Ferdinand I. (HRR)

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Ferdinand I. on a portrait by Hans Bocksberger ; Holy Roman Emperor, Sacrum Romanum Imperium (from 1556–1564).

Ferdinand's signature:
Signature Ferdinand I. (HRR) .PNG

Ferdinand I (born March 10, 1503 in Alcalá de Henares near Madrid , † July 25, 1564 in Vienna ) from the Habsburg dynasty was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1558 to 1564 . From 1521 he was Archduke of Austria ruler in the Habsburg hereditary lands and from 1526/1527 King of Bohemia , Croatia and Hungary . During the lifetime of his brother, Emperor Charles V , he became Roman-German King in 1531elected and crowned as the last German king in Aachen .

Ferdinand was long in the shadow of his brother, but even before he succeeded him in the empire, he played a considerable role. Through the distribution of the inheritance of 1521 he received the Habsburg hereditary lands , while Charles V got the Spanish possessions and the Burgundian Netherlands . In his dominion, Ferdinand built an organization of authorities that became the basis of administration in the centuries to come. By inheritance the claim to the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary fell to him. Even if he was only able to rule Hungary to a small extent against the Ottomans and competing local forces, this created the basis for the dominant position of the Habsburgs in the Danube region. During the often long absences of the emperor in the Holy Roman Empire , Ferdinand acted as his deputy and, after his resignation from 1556 to 1564, as his successor. However, the succession was not confirmed under imperial law until 1558 at the Frankfurt Electoral Congress . From now on, the Pope waived the separate imperial coronation. In particular , Ferdinand played an important role in bringing about the peace in Augsburg .

Life

Early years

Ferdinand as a young Archduke, portrait painting by Hans Maler zu Schwaz

Ferdinand was born as the fourth child and second son of Philip I (at the time Duke of Burgundy ) and Joanna of Castile (at the time Princess of Asturias and Princess of Girona ) in Alcalá de Henares.

He was the grandson of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon , as well as of Maria of Burgundy and Maximilian I. His brother was Charles V , whom he succeeded as emperor. His sisters Eleanor , Isabella , Maria and Katharina were married to the kings of Portugal, Denmark, Hungary and Portugal.

On July 20, 1500, Miguel da Paz , heir to the throne in Castile and the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon, died. The next person in line to the throne was Ferdinand's mother, Infanta Johanna. She lived with her husband Philipp and their children Eleonore and Karl in the Burgundian Netherlands . In order to secure their claims to the throne it was necessary that Johanna and Philip were sworn in by the Cortes (assembly of estates) of Castile, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia and that they swore an oath on them. Because of the birth of the daughter Isabella, this only happened on May 22, 1502 in Toledo and on October 27, 1502 in Saragossa.

Johanna's return trip to Brussels was delayed by the birth of her second son, Ferdinand. Since the sea voyage to the Burgundian Netherlands would have been too dangerous and too strenuous for little Ferdinand, Johanna left him in the care of her grandparents Isabella and Ferdinand on her return trip. Queen Isabella established her own court for him. This included, inter alia. Diego Ramirez de Guzman, the Bishop of Catania , Pedro Nuñez de Guzman, Clavero (Deputy Grand Master ) of the Calatrava Order and the Dominican Alvaro Osorio de Moscoso, Bishop of Astorga as educators.

Queen Isabella died on November 26th, 1504. Then King Ferdinand II had Ferdinand's mother Johanna proclaimed Queen of Castile, in accordance with Isabella's testamentary provisions. Ferdinand moved to the second place as heir to the throne in Castile behind his brother Karl. The personal presence of Queen Joanna of Castile and her husband Philip in their territory was delayed until April 1506, due to the birth of their daughter Maria and the fact that the fleet had to seek shelter in England after a storm. On July 12, 1506, the Cortes of Valladolid repeated their oath of allegiance to Joan of Castile, Philip "her rightful husband" and the heir to the throne, their eldest son Karl. It was at this time that Ferdinand met his father for the first time.

Ferdinand's father, King Philip, died in Burgos on September 25, 1506 . His eldest son Karl inherited the territories that Philip had inherited from his mother Mary of Burgundy. Since Karl was only six years old, he remained under the care of his aunt Margarete in Mechelen until he was declared of age and capable of governing in 1515 at the urging of the Burgundian nobility. After his return from Italy, Ferdinand's grandfather Ferdinand II again took over the reign of his mentally ill daughter, Queen Joan of Castile, in August 1507 . She lived in the palace of Tordesillas from March 1509 until the end of her life in 1555 .

Ferdinand II considered his grandson Ferdinand more suitable to rule the Spanish empires than his grandson Charles. Ferdinand was born and raised in Castile, he spoke the national language, he was familiar with the law and customs of Castile and the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon. Another argument that spoke in favor of Ferdinand, especially among the population, was that it could be assumed that he would not surround himself with foreign advisors and assign offices to foreigners.

In the Kingdom of Castile, rule and succession to the throne were clearly regulated in accordance with the will of Queen Isabella of 1504 and the decisions of the Cortes based on it. Johanna was queen, at least in form. Her father Ferdinand II ruled Castile as regent on her behalf. Charles was confirmed as Prince of Asturias (heir to the throne) by the Cortes of Madrid in 1510.

From 1512 King Ferdinand II wrote various wills in which he regulated the succession in the realms of the Crown of Aragon. Here, too, his daughter Johanna was the heiress. The tradition of the countries provided for a right of inheritance for women, but not their right to govern these countries independently. Therefore, either the husband or the eldest male heir should take over the government. On October 27, 1502, the Cortes in Saragossa took an oath on Johanna and Philip as heir to the throne, and they felt bound by this oath on Johanna even after Philip's death. The next male heir was Karl.

In his earlier wills, King Ferdinand II had appointed his daughter Johanna as heir and his grandson Ferdinand as regent in the event that Charles was not present in the country. This regulation is missing in the last version of the will of January 22, 1516, which King Ferdinand II signed the day before his death. It made no sense to transfer such an office to Ferdinand, who was 13 years old at the time. The will therefore provided Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros , who had already been active in this position in 1506, as regent until Charles arrived in Castile . In the countries of the Crown of Aragon, the previous viceroy, the Archbishop of Saragossa Alfonso of Aragon, should keep his office. After the death of King Ferdinand II of Aragon on January 23, 1516, the provisions of this will came into force.

