Charles VII Albert, Holy Roman Emperor

**Charles VII** (**Charles Albert**; 6 August 1697 — 20 January 1745) was Prince-elector of Bavaria (from 26 February 1726) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 24 January 1742) until his death in 1745. He was also King of Bohemia as **Charles Albert** from 1741 to 1743. He was a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and his reign of Holy Roman Emperor thus marked the end of uninterrupted Habsburg rule of the Empire. But although he was related to the Habsburgs by blood (he is a descendant of Philip I of Castile 27 different ways) and also marriage.

### Preview (Summary)

Charles VII was the eldest son of Elector Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria and the Polish princess Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska (the son of John III Sobieski). He became elector when his father died in 1726. In 1722, Charles married Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I and niece of Emperor Charles VI. The couple had seven children together. After Charles VI died in 1740, Elector Charles claimed the Archduchy of Austria and briefly gained hold of the Bohemian throne. In 1742, he was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled until his death three years later.

### Early life

Charles VII (Albert) (German: Karl VII. Albrecht) was born in Brussels and the son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska, daughter of King John III Sobieski of Poland.

His family was politically divided during the War of the Spanish Succession, and he spent many years under house arrest in Austria. The royal family had left Brussels and returned to Munich in 1701. His father Maximilian fled to the Spanish Netherlands after he had been defeated at the Battle of Blenheim in August 1704, and Charles and his siblings stayed with their mother, the acting Regent, in Munich. In May 1705, after a stay in Venice, the Austrian authorities refused to allow the Electress to return to Bavaria and forced her into exile, which lasted ten years. Maximilian Emanuel went also into exile to Compiègne after on 29 April 1706, an Imperial ban was imposed on him, as he again had been defeated at the Battle of Ramillies a few days earlier.

### Career

Only in 1715 was the family reconciled. After reaching his majority in August 1715, Charles  an educational tour to Italy from 3 December 1715 to 24 August 1716. In 1717, he served among Bavarian troops in the Austro-Turkish War. On 5 October 1722, he married Maria Amalia of Austria, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I, and niece of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1726 his father died, thus he became the Elector of Bavaria (he succeeded his father). In 1742, he was elected the Holy Roman Emperor, and he also died of gout in 1745 in the Nymphenburg Palace.

## Holy Roman Emperor

In existence of the policy of his father, Charles determined to an even higher rank. As son-in-law of Emperor Joseph I, Charles refused to agree the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and claimed the German territories of the Habsburg dynasty against Maria Theresa, daughter of Emperor Charles VI, in 1740. By the Treaty of Nymphenburg, which was concluded in July 1741, Charles became allied with France and Spain against Austria.

During the War of the Austrian Succession, Charles VII invaded Upper Austria in 1741 and planned to conquer Vienna, but his allied French troops under the Duc de Belle-Isle were instead redirected to Bohemia, capturing Prague in November 1741. That meant that Charles was crowned king of Bohemia in Prague on 19 December 1741, but when the Habsburgs had not yet been defeated. He was without opposition elected King of Germany on 24 January 1742 and became Holy Roman emperor upon his coronation on 12 February 1742.

### Election

His brother Clemens (the Archbishop of Cologne), generally sided with the Habsburg-Lorraine party in the disagreement over the Habsburg succession, but casted his vote for him and personally crowned him the emperor at Frankfurt. King George II of Great Britain (as the Elector of Hanover) also voted to install him as the emperor, even though both Great Britain and Hanover were allied to Austria in this war.

Shortly after his coronation, most of Charles's territories were overrun by the Austrians, and Bavaria was occupied by the troops of Maria Theresa. The Emperor fled Munich and resided for almost three years in the _Palais Barckhaus_ in Frankfurt. Most of Bohemia was lost in December 1742, when the Austrians allowed the French under the Duc de Belle-Isle and the Duc de Broglie an honourable surrender. Charles was teased as an emperor who neither controlled his own realm nor was in effective control of the empire itself, but the institution of the Holy Roman emperor had largely become symbolic in nature and powerless by then. A popular Latin saying about him was _et caesar et nihil_, meaning "both emperor and nothing", a word play on _aut caesar aut nihil_, meaning "either emperor or nothing". Bavarian General Ignaz Felix, Count of Törring-Jettenbach was compared to a drum, as people "heard about him only when he was beaten".

The new commander of the Bavarian army, Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff, fought Austria in a series of battles in 1743 and 1744. In 1743, his troops and their allies took Bavaria, and Charles was able to return to Munich in April for some time before losing Bavaria again after his French allies were defeated and withdrew to the Rhine. Frederick II of Prussia's new campaign during the Second Silesian War finally forced the Austrian army to leave Bavaria and to retreat into Bohemia. In October 1744, Charles regained Munich and returned, this time for good. With former Vice-Chancellor Friedrich Karl von Schönborn as a go-between, the Emperor then sought to reach a compromise with Vienna but failed to get more military support from France.

