Ferdinand III. (HRR)

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Ferdinand III., Oil painting by Jan van den Hoecke , 1643.

Ferdinand's signature:Signature Ferdinand III. (HRR) .PNG
Ferdinand III. on an Augsburg thaler from 1643

Ferdinand III. (* July 13, 1608 in Graz ; † April 2, 1657 in Vienna ), born as Ferdinand Ernst , Archduke of Austria from the House of Habsburg , was Roman-German Emperor from February 15, 1637 until his death in 1657 , and also since 1625 or 1627 king of Hungary , Croatia and Bohemia .

Ferdinand III. came to power as emperor during the Thirty Years' War and had been Commander-in-Chief of the Army since May 2, 1634 . During his reign the imperial claim to power, which had increased under his father, declined. He wanted to end the war early, but after military defeats and against the backdrop of declining power, he was forced to renounce the Habsburgs' previous positions on many points. He thus released the long-delayed path to the Peace of Westphalia , although the imperial power was weaker after the peace treaty than before the war. In Bohemia , Hungary and the Austrian hereditary lands Ferdinand's position as sovereign was stronger than before.

Ferdinand was the first ruler of the House of Habsburg to emerge as a composer .

Life

Childhood and adolescence

Ferdinand III. was the son of Ferdinand II and Maria Anna of Bavaria . He grew up in Carinthia with the loving care of his parents . He himself developed a great deal of care for his siblings and his father, with whom he always came to an agreement in the event of later differences of opinion.

He received his religious and scientific training through Jesuits at his father's court . The Knights of Malta Johann Jacob von Dhaun and Christoph Simon von Thun also had a great influence on the education of the Archduke . The latter instructed him in military matters. Ferdinand is said to have spoken seven languages, in addition to German and Latin , Italian , Spanish , French , Czech and Hungarian . Newer authors are a little more cautious; What is certain, however, is that he spoke excellent Italian; the same is presumably true of Latin and Spanish. It is unclear how great his knowledge of Hungarian and Czech was. After the death of his brothers Karl (1603) and Johann Karl (1619), he was appointed his father's successor and systematically prepared to take over the rule. Like his father, he was a devout Catholic. He had a certain aversion to the influence of the Jesuits who had ruled his father's court.

On December 8, 1625, he was crowned King of Hungary, and on November 27, 1627, King of Bohemia. His father was unable to enforce the election of the Roman king at the Regensburg Electoral Congress of 1630. After he had applied in vain for the supreme command of the imperial army and the participation in campaigns at Wallenstein , he joined the opponents of Wallenstein at the imperial court in Vienna and since then has been involved in the arrangements for his second deposition at the beginning of 1634.

In 1631, after years of negotiations with his Spanish relatives , he married the Spanish Infanta , his cousin Maria Anna of Spain . Although in the middle of the war, this lavish wedding was celebrated over a period of fourteen months. The marriage had six children, including Ferdinand IV , who was originally intended to be his successor, and later Emperor Leopold I. His loving and intelligent wife, who was two years older than him , and her brother, the Spanish Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Spain , had a great influence on Ferdinand III. and formed the most important link between the courts of the Habsburgs in Madrid, Brussels and Vienna during the difficult period for the Habsburgs, the Thirty Years' War after the death of Wallenstein.

Commander in chief

Elector plate for the election of Emperor Ferdinand III., 1637 ( HGM )
Meeting of Ferdinand (still as King of Hungary) with the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Spain at the Battle of Nördlingen (painting by Peter Paul Rubens 1634/35)