On March 14, 1516, a state ceremony in honor of the late King Ferdinand II took place in the Church of St. Gudula in Brussels. Karl had himself proclaimed King of the Kingdoms of Spain. By declaring himself king, albeit together with his mother, his claims went beyond the provisions of his grandfather's will, who only provided him as regent in his mother's name. In order to rule in the realms he claimed also in accordance with the different regulations in the various realms, Charles landed in Spain on September 17, 1517. With his arrival in Castile, the reign of Cardinal Franzisco Jiménez de Cisneros ended, who died on November 8, 1517 before he could meet with Charles. In February 1518 Ferdinand met his brother for the first time in Valladolid. Charles had called the Cortes of Castile there in order to be recognized by them together with his mother as King of the Kingdoms of the Crown of Castile. This happened on February 5, 1518. In the written resolutions of the Cortes, Charles was asked to marry as soon as possible in order to secure the succession to the throne. Until then, Ferdinand should stay in Castile. A formal appointment of Ferdinand as Prince of Asturias did not take place. Karl did not meet this requirement. He arranged for Ferdinand to travel to Mechelen and initially live there at the court of his aunt Margarete.

Takeover of power in the hereditary lands

King Ferdinand's coat of arms

After Maximilian's death, the problem of inheritance arose. According to the previous tradition in the House of Habsburg, the inheritance was to be divided among the sons of the deceased, but governed by "entire hands"; according to Spanish and Burgundian law, the eldest son inherited. In the present case, however, the only son Philip had died before the father. Thus the inheritance fell to the grandchildren Karl and Ferdinand. Karl interpreted the situation in such a way that the division only affects Austrian property. All other possessions should belong to him in full. Of the Austrian possessions, too, had the original plans been carried out, the county of Tyrol , the foreland and the possessions in Italy would have fallen to Karl. Ferdinand, with a view of the Bohemian-Hungarian legacy, agreed to this in the Worms partition treaty on April 21, 1521. But on the other hand there was a contradiction between different classes. Therefore, on February 7, 1522, the Treaty of Brussels came into being . Ferdinand then received the Lower Austrian states (the Archduchy of Austria ) including the (formerly) inner-Austrian ( Styria , Carinthia , Carniola and others), as well as the Upper Austrian states (Tyrol and the Vorlande). At the same time, Ferdinand had to take on half of the debt that Emperor Maximilian had left behind. In return, Ferdinand had also become Charles' representative when the emperor was absent. Karl also promised to pursue the election of Ferdinand as Roman king and thus as a probable successor in the imperial office in the empire. The Brussels Treaty was one of the reasons for the division of the House of Habsburg into a Spanish and an Austrian line. His brother Karl Württemberg also ceded him , which had fallen to Habsburg to finance the costs of the war against Ulrich von Württemberg . In 1530 he was enfeoffed with Württemberg, which the Swabian Federation had wrested from Duke Ulrich in 1519 and sold to Austria.

Anna Jagiello, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia, portrait painting by Hans Maler zu Schwaz

Ferdinand had already traveled to the Austrian possessions after the Treaty of Worms. Now his wedding to Anna of Bohemia and Hungary could take place . Ferdinand's grandfather, Emperor Maximilian, and King Wladislaw II of Hungary and Bohemia had officially agreed to this connection for a long time by means of a treaty. Ferdinand traveled to Linz , where he met his future wife for the first time. The so-called Linz wedding took place there on May 26, 1521 .

The situation in his new domain was difficult. The hereditary lands were effectively bankrupt after Maximilian's reign. Ferdinand's finance officer, Gabriel von Salamanca , therefore pursued a resolute policy of debt relief. His measures, such as the collection of high taxes in Tyrol, for example, made him hateful.

The new subjects were suspicious of the stranger Ferdinand, who did not even speak the German national language and was surrounded by foreign advisors. In addition, Austria had been restless since Maximilian's death. The government still installed by Maximilian wanted to restrict the rights of the cities and had to flee from Vienna to Wiener Neustadt . Under the leadership of the Mayor of Vienna Martin Siebenbürger , the estates set up a new regiment. The new regiment had already sent an embassy to Charles in Spain in 1519. This confirmed the booths' previous privileges. The brothers do not forgive them for the wrongdoing. In June 1522, Ferdinand invited the representatives of the old and new regiments to Wiener Neustadt in front of a court that was predominantly made up of foreigners. Transylvanians and seven other defendants, most of them citizens of the city of Vienna, were executed. This episode went down in history as the Wiener Neustadt blood court . Ferdinand benefited from the fact that the estates of the Austrian states were severely divided among themselves. He succeeded in restricting the power of the estates. A sedis vacancy government of the estates after the death of a ruler was now ruled out. In particular, self-confident Vienna lost numerous old privileges and rights. Foreign advisors were rewarded from the confiscated property of the insurgents. In 1526, Ferdinand had issued new city regulations for Vienna; this subordinated the communal administration to the princely administration.

Ruling organization

Vienna Hofburg around 1558

In the administration of the Habsburg lands, Ferdinand continued the stronger centralization initiated by Maximilian. In 1523 a Lower Austrian and an Upper Austrian court councilor were created. In front of Austria there was a government called a "regiment". There have been four central authorities about this since 1527. These were the secret council , the court councilor , the court chamber and the court chancellery . This court order was an important step in building an effective bureaucracy. It was the basis of the state organization that continued into the 18th and partially into the 19th century. In 1556 the court war council was added. Since then, the central authorities have been the link that tied the disparate property together and allowed it to grow together in the long term. The Vienna Recess of October 25, 1535 settled a dispute that had been going on for centuries over the legal status of the holdings of the Prince Archbishopric of Salzburg in Styria and brought the Habsburgs full sovereignty over these areas.

From the 1530s Ferdinand stayed in Vienna more and more often, and the city became his preferred residence - next to Innsbruck, where his family lived (in 1528 Georg Tannstetter was appointed as personal physician for Ferdinand and his family). The Vienna Hofburg was rebuilt and expanded. The city became the seat of the court chamber, the court chancellery and the court council for the Habsburg countries. Ferdinand also turned his attention to the University of Vienna . After his preliminary reform proposal of 1524, there were finally two reform laws in 1533 and 1537.

