Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/239

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
195
RIGHT

FRANCIS II. 195 FRANCIS FERDINAND place, in 1520, in Flanders, which, from the magnificence displayed on the oc- casion, was called The Field of the Cloth of Gold {q. v.). In the same year, Charles V. of Spain, having in- herited the empire after the death of Maximilian, Francis laid claim to the im- perial dignity, and declared war against his rival. In this struggle, however, he met with nothing but reverses. After the defeat of Marshal Lautrec at Bi- coca, in 1522, the retreat of Bonnivet, and Bayard's death, Francis was him- self, in 1525, beaten at Pavia, and taken prisoner. The fight had been a fierce one, and the king wrote to his mother, "All is lost, except honor." Led captive into Spain, he only recovered his liberty at the cost of an onerous treaty, signed at Madrid in 1526; but which Francis sub- sequently declared null and void. He im- mediately recommenced war in Italy, met with fresh defeats, and concluded a sec- ond treaty at Cambrai in 1529. He once more invaded Italy, in 1536, and, after various successes, consented to a defini- tive arrangement at Crespi, in 1544, by which the French were excluded from Italy, though Milan was given to the Duke of Orleans, the second son of Francis. Francis was a friend to arts and literature, which flourished during his reign; and he was called the "Father of Letters." Justice, also, began to be better administered in his reign. He founded the Royal College of France, the Royal Library, and built several palaces. He died at the Chateau de Rambouillet, March 31, 1547, and was succeeded by his son, Henry II. FRANCIS II., King of France, the eldest son of Henry II. and his queen Catherine de Medici; born in Fontaine- bleau, Jan. 19, 1543. He succeeded his father in July, 1559, having in the pre- ceding year married Mary Stuart, daugh- ter of James V. of Scotland. He made the Cardinal of Lorraine first minister, and his brother, the Duke of Guise, com- mander-in-chief. The insolence and cruelty of their rule produced profound discontent, and led to the conspiracy of Amboise, and the beginning of the civil war between the Catholics and Protes- tants. The states-general were convoked at Orleans in 1560, and the Prince of Conde, who had joined the Protestants, was there arrested, and sentenced to death; but the sentence was not executed owing to the King's death in Orleans, Dec. 5, 1560. FRANCIS I.. Emperor of Germany; born Dec. 8, 1708; the son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine. He inherited this duchy from his father, in 1729, and six years afterward exchanged it for that of Tuscany, which the death of the last of the Medicis had rendered vacant. In 1736 he married Maria Theresa, the daughter of the Emperor Charles VI. On the death of the latter, he disputed the imperial dignity with the Elector of Ba- varia, whom France supported, and who took the name of Charles VII.; he was, however, defeated, and Francis reigned peacefully for 20 years. He had 16 chil- dren, among whom was Joseph II., who succeeded him, and the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. He died in Innsbruck, Aug. 18, 1765. FRANCIS II., Emperor of Germany, and I. of Austria; born in Florence, Italy, Feb. 12, 1768, succeeded his father, Leo- pold II., in 1792, as Emperor of Germany, King of Bohemia, Hungary, etc. At the very commencement of his reign, he had to sustain a war against France, in which he was defeated, and was, in 1797, obliged to sign the treaty of Campo Formio, which deprived him of the Netherlands and Lombardy. In another war with France he was defeated at Marengo and lost, by the treaty of Luneville, in 1801, all his possessions on the Rhine. In a third campaign, undertaken in 1805, the French were victorious over his armies at Elchingen, Ulm, and Austerlitz; and the treaty of Pressburg still further di- minished his territory. Renouncing now the title of Emperor of Germany, he took that of Austria, under the name of Fran- cis I. He tried again the fate of battles in 1809; but the defeats of Eckmiihl and Wagram led to the peace of Schonbrunn, to cement which more strongly, his daughter Maria Louisa was, in 1810, given to Napoleon I. Notwithstanding this alliance, however, he, in 1813, joined the coalition against his son-in-law. The treaties of 1815 put him again in pos- session of the greater portion of his ter- ritory, and he reigned peaceably till his death in Vienna, March 2, 1835. He was succeeded by his son Ferdinand. FRANCIS FERDINAND, Austrian Archduke and heir to the throne, whose assassination was the pretext for the World War. He was the nephew of the Emperor, Franz Joseph, and was born in Gratz, in 1863. His father, the Arch- duke, Charles Louis, having renounced his right to the throne, after the death of the Crown Prince, Rudolph, in 1889, Francis Ferdinand, became the heir. Having finished his education, he took up an army career, then went through the usual experience in administrative affairs, customary among members of the imperial family. In so far as he made his influence felt in the policies of the Government, he was a strong reac-