After the death of Wallenstein, Ferdinand III. on May 2, 1634 Commander-in-Chief , supported by Generals Gallas and Piccolomini , the military advisor, Johann Kaspar von Stadion and the political advisor, Obersthofmeister Count Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff . Ferdinand achieved his first major military successes in July 1634 in the battle for Regensburg by retaking the city of Regensburg, which had been occupied by the Swedes since November 1633, and in August 1634 by retaking the city ​​of Donauwörth, which the Swedes had been using as a garrison location since April 1632 . The successes were crowned in September 1634 by the victory in the battle of Nördlingen together with the Spanish army of Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Spain . With this victory two Swedish armies were destroyed and the Swedes were driven out of southern Germany. Ferdinand gained political influence, even if his personal contributions to the military successes in Regensburg and Nördlingen were limited and rather belonged to his lieutenant general Gallas , who worked in the background . His influence at the court in Vienna increased even after the fall of the previously very influential Minister Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg . At first he retained the supreme command of warfare, but later handed it over twice (September 1639 to February 1643, and May 1645 to December 1646) to his brother, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm . That turned out to be a mistake after the heavy defeats that followed. Even after the supreme command was given, Ferdinand continued to deal theoretically with military issues and Raimondo Montecuccoli later dedicated one of his works to him.

In 1635, Ferdinand took part in the final negotiations for the Peace of Prague as Imperial Commissioner and tried to persuade the electors to wage war together for the time after the peace agreement. He also tried to convince the still reluctant Protestant estates to join the planned peace treaty. At first, his peace strategy was linked to his father's policy. The first task was to restore unity between all parts of the empire and the emperor and, after the conclusion of the Peace of Prague, to seek a compromise with the previous opponent, the Protestant electorate of Saxony . In addition, the military superiority was to be established through cooperation with a Spanish army under the command of his cousin, the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Spain, and with the Bavarian League Army under the command of his uncle, Elector Maximilian . When France's declarations of war on Spain and the emperor arrived in May and September 1635, it was obvious that the war had entered a new phase in which the Habsburgs now had to realize their plans for cooperation with Bavaria and Saxony. It was of course not foreseeable that the plans would not result in driving France and Sweden out of the imperial territory, but rather lead to the downfall of the Habsburgs.

The French campaign fails

The military decline began with the failure of the attack on Paris in 1636, which Ferdinand had planned in advance with his cousin, the Spanish Cardinal Infante Ferdinand. From the north, Paris was to be attacked from the Spanish Netherlands with a Spanish army, supported by imperial and Bavarian troops under Piccolomini and Johann von Werth . Lieutenant General Matthias Gallas , who was skeptical about the project and who had already gained a foothold with an imperial army in Lorraine in 1635, was supposed to advance north from Burgundy from the south. The attack from the south failed even before it began because of Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar's army standing in the way , to whom Gallas did not feel superior and refused an attack. Later the attempt to campaign "to the left hand" in an alternative direction failed because of the resistance the French defended town of Saint-Jean-de-Losne at the beginning of November 1636. In the north, the initial successes achieved with the conquest of the French border fortress Corbie did not last. The spectacular advances on Paris led by the Bavarian cavalry under Johann von Werth brought the cavalry general Werth fame, but were politically rather counterproductive. The advances spread horror, but led to the solidarity and reconciliation of the population with King Louis XIII. and with Richelieu . In the end, a French people's army was formed, which recaptured the border fortress of Corbie , which had been lost to the Spaniards, in mid-November 1636.

The plan to attack Paris had therefore failed altogether, not least due to deficiencies in communication. As the financiers of the failed campaign, the Spanish Habsburgs had repeatedly made Ferdinand feel their distrust of the wishes of the imperial military. However, both sides lacked the insights and military experience that z. B. Lieutenant General Gallas had. Gallas had the reputation of being a skeptical hesitant on campaigns outside the empire. He was aware, however, that a campaign against France encounters the French "constantia of the French where it meets their fatherland" . The experiences that Gallas had made with supplying his army in Lorraine in 1635 had shown him all the difficulties in supplying the army in France with food and ammunition. He knew that the Rhine was a difficult obstacle to overcome. The consequences of the campaign to France were also evident in the territory of the Reich, where in Brandenburg the Swedes under Johan Banér had taken advantage of the absence of troops and started a new offensive. In the Battle of Wittstock in September 1636, an imperial Saxon army was so badly defeated that this defeat was a reason not to undertake a new campaign in France and to withdraw the troops into the territory of the empire.

