Dukes of Austria (1246-1311)
1246 - 1268: Frederick III (House of Babenburg) [1]
1268 - 1291: Frederick IV (House of Babenburg) [2]
1291 - 1311: Leopold VII (House of Babenberg) [3]
Kings of Austria (1311- 1664)
1311 - 1345: Frederick V (House of Babenburg) [4]
1345 - 1383: Wilhelm (House of Babenburg) [5]
1383 - 1425: Frederick VI (House of Babenburg) [6]
1425 - 1456: Leopold VIII (House of Babenburg) [7]
1456 - 1502: Leopold IX (House of Babenburg) [8]
1502 - 1517: Vlad I (House of Drăculești) [9]
1517 - 1529: Vlad II (House of Drăculești) [10]
1529 - 1541: Stephan (House of Drăculești) [11]
1541 - 1579: Anne (House of Drăculești) [12]
1579 - 1599: Jakob I (House of Buonaparte) [13]
1599 - 1614: Jakob II (House of Buonaparte) [14]
1614 - 1650: Rudolf (House of Buonaparte) [15]
1650 - 1664: Jakob III (House of Buonaparte) [16]
Counts of Vienna (1664 - 1710)
1664 - 1671: Jakob III (House of Buonaparte) [16]
1671 - 1694: Benedetto (House of Buonaparte) [17]
1694 - 1710: Josepha (House of Buonaparte) [18]
Dukes of Austria (1710 - 1765)
1710 - 1733: Josepha (House of Buonaparte) [18]
1733 - 1762: Leopold X (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [19]
1762 - 1765: Joseph I (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [20]
King of Hungarian-Austro (1765 - )
1765 - 1774: Joseph I (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [20]
1774 - 1804: Leopold XI (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [21]
1804 - 1840: Károly III (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [22]
1840 - 1887: Leopold XII (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [23]
[1] Frederick III was the much treasured son of Frederick II and the sixth Duke of Austria from the House of Babenburg. His ascenion secured the Ducal title of Austria for his family and kept it out of the hands of the House of Hapsburg, who were a rival house to Babenburg. Frederick III had a steady rule over Austria and Styria and was succeeded by his son Frederick IV.
[2] Frederick IV ascended the throne at the age of 18. He was faced by the Habsburgs, who, while not powerful enough to take the ducal title, were still annoying. He managed to break their power in 1281. In his later years, he joined a Crusade, and returned home, where he started many monestaries.
[3] When Phillip Duke of Carinthia died childless he left Leopold Carinthia in his will in recognition for his fathers support against Ottokar Przemysl. The three duchies were merged by the HREmperor Adolf von Nassau into the Kingdom of Austria with Leopold becoming its first King.
[4] The second King of Austria was Frederick, son of Leopold who made it so that the regnal lists for the former Duchy and new Kingdom were the same so instead of being Frederick I, he would be Frederick V and he was so crowned at the beginning of his reign. Frederick supported Rudolf, son of Adolf von Nassau for the position of Holy Roman Emperor and when he was duly elected, Rudolf remebered who helped him by granting Frederick a large part of the former Habsburg lands (the family having been wiped out during the reign of his grandfather) surrounding the Habsburg castle.
[5] Wilhelm married first married Maria Palaiologina (daughter of John V Palaiologos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire), who bore him five children, secondly he married Matilda von Nassau (daughter of Adolf, Emperor of HRE), who bore him three children and finally Kera Tamara (daughter of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander) who bore him another seven children.
All three marriages resulted in an alliance with all three of the Empires, which helped improve Austrian trade, making Wilhelm, one of the wealthiest kings at that time.
