I
French François
born Jan. 19, 1544, Fontainebleau, France
died Dec. 5, 1560, Orléans
King of France (1559–60).
He was the son of Henry II and Catherine de Médicis and was married in 1558 to Mary Stuart (later Mary, Queen of Scots ), a relation of the powerful Guise family. Sickly and weak-willed, Francis was dominated throughout his brief reign by the Guises, who tried to use him to break the strength of the Huguenots . His premature death temporarily ended the Guises' dominion. He was succeeded by his brother, Charles IX .
II
German Franz
born Feb. 12, 1768, Florence
died March 2, 1835, Vienna, Austria
Last Holy Roman emperor (1792–1806); as Francis I, emperor of Austria (1804–35); as Francis, king of Hungary (1792–1835) and king of Bohemia (1792–1835).
He succeeded his father, Leopold II , as emperor in 1792. An absolutist who hated constitutionalism, Francis supported the first coalition war against France (1792–97). Twice defeated by France, he elevated Austria to an empire (1804) soon after Napoleon made himself emperor of France. Napoleon dictated the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and Francis abdicated in 1806. Though he despised Napoleon, he was forced by reasons of state to marry his daughter Marie-Louise to Napoleon in 1810. Francis helped destroy Napoleon's power in battles in 1813–14. After the Congress of Vienna (1815), Francis supported his chief minister, Klemens, prince von
III
Italian Francesco
born Jan. 16, 1836, Kingdom of Naples
died Dec. 27, 1894, Arco, Italy
King of the Two Sicilies (1859–60), the last of the Bourbon kings of Naples.
He succeeded his father, Ferdinand II , in 1859 and on his accession rejected proposals made by Count {{link=Cavour, Camillo Benso, count di">Cavour that he join Piedmont-Sardinia in the war against Austria and grant liberal reforms on its conclusion. Alarmed by the invasion of Sicily by Giuseppe de Garibaldi in 1860, Francis capitulated to the liberals in his kingdom and restored the constitution of 1848, granted freedom of the press, and promised new elections. It was too late to save the monarchy, however; the Bourbon forces were defeated by Garibaldi, and less than a month later Francis was deposed by a plebiscite. He then lived in exile in Rome and Paris.