The beloved tidbit of the Emperor and the 8 of Cups reversed of the Habsburg Empire

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Chapter I[/FONT]
«The ball in Schönbrunn was full of hairdressers and waitresses and, now, it gets interesting: in the contredanse de la noblesse there were two parties, the Romans and the Tartars; the Kaiser has always kept to the arm the Grand Duchess, and suddenly it happened that the Viennese plebs, by dint of shoving, tore the Grand Duchess from the Kaiser's arm and pushed her among the dancers. Then the Kaiser began to step on toes, swearing like a lazzarone and pushed away with great shots right and left a large mass of plebs; some of the Hungarian Guard wanted to intervene and make a clean sweep, but he sent them away. And so it had what he deserved, the plebs always remains the plebs.
«Then the Kaiser began to snogging with the beloved Elizabeth. This love is not a secret to anyone, only it is not clear whether it is a tidbit just for him or for the Prince of Tuscany. The Kaiser seems too tender with her, kisses her hands continuously, one after the other, and more often both together... she is still a baby; she must stay two years in a convent here and, probably, if do not interfere the witches, will become a my schoolgirl of piano[1]»

(to Leopold (Johann Georg) Mozart, Correspondence of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart and his family,
5 December 1781).​
Festivals and ceremonies at Court in honor of Paul, Crown Prince of Russia, and his wife Maria Feodorovna, born Princess of Württemberg, and the sister of her, the young Elizabeth, it provided material for numerous chatter and manifold stories.
The Emperor Joseph II, who, from now on, according to his own expression, called himself as «her father», selected a woman «by heart and spirit worthy», the Countess Josepha of Chanclos, as Obersthofmeisterin (tutor, governess) of the Princess and Father Langenau introduced her to the principles of the Catholic religion. In Vienna she was educated in the Salesianerinnenkloster.
After that the Princess Elizabeth of Württemberg was converted to Catholicism in the month of December 1782, the Emperor began to attend with her the daily Mass, then, day by day, the frequentation became more assiduous, so that the rumors were unleashed about the tender affection of misogynist Joseph II for the Princess of Württemberg.

When the Emperor, in the winter of 1783, did take contacts with the Court of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, it was immediately clear what were his intentions. Travelers who had stopped at the Court of the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel had always comments, generally flatterers, about the Princess Caroline, «extremely lovable, lively, cheerful, bright and attractive» (Count of Mirabeau, The Secret History of the Court of Berlin, 1895).
The Duchess Augusta, although he had always hoped in a English marriage for her second daughter, was nevertheless at the peak of happiness for this matrimonial proposal, who wrote to her brother, the King of Great Britain: «My daughter is so delightful that I'm sure you will enjoy she as wife. [...] I was so afraid that the our lifestyle would bring harm to our children, that no one would want their. Thank God it all worked out better than I had dared to hope».

At the end of the later year, Joseph II announced his betrothal to Princess Elizabeth of Württemberg and made public the negotiations for the betrothal of his nephew Franz with the daughter of the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

The Imperial marriage between Joseph II and Elizabeth of Württemberg, just eighteen, took place in Wien on 28 October 1785, celebrated by Maximilian Franz, Archbishop of Cologne and youngest brother of the Emperor[2]. A Friday.
But «Né di Venere né di Marte, ci si sposa né si parte[3]»...



[1] The job was instead entrusted to Salieri.
[2] Maximilian Franz was ordained priest on 21 December 1784, and was consecrated bishop only the 8 May 1785.
[3] Neither on Friday (the day of Venus) nor on Tuesday (the day of Mars) should one get married, start a journey.
 
