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Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

October 09, 2023

Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria, who were devout Catholics. In 1590, when Ferdinand was 11 years old, they sent him to study at the Jesuits' college in Ingolstadt because they wanted to isolate him from the Lutheran nobles. A few months later, his father died, and he inherited Inner Austria–Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and smaller provinces. His cousin, the childless Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was the head of the Habsburg family, appointed regents to administer these lands.

Ferdinand II
Portrait of Emperor Ferdinand II, c. 1614
Holy Roman Emperor
(more...)
Reign28 August 1619 – 15 February 1637
Coronation9 September 1619
Frankfurt Cathedral
PredecessorMatthias
SuccessorFerdinand III
Born9 July 1578 (NS: (1578-07-19)19 July 1578)
Graz, Duchy of Styria, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died15 February 1637(1637-02-15) (aged 58)
Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Burial
Spouses
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(m. 1600; died 1616)​
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(m. 1622)​
Issue
full list...
HouseHabsburg
FatherCharles II, Archduke of Austria
MotherMaria Anna of Bavaria
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Ferdinand was installed as the actual ruler of the Inner Austrian provinces in 1596 and 1597. Rudolf II also charged him with the command of the defense of Croatia, Slavonia, and southeastern Hungary against the Ottoman Empire. Ferdinand regarded the regulation of religious issues as a royal prerogative and introduced strict Counter-Reformation measures from 1598. First, he ordered the expulsion of all Protestant pastors and teachers; next, he established special commissions to restore the Catholic parishes. The Ottomans captured Nagykanizsa in Hungary in 1600, which enabled them to invade Styria. A year later, Ferdinand tried to recapture the fortress, but the action ended in November 1601 with a defeat, due to unprofessional command of his troops. During the first stage of the family feud known as the Brothers' Quarrel, Ferdinand initially supported Rudolph II's brother, Matthias, who wanted to convince the melancholic Emperor to abdicate, but Matthias' concessions to the Protestants in Hungary, Austria, and Bohemia outraged Ferdinand. He planned an alliance to strengthen the position of the Catholic Church in the Holy Roman Empire, but the Catholic princes established the Catholic League without his participation in 1610.

Philip III of Spain, who was the childless Matthias' nephew, acknowledged Ferdinand's right to succeed Matthias in Bohemia and Hungary in exchange for territorial concessions in 1617. Spain also supported Ferdinand against the Republic of Venice during the Uskok War in 1617–18. The Diets of Bohemia and Hungary confirmed Ferdinand's position as Matthias' successor only after he had promised to respect the Estates' privileges in both realms. The different interpretation of the Letter of Majesty, which summarized the Bohemian Protestants' liberties, gave rise to an uprising, known as the Second Defenestration of Prague on 23 May 1618. The Bohemian rebels established a provisional government, invaded Upper Austria, and sought assistance from the Habsburgs' opponents. Matthias II died on 20 March 1619. Ferdinand was elected Holy Roman Emperor on 28 August 1619 (Frankfurt), two days before the Protestant Bohemian Estates deposed Ferdinand (as king of Bohemia). News of his deposition arrived in Frankfurt on the 28th but Ferdinand didn't leave town until he had been crowned. Bohemia offered their crown (King of Bohemia) to the Calvinist Frederick V of the Palatinate on 26 August 1619.

The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 as a result of inadequacies of his predecessors Rudolf II and Matthias. But Ferdinand's acts against Protestantism caused the war to engulf the whole empire. As a zealous Catholic, Ferdinand wanted to restore the Catholic Church as the only religion in the Empire and to wipe out any form of religious dissent. The war left the Holy Roman Empire devastated and its population did not recover until 1710.

Childhood Edit

Born in the castle in Graz on 9 July 1578, Ferdinand was the son of Charles II, Archduke of Austria, and Maria of Bavaria.[1] Charles II, who was the youngest son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, had inherited the Inner Austrian provinces—Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Gorizia, Fiume, Trieste and parts of Istria and Friuli—from his father in 1564.[2] Being a daughter of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, by Charles II's sister Anna, Maria of Bavaria was her husband's niece.[3] Their marriage brought about a reconciliation between the two leading Catholic families of the Holy Roman Empire.[4] They were devout Catholics, but Charles II had to grant concessions to his Lutheran subjects in 1572 and 1578 to secure the predominantly Protestant nobles and burghers' financial support for the establishment of a new defense system against the Ottoman Turks.[5][6]

Ferdinand's education was managed primarily by his mother.[7] He matriculated at the Jesuits' school in Graz at the age of 8.[7] His separate household was set up three years later.[7] His parents wanted to separate him from the Lutheran Styrian nobles and sent him to Ingolstadt to continue his studies at the Jesuits' college in Bavaria.[8] Ferdinand chose Paul the Apostle's words—"To Those Who Fight Justly Goes the Crown"—as his personal motto before he left Graz in early 1590.[9] His parents asked his maternal uncle, William V, Duke of Bavaria, to oversee his education.[10]

Reign Edit

Inner Austria Edit

First years Edit

Charles II died unexpectedly on 10 July 1590,[7] having named his wife, his brother Archduke Ferdinand II, their nephew Emperor Rudolph II, and his brother-in-law Duke William V the guardians of Ferdinand.[11] Maria and William V tried to secure the regency for her, but Rudolph II, who was the head of the Habsburg family, appointed his own brothers—first Ernest in 1592, and then in 1593, Maximilian III—to the post.[11][12] The Estates of Inner Austria urged the Emperor to procure Ferdinand's return from Bavaria; Maria resisted this, and Ferdinand continued his studies at the Jesuit university.[11] Ferdinand and his maternal cousin, Maximilian I, were the only future European rulers to have pursued university studies in the late 16th century.[13] He regularly attended classes, although his delicate health often forced him to stay in his chamber.[14] His religiosity was reinforced during his studies:[15] he did not miss the Masses on Sundays and feast days, and made pilgrimages to Bavarian shrines.[14]

Ferdinand completed his studies on 21 December 1594; Rudolph II permitted him to return to Graz only two months later.[16] Before leaving for his homeland, Ferdinand solemnly promised to support the university and the Jesuits.[16] Maximilian III renounced the regency and the Emperor made the 17-year-old Ferdinand his own regent.[17] Ferdinand chose the Jesuit Bartholomew Viller as his confessor.[18] A burgher from Graz who had converted to Catholicism, Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, became one of his most trusted courtiers.[19] The weak position of Catholicism in Graz astonished Ferdinand, especially when he realized that only his relatives and most trusted courtiers celebrated the Eucharist during the Easter Mass.[20]

 
Portrait of Ferdinand in his twenties, c.1598–1605

Ferdinand reached the age of majority in late 1596.[21] He was first officially installed as ruler in Styria in December.[21] He avoided discussion of religious affairs with the Estates, taking advantage of their fear of an Ottoman invasion and the peasant uprisings in Upper Austria.[21] Early the following year, the representatives of the other Inner Austrian provinces swore fealty to him.[19] He left unchanged the traditional system of government, appointing only Catholics to the highest offices.[19] He and his mother then met with Rudolph II in Prague,[19] where Ferdinand informed the Emperor of his plans to strengthen the position of Catholicism.[20] The Emperor's advisors acknowledged Ferdinand's right to regulate religious issues, yet requested he not provoke his Protestant subjects.[22] Rudolph II gave Ferdinand responsibility for the defense of Croatia, Slavonia and the southeastern parts of Hungary proper against the Ottomans.[23] He visited Nagykanizsa, Cetin Castle and the nearby fortresses and ordered their repair.[22]

Ferdinand made an unofficial journey to Italy before getting fully involved in state administration.[22][24] He named his mother regent and left Graz on 22 April 1598.[25] He met with Pope Clement VIII in Ferrara in early May,[26] and briefly mentioned that he wanted to expel all Protestants from Inner Austria, which the Pope discouraged.[27] Ferdinand continued his journey, visiting the Holy House in Loreto.[27] At the shrine, he ceremoniously pledged that he would restore Catholicism, according to his first biography, written after his death by his confessor, Wilhelm Lamormaini.[27]

Counter-Reformation Edit

 
Graz in the mid-17th-century

Ferdinand returned to Graz on 20 June 1598.[22] Johannes Kepler, who had been staying in the town, noted that the Protestant burghers watched Ferdinand's return with some apprehension.[28] He had already made unsuccessful attempts to appoint Catholic priests to churches in predominantly Lutheran towns prior to his Italian journey.[29] A former Jesuit student, Lorenz Sonnabenter, whom Ferdinand had sent to a parish in Graz, made a formal complaint against the local Lutheran pastors on 22 August, accusing them of unlawfully interfering in his office.[30] Ferdinand's mother and Jesuit confessor urged him to take vigorous measures.[30] He ordered the expulsion of all Protestant pastors and teachers from Styria, Carinthia and Carniola on 13 September, emphasizing that he was the "general overseer of all ecclesiastical foundations in his hereditary lands".[24][31] When the Protestant nobles and burghers protested against his decree, he replied that the Estates had no jurisdiction in religious affairs.[32] He summoned Italian and Spanish mercenaries to Graz.[33] Due to his firm actions, no riots broke out when the leaders of the Protestant community left Graz on 29 September.[34]

Ferdinand forbade the Estates of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola to hold a joint assembly. The Styrian nobles and burghers unsuccessfully sought assistance from Rudolph II and their Austrian peers against him.[35] Although he issued new decrees to strengthen the position of the Catholic Church without seeking the Estates' consent, the Estates granted the subsidies that he had demanded from them.[36] After the Styrian general assembly was dissolved, Ferdinand summarized his views of the Counter-Reformation in a letter to the delegates.[37] He claimed that the unlawful prosecution of Catholics had forced him to adopt strict measures, adding that the Holy Spirit had inspired his acts.[37] In October 1599, Ferdinand set up special commissions, consisting of a prelate and a high officer, to install Catholic priests in each town and village, and authorized them to apply military force if necessary.[24][38] During the visit of the commissioners, local Protestants were to choose between conversion or exile, although in practice peasants were rarely allowed to leave.[38] The commissioners also burnt prohibited books.[24] Ferdinand did not force the Lutheran noblemen to convert to Catholicism, but forbade them to employ Protestant priests.[39]

Brothers' Quarrel and Turkish war Edit

Further information: Brothers' Quarrel and Long Turkish War

Ferdinand married his cousin, Maria Anna of Bavaria, in Graz on 23 April 1600.[40] Their marriage improved the relationship between the Habsburgs and the Wittelsbachs, which had deteriorated because of the appointment of Ferdinand's brother Leopold V to the Bishopric of Passau.[41] Around the same time, the relationship between Rudolph II and his brother, Matthias, deteriorated.[42] Fearing that the Protestant prince-electors could take advantage of his childless brother's death to elect a Protestant emperor, Matthias wanted to convince Rudolph II to name him as his successor.[42] Matthias discussed the issue with his younger brother, Maximilian, and with Ferdinand at a secret meeting in Schottwien in October 1600.[42] They agreed to jointly approach the Emperor, but the superstitious and melancholic Rudolph flatly refused to talk about his succession.[43][44]

 
The meeting of Emperor Rudolph II and his brother, Archduke Matthias near Prague in 1608

The Uskoks—irregular soldiers of mixed origin along the northeastern coast of the Adriatic Sea—made several attacks against the Venetian ships, claiming that the Venetians cooperated with the Ottomans.[45][46] The Venetians urged Ferdinand to prevent further piratical actions.[45] In 1600, he sent an envoy to the Uskoks, whom the Uskoks murdered.[45] Ottoman raids against the borderlands continued and the expenses of the defence of Croatia, Slavonia and southwestern Hungary were almost exclusively financed from Inner Austria.[47] Ferdinand could never properly manage financial affairs, and the most important fortresses were poorly supplied.[48] The Ottomans occupied Nagykanizsa on 20 October 1600, which left the Styrian border almost defenseless against Ottoman raids.[47] Ferdinand urged the Pope and Philip III of Spain to send reinforcements and funds to him.[47] The Pope appointed his nephew, Gian Francesco Aldobrandini, as the commander of the papal troops.[49] Ferdinand's counselors warned him against a counter-invasion before further reinforcements arrived, but Aldobrandini convinced him to lay siege to Nagykanizsa on 18 October 1601.[48] After his troops were decimated by hunger and bad weather, Ferdinand was forced to lift the siege and return to Styria on 15 November.[49]

