the name of several rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Austrian monarchy.
Ferdinand I. Born Mar. 10, 1503, in Alcalá de Henares, Spain; died July 25, 1564, in Vienna. Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1556; archduke of Austria; member of the Hapsburg dynasty.
Ferdinand I was the younger brother of Emperor Charles V, by whom he was given dominion over Austrian lands in accordance with treaties concluded in 1521 and 1522. He also held the vicegerency of Germany in his brother’s absence. In addition, he was chosen king of Bohemia and Hungary; but in Hungary, Ferdinand I was able to establish his rule in only a part of the monarchy, after a protracted struggle with the voevoda of Transylvania, J. Zápolya, and the forces of the Ottoman Empire, which had advanced as far as Vienna in 1529. In his Austrian domain he carried out a series of reforms intended to strengthen the power of the central administration. In 1556 Ferdinand I assumed the imperial throne after the abdication of Charles V. He was crowned in 1558.
Ferdinand II. Born July 9, 1578, in Graz; died Feb. 15, 1637, in Vienna. Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1619; archduke of Austria.
Ferdinand II assumed dominion over Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola in 1590. Educated by the Jesuits, he became a fanatic champion of the Counter-Reformation—the policies of which he pressed on his domain, particularly in 1598 and 1599—and of reactionary absolutism on the Spanish model. His appointment as Emperor Matthias’ successor in Bohemia (1617) and in Hungary (1618) provoked the Bohemian Revolt of 1618–20 and Gábor Bethlen’s anti-Hapsburg campaign of 1619–26. In 1619 and 1620 the rebels declared that Ferdinand II had been deprived of his Bohemian and Hungarian thrones, respectively. Nevertheless, the successes of the Catholic Hapsburg camp during the initial period of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) allowed Ferdinand II to subdue all of Bohemia, installing an occupation regime there, and to return the Hungarian throne to the Hapsburgs. After suppressing the Peasant War of 1626 in Upper Austria, he proclaimed the Edict of Restitution over the whole empire in 1629.
Ferdinand II. Born July 13, 1608, in Graz; died Apr. 2, 1657, in Vienna. Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1637; archduke of Austria; king of Bohemia and part of Hungary.
After the death of A. Wallenstein in 1634, Ferdinand III assumed command of the imperial forces and held it until his accession to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) was brought to a conclusion during his reign.