The Life of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol

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Anna de'Medici of Florence, Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria, Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, Claudia de'Medici of Florence, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, Philip III of Spain, Philip IV of Spain, Thirty Years War

Ferdinand Charles (May 17, 1628 – December 30, 1662) was the Archduke of Further Austria, including the County of Tyrol, from 1646 to 1662.

The Habsburgs, like all German Royal Families, would divide thier lands amongst the sons of the sovereign. This lead to various branches of the Hapsburg family ruling different parts of Austria. Archduke Ferdinand Charles was the ruler of Further Austria.

Further Austria, also called Outer Austria or Anterior Austria, was the collective name for the early (and later) possessions of the House of Habsburg in the former Swabian stem duchy of south-western Germany, including territories in the Alsace region west of the Rhine and in Vorarlberg.

Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol

While the territories of Further Austria west of the Rhine and south of Lake Constance (except Konstanz itself) were gradually lost to France and the Swiss Confederacy, those in Swabia and Vorarlberg remained under Habsburg control until the Napoleonic Era.

The various branches of the House of Habsburg, technically known as the House of Austria, was not united under one monarch until the extinction of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg in 1665, Further Austria and the County of Tyrol then came under the direct control of Emperor Leopold I. More on that below.

Archduke Ferdinand Charles was the son of Archduke Leopold V of Further Austria (1586 – 1632) and his wife Claudia de’ Medici a daughter of Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Christina of Lorraine.

Archduke Leopold V of Further Austria was the son of of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria, (younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand II) and his wife, who was also his niece, Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, the daughter of Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Archduchess Anna of Austria the third of fifteen children of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564) from his marriage with the Jagiellonian Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547).

Marriage

Anna de’ Medici

Archduke Ferdinand Charles married his double first cousin, Anna de’ Medici, a daughter of Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria († 1631) the youngest daughter of Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria, and his wife Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria. The match was negotiated by Ferdinand Charles’ formidable mother.

Previously there were plans for Anna de’ Medici to marry Gaston, Duke of Orléans, the third son of King Henri IV of France and Navarre and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici, but that plan fell through.

Instead she became engaged to Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Further Austria. In 1646, Anna left her native Florence for Innsbruck to be married on June 10.

The couple preferred the attractions of the opulent Tuscan court to the mountains of Tyrol, and consequently were more often at Florence than at Innsbruck.

Archduke Ferdinand Charles succeeded his father as Archduke of Further Austria upon the latter’s death in 1632. His mother, Claudia de’ Medici, became regent for her son. Claudia was successful in keeping Tyrol out of the Thirty Years War.

Archduke Ferdinand Charles took over his mother’s governatorial duties when he came of age in 1646. To finance his extravagant living style, he sold goods and entitlements.

For example, he wasted the exorbitant sum which France had to pay to the Tyrolean Habsburgs for the cession of their fiefs west of the Rhine (Alsace, Sundgau and Breisach). He also fixed the border to Graubünden in 1652.

Archduke Ferdinand Charles was an absolutist ruler, did not call any diet after 1648 and had his chancellor Wilhelm Biener executed illegally in 1651 after a secret trial. On the other hand, he was a lover of music: Italian opera was performed in his court.

Ferdinand Charles and Anna de’Medici had three children:

1. Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria (May 30, 1653 – April 8, 1676).
2. Daughter (born and died 19 July 1654), died at birth.
3. Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria (August 17, 1656 – January 21, 1669).

Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Further Austria died in Kaltern at the age of 34.

Widowhood of Anna, Archduchess of Further Austria

As Archduke Ferdinand Charles and Anna de’ Medici only had two surviving daughters, his younger brother Archduke Sigismund Franz, inherited his titles as Count of Tyrol and Archduke of Further Austria.

Archduke Sigismund Franz, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol

On the eve of his marriage to another princess however, Sigismund Franz died in 1665. He was more able than his brother and could have made him a good ruler, but with his early death in 1665 the younger Tyrolean line of the Habsburg house ended.

This meant that the county reverted to direct rule from Vienna, as Emperor Leopold I, who as the heir male succeeded Sigismund Franz, took direct control over the government of Further Austria and Tyrol.

Despite the efforts of Anna to preserve some vestige of power for herself as Dowager Countess, she was unable to persuade Emperor Leopold to maintain some authority in Further Austria.

Her actions also stemmed from the fact that Anna wanted to protect the rights of her two daughters. This dispute would not be remedied until 1673, when her only surviving daughter, Archduchess Claudia Felicitas (Maria Magdalena had died in 1669) married her second cousin Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, the man responsible for the seizure of Further Austria and the County of Tyrol in the first place. Both were great-grandchildren of Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria.

Archduchess Claudia Felicitas

She was his second wife. Emperor Leopold I had been previously married to Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain, the elder full-sister of King Carlos II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs.

Infanta Margaret Theresa was the first child of King Felipe IV of Spain born from his second marriage with his niece Archduchess Mariana of Austria, the second daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III and Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Archduchess Margaret of Austria, herself the daughter of the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

Her parents had six children, of whom only Maria Anna and two brothers survived to adulthood; Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia (1633-1654), and Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705).

The Archduchess Claudia Felicitas, married the Emperor with the consent of her relatives, rejecting other suitors of her hand, including the widower James, Duke of York and future King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Anna not only survived her husband by fourteen years but also outlived her eldest surviving daughter, who would die soon after her marriage to Emperor Leopold I. On September 11, 1676 in Vienna, Anna died aged sixty.

December 18, 1626: Birth of Christina, Queen of Sweden. Part II.

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Axel Oxenstierna, Carl Gustaf of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, Chancellor of Sweden, King Carl X Gustaf of Sweden, Peace of Westphalia, Queen Christina of Sweden, Thirty Years War

In 1644, Christina was declared an adult, although the coronation was postponed because of the Torstenson War. In the Treaty of Brömsebro Denmark added the isles of Gotland and Ösel to Christina’s domain while Norway lost the districts of Jämtland and Härjedalen to her. Under Christina’s rule, Sweden, now virtually controlling the Baltic Sea, had unrestricted access to the North Sea and was no longer encircled by Denmark–Norway.

Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna soon discovered that Queen Christina’s political views differed from his own. In 1645, he sent his son, Johan Oxenstierna, to the Peace Congress in the Westphalian city of Osnabrück, to argue against peace with the Holy Roman Empire. Christina, however, wanted peace at any cost and sent her own delegate, Johan Adler Salvius.

Christina, Queen of Sweden

The Peace of Westphalia was signed between May and October 1648, effectively ending the European wars of religion. Sweden received an indemnity of five million thalers, used primarily to pay its troops.

Sweden further received Western Pomerania (henceforth Swedish Pomerania), Wismar, the Archbishopric of Bremen, and the Bishopric of Verden as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire and in the respective diets (Kreistag) of three Imperial Circles: the Upper Saxon Circle, Lower Saxon Circle, and Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle; the city of Bremen was disputed.

Shortly before the conclusion of the peace settlement, Queen Christina admitted Salvius into the council, against Oxenstierna’s wishes. Salvius was no aristocrat, but Christina wanted the opposition to the aristocracy present.

In 1649, with the help of her uncle, Johann Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, Queen Christina tried to reduce the influence of Oxenstierna, when she declared her cousin Carl Gustaf of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg as her heir presumptive. Carl Gustaf was the son of Johann Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden, the daughter of King Carl IX of Sweden and his first spouse Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern.

The following year, Queen Christina resisted demands from the other estates (clergy, burghers, and peasants) in the Riksdag of the Estates for the reduction of the number of noble landholdings that were tax-exempt. She never implemented such a policy.

King Carl X Gustaf of Sweden

Already at the age of nine Christina was impressed by the Catholic religion and the merits of celibacy. She read a biography on the virgin queen, Elizabeth I of England, with interest. Christina understood that it was expected of her to provide an heir to the Swedish throne.

Her first cousin and future successor, Carl Gustaf of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, was infatuated with her, and they became secretly engaged before he left in 1642 to serve in the Swedish army in Germany for three years.

Christina revealed in her autobiography that she felt “an insurmountable distaste for marriage” and “for all the things that females talked about and did.” She once stated, “It takes more courage to marry than to go to war.”

As she was chiefly occupied with her studies, she slept three to four hours a night, forgot to comb her hair, donned her clothes in a hurry and wore men’s shoes for the sake of convenience. (In fact, her permanent bed-head became her trademark look in paintings.)

When Christina left Sweden, she continued to write passionate letters to her intimate friend Ebba Sparre, in which she told her that she would always love her. However, such emotional letters were relatively common at that time, and Christina would use the same style when writing to women she had never met, but whose writings she admired.

The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Part IV. The Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia.

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Archduke of Austria, August II the Strong of Poland, Bohemia and Croatia, Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick I in Prussia, Holy Roman Emperor, House of Habsburg, House of Hohenzollern, King of Hungry, Leopold I, Peace of Westphalia, Thirty Years War

After the Peace of Westphalia and the states within the Empire had greater autonomy we saw the rise of Brandenburg-Prussia which came to rival Austria for supremacy within the Empire.

The Hohenzollern state was then known as Brandenburg-Prussia. Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701.

The family’s main possessions were the Margraviate of Brandenburg within the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Prussia outside of the Empire, ruled as a personal union.

Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern family intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession upon the latter’s extinction in the male line in 1618.

Another consequence of the intermarriage was the incorporation of the lower Rhenish principalities of Cleves, Mark and Ravensberg after the Treaty of Xanten in 1614.

The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) was especially devastating. The Elector changed sides three times, and as a result Protestant and Catholic armies swept the land back and forth, killing, burning, seizing men and taking the food supplies.

Friedrich I-III, King in Prussia, Elector of Brandenburg

Upwards of half the population was killed or dislocated. Berlin and the other major cities were in ruins, and recovery took decades. By the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, Brandenburg gained Minden and Halberstadt, also the succession in Farther Pomerania (incorporated in 1653) and the Duchy of Magdeburg (incorporated in 1680).

With the Treaty of Bromberg (1657), concluded during the Second Northern War, the electors were freed of Polish vassalage for the Duchy of Prussia and gained Lauenburg–Bütow and Draheim. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1679) expanded Brandenburgian Pomerania to the lower Oder.

The second half of the 17th century laid the basis for Prussia to become one of the great players in European politics. The emerging Brandenburg-Prussian military potential, based on the introduction of a standing army in 1653, was symbolized by the widely noted victories in Warsaw (1656) and Fehrbellin (1675) and by the Great Sleigh Drive (1678). Brandenburg-Prussia also established a navy and German colonies in the Brandenburger Gold Coast and Arguin.

Friedrich Wilhelm, known as “The Great Elector”, opened Brandenburg-Prussia to large-scale immigration (“Peuplierung”) of mostly Protestant refugees from all across Europe (“Exulanten”), most notably Huguenot immigration following the Edict of Potsdam. Friedrich Wilhelm also started to centralize Brandenburg-Prussia’s administration and reduce the influence of the estates.

In 1701, Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg, succeeded in elevating his status to King in Prussia.

Born in Königsberg, Friedrich was the third son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg by his father’s first marriage to Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau, eldest daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. His maternal cousin was King William III of England. Upon the death of his father on April 28, 1688, Friedrich became Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia. Right after ascending the throne Friedrich founded a new city southerly adjacent to Dorotheenstadt and named it after himself, the Friedrichstadt.

Although he was the Margrave and Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Prussia, Friedrich III desired the more prestigious title of king. However, according to Germanic law at that time, no kingdoms could exist within the Holy Roman Empire, with the exception of the Kingdom of Bohemia which belonged to the Holy Roman Emperor.

