Portrait of Emperor Franz I of Austria
Artist: Leopold Kupelwieser (Austrian, 1796–1862)
Date: About 1830
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Collection: Military History Museum, Vienna, Austria
Emperor Franz I of Austria
Franz Joseph Karl (12 February 1768 in Florence; 2 March 1835 in Vienna) from the House of Habsburg-Lorraine was the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1792 to 1806 as Franz II. In 1804 he founded the Austrian Empire, which he ruled as Franz I until his death.
In order to counter the hegemony of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in Central Europe and to prevent a loss of status, he assumed the title of hereditary Emperor of Austria in 1804 , but continued to use the title of Elected Roman Emperor, at all times Increaser of the Empire , until 1806. In literature he is therefore often called Francis II/I, to distinguish him from his grandfather Francis I Stephen .
His declaration of abdication on 6 August 1806, in which he laid down "the German imperial crown and the imperial government" and released "the electors, princes and other estates, as well as all members and the imperial servants, from their previous duties", was motivated by the fear that the imperial crown could fall into French hands and that his Austrian lands in the empire could de jure come under Napoleonic rule. In fact, the empire - already only a very loose union - was broken up by the Confederation of the Rhine , founded in 1806 at Napoleon's instigation, whose princes left the empire. The abdication of the imperial crown is therefore considered confirmation of the dissolution of the empire, even if it did not constitute a corresponding legal act.
Until his death in 1835, Emperor Franz also remained King of Bohemia , Croatia and Hungary. His power base remained the Habsburg hereditary lands.
