East Franks”, in the treaty.

By the 12th century, the historian Otto of Freising, in using the Carolingian terminology had to explain that the “eastern kingdom of the Franks” (orientale Francorum regnum) was “now called the kingdom of the Germans” (regnum Teutonicorum).

The 12th century imperial historian Otto von Freisingreported that the election of Heinrich the Fowler was regarded as marking the beginning of the kingdom, though Otto himself disagreed with this. Thus:

From this point some reckon a kingdom of the Germans as supplanting that of the Franks. Hence, they say that Pope Leo in the decrees of the popes, called Henry’s son Otto the first king of the Germans. For that Henry of whom we are speaking refused, it is said, the honor offered by the supreme pontiff. But it seems to me that the kingdom of the Germans — which today, as we see, has possession of Rome — is a part of the kingdom of the Franks. For, as is perfectly clear in what precedes, at the time of Charles the boundaries of the kingdom of the Franks included the whole of Gaul and all Germany, from the Rhine to Illyricum.

When the realm was divided between his son’s sons, one part was called eastern, the other western, yet both together were called the Kingdom of the Franks. So then in the eastern part, which is called the Kingdom of the Germans, Henry was the first of the race of Saxons to succeed to the throne when the line of Charles failed … [western Franks discussed] … Henry’s son Otto, because he restored to the German East Franks the empire which had been usurped by the Lombards, is called the first king of the Germans — not, perhaps, because he was the first king to reign among the Germans

It is here and elsewhere that Otto von Freising distinguishes the first German king (Heinrich I) and the first German king to hold imperial power (Otto I).

Next up will be the imperial coronation of Otto the Great.

Here is the original post where I talk about Heinrich I the Fowler.

https://europeanroyalhistory.wordpress.com/2019/07/02/on-this-date-in-history-july-2-936-death-of-heinrich-the-fowler-king-of-east-francia-and-german-history-part-i/

German History: Part V. Louis I the Pious & the Treaty of Verdun.

Tags

Charlemagne, Charles the Bald, East Francia, Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Judith of Bavaria, King of Aquitaine, Lothair I, Louis I the Pious, Louis the german, Middle Francia, West Francia

Louis I the Pious (778 – June 20, 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only surviving adult son of Charlemagne and Hildegard, he became the sole ruler of the Franks and Emperor after his father’s death in 814, a position which he held until his death, save for the period 833–34, during which he was deposed.

Louis I the Pious, Emperor and King of the Franks.

During his reign in Aquitaine, Louis was charged with the defence of the empire’s southwestern frontier. He conquered Barcelona from the Muslims in 801 and asserted Frankish authority over Pamplona and the Basques south of the Pyrenees in 812. As emperor he included his adult sons, Lothair, Pepin, and Louis, in the government and sought to establish a suitable division of the realm among them. The first decade of his reign was characterised by several tragedies and embarrassments, notably the brutal treatment of his nephew Bernard of Italy, for which Louis atoned in a public act of self-debasement.

In the 830s his empire was torn by civil war between his sons, only exacerbated by Louis’s attempts to include his son Charles by his second wife, Judith of Bavaria, was the daughter of Count Welf of Bavaria and Saxon noblewoman, Hedwig, in the succession plans. Though his reign ended on a high note, with order largely restored to his empire, it was followed by three years of civil war. Louis is generally compared unfavourably to his father, though the problems he faced were of a distinctly different sort.

The Treaty of Verdun, signed in August 843, was the first of the treaties that divided the Carolingian Empire into three separate kingdoms among the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, who was the son of Charlemagne. The treaty, signed in Verdun-sur-Meuse, ended the three-year Carolingian Civil War 840-843.

(Orange ~ Kingdom of West Francia; Purple ~ Kingdom of Middle Francia; Green ~ Kingdom of East Francia).

Following Charlemagne’s death, Louis was made ruler of the Carolingian empire. During his reign, he divided the empire so that each of his sons could rule over their own kingdom under the greater rule of their father. Lothair I was given the title of emperor but because of several re-divisions by his father and the resulting revolts, he became much less powerful. When Louis the Pious died in 840, his eldest son, Lothair I, claimed overlordship over the entirety of his father’s kingdom in an attempt to reclaim the power he had at the beginning of his reign as emperor.

Lothair also supported his nephew, Pepin II’s claim to the crown of Aquitaine, a large province in the west of the Frankish realm. Lothair’s brother, Louis the German, and his half-brother Charles the Bald refused to acknowledge Lothair’s suzerainty and declared war against him. After a bloody civil war, they defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fontenay in 841 and sealed their alliance in 842 with the Oaths of Strasbourg which declared Lothair unfit for the imperial throne, after which he became willing to negotiate a settlement.

