Charles VI ({{langx|de|Karl}}; {{langx|la|Carolus}}; 1 October 1685 – 20 October 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain following the death of his relative, Charles II. In 1708, he married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his four children: Leopold Johann (who died in infancy), Maria Theresa, Maria Anna (Governess of the Austrian Netherlands), and Maria Amalia (who also died in infancy).

Four years before the birth of Maria Theresa, faced with his lack of male heirs, Charles provided for a male-line succession failure with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. The Emperor favoured his own daughters over those of his elder brother and predecessor, Joseph I, in the succession, ignoring the Mutual Pact of Succession he had signed during the reign of his father, Leopold I. Charles sought the other European powers' approval. They demanded significant terms, among which were that Austria close the Ostend Company.Crankshaw, Edward, Maria Theresa, 1969, Longman publishers, Great Britain (pre-dates ISBN), 24. In total, the states of Great Britain, France, Saxony-Poland, the Dutch Republic, Spain,Jones, Colin: "The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon", University of Columbia Press, Great Britain, 2002, {{ISBN|0-231-12882-7}}, 89. Venice,Crankshaw, 37. the Papal States, Prussia, Russia, Denmark,[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473697/Pragmatic-Sanction-of-Emperor-Charles-VI Pragmatic Sanction of Emperor Charles VI], Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 15 October 2009. Savoy-Sardinia, and Bavaria, plus the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, recognised the sanction. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria, and Prussia later reneged. Charles died in 1740, sparking the War of the Austrian Succession, which plagued his successor, Maria Theresa, for eight years.

Biography

=Early years=

Archduke Charles (baptized Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar Johannes Antonius Ignatius), the second son of the Emperor Leopold I and of his third wife, Princess Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, was born on 1 October 1685.

File:Future Emperor Charles VI, Austrian School, late 17th Century.jpg

Following the death of Charles II of Spain, in 1700, without any direct heir, Charles declared himself King of Spain—both were members of the House of Habsburg.Fraser, 312. The ensuing War of the Spanish Succession, which pitted France's candidate, Philip, Duke of Anjou, Louis XIV of France's grandson, against Austria's Charles, lasted for almost 14 years. The kingdoms of Portugal, England, Scotland, Ireland and the majority of the Holy Roman Empire endorsed Charles's candidature.{{Cite web |title=Charles VI (Holy Roman emperor) |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/107109/Charles-VI |last=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=britannica.com |access-date=22 October 2009}} Within Spain his supporters were concentrated in the Crown of Aragon where there was a fear of Bourbon centralism. Charles III, as he was known, disembarked in his kingdom in 1705, and stayed there for six years, only being able to exercise his rule in Catalonia, until the death of his brother, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; he returned to Vienna to assume the imperial crown.Fraser, Antonia: Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of The Sun King, Orion books, London, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-7538-2293-7}}, 331.

Not wanting to see Austria and Spain in personal union again, the new Kingdom of Great Britain withdrew its support from the Austrian coalition, and the war culminated with the Treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt and Baden three years later. The former, ratified in 1713, recognised Philip as King of Spain; however, the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Austrian Netherlands and the Kingdom of Sardinia—all previously possessions of the Spanish—were ceded to Austria.Crankshaw, 9. To prevent a union of Spain and France, Philip was forced to renounce his right to succeed his grandfather's throne. Charles was extremely discontented at the loss of Spain, and as a result, he mimicked the staid Spanish Habsburg court ceremonial, adopting the dress of a Spanish monarch, which, according to British historian Edward Crankshaw, consisted of "a black doublet and hose, black shoes and scarlet stockings".

Charles's father and his advisors went about arranging a marriage for him. Their eyes fell upon Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the eldest child of Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She was held to be strikingly beautiful by her contemporaries.Crankshaw, 10–11.

=Succession to the Habsburg dominions=

File:Portrait of Charles III of Habsburg.jpg]]

When Charles succeeded his brother in 1711, he was the last male Habsburg heir in the direct line. Since Habsburg possessions were subject to Salic law, barring women from inheriting in their own right, his own lack of a male heir meant they would be divided on his death. The Pragmatic Sanction of 19 April 1713 abolished male-only succession in all Habsburg realms and declared their lands indivisible, although the Diet of Hungary only approved it in 1723.Crankshaw, 12.

