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House of Lorraine

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For the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, seeHouse of Habsburg-Lorraine.
House of Lorraine
Haus Lothringen
Original arms of the House of Lorraine
Parent houseArdennes–Metzwhich in turn can possibly be a cadet branch of either theEtichonidsor theMatfridings
CountryAlsace,Austria,Bohemia,Brabant,France,Flanders,Hungary,Lorraine,Luxembourg,Mexico,ModenaandTuscany
Current headKarl von Habsburg-Lothringen
Titles (see more)
DepositionLorraine:
1738 –Francis Iceded title in accordance with theTreaty of Vienna,gaining Tuscany

Holy Roman Empire, Luxembourg,
Brabant, and Flanders:
1805 –Francis II & Iceded titles in accordance with thePeace of Pressburg

Parma:
1847 –Marie Louisedied without issue

Tuscany:
1859 –Leopold IIabdicated due to pressure from Italian nationalists

Mexico:
1867 –Maximilian Iexecuted byLiberalrepublicans.

Austria, Hungary and Bohemia:
1918 –Charles I & IVrelinquished participation in state affairs following the end ofWorld War I
Cadet branches

TheHouse of Lorraine(German:Haus Lothringen) originated as acadet branchof theHouse of Metz.It inherited theDuchy of Lorrainein 1473 after the death without a male heir ofNicholas I, Duke of Lorraine.By the marriage ofFrancis of LorrainetoMaria Theresaof Austria in 1736, and with the success in the ensuingWar of the Austrian Succession(1740–1748), the House of Lorraine was joined to theHouse of Habsburgand became known as theHouse of Habsburg-Lorraine(German:Haus Habsburg-Lothringen). Francis, his sonsJoseph IIandLeopold II,and his grandsonFrancis IIwere the last fourHoly Roman emperorsfrom 1745 until thedissolution of the empirein 1806. The House of Habsburg-Lorraine inherited theHabsburg Empire,ruling theAustrian Empireand thenAustria-Hungaryuntil thedissolution of the monarchyin 1918.

Although its senioragnatesare thedukes of Hohenberg,the house is currently headed byKarl von Habsburg(born 1961), grandson of the last emperorCharles I.[1]

Ancestry

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A controversial origin

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The main two theories of the House's origin are:

The Etichonid origin was unanimously recognized from the 18th until the 20th century. For this reason, the marriage between Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis of Lorraine was seen at the time as the reunion of the two branches of the dynasty. The main proponents of this theory have been:Dom Calmet(1672 † 1757),[3]Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais(1773 † 1842)[4]and more recentlyMichel Dugast Rouillé(1919 † 1987)[2]and Henry Bogdan.[5]

The main proponents of the Gerardide-Matfriding theory are: Eduard Hlawitschka,[6]George Poull[7]and partially theEuropäische Stammtafeln(which however does not take into account the kinship with the Girardides).[8]

TheRenaissancedukes of Lorraine tended to arrogate to themselves claims toCarolingianancestry, as illustrated byAlexandre Dumas, pèrein the novelLa Dame de Monsoreau(1846);[9]in fact, so little documentation survives on the early generations that the reconstruction of a family tree for progenitors of the House of Alsace involves a good deal of guesswork.[citation needed]

What is more securely demonstrated is that in 1048Emperor Henry IIIgave the Duchy ofUpper Lorrainefirst toAdalbert of Metzand then to his brotherGerardwhose successors (collectively known as the House of Alsace or the House of Châtenois) retained the duchy until the death ofCharles the Boldin 1431.[10]

Houses of Vaudémont and Guise

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See also:House of Guise
TheChâteau du Grand JardininJoinville,the seat of theCounts and Dukes of Guise.

After a brief interlude of 1453–1473, when the duchy passed in right of Charles's daughter to her husbandJohn of Calabria,aCapetian,Lorraine reverted to the House of Vaudémont, a junior branch of House of Lorraine, in the person ofRené IIwho later added to his titles that ofDuke of Bar.[11]

TheFrench Wars of Religionsaw the rise of a junior branch of the Lorraine family, theHouse of Guise,which became a dominant force in French politics and, during the later years ofHenry III's reign, was on the verge of succeeding to the throne of France.[12]Mary of Guise,mother ofMary, Queen of Scots,also came from this family.

Under theBourbonmonarchy the remaining branch of the House of Guise, headed by theduc d'Elbeuf,remained part of the highest ranks of French aristocracy, while the senior branch of the House of Vaudémont continued to rule the independent duchies of Lorraine and Bar.Louis XIV's imperialist ambitions (which involved the occupation of Lorraine in 1669–97) forced the dukes into a permanent alliance with his archenemies, theHoly Roman Emperorsfrom theHouse of Habsburg.

House of Habsburg‑Lorraine

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Main article:House of Habsburg-Lorraine
See also:House of Habsburg,House of Hohenberg,andAustria-Este
The coat of arms of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The shield displays the marshaled arms of the Habsburg, Babenberg and Lorraine families.

AfterEmperor Joseph IandEmperor Charles VIfailed to produce a son and heir, thePragmatic Sanction of 1713left the throne to the latter's yet unborn daughter,Maria Theresa.In 1736 Emperor Charles arranged her marriage toFrancis of Lorrainewho agreed to exchange his hereditary lands for theGrand Duchy of Tuscany(as well as theDuchy of Teschenfrom the Emperor).

At Charles's death in 1740 the Habsburg holdings passed to Maria Theresa and Francis, who was later elected (in 1745) Holy Roman Emperor as Francis I. The Habsburg-Lorraine nuptials anddynastic unionprecipitated, and survived, theWar of the Austrian Succession.Francis and Maria Theresa's daughtersMarie AntoinetteandMaria Carolina of Austriabecame Queens of France andNaples-Sicily,respectively, while their sonsJoseph IIandLeopold IIsucceeded to the imperial title.

