The Treaty of Lunéville was signed in the "Treaty house" of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, who was negotiating on his own behalf as ruler the hereditary domains of the Habsburg Monarchy and also on behalf of the other rulers who controlled territories within the Holy Roman Empire. Joseph Bonaparte signed for France, whereas Count Ludwig von Cobenzl, the Austrian foreign minister, signed for the Emperor.

The Austrian army had been defeated by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800 and then by Jean Victor Moreau at the Battle of Hohenlinden on 3 December. Forced to sue for peace, the Austrians signed another in a series of humiliating treaties. This treaty (along with the Treaty of Amiens of 1802) marked the end of the Second Coalition against Napoleon. After this treaty, Great Britain was the sole nation still at war with France, but only for another year.

Treaty terms

Lunéville (French pronunciation: ​[ly.ne.vil] ; German:  Lünstadt ) is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in France.

It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the Meurthe River at its confluence with the Vezouze.

History

Lunéville was a renowned resort in the 18th century, known as the capital of Lorraine. The grand Château de Lunéville, built in 1702 for Leopold, Duke of Lorraine to replace an older palace, was the residence of the duke of Lorraine until the duchy was annexed by France in 1766. The chateau was designed in the style of Versailles to satisfy Leopold's wife, Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, the niece of Louis XIV, and became known as the "Versailles of Lorraine". It includes a chapel designed by Germain Boffrand. Leopold and his wife were the parents of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (through him they were the grandparents of Marie Antoinette).

The last duke of Lorraine was Stanislaus I, the former king of Poland. A devout catholic, author, and philanthropist, Stanislaus had a church built and several follies in his gardens for the amusement and education of visiting Polish nobility and followers of the Enlightenment. The more famous visitors to his court were Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, André Morellet, and Montesquieu. After the death of his father-in-law in 1766, Louis XV of France annexed the duchy and turned the castle into a barracks, but much of the original construction has survived, and what remains is open to the public and the chateau's intricate parterre gardens, designed by Yves Hours (a pupil of André Le Nôtre) in 1711 and Louis de Nesle in 1724, are a public park today.