Time as ruler

Beginning of rule under the sign of war

On December 22nd, 1636, Ferdinand was elected Roman-German King at the Regensburg Electoral Congress. After the death of his father on February 15, 1637, he succeeded him as emperor. Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff played a leading role at his court . After his death, the chief steward Johann Weikhard von Auersperg gained influence. Unlike his father, he had no spiritual counselors.

When Ferdinand took over, large parts of Central Europe had already been devastated by the Thirty Years' War and the population was tired of war. Ferdinand was not anxious to continue the argument. But the dynamism of the war, the political circumstances and its hesitant action prevented the war from ending quickly. The aim of the Peace of Prague had been to drive France and Sweden off the soil of the empire. At first, the military situation made this strategy seem realistic and so Ferdinand's willingness to compromise on the question of religion, for example, was low.

The troops under Gallas who had returned to the empire were able to help out the Saxon ally and attack Banér with a superior force. In a dramatic hunt to the Baltic Sea, however, he managed to save his army in the Swedish bases in Pomerania, which were almost invulnerable from the land , although Gallas had reached Landsberg fortress on the Pomeranian border before Banér and blocked his way there. With a ruse, however, Banér faked the politically highly risky evasion of his army over Polish territory, but ultimately only sent his train over this route and moved the army to the west, where he found a crossing over the Oder and reached the safe Stettin before Gallas . Although Gallas succeeded in locking in the Swedish troops behind the Peene , an attack on their Baltic bases such as Stralsund or Greifswald required a fleet. Therefore, politically, support was given by the Danes, who are now friendly to the emperor.

The imperial army in Pomerania and Mecklenburg was difficult to sustainably supply. Over the winter, large troops either had to be withdrawn to the hereditary lands or found quarters in Lower Saxony, since Brandenburg and Saxony claimed their territory for their own troops according to the rules of the Peace of Prague. At the beginning of 1638 the cavalry of the Imperial Army was able to be accommodated for the most part in Lower Saxony, where it was however only reluctantly accommodated. In exchange for financial compensation, the Danish King Christian IV had achieved the liberation of Holstein from quarters that could hardly be refused as a potential ally.

The war threatens the hereditary lands

In the course of 1638, the encirclement of the Swedish troops in Pomerania failed due to the continued catastrophic supply situation for the imperial army and insufficient support from the allies Brandenburg and Saxony, of which the former was too weak militarily and the latter was strategically more interested in a month-long blockade of Erfurt . The Swedes, on the other hand, were reinforced by 14,000 fresh soldiers, with whom they gradually regained permanent positions in Western Pomerania and Mecklenburg. When it became clear that the Lower Saxon Reichskreis did not want to provide winter quarters again and Ferdinand expressly forbade his commander Gallas to enter the district on his own initiative, the withdrawal of the troops to the hereditary lands had to be considered. In December, Gallas was finally given permission to retreat, which was to house the army for the most part in Silesia and Bohemia over the winter. However, the Swedish General Banér did not dwell on occupying the areas in Mecklenburg and the Altmark , which had been vacated by the imperialists and in which there was no food to be found for his soldiers either, but he sought to flee forward and went through the Lüneburg Heath straight to Saxony, while Gallas' starving army returned to Silesia in a disorderly manner. Banér defeated Saxon and imperial troops near Chemnitz and moved on to Bohemia, bringing the war directly to the Habsburg hereditary lands.