Charles VII was the second Wittelsbach emperor after Louis IV (who he descends from) and the first Wittelsbach king of Germany since the reign of Rupert.Suffering severely from gout, Charles died on 20 January 1745 in the Nymphenburg Palace (Munich) in January 1745. He was buried in the crypt (vault) of the Theatine Church. His heart was separately buried in the Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting.

## Cultural Legacy

Charles VII's reign represented the height of the Bavarian Rococo (Late Baroque) era. The Nymphenburg Palace was completed during his reign. The Grand Circle (_Schlossrondell_), which is flanked by a string of elaborate Baroque mansions was at first planned as a basic blueprint for a new city (_Carlstadt_), but that was not achieved. Charles VII resided in Nymphenburg, and the palace became the favorite summer residence of the future rulers of Bavaria. Charles effected the building of the Ancestral Gallery and the Ornate Rooms at the Munich Residenz. He purchased the Palais Porcia in 1731 and had the mansion restored in Rococo style in 1736 for one of his mistresses, Countess Topor-Morawitzka. The mansion was named after her husband, Prince Porcia. He also ordered François de Cuvilliés, chief architect of the court, to build the Palais Holnstein for another one of his mistresses, Sophie Caroline von Ingenheim, Countess Holnstein, between 1733 and 1737. Cuvilliés constructed the Amalienburg as well for Charles and his wife, Maria Amalia, an elaborate hunting lodge designed in the Rococo style between 1734 and 1739 in the Nymphenburg Palace Park.

During Charles's reign, many people accomplished Italian, French, Bavarian, and other German architects, sculptors, painters and artisans were employed in royal service, often for many years. Among them were Dominique Girard, François de Cuvilliés, Joseph Effner, Ignaz Günther, Johann Michael Fischer, Cosmas Damian Asam and Egid Quirin Asam, Johann Michael Feuchtmayer, Matthäus Günther, Johann Baptist Straub and Johann Baptist Zimmermann.

## _Titles_ and Coat of Arms

_Charles VII, by the grace of God elected Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King in Germany and of Bohemia, Duke in the Upper and Lower Bavaria as well as the Upper Palatinate, Count-Palatine of the Rhine, Archduke of Austria, Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, Landgrave of Leuchtenberg, etc. etc._

## Ancestry

Charles VII was the son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska; grandson of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, John III Sobieski, and Marie Casimire d'Arquien; great-grandson of Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, Maria Anna of Austria, Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, Christine Marie of France, Jakub Sobieski, Zofia Teofillia Daniłowicz, Henri Albert de La Grange d'Arquien, and Françoise de la Châtre.

## Related pages

- War of the Spanish Succession
- Habsburgs
- Wittlesbach
- Holy Roman Emperor
- Holy Roman Empire
- Electorate of Bavaria
- Austria
- Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
- Maria Theresa
- Maximilian II Emanuel

## Infobox (royalty)

- **name**: Charles VII
- **image**: CharlesVIIEmperor.JPG
- **succession**: Holy Roman Emperor
- **coronation**: 12 February 1742 in Frankfurt Cathedral
- **reign**: 24 January 1742-20 January 1745
- **predecessor**: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI
- **successor**: Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I
- **succession1**: King of Bohemia
- **coronation1**: 19 December 1741
St. Vitus Cathedral
- **reign1**: 19 December 1741-12 May 1743
- **predecessor1**: Maria Theresa of Austria, Maria Theresa
- **successor1**: Maria Theresa
- **succession2**: List of rulers of Bavaria, Elector of Bavaria
- **reign2**: 26 February 1726-20 January 1745
- **predecessor2**: Maximilian II Emanuel
- **successor2**: Maximilian III Joseph
- **birth place**: Brussels, Duchy of Brabant, Netherlands
- **death place**: Nymphenburg Palace, Munich
- **issue**: Duchess Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Maria Antonia, Electress of Bavaria
Theresa Benedicta of Bavaria, Duchess Theresa Benedicta
Maximilian III Joseph, Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria
Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria, Maria Anna Josepha, Margravine of Baden-Baden
Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Maria Josepha, Holy Roman Empress
Illegitimate:
Maria Josepha von Hohenfels (1720-1797)
Franz Ludwig, Count of Holnstein (1723-1780)
Marie Amélie Xavière (1744-1820)
Maximilian Joseph, Count of Holnstein
- **house**: House of Wittelsbach, Wittelsbach
- **father**: Maximilian II Emanuel, Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
- **mother**: Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska
- **religion**: Roman Catholicism
- **signature**: Signature of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.svg
- **burial place**: Theatine Church, Munich