MARIE-LOUISE Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla - Lot 271

MARIE-LOUISE Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla April 11, 1814 -December 17, 1847 MARIA LUIGIA PRINC. IMP. ARGID. D'AUSTRIA. Diademed bust of the duchess on the left. Underneath, date between the different ones. R/. PER LA GR. DI DIO DUCH DI PARMA PIAC. E GUAST. Coat of arms on a crowned mantle. Value in exergue. Tranche inscrite en creux, * DIRIGE ME DOMINE. ♦ Dav 204 5 Lire silver 1815 Milan. (25,00 g) Browned blank. Trace of cleaning. Superb condition. Marie-Louise was born on December 12, 1791 in Vienna (Austria) and died on December 17, 1847 in Parma (Italy). She was Empress of the French from 1810 to 1814, then Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla until 1847. The eldest daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria, she was given in marriage in 1810 to Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, to seal the Treaty of Schönbrunn between France and Austria, following the latter's defeat at the Battle of Wagram in 1809. When Napoleon was defeated by the Sixth Coalition, Marie Louise decided not to follow him into exile on Elba, but returned with her son to the Viennese court. Following the Hundred Days and Napoleon's decisive defeat at Waterloo, the Empress decided to remain loyal to her original family, the Habsburg-Lorraine, in order to better defend her son's interests. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna granted her the duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. She was only 24 at the time.