Charles II, Archduke of Austria

Karl Franz II ( born 3 June 1540 in Vienna, † July 10, 1590 in Graz) by Inner Austria was from 1564 until his death, Archduke of Austria and ruled in Inner Austria. He came from the House of Habsburg, and was the third son of the Roman-German king and later emperor Ferdinand I.

Life

Karl traveled at a young age the kingdom, Italy and Spain.

In the recent inheritance under Ferdinand I. (. Whose great-grandfather Frederick III was the beginning of the century, the decades of first division of the Habsburg hereditary lands had just emerged only ) in Ferdinand's House Rules was the oldest brother Maximilian II - the father alienated in matters of faith - only the crown of Bohemia and Hungary, as well as Lower Austria ( the Archduchy ), Ferdinand ( II ) got upper Austria ( Tyrol and the Swabian territories ), and the young Karl, the 12th of 15 children, the duchies of Styria (mark), Carinthia, Carniola and the County of Gorizia. The inheritance was limited to the regency, were still in the sense of Rudolf's house rules all the sons Archdukes the entire dominions, and mutual pretenders.

At 24, in 1564, he allowed himself to pay homage to him in the invaded countries delivered shortly before his father's death, and went to the regency.

Unlike his brother Maximilian ( II ), he was a devout Catholic and spurred the Counter-Reformation, for example by bringing the Jesuits into the country. Previously, he had intra- Austrian Estates 1572 have to do in Graz Religionspazifikationen and 1578 in Brucker Libell significant concessions that amounted in practice to a toleration of Protestantism. These concessions to the Protestants he was trying to undo in the sequence. At a conference in Munich in 1579 he arranged with the Papal Nuncio, and representatives of the Duchy of Bavaria, the archbishopric of Salzburg and the County of Tyrol a strategy to recatholicization. The Catholic authorities should control the printing, the agreements with the estates in their favor gradually soften, use the right of patronage in the Catholic sense, arrest Protestant preacher and identify and prevent the building of Protestant churches. Protestant officials should give way Catholics. He has consistently implemented in its territory These decisions.

Since the Inner Austrian line had to bear the brunt of the Turkish wars, the fort Karlstadt ( Karlovac ), approved in 1579 founded in Croatia.

Significantly Karl is as a patron of art and science, particularly the composer Orlando di Lasso was promoted by him. In 1573 he founded the Academic Gymnasium in Graz, 1585 Graz University. His mausoleum in the Abbey Seckau, in which eight other members of the Habsburg family are buried, is one of the most important buildings of the early Baroque in the south-eastern Alps region. It was built from 1587 by Alessandro de Verda and completed by Sebastian Carlone to 1612 and designed. He was buried on October 31, 1590 in the tomb.

As Karl married late ( at age 31 ), and his first-born son died, was the designated successor, the (second) Ferdinand (also known as II counted ), a minor at his death, which his cousin Ernst, at that time governor of Lower Austria, the regency took over guardianship in Inner Austria. Overall, the Ferdinandeische inheritance remained only a short time, as this Ferdinand survived all his cousins ​​from the other lines, a final common heritage took, and thus Charles was the progenitor of the ruling house of Austria since then in the lineage of the Inner Austrian.

Marriage and issue

At the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) in 1558, Emperor Ferdinand I grabbed a possible marriage of his son, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria - Tyrol with the Protestant Queen in the eye because he was anxious to England after to keep the death of the Catholic Queen Mary I, under the influence of the Habsburgs and to support the English Catholics. After Archduke Ferdinand's confession of his secret marriage to Philippine Welser closed the Emperor offered the hand of Archduke Karl. But the years of negotiations, from 1559-1560, then again 1564-1568, with the Queen of England failed partly due to the religious question, and secondly, to get married to Elizabeth doubt at all. The marriage negotiations with Mary Stuart (1563/1564) did not bring the desired success. Finally, Karl married on August 26, 1571 in a lavish ceremony his niece Bavarian Princess Maria Anna, daughter of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria. From this marriage 15 children were born:

Archduchess Eleonore (1582-1620), pen lady Hall / Tyrol

Archduke Maximilian Ernst (1583-1616), since 1615 high - and German masters