The Archbishop of Mainz, Anselm Casimir , had scheduled an Electoral Congress in Frankfurt in 1639 to discuss the obstacles on the way to peace. Emperor Ferdinand supported the advance, despite concerns that the electors could represent the empire externally independently of him. That is why he wanted to send envoys to the Electoral Congress himself. The idea of ​​convening a Reichstag, at which the emperor could control the agenda, also arose. The Elector's Day, which finally took place in Nuremberg instead of Frankfurt, finally began in February 1640. At the proposal of the Bavarian Empire, all imperial estates were invited, which put Ferdinand in a mood of alarm, since it was basically connected with an expansion to a Reichstag without him as emperor was in charge. That is why Ferdinand finally invited to a Reichstag in Regensburg in May , which was opened in July 1640 after the ambassadors had moved from Nuremberg. Here the stalls discussed possible peace arrangements. It turned out to be problematic that the emperor had excluded some princes who had previously been on the opposing side, as well as the Protestant administrators of various monasteries from the Reichstag. At least it finally succeeded in obliging all imperial estates with the exception of the Electoral Palatinate, Braunschweig-Lüneburg and Hesse-Kassel to the resolutions of the Reichstag. At the end of 1641 a preliminary peace was signed in Hamburg between Ferdinand, France and Sweden. It was decided to convene a general peace congress in Osnabrück and Münster .

Since 1642, Sweden and France had equal successes against the Habsburgs. The imperial failure began with minor defeats such as the battle of Kempen on the Lower Rhine and a lightning campaign by the Swedes to Silesia and Moravia, in which they were able to conquer Glogau and Olomouc . At the beginning it was still halfway possible to limit the effects of these defeats by sending General Hatzfeldt to the Rhine and driving out and persecuting the Swedes from the hereditary lands to Saxony, the negative series culminated with the Swedish victory in the battle of Breitenfeld in 1642 against the main imperial army which weakened this decisively. In 1643 France defeated the Spaniards in the Battle of Rocroi and was soon able to send additional troops to the German theater of war. Temporary relief was brought about by the surprisingly clear victory of a united army under Bavarian leadership against the Franco-Weimar army near Tuttlingen at the end of 1643, as well as the withdrawal of the Swedes to attack Denmark in the Torstensson War. The imperial and Bavarian counter-offensives on the Rhine and Elbe in the next year failed due to insufficient resources. Although the Bavarians under Franz von Mercy succeeded in recapturing the important Freiburg in Upper Austria, in return the French conquered the left bank of the Rhine south of Koblenz and the Philippsburg bridgehead . The imperial campaign in support of Denmark ended in disaster at the end of 1644 when the army under Gallas was forced to retreat and then trapped and cut off from supplies. The army disintegrated without major fighting and Gallas was only able to bring a few thousand men back to the hereditary lands in several eruptions, which were thus finally open to a Swedish attack.

Peace negotiations and defeats

Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff was one of the emperor's most important advisers and his chief envoy to the peace negotiations in Münster and Osnabrück

From 1644 a peace treaty was negotiated in Münster and Osnabrück. However, the war continued during the negotiations.

The negotiations in Westphalia proved difficult. At the beginning there was an argument about the rules of procedure. The emperor finally had to give in to pressure from France and Sweden and allow all imperial estates to attend the congress. This implicitly recognized that all imperial estates had the ius belli ac pacis . In addition to the peace between the parties involved, the internal constitution of the empire was also reorganized. The imperial court received weekly reports on the negotiations. Even if the reports had been prepared by officials and the secret council , the negotiations were extraordinarily busy, even for the emperor. In spite of all his advisors, he finally had to make a decision. Ferdinand shows himself in the files as a monarch with expertise, a sense of responsibility and a willingness to make difficult decisions. In the course of the negotiations, Ferdinand had to make ever greater cuts in his original goals in view of the worsening military situation. Against this background he listened to his advisor Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff to decide the war in favor of Vienna by means of a great battle.

The emperor himself took part in the campaign against the Swedes. That ended with the defeat of the imperial in the battle of Jankau on March 6, 1645. The Swedish commander-in-chief Torstensson then moved as far as Vienna. To raise morale in the city, the emperor marched around the city in a large procession with the image of the Virgin Mary. As the enemy drew closer, Ferdinand left the city. Archduke Leopold Wilhelm managed to drive away the opponents. In gratitude for the salvation of Vienna, a Marian column was erected at the Am Hof square . This was removed under Leopold I and taken to Wernstein am Inn , and a bronze copy was placed in its place. Ferdinand managed to prevent a simultaneous attack on Vienna from the north and east by making concessions to Prince Georg I. Rákóczi of Transylvania, an ally of France and Sweden. In the Peace of Linz of December 16, 1645, the Emperor had to guarantee the Hungarians the participation rights of the estates and the freedom of religion for the Protestants. Counter-Reformation and absolutist rule could therefore not be enforced in Hungary in the future.

