Archduke Joseph of Austria (Palatine of Hungary)

Archduke Joseph Anton of Austria (German: Erzherzog Joseph Anton Johann Baptist von Österreich; Hungarian: Habsburg József Antal János Baptista főherceg, József nádor; 9 March 1776 – 13 January 1847) was the 103rd and penultimate palatine of Hungary who served for more than fifty years from 1796 to 1847, after he had been appointed governor in 1795.

Archduke Joseph of Austria
Palatine of Hungary
Portrait by Miklós Barabás (1846)
Born(1776-03-09)9 March 1776
Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died13 January 1847(1847-01-13) (aged 70)
Buda, Kingdom of Hungary
Burial
Palatinal Crypt
Spouses
(m. 1799; died 1801)
    Princess Hermine of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym
    (m. 1815; died 1817)
      Issue
      Names
      Joseph Anton John Baptiste
      HouseHabsburg-Lorraine
      FatherLeopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
      MotherMaria Luisa of Spain
      ReligionRoman Catholicism
      Signature

      The latter half of his service coincided with the Hungarian Reform Era, and he mediated between Francis I, King of Hungary and the Hungarian nobility, representing the country's interests in Vienna. He played a prominent role in the development of Pest as a cultural and economic centre, and the neoclassical buildings constructed on his initiative define the modern appearance of the city. The landscaping of the City Park of Budapest and Margaret Island also happened under his supervision. In the wider country, he supported public education, technical higher education, the arts, the construction of railroads, and the work of various progressive-thinking societies and associations. He made great donations towards the establishment of the Hungarian National Museum, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the National Széchényi Library.

      He was an archduke of Austria and a prince of Bohemia, Hungary, and Tuscany as the son of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Hungarian or Palatinal branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine descends from him. In the Imperial Army, and later in the Austrian Army, he bore the rank of Feldmarschall.

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