File:Thaler à l'effigie de Charles VI, 1721.jpg

Charles had three daughters, Maria Theresa (1717–1780), Maria Anna (1718–1744) and Maria Amalia (1724–1730) but no surviving sons. When Maria Theresa was born, he disinherited his nieces who were the daughters of his elder brother Joseph, Maria Josepha and Maria Amalia. It was this act that undermined the chances of a smooth succession as set out in a Pact arranged by his father, and obliged Charles to spend the rest of his reign seeking to ensure enforcement of the sanction from other European powers.Holborn, Hajo: A History of Modern Germany: 1648–1840 Princeton University Press 1982 {{ISBN|0-691-00796-9}}, 108.

File:Meytens - Charles VI, Empress Elisabeth Christine and their three daughters – Bundesmobilienverwaltung.jpg

Charles agreed to a demand from Britain that he close a trading company, the Ostend Company, which was based in the Austrian Netherlands and that he himself founded in 1722.{{Cite web |title=Ostend Company |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/434249/Ostend-Company |last=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=britannica.com |access-date=23 October 2009}} Other signatories included Britain, France, the Dutch Republic, Spain, Russia, Denmark-Norway and Savoy-Sardinia, but subsequent events underlined Prince Eugene of Savoy's comment that the best guarantee was a powerful army and full treasury. Charles's nieces were married to the rulers of Saxony and Bavaria, both of whom ultimately refused to be bound by the decision of the Imperial Diet. France, despite publicly agreeing to the Pragmatic Sanction in 1735, signed a secret treaty with Bavaria in 1738 promising to back the 'just claims' of Charles Albert of Bavaria.{{Cite book |last=Black |first=James |title=From Louis XIV to Napoleon: The Fate of a Great Power |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=185728934X |page=82}}

In the first part of his reign, the Habsburg monarchy continued to expand thanks to the success in the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718), adding Banat to Hungary and establishing direct Austrian rule over Serbia and Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia). This extended Austrian rule to the lower Danube.

File:Retrat de Carles III davant el port de Barcelona, Frans van Stampart.jpg]]

The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) followed. It too ended in an Austrian victory; by the Treaty of The Hague (1720), Charles swapped Sardinia, which went to the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, for Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, which was harder to defend than Sardinia.Kahn, Robert A.: A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1918, University of California Press, California, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-520-04206-3}}, 91. The treaty also recognised Philip V of Spain's younger son, Don Carlos (the future Charles III of Spain) as heir to the Duchy of Parma and Grand Duchy of Tuscany; Charles had previously endorsed the succession of the incumbent Grand Duke's daughter, Anna Maria Luisa, Electress Palatine.Acton, Harold: The Last Medici, Macmillan, London, 1980, {{ISBN|0-333-29315-0}}, p. 256.

Peace in Europe was shattered by the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738), a dispute over the throne of Poland between Augustus of Saxony, the previous king's elder son, and Stanisław Leszczyński. Austria supported the former, France the latter; thus, a war broke out. By the Treaty of Vienna (1738), Augustus ascended the throne, but Charles had to give the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily to Don Carlos, in exchange for the much smaller Duchy of Parma and Grand Duchy of Tuscany.{{Cite web |title=War of the Polish Succession (European history) |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/467508/War-of-the-Polish-Succession#ref=ref291264 |last=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=britannica.com |access-date=23 October 2009}}

The question of Charles's elder daughter's marriage was raised early in her childhood. She was first betrothed to Léopold Clément of Lorraine, who was supposed to come to Vienna and meet Maria Theresa. Instead, he died of smallpox in 1723, which upset Maria Theresa. Léopold Clément's younger brother, Francis Stephen, then came to Vienna to replace him. Charles considered other possibilities (such as Don Carlos) before announcing the engagement to Francis.Mahan, 26. At the end of the War of the Polish Succession, France demanded that Francis surrender the Duchy of Lorraine (his hereditary domain), to Stanisław Leszczyński, the deposed king of Poland, who would bequeath it to France at his death. Charles compelled Francis to renounce his rights to Lorraine and told him: "No renunciation, no archduchess."Fraser, Antonia: Maria Antoinette: the Journey, Orion books, London, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-7538-1305-8}}, p. 7