Friedrich persuaded Emperor Leopold I to allow Prussia to be elevated to a kingdom by the Crown Treaty of November 16, 1700. This agreement was ostensibly given in exchange for an alliance against King Louis XIV in the War of the Spanish Succession and the provision of 8,000 Prussian troops to Leopold’s service.

Friedrich III argued that Prussia had never been part of the Holy Roman Empire, and he ruled over it with full sovereignty. Therefore, he said, there was no legal or political barrier to letting him rule it as a kingdom. Friedrich was aided in the negotiations by Charles Ancillon.

Friedrich crowned himself on January 18, 1701 in Königsberg. Although he did so with the Emperor’s consent, and also with formal acknowledgement from August II the Strong, Elector of Saxony, who held the title of King of Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian Diet (Sejm) raised objections, and viewed the coronation as illegal.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungry, Bohemia and Croatia, Archduke of Austria

In fact, according to the terms of the Treaty of Wehlau and Bromberg, the House of Hohenzollern’s sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia was not absolute but contingent on the continuation of the male line (in the absence of which the duchy would revert to the Polish crown). Therefore, out of deference to the region’s historic ties to the Polish crown, Friedrich made the symbolic concession of calling himself “King in Prussia” instead of “King of Prussia”.

His royalty was, in any case, limited to Prussia and did not reduce the rights of the Emperor in the portions of his domains that were still part of the Holy Roman Empire. In other words, while he was a king in Prussia, he was still only an elector under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Emperor in Brandenburg.

Legally, the Hohenzollern state was still a personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia. However, by the time Friedrich crowned himself as king, the emperor’s authority over Brandenburg (and the rest of the empire) was only nominal, and in practice it soon came to be treated as part of the Prussian kingdom rather than as a separate entity.

From 1701 onward, the Hohenzollern domains were referred to as the Kingdom of Prussia, or simply Prussia. Legally, the personal union between Brandenburg and Prussia continued until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

However, by this time the emperor’s overlordship over the empire had become a legal fiction. Hence, after 1701, Brandenburg was de facto treated as part of the Prussian kingdom. Friedrich and his successors continued to centralize and expand the state, transforming the personal union of politically diverse principalities typical for the Brandenburg-Prussian era into a system of provinces subordinate to Berlin.

The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Part III

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Christina, Eighty Years War, Felipe IV-III, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, King of Spain and Portugal, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Peace of Westphalia, Prince of Orange, Queen of Sweden, Stadtholder of the United Provinces, Thirty Years War, Treaty of Münster, Treaty of Osnabrück, Willem II

The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) and Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648), and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people.

Despite resulting cessation of the Thirty Years War, the Peace of Westphalia was a significant step in the decline of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Felipe IV-III, King of Spain and Portugal, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Christina, Queen of Sweden, Willem II, Prince of Orange, United Provinces (Netherlands), and their respective allies were among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire participated in these treaties.

The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two cities, because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungry, Bohemia and Croatia, Archduke of Austria

The negotiations in Westphalia turned out to be difficult, beginning with a dispute over the rules of procedure. The emperor had to give in to pressure from France and Sweden and admit all imperial estates to the congress and receive the ius belli ac pacis. In addition to peace between the parties involved, the internal constitution of the empire was also newly regulated.

The Imperial Court received weekly reports on the negotiations. Even though the reports had been produced by officials, the process also proved to be an extremely busy time for the emperor, as despite all the advisers, he had to make the decisions. The study of the documents suggests, that Emperor Ferdinand III was a monarch with expertise with a sense of responsibility and the willingness to make difficult decisions.

In the course of the negotiations, Ferdinand had to reconsider his original goals according to the deteriorating military situation. His advisor Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff suggested a great battle to end the war favourably.

The emperor personally took part in the campaign against the Swedes, that ended with a defeat at the Battle of Jankau on March 6, 1645. The Swedish army under Lennart Torstensson then advanced to Vienna. To raise morale in the city, the emperor circled the city in a large procession with an image of the Virgin Mary.

As the Swedish army drew closer, Ferdinand left the city. Archduke Leopold Wilhelm managed to drive off the opponents. At times Ferdinand managed to get Prince George I Rákóczi of Transylvania, an ally of France and Sweden, on his side.

In the 1645 Peace of Linz the Emperor had to guarantee the Hungarian estates the right of imperial representation and freedom of religion for the Protestants, which prevented the Counter-reformation and future Absolutist rule in Hungary.

The Habsburgs could no longer win the war without the support of the Spanish allies. Due to domestic difficulties, financial and military Spanish support for Ferdinand was completely stopped in 1645. Without foreign military funds, the imperial troops were incapable of offensive operations, which weakened Ferdinand’s position in negotiations.

“Celebration of the Peace of Münster” Bartholomeus Van Der Helst – 1648

The emperor reissued the instructions for the peace talks for Trautmannsdorf, who left for Westphalia as chief negotiator. These documents were kept strictly secret and were only published in 1962. Reviews revealed, that Ferdinand surrendered numerous previous claims and was ready for greater concessions than were ultimately necessary.

A total of 109 delegations arrived to represent the belligerent states, but not all delegations were present at the same time. Two treaties were signed to end the war in the Empire: the Treaty of Münster and the Treaty of Osnabrück.

These treaties ended the Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire, with the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria and Spain) and their Catholic allies on one side, battling the Protestant powers (Sweden and certain Holy Roman principalities) allied with France, which was Catholic but strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV. The separate Peace of Münster ended the Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the United Provinces.

The negotiators agreed to the Peace of Münster in 1648, but Willem II, Stadtholder of the United Provinces and Prince of Orange opposed acceptance of the treaty, even though it recognized the independence of the (northern) Netherlands, because it left the southern Netherlands in the hands of the Spanish monarchy. A separate peace furthermore violated the alliance with France formed in 1635. However, the States of six provinces voted to accept it.