[6] Frederick VI ruled for 42 years and was a good and just King with all of his subjects and used diplomacy with his rivals, King Charles V of France and Ludwig, Count of Budapest resulting in a trade treaty that helped all three rulers. However the treaty with the Rebel Count of Budapest (Budapest having broken away from the HRE) annoyed Frederick's uncle Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor which resulted in the first Austrian-German War of Agression (1401-1404) in which no battles were fought but both a German army advanced to Vienna in 1402 and an Austrian army marched to Aachen in 1403. In 1404, the two rulers agreed a treaty and stopped marshaling their armies. However less than ten years, a new Holy Roman Emperor (Rudolf's nephew Karl) was elected and he reneged on his uncle's treaty and started the Second Austrian-German War of Aggression (1414-1423) which was extremely bloody and brutal. Frederick was victorious in the war after Karl von Nassau was betrayed by his nobles in 1418 and given to Frederick who imprisoned him. However the war did not officially end until 1423 when a new treaty was agreed between Frederick and Karl, heavily favouring the Austrians and Karl was returned to the Empire, the two nobles that betrayed him having died, Karl was returned directly to the Imperial throne and he implemented the treaty that he had signed with Frederick. Frederick ruled for another two years before he died from a heart attack in his sleep.
[7] Leopolds greatest achievement was probably the fact that he personally led an relieve army to rescue Byzantion from the Osmanic invaders. The Battle of Adrianopel was victorious for the Army of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation and saved at least the Balkans for Christianity. Unfortunately the wound received in this battle became infected and he died the day Byzantion signed a treaty with the defeated Sultans successor.
[8]Leopold was the only son of Leopold VIII and ascended to the throne at the age of 29, he married Elizabeth Bonifacia Jagiellon of Poland (daughter of King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland.)
He is mainly remembered for having his youngest daughter marrying Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (House of Drăculești.)
His reign was a peaceful one, with no wars. He died of old age at the age of 82, with his sons dead, he past his throne to his eldest grandson, Vlad IV/I.
[9] Vlad inherited the Austrian kingdom and the Principality of Walachia within 2 months. Like his predecessor Leopold he kept the peace and called for German settlers for thinly populated Walachia. In 1515 he abdicated as Prince of Walachia in favor of his second son Carol. Leaving the Austrian part to Vlad when dying 2 years later.
[10] Vlad II spent most of his twelve-year reign feuding with one person or another. First he argued with his brother, Carol, resenting that their late father had ceded Walachia to Carol instead of making it part of the larger Austrian holdings. Then problems began to crop up with the Turks, who were on the march of conquest once more. Vlad II proved much more violent than his father and waged a fierce and bloody war against the Turks. However, he grew so consumed with the conflict, that he was blind to the doings of the few surviving Habsburgs, who had been lying low the past several generations. Just a few months after an armistice had been signed with the Turks, Vlad II died suddenly during a feast. Rumors had it as poison, courtesy of those surviving Habsburgs.
[11] The elder son of Vlad, Stephan was known as Stephan the Pious for his intense devotion to the Church, engaging in vast cathedral constructions and pilgrimages. Stephan tried to organize a crusade in 1530 but events in the HRE made this impossible, namely the death of Emperor Paul without children or a designated heir, making the election an open one. This resulted in the War of the Four Emperors (1530 - 1534) in which four different claimants attempt to become Emperor. The end result was the election of Johann Georg of Saxony and a weakened Empire. The war gave Stephan a freehand in expanding his holdings and influence, not only in central and southern Germany but also in the Venetian Republic which had begun a downward slide from power. When Stephan died the Kingdom of Austria went to his only heir, Anne I.
[12] The only child of Stephan the Pious, Anne I was the first woman to claim the Kingdom of Austria in her own right. The Empire, which had been slowly but steadily trying to regain its former power, thought it a perfect attempt to acquire Austria under its own banner and attempted to maneuver Anne into marrying one of the sons of Johann Georg of Saxony. Anne, however, proved quite wily and canny, and avoided the Imperial diplomatic traps. When that diplomacy failed, Johann Georg's successor attempted to invade and force the issue. Anne shocked everyone by personally leading the Austrian army out to battle the Imperial troops, and was present to see the Empire's forces smashed and forced to retreat. She did eventually marry, a minor Italian noble who had no claim on the loyalties of anyone in Austria, and bore one son, who eventually succeeded her in 1579.
