Karl VI.

Charles VI, Franz Joseph Wenzel Balthasar Johann Anton Ignaz, was born in Vienna on October 1, 1685, as the son of Emperor Leopold I and Eleonore of Palatinate-Neuburg. He was the younger brother of Emperor Joseph I. His education was supervised by Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein and strongly influenced by Jesuits. In addition to traditional princely virtues, Charles learned above all about the history and political claims of the House of Habsburg. Like every Habsburg, he also had to learn a trade. He chose training as a master gunner and, at the age of sixteen, produced a drawing of a cannon barrel, which he signed himself. Leopold’s political aim was to make Charles king of Spain after the foreseeable extinction of the Spanish Habsburg line. However, the Spanish king Charles II had named Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV, as his heir. The resulting conflict led to the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701. Charles was proclaimed king of Spain in 1703 and received secret assurances from his father and brother concerning the Spanish possessions. In 1705, after the capture of Barcelona, he reached Spain and temporarily controlled Catalonia and other territories. He was regarded as courageous and persistent, but showed only limited ability in leadership and political integration. Although he entered Madrid after military successes in 1710, he soon had to withdraw to Barcelona. On April 23, 1708, Charles married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by proxy. She joined him in Barcelona shortly afterward. They had four children: Leopold Johann, who died as a young child in 1716, Maria Theresa, Maria Anna, and Maria Amalia. The death of his only son later made female succession a decisive issue of his reign. His reign began unexpectedly when his brother Joseph I died without a male heir in 1711. Charles thereby inherited Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary and became a claimant to the imperial crown. He returned to Vienna without formally abandoning his claim to the Spanish throne and demonstratively appointed his wife governor of Spain when he left. On October 12, 1711, the electors chose him as King of the Romans; on December 22, he was crowned emperor in Frankfurt am Main. In 1712, he returned to Vienna and was crowned king of Hungary. The prospect of Austria and Spain being united under one ruler prompted Great Britain and the Netherlands to withdraw their support from Charles in the war. He ultimately had to give up the Spanish throne. In the Peace of Rastatt and the subsequent Peace of Baden, however, Austria received important former Spanish possessions: Milan, Mantua, Sardinia, Naples without Sicily, and the Austrian Netherlands. This substantially strengthened the Habsburg position in Italy and the Netherlands, while Charles continued to maintain his Spanish claim formally for many years. The Pragmatic Sanction, issued in 1713, was of central importance. It declared the Habsburg lands indivisible and provided, secondarily, for female succession. At the same time, it was intended to unite the various Habsburg possessions into a closer and lasting union. After Charles’s son died, this regulation became the basis for the succession of his daughter Maria Theresa. Between 1720 and 1724, Charles had the Pragmatic Sanction confirmed by the representative assemblies of his lands and spent much of his reign seeking recognition of it from the European powers. In domestic politics, Charles initially governed with experienced advisers such as Prince Eugene of Savoy and Gundaker Thomas Starhemberg. Later, figures including Johann Michael von Althann gained influence at court, while Prince Eugene lost importance. The administration remained fragmented, and no fundamental reform of the state apparatus or military was achieved. The finances deteriorated, with state debt rising from 60 to 100 million gulden during Charles’s reign. At the same time, the emperor promoted manufacturing, roads, postal services, and trade according to mercantilist principles. Internal customs duties were abolished, the ports of Trieste and Fiume were expanded, and the Ostend Company was founded. Charles later abandoned this trading enterprise in order to avoid jeopardizing international recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction. In Bohemia, Charles confirmed the rights of the estates and had himself crowned king in Prague in 1723. In Hungary, he had to grant the nobility extensive privileges; the country continued to be shaped by the relationship between the king and the estates. In the partly depopulated territories of the Hungarian crown, his government encouraged the settlement of German-speaking farmers. At the same time, his policy toward minorities was extremely harsh. The rights and freedom of movement of Jewish residents were restricted, Jews were expelled from Silesia, and Roma were brutally persecuted in Austria and Hungary. Charles also continued to pursue an active imperial policy. He intervened in conflicts within imperial cities and between imperial estates and claimed the role of an imperial arbiter. During his reign, for example, an imperial execution was carried out against Duke Charles Leopold of Mecklenburg. Nevertheless, the idea of the empire steadily lost importance as Austria, Prussia, Hanover, and other territories acted with increasing independence. Charles’s imperial policy remained influential but could not halt the political decline of the Holy Roman Empire. In foreign policy, the Habsburg monarchy initially achieved major successes. In the war against the Ottomans, Austrian troops under Prince Eugene won victories at Peterwardein in 1716 and Belgrade in 1717. The Peace of Passarowitz awarded Austria the Banat, Belgrade, parts of Serbia, and Little Wallachia, bringing the empire to its greatest territorial extent. In another conflict with Spain, Sardinia was exchanged for Sicily, which was united with Naples. Habsburg power in Italy was then stronger than at any time since the era of Charles V. Charles’s alliance policy later failed. During the War of the Polish Succession, Austria had to surrender Naples and Sicily, renounce Lorraine, and cede territories in northern Italy to Savoy. After a defeat by the Ottomans, Charles lost the territories south of the Danube and the Sava, as well as Belgrade, in the Peace of Belgrade in 1739. At his death, Austria was politically isolated and weakened. Charles VI also promoted the arts and culture. Under him, the court music chapel experienced a period of flourishing, and he himself was considered musically gifted. He expanded the Hofburg, rebuilt the court library, and brought together the imperial collections. The Karlskirche in Vienna, Klosterneuburg Abbey, and other buildings reflect the high point of the Baroque during his reign. Charles died in Vienna on October 20, 1740, after a serious illness. Poisoning by a mushroom was repeatedly suspected but remained unproven. In accordance with Habsburg custom, he was buried separately in the Capuchin Crypt, the Ducal Crypt of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and the Loreto Chapel. With his death, the House of Habsburg became extinct in the male line, and his daughter Maria Theresa inherited a difficult political legacy.