Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

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Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand II (July 9, 1578 – February 15, 1637), of the House of Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known as supplying all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of Spanish Empire and the Austrian Empire....
, Holy Roman Emperor (1619-1637), King of Bohemia (1617-1619, 1620-1637), King of Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
(1618-1625).
inand succeeded his uncle Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

Matthias of the House of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor , King of Kingdom of Hungary , King of Bohemia .Matthias was born in the Archduchy of Austrian capital of Vienna to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain....
in 1619.

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Life

Ferdinand succeeded his uncle Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

Bohemia

History...
on May 23rd, 1618 directly triggered the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe....
, and can be blamed on his religious intolerance toward Protestants.

A devout and very pious Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
, his recognition as King of Bohemia

Bohemia

History...
and suppression of Protestantism

Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
precipitated the early events of the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe....
, and he remained one of the staunchest backers of the Anti-Protestant Counter Reformation efforts as one of the heads of the German Catholic League, prolonging the Thirty Years' Wars by insisting the Edict of Restitution

Edict of Restitution

The Edict of Restitution, passed eleven years into the Thirty Years' Wars on March 6 1629 following Catholic League successes at arms, was a belated attempt by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor to impose and restore the religion and territorial situations reached in the Peace of Augsburg ....
be enforced. The duration of his reign was occupied by confessional and military concerns, and some historians blame him for the large civilian loss of life in the Sack of Magdeburg

Sack of Magdeburg

The Sack of Magdeburg refers to the siege and subsequent plundering of Magdeburg by the army of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War....
in 1631, as he'd instructed Count Tilly to enforce the edict upon Saxony

Electorate of Saxony

The Electorate of Saxony or Duchy of Upper Saxony was an independent hereditary Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356?1806. It was the successor state of the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg and was itself replaced in Napoleonic times by the Kingdom of Saxony ....
—his orders causing Tilly to move the Catholic armies east, ultimately to Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig is, with a population of over 511,252, the largest city in the States of Germany of Saxony, Germany....
, where they suffered their first substantial defeat at First Breitenfeld

Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)

The Battle of Breitenfeld or First Battle of Breitenfeld was a "World Changing Battle" fought at the crossroads village of Breitenfeld near the walled city of Leipzig on September 17, 1631...
.

Ancestors

**Ferdinand's ancestors in three generations**
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor	Father: Charles II of Austria	Father's father: Ferdinand I Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I was a Central European monarch from the Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and King of Hungary and Croatia from 1526....	Father's father's father: Philip I of Castile Philip I of Castile Philip I , known as the Handsome or the Fair, was the son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Through his mother Mary of Burgundy he inherited the greater part of the Duchy of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands and through his wife Juana of Castile he briefly succeeded to the Kingdom of Castile....
			Father's father's mother: Joanna of Castile Joanna of Castile Joanna , called Joanna the Mad queen regnant as Kings of Castile of Crown of Castile jointly with her husband Philip I of Castile and later also as List of Aragonese monarchs of Crown of Aragon jointly with her son the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor....
		Father's mother: Anna of Bohemia and Hungary Anna of Bohemia and Hungary Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, also sometimes known as Anna Jagellonica was, by marriage to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Romans and later Holy Roman Emperor, Queen of the Romans....	Father's mother's father: Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary Vladislas II, also known as Ladislaus Jagiellon ; was King of Bohemia from 1471 and King of Hungary from 1490 until his death in 1516. He was also a knight of the Order of the Dragon....
			Father's mother's mother: Anne de Foix
	Mother: Maria Anna of Bavaria Maria Anna of Bavaria (Archduchess of Austria) Maria Anna of Bavaria was the daughter of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria . Her paternal grandparents were William IV, Duke of Bavaria and Maria Jacoba, Margravine of Baden ....	Mother's father: Albert V, Duke of Bavaria Albert V, Duke of Bavaria Albert V, Duke of Bavaria , , was Duke of Bavaria from 1550 until his death. He was born in Munich to William IV, Duke of Bavaria and Marie of Baden-Sponheim....	Mother's father's father: William IV, Duke of Bavaria William IV, Duke of Bavaria William IV of Bavaria , was Duke of Bavaria from 1508 to 1550, until 1545 together with his younger brother Louis X, Duke of Bavaria.He was born in Munich to Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria and Kunigunde of Austria, a daughter of Emperor Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor....
			Mother's father's mother: Marie of Baden-Sponheim Marie of Baden-Sponheim Marie of Baden-Sponheim was a German noblewoman and duchess of Bavaria....
		Mother's mother: Anna of Austria	Mother's mother's father: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I was a Central European monarch from the Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and King of Hungary and Croatia from 1526....
			Mother's mother's mother: Anna of Bohemia and Hungary Anna of Bohemia and Hungary Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, also sometimes known as Anna Jagellonica was, by marriage to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Romans and later Holy Roman Emperor, Queen of the Romans....

Marriages and issue

In 1600, Ferdinand married Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574-1616), daughter of Duke William V

William V, Duke of Bavaria

William V, Duke of Bavaria , called the Pious, was List of rulers of Bavaria from 1579 to 1597....
of Bavaria. They had seven children:

Archduchess Christine (1601-1601)
Archduke Charles (1603-1603)
Archduke John-Charles (November 1 1605 - December 28 1619)
Ferdinand III
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor February 15, 1637 – 1657. King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of the Romans....
(July 13, 1608-April 2, 1657)
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (January 13, 1610-September 25, 1665)
Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria
Cecilia Renata of Austria

Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria was a daughter of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, of the House of Habsburg, and Maria Anna of Bavaria ....
(July 16, 1611-March 24, 1644), who married her cousin Wladyslaw IV Vasa
Wladyslaw IV Vasa

Wladyslaw IV was the son of Sigismund III Vasa and his wife, Anna of Austria . Wladyslaw IV reigned as King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from November 8, 1632, to his death in 1648....
, King of Poland.
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria , was a military commander, Governors of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1647 to 1656, and a patron of the arts....
(1614-1662).

In 1622, he married Eleonore of Mantua (Gonzaga) (1598-1655), the daughter of Duke Vincenzo I of Mantua

Duchy of Mantua

The Duchy of Mantua was a duchy in Lombardy, Northern Italy, subject to the Holy Roman Empire....
and Eleonora de' Medici

Eleonora de' Medici

Eleonora de' Medici was the eldest child of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Johanna of Austria. In 1578, when Eleonora was eleven her mother died, and her father later married Bianca Cappello....
, at Innsbruck

Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the Capital of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn River Valley at the junction with the Wipptal , which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some 30 km south of Innsbruck....
.

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Titles

Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Germany, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Styria from 1590–1637, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, King of Slavonia, King of Croatia, Archduke of Further Austria,

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

Life

Ancestors

Marriages and issue

Titles

See also