[13] Jakob sought to secure his family's position within the Empire. To that extent, he married Nicola von Habsburg, eldest daughter of the Duke in Aargau in a bid to end the families' feud. He even went so far as to support his uncle's [failed] bid for the Imperial throne in 1685. In return, Rudolf IX sent Swiss pikemen in support of his son-in-law when the Jakob went on what Rudolf called, "his Italian adventure," his phrase for Jakob's attempts to solidify his holdings in Venetia.
[14] Jakob II proved to be his mother's child and spent much of his reign promoting the interests of the Habsburgs, even over those of his paternal relatives. This earned him a great deal of resentment. The tensions eventually boiled over on Christmas Day, 1609. During the Christmas Mass, when Jakob knelt in prayer, the doors of the royal chapel were thrust open and half-a-dozen disguised men rushed in, all armed. Several members of Jakob's Habsburg kin were killed where they were also kneeling, including Jakob's seven-year-old cousin, Maria. Jakob's own wife, Blanche of Castile, and their ten-year-old twins, Isabella and Frederick, were also injured in the attack, though all of them survived. It was subequently revealed that the attackers were Jakob's paternal cousins, descendents of Vlad II via his second son, Carol. The Habsburgs, made powerful by Jakob, retaliated, and the conflict lasted on and off for the next five years. Things turned even more tragic, when Jakob himself was killed trying to defend another of his Habsburg cousins from his third cousin, Carol II of Walachia. This left the throne to his eldest son, the twenty-year-old Rudolf, who proved very eager to avenge his father's death, and the attacks on his mother, younger siblings, and cousins.
[15] Following the Christmas Day Massacre, Jakob II sent his heir, along with his wife and siblings to his maternal uncle's court in Aargau. It was there that Rudolf was protected until his father's untimely death. Rudolf returned to Austria backed by a host of Swiss musketeers and Austrian royalists. He first set up residence in Klosterneuburg, from where he reigned for much of the first part of his reign. Through his retainers and proxies, he over saw events in Vienna, specifically the rooting out of those who still meant his family harm and the construction of a new royal Palace, later called the Schweizerschloss or Swiss Palace, into which he moved only after its completion and his second marriage to Hippolyte of Monaco.
[16] The squabbles between families and the foucs on this led the Austria position compared to its bigger neighbours being weakened. Jakub III would fight various wars with his neighbours. However an unfortunate set of deafeats and bad alliances led to the Kingdom of Austria to cease to exist and be partitioned by Bohemia, Bavaria, and Hungary. Jakub III would remain independent as the Count of Vienna, and would die a broken man.
[17] Benedict, realizing that there are no gains to be had north of the Alps due to Vienna's stronger neighbours, looked south for an Alliance with the Duchy of Carinthia, who themselves were also under pressure from Hungary, Venice, and Slavonia. Thus, he took on the Italian version of his name as a symbol of this vision. He eventually married the fourth daughter of the Carinthian duke, Assunta, after his first wife died giving birth to their third child. Died of consumption in 1694.
[18] Josepha was the eldest surviving child of Benedict, becoming Countess at age 16, while her holdings were small she was quite beautiful and thus seen as easy pickings. Josepha managed to catch the eye of Matthias IV of Hungary and married him a few years later. This might have been the end of it, however Josepha was a political genius with a hunger to restore her family's former holdings as a matter of personal pride. The opportunity emerged when the weak-willed Emperor Adolf I attempted to suppress the Unitarian movement that had spread from Poland and into the northern HRE, the end result was the 'Four Years War' (1703-1706), a brief but devastating conflict that left the northern HRE in tatters, the Emperor dead without an heir, and the remaining states wanting to 'return to normalcy' even as demands for reform within the church proper grew and grew. Josepha was able to maneuver the election of her husband as the next Holy Roman Emperor and was able to convince him to restore many of the lands of former Austria to herself, though she had to accept the lesser title of 'Duke' rather than 'Queen' and an agreement that the Duchy would pass to their second son Leopold , which it did when Josepha died at age 53.