After the beginning of his rule, Ferdinand mainly relied on strangers. In the first few years Gabriel de Salamanca , who had been rejected by the estates and whom Ferdinand had made Count von Ortenburg, was his main advisor. When Salamanca could no longer be held, he was dismissed from his offices in 1526. After that, members of local families regained influence. The Bishop of Trent, Bernhard von Cles, became Ferdinand's most important confidante as chairman of the secret council and as supreme chancellor. After he had withdrawn from state affairs in 1538, no one could achieve his influential position. Dr. Georg Gienger von Rotteneck and his successor Dr. Jakob Jonas . The ambassador in Brussels Martín de Guzmán and the later Imperial Vice Chancellor Johann Ulrich Zasius also played important roles. Zasius served primarily as an envoy. During Ferdinand's time as emperor, the Imperial Vice Chancellor Dr. Georg Sigmund Seld the most important employee of Ferdinand.

Struggle for the Bohemian-Hungarian heritage

After Sultan Suleyman I took office , the Ottomans began an offensive against Hungary. In 1521 the border town of Belgrade fell. King Ludwig II of Bohemia and Hungary fell on August 29, 1526 in the Battle of Mohács . Because the king had no sons, Ferdinand was entitled to his successor through his marriage to Anna of Hungary and Bohemia. However, this did not mean automatically, as both countries were electoral monarchies and the kings therefore had to be elected by the estates.

This also applied to Bohemia, although Charles V immediately enfeoffed his brother with the land. Ferdinand obtained the approval of the estates in tough negotiations. However, he had to expressly confirm the estate rights and assure that the land would be administered by locals. Only then was Ferdinand elected King of Bohemia by an assembly of estates in Prague Castle on October 22, 1526 and crowned on February 24, 1527. With this, the Bohemian electoral dignity fell to the House of Habsburg . If Bohemia had moved away from the empire in the 15th century, this development has now come to an end. The countries of Moravia , Silesia and the two Lusatia , which were connected to the Bohemian crown, also came under his government. In Croatia , Ferdinand I of Habsburg was elected king by the Croatian nobility in 1527 in return for leading the defense against the Turks. The self-proclaimed Serbian Tsar Johann Nenad also supported Ferdinand.

In Hungary, on the other hand, the situation was extremely difficult for Ferdinand. The Ottomans had temporarily withdrawn from much of the country. The majority of the representatives of the Hungarian estates spoke out in Stuhlweissenburg for the Prince of Transylvania, Johann Zápolya , who was elected King of Hungary on November 10, 1526 and was crowned the next day.

The members of the Hungarian estates who rejected Johann Zapolya met on December 16, 1526 in the Franciscan monastery in Pressburg, declared the election of a king and all resolutions of the Diet of Stuhlweissenburg invalid and on December 17 elected Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in absentia as King of Hungary .

The future of the Danube region was decided on three days in 1526: on August 29th in Mohács, on October 22nd in Prague and on December 17th in Pressburg.

In the following year Ferdinand succeeded in defeating his competitor militarily and forcing him to flee to Poland. As ruler of almost the whole country, he was crowned king on November 3, 1527. However, a civil war then started. At that time a very precise map of Hungary was created, the Tabula Hungarie , designed by Lazarus Secretarius and his teacher Georg Tannstetter . It was dedicated to Ferdinand and printed in 1528.

The Ottoman divan meets, the decision to withdraw has already been made, the cannons are silent, the sultan has departed. Ottoman miniature from the 16th century

Zápolya placed itself under Turkish protection. Sultan Suleyman then marched into Hungary with a large army in 1529. Ferdinand had nothing to oppose the perhaps 100,000 Ottomans. After the Ottomans took Buda , they installed Zápolya as the Hungarian vassal king. Suleiman advanced as far as Vienna. It came to the first Ottoman siege of the city , which was defended by around 18,000 men. Without success, the Ottomans withdrew after several assaults on October 14, 1529 before the beginning of winter. The city and its surroundings have not overcome the destruction for a long time. After the siege failed, Vienna was heavily fortified.

Ferdinand could only claim a small part of Hungary. The campaign of 1532, in which Charles V also took part, did not change anything. Ferdinand had to conclude an armistice with the Ottomans in 1533. In the Treaty of Großwardein 1538 Ferdinand I recognized Johann Zápolya as King of Hungary for the areas ruled by him. After his death, Ferdinand was to succeed him. After Johann Zápolya's death in 1540, his widow Isabella, supported by the Hohe Pforte , raised claims to the entire paternal inheritance for her underage son Johann Sigmund. Ferdinand nevertheless tried to insure all of Hungary. However, this triggered a counterattack by the Ottomans. The country remained effectively divided for the next few centuries. Ferdinand ruled northwestern Hungary as far as Lake Balaton ( Royal Hungary ). The Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary had Pressburg as its capital. In central Hungary with Buda ("Turkish-Hungary") the Ottomans ruled. In the east, especially in Transylvania, the successors of Zápolya were mostly able to assert themselves as Turkish vassals. Although Ferdinand only ruled a small part of Hungary, Ferdinand's claim to rule over Hungary resulted in the emergence of the Habsburg rule complex in the Danube region with Bohemia, Austria and Hungary.

The expansion of the military border began in the 1520s by settling free peasants who were obliged to do military service against the Ottoman advances. In view of the continuing threat posed by the Ottomans, Ferdinand successfully asked the Diets of Regensburg (1556/57) and Augsburg (1559) for financial help. These funds were considerable, but insufficient to protect the Hungarian possessions and the threatened parts of Austria. The peace made with the Ottomans in 1562 was comparatively bearable for Ferdinand. There were only minor losses of territory. However, 30,000 florins had to be paid annually  in tribute, and Ferdinand had to renounce his claim to Transylvania. The situation in Hungary remained uncertain. Immediately after Ferdinand's death, the descendants of Zápolya started a new war, in which the Ottomans also entered.

