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Archduke John of Austria 1782-1859
The Styrian Prince
Johann
Baptist Josef Fabian Sebastian
was erzherzog or archduke
of Austria.
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Image Above
Detail from the portrait of
Archduke John in 1849
Copyright Fritz
and Julie Vogel |
John was the thirteenth child of
Leopold II.
At the time
of John's birth, father Leopold was the Grand Duke Leopold of
Tuscany. John's mother was Maria Ludovika, aka Maria Luisa
of Spain.
And all this made
Maria Theresa John's
grandmother. Maria Theresa, by the way, died two years before John's birth.
John's Life in a
Nutshell
John was born at Florence on
January 20, 1782.
In 1790, his family relocated to
Vienna because John's uncle Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II had died and
John's father Leopold became his successor.
On February 1, 1792, John's
father died. On May 15, 1792, John's mother followed suit.
John's brother Francis was heir to the throne and ruled
as
Francis II.
In 1796, wee John's military
career was launched.
He was appointed military commander in
1800. And, right away, on December 3, 1800, he had to
stomach the defeat at the
Battle of Hohenlinden,
which was a battle of the
War of the Second Coalition
and, in
turn, part of the
French Revolutionary Wars.
John became very popular with
his fellow Austrians in general, and with
Anna Plochl in
particular, whom he married in 1829.
In 1836, John was made field
marshal.
In 1839, John's son
Franz (Francis) was
born.
John died on May 11, 1859, at
Graz, where, incidentally and 88 years later, the Styrian
Oak, aka Arnold Schwarzenegger, was born.
Why was John
called the Styrian Prince?
Because he loved Styria (German:
Steiermark, today a federal state of Austria,
capital: Graz) and did a lot for its development. And
here is the Duchy of Styria on a map:
Map Location of the Duchy of Styria
around 1786
Click map to enlarge
See also
Holy Roman Empire and
Governments of Austria.
More History
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