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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Chapter II

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«Her beauty is not of the most perfect. But her whole person, for her manners and hers style, is lovable, her skin delicate and white. Her blue eyes and blond hair, with dark eyelash, make a mixture of sweetness and vivacity, so pleasant that is difficult to defend itself by her charm.
The Empress has a fine appearance, a elegant taille, a pleasant way of speaking. She says nice things, has much strength and also culture. Dance admirably well. ut her beauty always seems threatened, always seems ready at the end. Since she has in herself that of which to make herself loved, it can believe that she will succeed. She has a great heart, firm and generous, disinterested and tender and, no doubt, she wants that her body loves someone. She is sincere and faithful, far from any coquetry and capable, most of all, of a great intelligence. She loves the Emperor with an ardor infinite»

(Franziska Sturmtaucheroder, Gräfin von Grasigeort, Memoirs, 1834)
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The Emperor was absolutely dazzled by the style, the verve, the joy of Elizabeth: that girl was full of charm and grace.
She charmed the Emperor. Joseph was concerned only of her and has tried continually to amaze his wife, to impress her.
She was fascinated by the intellectual influence of the husband, admiring the liveliness of his spirit, the fineness of its judgments, the readings that suggested to her.

A first pregnancy ended quickly with a miscarriage in September 1786.
In the few months of pregnancy, Elizabeth's condition worsened: she was forced to stay in bed, suffered from terrible headaches, and was constantly tired.
To Joseph were the specters that had plagued his first marriage and that he never forget, who returned to ruin his happiness.

«Another journey that had consequences for European history took the emperor to Russia in 1787, where he met the Tsarina Catherine II in the Crimea. Here mutual agreement was reached between the two empires that they would act in concert to oppose the Ottoman Empire, an alliance that would subsequently lead to the final war against the Turks» (Martin Mutschlechner).

In the middle of April, recovered from an illness that had struck him, Joseph II left for Kherson, on the Black Sea, to meet with Catherine II. The Emperor decided to bring with him the amiable wife[4].
The Emperor, who had for Elizabeth an exquisite courtesy tinted of gallantry, had dotted the stages of the journey of gifts and surprises, he had given orders to create original situations, because he wanted that the journey was a delight for the wife who he adored and who wanted to comfort from the recently suffering. «To see shine so your eyes, I will do even more».
Catherine II of Russia made a triumphal journey through New Russia and the annexed Crimea in company with her ally, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, spending the days in the charming and lush palace built by the Khan of the Tartars to Backisaraj, or in huge tents set up along the journey in the desert, as far as the Crimea, liberated from the Turks and Russified, at the end of May.

At the return to Vienna the Empress had a "gift" for her adoring husband: she was again pregnant.
But in the space of a month, the joy was wiped out by another miscarriage.
As a good husband deeply in love with his young bride, Joseph tried to comfort Elizabeth during her personal ordeal.
The Emperor judged now inevitable the marriage of his nephew Franz; finally, over the course of six months, the wedding of the Prince of Tuscany and the Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was celebrated (6 January 1788) with much pomp by the Emperor's brother Maximilian Franz, Archbishop of Cologne, and the festivities continued for days.
«Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube»


[4] In OTL Emperor Joseph II came to Russia in a simple carriage, accompanied by a general and two ministers. In strict compliance with the incognito, under the name of Count of Falkenstein, because not as a monarch, but as an ordinary traveler, he would had the benefit and pleasure to see and hear better. Catherine traveled with 14 carriages
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif], 124 kibitka (sled typical Russian) and 40 sleds of spare...



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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Chapter III

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«The grace, still more lovely than beauty»

(Jean de La Fontaine)​


Joseph II, from the end of February 1788, was in front of Belgrade as commanding in the field.
The Empress Elizabeth spent her days trying cures at Baden-Baden's thermal baths, writing daily letters to her husband at the front. «I can think of nothing but that I am deeply in love», she wrote.
The 5th December the Emperor had returned exhausted from the war against the Turks: he had contracted the tuberculosis.
The greater punishment for him was having to stay away from the beloved wife while being, physically, in the same palace: «I am in the greatest suffering of the world to see me furiously attacked by this disease just when I need a little health... This, however, does not prevent me from being near you with the heart».