After the defeat at Jankau at the latest, it became apparent that the emperor could not defeat the Swedes militarily, and that instead of establishing a universal Habsburg monarchy in the empire, the aim could only be to maintain the hereditary lands and establish a uniform denomination there. One of the main reasons for this was the weakening strength of the Spanish allies. Due to domestic political difficulties, the financial and military Spanish support for Ferdinand was completely stopped from 1645. Without sufficient funds, the imperial troops could hardly act offensively, which weakened Ferdinand's position in negotiations. The Kaiser reacted to the changed situation with new instructions for Trautmannsdorf, who was leaving for Westphalia as chief negotiator. These instructions were kept strictly confidential and were not published until 1962. In it, Ferdinand gave up numerous previous positions and was ready to make larger concessions than were ultimately necessary.

Results of the war

The foreign powers obtained financial and territorial compensation for their intervention on the part of the Protestant imperial estates. In addition to a redemption sum for the dissolution of its army, Sweden received Vorpommern as well as the Bremen , Verden and the city of Wismar as an imperial loan. The three Lorraine high monasteries Metz , Toul and Verdun ( Trois-Évêchés ), which were de facto French since 1552, were finally ceded to France. It also received the Sundgau , the Alsatian territory of the Habsburgs, which was previously ruled by the Tyrolean sideline of the Habsburgs, as well as the supremacy of the landgraves of Lower and Upper Alsace. Since Ferdinand did not want to make the French king an imperial prince with voting rights in the Reichstag, these areas were released from the imperial association. France thus gained control of most of Alsace without the diocese and city of Strasbourg , but had to recognize the previous rights of the cities and fiefs that were below the national rule. France also kept Breisach and Philippsburg as bridgeheads to the right of the Rhine, but did not demand any money to replace its troops, who would continue to fight against Spain, but paid the Tyrolean Prince Ferdinand Karl a large amount of compensation, which was partially offset against his debts. Switzerland and the Netherlands were effectively recognized as being independent of the Reich. There were also other property transfers to other parts of the empire. Bavaria retained the Palatinate electoral dignity and the Upper Palatinate that it had won at the beginning of the war, the Electoral Palatinate was partially restituted by the return of the Rhine Palatinate on the right and left of the Rhine and another, eighth electoral dignity was created for it. In terms of religious policy, the year 1624 was set as the normal year . Exceptions were the now Bavarian Upper Palatinate and the Austrian hereditary lands. The implementation of the Counter Reformation in Ferdinand's core countries was thus sanctioned. Only in some parts of Silesia were certain concessions made to the Protestants. From now on, the institutions of the empire were to be occupied equally by Catholics and Protestants. The imperial estates were able to enforce considerable rights. This included the right to conclude alliances with foreign powers, even if these could not be directed against the emperor and the empire. The large territories benefited most from the regulations. So the attempt of Ferdinand III had finally failed. to rule also in the empire in the manner of absolutism. But the empire and the emperor remained important. In terms of day-to-day politics, the emperor found it particularly difficult to renounce support for the Spanish Habsburgs in the war against France. However, the emperor and his negotiators succeeded in preventing some particularly difficult constitutional questions from being referred to the next regular Reichstag. The imperial rights were also factually but not expressly restricted.

The emperor did not see the peace agreement as a catastrophic defeat, but thanks to the negotiating skills of Trautmannsdorffs, the worst could be prevented. This very positive assessment was also due to the fact that the consequences for the Austrian hereditary lands were comparatively favorable. So the expropriations in Bohemia and the renewed national order were not shaken. Upper Austria , pledged to Bavaria, came back to Habsburg.