Willem II, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the United Provinces

Secretly, Willem II opened his own negotiations with France with the goal of extending his own territory under a more centralized government. In addition, he worked for the restoration of his exiled brother-in-law, Charles II, to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Resulting from the treaty the power asserted by Emperor Ferdinand III was stripped from him and returned to the rulers of the Imperial States. The rulers of the Imperial States could henceforth choose their own official religions. Catholics and Protestants were redefined as equal before the law, and Calvinism was given legal recognition as an official religion. The independence of the Dutch Republic, which practiced religious toleration, also provided a safe haven for European Jews.

The dual rule of pope and emperor was effectively ended at the Peace of Westphalia at the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, wherein the empire was severed from the papacy for good. The papacy played no role in the negotiations and in the eyes of Pope Innocent X, the peace destroyed the connection between pope and emperor which had held Europe together since the time of Charlemagne eight centuries prior.

The Holy See was very displeased at the settlement, with Pope Innocent X calling it “null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all time” in the bull Zelo Domus Dei.

Where international disputes between the rulers of Europe had previously been solved and mediated by the pope and/or emperor, the 17th century saw the true emergence of the modern system of international relations and diplomacy.

The main tenet of the Peace of Westphalia:

All parties would recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, in which each prince had the right to determine the religion of his own state (the principle of cuius regio, eius religio). However, the ius reformandi was removed: Subjects were no longer forced to follow the conversion of their ruler. Rulers were allowed to choose Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism.

Another repercussion of the Peace of Westphalia was it gave the rulers of the many states within the Empire greater autonomy not only over religious issues but secular issues as well.

As mentioned yesterday, many states in Europe had become string nations due to the formation of a powerful centralized government. The Empire was in an opposite state. The lack of a standing army, a central treasury, weak central control of the government (that did not have a capitol) and exercised by a monarch who was elective and not hereditary all contributed to the idea that there was no unified German state. In the view of its contemporaries, the empire had regressed from a “regular” monarchy into a highly irregular one.

One of the saving graces of the Habsburg monarchy at this time was that they remained powerful within thier Crown Lands which laid both within and without the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire.

June 9, 1640: Birth of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia

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Archduke of Austria, Bohemia and Croatia, Holy Roman Emperor, House of Habsburg, King of Hungary, Leopold I, Peace of Westphalia, Philip IV of Spain, Thirty Years War, War of the Spanish Succession

Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Felician; June 9, 1640 – May 5, 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Archduchess Margaret of Austria, prior to her Imperial marriage she was considered a possible wife for Charles, Prince of Wales; the event, later known in history as the “Spanish Match.”

Born on June 9, 1640 in Vienna, Leopold received the traditional program of education in the liberal arts, history, literature, natural science and astronomy. He was particularly interested in music, as his father emperor Ferdinand III had been. From an early age Leopold showed an inclination toward learning. He became fluent in Latin, Italian, German, French, and Spanish. In addition to German, Italian would be the most favored language at his court.

Leopold became heir apparent in 1654 after the death of his elder brother Ferdinand IV, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia (1633 – 1654).

Elected in 1658, Leopold I ruled the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1705, becoming the longest-ruling Habsburg emperor (46 years and 9 months). He was both a composer and considerable patron of music.

Leopold’s reign is known for conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the Great Turkish War (1683-1699) and rivalry with Louis XIV, a contemporary and first cousin (on the maternal side; fourth cousin on the paternal side), in the west. After more than a decade of warfare, Leopold emerged victorious in the east thanks to the military talents of Prince Eugene of Savoy. By the Treaty of Karlowitz, Leopold recovered almost all of the Kingdom of Hungary, which had fallen under Turkish power in the years after the 1526 Battle of Mohács.

Leopold fought three wars against France: the Franco-Dutch War, the Nine Years’ War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. In this last, Leopold sought to give his younger son Charles the entire Spanish inheritance, disregarding the will of the late Carlos II. Leopold started a war that soon engulfed much of Europe.

The early years of the war went fairly well for Austria, with victories at Schellenberg and Blenheim, but the war would drag on until 1714, nine years after Leopold’s death, which barely had an effect on the warring nations. When peace returned with the Treaty of Rastatt, Austria could not be said to have emerged as triumphant as it had from the war against the Turks.

The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 (8 years after the birth of Emperor Leopold) had been a political defeat for the Habsburgs. It ended the idea that Europe was a single Christian empire; governed spiritually by the Pope and temporally by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Moreover, the treaty was devoted to parceling out land and influence to the “winners”, the anti-Habsburg alliance led by France and Sweden. However, the Habsburgs did gain some benefits out of the wars; the Protestant aristocracy in Habsburg territories had been decimated, and the ties between Vienna and the Habsburg domains in Bohemia and elsewhere were greatly strengthened.

These changes would allow Leopold to initiate necessary political and institutional reforms during his reign to develop somewhat of an absolutist state along French lines. The most important consequences of the war was in retrospect to weaken the Habsburgs as Holy Roman Emperors but strengthen them in their own hereditary lands, such as Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia.

In 1692, the Duke Ernst August of Hanover was raised to the rank of an Imperial Elector, becoming the ninth member of the electoral college. In 1700, Leopold, greatly in need of help for the impending war with France, granted the title of King in Prussia to the Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg. The net result of these and similar changes was to continue to weaken the authority of the emperor over the members of the Empire and to compel him to rely more and more upon his position as ruler of the Austrian Archduchy and of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia.

In 1666, Leopard married his first cousin and niece Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain (1651–1673), daughter and first child of King Felipe IV of Spain born from his second marriage with his niece Infanta Mariana of Austria.

His second wife was Archduchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, the first child and eldest daughter of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol, by his wife and first-cousin Anna de’ Medici. On her father’s side, her grandparents were Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria and his wife Claudia de’ Medici (after which she received her first name); on her mother’s side, her grandparents were Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his wife Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria.

His third wife was Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg. She was the oldest of 17 children born from Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife, Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. On her father’s side her grandparents were Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and his first wife, Magdalene of Bavaria. On her mother’s side, her grandparents were Georg II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Sophia Eleonore of Saxony.

