by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Baptized Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar Johannes Antonius Ignatius, Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor was born on October 1, 1685, at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. He was the seventh of the ten children and the third of the three sons of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his third wife and second cousin Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg. Karl’s paternal grandparents were Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor and the first of his three wives who was also his first cousin, Maria Anna of Austria. His maternal grandparents were Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Karl had nine siblings but only four survived childhood:

• Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678 – 1711), married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, had three children, their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday
• Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (born and died 1679), died at birth
• Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1680 – 1741), unmarried
• Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1682 – 1684), died in early childhood
• Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1683 – 1754) married King João V of Portugal, had six children including two Kings of Portugal and one Queen Consort of Spain
• Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1684 – 1696), died from smallpox at the age of 12
• Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1687 – 1703), died from smallpox at the age of 16
• Maria Magdalena of Austria, Governor of Tyrol (1689 – 1743), unmarried
• Maria Margaretha of Austria (1690 – 1691), died in infancy

Karl’s parents Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg

Karl’s father Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor had been married twice before to Margarita Teresa of Spain and Claudia Felicitas of Austria. From these two marriages, Leopold had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter from his first wife, had died.

Karl had one surviving half-sister from his father’s first marriage to Margarita Teresa of Spain:

Prince Anton Florian, the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, had served Karl’s father Leopold I as a member of the Imperial Privy Council and as ambassador to the papal court in Rome. Due to his extensive knowledge, in 1693, Anton Florian became Karl’s governor and was responsible for his education.

The death of the last Spanish Habsburg King, Leopold I’s childless nephew Carlos II resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession in which Leopold and then his son Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I unsuccessfully sought to give Leopold’s younger son Karl the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the will of the late Carlos II who had named 16-year-old Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, the second son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, and the grandson of Carlos’ half-sister Maria Teresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain and her husband King Louis XIV of France, as his successor. However, Philippe of France did reign in Spain as King Felipe V, the first King of Spain from the House of Bourbon that still reigns in Spain.

Karl’s brother Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Karl’s father Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I died in 1705, in Vienna, and his 27-year-old son Joseph succeeded him in the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor. Before he died in 1705, Leopold I arranged a marriage for Karl with Princess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the daughter of Ludwig Rudolf, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Christine Luise von Oettingen-Oettingen. However, the Lutheran Elisabeth Christine initially opposed the marriage because she would have to convert to Roman Catholicism. She finally gave in and was tutored in Roman Catholicism by her future mother-in-law, Empress Eleonore Magdalene. Elisabeth Christine officially converted to Roman Catholicism in 1707. At the time of the wedding, Karl was fighting for his claim to the Spanish throne against the French candidate Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, so he was living in Barcelona, Spain. Elisabeth Christine traveled to Barcelona in July 1708 and the couple was married on August 1, 1708, at the Church of Santa María del Mar in Barcelona, Spain.

Karl VI with his wife Elisabeth Christine and their three daughters in 1730; Credit – Wikipedia

Karl and Elisabeth Christine had one son who died in infancy and three daughters, with one dying in childhood:

• Archduke Leopold Johann of Austria (born and died 1716), died in infancy
• Maria Theresa of Austria, in her own right Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia (1717 – 1780), heir to the Habsburg hereditary lands, married François III Étienne, Duke of Lorraine (reigned 1729 – 1737), also Francesco II Stefano, Grand Duke of Tuscany (reigned 1737 – 1765), and Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1745 – 1765), had sixteen children including Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, and Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, better known as Queen Marie Antoinette of France
• Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1718 – 1744), married Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Maria Anna died in childbirth along with her first child, a stillborn daughter
• Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria (1724 – 1730), died in childhood

Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein, Karl’s former childhood governor and then his Chairman of the Council of State and Chief Chamberlain until Anton Florian died in 1721; Credit – Wikipedia

The reign of Karl’s brother Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I lasted just six years. During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, the only surviving child and heir of King Louis XIV of France, Joseph also became ill with smallpox and died on April 17, 1711. Upon the sudden death of his elder brother, Karl automatically succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Karl’s former childhood governor, Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein, headed the imperial government as Chairman of the Council of State and served as Karl VI’s Chief Chamberlain until his death in 1721.