During the following spring, improving his conditions, Joseph II resumed the assiduous attendance of the wife, as much to share also the bed with her towards the end of the season, but in late 1789 his health had deteriorated to such an extent that he could no longer leave his room.

Meanwhile, the Prince of Tuscany discoverd that the marriage was not made only of joys.


«In her rides and walks, when she saw a rustic, a chubby boy, she immediately stopped and questioned it... It was certainly a very uncommon circumstance for a high-born Princess, with the blood of the Guelphs and the Brunswicks flowing in her veins, to take delight in chatting with dirty peasant children, and often to visit the hovels in which the children resided...
Calumny followed her in her visits to the cottages, and with nothing discernment there was talk of... a secret desire to escape from the prying eye of her family and the Court, to enjoy the society of one to whom... her affections were engaged»

(Robert Huish, Memoirs of..., 1821)
The wife of the Prince Franz of Tuscany, nephew of the Emperor, «was not tall, but well proportioned, with a striking, richly tinted complexion, and brilliant, lively eyes, suggesting great spirit. Without having a beautiful countenance, she is very pretty» (Abbé Baron), from the outset she has not made problem to manifest her dissatisfaction with life at the Viennese Court, the omnipotence of the etiquette and of the ceremonial[5], and her satisfaction with the husband that she had been chosen for her, immediately putting a strain her husband's forbearance.
Her behavior was described somewhat unusually, as a rakish, who governed her life inappropriately, ever at the gaming table, where gathered round her several men questionable, and led the way in ridiculing the Imperial House. the Prince Franz bore patience, pretending to not give credence to disgraceful rumors of his wife's faithlessness. But gradually he was not so sanguine about her, seeing to increase the Caroline's disinclination, considering the Princess a less wife, who complained her young age as an excuse to live a life still more retired from the Court.

In a letter to his uncle Emperor, when he was still at the front, Franz said all the concern for the situation in which he was:
«Even if some unlucky things in your court have made my position difficult, I can not disregard to the duties to which I'm called for my birth and they are dear to my heart. I cannot hide from myself that my wife need great attention on my part, and that I am responsible for her in front at God. I know I make you angry by speaking, but in time you would be more angry if I had let weakness keep me silent, when it is a question of the Empire's well-being. In short, we could avoid a scandal if she lived less in public. The people will see nothing, and a careful choice of her frequentations could avoid doing harm to her and us. The effrontery of the wife that you have chosen me, makes me tremble»

Joseph II replied to him:
«She is no fool, but she lacks judgment; she was brought up strictly, and necessarily so, due to her impulsiveness.
But she is likewise to be pitied for her bad education; indeed she was treated with such cruel severity. At thirteen years old she had a governess who had not allow her to go to the window; she was seldom or never permitted to dine at table, or even to come downstairs when there was any company... ; if her eyes now are not always full of tears, it is because we have liberated from her mother's naughtiness that made her cry so passionate.
I hope that by mildness, she will be brought back to the amiable character, as it was told to me, she had before to arrive at our Court.
Otherwise, as long as you wish to live as her husband, it is necessary that she lives according to your rank, state, and according to received custom... The Children are the priority that belong to us in common, and your responsibility to God does not exceed my own. An heir!
I do not ask of your complaisance or weakness or silence. I would not know what to do with it. Only a little more calm in your conduct.
Since you are married in front at God and the people, I advise you to impose to her to live under your custom dictates. I think good that you should not be fear and that you will see anything of reprehensible. There is never possible to admit near her anyone whose conduct is suspect. You know that as well as I.
If you execute everyday my plan, you may do as you like...».

