POD: Rudolf II of Habsburg dies in his childhood.
Archdukes of Austria & Kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia
1564-1576: Maximilian II (House of Habsburg) - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
1576-1609: Ernst I "The Terrific" (House of Habsburg) [1] - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
1606-1611: Ferdinand II (House of Habsburg) [2] - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
1611-1621: Leopold I (House of Habsburg) [3] - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
[1] Although originally not the heir of his house, the death of his older brother Rudolf while he was being educated in the Spanish court propelled Ernest, the second son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, into the spotlight of Central European politics. Raised in the bright, artistic court of his father Maximilian, Ernest was a bright, talented man forged by the political realities of his time - the constant wars with the Ottoman Empire, the rise of protestant influences within Bohemia, Austria and Hungary, the political deadlock in the Holy Roman Empire and the religious intrigues between reformers and traditionalists in Rome. Made regent of Bohemia as a young man, Ernest learned the arts of politics, intrigues and backstabbing from Prague, where he reigned ably in the name of his father. Continuing Maximilian's tradition of supporting various artists and their works, Prague became one of the cultural capitals of Europe at the time.
The death of Maximilian's father during a stay in Regensburg saw Ernest ascend as Archduke of Austria, although his elections as King of Bohemia, Hungary and that of Holy Roman Emperor was a sordid affair. Although Ernest was reputed to be as tolerant as their father and not nearly as fanatical as their mother, the protestant nobilities of some parts of Austria, but predominantly Bohemia and Hungary opposed Ernest' election, wishing to obtain more priviliges to secure their lands, autonomy and faith. Ernest, an intelligent but arrogant man was decided to submit these noblemen with the force of the sword, but on the advice of his wife, Anna de Medici, Ernest bribed his way into being elected. Having to spend such sums to guarantee his "divine right" created an hatred in Ernest that would never really go away, but Ernest was as cunning as the ones he had bribed. As soon as he had given the money away, he was already planning on how to get it back.
A father of three by the time he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, Ernest quickly broached the topic of Imperial Reform, a dream that he would never be able to achieve but he would, in the future, somewhat satisfy. Convening the Imperial Diet, Ernest and a cadre of supporters put forward proposals such as the ones expressed by Maximilian the I almost seventy years back - the reformation of the Holy Roman Empire into less of a mess, a general Imperial tax, the need of Imperial permission for foreign armies to cross into the Empire, a general peace and an end to the constant feuds. As arguments in his favour Ernest mentioned the danger of the Ottomans in the South, the division within the Empire and the destructive-ness caused by the Dutch revolt in the North. However, as his great-great-grandfather before him, Ernest was similarly rebuked, although this defeat only inflamed him more. If he was to save the Habsburg dynasty and get anything done in his Empire, Ernest needed power. More power.
Thus started the "Great Consolidation", a term coined by a poet in Ernest' Viennese court. The Great Consolidation is a process of political centralization, aristocratic reductions, counter-reformation, economic re-estructuring and investment and military innovation that lasted for the first part of Ernest' reign, all the way from 1577 to 1590. Starting from 1577, Ernest started invoking the many important courts of his various realms, often autocratically reforming them and establishing a reformist catholic process that shook much of his nobility to the core. The first grumblings of rebellion started in Lower Austria and Moravia, and it soon became more widespread than that, but this was exactly what Ernest was waiting for and soon Imperial armies fell on the many dissidents, changing forever the political landscape of the region in the favour of the Habsburg. Before Ernest, the House of Habsburg had often depended on the will of their subjects to secure their rule in their various realms, but the situation had turned around overwhelmingly in favour of the monarchy itself during Ernest's reign - the Electoral Monarchy in Bohemia was abolished and it's mostly protestant nobility uprooted, and places such as Bohemia proper, Moravia, Silesia and even Lusatia were firmly gripped by the talons of the Imperial Eagle, with a bureaucratic apparatus loyal to the Emperor and the Emperor only, in cooperation with local authorities, ruling the various regions of Austria and Bohemia with a strong grip. Bohemia and Austria exploded economically during this time, as many of the barriers stopping economic expansion were brought down by Ernest during this time. Hungary followed in a later phase, as Ernest waited before the new economy stabilized and his coffers filled before he reducted Hungary as he had Bohemia - and due to the political nuance surrounding the region.
The various magnates of Hungary resisted heavily against Ernst, but even still the Emperor persevered and won finally. With this, Ernest had succeded where his father had failed before him. He had rationalized the structure of government in his various realms, and had united Austria, Bohemia and Hungary under a single government. However, this internal victory proved a bridge for the war that would dominate the second phase of Ernst's reign - the Long War. The death of Stephan Bathory in Krakow had left a hole to be filled in both Transylvania and in Poland-Lithuania, a hole that Ernest would attempt to fill up. The fleeing of many magnates into Ottoman Hungary and into Transylvania gave the Ottomans the casus belli they wanted to continue their conquests into Habsburg territory. This, combined with the involvement of Transylvania directly alongside the growing conflict between Ernest' brother, Maximilian, who sought to obtain the Crown of Poland-Lithuania for himself proved difficult for Ernest to handle. However, with the death of Maximilian in battle, the Habsburg cause in Poland-Lithuania died, allowing Ernest to focus solely on the Ottomans and their allies.