The Ottomans failed to exploit this victory, as Rudolph II's troops managed to defeat them near Székesfehérvár.[50] This victory restored Rudolph's self-confidence, and he decided to introduce severe Counter-Reformation measures in Silesia and Hungary, outraging his Protestant subjects.[44] The Calvinist magnate István Bocskai rose up against Rudolph, and most Hungarian noblemen joined him before the end of 1604.[44] Taking advantage of his relatives' anxiety, Matthias persuaded Ferdinand, Maximilian and Ferdinand's brother, Maximilian Ernest, to start new negotiations concerning Rudolph's succession.[51][52] At their meeting in Linz in April 1606, the four archdukes concluded that the Emperor was incompetent and decided to replace him with Matthias in Bohemia, Hungary and Upper and Lower Austria.[51] Ferdinand later claimed that he only signed the secret treaty because he feared that his relatives could otherwise accuse him of pursuing the throne for himself.[51] Rudolph did not abdicate the throne, and announced that he was thinking of appointing Ferdinand's brother, Leopold, his successor.[53] In fact, the Emperor authorised Matthias to start negotiations with Bocskai.[54] The resulting agreement was included in the Treaty of Vienna, which granted religious freedom to Hungarian Protestants and prescribed the election of a palatine (or royal deputy) in Hungary on 23 June 1606.[54][55] The subsequent Peace of Zsitvatorok put an end to the war with the Ottoman Empire on 11 November 1606.[52][56]

Rudolph II convoked the Imperial Diet to Regensburg and appointed Ferdinand as his deputy in November 1607.[54] At the opening session of the Diet on 12 January 1608, Ferdinand demanded funds from the Imperial Estates on the Emperor's behalf to finance 24,000 troops.[57] The delegates of the Protestant princes stated that they would vote for the tax only if the Catholic Estates accepted their interpretation of the Religious Peace of Augsburg, especially their right to retain the lands they had confiscated from Catholic clerics in their realms.[58] Ferdinand urged both parties to respect the Religious Peace, but without much success.[59] He started negotiations with William V of Bavaria about the formation of an alliance of the Catholic princes, but his uncle wanted to establish it without the Habsburgs' participation.[60] After the Diet was closed in early May, the Electoral Palatinate, Brandenburg, Würtemberg and other Protestant principalities formed an alliance, known as the Protestant Union, to defend their common interests.[61][62]

Ferdinand's appointment as the Emperor's deputy to the Diet implied that Rudolph regarded Ferdinand—the only Habsburg who had already fathered children—as his successor.[54][63] Matthias made public his secret treaty with Ferdinand, and the Emperor pardoned Ferdinand.[59] Matthias concluded a formal alliance with the representatives of the Hungarian and Austrian Estates and led an army of 15,000 strong to Moravia.[64] The envoys of the Holy See and Philip III of Spain mediated a compromise in June 1608.[64] According to the Treaty of Lieben, Rudolph retained most Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the title of Holy Roman Emperor, but had to renounce Hungary, Lower and Upper Austria and Moravia in favor of Matthias.[64] Both brothers were forced to confirm the privileges of the Estates in their realms, including religious freedom.[64]

Matthias's successor Edit

Negotiations and alliances Edit

 
Coronation of Ferdinand II as king of Bohemia in 1617.

Ferdinand's mother died on 29 April 1608, while he was staying in Regensburg.[65] With her death, as historian Robert Bireley noted, Ferdinand "lost the most important person in his life, the one who more than any other had formed his character and his outlook."[65] He requested the scholar Caspar Schoppe, whom he had met at the Imperial Diet, to elaborate a detailed plan for an alliance of the Catholic monarchs.[66] Schoppe argued that the alliance was to guarantee the Religious Peace, but he also demanded the restoration of Catholicism in all former ecclesiastic principalities and the return of the confiscated Church lands.[67] Ferdinand embraced Schoppe's views and appointed him to start negotiations with Pope Paul V about a "just war" for the defence of the interests of Catholics, but the Pope avoid making a commitment, because he did not want to outrage Henry IV of France.[68] Ferdinand also tried to strengthen his relationship with his Bavarian relatives, because Matthias's rebellion against Rudolph II and his concessions to the Protestants had shocked Ferdinand.[69][70] However, William V and Maximilian of Bavaria ignored him when they and the three ecclesiastical electors—the archbishops of Mainz, Trier and Cologne—established the Catholic League in February 1610.[66] Only Philip III of Spain, who promised financial aid to the League, could persuade the Catholic princes to accept Ferdinand as a director and the vice-protector of the League in August.[66]

Cooperating with Rudolph II's principal advisor, Melchior Klesl, Bishop of Vienna, Ferdinand persuaded the Emperor to seek a reconciliation with Matthias.[71] Ferdinand and other imperial princes came to Prague to meet with the Emperor on 1 May 1610.[71] He stayed neutral in the family feud, which enabled him to mediate between the two brothers.[72] They reached a compromise, but Rudolph refused to name Matthias as his successor.[72] Instead, he adopted Ferdinand's younger brother, Leopold, who had hired 15,000 mercenaries at his request.[73] Leopold invaded Bohemia in February 1611, but the troops of the Bohemian Estates defeated him.[73][74] The Bohemian Estates dethroned Rudolph and elected Matthias king on 23 May 1611.[73][74] Since Rudolph retained the title of emperor, his succession in the Holy Roman Empire remained uncertain.[73] Matthias, Ferdinand and Maximilian III assembled at Vienna to discuss the issue with Philip III's envoy, Baltasar de Zúñiga, in December.[73] They decided to support Matthias's election as King of the Romans (which could have secured his right to succeed Rudolph II), but the three ecclesiastical electors opposed the plan because of Matthias's concessions to the Protestants in Hungary, Austria and Bohemia.[75]

Matthias was elected Holy Roman Emperor only months after Rudolph II died on 20 June 1612.[76] Since Matthias and his two surviving brothers, Maximilian III and Albert VII were childless, his succession in Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire was uncertain.[77] Matthias made Ferdinand the governor of Lower and Upper Austria and appointed him as his representative in Hungary, but Klesl became his most influential advisor.[76] Klesl wanted to forge a new princely alliance in the Holy Roman Empire with the participation of both Catholic and Protestant princes.[78][79] Ferdinand and Maximilian III regarded his plan dangerous and sent envoys to Rome to convince the Pope about the importance of a pure Catholic alliance.[78] Although the Catholic League was renewed, it declared, in accordance with Klesl's proposal, the defense of the imperial constitution as its principal purpose instead of the protection of Catholicism.[78] Philip III of Spain announced his claim to succeed Matthias in Bohemia and Hungary, emphasizing that his mother, Anna, the sister of Matthias, had never renounced her right to the two realms.[77][80] Matthias and Ferdinand discussed the issue with Zúñiga in Linz in June and July 1613, but they did not reach an agreement.[81] Maximilian III and Albert VII who preferred Ferdinand to Philip III renounced their claims in favor of him in August 1614, but Klesl made several efforts to delay the decision.[81]

Uskok War and royal elections Edit

 
Nehaj Fortress held by the Uskoks. It is located on the Dalmatian coast near Senj.

Ferdinand sent troops against the Uskoks' principal center at Senj to put an end to their piratical raids in 1614.[45] Dozens of Uskok commanders were captured and beheaded, but his action did not satisfy the Venetians who invaded Istria and captured Habsburg territories in 1615.[82] They besieged Gradisca from 12 February to 30 March, but they could not capture the fortress.[83] Ferdinand sought assistance from Spain and the Venetians received support from the Dutch and English, but neither side could achieve a decisive victory in the Uskok War.[80][83]

Matthias adopted Ferdinand as his son in 1615, but without proposing Ferdinand's election as king of the Romans, because he feared that Ferdinand would force him to abdicate.[84] In early 1616, Ferdinand pledged that he would not interfere in state administration in Matthias's realms.[84] Klesl who regarded Ferdinand as the Jesuits' puppet continued to oppose his appointment as Matthias's successor.[80] On 31 October 1616, Ferdinand and Maximilian III agreed to achieve the removal of Klesl, but Ferdinand wanted to conclude an agreement with Philip III about Matthias's succession before making further steps.[84] Philip's new envoy at Vienna, Íñigo Vélez de Guevara, 7th Count of Oñate, and Ferdinand signed a secret treaty on 29 July 1617.[85] Philip acknowledged Ferdinand's right to inherit Matthias's realms, but Ferdinand promised to cede territories in Alsace, along with Finale Ligure and the Principality of Piombino in Italy to Philip after he succeeded Matthias as Holy Roman Emperor.[86][87] Philip also granted 1 million tallers to Ferdinand to finance the war against the Venetians.[87][88] The Venetians again laid siege to Gradisca in March 1617.[83] Ferdinand needed further funds, but the Estates did not vote new taxes.[83]

Matthias fell seriously ill in late April 1617.[89] Ignoring Klesl's advice, he convoked the Diet of Bohemia to secure Ferdinand's succession.[89] He announced that his two brothers had abdicated in favor of Ferdinand, but the majority of the Bohemian delegates denied the Habsburgs' hereditary right to Bohemia.[89] After some negotiations, all delegates but two noblemen and two burghers agreed to "accept" Ferdinand as king on 6 June.[90][91] Ferdinand promised to respect the Letter of Majesty—a royal diploma that guaranteed religious freedom in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown—only after consulting with the local Jesuits.[92] He was crowned king in the St. Vitus Cathedral on 29 June.[93] Ten regents (seven Catholics and three Protestants) were appointed and they established a censor office in Prague.[94]

Ferdinand and Matthias met with the Lutheran John George I, Elector of Saxony in Dresden who promised to support Ferdinand at the imperial elections.[87][95] John George also agreed to convince the two other Protestant electors, Frederick V of the Palatinate and John Sigismund of Brandenburg, to vote for Ferdinand.[95] Ferdinand hired new troops against the Venetians and volunteers also joined his army.[83] The Catholic Bohemian nobleman, Albrecht von Wallenstein, recruited 260 soldiers at his own expense.[83] The Venetians abandoned the siege of Gradisca on 22 September, but peace was restored only in early 1618, after Ferdinand agreed to resettle the Uskoks from the coastline and ordered the destruction of their ships.[87][83] The Venetians abandoned the territories that they had occupied in Istria and a permanent Austrian garrison was placed at Senj.[87][83]

Matthias convoked the Diet of Hungary to Pressburg (now Bratislava in Slovakia) in early 1618.[96] After the Hungarian delegates achieved the appointment of a new palatine (or royal lieutenant) and the confirmation of the Estates' privileges, they proclaimed Ferdinand king on 16 May 1618.[96] He appointed the Catholic magnate, Zsigmond Forgách, as the new palatine.[96]

Thirty Years' War Edit

Bohemian revolt Edit

 
The Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the war's outbreak in 1618.
Habsburg-controlled domains:
 Austrian line
 Spanish line
 
Religious situation in the Holy Roman Empire at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618

The application of the Letter of Majesty was controversial in Bohemia.[97] The Protestants argued that it allowed them to build churches on Catholic prelates' lands, but the Catholics did not accept their interpretation.[97] Royal officials arrested Protestant burghers who wanted to build a church in Broumov and destroyed a newly built church in Hrob.[98][90] The Protestants principally blamed two of the four Catholic royal governors, Jaroslav Bořita of Martinice and Vilém Slavata of Chlum, for the violent acts.[99] On 23 May 1618, Jindřich Matyáš Thurn—one of the two Czech magnates who had not accepted Ferdinand's succession—led a group of armed noblemen to the Prague Castle.[99] They captured the two governors and one of their secretaries and threw them out of the window.[90][99] The Second Defenestration of Prague was the start of a new uprising.[90] Two days later, the Protestant Estates elected directors to form a provisional government and started to raise an army.[98][100]

Ferdinand was staying in Pressburg when he was informed of the Bohemian events on 27 May 1618.[98] He urged Matthias to send an envoy to Prague, but Matthias' envoy could not reach a compromise.[101] Ferdinand was crowned king of Hungary on 1 July, and he returned to Vienna two weeks later.[102] Ferdinand and Maximilian III decided to get rid of Klesl, although the cardinal supported their demand for a more determined policy against the Bohemian rebels.[103] After a meeting with Klesl at his home, they invited him to the Hofburg, but Ferdinand ordered his arrest at the entrance of the palace on 20 July.[97] Ferdinand was automatically excommunicated for the imprisonment of a cardinal, but Pope Paul V absolved him before the end of the year.[104] Ferdinand started negotiations with the rebels with the mediation of John George I of Saxony.[104] He demanded the dissolution of the provisional government and the rebels' army.[104] Instead of obeying his orders, the rebels concluded an alliance with the Estates of Silesia, Upper and Lower Lusatia, and Upper Austria.[105][106] Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy hired Ernst von Mansfeld to assist the Bohemians.[107] Mansfeld and his mercenaries captured Plzeň, which was an important center of the Bohemian Catholics, and the rebels made raids into Lower Austria.[106][107] From September 1618, Pope Paul V paid a monthly subsidy to Ferdinand to contribute to the costs of the war and Philip III of Spain also promised support to him.[107]

