Austria-Este

House of Habsburg-Este House of Austria-Este
Motto: Dextera Domini exaltavit me (Latin for 'The right hand of the Lord has exalted me')
Parent house	Habsburg-Lorraine (agnatic) Este (enatic)
Country	Austria Belgium Italy Former countries Austria-Hungary Modena and Reggio Massa and Carrara
Founded	1771 (1771)
Founder	Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine and Maria Beatrice d'Este
Current head	Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
Final ruler	Franz V, Duke of Modena and Reggio
Titles	Current: Archduke of Austria-Este Prince/Princess of Belgium Former: Duke of Modena and Reggio (1814–1859) Duke of Mirandola (1815–1859) Duke of Massa and Prince of Carrara (1829–1859) Duke of Guastalla (1847–1859) King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland (Jacobite claim; 1840–1919)
Style(s)	"Imperial and Royal Highness" "Majesty" "Grace"
Deposition	1859 (1859) (Annexation of Italy)

The House of Habsburg-Este (Italian: Casa d'Asburgo-Este), also known as the House of Austria-Este (German: Haus Österreich-Este) and holder of the title of Archduke of Austria-Este (Italian: Arciduca d'Austria-Este; German: Erzherzog von Österreich-Este), is a cadet branch (but not sovereign branch) of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and also descends from the House of Este in the cognatic line. It was created in 1771 with the marriage between Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine and Maria Beatrice d'Este, only daughter of the Duke of Modena, Ercole III d'Este. After the death of Ercole III in 1803, the Modena ruling branch of the Este family's male line ended, and the Habsburg-Este line subsequently inherited his possessions in what is now Italy.

History

Origins

During the 18th century, the unhappy marriage between the last male heir of the House of Este, the future Duke of Modena and Reggio, Ercole III, and the sovereign Duchess of Massa and Carrara, Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, produced only one surviving child, Maria Beatrice. However, the Salic law excluded her, as a woman, from the succession to her father, while she was entitled to succeed her mother since it was derogated in the Duchy of Massa and Carrara by virtue of a 1529 decree of the Emperor Charles V.

When it became obvious that the princely couple would not produce a large offspring, the reigning Duke, Francis III, set out to prevent Modena from suffering the same fate as Ferrara almost two centuries earlier, simply being reincorporated into the Empire as a vacant imperial fief. Thus, in 1753, two simultaneous treaties (one public and one secret) were concluded between the House of Este and the House of Austria, by which the Archduke Leopold, Empress Maria Theresa's ninth-born child and third son, and Maria Beatrice were engaged, and the former was designated by Francis III as heir for the imperial investiture as Duke of Modena and Reggio in the event of extinction of the Este male line. In the meantime, Francis would cover the office of governor of Milan ad interim, which was destined for the archduke.

In 1761, however, following the death of an older brother, Leopold became heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany as provided for the second male heir of the imperial couple, and the treaties had to be revised. In 1763, in spite of the harsh opposition of Maria Beatrice's father, the two families agreed to simply replace the name of Leopold with that of Maria Theresa's fourteenth child, Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria, who was four years younger than his betrothed. In January 1771 the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg ratified Ferdinand's future investiture and, in October, Maria Beatrice and he finally got married in Milan, thus giving rise to the new House of Austria-Este.

Ercole III finally ascended the throne in 1780 upon the death of Francis III, but was deposed in 1796 by the French. His States were transformed into the Cispadane Republic, which one year later was merged into the Cisalpine Republic and then into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. Ercole was compensated with the small principality of Breisgau in southwestern Germany, and when he died in 1803, it passed to his son-in-law, who in 1806 lost it to the enlarged and elevated Grand Duchy of Baden during the Napoleonic reorganization of the western territories of the defunct Holy Roman Empire. In December of that same year, Ferdinand died without ever having had the opportunity to exercise his prerogatives as heir to the Este States.

Maria Beatrice had succeeded her mother as Duchess of Massa and Carrara in 1790, but she too had been deposed by the French invasion in 1796.