Imperial politics

Reformation and Peasants' War

After the Diet of Worms, Charles V stayed away from the empire for about nine years to wage war against France or to fulfill his duties in the Netherlands and Spain. In his capacity as imperial deputy, Ferdinand headed three diets in Nuremberg (1522 to 1524) and two diets in Speyer (1526 and 1529). In the absence of the emperor, the imperial regiment proved inadequate. Because the booths refused, Ferdinand had to bear the costs for a time. He accommodated the protests of the estates and eventually exerted a greater influence on the imperial regiment. Nevertheless, Karl only granted his brother limited powers and for a long time did not seek Ferdinand's election as king, out of concern for his own position in the empire. The imperial regiment also had to contend with competition from the Swabian Confederation .

Leaflet with a song of derision against the rebellious farmers in front of Radstadt

Ferdinand was an avid Catholic and was involved in the formation of an alliance of Catholic imperial estates in the Regensburg Convention in 1524 , but he had recognized the impossibility of suppressing Protestantism at an early stage and so, out of political considerations, spoke out in favor of a factual toleration of Protestants. As Charles V's deputy and as emperor, he therefore pursued a policy of compromise, compromise and mutual tolerance. The assessment of the real balance of power played an important role. He could not prevent the penetration of Protestantism into the Habsburg lands. With the appointment of the Jesuits, he had created an important basis for the later Counter-Reformation . He himself suggested a Catholic catechism, which Petrus Canisius published in 1534.

The Habsburgs issued mandates such as that of Ofen from 1527 primarily against the Anabaptists , but also against Lutherans and supporters of the Swiss Reformation. Ferdinand ran an "extermination campaign" against the Anabaptists. In 1528 the Anabaptist theologian Balthasar Hubmaier was burned in Vienna . The Baptist Jakob Hutter had to move from Tyrol to Moravia, where he organized the Anabaptism (the Hutterites were named after him). Hutter was burned in Innsbruck in 1536. In total there were about 600 Anabaptists who were killed in this "annihilation of Austrian Anabaptism" in the years around 1530.

During this time there were also unrest throughout the empire. Widespread social protests, for example among the Imperial Knights and the peasants, were combined with the Reformation. The German Peasants' War in particular became known . The uprisings were almost never directed against the emperor or against Ferdinand as sovereign. Rather, the peasants expected help against the landlords from them. In the suppression of the great peasant war in the empire, neither Charles V nor Ferdinand played a central role. This role was taken over by the Swabian Federation in the southwest. But Ferdinand himself had to fight revolts in his hereditary lands. The peasant unrest under the leadership of Michael Gaismair spread across large parts of Tyrol. Ferdinand only managed to master the situation with great difficulty. In the summer of 1525 he succeeded in negotiations in the state parliament, which was dominated by the peasants, in pushing back their demands. In addition, the emissaries from North and South Tyrol were played off against each other. The North Tyroleans agreed to a mediating state parliament farewell. The radical South Tyroleans were weakened and their uprising was suppressed by Ferdinand's troops.

Additional unrest arose from the astrologically based expectation of dramatic floods for February 1524. In this month there was a rare meeting of all five planets known at the time, as well as the sun and moon in the zodiac sign of Pisces . To calm the population down, the Viennese astronomer Georg Tannstetter published a book the year before that aimed to dispel widespread fears. At that time, more than 100 books were published on this expectation.

In terms of imperial power, the connection between the Reformation and the princes was critical. The princes who professed Protestantism had the opportunity to gain control over the church in their territories and to secularize the ecclesiastical possessions. After the Diet of Worms, the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse became open supporters of the Reformation. Numerous imperial cities also joined the new direction. But Catholic princes also hindered Ferdinand's action against the Protestant princes, because the Habsburgs' gain in power also threatened their class rights. During the Reichstag at that time, those involved looked for solutions. Ferdinand was more on the defensive. The leading head of the anti-Habsburg and Protestant forces at that time was Philip of Hesse . He had taken in Duke Ulrich, who had been expelled from Württemberg, and was anxious to help him regain his rule. Success would have made another territory Protestant and Ferdinand weakened. In 1528 the tensions even threatened to lead to general war. Against this background, the Diet of Speyer took place in 1529. The initiative lay with Ferdinand I. His primary concern was to win the support of the imperial estates for the fight against the Ottomans. In contrast to the position of the emperor at the time, he also wanted to enforce resolutions against the Protestants. With the majority of Catholics, Ferdinand was largely able to assert himself. The minority of Protestants, however, put in a protest , after which the Protestants received their name. In doing so, they disputed the right of the Reichstag to decide on questions of faith. As a result, the Protestants began to unite in a military defense alliance. In the end there was the Schmalkaldic League .

Roman king

Christian Beyer reads out the “Confessio Augustana” to Emperor Charles V.

In addition to Ferdinand, Charles V, who had recently been crowned emperor, also took part in the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. Ferdinand was involved in the failed attempt to find a balance on the religious question. Instead, the Confessio Augustana was formulated at the Reichstag . At the same time, negotiations on Ferdinand's election as king were successfully concluded. On January 5, 1531, Ferdinand was elected king in Cologne by the German electors with five votes against the protest of the Saxon elector Johann and anointed and crowned by Archbishop Hermann V von Wied in Aachen . Ferdinand was the last ruler of the empire to be crowned in Aachen, which he no longer ruled as governor of his brother, but in his own right, which gave him additional authority. However, in addition to most of the Protestant estates, Bavaria also joined the negative attitude of Saxony. The opponents of the election organized themselves in the Saalfeld Bund .

When Charles V was absent from the empire again at the end of 1532, Ferdinand again took over his deputy for seven years. When Ulrich von Württemberg re-conquered his country in 1534, the Treaty of Kaaden was concluded between him and Ferdinand , according to which Ferdinand kept Württemberg as an imperial fief , while Ulrich received it as an Austrian, i.e. after-fief . Ulrich's participation in the Schmalkaldic War gave Ferdinand the opportunity to withdraw this after-fief. The dispute over this was only settled in 1552 under Duke Christoph in his favor.

Also in 1532, at Ferdinand's insistence, the Nuremberg decency came about , in which for the first time, despite all reservations, the Protestants received a certain recognition. After no council promised by the Pope had come about, Ferdinand supported his brother in solving the religious problem through religious talks. He himself led the religious discussion in Hagenau in 1540 , which was unsuccessful. But Ferdinand managed to persuade the parties involved to continue at a later date. He also headed the Reichstag in Speyer in 1542 and in Nuremberg in 1543 . In terms of religious policy, these brought little movement. Ferdinand only succeeded in persuading the imperial estates to provide financial support for the Turkish war.