“The constitutional position of the emperor in the empire after the Peace of Westphalia left the possibility of an active imperial policy in cooperation with some of the estates, despite all the losses, and in the Habsburg monarchy the prerequisites for the development of a unified absolutist state were preserved. In this respect - despite the failure of some of the original negotiation goals - one can speak of a success of the imperial policy in the Westphalian peace negotiations. "

After the war

Emperor and empire in a depiction from the 17th century. In the center is Emperor Ferdinand III. depicted as the head of the empire in the circle of the electors . (Copper engraving by Abraham Aubry, Nuremberg 1663/64)

On the Nuremberg execution day of 1649/1650, the final withdrawal of the foreign troops and the political settlement of the relationship with Sweden and France were clarified. At times the fighting even threatened to break out again.

After the death of his second wife, Archduchess Maria Leopoldine , with whom he was only married for a few months, Ferdinand married Eleonora Magdalena Gonzaga of Mantua-Nevers in 1651 . She was pious and founded, among other things, the Ursuline Monastery in Vienna and the Star Cross Order for noble women. She was also very educated and interested in art. She composed and poetry and, together with Ferdinand, was the focus of the Italian Academy.

Ferdinand's power as sovereign of the Austrian hereditary lands and as king in Hungary and Bohemia was significantly greater than that of his predecessors before 1618. His power as prince had been strengthened and the influence of the estates was massively reduced. During his reign, however, there were hardly any far-reaching internal reforms in the hereditary lands, but mainly discrete personnel policy decisions for the future. In addition, the reform of the Church continued in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Ferdinand also succeeded in building a new standing army from the remnants of the imperial army, which was able to show its effectiveness under Leopold I. Furthermore, under Ferdinand III. the fortification facilities of the fortress Vienna were massively expanded. For this, the emperor invested a total of over 80,000  florins .

Despite a considerable loss of authority in the empire, Ferdinand remained politically active and was able to quickly consolidate his imperial position. The Reichshofrat , which competed with the Reich Chamber of Commerce , had already been recognized in the Peace of Westphalia . Ferdinand gave the Reichshofrat a new order, which remained in force until 1806 and resulted in an upper court that functioned well until the end of the empire. For the end of 1652 he convened a Reichstag in Regensburg, which sat until 1654. This Reichstag was the last old-style assembly before the Perpetual Reichstag became a permanent congress of envoys after 1663 . At the Reichstag in 1652 Ferdinand remained present until the end, although most of the imperial estates had only sent envoys. His councilors were of the opinion that with the controversial opinions to be expected, only the emperor himself had enough authority to achieve results. The Reichstag decided that the content of the peace treaties of Munster and Osnabrück under imperial law should become part of the imperial constitution. Ferdinand also tried to create an effective imperial army, but this attempt failed. At least it was possible to push through a reform of the Reich Chamber of Commerce and to postpone some of the constitutional questions that were potentially particularly dangerous for the emperor's power. An alliance was also concluded with Poland , which was directed against Sweden . This led to the support of Poland by the Empire in the Second Northern War . The resolutions of the Reichstag were laid down in the so-called latest Reichs Farewell.

The fact that he succeeded in gaining a seat and vote in the Reichstag for some of the aristocrats who had been elevated to the rank of prince by his father also speaks for the emperor's regained strength. He also succeeded in securing the Roman election for his son Ferdinand IV , who, however, died in 1654. The younger son Leopold could not yet be elected as a successor due to his minority, which gave opposition imperial estates the opportunity to collect majorities for another candidate. The emperor therefore delayed the opening of the deputation day, which was due after the Regensburg Reichstag, until September 1655 and again slowed its conclusion the next year in order to gain time until a new royal election day. In the meantime, the succession was settled in the hereditary lands, where Leopold was crowned King of Hungary and Bohemia.

