Karl Joseph von Österreich

Archduke Karl Joseph Emanuel of Austria was born on February 1, 1745, in Vienna. He was the seventh of sixteen children of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I Stephen of Lorraine and Maria Theresa, Austrian archduchess and queen of Hungary and Bohemia. As a son of the ruling couple, he held the rank of Austrian archduke, prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and prince of Hungary and Bohemia. Several of his siblings later played important roles in European history. His brother Joseph became Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and king of Hungary and Bohemia. His sister Maria Christina married Albert Casimir of Saxe-Teschen. Maria Amalia became duchess of Parma, Leopold Joseph later ascended the imperial throne as Leopold II, Ferdinand Charles Anthony became governor-general of Lombardy, and Maria Antonia married the French king Louis XVI and became known as Marie Antoinette. The other siblings were likewise intended for dynastic marriages or assumed ecclesiastical and political responsibilities. Karl Joseph spent part of his education in Pressburg. Even as a young man, he was considered open, sociable, and broadly interested. Attentive and intelligent, he moved confidently in society, winning the approval of his sisters and the respect of the court. Maria Theresa soon regarded him as her favorite son. In her view, he possessed qualities she found lacking in his older brother Joseph: Karl Joseph was elegant, capable, and skilled at attracting the attention of others. Joseph, who was designated as heir to the throne, was perceived by his mother as distant, cynical, and pessimistic. Maria Theresa made clear to him that a ruler had to love people in order to fulfill his responsibilities properly. She repeatedly held up Karl Joseph’s versatility and social abilities as an example. Francis Stephen apparently shared the view that the younger son was better suited to rule. As a result, a growing rivalry developed between the brothers. Joseph regarded his brother’s success at court and in society as a threat and increasingly viewed him with jealousy and hostility. As the second-born son, Karl Joseph was initially designated to succeed his father as grand duke of Tuscany. For this purpose, he was betrothed to Maria Ludovika, a Spanish infanta from the House of Bourbon and daughter of King Charles III of Spain. Karl Joseph himself, however, aspired to a far more significant position. He evidently believed that he was destined for greater things and made no secret of his wish to inherit his mother’s hereditary lands and rule as an Austrian sovereign and king of Hungary and Bohemia. These ambitions directly threatened Joseph’s position and intensified the conflict between the brothers. Their initial rivalry developed into increasingly heated disputes and quarrels. They never reached an open break, however. In 1761, Karl Joseph unexpectedly contracted smallpox. He died in Vienna on January 18, 1761, only a few days before his sixteenth birthday. His early death deeply shook Maria Theresa. Her letters show that she had regarded him as an especially promising successor and envisioned a great future for the ruling house through him. With Karl Joseph, the family lost a son whom his parents considered exceptionally talented and particularly well suited to rule. He was buried in the traditional Habsburg burial place, the crypt of Vienna’s Capuchin Church. After his death, his brother Leopold Joseph, two years younger than Karl Joseph, assumed the succession in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany that had originally been intended for him. Four years later, Leopold married the Infanta Maria Ludovika, to whom Karl Joseph had initially been betrothed. A few days after the wedding, Francis Stephen died in August 1765, whereupon Leopold became grand duke of Tuscany as Leopold I. Thus, Karl Joseph’s brief life continued to influence his family’s dynastic connections and political future even after his death.