Ferdinand IV
Grand Duke of Tuscany
Reign21 July 1859 – 22 March 1860
PredecessorLeopold II
Born10 June 1835
Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died17 January 1908(1908-01-17) (aged 72)
Salzburg, Austria-Hungary
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1856; died 1859)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1868)​
    Issue
    Detail    		Archduchess Maria Antonia
    Archduke Leopold Ferdinand
    Louise, Crown Princess of Saxony
    Archduke Josef Ferdinand
    Archduke Peter Ferdinand
    Names
    • Italian: Ferdinando Salvatore Maria Giuseppe Giovan Battista Francesco Luigi Gonzaga Raffaello Ranieri Gennaro
    • German: Ferdinand Salvator Maria Joseph Johann Baptist Franz Ludwig Gonzaga Raphael Rainerius Gennarius
    HouseHabsburg-Lorraine
    FatherLeopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
    MotherPrincess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies
    ReligionRoman Catholicism

    Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (Italian: Ferdinando IV, Granduca di Toscana;[1] 10 June 1835 – 17 January 1908) was the last Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1859 to 1860.

    Biography

    Born at Florence, he was the son of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Sicilies.

    His first wife died on February 1859. Sometime later, he and his family were forced to flee Florence on 27 April 1859, with the outbreak of a revolution inspired by the outbreak of the Second Italian War of Independence as part of the unification of Italy. The family took refuge in Austria. After the end of the war, Leopold II abdicated on 21 July and Ferdinand succeeded him as Grand Duke. Ferdinand proved unable to return to Florence to claim his throne, and an elected Tuscan National Assembly formally deposed him only a month later, on 16 August, with Tuscany being merged into the United Provinces of Central Italy. Ferdinand still hoped to recover his throne, as both France and Austria had promised to recognize his rights to it in the Armistice of Villafranca. However, neither power was willing to take any steps to bring about his restoration; Sardinia would annex Tuscany on 22 March 1860, and with Austria recognizing the new Kingdom of Italy after the Third War of Independence in 1866, Ferdinand's hopes to reclaim the throne were ended.

    Subsequently Ferdinand and his family returned to Austria. While Ferdinand was allowed to keep the grand ducal title as a courtesy and retain his status as grand master of all Tuscan orders of chivalry for his lifetime, his descendants could only bear the title of "Archduke/Archduchess of Austria"; the right to bear the title "Prince/ss of Tuscany" became restricted solely to family members born before 1866. In 1870 Ferdinand relinquished all dynastic rights to the defunct Grand Duchy for himself and his future heirs in favour of his second cousin, Emperor Franz Joseph I, effectively ending the House of Habsburg-Tuscany's status as a sovereign cadet branch.[2][3]

    Ferdinand died in Salzburg in 1908, after spending the rest of his life in exile. Upon his death, his descendants were barred from using their Tuscan titles by Imperial decree.[4][5]

    Family and children

    He married twice and had issue:

    From his first marriage in Dresden on 24 November 1856 to Princess Anna of Saxony, (Dresden, 4 January 1836 – Naples, 10 February 1859), daughter of King John I of Saxony, was born:

    From his second marriage in Frohsdorf on 11 January 1868 to Princess Alice "Alix" of Bourbon-Parma (Parma, 27 December 1849 – Schwertberg, 16 November 1935), daughter of Duke Charles III of Parma:

    Honours

    Ferdinand received the following awards:[6]

    Ancestry

    See also

    Notes

    1. ↑ Full name: Italian: Ferdinando Salvatore Maria Giuseppe Giovan Battista Francesco Luigi Gonzaga Raffaello Ranieri Gennaro, German: Ferdinand Salvator Maria Joseph Johann Baptist Franz Ludwig Gonzaga Raphael Rainerius Gennarius
    2. ↑ Bernd Braun: Das Ende der Regionalmonarchien in Italien. Abdankungen im Zuge des Risorgimento. In: Susan Richter, Dirk Dirbach (Hrsg.): Thronverzicht. Die Abdankung in Monarchien vom Mittelalter bis in die Neuzeit. Böhlau Verlag, Köln, Weimar, Wien 2010, pp. 251-266
    3. ↑ Andrea Borella (a cura di): Annuario della Nobiltà italiana, XXXIII edizione, 2015-2020, parte I, Teglio, marzo 2021, ISBN 978-88-942861-0-6
    4. ↑ Prerogative dinastiche della casa granducale di lorena dopo la perdita del granducato di toscana (in Italian). Retrieved 8 October 2020.
    5. ↑ Rivista Araldica, anno 1913, volume 11, pagina 381, Roma, Collegio Araldico: " Da informazione ufficiale assunta a Vienna togliamo quanto segue «A Sua Altezza I. R. il defunto Granduca Ferdinando IV di Toscana era stato permesso dall'Impero austro-ungarico e dagli Stati dell'Impero germanico, di conferire i tre Ordini toscani, inerenti alla Sovranità, che anche spodestato, rimase all'Augusto principe fino alla sua morte. Il titolo di Principe di Toscana fu solo autorizzato ai membri della famiglia granducale nati prima del 1866. Dopo la morte del Granduca (1908) tutti gli augusti figli del defunto dovettero solennemente rinunciare ad ogni qualsiasi diritto di cui personalmente ed eccezionalmente godeva il padre. Quindi il Gran Magistero dell'Ordine di S. Stefano per volontà di S. M. l'Imperatore e Re è terminato col defunto granduca, né più sarebbe accettato dagli augusti principi lorenesi" (in Italian)
    6. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (1908), Genealogy p. 5
    7. ↑ Almanacco Toscano per l'anno 1855. Stamperia Granducale. 1840. p. 271.
    8. ↑ Boettger, T. F. "Chevaliers de la Toisón d'Or - Knights of the Golden Fleece". La Confrérie Amicale. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    9. ↑ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
    10. 1 2 Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1896), "Großherzogliche Orden" p. 63, 77
    11. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Bayern (1906), "Königliche Orden" p. 7
    12. ↑ "Liste des Membres de l'Ordre de Léopold", Almanach Royal Officiel (in French), 1857, p. 47 – via Archives de Bruxelles
    13. ↑ Ruolo generale del sov. mil. ordine di S. Giovanni de Gerulasemme ovvero di Malta. Roma: Tipografia Poliglotta della S. Congregazione di Propaganda Fide. 1880. p. 124.
    14. ↑ "Schwarzer Adler-orden", Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (in German), vol. 1, Berlin, 1886, p. 6{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
    15. ↑ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1869), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 12
    16. ↑ Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen: 1865/66. Heinrich. 1866. p. 4.
    17. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1896), "Königliche Orden" p. 28
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