Emperor Matthias died on 20 March 1619.[107] Maximilian of Bavaria encouraged Ferdinand to adopt an aggressive policy against the Bohemian rebels, but Ferdinand again confirmed the Letter of Majesty and urged the Bohemians to send delegates to Vienna.[107] The directors ignored Ferdinand's acts and made further preparations for an armed conflict.[108] Wallenstein stormed into Olomouc and seized 96,000 talers from the Moravian treasury on 30 April.[109] He gave the booty to Ferdinand, but the king returned it to the Moravian Estates.[110] The Protestant Estates of Upper Austria demanded the confirmation of their religious and political liberties before recognizing Ferdinand as Matthias' successor.[109] Thurn and his 15,000 troops laid siege to Vienna on 5 June.[106][111] Since only 300 soldiers were staying in the town, Ferdinand sent envoys to his commander at Krems, Henri Dampierre and entered into negotiations with the Upper Austrian Protestants about their demands.[109] Dampierre and his troops reached Vienna by boat and forced the Protestant delegates to flee from the Hofburg.[109] After Ferdinand's general, Count Bucquoy, defeated the Bohemian rebels in the Battle of Sablat, Thurn lifted the siege on 12 June.[109]

Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg, Archbishop of Mainz, convoked the electors' meeting to Frankfurt.[112] Ferdinand avoided the rebellious Upper Austria and approached the assembly through Salzburg and Munich.[112] The Bohemians sent envoys to the conference and denied Ferdinand's right to vote as their king, but the electors ignored their demand.[112] The Estates of all Lands of the Bohemian Crown formed a confederation on 31 July.[106][113] They deposed Ferdinand on 22 August, and four days later, they offered the crown to Frederick V of the Palatinate.[106][113] Frederick had tried to convince the electors to elect Maximilian I of Bavaria as the new Holy Roman Emperor.[114] Maximilian did not accept the candidacy and Ferdinand was unanimously elected as Emperor on 28 August.[115] The news about Ferdinand's deposition in Bohemia reached Frankfurt on the same day, but he did not leave the town before being crowned on 9 September.[115] Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, made an alliance with the Bohemians and invaded Upper Hungary (mainly present-day Slovakia) in September.[116][117] After learning of Bethlen's success, Frederick V accepted the Bohemian crown on 28 September.[116]

 
The Battle of White Mountain (1620) in Bohemia was one of the decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War that ultimately led to the forced conversion of the Bohemian population back to Roman Catholicism

Ferdinand concluded a treaty with Maxilimian I in Munich on 8 October 1619.[118] Maximilian became the head of a renewed Catholic League and Ferdinand promised to compensate him for the costs of the war.[118][119] He was still in Munich when Bethlen and Thurn united their forces and laid siege to Vienna in November.[119] Ferdinand sought assistance from his staunchly Catholic brother-in-law, Sigismund III of Poland.[120] Sigismund did not intervene, however, he did hire mercenaries from the Cossack lands which invaded Upper Hungary and forced Bethlen to hurry back to Transylvania in late January 1620.[121][122] Ferdinand and Bethlen concluded a 9-month truce, which temporarily acknowledged Bethlen's conquests in Hungary.[122] Abandoned by Bethlen, Thurn was forced to lift the siege.[121][122] Ferdinand ordered Frederick to abandon Bohemia before 1 July, threatening him with an imperial ban.[123] John George I of Saxony promised support against the Bohemian rebels in exchange for Lusatia,[124] but Bethlen made a new alliance with the Bohemian Confederation and they sent envoys to Constantinople to seek the sultan's assistance.[125]

Ferdinand continued the negotiations with the Estates of Lower and Upper Austria about his recognition as Matthias' successor in both provinces.[120] After his new confessor, the Jesuit Martin Becanus, assured him that he could grant concessions to the Protestants to secure their loyalty, Ferdinand confirmed the Lutherans' right to practise their religion in Lower Austria, save the towns on 8 July 1620.[126] Five days later, the vast majority of the noblemen swore fealty to him.[127] Before long, Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, who was the commander of the army of the Catholic League, occupied Upper Austria, Bucquoy defeated the last rebels in Lower Austria and John George of Saxony invaded Lusatia.[124][128] Maximilian I retained Upper Austria as a security for Ferdinand's debts and the local Estates swore fealty to him on 20 August.[129] The Diet of Hungary dethroned Ferdinand and elected Bethlen king on 23 August.[125][130] The envoy of Louis XIII of France, Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, tried to mediate a compromise between Ferdinand and his opponents, but Ferdinand was determined to force his rebellious subjects into obedience.[131] The united troops of Maximilian I of Bavaria, Tilly and Bucquoy invaded Bohemia and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Bohemians and their allies in the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620.[128][132]

Consolidation Edit

See also: Kipper und Wipper
 
The execution of 27 Bohemian noblemen and burghers in Prague
 
Eleonora Gonzaga in her wedding dress, by Justus Sustermans, 1621/22. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Maximilian I of Bavaria urged Ferdinand to adopt strict measures against the Bohemians and their allies,[133] and Ferdinand declared Frederick V an outlaw on 29 January 1621.[134] Ferdinand charged Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein and Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein with the government of Bohemia and Moravia, respectively, and ordered the establishment of special courts of justice to hear the rebels' trials.[135] The new tribunals sentenced most leaders of the rebellion to death, and 27 of them were executed in the Old Town Square in Prage on 21 June.[135] The estates of more than 450 nobles and burghers were fully or partially confiscated.[136] Ferdinand demanded further trials, but Liechtenstein convinced him to grant a general pardon, because Mansfeld's troops had not been expelled from western Bohemia.[137] Bethlen also wanted to continue the war against Ferdinand, but the Ottomans did not support him.[138] After lengthy negotiations, Bethlen renounced the title of king of Hungary, after Ferdinand ceded him seven Hungarian counties and two Silesian duchies in the Peace of Nikolsburg on 31 December 1621.[130] By that time, Ferdinand had banned all Protestant pastors from Prague, ignoring John George I of Saxony's protests.[139]

Ferdinand could not pay off his mercenaries' salaries.[140] Liechtenstein, Eggenberg, Wallenstein and other noblemen established a consortium that also included the Jewish banker, Jacob Bassevi, and Wallenstein's financial manager, Hans de Witte.[141] They persuaded Ferdinand to lease all Bohemian, Moravian and Lower Austrian mints to them for one year in return for 6 million gulden on 18 January 1622.[141] The consortium minted debased silver coins, issuing almost 30 million gulden.[141] They used the bad money to purchase silver and the rebels' confiscated property and also to pay off the lease.[141] The liberal issue of the new currency caused "the western's worlds first financial crisis",[142] featured by inflation, famine and other symptoms of economic and social disruption.[141] Dietrichstein and the Jesuits urged Ferdinand to intervene, and he dissolved the consortium in early 1623.[141]

Ferdinand met his second wife, the 23-year-old Eleonora Gonzaga, in Innsbruck on 1 February 1622.[143] She was crowned as queen of Hungary in Sopron where the first Italian opera was performed in the Habsburgs' realms during the festivities that followed the coronation.[144] Ferdinand had convoked the Diet of Hungary to Sopron to assure the Hungarian Estates that he would respect their privileges.[130][145] The Diet elected a Lutheran aristocrat, Count Szaniszló Thurzó,[145] as the new palatine.[130]

The united imperial and Spanish armies inflicted decisive defeats on the Protestant troops in the Holy Roman Empire in May and June 1622.[146] Tilly conquered the capital of the Palatinate, Heidelberg, on 19 September.[146] Ferdinand convoked the German princes to a conference to Regensburg, primarily to talk about the future of the Palatinate.[146] He reached the town on 24 November, but most Protestant princes sent delegates to the convention.[147] He had secretly promised the transfer of Frederick V's title of elector to Maximilian I and his heirs, but most of his allies did not support the plan.[148] They only agreed to bestow the title on Maximilian personally.[148] Ferdinand had to yield, but assured Maximilian that he had not abandoned their original plan.[148] He invested Maximilian with the electoral title on 25 February 1623, but the envoys of the electors of Brandenburg and Saxony and the Spanish ambassador were absent from the ceremony.[149][150]

Ferdinand decided to unite the Habsburgs' hereditary lands—Inner Austria, Upper and Lower Austria and Tyrol—into a new kingdom.[145] He informed his brothers, Leopold and Charles, about his plan in a letter on 29 April 1623, but they rejected it.[145] Leopold wanted to establish his own principality.[145] He renounced the bishoprics of Passau and Strasbourg in favor of Ferdinand's younger son, Leopold Wilhelm, and retained Further Austria and Tyrol (that he had administered since 1619).[151]

Deprived of the Palatinate, Frederick V had made a new alliance with the Dutch Republic.[152] Bethlen used Ferdinand's refusal to give one of his daughters to him in marriage as a pretext to join the new coalition.[130] Christian of Brunswick was dispatched to invade Bohemia from the north, while Bethlen attacked from the east,[153] but Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly routed Brunswick in the Battle of Stadtlohn on 6 August 1623.[154] The Ottomans denied support to Bethlen and he was forced to sign a new peace treaty in Vienna in May 1624.[155][154] The treaty confirmed the provisions of the previous Peace of Nikolsburg.[130][154]

Restoration Edit

 
Ferdinand's Reformationspatent ordered every Protestant preacher and teacher in Upper Austria to be inducted into a special registry in 1624.

Becanus who died in late 1623 was succeeded by Lamormaini as Ferdinand's confessor.[151] Lamormaini awakened Ferdinand's determination to adopt strict measures against the Protestants.[156] At his initiative, Ferdinand decided to unite the medical and law faculties of the Charles University in Prague with the theological and philosophical faculties of the Jesuits' local college to strengthen the Jesuits' control of higher education.[139] The new archbishop of Prague, Ernst Adalbert of Harrach did not renounce the control of the university and also wanted to prevent the Jesuits from seizing the estates of the Charles University.[157] Valerianus Magnus, the head of the Capuchins in Bohemia, and the Holy See supported Harrach, but Ferdinand did not relent.[157]

Ferdinand ceremoniously renewed his oath about the restoration of Catholicism in his realms on 25 March 1624.[156] First, he banned Protestant ceremonies in Bohemia proper and Moravia, even prohibiting the noblemen to hold Protestant pastors on 18 May.[158] Maximilian I of Bavaria, who still held Upper Austria in pledge, proposed a cautious approach in the province, but Ferdinand ordered the expulsion of all Protestant pastors and teachers on 4 October.[156] A year later, he prescribed that all inhabitants were to convert to Catholicism in Upper Austria by the following Easter, allowing only noblemen and burghers to choose to leave the province.[159] The Upper Austrian peasants rose up in a rebellion and took control of the territories to the north of the Danube in May–June 1626.[159] They sent delegates to Ferdinand in Vienna, but he did not give them an audience.[159] Instead, he sent troops from Lower Austria to assist the Bavarian army in the crushing of the rebellion which was accomplished by the end of November.[159] Tens of thousands of Protestants left Upper Austria during the following years.[159]

Ferdinand also took advantage of his peace with Bethlen to strengthen his position in Hungary.[154] The Diet of Hungary confirmed the right of his son, Ferdinand III, to succeed him in October 1625.[154] Ferdinand also achieved the election of a Catholic magnate, Count Miklós Esterházy, as the new palatine with the support of the Archbishop of Esztergom, Cardinal Péter Pázmány.[154]

Conclusion Edit

 
Ferdinand II, 1626

The chief minister of Louis XIII of France, Cardinal Richelieu, started to forge an alliance against the Habsburgs in 1624.[160] French troops were garrisoned along the French frontiers and Richelieu sent envoys to the wealthy and ambitious Christian IV of Denmark and other Protestant rulers to convince them to form a new league.[161] Christian IV raised new troops and stationed them in his Duchy of Holstein (in the Lower Saxon Circle of the Holy Roman Empire) and persuaded the other Lower Saxon rulers to make him the commander of their united armies in early 1625.[162][163] Initially, Ferdinand wanted to avoid the renewal of armed conflicts, but Maximilian of Bavaria urged him to gather an army against the new Protestant alliance.[162] Wallenstein, who had accumulated immeasurable wealth in Bohemia, offered to hire mercenaries for him, but Ferdinand still hesitated.[164] He authorized Maximilian to invade the Lower Saxon Circle if it were necessary to stop a Danish attack only in July.[165] In the same month, Maximilian ordered Tilly to move his troops into Lower Saxony, and Wallenstein invaded the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and the Bishopric of Halberstadt, but a fierce rivalry between the two commanders prevented them from continuing the military campaign.[164][166]