«Marriage is like life in this: that it is a field of battle, and not a bed of roses» (Robert Louis Stevenson),



[5] Appears to us today so strange her attitude thinking that in those same years at the French Court the Austrian-born Queen Marie Antoinette had prepared her downfall and that of the French millennial monarchy demolishing the etiquette at Versailles in the name of a "liberality" almost bourgeois in which the Imperial House of Austria lived in Vienna. «Court ceremonial "serves to glorify and pay tribute to the dignity and elevated status of the monarch’s majesty and to demonstrate the reverence owed to the All-Highest Archducal House". Thus did Ivan von Žolger, an authority on the subject, describe the characteristic features of the Habsburg Court in 1917, that is, shortly before the end of the Monarchy» (Martin Mutschlechner).




 
This looks very interesting. I've always had a bit of a soft-spot for Josef II (if only because he was an idealistic dreamer (putting a ban on baking gingerbread, anyone?)

However, according to Beales' bio of Josef (the second volume: Against The World), it states that he possibly died from tuberculosis (a common ailment among the Habsburgs?), contracted in 1788. Beales does make mention of the fact that "Francis's wife....had a happier relationship with the emperor than almost any other relative" (p. 633), which makes her an interesting candidate for a spouse.

I was surprised at the next tidbit, that Peter Leopold actually worked with Christine (in the Netherlands) and Ferdinand (in Milan) against Josef (pp.632-633) by undermining his policies. One wonders how Josef would have reacted to finding out that his own family (and they seem to have been relatively close by the standards of the day) was undermining him. Their main reason for this, was that the three of them saw the policies as being disruptive to the empire's government, but most importantly because they didn't want to be subservient to the emperor (I guess they liked the whole being king in their own duchy thing)

As to Josef's reaction to Antoinette's circumstances, Beales points out that Josef seemed more worried about the revolution/revolt in Belgium and in Hungary than what he seemed about his supposed favorite sister's situation. So I wonder would his actions go any further than Leopold II/Franz II's?
 
This looks very interesting...


Thanks for the support ;):):p
When we had read the letter of Mozart, the idea turn on :D:D:D

Joseph II was disastrous as sovereign, especially in the ten years after the death of his mother Maria Theresa who had always managed to mediate the impulsiveness of her son in the political arena. With her gone, the Emperor has had no brakes.
He had managed to displease everyone, and at the end of his reign the tension had reached such a point that only his death prevented, perhaps, the disintegration of the Habsburg domains.
Is understandable, therefore, the behavior of Leopold, Ferdinand and Maria Cristina: they might seem adverse to their brother, but perhaps they understood the danger of his actions and they worked to preserve the unity and peace in the territories and in the Habsburg family in a period already, in and of itself, agitated.
The Habsburg Empire was saved thanks to the underestimated Leopold, who bravely decided to draw a line over the reforms of Joseph: right reforms, but implemented in the worst way and without discernment, then made more harmful that healthy.

The Revolution, at the beginning of 1790 was not yet perceived as a great danger, not even at the same Court of France. It was still believed to be able to tame that, and only in 1791 took an aspect more radical and Jacobin.
The Duke of Orléans, who was accused to had secretly financed and incited the crowd that has marched to Versailles, and who was regarded as the enemy and the leader of "a Orleanist plot", was the Duc d'Orleans was exiled to London (21 October 1789 – July 1790) on the pretext that he was on a "secret mission", with the complicity of the same La Fayette, jealous of Orléans' popularity.

To say how low the "level of alarm" at the Court of France and as the Revolution were considered transitory and resolvable as the Dutch Revolution of 1785 and the Brabant Revolutions of 1789/90:
the Monday 12 October 1789 the King Louis XVI had already taken the reception of the Diplomatic Corps; the permanence at the Tuileries was considered provisory so much that, while the furniture were transferred to the Tuileries or to the Garde Meuble, in earlier 1790, were continued the restoration works at Versailles: building sites popped up everywhere and the king has allocated also the sums for cleaning the Grand Canal, and only after seven months, when the finances have greatly diminished, the work is stopped (only now, when the Royal Family went on holiday in Saint-Cloud in 1790, the Garde Meuble decided to use this time to take an inventory at the Tuileries and, taking advantage that the Royal family was staying to St. Cloud, Marie Antoinette decided to take the opportunity to remodel his room and his apartment, the dining room, etc); Sunday 20 June 1790, on her return to the Tuileries, Marie Antoinette has heard the people shouted «Vive la Reine», and still in November 1790, when Louis XVI on horseback crossed the Faubourg St. Antoine, a multitude of citizens expressed their joy to the King with their cheers.