Rule in Emilia

After the end of the Napoleonic era, in accordance with the 'principle of legitimacy' advocated by Metternich at the Congress of Vienna, Maria Beatrice was restored as sovereign of the Duchy of Massa and Principality of Carrara in 1815, and her son Francis IV was placed on the throne of the Duchy of Modena and Reggio as the legitimate heir of Archduke Ferdinand, his father, in turn held to be the legal successor of Ercole III. The Imperial fiefs in Lunigiana, which were not re-established, were also bestowed upon Maria Beatrice, but she almost immediately handed them over to her son Francis IV with an agreement in December 1815. When she died in 1829, she too was succeeded as ruler of Massa and Carrara by Francis IV, who in a few years completely assimilated her ancient Tuscan domains within the 'Este States' (Stati Estensi), as his Duchy was officially styled.

The House of Austria-Este was to rule Modena until 1859. In that year the Este States lost its independence and was incorporated into the newly united Kingdom of Italy, and Francis V, the last duke, was deposed.

Francis V withdrew to his estates in Austria. After the death of his mother Maria Beatrice of Savoy in 1840, he was considered the legitimate heir to the English and Scottish thrones by the Jacobites (with the regnal title King Francis I).

When Francis died in Vienna on 20 November 1875, his family became extinct in the male line. His closest blood relative was his niece, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, but, as women continued to be excluded from the right to inherit within the Habsburgs, the succession was carried out by will, in favour of a male relative.

After Unification and current status

Francis V, who was very attached to his Este ancestry, decided to try to preserve it and left most of his huge estate to his young cousin Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, with certain conditions, including that the heir and future heirs use the style of Austria Este and learn Italian, and that the House of Austria-Este never be reabsorbed into the mother House of Austria, passing if necessary to a new cadet branch of the latter. Since Francis Ferdinand was the heir apparent of Archduke Charles Louis, younger brother to then Emperor Francis Joseph, such testamentary provisions turned Austria-Este into a sort of "secundogeniture" title within the Austrian imperial family.

Although the first heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), was not a descendant of the last Este scion, Duchess Mary Beatrice, he took the name Austria-Este in compliance with Francis V's will. In 1896 he became the heir presumptive of Austria-Hungary and, according to the terms of the secundogeniture, could not combine the Austria-Este inheritance with that of the main line of the House of Habsburg, i.e., the Austro-Hungarian Empire; but he was assassinated 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo before becoming emperor. Because Franz Ferdinand's children were born in morganatic marriage (see House of Hohenberg), on 16 April 1917 his legal dynastic heir, the new Emperor Charles I of Austria, as head of the House of Habsburg, issued letters patent conferring the name, arms and patrimony of Austria-Este on his second son, Archduke Robert, and his future issue according to masculine primogeniture. Through his mother Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Robert happened to be a descendant of Maria Beatrice of Este as well, and thus the blood of the last Este dukes was also reunited with the name Austria-Este.

On Robert's death his eldest son, Archduke Lorenz, born 1955, by his wife, Princess Margherita of Savoy, succeeded him in that role. He is married to Princess Astrid of Belgium, a daughter of King Albert II of Belgium. Since the throne of Belgium is heritable by females (and males no longer have precedence over females), Princess Astrid is an heir of Belgium immediately after the issue of King Philippe of Belgium. As such, her husband Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, was in 1995 elevated to the additional title of Prince of Belgium. The children of the couple are, since 1991, titled Archduke (Archduchess) of Austria and Prince(ss) of Belgium. The eldest of these is Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria, born 1986.

Coat of arms

• 
  Ferdinand Karl of Austria-Este (1754–1806)
• 
  Franz IV of Austria-Este (1779–1846)
• 
  Franz V of Austria-Este (1819–1875)
• 
  Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este (1863–1914)
• 
  Robert of Austria-Este (1915–1996)

See also

• List of Dukes of Ferrara and of Modena

External links

• Heraldry of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
• Arms of the Este dukes of Modena (in French)