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Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Ferdinand III
Joseph Dorffmeister 002.jpg
Grand Duke Ferdinand sitting in his library, 1797, after Joseph Dorffmeister
Grand Duke of Tuscany
Reign 22 July 1790 – 3 August 1801
Predecessor Leopold II
Successor Louis I
(as King of Etruria)
Elector of Salzburg
Reign 11 February 1803 – 25 December 1805
Predecessor Hieronymus von Colloredo
(as Archbishop of Salzburg)
Successor Francis I of Austria
(as Duke of Salzburg)
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
Died 18 June 1824(1824-06-18) (aged 55)
Consort Luisa of Naples and Sicily
Maria Ferdinande of Saxony
Issue
Detail
Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Maria Theresa, Queen of Sardinia
Full name
Ferdinando Giuseppe Giovanni Baptista
House House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother Maria Luisa of Spain
Religion Roman Catholicism
Full name
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.


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