Death of the Emperor Ferdinand

The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III died on April  2nd, 1657.

Ferdinand III’s twenty years as Holy Roman Emperor fell between the reigns of two exceptionally dominating and effective emperors, his father, Ferdinand II, and his son, Leopold I. His reputation has suffered from the contrast. Successively Archduke of Austria from 1621, King of Hungary in 1625, King of Bohemia in 1627, and nominally the Austrian commander-in-chief from 1634, he became emperor in 1637 and was inevitably entangled in the Thirty Years War between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Germany and Central Europe which had been going on since his boyhood. Though himself a staunch Catholic, he favoured peace and eventually signed the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which recognised that the Protestant states in Germany had the right to exist.

To continue reading this article you will need to purchase access to the online archive.

Buy Online Access  Buy Print & Archive Subscription

If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.

Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.