In the Schmalkaldic War , Protestant princes allied against Charles V, with Ferdinand on the side of the emperor. However, some of the Bohemian classes refused to obey him. After the battle of Mühlberg (1547) the Schmalkaldic League was smashed. Now Ferdinand succeeded in defeating the opposition in Bohemia.

Spanish succession plans and Passau Treaty

The relationship with his brother became problematic when he tried to get his son Philip to succeed him in the empire ( Spanish succession ). In the year 1550/51 there were negotiations between Karl, Philipp and Ferdinand. The latter was not ready to accept Philipp and ensured that his son Maximilian could also take part in the negotiations. After long negotiations, a compromise was reached. But this actually had little chance of realization. The plan provided that Philip should be elected King of Rome and thus Ferdinand's successor. In turn, Philip was to be followed by Maximilian. In addition, there were agreements about fiefdoms in imperial Italy , aid promises from Philipp for Ferdinand and the future marriage of a daughter of Ferdinand to Philipp. What made Ferdinand agree to this is not entirely clear. The plan already failed in initial talks with the electors, who rejected Philip's candidacy and saw in the background the danger of a hereditary monarchy. Ultimately, Karl finally had to forego his son's successor. The dispute led to an alienation between Karl and Ferdinand, but this did not go so far that Ferdinand would have become disloyal. Nevertheless, he now began to pursue a much more independent policy, especially in the interests of his line of the House of Habsburg.

Contemporary plan of the battle formation near Sievershausen, margravial troops in blue

When the German prince uprising against Charles V broke out in 1552 , the emperor's suspicion was so great that he even suspected Ferdinand of a secret agreement with his opponents at times. However, these were baseless allegations. In fact, Ferdinand even made the emperor aware of the danger. Ferdinand appeared in Linz as Karl's representative. In principle he was ready to respond to the demands of the Protestant princes. However, Charles V hindered the agreement from a distance. It was only possible to agree to a continuation of the talks. In the meantime the princes advanced into Austrian territory and Karl had to flee Innsbruck. In Passau he was a third party alongside the princes headed by Moritz von Sachsen and the imperial commissioners themselves as mediators. In addition to the complaints about the imperial government and the non-observance of class rights, the protection of the supporters of the Augsburg denomination from sanctions by the empire was a difficult problem. The emperor neither wanted to recognize the separation of denominations nor to admit certain imperial reforms. There were violent arguments about this between Karl and Ferdinand. Karl insisted on his point of view. Ferdinand, however, and the other Catholic imperial estates agreed to recognize the Augsburg Confession for an unlimited period of time. Against this background, the Passau Treaty came about , which ended the conflict.

In autumn 1552 Ferdinand was able to turn to the war against the Ottomans. During this time, the emperor tried to regain his weaker influence in the empire. He attacked the French-occupied city of Metz . The struggle was not very successful and Charles V began to give up on imperial politics. It was left to Ferdinand, together with some high-ranking princes , to oppose the Margrave Alkibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach , who oppressed the Hochstifte in Franconia ( Markgräflerkrieg ). Both parties to the conflict could refer to contradicting imperial decisions. In the end it was possible to beat the margrave several times and to force him to leave the territory of the empire. The alliance between Ferdinand and Moritz von Sachsen in this matter was remarkable.

Religious Peace of Augsburg

First page of the document printed by Franz Behem in Mainz

This war against a peace-breaker ensured that the Reichstag enshrined in the Passau Treaty to clarify religious questions was delayed. It then took place from February 5 to September 25, 1555 in Augsburg. The emperor and king had different goals. Ferdinand wanted to use the Passau contract as a basis for negotiations, while Karl refused to appeal to the contract. However, it was also clear to Karl that concessions to the Protestants were probably unavoidable. Therefore Ferdinand should take over the leadership of the Reichstag. There are different views on the roles of Charles and Ferdinand. According to one version, the emperor retained nominal leadership and also influenced the negotiations through commissioners. According to another view, the emperor only contributed to the preposition, but then even refused to be asked for advice on the question of religion. This made Ferdinand the decisive person in the Reichstag. The emperor and king were initially on the defensive. Contrary to what had been planned, the imperial estates forced the question of religion to be placed at the top of the agenda. The Protestants were also no longer interested in overcoming the denominational division, but in peaceful coexistence between the two sides. This turning point was not in Ferdinand's mind, but neither could he prevent it. The estates worked out a draft agreement, which Ferdinand was sent to comment on. Ferdinand had to make a difficult decision. Approval would make his goal of reconciliation more difficult. If the efforts and the Reichstag did not fail, he had to show willingness to compromise. So he agreed to examine and amend the submission. The points he inserted strengthened the Catholic position. Due to royal power, the ecclesiastical reservation was anchored in the religious peace and thus the continued existence of the ecclesiastical principalities was secured in the long term. The Declaratio Ferdinandea was inserted for subjects in spiritual areas who had long adhered to Protestantism, granting them the right to continue to practice their faith. At the end of the negotiations, which were threatened with failure, the Augsburg religious peace stood . This recognized the Lutherans as a denomination. It was up to the princes to choose the denomination for their country. But also an execution order and a new order for the Reich Chamber of Commerce were decided. However, the Reichstag also meant the end of plans for a strengthened imperial power. By this time Ferdinand had already established himself as the actual head of imperial politics. Charles V announced his resignation to his brother during the Reichstag. The Reich farewell should be announced in the name of Ferdinand and not by Karl. Ferdinand did not go into that. He asked Karl to reconsider his decision.

Time as emperor

Ferdinand as emperor

One reason why Ferdinand refused to abdicate Karl quickly was that, in the opinion of contemporary jurists, the consent of the elector was necessary for a successor. Their support was not certain, and Ferdinand wanted to secure this first before making the choice. As a result, Ferdinand succeeded in strengthening his position in the empire through a series of alliances. In June 1556 he concluded the Landsberger Bund with Bavaria, the Archbishopric of Salzburg and Augsburg , which was joined by other imperial estates. Ferdinand also managed to come to an understanding with Elector August of Saxony . The situation was made more difficult by an Ottoman offensive and uprisings in Hungary. This extended Ferdinand's presence at the Reichstag in Regensburg by months. Charles V had already ceded his Italian, Dutch and Spanish possessions to Philip and was pushing for a change in the empire. He left for Spain and on August 8, 1556 authorized Ferdinand to negotiate with the electors at his own discretion. At this point in time, the imperial power was de facto transferred to Ferdinand. A resignation of an emperor was so far never happened, and after long deliberations, the Elector proclaimed on the Frankfurt Electoral despite the opposition of Pope Paul IV. On February 26, 1558 Ferdinand instead of his nephew Philip II. Emperor. Ferdinand now called himself "Elected Roman Emperor." The Pope refused to recognize this. Only his successor Pius IV changed this.

