Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine

Prince Charles Alexander Emanuel
Spouse	Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria
Father	Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
Mother	Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans
Born	(1712-12-12)12 December 1712 Lunéville, Duchy of Lorraine
Died	4 July 1780(1780-07-04) (aged 67) Tervuren, Duchy of Brabant, Austrian Netherlands

Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine (Charles Alexandre Emanuel de Lorraine) (December 12, 1712 in Lunéville – July 4, 1780 in Tervuren) was a Lorraine-born Austrian general and soldier, governor and de facto sovereign of the Austrian Netherlands, and sometime duke of Lorraine.

Background

Charles was the son of Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans. When his elder brother Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine, married the Archduchess Maria Theresa, daughter of Emperor Charles VI, Charles Alexander entered the Imperial service in 1737.

During the War of the Austrian Succession, he was one of the principal Austrian military commanders. He was most notable for his defeat by better trained and superior forces under the formidable Frederick the Great at the Battle of Chotusitz in 1742 and the Battle of Hohenfriedberg in 1745.^{[citation needed]} He was also defeated by Maurice de Saxe at the Battle of Rocoux in 1746.

On January 7, 1744, he married Maria Theresa's only sister, Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, thus making him doubly Maria Theresa's brother-in-law. The pair were jointly made Governors of the Austrian Netherlands.

Coat of arms of Charles Alexander of Lorraine as Grand Master of the Teutonic Order

Although Maria Anna died later the same year after marriage, Charles' popularity and lack of clear replacement allowed him to continue as governor and de facto sovereign until his own death in 1780.^{[citation needed]} He was extremely popular and purportedly ruled with a balance of liberality and other artifices to incentivize the Dutch to expand and bring to further fruition, an existing trend of great cultural creation and economic prosperity.^{[citation needed]} He was called by some the "crown on top of the Dutch Golden Age." Principles of religious freedom became more actualized and expanded, with examples such as the Neie Sjoel (New Synagogue) being founded in Amsterdam (now part of the Jewish Historical Museum).^{[citation needed]} Cities grew under the guidance of inspired architecture and planning, new canals for transportation and economic facilitation were built on a grand scale, and literature and arts flourished. A lover of music, under his rule the Calvinist disposition against music was able to become more relaxed.^{[citation needed]} Economically, infrastructure such as trade, shipping, warehouses, formation of new companies, capitalist infrastructures for ventures and equity investments, and other economic infrastructure flourished. Commoners felt incentivized to become merchants and indeed make great wealth by providing creating value to the community.^{[citation needed]}

Charles also became Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in 1761.

With events including his brother François Stephen de Lorraine (Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor) taking the throne of the Holy Roman Empire and relinquishing the duchy Lorraine, the ducal title to the somewhat ambiguously ruled Lorraine passed to France, back to Charles nominally for a brief time, and back to France temporarily in 1766 -- all of which was later made moot by the French Revolution of 1789.^{[citation needed]}

With the loss of his co-sovereign Maria Anna, his sister Anne Charlotte, whom he was very close to, acted as a de facto co-sovereign.

Seven Years War

Despite his record of defeats, he was able to retain his position. He was able to attain command ahead of the more popular Marshal Browne because of the support of his brother who had significant influence over military appointments. During the Seven Years' War, he commanded the Austrian army at the Battle of Prague, where he was again defeated by Frederick the Great, king of Prussia but was able to inflict heavy casualties on the superior Prussian forces. He subsequently defeated a smaller Prussian army in 1757 at the Battle of Breslau before being completely routed by Frederick the Great at the Battle of Leuthen, which is considered one of Frederick's most brilliant victories. During the battle, he was commander of the Austrian army as appointed by Maria Theresa, who relieved him of his rank.

After this last defeat, Charles was replaced by Count Leopold Joseph von Daun and retired from military service.

Family and Private Life

Because Charles ruled by right of his marriage to Maria Anna of Austria, Maria Anna's death very shortly after marriage created a situation where his second wife Elisabeth de Vaux, mistresses, and heirs, were kept under strict privacy and not made public; indeed, his children were to present themselves only under the surnames of their mothers while in public so long as they were in the Netherlands.^{[citation needed]}

Though there is obscurity about his private affairs after the death of Maria Anna, it is known that from his (private) wife Elisabeth de Vaux, Charles had a son Charles Alexandre Guillaume Joseph, and a grandson through the same; a stillborn daughter by an unnamed mistress; a son Charles Frédéric by an unnamed mistress; a son Jean Nicholas and a daughter Anne Françoise by an unnamed mistress, and an unnamed daughter through a mistress named Regine von Porthenfeld.^{[citation needed]} Some of his children were known to have lived in Dutch-speaking parts of Belgium temporarily or permanently, including his first son Charles Alexandre Guillaume Joseph, who was later known to have returned to Lunéville in Lorraine, to have claimed a substantially bountiful inheritance, to have had a son Gustav Auguste in 1788, and to have died in Nancy.^{[citation needed]}

Ancestry

Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine House of Lorraine Born: 12 December 1712 in Lunéville Died: 4 July 1780 in Tervuren
Government offices
Preceded by Count Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau	Governor of the Austrian Netherlands 1744–80	Succeeded by Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria and Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Clemens August of Bavaria, Prince-Archbishop-Elector of Cologne	Grand Master of the Teutonic Order 1761–80	Succeeded by Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, Prince-Archbishop-Elector of Cologne