Charles VI (October 1685 – 20 October 1740) was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain as Charles III following the death of its ruler, and Charles' relative, Carlos II, in 1700. He married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his two chil...
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Charles VI (October 1685 – 20 October 1740) was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain as Charles III following the death of its ruler, and Charles' relative, Carlos II, in 1700. He married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his two children: Maria Theresa, born 1717, the last Habsburg sovereign, and Maria Anna, born 1718, Governess of the Austrian Netherlands.
Four years before the birth of Maria Theresa, due to his lack of male heirs, Charles provided for a male-line succession failure with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. The Emperor favoured his own daughters over those of his elder brother and predecessor, Joseph I, in the succession, ignoring the decree he had signed during the reign of his father, Leopold I. Charles sought the other European powers' approval. They...
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