Charles had a number of sexual relationships with male courtiers, including his Master of the Horse, Prince Schwarzenberg, and a hunter's boy.Charlotte Backerra, 'Disregarding Norms: Emperor Charles VI and His Intimate Relationships', Royal Studies Journal, Vol 6 No2, Winchester University Press, 2019, p75; Friedrich Polleroß, 'Monumenta Virtutis Austriacae: Addenda zur Kunstpolitik Kaiser Karls VI.,' in Kunst, Politik, Religion: Studien zur Kunst in Süddeutschland, Österreich, Tschechien und der Slowakei, ed. Markus Hörsch and Elisabeth Oy-Marra, Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag, 2000, p118. The love of his life was Michael Joseph, Count Althann, a groom of the bedchamber, whom he called "my only heart, my comfort...my soul mate",16 March 1722, OeStA, HHStA, HA, Sammelbände 2, Tagebuch 12 (1722-1724), fol. 6r., quoted in Stefan Seitschek, Die Tagebücher Kaiser Karls VI., Berger & Söhne, Ferdinand 2018, p233. and with whom he slept regularly. Althann's death in 1722, after a relationship of nineteen years, devastated him.Clarlotte Backerra, 'Intime Beziehungen Kaiser Karls VI. in Historiogrpahie und überlieferten Quellen', in Norman Domeier, Christian Mühling (eds.), Homosexualität am Hof: Praktiken und Diskurse vom Mittelalter bis heute, Campus Verlag GmbH, 2020, pp53-78; Helmut Neuhold, Das andere Habsburg: Homoerotik im österreichischen Kaiserhaus, Broschur 2008, passim.

File:Srpske privilegije 1732.jpg

In 1737, the Emperor embarked on another Turkish War, in alliance with Russia.{{sfn|Roider|1972a|p=}} Its start was promising. Already in the autumn of the same year, imperial troops took Niš and tried to consolidate gains in 1738, but during the next year Habsburg armies suffered several defeats. By the Treaty of Belgrade (1739), emperor Charles had to cede several regions to the sultan, including Bosnian section of Posavina, central regions of Serbia, and Wallachia Minor (Oltenia).{{sfn|Roider|1972b|p=195–207}} Popular discontent at the costly war reigned in Vienna; Francis of Lorraine, Maria Theresa's husband, was dubbed a French spy by the Viennese.Crankshaw, 26.

=Religious policies=

As a devout Catholic, emperor Charles supported the reestablishment of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical structures in various regions that were liberated from the Ottoman rule and incorporated into the Habsburg Monarchy by the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718).{{sfn|Mitrović|2011|p=209–217}} In the same time, several questions related to the rights and liberties of other Christian denominations were regulated. In the Kingdom of Hungary, significant portion of both nobility and people belonged to the Reformed Church (Calvinists), while eastern and southern regions were also inhabited by Eastern Orthodox Christians, mainly Serbs and Romanians. On several occasions, emperor Charles issued confirmations of old privileges that were granted to Eastern Orthodox subjects by previous Habsburg monarchs (emperors Leopold I and Joseph I), and in 1732 an official collection of those documents was published.{{sfn|Bocşan|2015|p=243–258}}{{sfn|Točanac-Radović|2018|p=155–167}}

