Everything about Ferdinand Ii Holy Roman Emperor totally explained
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (
July 9,
1578 –
February 15,
1637), of the House of
Habsburg, reigned as
Holy Roman Emperor from 1619-1637. He was also the Archduke of
Styria (
Inner Austria) from 1590–1637,
King of Bohemia from 1617-1619 and again from 1620-1637, as well as King of Hungary from 1618-1625. A devout
Catholic, his recognition as King of
Bohemia and suppression of
Protestantism precipitated the early events of the
Thirty Years' War. The duration of his reign was occupied by confessional and military concerns.
Biography
Early years
Born in
Graz to
Charles II of Austria (1540-1590) and
Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551-1608), Ferdinand was provided with a strict
Jesuit education culminating in his years at the
University of Ingolstadt. After completing his studies in 1595, he acceded to his hereditary lands (where his older cousin Archduke
Maximilian III of Austria had acted as his regent 1593-95) and made a pilgrimage to
Loreto and
Rome. Shortly afterwards, he began to suppress the practice of non-Catholic faiths within his territory.
King of Bohemia
In 1617, Ferdinand was elected
King of Bohemia by the Bohemian
Diet. He also secured support from the
Spanish Habsburgs for his claim to succeed the childless Emperor
Matthias on the throne, granting them future rule over
Alsace and Imperial fiefs in
Italy. Ferdinand's staunch Catholicism led to infringements on the religious freedoms of non-Catholics. Among other things, the king didn't respect the religious freedoms granted in the
Majestät (or "Majestic Letter") signed by the earlier emperor
Rudolf II to end the
Brothers' War, which had granted freedom of worship to nobles and the inhabitants of cities. Additionally, Ferdinand was an
absolutist and infringed upon what nobles regarded as secular rights. Given the relatively large number of Protestants within the kingdom, including many among the noble classes, the new king soon became unpopular and some dissidents participated in the ensuing
Bohemian Revolt. On
May 22,
1618, two royal (Catholic) officials in
Prague were thrown out a castle window by Bohemian Protestants (
the Defenestration of Prague). Though the officials were uninjured, such actions didn't fall within the realm of standard protocol, and the clear offense against the royal dignity led to a hardening of attitudes and full rebellion.
The nobility revolted against Ferdinand and replaced him with the Protestant
Elector Frederick V of the
Palatinate, known as the "Winter King."
Holy Roman Emperor
Emperor Matthias died in
Vienna in March 1619. As earlier agreed, Ferdinand succeeded him on the throne. Supported by the
Catholic League, which included the rulers of
Poland,
Spain, and
Bavaria, Ferdinand sought to reclaim his Bohemian possessions and stamp out the Protestant rebellion. On
November 8,
1620, Catholic forces engaged those supporting the Protestant
Frederick, who had taken the Bohemian kingship, at the
Battle of White Mountain. After only two hours of fighting, the Catholics emerged victorious. The now-deposed Frederick fled to the
Netherlands and Duke
Maximilian I of Bavaria, the leader of the Catholic League, moved to confiscate his lands in the Palatinate. The restored Ferdinand set about strengthening the Catholic church in Bohemia, reduced the authority of the Diet, and forcibly converted Austrian and Bohemian Protestants.
By 1625, despite receiving subsidies from the Spanish and the Pope, Ferdinand was strapped for cash and looking for a means to raise his own army. His solution was to charge the Bohemian soldier and "military entrepreneur"
Albrecht von Wallenstein with raising and commanding an Imperial army. Wallenstein accepted the position with the proviso that the management (and possession) of the army's funds were solely his, as was the right to take and distribute loot and ransoms taken in the course of operations. Quickly raising at least 30,000 men (he would later command at least 100,000), and fighting alongside the Catholic League army under the
Count of Tilly, Wallenstein defeated Protestant forces in
Silesia,
Anhalt, and
Denmark.
With his forces scoring important victories against the Protestants, Ferdinand crowned his religious policies by issuing his
Edict of Restitution (1629), which was designed to restore all ecclesiastical properties which had been secularized since the
Peace of Passau in 1552. This blatantly pro-Catholic policy has been widely credited with bringing the Protestant King of
Sweden,
Gustavus Adolphus, into the war against Ferdinand.
Despite the successes of Wallenstein, many of Ferdinand's advisors saw a genuine political threat in the general, citing his growing influence, his increasing number of estates and titles, as well as his extortionate methods of raising funds for his army. Ferdinand responded by dismissing Wallenstein in 1630. With the loss of his commander, he was once again forced to rely on the Catholic League army under Tilly, who was unable to stem the Swedish advance and was killed in 1632. As a result, Ferdinand recalled Wallenstein from retirement.
In the spring of 1632, Wallenstein raised a fresh army in a matter of weeks and drove the Protestant army out of Bohemia. In November came the great
Battle of Lützen, at which the Catholics were defeated, but Gustavus Adolphus was killed. Wallenstein withdrew to winter quarters in Bohemia. Although he'd lost strategically and been forced out of Saxony, the Protestants had suffered much greater casualties.
The campaigning of 1633 was indecisive, partly because Wallenstein was negotiating with the enemy, thinking that the army would be loyal to him, rather than Ferdinand, and follow him if he switched sides. In early 1634, he was openly accused of treason and assassinated at
Eger, probably at Ferdinand's instigation.
Despite the loss of Wallenstein, Imperial forces took
Regensburg and won a victory at the
Battle of Nördlingen. Swedish strength was greatly weakened, but
France entered the war on the side of the Protestants out of fear of Habsburg domination. Although the country was Catholic, France feared both the Germans and the Spanish, so
Cardinal Richelieu convinced King
Louis XIII of France to ally himself with the Dutch and the Swedes.
The French were highly dissatisfied with the terms of the
Peace of Prague concluded in 1635, the last important act of Ferdinand. Therefore, although a treaty was signed, peace didn't come. At Ferdinand's death in 1637, his son
Ferdinand III inherited an embattled empire.
Ancestors
Marriages and issue
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 Eleanore de Medici of Tuscany, at
Innsbruck.
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