The electors of Mainz and Saxony demanded that Ferdinand should convoke the electors to a new convention to discuss the status of the Palatinate, but Ferdinand adopted a delaying tactic.[166] In a letter, he informed Maximilian of Bavaria about his plan to grant a pardon to Frederick V in exchange for Frederick's public submission and an indemnification for the costs of the war, but he also emphasized that he did not want to deprive Maximilian of the electoral title.[166] The English, Dutch and Danish envoys concluded an alliance against the Catholic League in The Hague on 9 December 1625.[167] Bethlen promised to launch a new military campaign against Royal Hungary and Richelieu agreed to send a subsidy to him.[167] Taking advantage of the peasant revolt in Upper Austria, Christian IV departed from his headquarters in Wolfenbüttel, but Tilly routed his troops in the Battle of Lutter on 26 August 1626.[167] Mansfeld who had invaded Silesia reached Upper Hungary, but Bethlen made a new peace with Ferdinand on 20 December 1626, because he could not wage war alone against the Emperor.[168][169]

Ferdinand deprived the dukes of Mecklenburg from their duchies for their support to Christian IV in February 1627.[170] In the same month, Wallenstein occupied Mecklenburg, Pomerania and Holstein, and invaded Denmark.[170]

His devout Catholicism and negative view of Protestantism caused immediate turmoil in his non-Catholic subjects, especially in Bohemia. He did not wish to uphold the religious liberties granted by the Letter of Majesty signed by the previous emperor, Rudolph II, which had guaranteed freedom of religion to the nobles and cities. Additionally, Ferdinand as an absolutist monarch infringed several historical privileges of the nobles.[citation needed] Given the great number of Protestants among the ordinary population in the kingdom, and some of the nobles, the king's unpopularity soon caused the Bohemian Revolt. The Second Defenestration of Prague of 22 May 1618 is considered the first step of the Thirty Years' War.[citation needed]

In the following events he remained a staunch backer of the Anti-Protestant Counter Reformation efforts as one of the heads of the German Catholic League. Ferdinand succeeded Matthias as Holy Roman Emperor in 1619. Supported by the Catholic League and the Kings of Spain and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ferdinand decided to reclaim his possession in Bohemia and to quash the rebels. On 8 November 1620 his troops, led by the Flemish general Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, smashed the rebels of Frederick V, who had been elected as rival King in 1619. After Frederick's flight to the Netherlands, Ferdinand ordered a massive effort to bring about re-conversion to Catholicism in Bohemia and Austria, causing Protestantism there to nearly disappear in the following decades, and reducing the Diet's power.[citation needed]

 
Ferdinand II, 1635 (two years before his death)

In 1625, despite the subsidies received from Spain and the Pope, Ferdinand was in a bad financial situation. In order to muster an imperial army to continue the war, he applied to Albrecht von Wallenstein, one of the richest men in Bohemia: the latter accepted on condition that he could keep total control over the direction of the war, as well as over the booties taken during the operations. Wallenstein was able to recruit some 30,000 men (later expanded up to 100,000), with whom he was able to defeat the Protestants in Silesia, Anhalt and Denmark. In the wake of these Catholic military successes, in 1629 Ferdinand issued the Edict of Restitution, by which all the lands stripped from Catholics after the Peace of Passau of 1552 would be returned.[citation needed]

His military success caused the tottering Protestants to call in Gustavus II Adolphus, King of Sweden. Soon, some of Ferdinand's allies began to complain about the excessive power exercised by Wallenstein, as well as the ruthless methods he used to finance his vast army. Ferdinand replied by firing the Bohemian general in 1630. The leadership of the war thenceforth passed to Tilly, who was however unable to stop the Swedish march from northern Germany towards Austria. Some historians directly blame Ferdinand for the large civilian loss of life in the Sack of Magdeburg in 1631: he had instructed Tilly to enforce the edict of Restitution upon the Electorate of Saxony, his orders causing the Belgian general to move the Catholic armies east, ultimately to Leipzig, where they suffered their first substantial defeat at the hands of Adolphus' Swedes in the First Battle of Breitenfeld (1631).[citation needed]

Tilly died in battle in 1632. Wallenstein was recalled, being able to muster an army in only a week, and immediately staked a tactical, if not strategic, victory at the September Battle of Fürth, quickly followed by his forces expelling the Swedes from Bohemia. In November 1632, however, the Catholics were defeated in the Battle of Lützen (1632), while Gustavus Adolphus was himself killed.[citation needed]

A period of minor operations followed. Perhaps because of Wallenstein's ambiguous conduct, he was assassinated in 1634. Despite Wallenstein's fall, the imperial forces recaptured Regensburg and were victorious in the Battle of Nördlingen (1634). The Swedish army was substantially weakened, and the fear that the power of the Habsburgs would become overwhelming caused France, led by Louis XIII of France and Cardinal Richelieu, to enter the war on the Protestant side. (Louis's father Henry IV of France had once been a Huguenot leader.) In 1635 Ferdinand signed his last important act, the Peace of Prague (1635), yet this did not end the war.[citation needed]

Ferdinand died in 1637, leaving to his son Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, an empire still engulfed in a war and whose fortunes seemed to be increasingly chaotic. Ferdinand II was buried in his Mausoleum in Graz. His heart was interred in the Herzgruft (heart crypt) of the Augustinian Church, Vienna.[citation needed]

Marriages and issue Edit

 
Maria Anna of Bavaria
 
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and his second wife, Eleonora Gonzaga, Princess of Mantua. Even though they had no children, their marriage was perceived to be a "happy" one.

In 1600, Ferdinand married Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574–1616), daughter of Duke William V of Bavaria. They had seven children:

In 1622, he married Eleonore of Mantua (Gonzaga) (1598–1655), the daughter of Duke Vincenzo I of Mantua and Eleonora de' Medici, at Innsbruck. They had no children.

Ancestors Edit

Titles Edit

 
Coat of arms of Ferdinand II

Ferdinand II, by the grace of God elected Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King in Germany, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania, Bulgaria, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Luxemburg, of the Higher and Lower Silesia, of Württemberg and Teck, Prince of Swabia, Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Kyburg and Goritia, Marquess of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgovia, the Higher and Lower Lusace, Lord of the Marquisate of Slavonia, of Port Naon and Salines, etc. etc.

See also Edit

References Edit

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Sources Edit

Further reading Edit

  • Bireley, Robert. Religion and Politics in the Age of the Counterreformation: Emperor Ferdinand II, William Lamormaini, SJ, and the Formation of the Imperial Policy (U Press of North Carolina, 2012).
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ferdinand II (1578–1637)" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  •   Klaar, K. (1909). "Ferdinand II". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Saunders, Steven. Cross, sword, and lyre: sacred music at the imperial court of Ferdinand II of Habsburg (1619–1637) (Oxford UP, 1995).
  • Sturmberger, H. [in German] (20 July 1998). "Ferdinand II, Holy Roman emperor". Encyclopædia Britannica.

External links Edit

  Media related to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor at Wikimedia Commons

Regnal titles Edit

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Born: 9 July 1578 Died: 15 February 1637
Regnal titles
Preceded by Archduke of Further Austria
1619–1623 		Succeeded by
Archduke of Austria
1619–1637 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Archduke of Inner Austria
1590–1637
Preceded by
King in Germany
King of Hungary and Croatia
1618–1637
Holy Roman Emperor
1619–1637
King of Bohemia
1617–1619 		Succeeded by
Preceded by King of Bohemia
1620–1637 		Succeeded by

