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'Charles VI', (German ''Karl VI'') (October 1, 1685 – October 20, 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (as Karel II.) and Hungary (as Károly III.) from 1711 to 1740. From 1703 to 1711 he was an active claimant to the throne of Spain as 'Charles III'.

Contents

Biography

Ancestors

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Biography

Charles was born in Vienna, the second son of the Emperor Leopold I and of his third wife, Princess Eleonore-Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuburg. He was given the baptismal names ''Karl Josef Franz''. His tutor was Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein.
Charles was the contracted heir of the Spanish Habsburgs. When Charles II of Spain made Philip V his heir, Louis XIV violated the contract. The dispute for the crown of Spain led to the War of the Spanish Succession.
After his older brother the Emperor Joseph I died suddenly in 1711, Charles returned to Austria. He succeeded immediately as King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. Later that year he was elected Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt.
Although Charles seems to have been clumsy in political affairs, the Austrian monarchy reached its widest expansion during his reign.
He married Elisabeth, eldest daughter of Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

At the time of his death, his only surviving children were

★ Maria Theresa and

★ Maria Anna,
so he had no living male heirs - a situation he had guarded against in the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, which stated that his realm could not be divided and allowed that daughters also could inherit the throne from their fathers. When he died, the War of the Austrian Succession took place, but in the end the Pragmatic Sanction held up and his daughter succeeded him as Queen of Hungary and Bohemia and Archduchess of Austria. However, being a female, she was not elected Holy Roman Empress. Instead, Charles VII was elected. However, after Charles VII's reign, Maria Theresa's husband Francis I was elected, ensuring that the Empire would continue in the Habsburg line.
Probably as a consequence of his years in Spain, he introduced the Spanish court ceremonial (''Spanisches Hofzeremoniell'') in Vienna and built the Spanish Riding School. Furthermore, the ''Reichskanzlei'' ("chancellory of the state") and the National Library were constructed during his reign and the Michaeler tract added to the ''Hofburg''. Much was designed in baroque style in Vienna during Charles' reign.
He also had musical ambitions. Taught as a boy by Johann Joseph Fux, he composed, played the harpsichord, and now and then conducted the court's band.
There is some evidence that Charles' death was caused by consuming a meal of death cap mushrooms.Wasson RG. (1972). The death of Claudius, or mushrooms for murderers. ''Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University'' '23'(3):101–128.

Ancestors

'Charles's ancestors in three generations'

'Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor'	'Father:' Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor	'Father's father:' Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor	'Father's father's father:' Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
			'Father's father's mother:' Maria Anna of Bavaria
		'Father's mother:' Maria Anna of Spain	'Father's mother's father:' Philip III of Spain
			'Father's mother's mother:' Margaret of Austria
	'Mother:' Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg	'Mother's father:' Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine	'Mother's father's father:' Wolfgang Wilhelm, Pfalzgraf von Neuburg
			'Mother's father's mother:' Magdalene of Bavaria
		'Mother's mother:' Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt	'Mother's mother's father:' George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
			'Mother's mother's mother:' Sofie Eleonore of Saxony

Names in other languages: German: ''Karl VI.'', Czech: ''Karel II.'', Hungarian: ''III. Károly'', Slovak: ''Karol III.'', Croatian: ''Karlo III.'', Catalan: ''Carles III.'', Latin: ''Carolus VI.''Polish ''Karol VI'', Dutch: ''Karel VI.''

Notes

Bibliography

★ León Sanz, Virginia. ''Carlos VI: el emperador que no pudo ser rey de España''. Madrid: Aguilar, 2003. ISBN 8403094094.

★ Rill, Bernd. ''Karl VI.: Habsburg als barocke Grossmacht''. Graz: Verlag Styria, 1992. ISBN 3222121486.

External links

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