Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Early years

Archduke Charles (baptised Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar Johannes Antonius Ignatius), the second son of the Emperor Leopold I and of his third wife, Princess Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, was born on 1 October 1685.

Following the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700, without any direct heir, Charles declared himself King of Spain — both were members of the House of Habsburg. The ensuing War of the Spanish Succession, which pitted France's candidate, Philip, Duke of Anjou, Louis XIV of France's grandson, against Austria's Charles, lasted for almost 14 years. The kingdoms of Portugal, England, Scotland, Ireland and the majority of the Holy Roman Empire endorsed Charles's candidature. Within Spain his supporters were concentrated in the Crown of Aragon where there was a fear of Bourbon centralism. Charles III, as he was known, disembarked in his kingdom in 1705 and stayed there for six years, only being able to exercise his rule in the Principality of Catalonia until the death of his brother, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; he returned to Vienna to assume the imperial crown.

Not wanting to see Austria and Spain in personal union again, the new Kingdom of Great Britain withdrew its support from the Austrian coalition, and the war culminated with the Treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt and Baden three years later. The former, ratified in 1713, recognised Philip as King of Spain; however, the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Austrian Netherlands and the Kingdom of Sardinia — all previously possessions of the Spanish — were ceded to Austria. To prevent a union of Spain and France, Philip was forced to renounce his right to succeed his grandfather's throne. Charles was extremely discontented at the loss of Spain, and as a result, he mimicked the staid Spanish Habsburg court ceremonial, adopting the dress of a Spanish monarch, which, according to British historian Edward Crankshaw, consisted of "a black doublet and hose, black shoes and scarlet stockings".

Charles's father and his advisors went about arranging a marriage for him. Their eyes fell upon Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the eldest child of Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She was held to be strikingly beautiful by her contemporaries.

Religious policies

As a devout Catholic, Emperor Charles supported the reestablishment of Catholic ecclesiastical structures in various regions that were liberated from Ottoman rule and incorporated into the Habsburg Monarchy by the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718). At the same time, several questions related to the rights and liberties of other Christian denominations were regulated. In the Kingdom of Hungary, a significant portion of both nobility and people belonged to the Reformed Church (Calvinists), while eastern and southern regions were also inhabited by Eastern Orthodox Christians, mainly Serbs and Romanians. On several occasions, Emperor Charles issued confirmations of old privileges that were granted to Eastern Orthodox subjects by previous Habsburg monarchs (Emperors Leopold I and Joseph I), and in 1732, an official collection of those documents was published.