ACCESSION OF FRANCIS III, DUKE OF LORRAINE ST URBAIN, Ferdinand de: Lorraine, 1729, Bronze, 62 mm Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, was the son and
heir of Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine and Bar. To solidify relations with
Austria, Francis married Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter and heiress of
the emperor Charles VI. Because of this marriage France could not admit the
union of Lorraine with the French empire. The War of the Polish Succession
offered an opportunity of settling the problem; negotiations led to the
treaty of Vienna whereby Francis, in exchange for Tuscany, ceded his rights
of Lorraine and Barrois to Stanislaus Leszczynski, the dethroned king of
Poland, after whose death they were to pass to his daughter, Louis XV's
queen, and so to France. LINK to History of Lorraine (from Proceedings of the Friesian School. Edited by Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D.) |
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