The end of the universal monarchy of Charles V meant a weakening of its importance for the empire, while Spain became the dominant power. Ferdinand and his successors could no longer act in terms of foreign policy, but could essentially only react. A good relationship with Spain was therefore of great importance to Ferdinand. Because of the unclear succession of Philip II, he could even hope that the Spanish inheritance could fall to the Austrian line of the Habsburgs. For this reason, for example, the eldest sons of Maximilian II were brought up in Spain. Philipp was also married to Anna of Austria after the death of his wife . However, there were also conflicting interests between the German and Spanish Habsburgs. This concerned the question of imperial Italy, for example. Spain tried to bind the small fiefs to itself. The strategically important imperial fief Stato dei Presidi came to Spain in 1559. Similar attempts were made in other areas. This was one reason why Ferdinand Philipp did not enfeoff the imperial vicariate for Italy. But on the whole Ferdinand had nothing to oppose the Spanish expansion in Italy. Even Savoy and the Pope began to exploit the obvious weakness of the empire. Pope Pius V elevated Cosimo I de 'Medici to Grand Duke despite the fact that Tuscany was part of the empire.

The weakening of the empire paradoxically contributed to calming the empire, since the imperial estates no longer had to fear the Habsburg supremacy as they had before. In addition, neither the emperor nor the princes fundamentally questioned the Augsburg religious peace. Nevertheless, numerous conflicts continued to arise.

As in the Austrian hereditary lands, Ferdinand also tried to modernize the imperial administration. After he became emperor, the Hofrat was transformed into a Reichshofrat , and the Reichshof Chancellery with the Reichsvizekanzler was also located in Vienna. The Reichshofrat, created in 1559, laid the foundation for this central imperial institution for the next two hundred years. The tasks of the Reichshofrat were broad and encompassed both administrative and judicial issues. As a court, it was solely responsible for the imperial fiefdoms. As an advisory body, the secret advice was of course more important. Both authorities were free from class influence, and the members were freely appointed by the emperor. Amazingly, even the Protestant estates in Ferdinand's time did not question the institution. Basically nothing changed in the class structure of the empire. There were some reforms such as the decree of the Imperial Coin Order of 1559. Above all, the Imperial Court of Justice gained in importance.

In his final years, Ferdinand devoted himself to overcoming the division of the Church as part of his religious policy, which was geared towards reconciliation. He strove for a general council including the Protestants. He was ready to curtail papal absolutism as well as reforms in the Catholic Church, such as questions of priestly marriage or the lay chalice. He did not have any notable success with it. Pius IV rejected this, as did the new Spanish king Philip II. Instead, the Council of Trent, which had been interrupted in the meantime, was continued. With his demands and ideas for a comprehensive reform of the church, Ferdinand was unable to assert himself in the council.

He tried to bring together the estates of the two denominations in regional leagues. He coordinated foreign policy with the electors. Together with these he refrained from recapturing the high monasteries and cities in Lorraine that had been conquered by France in 1552.

Succession: Ferdinandean house rules

Coat of arms of Ferdinand I by Albrecht Dürer

The relationship with his son Maximilian was problematic. In contrast to the Catholic Ferdinand, he showed sympathy for Protestantism . Therefore Ferdinand married him to his niece Maria, the daughter of Charles V. When the couple returned from Spain, they were received with a festive entry into Vienna, where an elephant was brought along for the first time .

Despite all reservations, Ferdinand brought about the election of his son Maximilian as Roman king in 1562. But the distrust of the son led him to divide the hereditary lands in the Ferdinandean house rules (and the Vienna Testament ) of February 25, 1554. Should Maximilian actually convert to Protestantism, at least parts of the property would remain Catholic. In addition, his younger son Ferdinand was closer to him than Maximilian. The latter received only the areas in today's Lower and Upper Austria ( Lower Austria ) as well as Bohemia and Hungary. Archduke Karl , the youngest, got Styria, Carinthia and Krain ( Inner Austria ), and Ferdinand ruled - the consistently Catholic - Tyrol with the foothills ( Upper Austria ). In terms of a greater centralization of the hereditary lands, the division among his sons meant a step backwards: It again separated those areas that his ancestor Emperor Friedrich III. Reunited at the end of the previous century. This separation came from the Neuberger inheritance in 1379, in Albertiner , Leopoldiner (to which Ferdinand also belonged) and then also (older) Tyrolean Habsburgs . It was also relativized in the sense of Rudolf the Founder's Rudolfinische Hausordnung , that both lines should carry coats of arms, banners and titles of all countries. The division of the inheritance did not last long, however, because Maximilian's primogeniture and Ferdinand's secondogeniture became extinct in the next generation, and Karl became the further ancestral lord of the House of Habsburg in the Inner Austria line , and with it the Austrian hereditary lands again in the 1620s - and now for good were united.

His numerous daughters served as part of a comprehensive marriage policy . They were married appropriately and so Ferdinand became the ancestor of numerous European ruling families.

Private life

Ferdinand was personally rather modest and ate less than his brother Karl. He employed various artists at his court. In Prague he had the Belvedere built on the Hradschin by Italian builders. For larger construction projects, Ferdinand made it important to be informed about the concept beforehand. He was a collector of ancient art and owned a coin collection. The nature of the time he collected curiosities and put one in the Hofburg Wunderkammer to. Ferdinand was a passionate music lover and maintained a large court orchestra. He promoted the harness makers . The ornate armor made for him and his sons has been preserved, including one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . He was also a fan of the hunt. Ferdinand hunted wild boars and bears and also went falconry . Aside from his early years when he was interested in artillery , he was little interested in the military.

