Karl I of Austria

Karl I (August 17, 1887 – April 1, 1922), Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen (Hungarian: Károly IV (Károly Ferenc József)), was (among other titles) the last Emperor of Austria, the last King of Hungary and Bohemia, and the last monarch of the Habsburg Dynasty. He reigned as Emperor Karl I of Austria, King Charles III of Bohemia and King Charles IV of Hungary from 1916 until 1918, when he renounced the government (but did not abdicate), 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 (1865-1906) and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony (1867-1944); 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.
They had eight children (six boys and two girls):

Crown Prince Otto (1912-), married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen and Hildburghausen and has issue
Archduchess Adelheid (1914-1971), unmarried
Archduke Robert (1915-1996), married Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta and had issue
Archduke Felix (1916-), married Princess Anna-Eugénie of Arenberg and has issue
Archduke Karl Ludwig (1918-), married Princess Yolande of Ligne and has issue
Archduke Rudolf (1919-), married firstly Countess Xenia Tschernyscheva-Besobrasova and secondly Princess Anna of Wrede, has issue by both
Archduchess Charlotte (1921-1989), married Count Georg of Carlow, Duke of Mecklenburg
Archduchess Elisabeth (1922-1993), 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 (brought on after Karl, an already sickly man, walked into town on a freezing winter's day) on the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1922.

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 website. 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. 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 the 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 Apostolic Majesty,

Karl 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.

External links

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Life

After his death

Beatification

Official Title of Karl I

See also

External links