Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor

1552 – 1612 · Generation XI · Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1576–1612) · Austrian Habsburgs

Rudolf (1552 – 1612). Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1576–1612). Never married; no legitimate issue; the eccentric emperor of Prague. He moved the Habsburg capital from Vienna to Prague and made his court a wonder-cabinet of Europe: patron of Northern Mannerist painters such as Spranger and Arcimboldo, obsessive collector of masterworks, clocks and rarities, and devotee of astrology and alchemy — enthusiasms later credited with helping seed the Scientific Revolution. His reign was tolerant toward Judaism, under which Jewish cultural life flourished. Politics served him worse. Determined to unify Christendom, he launched the long, indecisive Turkish War; his exhausted Hungarian subjects revolted, and his brother Matthias stripped away Hungary, Austria, Moravia and at last Bohemia, holding him prisoner in his own castle. He died months later with little left but the imperial title.

One of 23 people of Austrian Habsburgs (1527–1740) in this archive. The Vienna line, which held the Holy Roman crown almost without a break.

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 → Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor → Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor.

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Parents

• Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (1527 – 1576)
• Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (1528 – 1603)

Siblings

• Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain (1549 – 1580)
• Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (1557 – 1619)