October 09, 2023
ferdinand, holy, roman, emperor, ferdinand, july, 1578, february, 1637, holy, roman, emperor, king, bohemia, hungary, croatia, from, 1619, until, death, 1637, archduke, charles, inner, austria, maria, bavaria, were, devout, catholics, 1590, when, ferdinand, ye. Ferdinand II 9 July 1578 15 February 1637 was Holy Roman Emperor King of Bohemia Hungary and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637 He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria who were devout Catholics In 1590 when Ferdinand was 11 years old they sent him to study at the Jesuits college in Ingolstadt because they wanted to isolate him from the Lutheran nobles A few months later his father died and he inherited Inner Austria Styria Carinthia Carniola and smaller provinces His cousin the childless Rudolf II Holy Roman Emperor who was the head of the Habsburg family appointed regents to administer these lands Ferdinand IIPortrait of Emperor Ferdinand II c 1614Holy Roman Emperor more Reign28 August 1619 15 February 1637Coronation9 September 1619 Frankfurt CathedralPredecessorMatthiasSuccessorFerdinand IIIBorn9 July 1578 NS 1578 07 19 19 July 1578 Graz Duchy of Styria Archduchy of Austria Holy Roman EmpireDied15 February 1637 1637 02 15 aged 58 Vienna Archduchy of Austria Holy Roman EmpireBurialMausoleum in Graz body Augustinian Church heart SpousesMaria Anna of Bavaria m 1600 died 1616 wbr Eleonora Gonzaga m 1622 wbr Issuefull list Ferdinand III Holy Roman Emperor Maria Anna Electress of Bavaria Cecilia Renata Queen of Poland Archduke Leopold WilhelmHouseHabsburgFatherCharles II Archduke of AustriaMotherMaria Anna of BavariaReligionRoman CatholicismFerdinand was installed as the actual ruler of the Inner Austrian provinces in 1596 and 1597 Rudolf II also charged him with the command of the defense of Croatia Slavonia and southeastern Hungary against the Ottoman Empire Ferdinand regarded the regulation of religious issues as a royal prerogative and introduced strict Counter Reformation measures from 1598 First he ordered the expulsion of all Protestant pastors and teachers next he established special commissions to restore the Catholic parishes The Ottomans captured Nagykanizsa in Hungary in 1600 which enabled them to invade Styria A year later Ferdinand tried to recapture the fortress but the action ended in November 1601 with a defeat due to unprofessional command of his troops During the first stage of the family feud known as the Brothers Quarrel Ferdinand initially supported Rudolph II s brother Matthias who wanted to convince the melancholic Emperor to abdicate but Matthias concessions to the Protestants in Hungary Austria and Bohemia outraged Ferdinand He planned an alliance to strengthen the position of the Catholic Church in the Holy Roman Empire but the Catholic princes established the Catholic League without his participation in 1610 Philip III of Spain who was the childless Matthias nephew acknowledged Ferdinand s right to succeed Matthias in Bohemia and Hungary in exchange for territorial concessions in 1617 Spain also supported Ferdinand against the Republic of Venice during the Uskok War in 1617 18 The Diets of Bohemia and Hungary confirmed Ferdinand s position as Matthias successor only after he had promised to respect the Estates privileges in both realms The different interpretation of the Letter of Majesty which summarized the Bohemian Protestants liberties gave rise to an uprising known as the Second Defenestration of Prague on 23 May 1618 The Bohemian rebels established a provisional government invaded Upper Austria and sought assistance from the Habsburgs opponents Matthias II died on 20 March 1619 Ferdinand was elected Holy Roman Emperor on 28 August 1619 Frankfurt two days before the Protestant Bohemian Estates deposed Ferdinand as king of Bohemia News of his deposition arrived in Frankfurt on the 28th but Ferdinand didn t leave town until he had been crowned Bohemia offered their crown King of Bohemia to the Calvinist Frederick V of the Palatinate on 26 August 1619 The Thirty Years War began in 1618 as a result of inadequacies of his predecessors Rudolf II and Matthias But Ferdinand s acts against Protestantism caused the war to engulf the whole empire As a zealous Catholic Ferdinand wanted to restore the Catholic Church as the only religion in the Empire and to wipe out any form of religious dissent The war left the Holy Roman Empire devastated and its population did not recover until 1710 Contents 1 Childhood 2 Reign 2 1 Inner Austria 2 1 1 First years 2 1 2 Counter Reformation 2 1 3 Brothers Quarrel and Turkish war 2 2 Matthias s successor 2 2 1 Negotiations and alliances 2 2 2 Uskok War and royal elections 2 3 Thirty Years War 2 3 1 Bohemian revolt 2 3 2 Consolidation 2 3 3 Restoration 2 3 4 Conclusion 3 Marriages and issue 4 Ancestors 5 Titles 6 See also 7 References 8 Sources 9 Further reading 10 External links 10 1 Regnal titlesChildhood EditBorn in the castle in Graz on 9 July 1578 Ferdinand was the son of Charles II Archduke of Austria and Maria of Bavaria 1 Charles II who was the youngest son of Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor had inherited the Inner Austrian provinces Styria Carinthia Carniola Gorizia Fiume Trieste and parts of Istria and Friuli from his father in 1564 2 Being a daughter of Albert V Duke of Bavaria by Charles II s sister Anna Maria of Bavaria was her husband s niece 3 Their marriage brought about a reconciliation between the two leading Catholic families of the Holy Roman Empire 4 They were devout Catholics but Charles II had to grant concessions to his Lutheran subjects in 1572 and 1578 to secure the predominantly Protestant nobles and burghers financial support for the establishment of a new defense system against the Ottoman Turks 5 6 Ferdinand s education was managed primarily by his mother 7 He matriculated at the Jesuits school in Graz at the age of 8 7 His separate household was set up three years later 7 His parents wanted to separate him from the Lutheran Styrian nobles and sent him to Ingolstadt to continue his studies at the Jesuits college in Bavaria 8 Ferdinand chose Paul the Apostle s words To Those Who Fight Justly Goes the Crown as his personal motto before he left Graz in early 1590 9 His parents asked his maternal uncle William V Duke of Bavaria to oversee his education 10 Reign EditInner Austria Edit First years Edit Charles II died unexpectedly on 10 July 1590 7 having named his wife his brother Archduke Ferdinand II their nephew Emperor Rudolph II and his brother in law Duke William V the guardians of Ferdinand 11 Maria and William V tried to secure the regency for her but Rudolph II who was the head of the Habsburg family appointed his own brothers first Ernest in 1592 and then in 1593 Maximilian III to the post 11 12 The Estates of Inner Austria urged the Emperor to procure Ferdinand s return from Bavaria Maria resisted this and Ferdinand continued his studies at the Jesuit university 11 Ferdinand and his maternal cousin Maximilian I were the only future European rulers to have pursued university studies in the late 16th century 13 He regularly attended classes although his delicate health often forced him to stay in his chamber 14 His religiosity was reinforced during his studies 15 he did not miss the Masses on Sundays and feast days and made pilgrimages to Bavarian shrines 14 Ferdinand completed his studies on 21 December 1594 Rudolph II permitted him to return to Graz only two months later 16 Before leaving for his homeland Ferdinand solemnly promised to support the university and the Jesuits 16 Maximilian III renounced the regency and the Emperor made the 17 year old Ferdinand his own regent 17 Ferdinand chose the Jesuit Bartholomew Viller as his confessor 18 A burgher from Graz who had converted to Catholicism Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg became one of his most trusted courtiers 19 The weak position of Catholicism in Graz astonished Ferdinand especially when he realized that only his relatives and most trusted courtiers celebrated the Eucharist during the Easter Mass 20 nbsp Portrait of Ferdinand in his twenties c 1598 1605Ferdinand reached the age of majority in late 1596 21 He was first officially installed as ruler in Styria in December 21 He avoided discussion of religious affairs with the Estates taking advantage of their fear of an Ottoman invasion and the peasant uprisings in Upper Austria 21 Early the following year the representatives of the other Inner Austrian provinces swore fealty to him 19 He left unchanged the traditional system of government appointing only Catholics to the highest offices 19 He and his mother then met with Rudolph II in Prague 19 where Ferdinand informed the Emperor of his plans to strengthen the position of Catholicism 20 The Emperor s advisors acknowledged Ferdinand s right to regulate religious issues yet requested he not provoke his Protestant subjects 22 Rudolph II gave Ferdinand responsibility for the defense of Croatia Slavonia and the southeastern parts of Hungary proper against the Ottomans 23 He visited Nagykanizsa Cetin Castle and the nearby fortresses and ordered their repair 22 Ferdinand made an unofficial journey to Italy before getting fully involved in state administration 22 24 He named his mother regent and left Graz on 22 April 1598 25 He met with Pope Clement VIII in Ferrara in early May 26 and briefly mentioned that he wanted to expel all Protestants from Inner Austria which the Pope discouraged 27 Ferdinand continued his journey visiting the Holy House in Loreto 27 At the shrine he ceremoniously pledged that he would restore Catholicism according to his first biography written after his death by his confessor Wilhelm Lamormaini 27 Counter Reformation Edit nbsp Graz in the mid 17th centuryFerdinand returned to Graz on 20 June 1598 22 Johannes Kepler who had been staying in the town noted that the Protestant burghers watched Ferdinand s return with some apprehension 28 He had already made unsuccessful attempts to appoint Catholic priests to churches in predominantly Lutheran towns prior to his Italian journey 29 A former Jesuit student Lorenz Sonnabenter whom Ferdinand had sent to a parish in Graz made a formal complaint against the local Lutheran pastors on 22 August accusing them of unlawfully interfering in his office 30 Ferdinand s mother and Jesuit confessor urged him to take vigorous measures 30 He ordered the expulsion of all Protestant pastors and teachers from Styria Carinthia and Carniola on 13 September emphasizing that he was the general overseer of all ecclesiastical foundations in his hereditary lands 24 31 When the Protestant nobles and burghers protested against his decree he replied that the Estates had no jurisdiction in religious affairs 32 He summoned Italian and Spanish mercenaries to Graz 33 Due to his firm actions no riots broke out when the leaders of the Protestant community left Graz on 29 September 34 Ferdinand forbade the Estates of Styria Carinthia and Carniola to hold a joint assembly The Styrian nobles and burghers unsuccessfully sought assistance from Rudolph II and their Austrian peers against him 35 Although he issued new decrees to strengthen the position of the Catholic Church without seeking the Estates consent the Estates granted the subsidies that he had demanded from them 36 After the Styrian general assembly was dissolved Ferdinand summarized his views of the Counter Reformation in a letter to the delegates 37 He claimed that the unlawful prosecution of Catholics had forced him to adopt strict measures adding that the Holy Spirit had inspired his acts 37 In October 1599 Ferdinand set up special commissions consisting of a prelate and a high officer to install Catholic priests in each town and village and authorized them to apply military force if necessary 24 38 During the visit of the commissioners local Protestants were to choose between conversion or exile although in practice peasants were rarely allowed to leave 38 The commissioners also burnt prohibited books 24 Ferdinand did not force the Lutheran noblemen to convert to Catholicism but forbade them to employ Protestant priests 39 Brothers Quarrel and Turkish war Edit Further information Brothers Quarrel and Long Turkish War Ferdinand married his cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria in Graz on 23 April 1600 40 Their marriage improved the relationship between the Habsburgs and the Wittelsbachs which had deteriorated because of the appointment of Ferdinand s brother Leopold V to the Bishopric of Passau 41 Around the same time the relationship between Rudolph II and his brother Matthias deteriorated 42 Fearing that the Protestant prince electors could take advantage of his childless brother s death to elect a Protestant emperor Matthias wanted to convince Rudolph II to name him as his successor 42 Matthias discussed the issue with his younger brother Maximilian and with Ferdinand at a secret meeting in Schottwien in October 1600 42 They agreed to jointly approach the Emperor but the superstitious and melancholic Rudolph flatly refused to talk about his succession 43 44 nbsp The meeting of Emperor Rudolph II and his brother Archduke Matthias near Prague in 1608The Uskoks irregular soldiers of mixed origin along the northeastern coast of the Adriatic Sea made several attacks against the Venetian ships claiming that the Venetians cooperated with the Ottomans 45 46 The Venetians urged Ferdinand to prevent further piratical actions 45 In 1600 he sent an envoy to the Uskoks whom the Uskoks murdered 45 Ottoman raids against the borderlands continued and the expenses of the defence of Croatia Slavonia and southwestern Hungary were almost exclusively financed from Inner Austria 47 Ferdinand could never properly manage financial affairs and the most important fortresses were poorly supplied 48 The Ottomans occupied Nagykanizsa on 20 October 1600 which left the Styrian border almost defenseless against Ottoman raids 47 Ferdinand urged the Pope and Philip III of Spain to send reinforcements and funds to him 47 The Pope appointed his nephew Gian Francesco Aldobrandini as the commander of the papal troops 49 Ferdinand s counselors warned him against a counter invasion before further reinforcements arrived but Aldobrandini convinced him to lay siege to Nagykanizsa on 18 October 1601 48 After his troops were decimated by hunger and bad weather Ferdinand was forced to lift the siege and return to Styria on 15 November 49 The Ottomans failed to exploit this victory as Rudolph II s troops managed to defeat them near Szekesfehervar 50 This victory restored Rudolph s self confidence and he decided to introduce severe Counter Reformation measures in Silesia and Hungary outraging his Protestant subjects 44 The Calvinist magnate Istvan Bocskai rose up