The House of Habsburg-Lorraine (Haus Habsburg-Lothringen) originated from the marriage in 1736 of Francis III, Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and Maria Theresa of Austria, later successively Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia and Archduchess of Austria. Its members are the legitimate surviving line of both the House of Habsburg and the House of Lorraine and inherit their patrimonial possessions and vocation to the Empire from their female line of the House of Habsburg and from the male line of the House of Lorraine.
The branch of Vaudemont and Guise from the House of Lorraine become the major branch after a brief interlude in 1453–1473, when the duchy passed in right of Charles de Bourbon's daughter to her husband, John of Calabria, a Capetian, Lorraine reverted to the House of Vaudemont, a junior branch of the House of Lorraine, in the person of René II, who later added to his titles that of Duke of Bar.
The House of Habsburg takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a fortress built in the 1020s by Count Radbot of Klettgau, Aargau, now in Switzerland. His grandson, Otto II, was the first to take on the name of the fortress as his own, adding Graf von Habsburg ("Count of Habsburg") to his title. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum during the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, and in 1273, Radbot's seventh-generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg became Roman-German King. He moved the family's power base to the Duchy of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918.
The current house orders are the Order of the Golden Fleece, Imperial and Royal Order of Saint George and Order of the Starry Cross. The House of Habsburg-Lorraine still exists, and the current head of the family is Karl von Habsburg.
and House of Habsburg
The first member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to rule over the Holy Roman Empire was Joseph II, a sovereign raised during the Enlightenment. By the new ideals he brought, he implemented many reforms, most of which were to the detriment of the clergy.