Ferdinand III., grand duke of Tuscany and archduke of Austria, born in Florence, May 6, 1709, died there, June 18, 1824. He came into possession of Tuscany in 1790, when his father Leopold II. was called to the imperial throne of Germany. The French invaded his dominions in 1790, under Bonaparte, and conquered them in 1799. Ferdinand became dispossessed by the treaty of Luneville in 1801, but in 1803 obtained as indemnity the archbishopric of Salzburg, with the title of elector of the empire. This electorate he exchanged in 1805 for Wurzburg, and in 1800 was admitted into the confederation of the Rhine. After Napoleon's abdication in 1814 Ferdinand was restored to the grand duchy of Tuscany, but was again obliged to abandon his capital for a short time in 1815, when Murat proclaimed the independence of Italy. The battle of Waterloo restored him.