Apart from the core Habsburg dominions, including the triple crowns ofAustria,HungaryandBohemia,several junior branches of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine reigned in the Italian duchies of Tuscany (until 1737-1796, 1814-1860),Parma(1814-1847) andModena(1814-1859). Another member of the house, ArchdukeMaximilian of Austria,wasEmperor of Mexico(1863–67).

In 1900,Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria(thenheir presumptiveto theAustro-Hungarianthrone) contracted amorganatic marriagewith CountessSophie Chotek.Their descendants, known as theHouse of Hohenberg,have been excluded from succession to the Austro-Hungarian crown, but not that of Lorraine, where morganatic marriage has never been outlawed. Nevertheless,Otto von Habsburg,the eldest grandson of Franz Ferdinand'syounger brother,was universally regarded as the head of the house until his death in 2011.[13]It was atNancy,the former capital of the House of Vaudémont, that the former crown prince marriedPrincess Regina of Saxe-Meiningenin 1951.[1]

List of heads

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See also:Family tree of the German monarchs,Dukes of Lorraine family tree,andList of heirs to the Austrian throne
Francis I of Lorrainewith his family.

The following is a list of ruling heads (after 1918 pretenders) of the house of Ardennes-Metz and its successor houses of Lorraine and Habsburg-Lorraine, from the start of securely documented genealogical history in the 11th century.[citation needed]

Charles II died without male heir, the duchy passing toIsabella, Duchess of Lorraine,consort of Naples by marriage to DukeRené of Anjou.The duchy passed to their sonJohn II(r. 1453–1470), whose sonNicholas I(r. 1470–1473) died without heir. The title now went to Nicholas' aunt (sister of John II)Yolande.

House of Lorraine

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The House of Lorraine was formed by Yolande's marriage toFrederick II, Count of Vaudémont(1428–1470), who was descended fromJohn I(Yolande's great-grandfather) via his younger sonFrederick I, Count of Vaudémont(1346–1390),Antoine, Count of Vaudémont(c. 1395–1431) andFrederick II, Count of Vaudémont(1417–1470). René inherited the title of Duke of Lorraine upon his marriage in 1473.

House of Habsburg–Lorraine

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The heir of Franz Joseph,Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria,committed suicide in 1889. Franz Joseph was succeeded by his grandnephew,Charles I,son ofArchduke Otto Francis,the son ofArchduke Karl Ludwig,a younger brother of Franz Joseph.

Family tree

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Male-line family tree

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List of male-line members of the House of Lorraine

Male, male-line, legitimate, non-morganatic members of the house who either lived to adulthood, or who held a title as a child, are included. Heads of the house are in bold.


Notes and references

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  1. ^abGordon Brook-Shepherd.Uncrowned Emperor: the Life and Times of Otto von Habsburg.Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003.ISBN1-85285-439-1.pp. xi, 179, 216.
  2. ^abDugast Rouillé, Michel (1967).Les maisons souveraines de l'Autriche.Paris.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^Calmet, Antoine Augustin (1728).Histoire ecclésiastique et civile de la Lorraine.Nancy. pp. cix–cxlix.
  4. ^Viton, Nicholas (1811–1812).Histoire généalogique des maisons souveraines de l'Europe.Paris. p. 67.
  5. ^Bogdan, Henry (2005).La Lorraine des ducs, sept siècles d'histoire.Perrin. pp. 31–32.ISBN2-262-02113-9.
  6. ^Hlawitschka, Eduard (1969).Die Anfänge des Hauses Habsburg-Lothringen.Saarbrücken.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^Poull, Georges (1991).La Maison ducale de Lorraine.Nancy: Presses Universitaires de Nancy. p. 575.ISBN2-86480-517-0.
  8. ^Schwennicke, Detlev (1935–2007).Europäische Stammtafeln.Vol. VI. p. 129.
  9. ^SeeChapter XXI.
  10. ^William W. Kibler, Grover A. Zinn.Medieval France: an Encyclopedia.Routledge, 1995.ISBN0-8240-4444-4.p. 561.
  11. ^Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages(ed. by André Vauchez). Routledge, 2000.ISBN1-57958-282-6.p. 1227.
  12. ^Robert Knecht.The Valois: Kings of France 1328–1589.Continuum International Publishing Group, 2007.ISBN1-85285-522-3.p. 214.
  13. ^Brook-Shepherd also notes that morganatic alliances were not forbidden by ancient Magyar laws. See Brook-Shepherd 179.
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House of Lorraine
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Preceded by
Archduchy of Austria
1780–1804 		Archduchy elevated to the Empire of Austria
Kingdom of Bohemia
1780–1918 		Kingdom abolished
Duchy of Burgundyand theBurgundian Netherlands
1780–1795 		Duchy abolished
Kingdom of Hungary
1780–1849 		Incorporated into theEmpire of Austria
Austro-Hungarian Compromiserecreates the Kingdom of Hungary separate from the Empire of Austria in 1867
Kingdom of Hungary
1867–1918 		Kingdom abolished
New title Empire of Austria
1804–1918 		Empire abolished
Preceded by Grand Duchy of Tuscany
1765–1801 		Grand Duchy abolished
Became theKingdom of Etruria,a territory of the House of Bourbon
Preceded by Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
1815–1866 		Kingdom abolished
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
1814–1859 		Grand duchy abolished
Preceded by
House of Iturbide
Deposed in 1823; a republic was created in the interim
 Empire of Mexico
1864–1867 		Empire abolished
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