ia had claims on the possessions of the Habsburgs under
the will of the emperor Ferdinand I., who died in 1564.

Charles succeeded his father on the 26th of February 1726. As a ruler of
Bavaria, he showed a vague disposition to improve the condition of his
subjects, but his profuse habits and his efforts to rival the splendour
of the French court crippled his finances. His policy was one of much
duplicity, for he was constantly endeavouring to keep on good terms with
the emperor while slipping out of his obligation to accept the Pragmatic
Sanction and intriguing to secure French support for his claims whenever
Charles VI. should die. On hearing of the emperor's last illness, he
ordered his agent at Vienna to renew his claim to the Austrian
inheritance. The claim was advanced immediately after the death of
Charles VI. on the 20th of October 1740. Charles Albert now entered into
the league against Maria Theresa, to the great misfortune of himself and
his subjects. By the help of her enemies he was elected emperor in
opposition to her husband Francis, grand duke of Tuscany, on the 24th of
January 1742, under the title of Charles VII., and was crowned at
Frankfort-on-Main on the 12th of February. But as his army had been
neglected, he was utterly unable to resist the Austrian troops. While he
was being crowned his hereditary dominions in Bavaria were being
overrun. He described himself as attacked by stone and gout, ill,
without money or land, and in distress comparable to the sorrows of
Job. During the War of the Austrian Succession (q.v.) he was a mere
puppet in the hands of the anti-Austrian coalition, and was often in
want of mere necessaries. In the changes of the war he was able to
re-enter his capital, Munich, in 1743, but had immediately afterwards to
take flight again. He was restored by Frederick the Great in October
1744, but died worn out at Munich on the 20th of January 1745.

See A. von Arneth, _Geschichte Maria Theresias_ (Vienna, 1863-1879);
and P.T. Heigel. _Der osterreichische Erbfolgestreit und die
Kaiserwahl Karls VII._ (Munich, 1877).

CHARLES I. (1600-1649), king of Great Britain and Ireland, second son of
James I. and Anne of Denmark, was born at Dunfermline on the 19th of
November 1600. At his baptism he was created duke of Albany, and on the
16th of January 1605 duke of York. In 1612, by the death of his elder
brother Henry, he became heir-apparent, and was created prince of Wales
on t