Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph I (Joseph Jacob Ignaz Johann Anton Eustachius; 26 July 1678 – 17 April 1711) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor from his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg. Joseph was crowned King of Hungary at the age of nine in 1687 and was elected King of the Romans at the age of eleven in 1690. He succeeded to the thrones of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire when his father died.

Joseph continued the War of the Spanish Succession, begun by his father against Louis XIV of France, in an attempt to make his younger brother Charles (later Emperor Charles VI) King of Spain. In the process, however, owing to the victories won by his military commander, Prince Eugene of Savoy, he did succeed in establishing Austrian hegemony over Italy. Joseph also had to contend with a protracted revolt in Hungary, fomented by Louis XIV. Neither conflict was resolved until the Treaty of Utrecht, after his death.

His motto was Amore et Timore (Latin for "Through Love and Fear"). Like his father and grandfather, he was a composer.

Early life

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

Archduke Joseph at the age of six (by Benjamin Block, 1684)

Born in Vienna, Joseph was educated strictly by Charles Theodore, Prince of Salm, and became a good linguist. Perhaps due to the influence of his formerly Protestant tutor he was a less devout Catholic than his parents and other relatives and developed into an adherent of the early Age of Enlightenment. He had two great enthusiasms: music and hunting.

Although Joseph was the first son and child born of his parents' marriage, he was his father's third son and seventh child. Previously, Leopold had been married to Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, who had given him four children, one of whom survived infancy. He then married Claudia Felicitas of Austria, who gave him two short-lived daughters. Thus, Joseph had six half-siblings. In 1684, the six-year-old Archduke had his first portrait painted by Benjamin Block. At the age of nine, on 9 December 1687, he was crowned King of Hungary; and at the age of eleven, on 23 January 1690, King of the Romans.

Military service

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

In 1702, at the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, Joseph saw his only military service. He joined the Imperial General, Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, in the Siege of Landau.

Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph I by Johann Rudolf Huber, 1702

Prior to his ascension, Joseph had surrounded himself with reform-hungry advisors and the young court of Vienna was ambitious in the elaboration of innovative plans. He was described as a "forward-looking ruler". The large number of privy councillors was reduced and attempts were made to make the bureaucracy more efficient. Measures were taken to modernize the central bodies and a certain success was achieved in stabilizing the chronically poor Habsburg finances. Joseph also endeavoured to strengthen his position in the Holy Roman Empire—as a means of strengthening Austria's standing as a great power. When he sought to lay claim to imperial rights in Italy and gain territories for the Habsburgs, he even risked a military conflict with the Pope over the Duchy of Mantua. Joseph I was threatened with excommunication by Pope Clement XI on 16 June 1708.

In Hungary, Joseph had inherited the kuruc rebellion from his father Leopold I: once again, nobles in Transylvania (Siebenbürgen) had risen against Habsburg rule, even advancing for a time as far as Vienna. Although Joseph was compelled to take military action, he refrained—unlike his predecessors—from seeking to teach his subjects a lesson by executing the leaders. Instead, he agreed to a compromise peace, which in the long term facilitated the integration of Hungary into the Habsburg domains. It was his good fortune to govern the Austrian dominions and to be head of the Empire, during the years in which his trusted general, Prince Eugene of Savoy, either acting alone in Italy or with the Duke of Marlborough in Germany and Flanders, was beating the armies of Louis XIV of France. During the whole of his reign, Hungary was disturbed by the conflict with Francis Rákóczi II, who eventually took refuge in the Ottoman Empire. The emperor reversed many of the authoritarian measures of his father, thus helping to placate opponents. He began the attempts to settle the question of the Austrian inheritance by a pragmatic sanction, which was continued by his brother Charles VI.

Religious and ethnic policies

During the Rákóczi's rebellion (1703–1711) in the Kingdom of Hungary, Joseph's government was also faced with various religious and ethnic challenges. Significant portion of Hungarian nobility and people belonged to the Reformed Church (Calvinists). Hoping to gain full religious freedom and equality, Hungarian Calvinists were supportive for the Rákóczi's movement, thus forcing the imperial court in Vienna to reexamine some staunch pro-Catholic policies. In the same time, eastern and southern regions of the Kingdom were also inhabited by Eastern Orthodox Christians, mainly Serbs and Romanians. In order to secure their loyalty, Joseph issued (in 1706) official confirmation of religious liberties that were previously granted to Eastern Orthodox subjects by his father, late emperor Leopold I. In 1708, Joseph confirmed the establishment of the Metropolitanate of Krušedol.

In 1710, Joseph extended his father's edict of outlawry against the Romani (Gypsies) in the Habsburg lands. Per Leopold, any Romani who entered the kingdom was to be declared an outlaw by letters patent. If the same person returned to Bohemia a second time, they were to be "treated with all possible severity". Joseph ordered that in the Kingdom of Bohemia they were to have their right ears cut off; in the Margraviate of Moravia, the left ear was to be cut off; in Austria, they would be branded on the back with a branding iron, representing the gallows. These mutilations were to enable the authorities to identify Romani who had been outlawed and returned. Joseph's edict specified "that all adult males were to be hanged without trial, whereas women and young males were to be flogged and banished forever." Officials who failed to enforce the edict could be fined 100 reichsthaler. Helping Romani was punishable by a half-year's forced labor. "Mass killings" of Romani were reported as a result.