And now we see the Fate, who has finished to shuffle the deck, which cards will extract :eek:
 
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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Chapter IV[/FONT]
«I was in the antechamber of my moribund lord, with a small number of people who provided at him into tears the last offices»

(Lorenzo Da Ponte, Memoirs, 1823)​

For days, the citizens of Vienna were waiting, all ears, of the sound of bell. Curious, but without anguish and without pain.
Discreetly, the police dispersed the rabble that began on the Graben, thickened on the Kohlmarkt and became a small crowd in front of the Augustinians, the church of the Court, from where in haste the spoils of the young Empress Elizabeth, just died in childbirth after greeting her husband dying.
It was said that she was the victim of him. The Empress was infected with tuberculosis. In vain, not to scare her with his appearance, Joseph had given orders that the curtains of the bed were kept pulled when he called her to say goodbye.
Was sufficient the voice of him, it was said, to break off the young woman, who immediately was fainted, the evening was seized by labor pains, the night gave birth to a creature[6], and at dawn gave her soul to God between horrendous pains.
On the streets of Vienna it said that the Emperor's life, governed by a ruinous impulsivity, could not have final most ungainly of this descent into hell with his beloved wife on scout ahead.

The Count Orsini-Rosenberg brought the news to the dying man who did not seem surprised, but, rather, asked where they intended to raise the catafalque.
«In the Court chapel», said the Chamberlain.
«It is not possible», replied the Emperor; «that is my place, you should take her away to make room for me. I would not disturb the spoils of my beloved tidbit».
Came the Field Marshal Laudon, the winner of Belgrade:
«Give me your hand, I will not have occasion to tighten. The Omnipotent destroys my work while I'm still alive. I would be happy if I could die soon. Why keep living like this, between similar torments, in a such ignominy, it's more of a martyrdom. I have a feeling that, if I heal, I would be a body without a soul, an intelligence that idles».
The Chancellor of the Empire, Prince Wenzel Anton Kaunitz, did not think of having to make an exception to his rule of not visit ever the sick, whatever was their rank.

«Removed the small group of courtiers and collaborators of his reforms, the only ones who had reason to regret him were the prisoners set free from torture, Protestants and Jews, whom, however, did not make opinion, and, in theory, the farmers, whom he had freed from serfdom: but they, scattered in the countryside, after their liberation not request and not prepared, were perplexed about their fate, remaining dismayed.
The big landed gentry had no intention to pay additional costs for the reforms to their damage, and Joseph II had not dared to compel them. The Emperor was a firm believer that if you had put the ruling classes against him, the people would have been on his side» (François Fejtő, Joseph II. Biographie, 1994).

The police wrenched sheets affixed by unknown to the walls and to the gates of the Imperial Palace, with satirical verses distilled from fiercely critical or denigratory pamphlets, signed and anonymous, which had accompanied his ten-year reign over the Habsburg domains.

On the evening of Monday 19 February, the Emperor wanted to sit in an armchair overstuffed of cushions, with the white uniform of Marshal and black boots. The night he was delirious. At five in the morning they made him drink a hot broth.
He kept his eyes open, but no sound came out of his mouth. Perhaps he listened to the psalms that the confessor, a monaco Augustinian of the near convent, recited aloud. Or maybe, he did not hear more anything.
He struggled for five minutes, until the heart stopped.

