Karl I of Austria
Charles I , , was the last
Emperor of
Austria, the last King of
Hungary and
Bohemia, and the last monarch of the
Habsburg Dynasty. He reigned as Emperor Charles I of Austria, King Charles IV of Bohemia and King Charles IV of Hungary from 1916 until 1918, when he renounced the government , and spent the remaining years of his life attempting to regain the throne until his death in 1922.
Encyclopedia
Charles I , , was the last
Emperor of
Austria, the last King of
Hungary and
Bohemia, and the last monarch of the
Habsburg Dynasty. He reigned as Emperor Charles I of Austria, King Charles IV of Bohemia and King Charles IV of Hungary from 1916 until 1918, when he renounced the government , and spent the remaining years of his life attempting to regain the throne until his death in 1922.
Life
Karl was the son of Archduke Otto Franz of Austria and
Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony ; he was also a nephew of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination triggered
World War I. In 1911, he was married to Princess
Zita of Parma.
He had eight children :
- Crown Prince Otto , married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen and Hildburghausen and has issue
- Archduchess Adelheid , unmarried
- Archduke Robert , married Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta and had issue
- Archduke Felix , married Princess Anna-Eugénie of Arenberg and has issue
- Archduke Karl Ludwig , married Princess Yolande of Ligne and has issue
- Archduke Rudolf , married firstly Countess Xenia Tschernyscheva-Besobrasova and secondly Princess Anna of Wrede, has issue by both
- Archduchess Maria-Anne
- Archduke Carl Peter
- Archduke Simeon
- Archduke Johannes Carl
- Archduchess Catherine
- Archduchess Charlotte , married Count Georg of Carlow, Duke of Mecklenburg
- Archduchess Elisabeth , married Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein and had issue
Karl became heir-presumptive when his uncle
Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in
Sarajevo in 1914, the event which precipitated
World War I. Karl's reign began in 1916, with the death of his grand-uncle,
Franz Joseph. In 1916, he also became a
Generalfeldmarschall in the
Austro-Hungarian Army. In 1917, Karl secretly entered into peace negotiations with France. Although his foreign minister,
Ottokar Czernin, was only interested in negotiating a general peace which would include Germany as well, Karl himself, in negotiations with the French with his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian army, as intermediary, went much further in suggesting his willingness to make a separate peace. When news of the overture leaked in April 1918, Karl denied all involvement until the French prime minister
Georges Clemenceau published letters signed by him. This led to Czernin's resignation, forcing Austria-Hungary into an even more dependent position with respect to its seemingly wronged German ally.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was wracked by inner turmoil in the final years of the war, with much tension between ethnic groups. US President
Woodrow Wilson demanded that the Empire allow for the self-determination of its peoples as part of his
Fourteen Points. In response, Karl agreed to reconvene the Imperial parliament and allow for the creation of a confederation with each national group exercising self-governance. However, the reforms quickly spiraled out of control, with each national government declaring complete independence. Karl's political future quickly became uncertain. For a while it appeared as though he might reign as monarch of a newly independent
Austria, but
Austria's new republican government ultimately vetoed this idea.
On November 11, 1918, he proclaimed formally "I relinquish every participation in the administration of the State" but did not abdicate his thrones. He then fled to
Switzerland and continued to pursue regaining power from exile. Encouraged by Hungarian nationalists, he sought twice in 1921 to reclaim the throne of Hungary but failed due to various factors including the lack of support of the Hungarian Regent
Miklós Horthy. Horthy's failure to support Karl's restoration attempts is often described as "treasonous" by monarchists. Critics suggest that Horthy's actions were more firmly grounded in political reality than the King of Hungary and his supporters. He left Hungary from the city of
Baja forever.
He died of severe
pneumonia on the
Portuguese island of
Madeira in 1922. His remains are still kept in the island, in the Church of Our Lady of the Monte, in spite of several attempts to move them to the Habsburg Crypt in Vienna. During his stay on the island, his personal chaplain was Priest Jorge de Faria e Castro.
After his death
Some historians have seen Karl as a brave and honourable figure who tried as emperor-king to halt
World War I. Helmut Rumpler, head of the Habsburg commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, has described Karl as "a dilettante, far too weak for the challenges facing him, out of his depth, and not really a politician."
Beatification
Karl has been solemnly declared blessed in the ceremony of beatification by the
Roman Catholic Church. The
cause or campaign began in 1949 when testimony of his holiness was collected in the
Archdiocese of
Vienna. In 1954, he was declared
venerable, the first step on the process beatification. The
guild established for the promotion of his cause has created this . The
Roman Catholic Church has praised Karl for putting his Christian faith first in making political decisions, and for his perceived role as a peacemaker during the war, especially after 1917.
Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of
Vienna has been the Church's sponsor for his beatification.
Recent milestones include:
- On 14 April 2003, the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the presence of Pope John Paul II, promulgated Karl of Austria's "heroic virtues."
- On 21 December 2003, the Congregation certified, on the basis of three expert medical opinions, that a miracle in 1960 occurred through the intercession of Karl. The miracle attributed to Karl was the scientifically inexplicable healing of a Brazilian nun with debilitating varicose veins; she was able to get out of bed after she prayed for his beatification.
- On 3 October 2004, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. The Pope also declared 21 October, the date of Karl's marriage in 1911 to Princess Zita, as Karl's feast day. The beatification has caused controversy because of the erroneous belief that Karl may have authorized his army's use of poison gas during World War I.
Official Title of Karl I
His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty,
Charles the First,
By the Grace of God,
Emperor of
Austria,
Apostolic King of
Hungary, of this name the Fourth,
King of
Bohemia,
Dalmatia,
Croatia,
Slavonia, and Galicia,
Lodomeria, and
Illyria; King of
Jerusalem etc., Archduke of
Austria; Grand Duke of
Tuscany and
Cracow, Duke of Lorraine and of
Salzburg, of
Styria, of
Carinthia, of
Carniola and of the
Bukovina; Grand Prince of
Transylvania; Margrave of
Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower
Silesia, of
Modena, Parma,
Piacenza and Guastalla, of
Auschwitz and
Zator, of Teschen,
Friuli,
Ragusa and
Zara; Princely Count of
Habsburg and
Tyrol, of Kyburg,
Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of
Trent and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower
Lusatia and in
Istria; Count of
Hohenems,
Feldkirch,
Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc.; Lord of
Trieste, of
Cattaro, and in the Wendish Mark;
Grand Voivode of the
Voivodship of Serbia etc. etc.
See also
...
head of the
Habsburg family
External links
