FERDINAND III. (1769 - 1824 ) . Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Archduke of Austria. Ile was the second son of the Emperor Leopold 11., and was born at Florence, May 6, 1769. in 179 1 he succeeded his father in the government of Tuscany, when the latter became Emperor through the death of Joseph IL A lover of peaceful progress, he remained strictly neutral in the first coalition against France, and was the first sovereign in Europe to recognize the French Re public, in 1792. In 1793, intimidated by the com bined menaces of the Russian and British cabi nets, the Grand Duke was constrained to relin quish his neutral policy, and to become a passive member of the coalition against France. In 1795, on the French occupation of Piedmont, lie speedily reassumed friendly relations with Frame. In 1797, in order to save his State from annexation to the Cisalpine Republic, he concluded a treaty with Bonaparte on the most unfavorable terms, undertaking to pay a war levy to France, and to transfer to the Museum of Paris some of the chief masterpieces of the Florentine galleries. Owing to the continued intrigues of France in his State, Ferdinand was forced to seek an Austrian alliance, which furnished Bonaparte with a pre text for declaring war against Tuscany. In
1799 Ferdinand had to retire to Vienna, and in ISO% at the Peace of Luruville, he was forced to renounce all claims on Tuscany, receiving the title of Elector and the principality of Salzburg (1803), which after the Peace of Pressburg, in 1805, he exchanged for the Duchy of \Vurzburg. He was one of the princes in the Confederation of the Rhine (q.v.), and in 1814 was reinstated in his Grand Duchy of Tuscany by the Peace of Paris. In cooperation with his chief minister, Fossombroni, he reformed the institutions of the grand duchy, and enjoyed ten years of prosperous rule. He died June 7, 1824, leaving his State to his only son, Leopold II. Consult: Thayer, Dawn of Italian Independence (Boston, 1893) ; Storia della Toscana (Fiesole, 1843) ; Ren mont, Storio della Toscana sotto la dinastia di Lorena-Absbn•go (Florence, 1877) ; i, Italia durante it domi»io austriaco (Milan, 1892-94) .