Collective grave of Emperor Ferdinand I, Emperor Maximilian II and Empress Anna in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle

From 1563 onwards he was plagued by fever attacks, Ferdinand died on July 25, 1564 in Vienna and was buried in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle - next to his wife Anna, with whom he had had a happy marriage for around 25 years.

Ferdinand's motto was: “ Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus ” (“Justice should be done and the world perish because of it”). Ferdinand has built a considerable reputation over the years. Erasmus of Rotterdam dedicated the second edition of the Institutio Principis Christiani to him .

progeny

His wife Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547) gave birth to 15 children, of which three sons and nine daughters survived their father.

  1. Elisabeth (1526–1545) ⚭ 1543 Sigismund II. August (1520–1572) King of Poland
  2. Maximilian (II.) (1527–1576), Holy Roman Emperor ⚭ 1548 Mary of Spain (1528–1603)
  3. Anna (1528–1590) ⚭ 1546 Albrecht V (1528–1579) Duke of Bavaria
  4. Ferdinand (II.) (1529–1595), Archduke of Austria-Tyrol
    1. ⚭ 1557 Philippine Welser (1527–1580)
    2. ⚭ 1582 Anna Katharina Gonzaga (1566–1621)
  5. Maria (1531–1581) ⚭ 1546 Wilhelm (Jülich-Kleve-Berg) Duke of Jülich, Kleve and Berg
  6. Magdalena (1532–1590), canon of the Hall ladies' monastery .
  7. Catherine (1533–1572)
    1. ⚭ 1549 Francesco III. Gonzaga (1533–1550) Duke of Mantua-Montferrat
    2. ⚭ 1553 Sigismund II August (1520–1572) King of Poland
  8. Eleonore (1534–1594) ⚭ 1561 Guglielmo Gonzaga (1538–1587) Duke of Mantua and Montferrat
  9. Margarethe (1536–1567), canon of the Hall ladies' monastery .
  10. Johann (1538–1539)
  11. Barbara (1539–1572) ⚭ 1565 Alfonso II. D'Este (1533–1597) Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio
  12. Karl (II.) (1540–1590), Archduke of Inner Austria ⚭ 1571 Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608)
  13. Ursula (1541–1543), † April 30, 1543 in Innsbruck, burial in the Cistercian Abbey of Stams
  14. Helena (1543–1574), canon of the Haller Damenstift .
  15. Johanna (1547–1578) ⚭ 1565 Francesco I de 'Medici (1541–1587) Grand Duke of Tuscany

His wife died of puerperal fever while giving birth to their youngest daughter, Johanna .

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 Friedrich III. (HRR) (1415-1493)
 
 
 
 
 Maximilian I (HRR) (1459-1519)
 
 
 
 
 
 Eleonore Helena of Portugal (1436–1467)
 
 
 
 Philip I (Castile) (1478–1506)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Charles the Bold (1433–1477)
 
 
 
 Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482)
 
 
 
 
 
 Isabelle de Bourbon (1437-1465)
 
 
 
 Ferdinand I. (HRR) (1503-1564)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 John II (Aragón) (1397–1479)
 
 
 
 Ferdinand II (Aragon) (1452-1516)
 
 
 
 
 
 Juana Enríquez (1425–1468)
 
 
 
 Joan of Castile (1479–1555)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 John II (Castile) (1405-1454)
 
 
 
 Isabella I (Castile) (1451–1504)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Isabella of Portugal (1428–1496)
 
 

literature

Monographs:

  • Paula Sutter Fichtner: Ferdinand I. Against Turkish distress and religious division. Styria, Graz 1986, ISBN 3-222-11670-9 .
  • Tibor Simanyi : He created the empire: Ferdinand von Habsburg. Amalthea, Vienna / Munich 1987, ISBN 3-85002-224-2 .
  • Ernst Laubach: Ferdinand I as emperor. Politics and conception of rulers by the successor to Charles V. Aschendorff, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-402-05165-6 .
  • Alfred Kohler : Ferdinand I. 1503–1564. Prince, King and Emperor. CH Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-50278-4 .

In compendia:

More special:

  • Karl Oberleitner: Austria's finances and warfare under Ferdinand I from 1522 to 1564. Court and State Printing House, Vienna 1859.
  • Winfried Eberhard: Monarchy and Resistance. On the formation of the class opposition in the ruling system of Ferdinand I in Bohemia. Oldenbourg, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-486-51881-X .
  • Anita Ziegerhofer: Ferdinand I. and the Styrian estates. Represented on the basis of the regional parliaments from 1542 to 1556. dbv, Graz 1996, ISBN 3-7041-9062-4 .