Provisions of the treaty

Each of the three brothers was already established in one kingdom: Lothair in the Kingdom of Italy; Louis the German in Kingdom of Bavaria; and Charles the Bald in the Kingdom of Aquitaine:

* Lothair I received Middle Francia, the central portion of the empire.

Lothair I. Emperor King of Middle Francia.

In the settlement, Lothair (who had been named co-emperor in 817) retained his title as emperor, but it conferred only nominal overlordship of his brothers’ lands.

His domain later became the Low Countries, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and the Kingdom of Italy (which covered the northern half of the Italian Peninsula). He also received the two imperial cities, Aachen and Rome.

* Louis the German received the East Francia portion of the empire.

Louis the German. King of East Francia.

He was guaranteed the kingship of all lands to the east of the Rhine and to the north and east of Italy, called East Francia. It eventually became the High Medieval Kingdom of Germany, the largest component of the Holy Roman Empire.

* Charles the Bald received the West Francia portion of the empire, which later became the Kingdom of France.

Charles the Bald. King of West Francia.

Pepin II was granted the Kingdom of Aquitaine, but only under the authority of Charles. Charles received all lands west of the Rhône, called West Francia.

After Lothair’s death in 855, Upper Burgundy and Lower Burgundy (Arles and Provence) passed to his third son, Charles of Provence, and the remaining territory north of the Alps to his second son, Lothair II, after whom the hitherto nameless territory was called Lotharingia. It would then become modern Lorraine. Lothair’s eldest son, Louis II, inherited Italy and his father’s claim to the Imperial throne.

German History Part IV: Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire.

Tags

Byzantine Empire, Charlemagne, Charles the Great, Constantinople, Empress Irene, France, Germany, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of France, Pope Leo III

My Note: in discussing how the Kingdom of the Franks evolved into both the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire, it’s not the scope of this entry to thoroughly review the life of Charlemagne. My aim is to give a cursory understanding of how Charlemagne gained the imperial title and divided his empire.

Under the Carolingians, the Frankish kingdom spread to encompass an area including most of Western Europe; the east-west division of the kingdom formed the basis for modern France and Germany.

Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, born before their canonical marriage. He became King of the Franks in 768 following his father’s death, initially as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I. Carloman’s sudden death in December 771 under unexplained circumstances left Charlemagne as the sole ruler of the Frankish Kingdom. He continued his father’s policy towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and leading an incursion into Muslim Spain. He campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianizing them upon penalty of death and leading to events such as the Massacre of Verden.

Charlemagne, King of the Franks, Emperor of the Romans

Charlemagne’s reign was one of near-constant warfare, personally leading many of his campaigns. He seized the Lombard Kingdom in 774, led a failed campaign into Spain in 778, extended his domain into Bavaria in 788, ordered his son Pepin to campaign against the Avars in 795, and conquered Saxon territories in wars and rebellions fought from 772 to 804.

In 799, Pope Leo III had been assaulted by some of the Romans, who tried to put out his eyes and tear out his tongue. His enemies had accused Leo III of adultery and perjury. Leo escaped and fled to Charlemagne at Paderborn. Charlemagne ordered the Pope’s accusers to Paderborn, but no decision could be made. Charlemagne then had Leo escorted back to Rome. In November 800, Charlemagne, advised by scholar Alcuin, travelled to Rome, and on December 1 held a council there with representatives of both sides of the dispute. Leo III, on December 23, took an oath of purgation concerning the charges brought against him, and his opponents were exiled.

At Mass, on Christmas Day (25 December), when Charlemagne knelt at the altar to pray, the Pope crowned him Imperator Romanorum (“Emperor of the Romans”) in Saint Peter’s Basilica. In so doing, the Pope rejected the legitimacy of Roman Empress Irene of Constantinople.

Charlemagne’s coronation as Emperor, though intended to represent the continuation of the unbroken line of Emperors from Augustus to Constantine VI, had the effect of setting up two separate (and often opposing) Empires and two separate claims to imperial authority. For centuries to come, the Emperors of both West and East would make competing claims of sovereignty over the whole.

Einhard says that Charlemagne was ignorant of the Pope’s intent and did not want any such coronation:

[H]e at first had such an aversion that he declared that he would not have set foot in the Church the day that they [the imperial titles] were conferred, although it was a great feast-day, if he could have foreseen the design of the Pope.

A number of modern scholars, however, suggest that Charlemagne was indeed aware of the coronation; certainly, he cannot have missed the bejewelled crown waiting on the altar when he came to pray; something even contemporary sources support.

The Carolingian Empire during the reign of Charlemagne covered most of Western Europe, as the Roman Empire once had. Unlike the Romans, who ventured to Germania beyond the Rhine only for vengeance after the disaster at Teutoburg Forest(9 AD), Charlemagne decisively crushed all Germanic resistance and extended his realm to the Elbe, influencing events almost to the Russian Steppes.