June 6, 1654: Abdication of Queen Christina of Sweden. Part I

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Abdication, Holy Roman Empire, House of Hohenzollern, House of Vasa, House of Wittelsbach, King Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden, Maria Eleonora of Prussia, Queen Christina of Sweden, Thirty Years War

Christina (December 18, 1626 – April 19, 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustaf II Adolph upon his death at the Battle of Lützen in 1632, but began ruling the Swedish Empire when she reached the age of eighteen in 1644.

Christina was born in the royal castle Tre Kronor. Her parents were the Swedish king Gustaf II Adolph and his German wife, Maria Eleonorana of the House of Hohenzollern and a daughter of Johann Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and Anna, Duchess of Prussia, daughter of Albrecht Friedrich, Duke of Prussia.

In 1620, Maria Eleonora married Gustaf II Adolph with her mother’s consent, but against the will of her brother Georg Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg.

They had already had three children: two daughters (a stillborn princess in 1621, then the first Princess Christina, who was born in 1623 and died the following year) and a stilborn son in May 1625.

Excited expectations surrounded Maria Eleonora’s fourth pregnancy in 1626. When the baby was born, it was first thought to be a boy as it was “hairy” and screamed “with a strong, hoarse voice.”

She later wrote in her autobiography that, “Deep embarrassment spread among the women when they discovered their mistake.” The king, though, was very happy, stating, “She’ll be clever, she has made fools of us all!” From most accounts, Gustaf II Adolph appears to have been closely attached to his daughter, and she appears to have admired him greatly.

The Crown of Sweden was hereditary in the House of Vasa, but from King Carl IX’s time onward (reigned 1604–11), it excluded Vasa princes descended from a deposed brother (Eric XIV of Sweden) and a deposed nephew (Sigismund III of Poland). Gusta II Adolph’s legitimate younger brothers had died years earlier.

The one legitimate female left, his half-sister Catharine, came to be excluded in 1615 when she married a non-Lutheran. So Christina became the undisputed heir presumptive. From Christina’s birth, King Gustaf II Adolph recognized her eligibility even as a female heir, and although called “queen”, the official title she held as of her coronation by the Riksdag in February 1633 was king.

Before Gustaf II Adolph left for the Holy Roman Empire to defend Protestantism in the Thirty Years’ War, he secured his daughter’s right to inherit the throne, in case he never returned, and gave orders to Axel Gustafsson Banér, his marshal, that Christina should receive an education of the type normally only afforded to boys.

Christina was educated as a royal male would have been. The theologian Johannes Matthiae Gothus became her tutor; he gave her lessons in religion, philosophy, Greek and Latin. Chancellor Oxenstierna taught her politics and discussed Tacitus with her. Oxenstierna wrote proudly of the 14-year-old girl that, “She is not at all like a female” and that she had “a bright intelligence”. Christina seemed happy to study ten hours a day. Besides Swedish she learned at least seven other languages: German, Dutch, Danish, French, Italian, Arabic and Hebrew.

Already at the age of nine Christina was impressed by the Catholic religion and the merits of celibacy. She read a biography on the virgin queen Elizabeth I of England with interest. Christina understood that it was expected of her to provide an heir to the Swedish throne.

Her first cousin Carl Gustaf of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg was infatuated with her, and they became secretly engaged before he left in 1642 to serve in the Swedish army in the Holy Roman Empire for three years.

Carl Gustaf was the son of the Johann Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg of the Bavarian Wittelsbach family and Catherine of Sweden. Catherine of Sweden was the daughter of King Cark IX of Sweden and his first spouse Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern (also a member of the Wittelsbach family).

Christina revealed in her autobiography that she felt “an insurmountable distaste for marriage” and “for all the things that females talked about and did.” She once stated, “It takes more courage to marry than to go to war.

On February 26, 1649, Christina announced that she had decided not to marry and instead wanted her first cousin Carl to be heir to the throne. While the nobility objected to this, the three other estates – clergy, burghers, and peasants – accepted it. The coronation took place on October 22, 1650.

April 12, 1577: Birth of Christian IV, King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein

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Absolute Monarchy, Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, Hans of Denmark, Hereditary Monarchy, King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein, Thirty Years War

Christian IV (April 12, 1577 – February 28, 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1588 to 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs, and of all Scandinavian monarchies. Christian IV was a member of the House of Oldenburg.

Christian was born at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark on April 12, 1577 as the third child and eldest son of King Frederik II of Denmark–Norway and Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the daughter of Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (a daughter of Frederik I and Sophie of Pomerania). Through her father, a grandson of Elizabeth of Denmark, she descended from King Hans of Denmark.

Christian IV was descended, through his mother’s side, from king Hans of Denmark, and was thus the first descendant of King Hans to assume the crown since the deposition of King Christian II.

At the time, Denmark was still an elective monarchy, so in spite of being the eldest son, Christian was not automatically heir to the throne. But Norway was an hereditary monarchy, and electing someone else would result in the end of the union of the crowns. However, in 1580, at the age of 3, his father had him elected Prince-Elect and successor to the throne of Denmark.

At the death of his father on April 4, 1588, Christian was 11 years old. He succeeded to the throne, as Christian IV but as he was still under-age a regency council was set up to serve as the trustees of the royal power while Christian was still growing up. His mother Queen Dowager Sophie, 30 years old, had wished to play a role in the government, but was denied by the Council.

Christian IV began his personal rule of Denmark in 1596 at the age of 19. He is remembered as one of the most popular, ambitious, and proactive Danish kings, having initiated many reforms and projects.

Christian met Anne Catherine of Brandenburg on his journey in Germany in 1595 and desired to marry her.

Anne Catherine parents were Joachim Friedrich Margrave of Brandenburg and his first wife Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin. In 1596, Anne Catherine and her parents were present at his coronation, and the next year, the marriage was arranged.

On November 30, 1597, Christian IV married Anne Catherine of Brandenburg. They had six children, among them Christian, the Prince-Elect, who died a year before his father, and Frederik III who introduced hereditary and absolute monarchy in Denmark. Her son, Ulrik, was murdered in 1633. Their two daughters, Sophia and Elisabeth, and the elder son, Frederik, died at a very young age.

Christian IV had obtained for his kingdom a level of stability and wealth that was virtually unmatched elsewhere in Europe. Denmark was funded by tolls on the Øresund and also by extensive war-reparations from Sweden.

Christian IV spent more time in the kingdom of Norway than any other Oldenburg monarch and no Oldenburg king made such a lasting impression on the Norwegian people. He visited the country a number of times and founded four cities.

Denmark’s intervention in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) was aided by France and by Charles I of England, who agreed to help subsidise the war partly because Christian was the uncle of both the Stuart king and his sister Elizabeth of Bohemia through their mother, Anne of Denmark. Some 13,700 Scottish soldiers were to be sent as allies to help Christian IV under the command of General Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Nithsdale.

Denmark’s involvement in the Thirty Years’ War, devastated much of Germany, undermined the Danish economy, and cost Denmark some of its conquered territories. He rebuilt and renamed the Norwegian capital Oslo as Christiania after himself, a name used until 1925.

His personal obsession with witchcraft led to the public execution of some of his subjects during the Burning Times. He was responsible for several witch burnings, including 21 people in Iceland, and most notably the conviction and execution of Maren Spliid, who was victim of a witch hunt at Ribe and was burned at the Gallows Hill near Ribe on November 9, 1641.

On February 21, 1648, at his earnest request, he was carried in a litter from Frederiksborg to his beloved Copenhagen, where he died a week later. He was buried in Roskilde Cathedral. The chapel of Christian IV had been completed 6 years before the King died.

February 16, 1620: Birth of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg

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Duke of Prussia, Edict of Nantes, Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William, House of Hohenzollern, King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, The Great Elector, Thirty Years War

Friedrich Wilhelm (February 16, 1620 – April 29, 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as “the Great Elector” because of his military and political achievements.

Friedrich Wilhelm was a staunch pillar of the Calvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial class. He saw the importance of trade and promoted it vigorously. His shrewd domestic reforms gave Prussia a strong position in the post-Westphalian political order of north-central Europe, setting Prussia up for elevation from duchy to kingdom, achieved under his son and successor.

Elector Friedrich Wilhelm was born in Berlin to Georg Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, and Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. Elizabeth Charlotte was the daughter of Friedrich IV, Elector Palatine, and Louise Juliana of Orange-Nassau. Her brother Friedrich V became famous as the Elector-Palatine and “Winter King” of Bohemia. He was married to Princess Elizabeth (Stuart) of England and they were the grand parents of George I, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover. The descendants of both Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg and George I of Great Britain would intermarry in the next several generations.

Friedrich Wilhelm’s inheritance consisted of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Duchy of Cleves, the County of Mark, and the Duchy of Prussia.

Foreign diplomacy

Following the Thirty Years’ War that devastated much of the Holy Roman Empire, Friedrich Wilhelm focused on rebuilding his war-ravaged territories. Brandenburg-Prussia benefited from his policy of religious tolerance and he used French subsidies to build up an army that took part in the 1655 to 1660 Second Northern War.

This ended with the treaties of Labiau, Wehlau, Bromberg and Oliva; they removed Swedish control of the Duchy of Prussia, which meant he held it direct from the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1672, Friedrich Wilhelm joined the Franco-Dutch War as an ally of the Dutch Republic, led by his nephew Willem III of Orange but made peace with France in the June 1673 Treaty of Vossem. Although he rejoined the anti-French alliance in 1674, this left him diplomatically isolated; despite conquering much of Swedish Pomerania during the Scanian War, he was obliged to return most of it to Sweden in the 1679 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Friedrich Wilhelm was a military commander of wide renown, and his standing army would later become the model for the Prussian Army. He is notable for his joint victory with Swedish forces at the Battle of Warsaw, which, according to Hajo Holborn, marked “the beginning of Prussian military history”, but the Swedes turned on him at the behest of King Louis XIV and invaded Brandenburg.

After marching 250 kilometres in 15 days back to Brandenburg, he caught the Swedes by surprise and managed to defeat them on the field at the Battle of Fehrbellin, destroying the myth of Swedish military invincibility. He later destroyed another Swedish army that invaded the Duchy of Prussia during the Great Sleigh Drive in 1678.

Luise Henriette of Nassau, Electress of Brandenburg

Friedrich Wilhelm is noted for his use of broad directives and delegation of decision-making to his commanders, which would later become the basis for the German doctrine of Auftragstaktik, and for using rapid mobility to defeat his foes.

Domestic policies

Friedrich Wilhelm raised an army of 45,000 soldiers by 1678, through the General War Commissariat presided over by Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal. He was an advocate of mercantilism, monopolies, subsidies, tariffs, and internal improvements.

Following Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Friedrich Wilhelm encouraged skilled French and Walloon Huguenots to emigrate to Brandenburg-Prussia with the Edict of Potsdam, bolstering the country’s technical and industrial base.

On Blumenthal’s advice he agreed to exempt the nobility from taxes and in return they agreed to dissolve the Estates-General. He also simplified travel in Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia by connecting riverways with canals, a system that was expanded by later Prussian architects, such as Georg Steenke; the system is still in use today.

Legacy

In his half-century reign, 1640–1688, the Great Elector transformed the small remote state of Prussia into a great power by augmenting and integrating the Hohenzollern family possessions in northern Germany and Prussia. When he became elector (ruler) of Brandenburg in 1640, the country was in ruins from the Thirty Years War; it had lost half its population from war, disease and emigration.

The capital Berlin had only 6,000 people left when the wars ended in 1648. He united the multiple separate domains that his family had acquired primarily by marriage over the decades, and built the powerful unified state of Prussia out of them. His success in rebuilding the lands and his astute military and diplomatic leadership propelled him into the ranks of the prominent rulers in an era of “absolutism”.

Historians compare him to his contemporaries such as Louis XIV of France (1643–1715), Peter I the Great of Russia (1682–1725) and Carl XI of Sweden (1660–1697).

On December 7, 1646 in The Hague, Friedrich Wilhelm entered into a marriage, proposed by Blumenthal as a partial solution to the Jülich-Berg question, with Luise Henriette of Nassau (1627–1667), daughter of Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels and his 1st cousin once removed through Willem the Silent.

On June 13, 1668 in Gröningen, Friedrich Wilhelm married Sophie Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, daughter of Philipp, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Sophie Hedwig of Saxe-Lauenburg.

Elector Friedrich Wilhelm was succeeded by his son, Friedrich, by his first wife Luise Henriette of Nassau.

Friedrich III , Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union (Brandenburg-Prussia). The latter function he upgaded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia (Friedrich I, 1701–1713).

February 15, 1637: Accession of Holy Emperor Ferdinand III

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Archduke of Austria, Charles I of England, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, King of Hungary and Croatia, Thirty Years War

Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; July 13, 1608 – April 2, 1657) was Archduke of Austria from 1621, King of Hungary from 1625, King of Croatia and Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 until his death in 1657.

Ferdinand was born in Graz as third son of Holy Emperor Ferdinand II and his first wife, Maria Anna of Bavaria, she was the fourth child and second (but eldest surviving) daughter of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine.

Ferdinand was baptised as Ferdinand Ernst. He grew up in Carinthia with loving care from his parents and he developed great affection for his siblings and his father, with whom he always found a consensus in future disagreements. At his father’s court he received religious and scholarly training from Jesuits.

Ferdinand III was elected King of the Romans at the Diet of Regensburg on December 22, 1636. Upon the death of his father on February 15, 1637, Ferdinand became Emperor. His political adviser Trauttmansdorff advanced to the position of Prime Minister of Austria and Chief diplomat, but was replaced by Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar in 1647 as his health had begun to deteriorate.

When Ferdinand ascended the throne it was the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years’ War and introduced lenient policies to depart from old ideas of divine rights under his father, as he had wished to end the war quickly.

As the numerous battles had not resulted in sufficient military containment of the Protestant enemies and confronted with decaying Imperial power Ferdinand was compelled to abandon the political stances of his Habsburg predecessors in many respects in order to open the long road towards the much delayed peace treaty. Although his authority among the Imperial Princes was weakened after the war, in the Kingdoms of Bohemia, Hungary and the Archduchy Austria, however, Ferdinand’s position as sovereign was uncontested.

Further, Ferdinand III’s sovereign power in the Austrian hereditary lands, as well his royal power in Hungary and Bohemia was significantly greater than that of his predecessor before 1618. Princely power was strengthened, while the influence of the estates was massively reduced. The church reform towards the Counter-reformation continued.

Emperor Ferdinand III was the first Habsburg monarch to be recognized as a musical composer.

Emperor Ferdinand III first married the Spanish Infanta, his cousin Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, Daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria and thus the paternal granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. They were first cousins as male-line grandchildren of Charles II, Archduke of Austria, and Maria Anna of Bavaria.

Prior to her Imperial marriage Infanta Maria Anna of Spain was considered a possible wife for Charles, Prince of Wales; the event, later known in history as the “Spanish Match”, provoked a domestic and political crisis in the Kingdoms of England and Scotland.

Although in the middle of the war, this elaborate wedding was celebrated over a period of fourteen months. The marriage produced six children, including his successors, Ferdinand IV, King of Hungary and Emperor Leopold I.

His loving and intelligent wife and her brother, the Spanish Cardinal Infant Ferdinand, had great influence on Ferdinand and formed the most important link between the Habsburg courts in Madrid, Brussels and Vienna in the difficult period of the war for Habsburg following the death of Wallenstein

The Empress Maria Anna of Spain had died giving birth to her last child on May 13, 1646. Emperor Ferdinand III remarried to another first cousin, Maria Leopoldine of Austria (1632-1649) on July 2, 1648. The wedding ceremony, held in Linz, was notably splendid. This marriage however lasted little more than a year, ending with Maria Leopoldine’s own premature death in childbirth.

Ferdinand III’s last marriage was to Eleonora Magdalena Gonzaga of Mantua-Nevers on April 30, 1651, Ferdinand III married Eleonora Gonzaga. She was a daughter of Charles IV Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel.

Empress Eleonora was very pious and donated, among other things, for the Ursuline monastery in Vienna and the Order of the Starry Cross for noble women. She was also well educated and interested in art. She also composed music and wrote poetry and together with Ferdinand was the centre of the Italian academy.

Emperor Ferdinand also brought about the royal election of his son, Ferdinand IV, King of Hungary as King of the Romans who, however died in 1654.

Because his second son Leopold was still too young to be elected as King of the Romans, Ferdinand delayed the opening as well as the conclusion of the Deputationstag following the Reichstag to gain time until the next election. After all, Leopold was crowned King of Hungary and Bohemia. In 1656, Ferdinand sent an army into Italy to assist Spain in her struggle with France.

Emperor Ferdinand III died on April 2, 1657, and rests in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna. His interior organs were separately buried in the Ducal Crypt.

October 8, 1656: Death of Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony

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Gustaf II Adolphus of Sweden, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, John George I of Saxony, Peace of Westphalia, Protestant and Catholic, The Winter King, Thirty Years War

Johann Georg I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656.

Born in Dresden, Johann Georg belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. He was the second son of the Elector Christian I of Saxony and Sophie of Brandenburg, daughter of the Elector Johann Georg of Brandenburg (1525–1598) by his second marriage with Sabina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1548–1575), daughter of Margrave George of Brandenburg-Ansbach from his second marriage to Hedwig of Münsterberg-Oels (1508–1531).

Johann Georg succeeded to the electorate on June 23, 1611 on the death of his elder brother, Christian II. The geographical position of the Electorate of Saxony rather than her high standing among the German Protestants gave her ruler much importance during the Thirty Years’ War.

