CHARLES VII (properly CHARLES AL BERT). Holy Roman Emperor: b. Brussels, 6 Aug. 1697; d. Munich, 20 Jan. 1745. He was the son of Maximilian Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, then governor of the Spanish Netherlands. His youth was spent at the Imperial court, and in the war against the Turks he commanded the army of auxiliaries sent by his father. In 1722 he married the daughter of Joseph I, having previously renounced with mental reservations all rights which this marriage might give him to the succession to the throne of Austria. In 1726 he succeeded his father as Elector of Bavaria. He was one of the princes who pro tested against the Pragmatic Sanction, guaran teed in 1732 by the Diet of Ratisbon, and in consequence concluded a defensive alliance with Saxony. After the death of Charles VI, in 1740, he refused to acknowledge Maria Theresa as his heiress, founding his own claims to the succession on a testament of Ferdinand I. He was supported by the king of France with a considerable force. In 1741 he was
recognized at Lintz as Archduke of Austria. The obstacles thrown in his way by Cardinal Fleury, who wished not to dismember the Aus trian monarchy, as well as the want of artillery and ammunition, prevented him from getting possession of Vienna. On the other hand he took Prague, where he was crowned and pro claimed king of Bohemia. In 1742 he was unanimously elected king of the Romans: he made a solemn entry into Frankfort, and was crowned by his brother, the Elector of Cologne. But fortune soon deserted him. The armies of Maria Theresa reconquered all Upper Austria, and overwhelmed Bavaria. It was necessary to abandon Bohemia. Charles fled to Frankfort, and convoked a diet, when an attack of the king of Prussia on Maria Theresa allowed him to return to Munich in 1744. He was suc ceeded in the electorate by his son Maximilian Joseph, and hi the Imperial dignity by Francis I, husband of Maria Theresa.