Lorraine, after after the War of the …

Years: 1766 - 1766
Lorraine, after after the War of the Polish Succession, had been  part of an agreement in 1737 between France, the House of Habsburg and the Lorraine House of Vaudémont: The Duchy had been given to Stanisław Leszczyński, the former king of Poland and father-in-law to King Louis XV of France, who, despite French support, had lost out to a candidate backed by Russia and Austria in the War of the Polish Succession.

The Lorraine duke Francis Stephen, betrothed to the Emperor's daughter Archduchess Maria Theresa, had been compensated with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where the last Medici ruler had recently died without issue.

France also had promised to support Maria Theresa as heir to the Habsburg possessions under the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713.

Leszczyński had received Lorraine with the understanding that it will fall to the French crown on his death.

The title of Duke of Lorraine is of course given to Stanisław, but also retained by Francis Stephen, and it figures prominently in the titles of his successors (as a non-claimant family name), the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

When Stanisław dies on February 23, 1766, Lorraine is annexed by France and reorganized as a province by the French government.

Related Events

Filter results