Prior to the death of Charlemagne, the Empire was divided among various members of the Carolingian dynasty. These included King Charles the Younger, son of Charlemagne, who received Neustria; King Louis the Pious, who received Aquitaine; and King Pepin, who received Italy. Pepin died with an illegitimate son, Bernard, in 810, and Charles died without heirs in 811. Although Bernard succeeded Pepin as King of Italy, Louis I the Pious was made co-Emperor in 813, and the entire Empire passed to him with Charlemagne’s death in the winter of 814.

Charlemagne has been called the “Father of Europe” (Pater Europae),as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the classical era of the Roman Empireand united parts of Europe that had never been under Frankish or Roman rule. His rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church.

End note: The last entry in the series will discuss in depth the history of the imperial title itself.

This date in History: August 11, 1804, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II assumes the title Emperor of Austria.

Tags

Archduke Archduchess, Austria-Hungary, Austrian Empire, Emperor of the French, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, Holy Roman Empire, Marie Theresa, Napoleon Bonaparte

On August 6 I posted about the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire under Franz II in 1806. Two years prior to that he assumed the title “Emperor of Austria” and consolidated Habsburg hereditary lands.

In the face of aggressions by Napoleon I, who had been proclaimed “Emperor of the French” by the French constitution on May 18, 1804, Holy Roman Franz II feared for the future of the Holy Roman Empire and wished to maintain his and his family’s Imperial status in the event that the Holy Roman Empire should be dissolved.

Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, Emperor of Austria.

Therefore, on August 11, 1804 he created the new title of “Emperor of Austria” for himself and his successors as heads of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. For two years, Franz carried two imperial titles: being Holy Roman Emperor Franz II and “by the Grace of God” Emperor Franz I of Austria. This made Franz the only double Emperor in History.

Therefore the title Emperor of Austria (German: Kaiser von Österreich) was the title for ruler of the Austrian Empire which later became the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867 when the emperor, who was also King of Hungary raised that Kingdom to equal political status with Austria. The title was an hereditary imperial title invested in a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until Carl I relinquished power in 1918.

Although Austria was now an Empire the emperors and the imperial family retained the title of Archduke of Austria. The wives of the emperors held the title empress, while other members of the family maintained the title archduke or archduchess of Austria.

Imperial Crown of Austria

Predecessors

Prior to the creation of the Austrian Empire members of the House of Austria, the Habsburg dynasty, (later Habsburg-Lorraine) had for centuries been elected to be Holy Roman Emperors and mostly resided in Vienna. Thus the term “Austrian emperor” may occur in texts dealing with the time before 1804, even though no Austrian Empire existed. In these cases the word Austria means the composite monarchy ruled by the dynasty, not the country. A special case was Maria Theresa; daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Carl VI, she bore the imperial title as the consort of Holy Roman Emperor Franz I (r. 1745–1765), but she herself was the monarch by hereditary right of the Austrian Hereditary Lands including Austria, Bohemia and Hungary.

From 1806 onwards, after the ancient Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, Franz was Emperor of Austria only. He had three successors—Ferdinand I, Franz Joseph I and Carl I before the Empire broke apart in 1918.

A coronation ceremony was never established; the heir to the throne became emperor the moment his predecessor died or abdicated. The symbol of the Austrian Emperor was the dynasty’s private crown dating back to Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (r. 1576–1612), (called Rudolfinische Hauskrone by the experts), which should convey the dignity and myth of the Habsburgs.

Titles of the Emperor

The Austrian Emperors had an extensive list of titles and claims that reflected the geographic expanse and diversity of the lands ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs. The grand title of the Emperor of Austria had been changed several times: by a patent of August 11, 1804, by a court office decree from August 22 1836, by an Imperial court ministry decree of January 6, 1867 and finally by a letter of December 12, 1867. Shorter versions were recommended for official documents and international treaties: “Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia etc. and Apostolic King of Hungary”, “Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary”, “His Majesty the Emperor and King” and “His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty”.

The full list (after the loss of the Lombardy in 1859 and Venetia in 1866):

Emperor of Austria,
Apostolic King of Hungary,
King of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, and of Illyria,
King of Jerusalem, and so forth,
Archduke of Austria,
Grand Duke of Tuscany and of Cracow,
Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, of Styria, of Carinthia, of Carniola and of the Bukovina,
Grand Prince of Transylvania,
Margrave in Moravia,
Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara,
Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca,
Prince of Trent and Brixen,
Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria,
Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, and so forth, Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and of the Windic March,Grand Voivode of the Voivodship of Serbia, and so forth, Sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

This date in History: August 6, 1806. Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Tags

Austrian Empire, Carlos III of Spain, Congress of Vienna, Emperorvof the French, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, Holy Roman Empire, Joseph II, Leopold II, Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte

Although I’m in the middle of a series of posts examining the origins of the Holy Roman Empire, I’d like to discuss the dissolution of the Empire on the 213th Anniversary of the ending of the Empire.