[19] Leopold X was the second son of Josepha and Matthias IV of Hungary and his brother was Charles III of Hungary. Leopold X spent much of his reign securing the borders of his lands and oversaw the election of his brother Joseph as the Holy Roman Emperor. Joseph was a weak-willed Emperor and Leopold X used his connection to the Emperor to gain more land for his family. Leopold X died from a long illness and was succeeded by his son Joseph.
[20] Joseph I was a deceitful ruler, who after the death of his childless uncle on August 18 1765, saw his chance to strike, he oversaw the election of Prince Edward of Hanover (brother of King George III) as the Holy Roman Emperor.
With a Western German family on the throne, Joseph was able to claim the throne of Hungary, without any opposition and united it with his duchy creating the Kingdom of Hungarian-Austro, his marriage to a Hungarian lady with noble ties kept the nobility in check.
[21] Leopold XI ruled for thirty years and had to keep his nobles in Hungary in check for almost the entire time using a great deal of diplomacy to stop a Civil War breaking out in 1789, 1797, 1800 and 1803. Finally sapped of his strength by constanting politicking in his kingdom, Leopold XI died in 1804 in his sleep and he was succeeded by his son Charles.
[22] To honour his Hungarian nobles Charles, used the Hungarian style as his regal name Károly, spending more time in Budapest rather then Vienne, saw the call for revolution die out in Hungary.
He married a Isabeau, from the noble house of Wittelsbach, daughter of Franz III, Hungarian Duke of Borša, with who he had only one son but twelve daughters who were married to the most powerful of families within the Hungarian-Austro Kingdom.
[23] The only son of the previous King, Leopold XII ruled for 37 years over a period of peace. He spent much of his reign in Budapest dealing with restructing the nobility into a House of Lords and gave them a great deal of power over the government. After this he became known as The Fat King as his weight ballooned after he spent time whoring and drinking his way through the Royal Treasury
1246 - 1268: Frederick III (House of Babenburg) [1]
1268 - 1291: Frederick IV (House of Babenburg) [2]
1291 - 1311: Leopold VII (House of Babenberg) [3]
Kings of Austria (1311- 1664)
1311 - 1345: Frederick V (House of Babenburg) [4]
1345 - 1383: Wilhelm (House of Babenburg) [5]
1383 - 1425: Frederick VI (House of Babenburg) [6]
1425 - 1456: Leopold VIII (House of Babenburg) [7]
1456 - 1502: Leopold IX (House of Babenburg) [8]
1502 - 1517: Vlad I (House of Drăculești) [9]
1517 - 1529: Vlad II (House of Drăculești) [10]
1529 - 1541: Stephan (House of Drăculești) [11]
1541 - 1579: Anne (House of Drăculești) [12]
1579 - 1599: Jakob I (House of Buonaparte) [13]
1599 - 1614: Jakob II (House of Buonaparte) [14]
1614 - 1650: Rudolf (House of Buonaparte) [15]
1650 - 1664: Jakob III (House of Buonaparte) [16]
Counts of Vienna (1664 - 1710)
1664 - 1671: Jakob III (House of Buonaparte) [16]
1671 - 1694: Benedetto (House of Buonaparte) [17]
1694 - 1710: Josepha (House of Buonaparte) [18]
Dukes of Austria (1710 - 1765)
1710 - 1733: Josepha (House of Buonaparte) [18]
1733 - 1762: Leopold X (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [19]
1762 - 1765: Joseph I (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [20]
King of Hungarian-Austro (1765 - )
1765 - 1774: Joseph I (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [20]
1774 - 1804: Leopold XI (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [21]
1804 - 1840: Károly III (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [22]
1840 - 1887: Leopold XII (House of Laufenburg-Lorraine) [23]
[1] Frederick III was the much treasured son of Frederick II and the sixth Duke of Austria from the House of Babenburg. His ascenion secured the Ducal title of Austria for his family and kept it out of the hands of the House of Hapsburg, who were a rival house to Babenburg. Frederick III had a steady rule over Austria and Styria and was succeeded by his son Frederick IV.
