(born Feb. 12, 1768, Florence—died March 2, 1835, Vienna, Austria) Last Holy Roman emperor (1792–1806); as Francis I, emperor of Austria (1804–35); as Francis, king of Hungary (1792–1835) and king of Bohemia (1792–1835). He succeeded his father, Leopold II, as emperor in 1792. An absolutist who hated constitutionalism, Francis supported the first coalition war against France (1792–97).
Twice defeated by France, he elevated Austria to an empire (1804) soon after Napoleon made himself emperor of France. Napoleon dictated the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and Francis abdicated in 1806. Though he despised Napoleon, he was forced by reasons of state to marry his daughter Marie-Louise to Napoleon in 1810. Francis helped destroy Napoleon's power in battles in 1813–14. After the Congress of Vienna (1815), Francis supported his chief minister, Klemens, prince von Metternich, in instituting a conservative and restrictive political system in Germany and Europe.
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