Posted by Guy Stair Sainty
on 26/10/2009, 9:27:43, in reply to "AD Michael H.Tuscany"
83.154.61.193
Article 22 of the Imperial House Laws of 1839 (not amended in the changes of 1900) states:
“In those branches of the “Erzhaus” [House of Habsburg] with their own Sovereignty, the heads of these branches will exercise the law of the head of the combined house in respect of marriages of members of their branch. It is expected with confidence in this respect that the principles of the combined house and the equal rights of all members of the house shall remain the same as they have always existed in the “Erzhaus” [House of Habsburg].”
These two sovereign branches were the Grand Ducal line of Tuscany and the Ducal line of Modena.
Under these laws Grand Duke Joseph Ferdinand (who remained grand duke until his death, despite what is stated in some genealogical sources but resigned the administration of the headship of his House to his brother Peter Ferdinand) did not recgnise his own marriage as equal, but instead conferred the titles of Prince and Princess of Florennce on his children. The present Grand Duke, Archduke Sigismund, has recognised this title for the children of the former.
The Archduke Otto cvonsistently recognised the rights of the heads of the sovereign lines, but his son Karl has declared that he alone exercises such rights and that the Grand Duke of Tuscany and de jure Duke of Modena are merely Archdukes. Nonetheless, most of the other Archdukes do not accept this arrogant assumption and in fact Archduke Sigismund is a member of the five man family council.
Mr Sjostrom's seeming dismissal of the claim of the Archduke Lorenz to the headship of the Modena line is odd; the Archduke's succession follows precisely the Seondogeniture that was established in the Imperial investiture and confirmed by the Treaty of Vienna of 1815. The late Archduke Robert requested in his Testament that his successors as head of this line use the title of Duke of Este. Archduke Lorenz has not assumed this title because the titles he uses are subject to Belgian law, but he does consider himself the heir to this title which is, in effect, the title of pretension of the Modena claim.
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