against Rudolph and most Hungarian noblemen joined him before the end of 1604 44 Taking advantage of his relatives anxiety Matthias persuaded Ferdinand Maximilian and Ferdinand s brother Maximilian Ernest to start new negotiations concerning Rudolph s succession 51 52 At their meeting in Linz in April 1606 the four archdukes concluded that the Emperor was incompetent and decided to replace him with Matthias in Bohemia Hungary and Upper and Lower Austria 51 Ferdinand later claimed that he only signed the secret treaty because he feared that his relatives could otherwise accuse him of pursuing the throne for himself 51 Rudolph did not abdicate the throne and announced that he was thinking of appointing Ferdinand s brother Leopold his successor 53 In fact the Emperor authorised Matthias to start negotiations with Bocskai 54 The resulting agreement was included in the Treaty of Vienna which granted religious freedom to Hungarian Protestants and prescribed the election of a palatine or royal deputy in Hungary on 23 June 1606 54 55 The subsequent Peace of Zsitvatorok put an end to the war with the Ottoman Empire on 11 November 1606 52 56 Rudolph II convoked the Imperial Diet to Regensburg and appointed Ferdinand as his deputy in November 1607 54 At the opening session of the Diet on 12 January 1608 Ferdinand demanded funds from the Imperial Estates on the Emperor s behalf to finance 24 000 troops 57 The delegates of the Protestant princes stated that they would vote for the tax only if the Catholic Estates accepted their interpretation of the Religious Peace of Augsburg especially their right to retain the lands they had confiscated from Catholic clerics in their realms 58 Ferdinand urged both parties to respect the Religious Peace but without much success 59 He started negotiations with William V of Bavaria about the formation of an alliance of the Catholic princes but his uncle wanted to establish it without the Habsburgs participation 60 After the Diet was closed in early May the Electoral Palatinate Brandenburg Wurtemberg and other Protestant principalities formed an alliance known as the Protestant Union to defend their common interests 61 62 Ferdinand s appointment as the Emperor s deputy to the Diet implied that Rudolph regarded Ferdinand the only Habsburg who had already fathered children as his successor 54 63 Matthias made public his secret treaty with Ferdinand and the Emperor pardoned Ferdinand 59 Matthias concluded a formal alliance with the representatives of the Hungarian and Austrian Estates and led an army of 15 000 strong to Moravia 64 The envoys of the Holy See and Philip III of Spain mediated a compromise in June 1608 64 According to the Treaty of Lieben Rudolph retained most Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the title of Holy Roman Emperor but had to renounce Hungary Lower and Upper Austria and Moravia in favor of Matthias 64 Both brothers were forced to confirm the privileges of the Estates in their realms including religious freedom 64 Matthias s successor Edit Negotiations and alliances Edit nbsp Coronation of Ferdinand II as king of Bohemia in 1617 Ferdinand s mother died on 29 April 1608 while he was staying in Regensburg 65 With her death as historian Robert Bireley noted Ferdinand lost the most important person in his life the one who more than any other had formed his character and his outlook 65 He requested the scholar Caspar Schoppe whom he had met at the Imperial Diet to elaborate a detailed plan for an alliance of the Catholic monarchs 66 Schoppe argued that the alliance was to guarantee the Religious Peace but he also demanded the restoration of Catholicism in all former ecclesiastic principalities and the return of the confiscated Church lands 67 Ferdinand embraced Schoppe s views and appointed him to start negotiations with Pope Paul V about a just war for the defence of the interests of Catholics but the Pope avoid making a commitment because he did not want to outrage Henry IV of France 68 Ferdinand also tried to strengthen his relationship with his Bavarian relatives because Matthias s rebellion against Rudolph II and his concessions to the Protestants had shocked Ferdinand 69 70 However William V and Maximilian of Bavaria ignored him when they and the three ecclesiastical electors the archbishops of Mainz Trier and Cologne established the Catholic League in February 1610 66 Only Philip III of Spain who promised financial aid to the League could persuade the Catholic princes to accept Ferdinand as a director and the vice protector of the League in August 66 Cooperating with Rudolph II s principal advisor Melchior Klesl Bishop of Vienna Ferdinand persuaded the Emperor to seek a reconciliation with Matthias 71 Ferdinand and other imperial princes came to Prague to meet with the Emperor on 1 May 1610 71 He stayed neutral in the family feud which enabled him to mediate between the two brothers 72 They reached a compromise but Rudolph refused to name Matthias as his successor 72 Instead he adopted Ferdinand s younger brother Leopold who had hired 15 000 mercenaries at his request 73 Leopold invaded Bohemia in February 1611 but the troops of the Bohemian Estates defeated him 73 74 The Bohemian Estates dethroned Rudolph and elected Matthias king on 23 May 1611 73 74 Since Rudolph retained the title of emperor his succession in the Holy Roman Empire remained uncertain 73 Matthias Ferdinand and Maximilian III assembled at Vienna to discuss the issue with Philip III s envoy Baltasar de Zuniga in December 73 They decided to support Matthias s election as King of the Romans which could have secured his right to succeed Rudolph II but the three ecclesiastical electors opposed the plan because of Matthias s concessions to the Protestants in Hungary Austria and Bohemia 75 Matthias was elected Holy Roman Emperor only months after Rudolph II died on 20 June 1612 76 Since Matthias and his two surviving brothers Maximilian III and Albert VII were childless his succession in Austria Bohemia Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire was uncertain 77 Matthias made Ferdinand the governor of Lower and Upper Austria and appointed him as his representative in Hungary but Klesl became his most influential advisor 76 Klesl wanted to forge a new princely alliance in the Holy Roman Empire with the participation of both Catholic and Protestant princes 78 79 Ferdinand and Maximilian III regarded his plan dangerous and sent envoys to Rome to convince the Pope about the importance of a pure Catholic alliance 78 Although the Catholic League was renewed it declared in accordance with Klesl s proposal the defense of the imperial constitution as its principal purpose instead of the protection of Catholicism 78 Philip III of Spain announced his claim to succeed Matthias in Bohemia and Hungary emphasizing that his mother Anna the sister of Matthias had never renounced her right to the two realms 77 80 Matthias and Ferdinand discussed the issue with Zuniga in Linz in June and July 1613 but they did not reach an agreement 81 Maximilian III and Albert VII who preferred Ferdinand to Philip III renounced their claims in favor of him in August 1614 but Klesl made several efforts to delay the decision 81 Uskok War and royal elections Edit nbsp Nehaj Fortress held by the Uskoks It is located on the Dalmatian coast near Senj Ferdinand sent troops against the Uskoks principal center at Senj to put an end to their piratical raids in 1614 45 Dozens of Uskok commanders were captured and beheaded but his action did not satisfy the Venetians who invaded Istria and captured Habsburg territories in 1615 82 They besieged Gradisca from 12 February to 30 March but they could not capture the fortress 83 Ferdinand sought assistance from Spain and the Venetians received support from the Dutch and English but neither side could achieve a decisive victory in the Uskok War 80 83 Matthias adopted Ferdinand as his son in 1615 but without proposing Ferdinand s election as king of the Romans because he feared that Ferdinand would force him to abdicate 84 In early 1616 Ferdinand pledged that he would not interfere in state administration in Matthias s realms 84 Klesl who regarded Ferdinand as the Jesuits puppet continued to oppose his appointment as Matthias s successor 80 On 31 October 1616 Ferdinand and Maximilian III agreed to achieve the removal of Klesl but Ferdinand wanted to conclude an agreement with Philip III about Matthias s succession before making further steps 84 Philip s new envoy at Vienna Inigo Velez de Guevara 7th Count of Onate and Ferdinand signed a secret treaty on 29 July 1617 85 Philip acknowledged Ferdinand s right to inherit Matthias s realms but Ferdinand promised to cede territories in Alsace along with Finale Ligure and the Principality of Piombino in Italy to Philip after he succeeded Matthias as Holy Roman Emperor 86 87 Philip also granted 1 million tallers to Ferdinand to finance the war against the Venetians 87 88 The Venetians again laid siege to Gradisca in March 1617 83 Ferdinand needed further funds but the Estates did not vote new taxes 83 Matthias fell seriously ill in late April 1617 89 Ignoring Klesl s advice he convoked the Diet of Bohemia to secure Ferdinand s succession 89 He announced that his two brothers had abdicated in favor of Ferdinand but the majority of the Bohemian delegates denied the Habsburgs hereditary right to Bohemia 89 After some negotiations all delegates but two noblemen and two burghers agreed to accept Ferdinand as king on 6 June 90 91 Ferdinand promised to respect the Letter of Majesty a royal diploma that guaranteed religious freedom in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown only after consulting with the local Jesuits 92 He was crowned king in the St Vitus Cathedral on 29 June 93 Ten regents seven Catholics and three Protestants were appointed and they established a censor office in Prague 94 Ferdinand and Matthias met with the Lutheran John George I Elector of Saxony in Dresden who promised to support Ferdinand at the imperial elections 87 95 John George also agreed to convince the two other Protestant electors Frederick V of the Palatinate and John Sigismund of Brandenburg to vote for Ferdinand 95 Ferdinand hired new troops against the Venetians and volunteers also joined his army 83 The Catholic Bohemian nobleman Albrecht von Wallenstein recruited 260 soldiers at his own expense 83 The Venetians abandoned the siege of Gradisca on 22 September but peace was restored only in early 1618 after Ferdinand agreed to resettle the Uskoks from the coastline and ordered the destruction of their ships 87 83 The Venetians abandoned the territories that they had occupied in Istria and a permanent Austrian garrison was placed at Senj 87 83 Matthias convoked the Diet of Hungary to Pressburg now Bratislava in Slovakia in early 1618 96 After the Hungarian delegates achieved the appointment of a new palatine or royal lieutenant and the confirmation of the Estates privileges they proclaimed Ferdinand king on 16 May 1618 96 He appointed the Catholic magnate Zsigmond Forgach as the new palatine 96 Thirty Years War Edit Bohemian revolt Edit nbsp The Holy Roman Empire on the eve of the war s outbreak in 1618 Habsburg controlled domains Austrian line Spanish line nbsp Religious situation in the Holy Roman Empire at the outbreak of the Thirty Years War in 1618The application of the Letter of Majesty was controversial in Bohemia 97 The Protestants argued that it allowed them to build churches on Catholic prelates lands but the Catholics did not accept their interpretation 97 Royal officials arrested Protestant burghers who wanted to build a church in Broumov and destroyed a newly built church in Hrob 98 90 The Protestants principally blamed two of the four Catholic royal governors Jaroslav Borita of Martinice and Vilem Slavata of Chlum for the violent acts 99 On 23 May 1618 Jindrich Matyas Thurn one of the two Czech magnates who had not accepted Ferdinand s succession led a group of armed noblemen to the Prague Castle 99 They captured the two governors and one of their secretaries and threw them out of the window 90 99 The Second Defenestration of Prague was the start of a new uprising 90 Two days later the Protestant Estates elected directors to form a provisional government and started to raise an army 98 100 Ferdinand was staying in Pressburg when he was informed of the Bohemian events on 27 May 1618 98 He urged Matthias to send an envoy to Prague but Matthias envoy could not reach a compromise 101 Ferdinand was crowned king of Hungary on 1 July and he returned to Vienna two weeks later 102 Ferdinand and Maximilian III decided to get rid of Klesl although the cardinal supported their demand for a more determined policy against the Bohemian rebels 103 After a meeting with Klesl at his home they invited him to the Hofburg but Ferdinand ordered his arrest at the entrance of the palace on 20 July 97 Ferdinand was automatically excommunicated for the imprisonment of a cardinal but Pope Paul V absolved him before the end of the year 104 Ferdinand started negotiations with the rebels with the mediation of John George I of Saxony 104 He demanded the dissolution of the provisional government and the rebels army 104 Instead of obeying his orders the rebels concluded an alliance with the Estates of Silesia Upper and Lower Lusatia and Upper Austria 105 106 Charles Emmanuel I Duke of Savoy hired Ernst von Mansfeld to assist the Bohemians 107 Mansfeld and his mercenaries captured Plzen which was an important center of the Bohemian Catholics and the rebels made raids into Lower Austria 106 107 From September 1618 Pope Paul V paid a monthly subsidy to Ferdinand to contribute to the costs of the war and Philip III of Spain also promised support to him 107 Emperor Matthias died on 20 March 1619 107 Maximilian of Bavaria encouraged Ferdinand to adopt an aggressive policy against the Bohemian rebels but Ferdinand again confirmed the Letter of Majesty and urged the Bohemians to send delegates to Vienna 107 The directors ignored Ferdinand s acts and made further preparations for an armed conflict 108 Wallenstein stormed into Olomouc and seized 96 000 talers from the Moravian treasury on 30 April 109 He gave the booty to Ferdinand but the king returned it to the Moravian Estates 110 The Protestant Estates of Upper Austria demanded the confirmation of their religious and political liberties before recognizing Ferdinand as Matthias successor 109 Thurn and his 15 000 troops laid siege to Vienna on 5 June 106 111 Since only 300 soldiers were staying in the town Ferdinand sent envoys to his commander at Krems Henri Dampierre and entered into negotiations with the Upper Austrian Protestants about their demands 109 Dampierre and his troops reached Vienna by boat and forced the Protestant delegates to