Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

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Ferdinand II
Portrait of Archduke 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, 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...
Roman Catholicism
SignatureFerdinand II's signature

Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was

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, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
, who was the head of the Habsburg family, appointed regents to administer these lands.

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.

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. The rebel Bohemians offered their crown to the Calvinist Frederick V of the Palatinate
on 26 August 1619.

The

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 Holy Roman Empire
and to wipe out any form of religious dissent. The war left the empire devastated and its population did not recover until 1710.

Childhood

Born in the

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 Empire.[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

Inner Austria

First years

Charles II died unexpectedly on 10 July 1590,

Rudolf 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.

Royal Hungary 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

A fortress and houses on a hill which is surrounded by a river
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

Further information: Brothers' Quarrel and Long Turkish War

Ferdinand married his cousin,

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]

A man wearing a large hat receives an other man, both being surrounded by a large crowd of armed people
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

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

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

Negotiations and alliances

A bishop crowns a kneeling man in a large church filled with dozens of men
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' 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,

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

A rectangular fortress made of stone
Nehaj Fortress held by the Uskoks. It is located on the Dalmatian coast near Senj.

Ferdinand sent troops against the Uskoks' principal center at

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

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 thalers 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, Elector 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

Bohemian revolt

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.

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 thalers 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 Duval, Count of 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, Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, 2nd Count of 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]

Roman Catholicism

Ferdinand concluded a

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 Sultan Osman II's assistance.[125]

Ferdinand continued the negotiations with the Estates of Lower and Upper Austria about his recognition as Matthias' successor in both provinces.

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

See also: Kipper und Wipper
A man is being beheaded on a platform, which is defended by musketeers and surrounded by hundreds of people on a large square
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,

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

A sealed diploma.
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.

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.

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.

Archbishop of Esztergom, Cardinal Péter Pázmány.[154]

Conclusion

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 had invaded Silesia and 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,

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

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

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

Maria Anna of Bavaria
A man and a woman standing at a table near a window
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

Eleonora de' Medici, at Innsbruck
. They had no children.

Ancestors

Male-line family tree

Titles

Coat of arms of Ferdinand II
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

  • Kings of Germany family tree. He was related to every other king of Germany.[citation needed
    ]

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Sources

Further reading

External links

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

Regnal titles

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
House of Habsburg
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
Croatia

1618–1637
Holy Roman Emperor
1619–1637
King of Bohemia

1617–1619 		Succeeded by
Frederick
Preceded by
Frederick
King of Bohemia

1620–1637 		Succeeded by
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