[2] Frederick IV ascended the throne at the age of 18. He was faced by the Habsburgs, who, while not powerful enough to take the ducal title, were still annoying. He managed to break their power in 1281. In his later years, he joined a Crusade, and returned home, where he started many monestaries.
[3] When Phillip Duke of Carinthia died childless he left Leopold Carinthia in his will in recognition for his fathers support against Ottokar Przemysl. The three duchies were merged by the HREmperor Adolf von Nassau into the Kingdom of Austria with Leopold becoming its first King.
[4] The second King of Austria was Frederick, son of Leopold who made it so that the regnal lists for the former Duchy and new Kingdom were the same so instead of being Frederick I, he would be Frederick V and he was so crowned at the beginning of his reign. Frederick supported Rudolf, son of Adolf von Nassau for the position of Holy Roman Emperor and when he was duly elected, Rudolf remebered who helped him by granting Frederick a large part of the former Habsburg lands (the family having been wiped out during the reign of his grandfather) surrounding the Habsburg castle.
[5] Wilhelm married first married Maria Palaiologina (daughter of John V Palaiologos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire), who bore him five children, secondly he married Matilda von Nassau (daughter of Adolf, Emperor of HRE), who bore him three children and finally Kera Tamara (daughter of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander) who bore him another seven children.
All three marriages resulted in an alliance with all three of the Empires, which helped improve Austrian trade, making Wilhelm, one of the wealthiest kings at that time.
[6] Frederick VI ruled for 42 years and was a good and just King with all of his subjects and used diplomacy with his rivals, King Charles V of France and Ludwig, Count of Budapest resulting in a trade treaty that helped all three rulers. However the treaty with the Rebel Count of Budapest (Budapest having broken away from the HRE) annoyed Frederick's uncle Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor which resulted in the first Austrian-German War of Agression (1401-1404) in which no battles were fought but both a German army advanced to Vienna in 1402 and an Austrian army marched to Aachen in 1403. In 1404, the two rulers agreed a treaty and stopped marshaling their armies. However less than ten years, a new Holy Roman Emperor (Rudolf's nephew Karl) was elected and he reneged on his uncle's treaty and started the Second Austrian-German War of Aggression (1414-1423) which was extremely bloody and brutal. Frederick was victorious in the war after Karl von Nassau was betrayed by his nobles in 1418 and given to Frederick who imprisoned him. However the war did not officially end until 1423 when a new treaty was agreed between Frederick and Karl, heavily favouring the Austrians and Karl was returned to the Empire, the two nobles that betrayed him having died, Karl was returned directly to the Imperial throne and he implemented the treaty that he had signed with Frederick. Frederick ruled for another two years before he died from a heart attack in his sleep.
[7] Leopolds greatest achievement was probably the fact that he personally led an relieve army to rescue Byzantion from the Osmanic invaders. The Battle of Adrianopel was victorious for the Army of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation and saved at least the Balkans for Christianity. Unfortunately the wound received in this battle became infected and he died the day Byzantion signed a treaty with the defeated Sultans successor.
[8]Leopold was the only son of Leopold VIII and ascended to the throne at the age of 29, he married Elizabeth Bonifacia Jagiellon of Poland (daughter of King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland.)
He is mainly remembered for having his youngest daughter marrying Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (House of Drăculești.)
His reign was a peaceful one, with no wars. He died of old age at the age of 82, with his sons dead, he past his throne to his eldest grandson, Vlad IV/I.
[9] Vlad inherited the Austrian kingdom and the Principality of Walachia within 2 months. Like his predecessor Leopold he kept the peace and called for German settlers for thinly populated Walachia. In 1515 he abdicated as Prince of Walachia in favor of his second son Carol. Leaving the Austrian part to Vlad when dying 2 years later.