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand I. (HRR)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Ferdinand I.  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ José Manuel Calderón Ortega: Felipe I. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed on May 25, 2020 (Spanish).
  2. ^ Alfred Kohler: Karl V. 1500 －1558 . A biography. Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-45359-7 , pp. 38 .
  3. ↑ Alejandro López Álvarez: Pedro Núñez de Guzmán. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed January 6, 2021 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Ángel Martínez Casado, OP: Álvaro Osorio. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed January 6, 2021 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada: Isabel I de Castilia . Siete ensayos sobre la reina, su entorno y su empresas. Dykinson, Madrid 2012, ISBN 978-84-15454-53-3 , pp. 152 (Spanish).
  6. ^ Alfred Kohler: Karl V. Neue Deutsche Biographie 11, 1977, accessed on December 1, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Miguel Ángel Zalama: Una reina en Tordesillas. Juana I, su entorno, su mundo . In: Miguel Ángel Zalama Rodríguez (ed.): Juana I en Tordesillas: su mundo, su entorno . Grupo Página, Valladolid 2010, ISBN 978-84-932810-8-3 , p. 9 (Spanish, uva.es [accessed on January 16, 2016]).
  8. ↑ Manuel Colmeiro: Reinado de Don Felipe y Doña Juana . In: Cortes de los antiguos Reinos de León y de Castilla . tape 2 . Rivadeneyra, Madrid 1884, chap. 23 (Spanish, cervantesvirtual.com [accessed June 3, 2019]).
  9. ↑ José Manuel Calderón Ortega: El proceso de redacción del último testamento of Fernando el Católico . In: Federación de Asociaciones Culturales de la Siberia, la Serena y Vegas Altas (ed.): IX Encuentros de Estudios Comarcales Vegas Altas, La Serena y La Siberia . Badajoz 2017, p. 31 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed August 1, 2019]).
  10. ↑ José Manuel Calderón Ortega: El proceso de redacción del último testamento of Fernando el Católico . In: Federación de Asociaciones Culturales de la Siberia, la Serena y Vegas Altas (ed.): IX Encuentros de Estudios Comarcales Vegas Altas, La Serena y La Siberia . Badajoz 2017, p. 49 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed August 1, 2019]).
  11. ^ Alfred Kohler: Karl V. 1500 －1558 . A biography. Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-45359-7 , pp. 57 .
  12. ↑ Manuel Fernández Álvarez: Carlos I de España y V de Alemania. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed January 6, 2021 (Spanish).
  13. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . 1st edition. Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 324 (French: Isabelle et Ferdinand, rois catholiques d'Espagne . 1988. Translated by Antoinette Gittinger).
  14. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 121.
  15. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600. Munich 1989, p. 164.
  16. ↑ a b c Alois Niederstätter : History of Austria. Stuttgart 2007, p. 103.
  17. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 122.
  18. ↑ a b Bernhard Sicken: Ferdinand I. In: Die Kaiser der Neuzeit . Munich 1990, p. 58.
  19. ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : Humanism between court and university. Georg Tannstetter (Collimitius) and his scientific environment in Vienna in the early 16th century . Vienna 1996, pp. 77, 79.
  20. ^ Graf-Stuhlhofer: Humanism between court and university . 1996, pp. 66-69.
  21. ^ Biography of Ferdinand II of the Residences Commission of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen.
  22. ↑ Tibor Simányi : He created the kingdom: Ferdinand von Habsburg. Amalthea, Vienna / Munich 1987, ISBN 3-85002-224-2 , p. 173.
  23. ^ Tibor Simányi: He created the empire: Ferdinand von Habsburg. Amalthea, Vienna / Munich 1987, ISBN 3-85002-224-2 , p. 176.
  24. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600. Munich 1989, p. 204.
  25. ^ Tibor Simányi: He created the empire: Ferdinand von Habsburg. Amalthea, Vienna / Munich 1987, ISBN 3-85002-224-2 , p. 190.
  26. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story . Vienna 1992, p. 132.
  27. ↑ This card was in the World Documentary Heritage of UNESCO added: tabula hungariae .
  28. ^ Géza Fehér: Turkish miniatures . Leipzig and Weimar 1978, Commentary on Plate XVI.
  29. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989. p. 205.
  30. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, pp. 133-134.
  31. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 308.
  32. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 165.
  33. ↑ Bernhard Sicken: Ferdinand I. In: The emperors of the modern times . Munich 1990. p. 61.
  34. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 335.
  35. ↑ Gustav Reingrabner : The persecution of the Austrian Protestants during the Counter Reformation . In: Erich Zöllner (Ed.): Waves of persecution in Austrian history . ÖBV, Vienna 1986, p. 55.
  36. ^ Alois Niederstätter: History of Austria . Stuttgart 2007, p. 105.
  37. ^ Gustav Reingrabner: Protestants in Austria. History and documentation . Vienna and others 1981, pp. 30f.
  38. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 202.
  39. ↑ Already in the title Tannstetter expressed that he had been asked for such a book by higher authorities: In the German version: To eren undjoy dem ... Herr Ferdinando ... In addition Graf-Stuhlhofer: Humanism between court and university . 1996, pp. 135-140.
  40. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, pp. 212-213.
  41. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 218.
  42. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 220.
  43. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 248.
  44. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 252.
  45. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 143.
  46. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600. Munich 1989, p. 283.
  47. ↑ a b Bernhard Sicken: Ferdinand I. In: Die Kaiser der Neuzeit . Munich 1990, p. 62.
  48. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 287.
  49. ↑ Bernhard Sicken: Ferdinand I. In: The emperors of the modern times. Munich 1990, p. 64.
  50. ↑ Bernhard Sicken: Ferdinand I. In: The emperors of the modern times . Munich 1990, p. 65.
  51. ↑ a b Bernhard Sicken: Ferdinand I. In: Die Kaiser der Neuzeit . Munich 1990, p. 70.
  52. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600. Munich 1989, p. 294.
  53. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 298.
  54. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, pp. 301-302.
  55. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, p. 303.
  56. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, pp. 304-305.
  57. ↑ Horst Rabe: Empire and split in faith. Germany 1500–1600 . Munich 1989, pp. 313-314.
  58. ↑ a b Entry on Ferdinandean house rules in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
  59. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story . Vienna 1992, pp. 162-163.
  60. ↑ Edith Schlocker: Ambras Castle: The Emperor's Unhappy Daughters. Die Presse, July 25, 2010, accessed on July 26, 2010 (The exhibition “Nozze italiane” illustrates the Habsburgs' marriage policy. The focus is on three daughters of Ferdinand I who were married to Italy).
  61. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story . Vienna 1992, p. 152.
  62. ^ Constantine von Wurzbach : Eleonore von Oesterreich .  No. 53. In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 6th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1860, p. 161 ( digitized version ).
  63. ↑ Wurzbach: Margaretha, Archduchess of Austria .  No. 190. In: Biographisches Lexikon. 7th part. Vienna 1861, p. 11 ( digitized version ).
  64. ^ Father Wolfgang Lebersorgs Chronik des Klosters Stams, Stiftsarchiv Stams, Codex C 40, in the edition and translation by Christoph Haidacher, Innsbruck 2000, p. 507, ISBN 3-901464-11-5 and album Stamsense, p. 138
  65. ↑ Wurzbach: Helene, Archduchess of Austria .  No. 111. In: Biographisches Lexikon. 6th part. Vienna 1860, p. 277 ( digitized version ).
predecessor Office successor
Charles V Roman-German Emperor
1558–1564 		Maximilian II
Charles I. Archduke of Austria
1521–1564 		Maximilian II
Ludwig II. King of Bohemia
1526–1562 		Maximilian
Ludwig II. King of Hungary
1526–1563 		Maximilian
Ludwig II. King of Croatia and Slavonia
1527–1563 		Maximilian
personal data
SURNAME Ferdinand I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary
DATE OF BIRTH March 10, 1503
PLACE OF BIRTH Alcalá de Henares
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1564
PLACE OF DEATH Vienna