Death

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

Tomb of the emperor in the Imperial Crypt, Vienna

During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, Grand Dauphin and three siblings of the future Emperor Francis I, Joseph became infected. He died on 17 April in the Hofburg palace. He had previously promised his wife to stop having affairs, should he survive.

The Emperor was buried in the Imperial Crypt, resting place of the majority of the Habsburgs. His funeral took place on 20 April, in tomb no. 35 in Karl's Vault. His tomb was designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, decorated with pictures of various battles from the War of Spanish Succession. Josefstadt (the eighth district of Vienna) is named for Joseph.

Marriage and lack of heirs

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

On 24 February 1699, he married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Vienna. They had three children and their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday. Joseph had a passion for love affairs (none of which resulted in illegitimate children) and he caught a sexually transmittable disease, probably syphilis, which he passed on to his wife while they were trying to produce a new heir. This incident rendered her sterile. Their father, who was still alive during these events, made Joseph and his brother Charles sign the Mutual Pact of Succession, under which Joseph's daughters would have precedence over Charles's daughters, in case neither fathered a son. This ruling, which made no provision for the accession of Charles's daughter Maria Theresa, led to the War of the Austrian Succession.

Issue

Name	Portrait	Lifespan	Notes
Maria Josepha Queen of Poland		8 December 1699 – 17 November 1757	Archduchess of Austria, married Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony
Leopold Joseph		29 October 1700 – 4 August 1701	Archduke of Austria, died in infancy
Maria Amalia Holy Roman Empress		22 October 1701 – 11 December 1756	Archduchess of Austria, married Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor

Male-line family tree

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

House of Habsburg
																								Original line
																								Albert Count of Habsburg c. 1188–1239
																								Rudolf I of Germany c. 1218–1291
																								Albert I of Germany 1255–1308						Hartmann 1263–1281		Rudolf II Duke of Austria 1270–1290
												Rudolf I of Bohemia 1281–1307		Frederick the Fair c. 1289–1330		Leopold I Duke of Austria 1290–1326		Albert II Duke of Austria 1298–1358		Henry the Friendly 1299–1327		Otto Duke of Austria 1301–1339		John Parricida c. 1290–1312/1313
														Albertinian line										Leopoldian line
				Rudolf IV Duke of Austria 1339–1365		Frederick III 1347–1362		Albert III Duke of Austria 1349–1395										Leopold III Duke of Austria 1351–1386						Frederick II Duke of Austria 1327–1344		Leopold II Duke of Austria 1328–1344
												Albert IV Duke of Austria 1377–1404		William Duke of Austria c. 1370–1406		Leopold IV Duke of Austria 1371–1411		Ernest Duke of Austria 1377–1424						Frederick IV Duke of Austria 1382–1439
												Albert II of Germany 1397–1439										Frederick III HRE 1415–1493		Albert VI Archduke of Austria 1418–1463		Sigismund Archduke of Austria 1427–1496
												Ladislaus the Posthumous 1440–1457										Maximilian I HRE 1459–1519
																								Philip I of Castile 1478–1506
				Spanish / Iberian line																																		Austrian / HRE line
				Charles V HRE 1500–1558																																		Ferdinand I HRE 1503–1564
				Philip II of Spain 1527–1598														Maximilian II HRE 1527–1576										Ferdinand II Archduke of Austria 1529–1595						Charles II Archduke of Austria 1540–1590
Carlos Prince of Asturias 1545–1568		Philip III of Spain 1578–1621		Rudolf II HRE 1552–1612		Ernest of Austria 1553–1595		Matthias HRE 1557–1619		Maximilian III Archduke of Austria 1558–1618		Albert VII Archduke of Austria 1559–1621		Wenceslaus Archduke of Austria 1561–1578		Andrew Margrave of Burgau 1558–1600		Charles Margrave of Burgau 1560–1618		Ferdinand II HRE 1578–1637		Maximilian Ernest of Austria 1583–1616		Leopold V Archduke of Austria 1586–1632		Charles of Austria 1590–1624
				Philip IV of Spain 1605–1665		Charles of Austria 1607–1632		Ferdinand of Austria 1609–1641																						John-Charles of Austria 1605–1619		Ferdinand III HRE 1608–1657		Leopold Wilhelm of Austria 1614–1662		Ferdinand Charles Archduke of Austria 1628–1662		Sigismund Francis Archduke of Austria 1630–1665
Balthasar Charles Prince of Asturias 1629–1646		Charles II of Spain 1661–1700																														Ferdinand IV King of the Romans 1633–1654		Leopold I HRE 1640–1705		Charles Joseph of Austria 1649–1664
																																								Joseph I HRE 1678–1711		Charles VI HRE 1685–1740
																																																	Lorraine
																																												Maria Theresa HRE 1740–1780		Francis I HRE 1745–1765
																																														Habsburg-Lorraine
																																												Joseph II HRE 1765–1790		Leopold II HRE 1790–1792
																																																Francis II HRE 1792–1806
Notes: