Habsburg monarchy

Austria, 1526–1804. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Habsburg monarchy was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. Charles V, who also inherited the Spanish throne, came to rule the Habsburg empire at its greatest territorial extent. The Habsburg monarchy was a union of crowns, and its territories were united only by virtue of a common monarch. The Austrian branch ruled the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Bohemia and various other lands.

Seat of power: Vienna

Rulers

Charles V

Holy Roman Emperor, 1519–1556

Charles V had no fixed capital, and made 40 journeys through the different entities he ruled. He spent most of his life waging war, exhausting his revenues and leaving debts in his attempt to defend the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire.

Portrait of Charles V: Attributed to Titian, Public domain, file

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1556–1564

Ferdinand was a capable organiser who focused on building a centralised government for Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia. He reintroduced major innovations of his grandfather Maximilian I such as the Hofrat (court council) with a chancellery and a treasury attached to it. His approach to Imperial problems, including governance, human relations and religious matters, was generally flexible, moderate and tolerant.

Portrait of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor: Hans Bocksberger the Elder, Public domain, file

Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1564–1576

Though a Habsburg and a Catholic, he approached the Lutheran Imperial estates with a view to overcome the denominational schism, which ultimately failed. According to Marshall, through his religious tolerance as well as his encouragement of arts and sciences, he succeeded in maintaining a precarious peace.

Portrait of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor: Workshop of Nicolas Neufchatel, Public domain, file

Emperor Rudolf II

Holy Roman Emperor, 1576–1612

Rudolf remained reserved, secretive, and largely a recluse who did not like to travel or even partake in the daily affairs of the state. Under Rudolf's reign, there was a policy of tolerance towards Judaism. He initiated the Long Turkish War (1593–1606) with the Ottoman Empire.

Portrait of Emperor Rudolf II: Workshop of Martino Rota, Public domain, file

Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1612–1619

After gaining power, he showed little political initiative of his own. The course of his politics was determined by Cardinal Melchior Klesl until his fall in 1618. The Bohemian Revolt, the initial theatre of the Thirty Years' War, began during the final year of Matthias' reign.

Portrait of Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor: Lucas van Valckenborch, Public domain, file

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1619–1637

As ruler of the Inner Austrian provinces, Ferdinand regarded the regulation of religious issues as a royal prerogative and introduced strict Counter-Reformation measures from 1598. He ordered the expulsion of all Protestant pastors and teachers, and then set up special commissions to restore the Catholic parishes.

Portrait of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor: Unidentified painter, Public domain, file

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1637–1657

Ferdinand introduced lenient policies to depart from the old ideas of divine right held by his father, as he wished to end the war quickly. Ferdinand was compelled to abandon the political stances of his Habsburg predecessors in many respects to open the long road towards the much-delayed Peace of Westphalia.

Portrait of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor: Jan van den Hoecke, Public domain, file

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1658–1705

Elected in 1658, Leopold ruled the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1705, becoming the second-longest-ruling emperor of the House of Habsburg. His reign is known for rivalry with Louis XIV in the west, and for conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the Great Turkish War (1683–1699). 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.

Portrait of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor: Benjamin Block, Public domain, file

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1705–1711

Joseph continued the War of the Spanish Succession, begun by his father against Louis XIV of France, in an attempt to make his younger brother Charles King of Spain. Joseph also had to contend with a protracted revolt in Hungary, fomented by Louis XIV, and neither conflict was resolved until the Treaty of Utrecht, after his death.

Portrait of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor: Frans van Stampart, Public domain, file

Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1711–1740

Faced with his lack of male heirs, Charles provided for a male-line succession failure with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. Charles sought the other European powers' approval. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria, and Prussia later reneged.

Portrait of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor: Johann Gottfried Auerbach, Public domain, file

Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1745–1765

He became the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and Tuscany through his marriage to his second cousin Maria Theresa of Austria. Maria Theresa gave her husband responsibility for the empire's financial affairs, which he handled well.

Portrait of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor: Martin van Meytens, Public domain, file

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1765–1790

Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism, but his commitment to secularising, liberalising and modernising reforms resulted in significant opposition, which resulted in failure to fully implement his programs. His policies are now known as Josephinism.

Portrait of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor: Anton von Maron, Public domain, file

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1790–1792

Like his brother Joseph II, Leopold was a moderate proponent of enlightened absolutism. Unusually for his time, he opposed the death penalty and torture and abolished it in Tuscany on 30 November 1786 during his rule there.

Portrait of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor: Anton Hickel, Public domain, file

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor, 1792–1806

At the time of Francis's accession, his empire was already embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1806, after Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine, Francis abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor.

Portrait of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor: Friedrich von Amerling, Public domain, file

Culture

Maximilian married Mary of Burgundy, thus bringing the Burgundian Netherlands into the Habsburg possessions. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was in Prague.
Leopold I was both a composer and a considerable patron of music. Ferdinand III was the first Habsburg monarch to be recognised as a musical composer.
Rudolf II had a wide variety of personal hobbies, such as horses, clocks, collecting rarities, and being a patron of the arts.
Joseph II was a supporter of the arts, particularly of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri.

Picture

The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 12 September 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months.

Image: Anonymer, zeitgenössischer Maler, Public domain, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.