Leopold II (Tuscany)

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Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, portrait of a youth

Leopold II (born October 3, 1797 in Florence , † January 29, 1870 in Rome ) was Grand Duke of Tuscany and Archduke of Austria .

Life

Leopold was the second son of Grand Duke Ferdinand III. and his first wife Luisa Maria of Naples-Sicily born in Florence, Palazzo Pitti . He was thus a grandson of Emperor Leopold II . In March 1799 the troops of revolutionary France invaded Tuscany, which forced the grand ducal family to emigrate to Vienna. In 1799, at the age of two, he accompanied his father into exile in Vienna, Salzburg and Würzburg and returned with him to Tuscany at the age of 17 after the fall of Napoleon in 1814. During his time in Würzburg, the former Benedictine priest Aegidius Jais was his prince tutor . Married to Princess Maria Anna of Saxony since 1817 , he succeeded his late father in the government on June 18, 1824. After the death of his beloved first wife Maria Anna, the Grand Duke married Princess Maria Antonia of Naples-Sicily on June 7, 1833 . Maria Antonia gave birth to ten children within eighteen years, six of whom reached adulthood, two daughters and four sons.

The revolutions of 1847/1848 as part of the Risorgimentos induced him to enact a constitution on February 15, 1848. However, it was not enough for the radical forces in the population who wanted to completely eliminate Austrian rule.

Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein - Grand Duke Leopold II of Toscana (1842)

Leopold II then left the country in February 1849 and a provisional republican government was formed, which briefly allied itself with the revolutionary Roman Republic , which existed in the Papal States for about five months at the same time . As early as April, the attempt at republican democracy in Tuscany was put down by a counterrevolution initiated by Austrian troops and the Grand Duke was able to return. In April 1859 a popular uprising tried to force him to join the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in the Sardinian War against Austria . Since Leopold II had committed himself to neutrality towards Austria, he left Tuscany with his family on April 27 and abdicated on July 21, 1859 in favor of his son Ferdinand IV from his second marriage. Ferdinand no longer ruled the Grand Duchy, however, as Tuscany joined the Kingdom of Sardinia after a referendum in 1860, thus ending the rule of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine-Tuscany.

In 1859 the grand ducal family moved into Schlackenwerth Castle near Karlsbad . In 1860 Leopold II bought the Bohemian Chamber of Commerce Brandeis (Brandýs) . He lived extremely withdrawn at Brandeis Castle. The people met him with great respect and respect and approached him with the suggestion that he be elected mayor of Schlackenwerth (Ostrov) . He accepted this office. Under his aegis, the city was beautified and renewed in many places. The museum, which was closed due to dilapidation, was also reopened. At his request, children of poor parents could now also attend school. In 1866, a fire nearly destroyed his work. However, Leopold fell back on his private assets to have the worst damage repaired.

Grand Duke Leopold II is buried in the "Tuscany Crypt" of the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna.

After the political situation in Italy had calmed down to some extent, he traveled with his wife on a pilgrimage to Rome in November 1869, where he died on the night of January 29, 1870. The body was transferred to the Viennese Tuscan Crypt, which forms part of the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.

Austrian succession to the throne

As the grandson of Emperor Leopold II and nephew of Emperor Franz I of Austria , Leopold also had a place in the Austrian throne. From 1824 to 1830 he took third place there behind the two sons of Franz I ( Ferdinand and Franz Karl ). Only with the birth of the future Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1830 did he fall back in this hierarchy.

progeny

From first marriage with Maria Anna von Sachsen (1799–1832), daughter of Prince Maximilian von Sachsen (1759–1838)

Sons Johann Salvator , Ludwig Salvator , Ferdinand IV and Karl Salvator of Austria-Tuscany

From his second marriage to Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (1814–1898), daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies (1777–1830)

literature

  • Franz Pesendorfer: Il governo di famiglia in Toscana. Le memorie del granduca Leopoldo II. Di Lorena (1824-1859). Sansoni, Florence 1987. ( Libro Toscano , Leopold's autobiographical report, written in Italian and first published in 1987)
  • Stefano Vitali: Fra Toscana e Boemia. Le carte di Ferdinando III e di Leopoldo II nell'Archivio centrale di Stato di Praga. Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Ufficio centrale per i beni archivistici, Rome 1999. (Pubblicazioni degli archivi di stato. Strumenti, volume 137)
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Habsburg, Leopold II (Grand Duke of Toscana) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 6th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1860, pp. 442–444 ( digitized version ).
  • Richard Blaas:  Leopold II. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 298 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Franz Pesendorfer: Between tricolor and double-headed eagle. Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 1824–1859. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1987.
  • Marielisa Rossi: Bibliofilia, bibliografia e biblioteconomia alla corte dei Granduchi di Toscana Ferdinando III e Leopoldo II. Itinerari esplorativi fra cataloghi e documenti della Biblioteca Palatina lorenese. 2nd edition, Manziana, Rome 1996. (Pubblicazioni. Ser. 1, Studi e testi, Volume 2)
  • Filiberto Amoroso: Il granduca Placido e la sua "Toscanina". Vita, morte e qualche miracolo di Leopoldo II di Lorena detto “Canapone” . Arnaud, Florence 1991. (Politica e storia, Volume 11)
  • Giacomo Martina: Pio IX e Leopoldo II. Pontifica Univ. Gregoriana, Rome 1967. (Miscellanea historiae pontificiae, volume 28)

Web links

Commons : Leopold II.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the entire question by Bernd Braun: The end of regional monarchies in Italy. Abdication in the course of the Risorgimento. In: Susan Richter, Dirk Dirbach (ed.): Renunciation of the throne. The abdication in monarchies from the Middle Ages to modern times. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 2010, pp. 251–266, here pp. 254–257 .
predecessor Office successor
Ferdinand III. Grand Duke of Tuscany
1824 - 1859 		Ferdinand IV.
personal data
SURNAME Leopold II.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Duke of Tuscany
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Florence
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1870
Place of death Rome