=Death and legacy=

File:Kapuzinergruft Wien2.JPG]]The Emperor, after a hunting trip across the Hungarian border in "a typical day in the wettest and coldest October in memory",Edward Crankshaw: Maria Theresa, A&C Black, 2011. And also: «[...] after a day of hunting, the emperor fell ill with a cold and fever. Upon his return to his hunting lodge, Charles requested his cook to prepare him his favorite dish of mushrooms. Soon after eating them, he fell violently ill. His physicians bled him but to no avail» (Julia P. Gelardi: In Triumph's Wake: Royal Mothers, Tragic Daughters, and the Price They Paid for Glory, Macmillan, 2009). fell seriously ill at the Favorita Palace, Vienna, and he died on 20 October 1740 in the Hofburg.In the first days of October 1740, in a cold day of pouring rain Emperor Charles VI, «in spite of the warnings of his physicians» (Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell: Littell's Living Age, Volume 183, T.H. Carter & Company, 1889, pg. 69), went to hunting ducks on the shores of Lake Neusiedl, close to the Hungarian border and he had come back chilled and soaked through to his little country palace at La Favorita; on his return, though he was feverish and suffering from colic, the Emperor persisted in eating one of his favourite dishes, a Catalan mushroom stew («a large dish of fried mushrooms» for the Littell brothers), prepared by his cook. He spent the night between 10 and 11 October vomiting. The following morning he was gravely ill, brought down by a high fever. Carried slowly to Vienna in a padded carriage, he died in the Hofburg nine days after. In his Memoirs Voltaire«Charles the Sixth died, in the month of October 1740, of an indigestion, occasioned by eating champignons, which brought on an apoplexy, and this plate of champignons changed the destiny of Europe» (Voltaire: Memoirs of the Life of Voltaire, 1784; pp. 48–49). wrote that Charles died after consuming a meal of death cap mushrooms.Wasson RG. (1972). The death of Claudius, or mushrooms for murderers. Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University 23(3):101–128. Charles's life opus, the Pragmatic Sanction, was ultimately in vain. Maria Theresa was forced to resort to arms to defend her inheritance from the coalition of Prussia, Bavaria, France, Spain, Saxony and Poland—all party to the sanction—who assaulted the Austrian frontier weeks after her father's death. During the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession, Maria Theresa saved her crown and most of her territory but lost the mineral-rich Duchy of Silesia to Prussia and the Duchy of Parma to Spain.Browning, Reed: The War of the Austrian Succession, Palgrave Macmillan, 1995, {{ISBN|0-312-12561-5}}, 362.

At the time of Charles's death, the Habsburg lands were saturated in debt; the exchequer contained a mere 100,000 florins; and desertion was rife in Austria's sporadic army, spread across the Empire in small, ineffective barracks.Crankshaw, 33. Contemporaries expected that Hungary would wrench itself from the Habsburg yoke upon his death.

Emperor Charles VI has been the main motif of many collectors' coins and medals. One of the most recent samples is high-value collectors' coin the Austrian Göttweig Abbey commemorative coin, minted on 11 October 2006. His portrait can be seen in the foreground of the reverse of the coin.{{Cite web |title=Nonnberg Abbey coin |url=http://www.austrian-mint.at/silbermuenzen?l=en&muenzeSubTypeId=109&muenzeId=341 |publisher=Austrian Mint |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924094232/http://www.austrian-mint.at/silbermuenzen?l=en&muenzeSubTypeId=109&muenzeId=341 |archive-date=24 September 2010 |access-date=7 July 2008 }}

Children

style="text-align:center; width:100%" class="wikitable" ! width=20% \| Name !! width="100" \| Portrait !! Lifespan !! Notes
Leopold Johann		13 April 1716 – 4 November 1716	Archduke of Austria, died aged seven months
Maria Theresa	100px	13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780	Archduchess of Austria and heiress of the Habsburg dynasty, married Francis III Stephen, Duke of Lorraine (later Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor) and had issue; succeeded by the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Maria Anna	100px	14 September 1718 – 16 December 1744	Archduchess of Austria, married Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, with whom she served as Governess of the Austrian Netherlands. Died in childbirth
Maria Amalia	100px	5 April 1724 – 19 April 1730	Archduchess of Austria, died aged six

Heraldry

class="toccolours collapsible collapsed" width=100% align="center"
style="background:#ccccff;"\|Heraldry of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
{\| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;" \|200px \|185px \|205px \|195px
Coat of arms as Holy Roman Emperor (1711–1740) \|Coat of arms as Claimant to the Throne of Spain \|Coat of arms as Claimant to the Throne of Spain in Aragon \|Coat of arms as King of Naples & Sicily

class="toccolours collapsible collapsed" width=100% align="center"

style="background:#ccccff;"|Heraldry of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

