Etruria (q.v.) was finally annexed to Rome in 351 B.C. and was later known as Tuscia, but was a larger area than the present Tuscany, comprising the northern part of Latium. Under Charle magne the name of Tuscia or Toscana became restricted to the area north of Viterbo and Bolsena. One of the earliest of the Frankish marquises in the 9th century was Boniface, who about 828 fought with success against the Saracens in Africa. The male line of marquises ended with Boniface II. (or III.), who was murdered in 1052. His widow, Beatrice, in 1055 governed the country till her death in 1076, when she was succeeded by Matilda (q.v.), her only child by her first husband. Matilda died in without issue, bequeathing all her extensive possessions to the Church. The consequent struggle over her inheritance between the popes and the emperors enabled the principal cities of Tus cany gradually to assert their independence, so that Tuscany as a whole was no longer a state.
The Return of the the surrender of Florence to the Imperialists in Aug. 1530 the Medici power was re-estab lished, and Alessandro de' Medici was made duke of Florence, the dignity to be hereditary in the family. In the reign of Cosimo III. Siena was annexed (1559) ; the title of grand duke of Tus cany was conferred on that ruler in 1567 by Pope Pius V. and recognized in the person of Francis I. by the emperor Maximilian II. in 1576. Under his descendants Tuscany played but a small part in European history; a wave of degeneracy set in, affecting both the people and the new and shoddy nobility, and art and letters declined. Giovan Gastone, the last Medicean grand duke, being childless, it was agreed by the treaty of Vienna that at his death Tuscany should be given to Francis, duke of Lorraine, husband of the archduchess Maria Theresa, afterwards empress. In 1737 Giovan Gastone died, and Tuscany was governed for Francis II., who resided in Austria, by a series of foreign regents. (The history of Tuscany from 1530 to 1737 is given in greater detail under MEDici.) Reforms of Leopold I.—Francis, who had been elected emperor in 1745, died in 1765 and was succeeded on the throne of the grand duchy by his younger son, Leopold I. Leopold resided in Tuscany and proved one of the most capable and re markable of the reforming princes of the 18th century. He sub stituted Tuscans for foreigners in government offices, introduced a system of free trade in foodstuffs (at the suggestion of the Sienese Sallustio Bandini), and promoted agriculture. He re organized taxation on a basis of equality for all citizens, reformed the administration of justice and local government, and suppressed torture and capital punishment. His reforms in Church matters
made a great stir at the time, for he curbed the power of the clergy, suppressed some religious houses, reduced the murtmain, and rejected papal interference. With the aid of Scipione de' Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, he even attempted to reform Church discipline, but Ricci's action was condemned by Rome and he was forced to resign. (See PISTOIA, SYNOD OF.) At the death of his brother, Joseph II., in 1790, Leopold became emperor and removed to Vienna. After a brief regency he appointed his second son, Ferdinand III., grand duke.
The French Occupation.—During the French revolutionary wars a French force entered Florence in 1799 and was welcomed by a small number of republicans. The grand duke was forced to fly, and a provisional government on French lines was established. But the great mass of the people were horrified at the irreligious character of the new regime, and a counter-revolution broke out at Arezzo. Bands of armed peasants marched through the country to the cry of "Viva Maria!" and expelled the French, not with aut committing many atrocities. With the assistance of the Austrians Florence was occupied and a government established in the name of Ferdinand. But after Bonaparte's victory at Marengo the French returned in great force, dispersed the bands, and re entered Florence (Oct. 1800). They, too, committed atrocities and sacked the churches, but they were more warmly welcomed than before by the people, after the experience of Austro-Aretine rule. Joachim Murat set up a provisional government, and by the peace of Luneville Tuscany was made a part of the Spanish dominions and erected into the kingdom of Etruria under Louis, duke of Parma (I8oi). The new king died in 1803, leaving an infant son, Charles Louis, under the regency of his widow, Marie Louise of Spain. Marie Louise ruled until 1807, when the em peror Napoleon obliged Charles IV. of Spain to cede Tuscany to him, compensating Charles Louis in Portugal.
From 1807 to 1809, when Napoleon's sister, Elisa Baciocchi, was made grand duchess, Tuscany became a French department. French ideas had gained some adherents among the Tuscans, but to the majority the new institutions, although they produced much progress, were distasteful as subversive of cherished traditions. After Napoleon's defeats in 1814, Ferdinand III. returned, warmly welcomed by nearly everybody, for French rule had proved op pressive, especially on account of the heavy taxes and the drain of conscription. At the Congress of Vienna he was formally rein stated with certain additions of territory and the reversion of Lucca (incorporated in 1847).