flee from the Hofburg 109 After Ferdinand s general Count Bucquoy defeated the Bohemian rebels in the Battle of Sablat Thurn lifted the siege on 12 June 109 Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg Archbishop of Mainz convoked the electors meeting to Frankfurt 112 Ferdinand avoided the rebellious Upper Austria and approached the assembly through Salzburg and Munich 112 The Bohemians sent envoys to the conference and denied Ferdinand s right to vote as their king but the electors ignored their demand 112 The Estates of all Lands of the Bohemian Crown formed a confederation on 31 July 106 113 They deposed Ferdinand on 22 August and four days later they offered the crown to Frederick V of the Palatinate 106 113 Frederick had tried to convince the electors to elect Maximilian I of Bavaria as the new Holy Roman Emperor 114 Maximilian did not accept the candidacy and Ferdinand was unanimously elected as Emperor on 28 August 115 The news about Ferdinand s deposition in Bohemia reached Frankfurt on the same day but he did not leave the town before being crowned on 9 September 115 Gabriel Bethlen Prince of Transylvania made an alliance with the Bohemians and invaded Upper Hungary mainly present day Slovakia in September 116 117 After learning of Bethlen s success Frederick V accepted the Bohemian crown on 28 September 116 nbsp The Battle of White Mountain 1620 in Bohemia was one of the decisive battles of the Thirty Years War that ultimately led to the forced conversion of the Bohemian population back to Roman CatholicismFerdinand concluded a treaty with Maxilimian I in Munich on 8 October 1619 118 Maximilian became the head of a renewed Catholic League and Ferdinand promised to compensate him for the costs of the war 118 119 He was still in Munich when Bethlen and Thurn united their forces and laid siege to Vienna in November 119 Ferdinand sought assistance from his staunchly Catholic brother in law Sigismund III of Poland 120 Sigismund did not intervene however he did hire mercenaries from the Cossack lands which invaded Upper Hungary and forced Bethlen to hurry back to Transylvania in late January 1620 121 122 Ferdinand and Bethlen concluded a 9 month truce which temporarily acknowledged Bethlen s conquests in Hungary 122 Abandoned by Bethlen Thurn was forced to lift the siege 121 122 Ferdinand ordered Frederick to abandon Bohemia before 1 July threatening him with an imperial ban 123 John George I of Saxony promised support against the Bohemian rebels in exchange for Lusatia 124 but Bethlen made a new alliance with the Bohemian Confederation and they sent envoys to Constantinople to seek the sultan s assistance 125 Ferdinand continued the negotiations with the Estates of Lower and Upper Austria about his recognition as Matthias successor in both provinces 120 After his new confessor the Jesuit Martin Becanus assured him that he could grant concessions to the Protestants to secure their loyalty Ferdinand confirmed the Lutherans right to practise their religion in Lower Austria save the towns on 8 July 1620 126 Five days later the vast majority of the noblemen swore fealty to him 127 Before long Johann Tserclaes Count of Tilly who was the commander of the army of the Catholic League occupied Upper Austria Bucquoy defeated the last rebels in Lower Austria and John George of Saxony invaded Lusatia 124 128 Maximilian I retained Upper Austria as a security for Ferdinand s debts and the local Estates swore fealty to him on 20 August 129 The Diet of Hungary dethroned Ferdinand and elected Bethlen king on 23 August 125 130 The envoy of Louis XIII of France Charles de Valois Duke of Angouleme tried to mediate a compromise between Ferdinand and his opponents but Ferdinand was determined to force his rebellious subjects into obedience 131 The united troops of Maximilian I of Bavaria Tilly and Bucquoy invaded Bohemia and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Bohemians and their allies in the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620 128 132 Consolidation Edit See also Kipper und Wipper nbsp The execution of 27 Bohemian noblemen and burghers in Prague nbsp Eleonora Gonzaga in her wedding dress by Justus Sustermans 1621 22 Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Maximilian I of Bavaria urged Ferdinand to adopt strict measures against the Bohemians and their allies 133 and Ferdinand declared Frederick V an outlaw on 29 January 1621 134 Ferdinand charged Karl I Prince of Liechtenstein and Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein with the government of Bohemia and Moravia respectively and ordered the establishment of special courts of justice to hear the rebels trials 135 The new tribunals sentenced most leaders of the rebellion to death and 27 of them were executed in the Old Town Square in Prage on 21 June 135 The estates of more than 450 nobles and burghers were fully or partially confiscated 136 Ferdinand demanded further trials but Liechtenstein convinced him to grant a general pardon because Mansfeld s troops had not been expelled from western Bohemia 137 Bethlen also wanted to continue the war against Ferdinand but the Ottomans did not support him 138 After lengthy negotiations Bethlen renounced the title of king of Hungary after Ferdinand ceded him seven Hungarian counties and two Silesian duchies in the Peace of Nikolsburg on 31 December 1621 130 By that time Ferdinand had banned all Protestant pastors from Prague ignoring John George I of Saxony s protests 139 Ferdinand could not pay off his mercenaries salaries 140 Liechtenstein Eggenberg Wallenstein and other noblemen established a consortium that also included the Jewish banker Jacob Bassevi and Wallenstein s financial manager Hans de Witte 141 They persuaded Ferdinand to lease all Bohemian Moravian and Lower Austrian mints to them for one year in return for 6 million gulden on 18 January 1622 141 The consortium minted debased silver coins issuing almost 30 million gulden 141 They used the bad money to purchase silver and the rebels confiscated property and also to pay off the lease 141 The liberal issue of the new currency caused the western s worlds first financial crisis 142 featured by inflation famine and other symptoms of economic and social disruption 141 Dietrichstein and the Jesuits urged Ferdinand to intervene and he dissolved the consortium in early 1623 141 Ferdinand met his second wife the 23 year old Eleonora Gonzaga in Innsbruck on 1 February 1622 143 She was crowned as queen of Hungary in Sopron where the first Italian opera was performed in the Habsburgs realms during the festivities that followed the coronation 144 Ferdinand had convoked the Diet of Hungary to Sopron to assure the Hungarian Estates that he would respect their privileges 130 145 The Diet elected a Lutheran aristocrat Count Szaniszlo Thurzo 145 as the new palatine 130 The united imperial and Spanish armies inflicted decisive defeats on the Protestant troops in the Holy Roman Empire in May and June 1622 146 Tilly conquered the capital of the Palatinate Heidelberg on 19 September 146 Ferdinand convoked the German princes to a conference to Regensburg primarily to talk about the future of the Palatinate 146 He reached the town on 24 November but most Protestant princes sent delegates to the convention 147 He had secretly promised the transfer of Frederick V s title of elector to Maximilian I and his heirs but most of his allies did not support the plan 148 They only agreed to bestow the title on Maximilian personally 148 Ferdinand had to yield but assured Maximilian that he had not abandoned their original plan 148 He invested Maximilian with the electoral title on 25 February 1623 but the envoys of the electors of Brandenburg and Saxony and the Spanish ambassador were absent from the ceremony 149 150 Ferdinand decided to unite the Habsburgs hereditary lands Inner Austria Upper and Lower Austria and Tyrol into a new kingdom 145 He informed his brothers Leopold and Charles about his plan in a letter on 29 April 1623 but they rejected it 145 Leopold wanted to establish his own principality 145 He renounced the bishoprics of Passau and Strasbourg in favor of Ferdinand s younger son Leopold Wilhelm and retained Further Austria and Tyrol that he had administered since 1619 151 Deprived of the Palatinate Frederick V had made a new alliance with the Dutch Republic 152 Bethlen used Ferdinand s refusal to give one of his daughters to him in marriage as a pretext to join the new coalition 130 Christian of Brunswick was dispatched to invade Bohemia from the north while Bethlen attacked from the east 153 but Johann Tserclaes Count of Tilly routed Brunswick in the Battle of Stadtlohn on 6 August 1623 154 The Ottomans denied support to Bethlen and he was forced to sign a new peace treaty in Vienna in May 1624 155 154 The treaty confirmed the provisions of the previous Peace of Nikolsburg 130 154 Restoration Edit nbsp Ferdinand s Reformationspatent ordered every Protestant preacher and teacher in Upper Austria to be inducted into a special registry in 1624 Becanus who died in late 1623 was succeeded by Lamormaini as Ferdinand s confessor 151 Lamormaini awakened Ferdinand s determination to adopt strict measures against the Protestants 156 At his initiative Ferdinand decided to unite the medical and law faculties of the Charles University in Prague with the theological and philosophical faculties of the Jesuits local college to strengthen the Jesuits control of higher education 139 The new archbishop of Prague Ernst Adalbert of Harrach did not renounce the control of the university and also wanted to prevent the Jesuits from seizing the estates of the Charles University 157 Valerianus Magnus the head of the Capuchins in Bohemia and the Holy See supported Harrach but Ferdinand did not relent 157 Ferdinand ceremoniously renewed his oath about the restoration of Catholicism in his realms on 25 March 1624 156 First he banned Protestant ceremonies in Bohemia proper and Moravia even prohibiting the noblemen to hold Protestant pastors on 18 May 158 Maximilian I of Bavaria who still held Upper Austria in pledge proposed a cautious approach in the province but Ferdinand ordered the expulsion of all Protestant pastors and teachers on 4 October 156 A year later he prescribed that all inhabitants were to convert to Catholicism in Upper Austria by the following Easter allowing only noblemen and burghers to choose to leave the province 159 The Upper Austrian peasants rose up in a rebellion and took control of the territories to the north of the Danube in May June 1626 159 They sent delegates to Ferdinand in Vienna but he did not give them an audience 159 Instead he sent troops from Lower Austria to assist the Bavarian army in the crushing of the rebellion which was accomplished by the end of November 159 Tens of thousands of Protestants left Upper Austria during the following years 159 Ferdinand also took advantage of his peace with Bethlen to strengthen his position in Hungary 154 The Diet of Hungary confirmed the right of his son Ferdinand III to succeed him in October 1625 154 Ferdinand also achieved the election of a Catholic magnate Count Miklos Esterhazy as the new palatine with the support of the Archbishop of Esztergom Cardinal Peter Pazmany 154 Conclusion Edit nbsp Ferdinand II 1626This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message The chief minister of Louis XIII of France Cardinal Richelieu started to forge an alliance against the Habsburgs in 1624 160 French troops were garrisoned along the French frontiers and Richelieu sent envoys to the wealthy and ambitious Christian IV of Denmark and other Protestant rulers to convince them to form a new league 161 Christian IV raised new troops and stationed them in his Duchy of Holstein in the Lower Saxon Circle of the Holy Roman Empire and persuaded the other Lower Saxon rulers to make him the commander of their united armies in early 1625 162 163 Initially Ferdinand wanted to avoid the renewal of armed conflicts but Maximilian of Bavaria urged him to gather an army against the new Protestant alliance 162 Wallenstein who had accumulated immeasurable wealth in Bohemia offered to hire mercenaries for him but Ferdinand still hesitated 164 He authorized Maximilian to invade the Lower Saxon Circle if it were necessary to stop a Danish attack only in July 165 In the same month Maximilian ordered Tilly to move his troops into Lower Saxony and Wallenstein invaded the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and the Bishopric of Halberstadt but a fierce rivalry between the two commanders prevented them from continuing the military campaign 164 166 The electors of Mainz and Saxony demanded that Ferdinand should convoke the electors to a new convention to discuss the status of the Palatinate but Ferdinand adopted a delaying tactic 166 In a letter he informed Maximilian of Bavaria about his plan to grant a pardon to Frederick V in exchange for Frederick s public submission and an indemnification for the costs of the war but he also emphasized that he did not want to deprive Maximilian of the electoral title 166 The English Dutch and Danish envoys concluded an alliance against the Catholic League in The Hague on 9 December 1625 167 Bethlen promised to launch a new military campaign against Royal Hungary and Richelieu agreed to send a subsidy to him 167 Taking advantage of the peasant revolt in Upper Austria Christian IV departed from his headquarters in Wolfenbuttel but Tilly routed his troops in the Battle of Lutter on 26 August 1626 167 Mansfeld who had invaded Silesia reached Upper Hungary but Bethlen made a new peace with Ferdinand on 20 December 1626 because he could not wage war alone against the Emperor 168 169 Ferdinand deprived the dukes of Mecklenburg from their duchies for their support to Christian IV in February 1627 170 In the same month Wallenstein occupied Mecklenburg Pomerania and Holstein and invaded Denmark 170 His devout Catholicism and negative view of Protestantism caused immediate turmoil in his non Catholic subjects especially in Bohemia He did not wish to uphold the religious liberties granted by the Letter of Majesty signed by the previous emperor Rudolph II which had guaranteed freedom of religion to the nobles and cities Additionally Ferdinand as an absolutist monarch infringed several historical privileges of the nobles citation needed Given the great number of Protestants among the ordinary population in the kingdom and some of the nobles the king s unpopularity soon caused the Bohemian Revolt The Second Defenestration of Prague of 22 May 1618 is considered the first step of the Thirty Years War citation needed In the following events he remained a staunch backer of the Anti Protestant Counter Reformation efforts as one of the heads of the German Catholic League Ferdinand