*05.09.1771 Florence, Italy -  †30.04.1847 Vienna

Archduke of Austria

Duke of Teschen

Charles Louis, the third son of the future Emperor Leopold II. and Maria Ludovika of Spain, was adopted by his aunt Maria Christine and her husband, the Duke of Saxony-Teschen.

From 1793 to 1794, Charles Louis was Governor-General of the Netherlands and from 1796 to 1800 he commanded the Army of the Rhine with varying degrees of success.

In 1801, he became Field Marshal and Minister of the Navy, and in 1806, President of the Court War Council and Generalissimo. In 1809, he defeated the previously undefeated Napoleon,at Aspern, earning Archduke Charles the nicknames ‘The Victor of Aspern’ and ‘The Lion of Aspern’ and prompting the Corsican to remark appreciatively: ‘(...) we victors now know that we are mortal.’ After his defeat at Wagram, Charles Louis concluded the Armistice of Znaim with Napoleon against the Emperor's will and was therefore relieved of his command.

Charles seems to have occasionally harboured a secret admiration for his enemy.

In 1810, he represented Napoleon at his marriage to Maria Louise, the daughter of Emperor Francis II.(I.), is niece, at the procuratorial wedding. The motto ‘Tu felix Austria nube – you, happy Austria, marry’ once again became reality; this marriage dissolved the alliance between France and Russia, which was dangerous for the monarchy.

Charles Louis' magnificent castle, Weilburg near Baden, built in the Empire style, burned down during the Second World War. The victor of Aspern was honoured with a monument on Vienna's Heldenplatz.