Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Ferdinand III (6 May 1769 – 18 June 1824) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1790 to 1801 and, after a period of disenfranchisement, again from 1814 to 1824. He was also the Prince-elector and Grand Duke of Salzburg (1803–1805) and Duke and Elector (to 1806, Grand Duke from 1806) of Würzburg (1805–1814).

Biography

Ferdinand was born in Florence, Tuscany, into the House of Habsburg-Lorraine on 6 May 1769. He was the second son of Leopold, then Grand-Duke of Tuscany, and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain. As the Grand Duchy was a secundogeniture, when his father was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand succeeded him as Grand Duke of Tuscany, officially taking the office on 22 July 1790.

In 1792, during the French Revolution, Ferdinand became the first monarch to recognize the new French First Republic formally, and he attempted to work peacefully with it.

His normalization of relations with France helped stabilize his rule for several years, but by 1799, he was compelled to flee to Vienna for protection when republicans established a new provisional government in Florence. He was forced to renounce his throne by the Treaty of Aranjuez (1801): Napoleon brushed him aside to make way for the Kingdom of Etruria, created as compensation for the Bourbon Dukes of Parma, dispossessed by the Peace of Lunéville in that same year. 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 III, Grand Duke of Tuscany 2= 2. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor 3= 3. Maria Louisa of Spain 4= 4. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor 5= 5. Maria Theresa of Austria 6= 6. Charles III of Spain 7= 7. Maria Amalia of Saxony 8= 8. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine 9= 9. Élisabeth Charlotte of Orléans 10= 10. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 11= 11. Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick 12= 12. Philip V of Spain 13= 13. Elisabeth Farnese 14= 14. Augustus III of Poland 15= 15. Maria Josepha of Austria