Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Ferdinand III (May 6, 1769 – June 18, 1824) was Grand Duke of Tuscany, (1790-1801; 1814-1824). He was also the Prince-elector and Duke of Salzburg (1803-1806) and Grand Duke of Würzburg (1806-1814).

Ferdinand was born in Florence, Tuscany. He was the son of Leopold, then Grand-Duke of Tuscany, and his wife infanta Maria Louisa of Spain.

When his father was elected Emperor in 1790, Ferdinand succeeded him as Grand Duke of Tuscany. He ruled in Tuscany until 1801, when in the Treaty of Aranjuez (1801), he was forced by Napoleon to make way for the Kingdom of Etruria, created as compensation for the Bourbon Dukes of Parma.

Ferdinand was compensated by being given the secularized lands of the Archbishop of Salzburg as Duke of Salzburg. He was also made a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, a role which expired with the Empire's dissolution in 1806.

In 1805, Ferdinand had to give up Salzburg as well, which by the Treaty of Pressburg was annexed by his older brother, Emperor Francis II. Ferdinand was made Grand Duke of Würzburg, a new state created for him from the old Bishopric of Würzburg.

In 1814, after Napoleon's fall, Ferdinand was restored as Grand-Duke of Tuscany. However, in 1815, the Duchy of Lucca was carved out of Tuscany, again as temporary compensation for the Bourbons of Parma. (Lucca would be reintegrated into Tuscany in 1847.)

Ferdinand died in 1824 in Florence and was succeeded by his son Leopold.

Family and children

In Naples on August 15, 1790, Ferdinand married his double first cousin, Princess Luisa Maria Amelia Teresa of the Two Sicilies (July 27, 1773 - September 19, 1802), daughter of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Marie Caroline of Austria.

Their children were:

Carolina Ferdinanda Theresia (1793 - 1802)
Franz Leopold (1794 - 1800)
Leopold II (1797 - 1870), Grand Duke of Tuscany between 1824-1859
Marie Louise Josephe Christine Rose (1799 - 1857)
Maria Teresa (1801 - 1855). Married Charles Albert of Sardinia.
[?] (1802)

In Florence on May 6, 1821, Ferdinand married Maria of Saxony (April 27, 1796 - January 3, 1865), daughter of Maximilian, Prince of Saxony, (1759 - 1838) and his wife Caroline of Bourbon-Parma (1770 - 1804). She was the first cousin of his first wife and also his first cousin once removed. There were no children born of this second marriage.