Ferdinand III, Spanish king of Castile and León

Ferdinand III, 1199–1252, Spanish king of Castile (1217–52) and León (1230–52), son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of Castile. At the death (1217) of her brother, Henry I Henry I, 1204–17, Spanish king of Castile (1214–17), son and successor of Alfonso VIII. At his death after a short, uneventful reign, his sister Berenguela renounced her rights to the crown in favor of her son, Ferdinand III.
..... Click the link for more information. of Castile, Berenguela renounced her right of succession in Ferdinand's favor. Having inherited (1230) León from his father, Ferdinand permanently united the kingdoms of Castile and León. Ferdinand spent most of his reign crusading against the Moors. He took Córdoba (1236), Jaén (1246), and Seville (1248) and occupied Murcia (1243). He thus completed the reconquest of Spain, except for the kingdom of Granada, which became a vassal state. Ferdinand was planning an expedition to Morocco when he died and was succeeded by his son, Alfonso X. In 1671, Ferdinand was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Feast: May 30.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman emperor

Ferdinand III, 1608–57, Holy Roman emperor (1637–57), king of Hungary (1626–57) and of Bohemia (1627–57), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. After the dismissal and assassination (1634) of the imperial commander Wallenstein Wallenstein or Waldstein, Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von (wäl`ənstīn, Ger.
..... Click the link for more information. , Ferdinand became nominal leader of the imperial forces in the Thirty Years War Thirty Years War, 1618–48, general European war fought mainly in Germany.

General Character of the War

There were many territorial, dynastic, and religious issues that figured in the outbreak and conduct of the war.
..... Click the link for more information. , but it was the imperial general Gallas Gallas, Matthias, Graf von (mätē`äs gräf fən gäl`äs)
..... Click the link for more information. who was responsible for the successes that culminated in the victory of Nördlingen (1634). After Ferdinand's accession, however, the war took a disastrous turn. Although anxious for peace, Ferdinand rejected the early peace proposals, but in 1648 he had to assent to the treaties negotiated at Münster and Osnabrück (see Westphalia, Peace of Westphalia, Peace of, 1648, general settlement ending the Thirty Years War . It marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire as an effective institution and inaugurated the modern European state system.
..... Click the link for more information. ), which virtually ended the central power of the Holy Roman Empire 3); Grand Alliance, War of the ; Spanish Succession, War of the ).

The death (1740) of Charles VI ended the male Hapsburg line, precipitating further conflict (see Austrian Succession, War of the ; Seven Years War ).
..... Click the link for more information. . The emperor and his successors were left only the shadow of the imperial dignity, and their power was restricted to the hereditary Hapsburg dominions. In these dominions—a vast enough empire in themselves—Ferdinand devoted the rest of his reign to healing the wounds of war and to continuing administrative reforms. He was succeeded by his son, Leopold I Leopold I, 1640–1705, Holy Roman emperor (1658–1705), king of Bohemia (1656–1705) and of Hungary (1655–1705), second son and successor of Ferdinand III.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Ferdinand III

(born July 13, 1608, Graz, Inner Austria—died April 2, 1657, Vienna) Holy Roman emperor (1637–57), archduke of Austria (1621–57), king of Hungary (1625–57) and king of Bohemia (1627–57). Denied command of the Habsburg armies in the Thirty Years' War, Ferdinand conspired to overthrow Gen. Albrecht W.E. von Wallenstein, whom he replaced as commander (1634–35). His leadership of the so-called peace party at the imperial court led to the Peace of Prague in 1635. As emperor from 1637, he refused to allow religious freedom in his own domains, but he compromised with Europe's Protestant powers and agreed to the Peace of Westphalia, ending 30 years of religious strife in central Europe.