Maximilian Francis was born on 8 December 1756, his father's 48th birthday, in the
Hofburg Palace,
Vienna. He was the fifth son and youngest child of
Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife, Empress
Maria Theresa. In 1780, he succeeded his uncle
Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine as
Hochmeister (
Grand Master) of the
Deutscher Orden (
Teutonic Knights). On February 1775, Archduke Maximilian Francis paid a visit to his sister,
Marie Antoinette. But when he arrived at the French Court he did not go by the name of Archduke Maximilian Franz, rather the pseudonym, the Comte de Burgau. In 1784, he became
Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, living in the
Electoral Palace, Bonn. He remained in that office until his death in exile. In his capacity as Arch-chancellor of the
Holy Roman Empire for
Italy and as the Pope's deputy he crowned as emperor in
Frankfurt first his brother
Leopold II in 1790, and in 1792 his nephew
Francis II. At the same time as he became elector of Cologne, Maximilian Francis was elected to the related
Bishopric of Münster and held court in
Bonn, as the Archbishop-Electors of Cologne had done since the late Middle Ages. A keen patron of music, Maximilian Francis maintained a court musical establishment in which
Beethoven's father was a
tenor. Thus he played an important role in the son's early career as a member of the same musical body of which his grandfather, also named Ludwig van Beethoven, had been
Kapellmeister. The court
organist,
Christian Gottlob Neefe, was Beethoven's early mentor and teacher. Recognising his young pupil's gift both as a performer and as a composer, Neefe brought Beethoven to the court, advising Maximilian Francis to appoint him as assistant organist. Maximilian Francis, too, recognised the extraordinary abilities of the young Beethoven. In 1787, he gave Beethoven leave to visit
Vienna to become a pupil of
Mozart, but the visit was cut short by news of the last illness of Beethoven's mother, and evidence for any contact with Mozart is lacking. In 1792, the
Redoute was opened, making Godesberg a spa town. Beethoven played in the orchestra. After a concert given there in the presence of
Joseph Haydn, another visit for studies in Vienna was planned. Beethoven went on full salary to Vienna to study with Haydn,
Antonio Salieri and others. The elector maintained an interest in the young Beethoven's progress, and several reports from Haydn to Maximilian detailing it are extant. The prince anticipated that Beethoven would return to Bonn and continue working for him, but due to the subsequent political and military situation his subject never returned, choosing to pursue a career in Vienna. and King
Louis XVI of France. Painting by Josef Hauzinger Maximilian Francis's rule over most of the electorate ended in 1794, when his domains were overrun by the troops of
Revolutionary France. During the
French Revolutionary Wars,
Cologne and Bonn were both occupied by the
French Revolutionary Army in the second half of 1794. As the French approached, Maximilian Francis left Bonn, as it turned out never to return, and his territories on the left bank of the
Rhine eventually passed to France under the terms of the
Treaty of Lunéville (1801). The Archbishop's court ceased to exist. Although Maximilian Francis still retained his territories on the right bank of the Rhine, including Münster and the
Duchy of Westphalia, the elector, grossly corpulent and plagued by ill health, took up residence in Vienna after the loss of his capital and remained there until his death at the age of 44, at
Hetzendorf Palace in 1801. The dismantling of the court made Beethoven's relocation to Vienna permanent, and his stipend was terminated. Beethoven planned to dedicate his
First Symphony to his former patron, but the latter died before it was completed. The Electorate of Cologne was secularised in the course of the
German mediatisation of 1802–1803. ==Ancestry==