FERDINAND III. (1769-1824), grand-duke of Tuscany, and archduke of Austria, second son of the emperor Leopold II., was born on the 6th May 1769. On his father becoming emperor in 1790, he succeeded him as grand-duke of Tuscany. Ferdinand was the first sovereign to enter into diplomatic relations with the French republic ; and although afterwards compelled by England and Russia to join the coalition against France, he concluded peace with that power in 1795, and by observing a strict neutrality saved his dominions from invasion by Napoleon till 1799, when he was compelled to vacate his throne, and a provisional republican government was established at Florence. Shortly afterwards the French arms suffered severe reverses in Italy, and Ferdinand was restored to his territories, but in 1801 Tuscany was converted into the kingdom of Etruria, and he was again compelled to return to Vienna. In lieu of the sovereignty of Tuscany, he obtained in 1802 the electorship of Salzburg, which he exchanged in 1805 for that of Witrzburg. In 1806 he was admitted as grand-duke of Wiirzburg to the confederation of the Rhine. He was restored to the throne of Tuscany after the abdication of Napoleon in 1814, but had again to vacate it for a short time in 1815, when Murat proclaimed war against Austria. The final overthrow of the French supremacy at the battle of Waterloo secured him, however, in the undisturbed possession of his kingdoth during the remainder of his life. The mild and righteous rule of Ferdinand, his solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, his enlightened patronage of art and science, his encouragement of commerce, and his sympathy with freedom render him an honourable and striking exception to the generality of Italian princes. He died on the 18th of June 1824.