fjt_03988 - LORRAINE - DUCHÉ DE LORRAINE - FRANÇOIS III PRISE DE THIONVILLE n.d.

LORRAINE - DUCHY OF LORRAINE - FRANCIS III

(1/09/1715-10/05/1774)

François III (28/12/1708-17/08/1765) is the second son of Léopold Duke of Lorraine (1690-1727) and Elisabeth Charlotte of Orléans, the niece of Louis XIV. He succeeded his father on May 17, 1729 but lived in Austria. At the end of the War of the Polish Succession which had begun in 1733 and ended in 1735, it was decided that François III of Lorraine, who was to become the son-in-law of Charles VI by marrying his daughter, Marie-Thérèse, would renounce the Duchy of Lorraine and Bar in exchange for the Duchy of Tuscany and the hand of Maria Theresa with the title of future emperor, after the death of Charles VI. Stanislas Lezczinsky, father-in-law of Louis XV, would retain the title of King of Poland and would become Duke of Lorraine and Bar. Upon his death, Lorraine and Bar would be attached to France. François married Marie-Thérèse on February 12, 1736. On May 10, 1736, he accepted the treaty which stripped him of Lorraine. On September 13, he renounced his title of Duke of Bar and on December 24 of the same year, by a secret act, renounced Lorraine. On February 13, 1737, the Treaty of Presbourg ratified the withdrawal of François III.