succeeded Matthias as Holy Roman Emperor in 1619 Supported by the Catholic League and the Kings of Spain and the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth Ferdinand decided to reclaim his possession in Bohemia and to quash the rebels On 8 November 1620 his troops led by the Flemish general Johann Tserclaes Count of Tilly smashed the rebels of Frederick V who had been elected as rival King in 1619 After Frederick s flight to the Netherlands Ferdinand ordered a massive effort to bring about re conversion to Catholicism in Bohemia and Austria causing Protestantism there to nearly disappear in the following decades and reducing the Diet s power citation needed nbsp Ferdinand II 1635 two years before his death In 1625 despite the subsidies received from Spain and the Pope Ferdinand was in a bad financial situation In order to muster an imperial army to continue the war he applied to Albrecht von Wallenstein one of the richest men in Bohemia the latter accepted on condition that he could keep total control over the direction of the war as well as over the booties taken during the operations Wallenstein was able to recruit some 30 000 men later expanded up to 100 000 with whom he was able to defeat the Protestants in Silesia Anhalt and Denmark In the wake of these Catholic military successes in 1629 Ferdinand issued the Edict of Restitution by which all the lands stripped from Catholics after the Peace of Passau of 1552 would be returned citation needed His military success caused the tottering Protestants to call in Gustavus II Adolphus King of Sweden Soon some of Ferdinand s allies began to complain about the excessive power exercised by Wallenstein as well as the ruthless methods he used to finance his vast army Ferdinand replied by firing the Bohemian general in 1630 The leadership of the war thenceforth passed to Tilly who was however unable to stop the Swedish march from northern Germany towards Austria Some historians directly blame Ferdinand for the large civilian loss of life in the Sack of Magdeburg in 1631 he had instructed Tilly to enforce the edict of Restitution upon the Electorate of Saxony his orders causing the Belgian general to move the Catholic armies east ultimately to Leipzig where they suffered their first substantial defeat at the hands of Adolphus Swedes in the First Battle of Breitenfeld 1631 citation needed Tilly died in battle in 1632 Wallenstein was recalled being able to muster an army in only a week and immediately staked a tactical if not strategic victory at the September Battle of Furth quickly followed by his forces expelling the Swedes from Bohemia In November 1632 however the Catholics were defeated in the Battle of Lutzen 1632 while Gustavus Adolphus was himself killed citation needed A period of minor operations followed Perhaps because of Wallenstein s ambiguous conduct he was assassinated in 1634 Despite Wallenstein s fall the imperial forces recaptured Regensburg and were victorious in the Battle of Nordlingen 1634 The Swedish army was substantially weakened and the fear that the power of the Habsburgs would become overwhelming caused France led by Louis XIII of France and Cardinal Richelieu to enter the war on the Protestant side Louis s father Henry IV of France had once been a Huguenot leader In 1635 Ferdinand signed his last important act the Peace of Prague 1635 yet this did not end the war citation needed Ferdinand died in 1637 leaving to his son Ferdinand III Holy Roman Emperor an empire still engulfed in a war and whose fortunes seemed to be increasingly chaotic Ferdinand II was buried in his Mausoleum in Graz His heart was interred in the Herzgruft heart crypt of the Augustinian Church Vienna citation needed Marriages and issue Edit nbsp Maria Anna of Bavaria nbsp Ferdinand II Holy Roman Emperor and his second wife Eleonora Gonzaga Princess of Mantua Even though they had no children their marriage was perceived to be a happy one In 1600 Ferdinand married Maria Anna of Bavaria 1574 1616 daughter of Duke William V of Bavaria They had seven children Archduchess Christine 25 May 1601 12 21 June 1601 Archduke Charles 25 May 1603 Archduke John Charles 1 November 1605 26 December 1619 Ferdinand III 13 July 1608 2 April 1657 married 1631 Infanta Maria Anna of Spain 1648 Maria Leopoldine of Austria 1651 Eleanor Gonzaga 1630 1686 Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria 13 January 1610 25 September 1665 Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria 16 July 1611 24 March 1644 who married her cousin Wladyslaw IV Vasa King of Poland Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria 1614 1662 In 1622 he married Eleonore of Mantua Gonzaga 1598 1655 the daughter of Duke Vincenzo I of Mantua and Eleonora de Medici at Innsbruck They had no children Ancestors EditAncestors of Ferdinand II Holy Roman Emperor16 Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor 178 8 Philip I of Castile 173 174 28 17 Mary of Burgundy 178 4 Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor 171 14 18 Ferdinand II of Aragon 179 9 Joanna of Castile 174 29 19 Isabella I of Castile 179 2 Charles II of Austria20 Casimir IV Jagiellon 180 10 Vladislas II of Bohemia and Hungary 175 30 21 Elisabeth of Austria 180 5 Anna of Bohemia and Hungary 171 15 22 Gaston de Foix Count of Candale 181 11 Anna of Foix Candale 175 31 23 Catherine of Foix 181 1 Ferdinand II Holy Roman Emperor24 Albert IV Duke of Bavaria 182 12 William IV Duke of Bavaria 176 25 Kunigunde of Austria 182 6 Albert V Duke of Bavaria 172 26 Philip I Margrave of Baden 183 13 Marie of Baden Sponheim 176 27 Elisabeth of the Palatinate 183 3 Maria Anna of Bavaria28 Philip I of Castile 8 14 Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor 177 4 29 Joanna of Castile 9 7 Anna of Austria 172 30 Vladislas II of Bohemia and Hungary 10 15 Anna of Bohemia and Hungary 177 5 31 Anna of Foix Candale 11 Titles Edit nbsp Coat of arms of Ferdinand IIFerdinand II by the grace of God elected Holy Roman Emperor forever August King in Germany King of Hungary Bohemia Dalmatia Croatia Slavonia Rama Serbia Galicia Lodomeria Cumania Bulgaria Archduke of Austria Duke of Burgundy Brabant Styria Carinthia Carniola Margrave of Moravia Duke of Luxemburg of the Higher and Lower Silesia of Wurttemberg and Teck Prince of Swabia Count of Habsburg Tyrol Kyburg and Goritia Marquess of the Holy Roman Empire Burgovia the Higher and Lower Lusace Lord of the Marquisate of Slavonia of Port Naon and Salines etc etc See also EditKings of Germany family tree He was related to every other king of Germany citation needed References Edit Bireley 2014 p 1 Bireley 2014 pp 1 2 Bireley 2014 pp 314 315 Bireley 2014 p 2 Bireley 2014 pp 1 5 6 MacCulloch 2009 p 436 a b c d Bireley 2014 p 10 Bireley 2014 p 11 Bireley 2014 pp 10 12 Bireley 2014 p 12 a b c Bireley 2014 p 14 Whaley 2012 p 430 Bireley 2014 p 15 a b Bireley 2014 p 16 MacCulloch 2009 p 437 a b Bireley 2014 p 17 Bireley 2014 p 20 Bireley 2014 p 21 a b c d Bireley 2014 p 24 a b Bireley 2014 pp 24 25 a b c Bireley 2014 p 22 a b c d Bireley 2014 p 25 Bireley 2014 pp 25 43 a b c d Parker 1997 p 6 Bireley 2014 pp 25 26 Bireley 2014 p 27 a b c Bireley 2014 p 28 Bireley 2014 p 30 Bireley 2014 pp 31 32 a b Bireley 2014 p 32 Bireley 2014 p 33 Bireley 2014 pp 33 34 Bireley 2014 p 34 Bireley 2014 pp 34 35 Bireley 2014 p 35 Bireley 2014 pp 35 36 a b Bireley 2014 p 37 a b Bireley 2014 p 39 Bireley 2014 p 38 Bireley 2014 p 42 Bireley 2014 pp 41 42 a b c Bireley 2014 p 47 Bireley 2014 pp 47 48 a b c Whaley 2012 p 434 a b c d Bireley 2014 p 81 Parker 1997 pp 35 36 a b c Bireley 2014 p 43 a b Bireley 2014 pp 43 44 a b Bireley 2014 p 44 Bireley 2014 p 45 a b c Bireley 2014 p 48 a b Parker 1997 p 8 Bireley 2014 p 49 a b c d Whaley 2012 p 435 Kontler 1999 p 164 Kontler 1999 p 166 Bireley 2014 p 52 Bireley 2014 pp 49 50 52 a b Bireley 2014 p 55 Bireley 2014 pp 54 61 62 Whaley 2012 p 422 Bireley 2014 pp 56 57 Bireley 2014 pp 49 51 a b c d Whaley 2012 p 436 a b Bireley 2014 p 60 a b c Bireley 2014 p 62 Bireley 2014 pp 62 63 Bireley 2014 p 64 Bireley 2014 p 57 Parker 1997 p 34 a b Bireley 2014 p 67 a b Bireley 2014 p 68 a b c d e Bireley 2014 p 69 a b Panek 2011 p 222 Bireley 2014 pp 69 70 a b Bireley 2014 p 71 a b Bireley 2014 p 75 a b c Bireley 2014 p 73 Parker 1997 p 30 a b c Parker 1997 p 35 a b Bireley 2014 pp 75 76 Bireley 2014 pp 81 82 a b c d e f g h Bireley 2014 p 82 a b c Bireley 2014 p 76 Volker Press 1991 Kriege und Krisen Deutschland 1600 1715 Neue deutsche Geschichte in German Vol 5 Bireley 2014 p 80 a b c d e Parker 1997 p 37 Bireley 2014 pp 80 82 a b c Bireley 2014 p 84 a b c d Panek 2011 p 223 Bireley 2014 pp 84 85 Bireley 2014 pp 85 86 Bireley 2014 p 86 Parker 1997 p 39 a b Bireley 2014 p 87 a b c Bireley 2014 p 88 a b c Bireley 2014 p 93 a b c Bireley 2014 p 91 a b c Bireley 2014 p 90 Parker 1997 p 43 Bireley 2014 pp 91 92 Bireley 2014 pp 88 91 Bireley 2014 pp 92 93 a b c Bireley 2014 p 94 Bireley 2014 pp 94 95 a b c d e Parker 1997 p 46 a b c d e Bireley 2014 p 95 Bireley 2014 pp 95 96 a b c d e Bireley 2014 p 97 Bireley 2014 pp 97 98 Bireley 2014 pp 96 98 a b c Bireley 2014 p 98 a b Bireley 2014 p 100 Bireley 2014 pp 98 99 a b Bireley 2014 p 99 a b Parker 1997 p 47 Kontler 1999 p 170 a b Bireley 2014 p 101 a b Parker 1997 p 50 a b Bireley 2014 p 105 a b Bireley 2014 p 106 a b c Parker 1997 p 52 Wilson 2009 p 296 a b Parker 1997 p 54 a b Bireley 2014 p 109 Bireley 2014 pp 105 107 Bireley 2014 pp 107 108 a b Panek 2011 p 225 Bireley 2014 p 140 a b c d e f Kontler 1999 p 171 Parker 1997 pp 54 55 Parker 1997 p 55 Bireley 2014 p 118 Wilson 2009 p 355 a b Mikulec 2011 p 233 Mikulec 2011 p 234 Bireley 2014 p 121 Bireley 2014 p 117 a b Bireley 2014 p 145 Bireley 2014 p 133 a b c d e f Bireley 2014 p 134 Wilson 2009 p 795 Bireley 2014 pp 129 130 Bireley 2014 pp 130 131 a b c d e Bireley 2014 p 131 a b c Bireley 2014 p 154 Bireley 2014 pp 154 155 a b c Bireley 2014 p 155 Bireley 2014 p 156 Parker 1997 p 60 a b Bireley 2014 p 132 Parker 1997 pp 60 61 Parker 1997 p 61 a b c d e f Bireley 2014 p 157 Parker 1997 p xxix a b c Bireley 2014 p 142 a b Bireley 2014 pp 145 146 Bireley 2014 p 147 a b c d e Bireley 2014 p 143 Bireley 2014 p 158 Bireley 2014 pp 158 159 a b Bireley 2014 p 159 Parker 1997 p 67 a b Parker 1997 pp 67 68 Bireley 2014 pp 159 160 a b c Bireley 2014 p 161 a b c Parker 1997 p 69 Parker 1997 p 70 Bireley 2014 p 163 a b Parker 1997 pp xxx 70 a b Wurzbach Constantin von ed 1860 Habsburg Karl II von Steiermark Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire in German Vol 6 p 352 via Wikisource a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names editors list link a b Wurzbach Constantin von ed 1861 Habsburg Maria von Bayern Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire in German Vol 7 p 20 via Wikisource a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names editors list link Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopaedia Britannica a b Charles V Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopaedia Britannica a b Obermayer Marnach Eva 1953 Anna Jagjello Neue Deutsche Biographie in German vol 1 Berlin Duncker amp Humblot p 299 full text online a b Goetz Walter 1953 Albrecht V Neue Deutsche Biographie in German vol 1 Berlin Duncker amp Humblot pp 158 160 full text online a b Wurzbach Constantin von ed 1860 Habsburg Anna von Oesterreich 1528 1587 Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire in German Vol 6 p 151 via Wikisource a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint multiple names editors list link a b Philip I King of Castile at the Encyclopaedia Britannica a b Chisholm Hugh ed 1911 Joanna Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 15 11th ed Cambridge University Press a b Casimir IV King of Poland at the Encyclopaedia Britannica a b Revue de l Agenais in French Vol 4 Societe des sciences lettres et arts d Agen 1877 p 497 a b Riezler Sigmund Ritter von 1897 Wilhelm IV Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ADB in German vol 42 Leipzig Duncker amp Humblot pp 705 717 a b Bruning Rainer 2001 Philipp I Neue Deutsche Biographie in German vol 20 Berlin Duncker amp Humblot p 372 full text online Sources EditBireley Robert 2014 Ferdinand II Counter Reformation Emperor 1578 1637 Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 1 107 06715 8 Kontler Laszlo 1999 Millennium in Central Europe A History of Hungary Atlantisz Publishing House ISBN 963 9165 37 9 MacCulloch Diarmaid 2009 The Reformation A History Viking ISBN 978 0 670 03296 9 Mikulec Jiri 2011 Baroque Absolutism 1620 1740 In Panek Jaroslav Tuma Oldrich eds A History of the Czech Lands Charles University pp 233 259 ISBN 978 80 246 1645 2 Panek Jaroslav 2011 The Czech Estates in the Habsburg Monarchy 1526 1620 In Panek Jaroslav Tuma Oldrich eds A History of the Czech Lands Charles University pp 191 229 ISBN 978 80 246 1645 2 Parker Geoffrey ed 1997 1984 The Thirty Years War 2nd ed Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 15458 1 Whaley Joachim 2012 Germany and the Holy Roman Empire Volume I Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia 1493 1648 Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 968882 1 Wilson Peter Hamish 2009 The Thirty Years War Europe s Tragedy The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press ISBN 978 0 674 03634 5 Further reading EditBireley Robert Religion and Politics in the Age of the Counterreformation Emperor Ferdinand II William Lamormaini SJ and the Formation of the Imperial Policy U Press of North Carolina 2012 Chisholm Hugh ed 1911 Ferdinand II 1578 1637 Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 10 11th ed Cambridge University Press nbsp Klaar K 1909 Ferdinand II In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 6 New York Robert Appleton Company Saunders Steven Cross sword and lyre sacred music at the imperial court of Ferdinand II of Habsburg 1619 1637 Oxford UP 1995 Sturmberger H in German 20 July 1998 Ferdinand II Holy Roman emperor Encyclopaedia Britannica External links Edit nbsp Media related to Ferdinand II Holy Roman Emperor at Wikimedia Commons Regnal titles Edit Ferdinand II Holy Roman EmperorHouse of HabsburgBorn 9 July 1578 Died 15 February 1637Regnal titlesPreceded byAlbert VII Archduke of Further Austria1619 1623 Succeeded byLeopold VArchduke of Austria1619 1637 Succeeded byFerdinand IIIPreceded byCharles II Archduke of Inner Austria1590 1637Preceded byMatthiasKing in GermanyKing of Hungary and Croatia1618 1637Holy Roman Emperor1619 1637King of Bohemia1617 1619 Succeeded byFrederickPreceded byFrederick King of Bohemia1620 1637 Succeeded byFerdinand III Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ferdinand II Holy Roman Emperor amp oldid 1175205762, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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