Coat of arms as Holy Roman Emperor
(1711–1740)

|Coat of arms as Claimant to the Throne of Spain

|Coat of arms as Claimant to the Throne of Spain
in Aragon

|Coat of arms as King of Naples & Sicily

Ancestors

{{ahnentafel |collapsed=yes | align=center

| boxstyle_2 = background-color: #fb9;

| boxstyle_3 = background-color: #ffc;

| boxstyle_4 = background-color: #bfc;

| 1 = 1. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

| 2 = 2. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

| 3 = 3. Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg

| 4 = 4. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AINPAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA100 |title=Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans |publisher=Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel |year=1768 |location=Bourdeaux |pages=100 |language=fr |trans-title=Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living}}

| 5 = 5. Maria Anna of Austria

| 6 = 6. Philip William, Elector Palatine

| 7 = 7. Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt

| 8 = 8. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor{{NDB|5|85|86|Ferdinand III.|Eder, Karl|118532529}}

| 9 = 9. Maria Anna of Bavaria

| 10 = 10. Philip III of Spain{{BLKO |wstitle=Habsburg, Maria Anna von Spanien |volume=7 |page=23}}

| 11 = 11. Margaret of Austria

| 12 = 12. Wolfgang William, Count Palatine of Neuburg{{NDB|20|384||Philipp Wilhelm|Fuchs, Peter|118742221}}

| 13 = 13. Magdalene of Bavaria

| 14 = 14. George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt{{Cite book |last1=Louda |first1=Jirí |title=Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe |last2=MacLagan |first2=Michael |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=1999 |edition=2nd |location=London |at=table 84}}

| 15 = 15. Sophia Eleonore of Saxony

}}

Male-line family tree

References

Sources

Crankshaw, Edward: Maria Theresa, 1969, Longman publishers, Great Britain (pre-dates ISBN)
Jones, Colin: The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon 1715-99, University of Columbia Press, Great Britain, 2002, {{ISBN|0-231-12882-7}}
Fraser, Antonia: Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of The Sun King, Orion books, London, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-7538-2293-7}}
Mahan, J. Alexander: Maria Theresa of Austria, Crowell publishers, New York, 1932 (pre-dates ISBN)
Kahn, Robert A.: A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1918, University of California Press, California, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-520-04206-3}}
Acton, Harold: The Last Medici, Macmillan, London, 1980, {{ISBN|0-333-29315-0}}
Browning, Reed: The War of the Austrian Succession, Palgrave Macmillan, 1993, {{ISBN|0-312-12561-5}}
{{cite journal|last=Bocşan|first=Nicolae|author-link=Nicolae Bocșan|title=Illyrian privileges and the Romanians from the Banat|journal=Banatica|year=2015|volume=25|pages=243–258|url=http://banatica.ro/media/b25/243-258.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102143201/http://banatica.ro/media/b25/243-258.pdf |archive-date=2 January 2019 }}
{{Cite book|last=Hochedlinger|first=Michael|title=Austria's Wars of Emergence: War, State and Society in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1683–1797|year=2013|location=London & New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-88793-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbpACwAAQBAJ}}
{{Cite book|last=Mitrović|first=Katarina|chapter=The Peace of Passarowitz and the Re-establishment of the Catholic Diocesan Administration in Belgrade and Smederevo|title=The Peace of Passarowitz, 1718|year=2011|location=West Lafayette|publisher=Purdue University Press|pages=209–217|isbn=978-1-61249-195-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7F3yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT209}}
{{Cite book|last=Roider|first=Karl A.|author-link=Karl A. Roider Jr.|title=The Reluctant Ally: Austria's Policy in the Austro-Turkish War, 1737–1739|year=1972a|location=Baton Rouge|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=978-0-8071-0237-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/reluctantally00karl}}
{{Cite journal|last=Roider|first=Karl A.|author-link=Karl A. Roider Jr.|title=The Perils of Eighteenth-Century Peacemaking: Austria and the Treaty of Belgrade, 1739|journal=Central European History|volume=5|issue=3|year=1972b|pages=195–207|doi=10.1017/S0008938900015478 |jstor=4545635 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4545635|url-access=subscription}}
{{Cite book|last=Točanac-Radović|first=Isidora|chapter=Belgrade - Seat of the Archbishopric and Metropolitanate (1718–1739)|title=Belgrade 1521-1867|year=2018|location=Belgrade|publisher=The Institute of History|pages=155–167|isbn=978-86-7743-132-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JF6LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155}}

External links

{{Commons category-inline}}
{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Charles VI. (Roman Emperor)|display=Charles VI. |volume=5|page=905}}
{{DNB-Portal|118560107|NAME=Charles VI}}
{{DDB|Person|118560107}}
{{Austriaforum|AEIOU/Karl_VI.|Charles VI}}
{{Nömuseum|p|483|Charles VI}}