Karl had a long string of titles:

• Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Croatia, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria (reigned 1711 – 1740)
• King of Naples (reigned 1707 – 1735)
• King of Sardinia (reigned 1708 – 1720)
• Duke of Teschen (reigned 1711- 1722)
• Duke of Brabant, Duke of Limburg, Duke of Lothier, Duke of Milan, Count of Namur, Count of Flanders, Count of Hainaut, Duke of Luxembourg (reigned 1714 – 1740)
• King of Serbia (reigned 1718 – 1739)
• King of Sicily (reigned 1720 – 1735)
• Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Duke of Guastalla (reigned 1735 – 1740)

The fact that Karl did not have a male heir caused many problems. His father Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I had devised the Mutual Pact of Succession, a succession device secretly signed in 1703 by his elder son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, and his younger son, the future Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI. The Mutual Pact of Succession stated that the Habsburg hereditary lands would be inherited by both the brothers’ respective male heirs. However, if one should fail to have a son, the other one would succeed him in all the Habsburg hereditary lands. If both brothers died without sons, the daughters of Joseph, the elder brother, would have absolute precedence over the daughters of Karl, the younger brother, and the eldest daughter of Joseph would ascend to the thrones of all the Habsburg hereditary lands. This meant that Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1699 – 1757), the elder of the two daughters of Karl’s elder brother Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, would inherit the Habsburg hereditary lands upon the death of her uncle Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI.

When Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I died, his brother Karl succeeded him as the ruler of all the Habsburg hereditary lands with Joseph’s daughter Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria as his heir. However, Karl decided to amend the Mutual Pact of Succession. Karl VI’s Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 annulled the terms of the Mutual Pact of Succession and made his future daughters (Maria Theresa was not born until 1717) the heirs to the Habsburg hereditary lands instead of his niece Archduchess Maria Josepha.

Tomb of Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – By Welleschik – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3946431

On October 20, 1740, at the age of 55, Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor died at the Palais Augarten in Vienna, Austria, after a ten-day illness. Ten days earlier, Karl had eaten large amounts of a mushroom dish. The following day, he developed severe nausea, vomiting, and episodes of unconsciousness. After a few days of feeling fine, the symptoms returned, accompanied by a high fever, and eventually led to his death. The symptoms are typical of death cap mushroom poisoning but the definitive cause of Karl’s death remains unknown. Karl was interred in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Karl’s daughter Maria Theresa, circa 1744; Credit – Wikipedia

After Karl’s death, his daughter Maria Theresa succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands as the Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia, Queen of Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria in her own right, the only female to hold those sovereign positions. This led to led to the War of Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748) which led to the eventual confirmation of Maria Theresa’s Habsburg titles. However, Maria Theresa was unable to become the sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire because she was female, and so Karl Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria and Prince-Elector of Bavaria, the husband of Maria Theresa’s first cousin Maria Amalia of Austria, the younger daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, was elected Holy Roman Emperor. He was a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and his reign as Holy Roman Emperor marked the end of three centuries of uninterrupted Habsburg imperial rule. After Karl Albrecht died in 1745, Maria Theresa, via a treaty, arranged for her husband Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine to be elected Holy Roman Emperor, as Franz I. Despite the snub, Maria Theresa wielded the real power.

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Works Cited

• Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, Duke of Teschen, King of the Romans, Archduke of Further Austria, and Prince of Transylvania, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-i-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-hungary-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-king-of-croatia-duke-of-teschen-king-of-the-romans-archduke-of-further-austria-and-prince-of-transylv/ (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2013) Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-theresa-archduchess-of-austria-queen-of-hungary-croatia-and-bohemia/ (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
• Karl VI. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_VI._(HRR) (Accessed: 24 August 2023).
• Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
• Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.