FERDINAND I

First edition.
Since the 16th century, there had always been a man as head of the House of Austria, and succession had been transmitted from male to male, but Emperor Charles VI had only daughters. He wanted to leave his inheritance to his eldest daughter, Marie-Thérèse, and regulated his succession by means of a solemn law, called the Pragmatic Sanction. This act decided that Marie-Thérèse would succeed her father. To be sure it would be executed, Charles VI had it recognized first by members of his family, then by his subjects of the different provinces. The Pragmatic then became the fundamental law of succession of the Austrian monarchy. It established the right of women to succeed and made the territory indivisible, as long as there would remain descendants of Marie-Thérèse. It is on this act that the existence of the Austrian monarchy still rests today. At the death of Charles VI (1740), Marie-Thérèse was recognized as heiress by all the countries of the Austrian monarchy. But the sovereigns of Europe did not allow themselves to be stopped by the treaties they had signed, it was a European war, each working to dismember Austria. The work evokes a poor interpretation of Emperor Ferdinand's testament regarding the succession of the House of Austria.
Our copy is presented under original stitching and under contemporary marbled paper covers. The leaves are folded at the upper right margin. The cover shows creases and lacks.

First edition. Uncommon, 2 copies at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, none in the United Kingdom, one copy in Berlin. In sheets. Since the 16th century, there had always been a man as head of the House of Austria, and the succession had been transmitted from male to male. But Emperor Charles VI had only daughters. He wanted to leave his inheritance to his eldest daughter, Marie-Thérèse, and settled his succession by means of a solemn law, called the Pragmatic Sanction. The work is a careful examination of the testament of Emperor Ferdinand I, with regard to the succession of the House of Austria. The work affirms, supported by numerous extracts from the testament, that there could be no other female heirs than his eldest daughter, should it prove that the male line was extinct. The work was certainly written to appease tensions and do justice to the testament of Charles VI, this nevertheless did not prevent the numerous conflicts that followed his decision and set Europe ablaze.