Ferdinand III | |||||
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Grand Duke Ferdinand sitting in his library, 1797, after Joseph Dorffmeister
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Grand Duke of Tuscany | |||||
Reign | 22 July 1790 – 3 August 1801 | ||||
Predecessor | Leopold II | ||||
Successor |
Louis I (as King of Etruria) |
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Elector of Salzburg | |||||
Reign | 11 February 1803 – 25 December 1805 | ||||
Predecessor |
Hieronymus von Colloredo (as Archbishop of Salzburg) |
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Successor |
Francis I of Austria (as Duke of Salzburg) |
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Grand Duke of Würzburg | |||||
Reign | 25 December 1805 – 1 May 1814 | ||||
Predecessor | Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria | ||||
Successor | Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria | ||||
Grand Duke of Tuscany | |||||
Reign | 27 April 1814 – 18 June 1824 | ||||
Predecessor | Elisa Bonaparte | ||||
Successor | Leopold II | ||||
Born | 6 May 1769 Florence |
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Died | 18 June 1824 | (aged 55)||||
Consort |
Luisa of Naples and Sicily Maria Ferdinande of Saxony |
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Issue Detail |
Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany Maria Theresa, Queen of Sardinia |
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House | House of Habsburg-Lorraine | ||||
Father | Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor | ||||
Mother | Maria Luisa of Spain | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Full name | |
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Ferdinando Giuseppe Giovanni Baptista |
Ferdinand III (German: Ferdinand Josef Johann Baptist; Italian: Ferdinando Giuseppe Giovanni Baptista; English: Ferdinand Joseph John Baptist; 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 Grand Duke of Würzburg (1805–1814).
Ferdinand was born in Florence, Tuscany, into the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He was the second son of Leopold, then Grand-Duke of Tuscany, and his wife Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain. 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. As the French Revolutionary Wars commenced, however, the rulers of Britain and Russia persuaded him to join their side in the War of the First Coalition. Ferdinand provided his allies with passive support but no enthusiasm, and after he witnessed a year of resounding victories by the French, he became the first member of the coalition to give up. In a proclamation dated 1 March 1795, he abandoned the alliance and declared Tuscany's neutrality in the war.