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire occurred de facto on August 6, 1806, when Emperor Franz II abdicated his Imperial title and released all imperial states and officials from their oaths and obligations to the empire. Although the abdication was considered legal, the dissolution of the imperial bonds was not and several states refused to recognise the end of the empire at the time.

Although today is the date the empire was dissolved, in many ways it was a mere formality as the empire had been deteriorating since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 that ended the Thirty Years War. The treaty gave the numerous states within the empire autonomy, ending the empire in all but name. The Swiss Confederation, which had already established quasi-independence in 1499, as well as the Northern Netherlands, also left the Empire at this juncture. The Habsburg Emperors then began to focus on consolidating their own estates in Austria and elsewhere.

By the reign of Louis XIV of France in the mid 17th and early 18th centuries, France began to surpass the Holy Roman Empire as the dominant power in Europe. Also, the Habsburgs were chiefly dependent on their hereditary lands to counter the recent rise of Prussia; some of whose territories lay inside the Empire. Throughout the 18th century, the Habsburgs were embroiled in various European conflicts, such as the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Polish Succession, and the War of the Austrian Succession. The German dualism between Austria and Prussia dominated the empire’s history in the 18th century as the two states vied for supremecy over the German lands.

From 1792 onwards, revolutionary France was at war with various parts of the Empire intermittently. 1792 was also the year Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II died and was succeeded by his son as Emperor Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor.

Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor and Emperor of Austria.

Franz II (February 12, 1768 – March 2, 1835) born in Florence, the capital of Tuscany, where his father reigned as Grand Duke at the time. His parents were Emperor Leopold II (1747–1792) and his wife Maria Luisa of Spain (1745–1792), (daughter of King Carlos III of Spain, Naples and Sicily and Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, a daughter of the newly elected Polish king Augustus III and his (ironically) Austrian wife Maria Josepha of Austria.) Though Franz had a happy childhood surrounded by his many siblings, his family knew He was likely to be a future Emperor (his uncle Emperor Joseph II had no surviving issue from either of his two marriages), and so in 1784 the young Archduke Franz was sent to the Imperial Court in Vienna to educate and prepare him for his future role.

As Emperor and the leader of the large multi-ethnic Habsburg Empire, Franz II felt threatened by Napoleon’s social and political reforms, which were being exported throughout Europe with the expansion of the first French Empire. Franz had a fraught relationship with France. His aunt Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI and Queen consort of France, was guillotined by the revolutionaries in 1793, at the beginning of his reign. Franz, on the whole, was indifferent to her fate (she was not close to his father, Leopold II and although Franz had met her, he had been too young at the time to have any memory of his aunt). Georges Danton attempted to negotiate with the Emperor for Marie Antoinette’s release, but Franz was unwilling to make any concessions in return.

Napoleon, Emperor of the French.

In 1804, with the growing ambitions of Napoleon, who had himself proclaimed Emperor of France that year, Franz, knowing the end of the Holy Roman Empire was drawing nigh, established the Austrian Empire and became Franz I, the first Emperor of Austria, ruling from 1804 to 1835. This act made him the only Doppelkaiser (double emperor) in history.For the two years between 1804 and 1806, Franz used the title and style by the Grace of God elected Roman Emperor, ever Augustus, hereditary Emperor of Austria and he was called the Emperor of both the Holy Roman Empire and Austria. He was also Apostolic King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia as Franz I.

With Napoleon’s victory over Austria at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805, the French Emperor “transformed himself from the guarantor of the Reich to the arbiter of its fate.” The subsequent Peace of Pressburg (December 26) created deliberate ambiguities in the imperial constitution. Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg were to have full sovereignty while remaining a part of the Germanic Confederation, a novel name for the Empire.

With the the signing of the Peace of Pressburg Emperor Franz II recognized the kingly titles assumed by the Electors of Bavaria and Württemberg, which foreshadowed the end of the Holy Roman Empire. At this point, he believed his position as Holy Roman Emperor to be untenable, so on August 6, 1806, he abdicated the throne, declaring the empire to be already dissolved in the same declaration. This was a political move to impair the legitimacy of the new entity, the Confederation of the Rhine, which had been created by Napoleon.

After the defeat of Napoleon the major European powers convened the Congress of Vienna. The objective of the Congress was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The goal was not simply to restore old boundaries but to resize the main powers so they could balance each other and remain at peace. The last Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, in his role as Emperor of Austria served as the first president of the German Confederation following its confirmation by the Congress in 1815.

Confederation of the Rhine