[10] Vlad II spent most of his twelve-year reign feuding with one person or another. First he argued with his brother, Carol, resenting that their late father had ceded Walachia to Carol instead of making it part of the larger Austrian holdings. Then problems began to crop up with the Turks, who were on the march of conquest once more. Vlad II proved much more violent than his father and waged a fierce and bloody war against the Turks. However, he grew so consumed with the conflict, that he was blind to the doings of the few surviving Habsburgs, who had been lying low the past several generations. Just a few months after an armistice had been signed with the Turks, Vlad II died suddenly during a feast. Rumors had it as poison, courtesy of those surviving Habsburgs.
[11] The elder son of Vlad, Stephan was known as Stephan the Pious for his intense devotion to the Church, engaging in vast cathedral constructions and pilgrimages. Stephan tried to organize a crusade in 1530 but events in the HRE made this impossible, namely the death of Emperor Paul without children or a designated heir, making the election an open one. This resulted in the War of the Four Emperors (1530 - 1534) in which four different claimants attempt to become Emperor. The end result was the election of Johann Georg of Saxony and a weakened Empire. The war gave Stephan a freehand in expanding his holdings and influence, not only in central and southern Germany but also in the Venetian Republic which had begun a downward slide from power. When Stephan died the Kingdom of Austria went to his only heir, Anne I.
[12] The only child of Stephan the Pious, Anne I was the first woman to claim the Kingdom of Austria in her own right. The Empire, which had been slowly but steadily trying to regain its former power, thought it a perfect attempt to acquire Austria under its own banner and attempted to maneuver Anne into marrying one of the sons of Johann Georg of Saxony. Anne, however, proved quite wily and canny, and avoided the Imperial diplomatic traps. When that diplomacy failed, Johann Georg's successor attempted to invade and force the issue. Anne shocked everyone by personally leading the Austrian army out to battle the Imperial troops, and was present to see the Empire's forces smashed and forced to retreat. She did eventually marry, a minor Italian noble who had no claim on the loyalties of anyone in Austria, and bore one son, who eventually succeeded her in 1579.
[13] Jakob sought to secure his family's position within the Empire. To that extent, he married Nicola von Habsburg, eldest daughter of the Duke in Aargau in a bid to end the families' feud. He even went so far as to support his uncle's [failed] bid for the Imperial throne in 1685. In return, Rudolf IX sent Swiss pikemen in support of his son-in-law when the Jakob went on what Rudolf called, "his Italian adventure," his phrase for Jakob's attempts to solidify his holdings in Venetia.
[14] Jakob II proved to be his mother's child and spent much of his reign promoting the interests of the Habsburgs, even over those of his paternal relatives. This earned him a great deal of resentment. The tensions eventually boiled over on Christmas Day, 1609. During the Christmas Mass, when Jakob knelt in prayer, the doors of the royal chapel were thrust open and half-a-dozen disguised men rushed in, all armed. Several members of Jakob's Habsburg kin were killed where they were also kneeling, including Jakob's seven-year-old cousin, Maria. Jakob's own wife, Blanche of Castile, and their ten-year-old twins, Isabella and Frederick, were also injured in the attack, though all of them survived. It was subequently revealed that the attackers were Jakob's paternal cousins, descendents of Vlad II via his second son, Carol. The Habsburgs, made powerful by Jakob, retaliated, and the conflict lasted on and off for the next five years. Things turned even more tragic, when Jakob himself was killed trying to defend another of his Habsburg cousins from his third cousin, Carol II of Walachia. This left the throne to his eldest son, the twenty-year-old Rudolf, who proved very eager to avenge his father's death, and the attacks on his mother, younger siblings, and cousins.
[15] Following the Christmas Day Massacre, Jakob II sent his heir, along with his wife and siblings to his maternal uncle's court in Aargau. It was there that Rudolf was protected until his father's untimely death. Rudolf returned to Austria backed by a host of Swiss musketeers and Austrian royalists. He first set up residence in Klosterneuburg, from where he reigned for much of the first part of his reign. Through his retainers and proxies, he over saw events in Vienna, specifically the rooting out of those who still meant his family harm and the construction of a new royal Palace, later called the Schweizerschloss or Swiss Palace, into which he moved only after its completion and his second marriage to Hippolyte of Monaco.