On 20 February died the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II.
The Count Orsini-Rosenberg warned the Prince Franz of Tuscany, who did seal the study, did place guards at the entrance, and did order that the body of his uncle was exposed meanwhile in the audience chamber.
Buried the Empress Elizabeth, the place in the Burgkapelle was available for the new coffin with the body of Joseph II, placed with folded hands, the crowns all around, gleaming at the flames of eighty candles. It lacked only that of Hungary.
The crown of St. Stephen, which Joseph had lead to Vienna because there was preserved with all other vexilla imperii, get back again in Hungary, where was fiercely demanded by the Magyar nobility.
The mocking and hasty reformer, corroded by tuberculosis, he left this world leaving the Empire in turmoil and increasingly attracted to Berlin (capital of the successful reforms and model of the new emerging idea of nation), a large army at the mercy of the Turks, Hungary and Flanders in revolt.
On 13 December 1789 the Austrian Netherlands had proclaimed themselves independent, recognized by some countries including Prussia (since January). Driven out from the Brabant, his troops fled on foot leaving a State's Treasure of three million guilders and documents of the archives. Meanwhile Hungary refused to pay taxes and to serve in the military, despite the Turks were pressing at the southern border. In August 1789 the General Gideon von Laudon took command of the army in Slavonia and recaptured Belgrade, lost again with the armistice of September 1790.
«From the first moment of his government, Joseph II set out to reduce what for so many centuries had been the Kingdom of Hungary to a mere province of what for him was to be a unitary Austrian state. [...] He did not want be crowned with the crown of St. Stephen in Pressburg[7], did not recognize the legislative power of the Hungarian Diet, which was never convened, forcing the country at a number of reforms, including [...] the abolition of Latin as the official language, replaced by German, reform detested by all Hungarians. [...] The autonomist reaction was so violent, to degenerate into a real rebellion against the sovereign. And the Hungarian magnates have thought to offer the crown of St. Stephen to the King of Prussia or to the Duke of Saxony[8]. [...] Before he died, Joseph II was forced to withdraw its innovations and convene the Hungarian Diet, which had always ignored, but did not arrive to see reunited» (Giovanni de Vergottini, Profilo storico dello Stato regionale in «Scritti di Storia del diritto italiano», curated by G. Rossi, 1977)

«Nulla quies intus, nullaque silentia parte. Nec tamen est clamor, sed parvae murmura vocis» (Ovidius, Metamorphoses).



And the creature born by Emperor Joseph II and Elizabeth of Württemberg?



[6] «There is no evidence such as to suggest that tuberculosis has an adverse effect on pregnancy outcome and the type of birth. For example, it has been shown that the miscarriage occurs equally in women with tuberculosis if it compared with a population without disease» (Hamadeh MA, Glassroth J., Tuberculosis and pregnancy, 1992).
[7] Although were minted Hungarian coins with his portrait on them, Joseph II was the "hereditary King of Hungary" (as per the laws of succession) and not the "Apostolic King of Hungary", because he refused to crown himself and did not swore the Coronation Oath, with which he would have to accept the laws of the Kingdom and the supremacy of the Hungarian nobility (they are going to oppose the reforms that Joseph wanted to carry out).
[8] Karl August (1757–1828), Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, then Grand Duke from 21 April 1815.
 
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Very interesting! Sorry that Elizabeth had to die so young, and I liked the almost tragicomical Joseph II.
I like your use of book excerpts and Latin quotes!
 
Now a Hungary breaking away from the Habsburgs and electing the duke of Saxe-Weimar as king would be interesting. Unfortunately, the last time the Hungarians tried to do this (Rakoczi's Rebellion) they ended up on their knees in front of the Habsburgs. But still, it can't be any more ludicrous than some of the ideas from Josef's fever infested brain.
 
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Chapter V[/FONT]
«Precepts Fundamental. In ancient times were two in the purest philosophy, and two are today, although formulated in another way. Before it said: you have to bear and refrain. Now it says, you have to simulate and dissimulate, namely: know yourself and know others. If I'm not mistaken, the new formulation confirms the ancient. We take, thus, the start from the new, and, then, we will keep in mind also the oldest during the examination of the various human actions».

