Ferdinand III.

Ferdinand III., emperor of Germany from 1637 to 1657, was the son of Ferdinand II., and was born at Gratz, 11th July 1608. He was not so much under Jesuitical and Spanish influences as his father. Having accompanied the armies in their campaigns after the death of Wallenstein, he had witnessed the miseries of war, and was inclined for peace; but the conflicting interests of the individual belligerents hindered any unity of view, and made it necessary to proceed with the struggle. Thus was this miserable war protracted, ever extending in circuit, and increasing in devastation from the growing licentiousness of the soldiery. At last, in 1643, a congress met at Münster to arrange terms of peace, which was concluded in 1648, and is known as the Peace of Westphalia. At the diet of the empire (1653-54), the last presided over by an emperor in person, Ferdinand effected important alterations in the administration of justice. He died 2d April 1657, shortly after concluding an alliance with Poland against Sweden, and was succeeded in the German empire by his son Leopold I.