Ferdinand I.

Ferdinand I., emperor of Germany from 1556 to 1564, was born at Alcalá in Spain in 1503. He was the son of Philip I., and brother of Charles V., whom he succeeded in the empire in 1556, having been previously elected king of the Romans (1531). Already, in 1521, Ferdinand had married Anna, daughter of Ladislaus, king of Bohemia and Hungary; and when her brother Louis fell in 1526 in battle with the Turks, leaving no issue, he claimed the crown in right of his wife. This involved him in a long and bloody struggle with a rival, John Zápolya, who laid claim to Hungary, and who, as well as his son Sigismund, was supported by Soliman, sultan of the Turks. Ferdinand at last gained the upper hand, bought off the Turks by a yearly tribute, and finally secured Hungary and Bohemia to the House of Austria. When he was elected emperor the concessions he had made to the Protestants caused the pope, Paul IV., to refuse to acknowledge him. That pope dying, his successor, Pius IV., was more complaisant; but the electors resolved that for the future the consent of the pope should not be asked; and this was carried out. Ferdinand made several attempts to reconcile his Protestant and Catholic subjects, and urged, though fruitlessly, the reformation of abuses on the Council of Trent. He died in 1564, leaving the reputation of a prudent and enlightened ruler, and was succeeded by his son Maximilian II. See Bucholtz, Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinands I. (9 vols. Vienna, 1831-38).