Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph I
Holy Roman Emperor; King of the Romans, Hungary and Bohemia[1]
King in Germany (King of the Romans)
Reign	23 January 1690 – 17 April 1711
Coronation	26 January 1690, Augsburg
Predecessor	Leopold I
Successor	Charles VI
King of Hungary
Reign	9 December 1687 – 17 April 1711
Coronation	9 December 1687, Pressburg
Predecessor	Leopold I
Successor	Charles VI
King of Bohemia
Reign	5 May 1705 – 17 April 1711
Predecessor	Leopold I
Successor	Charles VI
Holy Roman Emperor; Archduke of Austria; King of Croatia
Reign	5 May 1705 – 17 April 1711
Predecessor	Leopold I
Successor	Charles VI
Spouse	Princess Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Issue
Maria Josepha, Queen of Poland Archduke Leopold Joseph Maria Amalia, Holy Roman Empress
House	House of Habsburg
Father	Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg
Born	26 July 1678(1678-07-26) Vienna, Austria
Died	17 April 1711(1711-04-17) (aged 32) Vienna, Austria
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Joseph I (26 July 1678 – 17 April 1711), Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, King of the Romans was the elder son of Emperor Leopold I and his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg. His motto was Amore et Timore (Latin for "Through Love and Fear").

Early life

Born in Vienna, he was educated strictly by Prince Dietrich Otto von Salm and became a good linguist. Although the first son and child born of his parents' marriage, he was his father's third son and seventh child. Previously, he had been married to Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, who had given him four children, one of whom survived infancy. Then, he married Claudia Felicitas of Austria, heiress of Tyrol, who gave him two short-lived daughters. Thus, Joseph had six half-siblings. In 1684, the six-year-old Archduke had his first portrait painted by Benjamin von Block. At the age of nine, on 9 December 1687, he was crowned King of Hungary; and at the age of ten, on 23 January 1690, King of the Romans. Unlike many of his relatives, although a Roman Catholic, Joseph was not one for religion. The cause of this may be that he was spared a strict religious upbringing. He had two great enthusiasms: music and hunting.

Military service

In 1702, at the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, he saw his only military service. He joined the Imperial General, Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, in the siege of Landau.

Holy Roman Emperor

Prior to his ascension, Joseph had surrounded himself with reform-hungry advisors and the ‘young court’ of Vienna was ambitious in the elaboration of innovative plans. He was described as a "forward-looking ruler". The large number of privy councillors was reduced and attempts were made to make the bureaucracy more efficient. Measures were taken to modernize the central bodies and a certain success was achieved in stabilizing the chronic Habsburg finances. Joseph also endeavoured to strengthen his position in the Holy Roman Empire – as a means of strengthening Austria’s standing as a great power. When he sought to lay claim to imperial rights in Italy and gain territories for the Habsburgs, he even risked a military conflict with the Pope over the duchy of Mantua.

In Hungary, Joseph had inherited the kuruc rebellion from his father Leopold I: once again, nobles in Transylvania (Siebenbürgen) had risen against Habsburg rule, even advancing for a time as far as Vienna. Although Joseph was compelled to take military action, he refrained – unlike his predecessors – from seeking to teach his subjects a lesson by executing the leaders. Instead, he agreed to a compromise peace, which in the long term facilitated the integration of Hungary into the Habsburg domains. It was his good fortune to govern the Austrian dominions and to be head of the Empire, during the years in which his trusted general, Prince Eugene of Savoy, either acting alone in Italy or with the Duke of Marlborough in Germany and Flanders, was beating the armies of Louis XIV of France. During the whole of his reign, Hungary was disturbed by the conflict with Francis Rákóczi II, who eventually took refuge in the Ottoman Empire. The emperor reversed many of the authoritative measures of his father, thus helping to placate opponents. He began the attempts to settle the question of the Austrian inheritance by a pragmatic sanction, which was continued by his brother Charles VI.

Death

Although he would have brought great things to Austria, it was not meant to be. During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, le Grand Dauphin and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, Joseph became infected. He died on 17 April in the Hofburg Palace. He had previously promised his wife to stop having affairs, should he survive.

The Emperor was buried with great fast in the Imperial Crypt, resting place of the majority of Habsburgs. His funeral took place of 20 April that same year. He is buried in tomb no. 35 in Karl's Vault. His tomb is designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and it is decorated with pictures of various battles from the War of Spanish Succession. Josefstadt (the eighth district of Vienna) is named for him.

Marriage and lack of heir(s)

On 24 February 1699, he married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Vienna. She was a descendant of two Holy Roman Emperors Frederick II and Louis IV; and also of William I, Prince of Orange and James VI of Scotland and I of England. They had three children and their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday. Joseph had a passion for love affairs (none of which resulted in illegitimate children) and he caught a sexually-transmittable disease, probably syphilis, which he passed on to his wife while they were trying to produce a new heir. This incident rendered her sterile and an heir was not unlikely, it was impossible. Their father, who was still alive during these events, made Joseph and his brother Charles sign the Mutual Pact of Succession, ensuring that Joseph's daughters would have absolute precedence over Charles's daughters, neither of whom were born at the time and that Maria Josepha would ascend both the throne of the Holy Roman Empire and the throne of the Kingdom of Spain. After Joseph became Emperor, Charles made him sign the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, ensuring that, under highly unlikely circumstances, girls could become Holy Roman Empresses; this was, however, a trick, because neither of Joseph's two daughters became Empresses in their own right (Maria Amalia did marry Charles VII, but he was the Emperor in his own right); they were outranked by Charles's eldest daughter, Maria Theresa.

Issue

Name	Portrait	Lifespan	Notes
Maria Josepha		8 December 1699 - 17 November 1757	Archduchess of Austria, married August III ("the Saxon"), King of Poland and Elector of Saxony.
Leopold Joseph		29 October 1700 - 4 August 1701	Archduke of Austria, died in infancy.
Maria Amalia		22 October 1701 - 11 December 1756	Archduchess of Austria, married Charles Albert of Bavaria, Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria, who briefly became King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Bibliography

• F. Krones von Marchiand, Grundriss der Oesterreichischen Geschichte (1882)
• F. Wagner, Historia Josephi Caesaris (1746)
• J. C. Herchenhahn, Geschichte der Regierung Kaiser Josephs I (1786–1789)
• C. van Noorden, Europäische Geschichte im achtzehnten Jahrhundert (1870–1882).

External links

Media related to Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor at Wikimedia Commons

• Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Joseph I.: "Regina coeli"
• Joseph I (Holy Roman Empire) - MSN Encarta (Archived 2009-10-31)[2]

Succession

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor House of Habsburg Born: 26 July 1678 Died: 17 April 1711
Regnal titles
Preceded by Leopold I	King of Bohemia 1705–1711	Succeeded by Charles VI
	King of Hungary 1687–1711
	King in Germany (formally King of the Romans) 1690–1711
	Holy Roman Emperor (elect) 1705–1711
	Archduke of Austria 1705–1711
	Duke of Teschen 1705–1711