Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

1503 – 1564 · Generation IX · Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1558–1564) · The marriage empire

Ferdinand (1503 – 1564). Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1558–1564). Married Anna in 1521. Younger brother of Charles V; his 1521 marriage to Anna won Bohemia and Hungary; founder of the Austrian line. Born and raised in Castile as the favourite grandchild of Ferdinand of Aragon, he did not learn German until adulthood, yet became the Habsburg who anchored the dynasty in Central Europe. Entrusted with the Austrian hereditary lands, he was elected king of Bohemia after Mohács and fought the Ottoman-backed John Zápolya for Hungary, driven to refuge in Bohemia when Suleiman besieged Vienna in 1529. No soldier, he was instead a gifted organiser, reviving central institutions such as the court council and creating the Hofkriegsrat to meet the Turkish threat. In government he inclined to pragmatism and compromise, readier than his brother to bend in religious matters; his motto ran “Let justice be done, though the world perish.”

Place in the family

• Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor was a brother of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor was the fourth of 6 children of Philip I of Castile and Joanna of Castile recorded in this archive.
• The archive records 45 of his descendants, across 15 generations.

One of 10 people of The marriage empire (1440–1578) in this archive. The generations in which Habsburg marriages gathered Burgundy, Spain and Bohemia-Hungary into a single inheritance.

Line of descent: Rudolf I of Germany → Albert I of Germany → Albert II, Duke of Austria → Leopold III, Duke of Austria → Ernest, Duke of Austria → Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor → Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor → Philip I of Castile → Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.

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Parents

• Philip I of Castile (1478 – 1506)
• Joanna of Castile (1479 – 1555)

Siblings

• Eleanor of Austria (1498 – 1558)
• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500 – 1558)
• Isabella of Austria (1501 – 1526)
• Mary of Hungary (1505 – 1558)
• Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal (1507 – 1578)

Partners

• Married Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503 – 1547) in 1521 — 3 children together

Children

• Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (1527 – 1576)
• Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (1529 – 1595)
• Charles II, Archduke of Austria (1540 – 1590)

Life

• 1503 — Born
• 1521 — Married Anna
• 1564 — Died