Story Highlights
- Historical event
- 5 July 1792
- Emperor Francis II was the grandson of the famous ruler Maria Theresa. His reign in the Holy Roman Empire lasted until 1806, when he gave up that title in the context of the Napoleonic domination over German territory.
On this day, in 1792, Austrian Archduke Francis II was declared Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
History would later show that he was also the last emperor of the Empire, which existed for nearly a thousand years (the Holy Roman Empire evolved from the tradition of Charlemagne’s empire, but also from the older tradition of the Roman Empire from the old ages).
Historians sometimes refer to the Holy Roman Empire as the Roman-German Empire or the Holy Roman Empire of German Nationality, because it mostly enveloped German countries.
Emperor Francis II was the grandson of the famous ruler Maria Theresa.
His reign in the Holy Roman Empire lasted until 1806, when he gave up that title in the context of the Napoleonic domination over German territory.
It is very interesting that two years prior to renouncing that title, he took a replacement imperial title – that of the Emperor of Austria.
His descendants were Austrian emperors until the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.