(Giulio Mazarino, Breviary For Politicians, 1684)​

In Florence already long time the Grand Duke Leopold was informed that remained few months of life to the Emperor Joseph, his brother. Almost every day couriers had arrived from Vienna with letters of his brother dying, in which he invited Leopold to move in the Austrian capital before that he has ended to live. Then the letters had become even more pressing after that the doctors had told him that for him now there was longer hope: Joseph implored Leopold to rush right away and to take in the meantime the position of "co-regent". Was vain any invitation, because the Grand Duke was determined not to be associated himself in any way with the situation created by his brother, even for a few days.
The situation was indeed disastrous. The Belgian provinces in revolt could be considered lost, so much so that it was said that England, Prussia and the Netherlands supported the rebellion. The army was engaged in endless Balkan war against the Turks. And also Hungary was going to explode under the guidance of his noble magnates threatened in their privileges by the democratic reforms of Joseph, considered a Sovereign Enlightenment.

Leopold had not made scruples of publicly dissociate himself from the Emperor Joseph choices: when he learned that for his brother there were only a few days old, believing to earn favor, benevolence and honor in the face of the whole of Europe, showed his disapproval with a public document directed to the Flemish and the Brabanconnes, supposing, falsely, that as soon as they would have seen that, they would have abandoned the weapons submitting themselves obedient to his power.
«His Royal Highness, the Archduke Grand Duke of Tuscany, he formally declares to the Estates of the Pays-Bas that, regarding what occurred in the Belgian provinces, he has never been neither informed nor consulted; that he never had the slightest part neither direct nor indirect in the things that occurred under the rule of Joseph II, his brother, especially in the change of the fundamental laws; that, on the contrary, he disapproves, for his part, all sorts of innovation that, for several years now, has been introduced, with a manifest breach of the "inaugural pact"[9] let alone the respective privileges and the constitutions of Flanders and Brabant.
«The Grand Duke declares therefore that not only disapproves of all these decisions, but also having always considered and still considering the Pays-Bas as one of the most important and useful portions of the Austrian monarchy, he still considers and appreciates their constitution as a model of perfection that it could serve as an example to the government of any other province subject to his House».

Perhaps in revenge and not to be considered a stupid (since the proclamation of his brother), or perhaps for irony of the Fate, Joseph II wrote in the first paragraph of his Testament: «I appoint my heir and legatee my dear and worthy brother Peter Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany; and even I order to him same to to pursue quickly all necessary preparations to take within twenty-four hours from my death the investiture of the Pays-Bas that have escaped me, and of those who might find in the execution of this article, latest expression of my Souveraine Volonté, obstacles like they have found in all others; he will find a Concordat secret contained in my cassette of which I have the desire that it is put in his possession on his arrival with much of the alacrity. In it he also will find 9999 projects of Government, of reforms, of improvements, etc. related to my 65 possessions or securities of those; and I hope he makes use of those projects with more success than me».



He was doing night. Dismounted by his hourse, the courier, while entrusting the reins of his mount to one of the stable's servant, shot a glance to the man in elegant and refined court dress watching him with a certain restlessness, who exclaimed in German:
«Well! Come on, quickly!».
Then the two pushed themselves into a side door, swallowed up by the darkness of the vestibule.
The courier was not talkative, and Prime Majordomo of Grand Duke of Tuscany had too much to think about for to be.
Having reached the first floor, the door of a cabinet sumptuously furnished was opened and the elegant majordomo said:
«Your Highness, the courier».
«Let come in», replied the Grand Duke Leopold.
The courier took his orderly attitude, a calm expression, the mustache erected.
The Grand Duke was sitting at a valuable desk, writing. He did not move when the step of the courier rang out on the floor; he not raised even the glance.
The courier had advanced to the center of the study and bowed in greeting.
Leopold, almost without paying attention, ordered to him in German to deliver the telegram to his Prime Majordomo and then dismissed him,accompanying his words with a silent theatrical gesture.