At the beginning of his reign, however, the new elector took up a somewhat detached position. His personal allegiance to Lutheranism was sound, but he liked neither the growing strength of Brandenburg nor the increasing prestige of the Palatinate; the adherence of the other branches of the Saxon ruling house to Protestantism seemed to him to suggest that the head of the Electorate of Saxony should throw his weight into the other scale, and he was prepared to favour the advances of the Habsburgs and the Roman Catholic party.

Thus Johann Georg was easily induced to vote for the election of Ferdinand, Archduke of Styria, as Emperor Ferdinand II in August of 1619, an action which nullified the anticipated opposition of the Protestant electors.

The new emperor secured the help of Johann Georg for the impending campaign in Bohemia by promising that he should be undisturbed in his possession of certain ecclesiastical lands. Carrying out his share of the bargain by occupying Silesia and Lusatia, where he displayed much clemency, the Saxon elector had thus some part in driving Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, (the Winter King of Bohemia) from Bohemia and in crushing Protestantism in that country, the crown of which he himself had previously refused.

Gradually, however, he was made uneasy by the obvious trend of the imperial policy towards the annihilation of Protestantism, and by a dread lest the ecclesiastical lands should be taken from him; and the issue of the edict of restitution in March 1629 put the capstone to his fears. Still, although clamouring vainly for the exemption of the electorate from the area covered by the edict, Johann Georg took no decisive measures to break his alliance with the emperor.

He did, indeed, in February 1631 call a meeting of Protestant princes at Leipzig, but in spite of the appeals of the preacher Matthias Hoe von Hohenegg (1580–1645) he contented himself with a formal protest.

Meanwhile, Gustaf II Adolphus of Sweden had landed in Germany, aiming to relieve Magdeburg. Gustaf II attempted to conclude an alliance with Johann Georg to allow him to cross the Elbe at Wittenberg, but Johann Georg remained hesitant to join the Protestant cause and the discussions went nowhere. Hoping that an alliance would be concluded eventually, Gustaf II avoided any military action.

Tilly, commander of the main imperial force, was also concerned about the possibility of an alliance, no matter how unlikely it was at the time. In order to preempt any such move, he invaded Saxony and started to ravage the countryside. This had the effect of driving Johann Georg into the alliance he had hoped to preempt, which was concluded in September 1631.

The Saxon troops were present at the battle of Breitenfeld, but were routed by the imperials, the Elector himself seeking safety in flight. Nevertheless, he soon took the offensive. Marching into Bohemia the Saxons occupied Prague, but Johann Georg soon began to negotiate for peace and consequently his soldiers offered little resistance to Wallenstein, who drove them back into Saxony.

However, for the present the efforts of Gustaf II Adolphus prevented the elector from deserting him, but the position was changed by the death of the king at Lützen in 1632, and the refusal of Saxony to join the Protestant league under Swedish leadership.

Still letting his troops fight in a desultory fashion against the imperials, Johann Georg again negotiated for peace, and in May 1635 he concluded the important treaty of Prague with Ferdinand II. His reward was Lusatia and certain other additions of territory; the retention by his son August of the archbishopric of Magdeburg; and some concessions with regard to the edict of restitution.

Almost at once he declared war upon the Swedes, but in October 1636 he was beaten at Wittstock; and Saxony, ravaged impartially by both sides, was soon in a deplorable condition. At length in September 1645 the elector was compelled to agree to a truce with the Swedes, who, however, retained Leipzig; and as far as Saxony was concerned this ended the Thirty Years’ War. After the Peace of Westphalia, which with regard to Saxony did little more than confirm the treaty of Prague, Johann Georg died on October 8, 1656.

Assessment

Although not without political acumen, Johann Georg was not a great ruler; his character appears to have been harsh and unlovely, and he was addicted to drink and other diversions such as hunting. Wallenstein held him in contempt saying on more than one occasion “have you seen how he lives “.

Family and children

Johann Georg I was married twice. In addition to his successor Johann Georg II, he left three sons, August (1614–1680), Christian (died 1691) and Maurice (died 1681).

In Dresden on September 16, 1604 Johann Georg married firstly Sibylle Elisabeth of Württemberg (1584 – 1606) the third of fifteen children of Friedrich I, Duke of Württemberg and Sibylla of Anhalt.

She died in the birth of their only child:

Stillborn son (Dresden, January 20, 1606).

In Torgau on July 19, 1607 Johann Georg married secondly Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia (1586 –1659) the daughter of Albert Friedrich, Duke of Prussia, and Marie Eleonore of Cleves. She is a 6th times great grandmother to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

They had ten children:

Stillborn son (Dresden, 18 July 1608)

Sophie Eleonore (Dresden, 23 November 1609 – Darmstadt, 2 June 1671), married on 1 April 1627 Landgrave Georg II of Hesse-Darmstadt

Marie Elisabeth (Dresden, 22 November 1610 – Husum, 24 October 1684), married on 21 February 1630 Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorp

Christian Albert (Dresden, 4 March 1612 – Dresden, 9 August 1612)

Johann Georg II (Dresden, 31 May 1613 – Freiberg, 22 August 1680), successor of his father as Elector of Saxony

August (Dresden, 13 August 1614 – Halle, 4 August 1680), inherited Weissenfels as Duke.

Christian I (Dresden, 27 October 1615 – Merseburg, 18 October 1691), inherited Merseburg as Duke

Magdalene Sibylle (Dresden, 23 December 1617 – Schloss Altenburg, 6 January 1668), married firstly on 5 October 1634 to Crown Prince Christian, eldest son and heir of King Christian IV of Denmark; and secondly, on 11 October 1652, to Duke Friedrich Wilhelm II of Saxe-Altenburg

Maurice (Dresden, 28 March 1619 – Moritzburg, 4 December 1681), inherited Zeitz as Duke

Heinrich (Dresden, 27 June 1622 – Dresden, 15 August 1622).