Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

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Ferdinand I
Holy Roman Emperor; King of the Romans
King of Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia and Slavonia; Archduke of Austria

Holy Roman Emperor
Reign 1556 - 1564
Predecessor Charles V
Successor Maximilian II
King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia
Reign 1526 - 1564
Predecessor Louis II
Successor Maximilian II
Archduke of Austria
Reign 1521 - 1564
Predecessor Charles I
Successor Maximilian II (Austria proper)
Charles II (Inner Austria)
Ferdinand II (Further Austria)
Spouse Anna of Bohemia and Hungary
Issue
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Elisabeth, Queen of Poland
Joanna, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
Anna, Duchess of Bavaria
Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria
Catherine, Queen of Poland
Barbara, Duchess of Ferrara
Charles II, Archduke of Austria
Eleonora, Duchess of Mantua
Royal house House of Habsburg
Father Philip I of Castile
Mother Joanna of Castile
Born 10 March 1503
Alcala de Henares, Castile, Spain
Died 25 July 1564
Vienna, Austria
Burial St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (Alcalá de Henares (near Madrid), Kingdom of Castile (now Spain), 10 March 1503 – Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), 25 July 1564) was a Central European monarch from the House of Habsburg. His titles from birth were Archduke of Austria, from his father, and Infante of Castile, León, Aragon and Navarre from his mother.

He ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs most of his public life, at the behest of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Ferdinand was Archduke of Austria from 1521-1564. After the death of his brother-in-law Louis II, Ferdinand ruled as King of Bohemia and Hungary - Croatia (1526–1564). When Charles retired in 1556, Ferdinand became his successor as Holy Roman Emperor[1], while Spain, the Spanish Empire, Naples, Sicily, Milan, the Netherlands, and Franche-Comté went to Philip, son of Charles.

Ferdinand's motto was Fiat justitia et pereat mundus ("Let justice be done, though the world perish").

Biography

Early years

Ferdinand was born on 10 March 1503 in Alcala de Henares, 40 km from Madrid, the son of the Infanta Joanna of Castile (1479–1555), the future Queen of Castile known as Joanna the Mad, and Habsburg Archduke Philip the Handsome (1478–1506), Duke of Burgundy and future King of Castile, who was heir to Emperor Maximilian I. Ferdinand shared his birthday with his maternal grandfather Ferdinand II the Catholic, King of Aragon.

Charles entrusted Ferdinand with the government of the Austrian hereditary lands, roughly modern-day Austria and Slovenia. Ferdinand also served as his brother's deputy in the Holy Roman Empire during his brother's many absences and in 1531 was elected King of the Romans, making him Charles's designated heir in the Empire. Charles abdicated in 1556 and Ferdinand succeeded him, assuming the title of Emperor elect in 1558.

Hungary and the Ottomans

After Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent defeated Ferdinand's brother-in-law Louis II, King of Bohemia and of Hungary - Croatia, at the battle of Mohács on 29 August 1526, Ferdinand was elected King of Bohemia in his place. Nicolaus Olahus, secretary of Louis, attached himself to the party of King Ferdinand, but retained his position with the queen-dowager Mary of Habsburg. The throne of Hungary became the subject of a dynastic dispute between Ferdinand and John Zápolya, voivode of Transylvania. Each was supported by different factions of the nobility in the Hungarian kingdom; Ferdinand also had the support of Charles V. After defeat by Ferdinand at the Battle of Tokaj in 1527, Zápolya gained the support of Suleiman. Ferdinand was able to win control only of western Hungary because Zápolya clung to the east and the Ottomans to the conquered south. Zápolya's widow, Isabella Jagiełło, ceded Royal Hungary and Transylvania to Ferdinand in the Treaty of Weissenburg of 1551. In 1554 Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq was sent to Istanbul by Ferdinand to discuss a border treaty over disputed land with Suleiman.

The most dangerous moment of Ferdinand's career came in 1529 when he took refuge in Bohemia from a massive but ultimately unsuccessful assault on his capital by Suleiman and the Ottoman armies at the Siege of Vienna. A further Ottoman attack on Vienna was repelled in 1533. In that year Ferdinand signed a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire, splitting the Kingdom of Hungary into a Habsburg sector in the west and John Zápolya's domain in the east, the latter effectively a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1538, by the Treaty of Nagyvárad, Ferdinand became Zápolya's successor. He was unable to enforce this agreement during his lifetime because John II Sigismund Zápolya, infant son of John Zápolya and Isabella Jagiełło, was elected King of Hungary in 1540. Zápolya was initially supported by King Sigismund of Poland, his mother's father, but in 1543 a treaty was signed between the Habsburgs and the Polish ruler as a result of which Poland became neutral in the conflict. Prince Sigismund Augustus married Elisabeth of Austria, Ferdinand's daughter.

Government

Austrian Royalty
House of Habsburg

Armorial of the Holy Roman Empire
Ferdinand I
Children include
   Archduchess Elisabeth
   Maximilian II
   Archduchess Anna, Duchess of Bavaria
   Archduke Ferdinand
   Archduchess Maria
   Archduchess Catherine
   Archduchess Barbara
   Archduke Charles
   Archduchess Johanna
Grandchildren include
   Archduchess Anna, Queen of Poland and Sweden
   Ferdinand II
   Archduchess Margaret, Queen of Spain
   Archduke Leopold
   Archduchess Constance, Queen of Poland and Sweden
   Archduchess Maria Magdalena, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
Maximilian II
Children include
   Archduchess Anna, Queen of Spain
   Rudolf II
   Archduke Ernest
   Archduchess Elisabeth, Queen of France
   Matthias
   Archduke Maximilian
   Archduke Albert
Rudolf II
Matthias
Ferdinand II

The western rump of Hungary over which Ferdinand retained dominion became known as Royal Hungary. As the ruler of Austria, Bohemia and Royal Hungary, Ferdinand adopted a policy of centralization and, in common with other monarchs of the time, the construction of an absolute monarchy. In 1527 he published a constitution for his hereditary domains (Hofstaatsordnung) and established Austrian-style institutions in Pressburg for Hungary, in Prague for Bohemia, and in Breslau for Silesia. Opposition from the nobles in those realms forced him to concede the independence of these institutions from supervision by the Austrian government in Vienna in 1559.