The Grand Duke traced a violent sign with pen and threw it away angrily. He stood up, passed a hand over his forehead, then, planting herself in the face to the majordomo, looked him imperiously and snatched from his hands the dispatches.
Then, dismissed also the servant.
Left alone, he opened the dispatches, unfolded the papers and read.
«Pape Satàn!», exclaimed, rereading; «Pape Satàn aleppe!» continued to curse.
Then, threw the dispatches, he gave a great punch to the surface of the desk shouting:
«Great God! A child! A male child!».
In a fit of anger, with a sudden movement of the arms, he flung to the ground all that was over the desk continuing to curse in Italian and in German.

It is said that in his death bed, after learning his child's birth and sex, when it was asked to Joseph what name wished to give him:
«Publius Quinctilius Varus», whispered the Emperor so softly that the breath of his word seemed to come already from the tomb.
To which they asked him what he meant, and he answered:
«This son, that should be my joy and hope to leave a sign in the history of myself, it's actually my sadness and the ruin of my own House. After me, with him so young, the storm will have no obstacles to lash».


A few days later, the Prime Majordomo announced to his sovereign, who was to attend a public dinner with the whole family, the arrival of the courier from Vienna; Leopold has been troubled by the arrival of the courier who not expecting it so soon.
He got up and followed his servant in the anteroom. The Grand Duke showed no emotion when he took the dispatches and he read the news that at this point awaited.
With a gesture he ordered to the gentlemen whom had followed him and with whom he not had exchanged none glance, to leave him alone, and then he retreated in his cabinet.
Later, it was reported that he made a comment in Italian: «At last he is died».

In the evening, around eleven, Leopold saw the arrival of Tommaso Piccolomini, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who stopped, with great reverences, on the threshold, and who looked his sovereign with serious expression and hesitated to speak for fear of disturbing him during dinner.
«What's new, Piccolomini?».
«It arrived the courier from Vienna...».
Leopold then, feigning surprise, ordered to the Secretary of State not to wait until the end of dinner and to tell immediately what was announced:
«Well?».
«Well, Your Highness, your beloved brother, His Majesty the Holy Roman Emperor is dead», said Tommaso Piccolomini clasping her hands in the act of commiseration.
«Dead?», echoed Leopold feigning to be shocked.
«Alas, yes!».
«It is certain?».
«Yes».
«It is official?».
«Yes».

«The need for certainty has always been stronger than the need for truth» (Gustave Le Bon).



[9] The "Joyeuse Entree" of Joseph II in 1780. The "Joyeuse Entree" was the old constitution which Philip the Good, on his entrance into Brussels, had granted to the Belgians.
 
How does a regency in the empire work exactly, with Hungary and Bohemia being elective monarchies (at least in theory), and the empire being theoretically under the government of the vicars (Palatinate and Saxony).
 
I will be interested to see where you take this one.

And have you been able to find many sources on Leopold II? I've not been able to find any biographies of him in English certainly.

fasquardon
 
How does a regency in the empire work exactly, with Hungary and Bohemia being elective monarchies (at least in theory), and the empire being theoretically under the government of the vicars (Palatinate and Saxony).

In Austrian territories obviously in the traditional sense. Hungary due to precedent is going to require the consent of the Diet but I think if Leopold leads the regency and promises to respect their rights they'll consent. Bohemia I don't think was near a state of rebellion so they'll probably follow Austria's lead. Now for the HRE....I have no bloody idea.
 
For the Empire you need an adult archduke who will be elect Emperor (and will be likely the regent of Joseph's son). The only plausible candidates are: first Leopold, GrandDuke of Tuscany, his three older sons (Franz, Ferdinand and Karl), his younger brothers Cardinal Maximilian and Ferdinand, Governor of Milan or their brother-in-law the Duke of Techen (the last one is really unlikely). The most logical candidate are Maximilian and Leopold
 
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