Promoter of art and culture

Ferdinand was a patron of the arts and sciences, very musical and a composer himself . He was the first of the Habsburg rulers to have his own pieces passed down. Wolfgang Ebner had an aria with 36 variations of his musical movements printed in Prague in 1648; A four-part chant with figured bass, Melothesia Caesarea , was published by the Jesuit and polymath Athanasius Kircher in the first part of his Musurgie , and a simple four-part choir about the Psalm Miserere can be found in the 28th year of the Leipziger Allgemeine Musikischen Zeitung (1826). He also created a setting of the Lauretanian litany, which was extremely popular in the 17th century . A “Drama musicum” dedicated to Athanasius Kircher was performed at court in 1649. This imitation of an Italian opera was one of the first examples in German-speaking countries. Overall, he left numerous and varied sacred and secular pieces of music. The emperor also wrote numerous poems in Italian. They were valued by contemporaries for their graceful, lively and easily singable manner. His efforts were funded by Giuseppe Valentini and his third wife, Eleonore Gonzaga. Ferdinand was also interested in the natural sciences. In 1654, during the Reichstag in Regensburg, he had the physicist Otto von Guericke perform his experiment with the Magdeburg hemispheres .

Death and grave

The sarcophagus of Emperor Ferdinand III. in the Vienna Capuchin Crypt

Ferdinand died on April 2, 1657 and was buried in the Vienna Capuchin Crypt. His entrails were buried separately and are located in the duke's crypt .

title

The full title of Ferdinand III. read:

We Ferdinand the Third Roman Emperor , chosen by God's grace , at all times several members of the empire , in Germania , in Hungarn , Böheim , Dalmatia , Croatia , and Sclavonia , etc. King , Ertzhertzog of Austria , Hertzog of Burgundy , Brabandt , Steyer , to Carinthia , to Krayn , to Lützenburg , to Württemberg , Upper and Lower Silesia , Prince of Swabia , Marggraff of the H. Roman Empire, to Burgau , to Moravia , Upper and Lower Laußnitz , Prince Count of Habspurg , to Tyrol , zu Pfierd , zu Kyburg and zu Görtz , etc. Landgraff in Alsace , Herr auf der Windischen Marck , zu Portenau , and zu Salins , etc.

His motto was: Pietate et iustitia - "With piety and justice".

progeny

In 1631 Ferdinand married Maria Anna of Spain , daughter of King Philip III, in Vienna . of Spain . They had the following children:

  1. ⚭ 1666 Margarita Theresa of Spain (1651–1673)
  2. ⚭ 1673 Claudia Felizitas of Austria-Tyrol (1653–1676)
  3. ⚭ 1676 Eleonore Magdalene of the Palatinate (1655–1720)
  • Maria (* / † 1646)

In his second marriage, Ferdinand married Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Tyrol (1632–1649) in Linz in 1648 . With this he had a son:

In his third marriage, Ferdinand married Eleonora Magdalena Gonzaga von Mantua-Nevers (1630–1686) in Vienna in 1651 . With this he had four children:

  1. ⚭ 1670 Michael I. Wiśniowiecki (1640–1673), King of Poland
  2. ⚭ 1678 Charles V (1643–1690), Duke of Lorraine

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 Ferdinand I. (HRR) (1503-1564)
 
 
 
 
 Charles II (Inner Austria) (1540–1590)
 
 
 
 
 
 Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547)
 
 
 
 Ferdinand II (HRR) (1578-1637)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Albrecht V (Bavaria) (1528–1579)
 
 
 
 Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608)
 
 
 
 
 
 Anna of Austria (1528–1590)
 
 
 
 Ferdinand III. (HRR)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Albrecht V (Bavaria) (1528–1579)
 
 
 
 Wilhelm V (Bavaria) (1548–1626)
 
 
 
 
 
 Anna of Austria (1528–1590)
 
 
 
 Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574-1616)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Francis I (Lorraine) (1517–1545)
 
 
 
 Renata of Lorraine (1544–1602)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Christina of Denmark (1521–1590)
 