[16] The squabbles between families and the foucs on this led the Austria position compared to its bigger neighbours being weakened. Jakub III would fight various wars with his neighbours. However an unfortunate set of deafeats and bad alliances led to the Kingdom of Austria to cease to exist and be partitioned by Bohemia, Bavaria, and Hungary. Jakub III would remain independent as the Count of Vienna, and would die a broken man.
[17] Benedict, realizing that there are no gains to be had north of the Alps due to Vienna's stronger neighbours, looked south for an Alliance with the Duchy of Carinthia, who themselves were also under pressure from Hungary, Venice, and Slavonia. Thus, he took on the Italian version of his name as a symbol of this vision. He eventually married the fourth daughter of the Carinthian duke, Assunta, after his first wife died giving birth to their third child. Died of consumption in 1694.
[18] Josepha was the eldest surviving child of Benedict, becoming Countess at age 16, while her holdings were small she was quite beautiful and thus seen as easy pickings. Josepha managed to catch the eye of Matthias IV of Hungary and married him a few years later. This might have been the end of it, however Josepha was a political genius with a hunger to restore her family's former holdings as a matter of personal pride. The opportunity emerged when the weak-willed Emperor Adolf I attempted to suppress the Unitarian movement that had spread from Poland and into the northern HRE, the end result was the 'Four Years War' (1703-1706), a brief but devastating conflict that left the northern HRE in tatters, the Emperor dead without an heir, and the remaining states wanting to 'return to normalcy' even as demands for reform within the church proper grew and grew. Josepha was able to maneuver the election of her husband as the next Holy Roman Emperor and was able to convince him to restore many of the lands of former Austria to herself, though she had to accept the lesser title of 'Duke' rather than 'Queen' and an agreement that the Duchy would pass to their second son Leopold , which it did when Josepha died at age 53.
[19] Leopold X was the second son of Josepha and Matthias IV of Hungary and his brother was Charles III of Hungary. Leopold X spent much of his reign securing the borders of his lands and oversaw the election of his brother Joseph as the Holy Roman Emperor. Joseph was a weak-willed Emperor and Leopold X used his connection to the Emperor to gain more land for his family. Leopold X died from a long illness and was succeeded by his son Joseph.
[20] Joseph I was a deceitful ruler, who after the death of his childless uncle on August 18 1765, saw his chance to strike, he oversaw the election of Prince Edward of Hanover (brother of King George III) as the Holy Roman Emperor.
With a Western German family on the throne, Joseph was able to claim the throne of Hungary, without any opposition and united it with his duchy creating the Kingdom of Hungarian-Austro, his marriage to a Hungarian lady with noble ties kept the nobility in check.
[21] Leopold XI ruled for thirty years and had to keep his nobles in Hungary in check for almost the entire time using a great deal of diplomacy to stop a Civil War breaking out in 1789, 1797, 1800 and 1803. Finally sapped of his strength by constanting politicking in his kingdom, Leopold XI died in 1804 in his sleep and he was succeeded by his son Charles.
[22] To honour his Hungarian nobles Charles, used the Hungarian style as his regal name Károly, spending more time in Budapest rather then Vienne, saw the call for revolution die out in Hungary.
He married a Isabeau, from the noble house of Wittelsbach, daughter of Franz III, Hungarian Duke of Borša, with who he had only one son but twelve daughters who were married to the most powerful of families within the Hungarian-Austro Kingdom.
[23] The only son of the previous King, Leopold XII ruled for 37 years over a period of peace. He spent much of his reign in Budapest dealing with restructing the nobility into a House of Lords and gave them a great deal of power over the government. After this he became known as The Fat King as his weight ballooned after he spent time whoring and drinking his way through the Royal Treasury
