The New International Encyclopædia/Charles VI. (emperor)

​CHARLES VI. (1685–1740). Holy Roman Emperor from 1711 to 1740, and the last of the direct male line of the House of Hapsburg. He was the second son of the Emperor Leopold I., and was born October 1, 1685. His father wished to secure for him the crown of Spain; but Charles II. of Spain assigned it by testament to Philip of Anjou, whereupon arose the great War of the Spanish Succession, Britain and Holland taking part with the Emperor against France, for the maintenance of the balance of power in Europe. (See Succession Wars.) Charles was acknowledged by the Allies as Charles III. of Spain, but had not succeeded in obtaining permanent possession of the kingdom when the death of his brother, the Emperor Joseph I., recalled him to Germany in 1711; and as he now became Emperor of Germany, England and Holland concluded the Peace of Utrecht with France in 1713, not wishing to see him also King of Spain. Charles continued the war for some time; but by the Peace of Rastadt (1714) gave up his claim to Spain, being confirmed, however, in possession of the Spanish Netherlands and of the Spanish possessions in Italy. He was successful in a war against the Turks, marked by splendid Austrian victories under Prince Eugene, and concluded by the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), and in a war with Spain, which arose out of the project of the Spanish minister, Alberoni (q.v.), and in which the Quadruple Alliance was formed—France, England, and Holland joining the Emperor against Spain. Charles had lost his only son, and being anxious to secure the throne to his own descendants, named his daughter, Maria Theresa (q.v.), as his heiress, by a Pragmatic Sanction, published April 19, 1713. For more than twenty years the foreign policy of Charles was dictated by the sole desire of obtaining the ratification of the Pragmatic Sanction from the European powers. To accomplish this he sacrificed Austrian territories in Italy and Spain, and the commercial prosperity of Flanders to England and Holland. (See Ostend Company.) He won over Prussia by the concession of extensive privileges, and bribed Russia by allowing it a free hand in ​Poland. He was unsuccessful in the so-called War of the Polish Succession, waged against France and Spain, in the course of which Don Carlos conquered the Two Sicilies in 1734–45. He was also worsted in a second war with the Turks, terminated by the Peace of Belgrade, in 1739, in which Austria made some cessions of territory. He died October 20, 1740. He was of a mild and benevolent disposition, but full of superstition and conservative prejudices. Consult: Mailáth, Geschichte des österreichischen Kaiserstaates (Hamburg, 1834–50); Coxe, History of the House of Austria (London, 1847).