 

reception

By the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I of February 28, 1863 Ferdinand III. added to the list of the “most famous warlords and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation” , in whose honor and memory a life-size statue was erected in the Feldherrenhalle of the then newly built Imperial and Royal Court Weapons Museum (today: Army History Museum Vienna ). The statue was created in 1867 by the Bohemian sculptor Emanuel Max Ritter von Wachstein (1810–1901) from Carrara marble and was dedicated by Emperor Ferdinand I.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Ferdinand III.  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Ferdinand III., Roman Emperor  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hermann Grotefend: Pocket Book of the Calculation of Time in the German Middle Ages and Modern Times , 14th Edition, Hanover (2007), p. 115.
  2. ↑ CV Wedgwood: The 30 Years War . Paul List Verlag Munich 1967. (pp. 317-319) ISBN 3-517-09017-4
  3. ↑ a b c Brigitte Vacha (Ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 221.
  4. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 144.
  5. ^ Felix Stieve:  Ferdinand III . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 665.
  6. ↑ a b c Brigitte Vacha (Ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 222.
  7. ↑ a b Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for National Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 18th f .
  8. ^ Karl Eder:  Ferdinand III .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 85 f. ( Digitized version ).
  9. ^ Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for National Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 162 f .
  10. ↑ Heiner Haan: The Regensburger Kurfürstentag of 1636/1637 . Aschendorff, Münster 1967.
  11. ↑ a b Brigitte Vacha (Ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 223f.
  12. ↑ a b Volker Press : Wars and Crises, Germany 1600–1715. Munich 1991, p. 237.
  13. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 157.
  14. ^ Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for National Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 164-166 .
  15. ^ Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for National Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 177-181 .
  16. ^ Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for National Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 198-215 .
  17. ^ Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for National Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 218-220 .
  18. ↑ a b Georg Schmidt: The Horsemen of the Apocalypse - History of the Thirty Years' War . CH Beck, Munich 2018, pp. 524-527.
  19. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 155.
  20. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 156.
  21. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 157 f.
  22. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 224.
  23. ↑ Volker Press: Wars and Crises, Germany 1600–1715. Munich 1991, p. 241.
  24. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 154.
  25. ↑ a b Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 158f.
  26. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 160.
  27. ^ Leopold Auer: The goals of the imperial policy in the Westphalian peace negotiations and their implementation. In: Heinz Duchhardt (Ed.): The Westphalian Peace. Diplomacy, political turning point, cultural environment, reception history. In: Historische Zeitschrift , supplement 26; Munich 1998, p. 172 f.
  28. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 161.
  29. ↑ a b Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 163.
  30. ^ Walter F. Kalina: The Viennese fortress construction at the time of Emperor Ferdinand III. and Leopold I. (1637–1672). In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege , vol. 60, no. 3/4, Vienna 2006, pp. 380–384.
  31. ↑ Konrad Repgen: Ferdinand III. In: Anton Schindling, Walter Ziegler (ed.): The emperors of the modern times. 1519-1918. Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Germany. Munich 1990, p. 165.
  32. ↑ Brigitte Vacha (ed.): The Habsburgs. A European family story. Vienna 1992, p. 227.
  33. ^ Mark Hengerer: Emperor Ferdinand III. (1608-1657). A biography. Böhlau, Vienna 2012, p. 322 .
  34. ^ Farewell to the Reichstag in Regensburg on May 17, 1654 ( Last Reichs Farewell / Recessus Imperii Novissimus , RIN)
  35. ^ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 32
predecessor Office successor
Ferdinand II. Roman-German Emperor
1637–1657 		Leopold I.
Ferdinand II. Archduke of Austria
1637–1657 		Leopold I.
Ferdinand II. King of Croatia and Slavonia
1637–1657 		Leopold I.
Ferdinand II. King of Hungary
1626–1657 		Leopold I.
Ferdinand II. King of Bohemia
1627–1657 		Leopold I.
personal data
SURNAME Ferdinand III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Holy Roman Emperor
DATE OF BIRTH July 13, 1608
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz
DATE OF DEATH April 2, 1657
PLACE OF DEATH Vienna