Never married. His was the mildest and least reactionary of all the Italian despotisms of the day, and although always subject to Austrian influence … The third son of the Habsburg Maria Theresa and the emperor Francis I, Leopold succeeded his father as duke of Tuscany when his eldest brother became emperor as Joseph II in 1765. The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II (1797-1870) did something very peculiar for a ruler of a state: he left us a personal diary. Yet he did not surrender any part that could be retained of what Maria Theresa and Joseph had done to strengthen the hands of the state. Updates? Leopold, Duke of Lorraine17= 17.

During the twenty years that elapsed between his return to Florence and the death of his eldest brother Joseph II in 1790, he was employed in reforming the administration of his small state. Thus the revolution was accomplished without a drop of blood being shed, and after a period of provisional government Tuscany was incorporated in the kingdom of Italy. The uprisings in Milan and in Vienna aroused a fever of patriotic enthusiasm in Tuscany, where war against Austria was demanded; Leopold, giving way to popular pressure, sent a force of regulars and volunteers to co-operate with Piedmont in the Lombard campaign. Our latest podcast episode features popular TED speaker Mara Mintzer. *Archduchess Maria Anna Carolina Annunziata Giovanna Giuseppa Gabriela Teresa Margherita Filomena (Maria Anna Carolina Annunziata Johanna Josepha Gabrielle Theresia Margarethe Philomena) (Florence, 9 June 1840 - Florence, 13 August 1841). After Joseph II died in February 1790, Leopold was elected emperor (and also became king of Hungary and archduke of Austria).

Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Italian Leopoldo Giovanni Giuseppe Francesco Ferdinando Carlo, in German Leopold Johann Joseph Franz Ferdinand Karl (3 October 1797 – 29 January 1870), of Habsburg-Lorraine, was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1824 until 1859. Leopold meant to meet the challenge of the revolutionists in France with dignity and temper, however the effect of the Declaration of Pillnitz was to contribute to the radicalization of their political movement. Although he dismantled some of the centralized state machinery that Joseph had set up in the Habsburg domains, he kept in force Joseph’s decrees that emancipated the peasantry and granted increased religious liberty to non-Catholics. On 9 February 1849 the republic was proclaimed, largely as a result of Mazzini's exhortations, and on February 18 Leopold sailed for Gaeta. Maria Theresa of AustriaQueen of Hungary & Bohemia10= 10. One of the harshest actions Leopold took to placate the noble communities of the various Habsburg domains was to issue a decree on 9 May 1790, that forced thousands of Bohemian serfs freed by his brother Joseph back into servitude. This page was last edited on 30 October 2020, at 04:16.

Already the citizens of Milan have purchased their liberty with their blood and with a heroism of which history offers few examples... Honour to the arms of Italy!

In 1770, he made a journey to Vienna to secure the removal of this vexatious guardianship and returned to Florence with a free hand. Though he had a happy childhood surrounded by his many siblings, his family knew Francis was likely to be a future Emperor (his uncle Joseph had no surviving … The émigrés who followed him pertinaciously were refused audience, or when they forced themselves on him, were peremptorily denied all help. Leopold II (Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard; 5 May 1747 – 1 March 1792) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria from 1790 to 1792, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The declaration was a mere formality, for, as Leopold knew, neither Russia nor Britain was prepared to act, and he endeavored to guard against the use which he foresaw the émigrés would try to make of it. Leopold was one of the "enlightened monarchs". In Dresden on 28 October 1817 by proxy and in Florence on 16 November 1817 in person, Leopold married Princess Maria Anna of Saxony, born in Dresden on 15 November 1799. In face of the reaction in France to the Declaration of Pillnitz, the intrigues of the émigrés, and attacks made by the French revolutionists on the rights of the German princes in Alsace, Leopold continued to hope that intervention might not be required. Leopold II (born Peter Leopold Joseph) (May 5, 1747 – March 1, 1792) was the penultimate Holy Roman Emperor from 1790 to 1792 and Grand-duke of Tuscany (Leopold I - Pietro Leopoldo d'Asburgo-Lorena - Granduca di Toscana). Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Eberhard Weis, "Enlightenment and Absolutism in the Holy Roman Empire: Thoughts on Enlightened Absolutism in Germany", CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, In 2000 Tuscany's regional authority instituted an annual holiday on 30 November to commemorate the event. The marriage was never consummated and Maria Beatrice instead married Leopold's brother, Archduke Ferdinand.[5]. Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany . He feebly asked Austria if he might maintain the constitution, and the Austrian premier, Prince Schwarzenberg, advised him to consult the pope, the king of Naples and the dukes of Parma and Modena. Never married. Leopold was never popular with his Italian subjects. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leopold-II-Holy-Roman-emperor, The World of Habsburgs - Leopold II: Things seldom turn out as expected �. At first Leopold reacted cautiously to the explosive situation created in Europe by the French Revolution. On 7 June 1833 in Naples, Leopold married secondly Maria Antonietta of the Two Sicilies (Palermo, 19 December 1814 - Orth, 7 November 1898).