Ferdinand I of Austria

Infobox Austrian Royalty|emperor
name =Ferdinand
title =Emperor and Archduke of Austria
King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia


caption =
reign =2 March, 1835 – 2 December, 1848
full name =Ferdinand Charles Leopold Joseph Francis Marcelin
predecessor =Francis I
successor =Francis Joseph I
spouse =Maria Anna of Sardinia
royal house =House of Habsburg
father =Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
mother =Maria Theresa of the Two Sicilies
date of birth =19 April, 1793
date of death =29 June, 1875

Ferdinand (April 19, 1793 – June 29, 1875) was Emperor of Austria as Ferdinand I, King of Hungary and Croatia and Archduke of Austria as Ferdinand V, in 1835. He chose to abdicate, after a series of revolts in 1848. He was also King of Lombardy-Venetia.

Life

Ferdinand has been depicted as feeble-minded and incapable of ruling, but although he was epileptic and certainly not intelligent, he kept a coherent and legible diary and has even been said to have a sharp wit. The up to twenty seizures he had per day, though, severely restricted his ability to rule with any effectiveness.

Though he was not declared incapacitated, a regent's council (Archduke Luis, Count Kolowrat and Prince Metternich) steered the government. His marriage to Princess Maria Anna of Sardinia (1803-1884) was probably never consummated, nor is he believed to have had any other liaisons. He is famous for his one coherent command: when his cook told him he could not have apricot dumplings because they were out of season, he said “I'm the Emperor, and I want dumplings!” ( _de. Ich bin der Kaiser und ich will Knödel.) [According to A.J.P. Taylor, he was in fact asking for "noodles" - "But it is an unacceptable pun in English for a noodle to ask for noodles" - "The Habsburg Monarchy 1809–1918"]

As the revolutionaries of 1848 were marching on the palace, he is supposed to have asked Metternich for an explanation. When Metternich answered that they were making a revolution, Ferdinand is supposed to have said “But are they allowed to do that?” (Viennese German: "Ja, dürfen's denn des?") He was convinced by Felix zu Schwarzenberg to abdicate in favour of his nephew, Franz Joseph (the next in line was Ferdinand's younger brother Franz Karl, but he was persuaded to waive his succession rights in favour of his son) who would occupy the Austrian throne for the next sixty-eight years.

Ferdinand recorded the events in his diary : "The affair ended with the new Emperor kneeling before his old Emperor and Lord, that is to say, me, and asking for a blessing, which I gave him, laying both hands on his head and making the sign of the Holy Cross ... then I embraced him and kissed our new master, and then we went to our room. Afterward I and my dear wife heard Holy Mass ... After that I and my dear wife packed our bags"

Ferdinand was the last King of Bohemia to be crowned as such. Due to his sympathy with Bohemia (where he spent the rest of his life in Prague Castle) he was given the Czech nickname “Ferdinand V, the Good” ("Ferdinand Dobrotivý"). In Austria, Ferdinand was similarly nicknamed “Ferdinand der Gütige” (Ferdinand the Benign), but also ridiculed as "Gütinand der Fertige" (Goodinand the Finished).

He is interred in tomb number 62 in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.

Titles

He used the titles: "We, Ferdinand the First, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria; King of Jerusalem, Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria; Archduke of Austria; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Würzburg, Franconia, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola; Grand Duke of Cracow; Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Sandomir, Masovia, Lublin, Upper and Lower Silesia, Auschwitz and Zator, Teschen and Friule; Prince of Berchtesgaden and Mergentheim; Princely Count of Habsburg, Gorizia and Gradisca and of the Tyrol; and Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria".

Ancestors

ahnentafel-compact5
style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%;
border=1
boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
1= 1. Ferdinand I of Austria
2= 2. Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
(Francis I of Austria)
3= 3. Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies
4= 4. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
5= 5. Maria Louisa of Spain
6= 6. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
7= 7. Marie Caroline of Austria
8= 8. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
9= 9. Maria Theresa of Austria
Queen of Hungary & Bohemia
10= 10. Charles III of Spain
11= 11. Maria Amalia of Saxony
12= 12. Charles III of Spain (= #10)
13= 13. Maria Amalia of Saxony (= #11)
14= 14. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (= #8)
15= 15. Maria Theresa of Austria (= #9)
Queen of Hungary & Bohemia
16= 16. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
17= 17. Princess Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans
18= 18. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
19= 19. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
20= 20. Philip V of Spain
21= 21. Elisabeth of Parma
22= 22. Augustus III of Poland
23= 23. Maria Josepha of Austria
24= 24. Philip V of Spain (= #20)
25= 25. Elisabeth of Parma (= #21)
26= 26. Augustus III of Poland (= #22)
27= 27. Maria Josepha of Austria (= #23)
28= 28. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (= #16)
29= 29. Princess Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans (= #17)
30= 30. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (= #18)
31= 31. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (= #19)

Ferdinand's parents were double first cousins as they shared all four grandparents (Francis' paternal grandparents were his wife's maternal grandparents and vice versa). Therefore Ferdinand only had four great-grandparents, being descended from each of them twice. Further back in his ancestry there is more pedigree collapse due to the close intermarriage between the Houses of Austria and Spain and other Catholic monarchies.

ee also

*Rulers of Germany family tree. He was related to every other ruler of Germany.

References

External links

Infobox Austrian monarch styles
royal name = Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria
dipstyle = His Imperial Majesty
offstyle = Your Imperial Majesty
altstyle = My Lord
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmonarchs/ferdinand/ferdinand_bio.htm "Biography of Emperor Ferdinand"]

-
-
-