prosperity of his subjects, but from the date of his return to Germany
till his death his ruling passion was to secure his inheritance against
dismemberment. As early as 1713 he had begun to prepare the "Pragmatic
Sanction" which was to regulate the succession. An only son, born on the
13th of April 1716, died in infancy, and it became the object of his
policy to obtain the recognition of his daughter Maria Theresa as his
heiress. He made great concessions to obtain his aim, and embarked on
complicated diplomatic negotiations. His last days were embittered by a
disastrous war with Turkey, in which he lost almost all he had gained by
the peace of Passarowitz. He died at Vienna on the 20th of October 1740,
and with him expired the male line of his house. Charles VI. was an
admirable representative of the tenacious ambition of the Habsburgs, and
of their belief in their own "august greatness" and boundless rights.

For the personal character of Charles VI. see A. von Arneth,
_Geschichte Maria Theresias_ (Vienna, 1863-1879). Dr Franz Krones, R.
v. Marchland, _Grundriss der dsterreichischen Geschichte_ (Vienna,
1882), gives a very copious bibliography.

CHARLES VII. (1697-1745), Roman emperor, known also as Charles Albert,
elector of Bavaria, was the son of the elector Maximilian Emanuel and
his second wife, Theresa Cunigunda, daughter of John Sobieski, king of
Poland. He was born on the 6th of August 1697. His father having taken
the side of Louis XIV. of France in the War of the Spanish Succession
(q.v.), Bavaria was occupied by the allies. Charles and his brother
Clement, afterwards archbishop of Cologne, were carried prisoners to
Vienna, and were educated by the Jesuits under the name of the counts of
Wittelsbach. When his father was restored to his electorate, Charles was
released, and in 1717 he led the Bavarian contingent of the imperial
army which served under Prince Eugene against the Turks, and is said to
have distinguished himself at Belgrade. On the 25th of September 1722 he
was betrothed to Maria Amelia, the younger of the two orphan daughters
of the emperor Joseph I. Her uncle Charles VI. insisted that the
Bavarian house should recognize the Pragmatic Sanction which established
his daughter Maria Theresa as heiress of the Habsburg dominions. They
did so, but with secret protests and mental reservations of their
rights, which were designed to render the recognition valueless. The
electors of Bavar