The Long War (1593-1601) can be divided into three phases - the Ottoman Offensive, the Reichkrieg and the Danubian offensive. The armies of Sinan Pasha started the war by invading Croatia and Hungary at the same time, attempting to disloge the Habsburg permanent garrisons in the area from a series of keys forts and cities, and although they were for their most part succesful for the first part, the Habsburg's rallied the KuK (The newly organized professional army of the Habsburg, built on French, Italian, Swedish and Spanish models), rapidly conscripting almost fourty-thousand men from their various holdings, something which shocked the Ottomans as Ernest sent his cousin, Ferdinand, alongside various of the most talented commanders of the Empire to challenge Sinan Pasha directly on land. The Habsburg started winning, expelling the Ottomans from Royal Hungary in 1595, taking the war to Ottoman Hungary and into Bosnia. The arrival of more Ottoman armies stalled the Austrian advance, but the arrival of the reinforcements and mercenaries sent after the Emperor's decree , mainly Germans and Italians in origin, with a few Spaniards and Dutch, increasing the Habsburg armies in the field to something akin to 90 thousand men. Thus, the battle of Buda resulted in a complete outclassing of the Ottomans and the Transylvanians, and when Ernest allied himself with the Prince of Wallachia (and later Moldavia), Michael the Brave, the war soon quickly started to turn around. The Ottomans started losing more and more soldiers, followed by sternly defended land and important resources. The raiding parties of Transylvania at this time came under six kilometers of Constantinople itself, such was the dissaray in the Ottoman camp. The fall of Belgrade to the Christian army was the start of the end of the war, as peace negotiations quickly followed.
The Ottomans, in truth, did not lose that much. Transylvania as an institution separate from Hungary was completely destroyed, as Ernest had done before in Silesia and Moravia, and the same reductions which had happened to Royal Hungary expanded to include the annexed Ottoman and Transylvanian parts of Hungary. Croatia expanded greatly, annexing much of Bosnia as far as south as Sarajevo, as a means to secure the Danube and the access to the Adriatic. Michael the Brave married one of Ernest' inner Austrian cousins, and was recognized as Prince of both Wallachia and Moldavia, as vassal to Vienna. The once coasts of Wallachia and Moldavia were re-annexed by Michael. Ottoman lands in the north of the Black Sea and many lands belonging to the Crimean Khanate were annexed by Poland, as recompense for their loss of Moldavia. Such a great victory cemented Ernest' place, and with the Ottoman war taxes already in place, Ernest managed to pass some kind of Imperial reform, with the most important ones being the transfer on the authority on declaring Imperial Reductions and apropriation of lands solely to the person of the Emperor and the necessity of Imperial permission for the invitation of any foreign army into the Holy Roman Empire. Ernest' wants for a permanent Imperial tax were denied, however, and the promises of perpetual peace between the princes were mostly a sham.
The last years of Ernest's reign were mostly focused on solidifying Habsburg hold onto their new lands in the South, as well as repopulating Southern Hungary and Bosnia. Many came to latch onto new opportunities in these territories, but of the few groups that are probably unique in this setting are the Danube Swabians, who mostly settled in the Province of Banat, or the Vovojdina Romani, a populace originating from the various Romani regiments who served under the KuK and were given land in Vovojdina by Ernest as payment. Ernest would finally die in 1609, after tripping on a rock and falling down a cliff. Truly, a terrific death for a terrific man. Ernest left behind seven children and a wife, and was succeded by his son Ferdinand.
[2] Ferdinand (named after his great grandfather) was born in 1572 as the eldest son of Ernst I and Anne de Medici. A sickly child all his life, many thought that Ferdinand wouldn't live long enough to succeed his father as Holy Roman Emperor, but they were proven wrong when it happened in 1609. Ferdinand died two years later at the age of 41 after an uneventful reign, and was succeeded by his son Leopold.
[3] The second son of Ferdinand II, Leopold Maximilian was raised as heir to the House of Habsburg from a young age. Educated by his Spanish mother, Leopold grew to become a shy and silent boy whom displayed several talents in the arts and in politics from a young age. Treated carefully due to the famed sickness of his father, Leopold grew under a cadre of courty officials that hailed from places such as Spain, Hungary, Bohemia, Austria and the Lower Netherlands, which produced several talented ministers, generals and artists which came to be known in the future as "Leopold's Battalion".
Leopold's reign was very short, and at the start mainly a continuation of the previous mandates of his father and grandfather. One of the first acts of his reign was the quashing of a rebellion in Bosnia, led by the previous Muslim elite that had controlled Bosnia since the original conquest of the Ottomans. The rebellion was quickly quashed although heavy-handed methods of repression were inflicted on Bosnia's small muslim population, essentially quashing it in it's cradle. This allowed Leopold to cement Catholic (and to a lesser degree, Orthodox) control in Bosnia.
Leopold inherited a gradually destabilizing Holy Roman Empire although his personal gravitas allowed him to keep the situation under control. When the extinction of the line of the Dukes of Julich-Cleves-Berg started a war between the catholic Neuburg Wittelbachs and the Calvinist Hohenzollern's, and the war proceeded in a way that atracted the intervention of such foreign powers such as King Henry IV of France or the rebelling Dutch Republic, Leopold issued an Imperial Decree which established a regency over the Duchy and the election of one of the claimant Princes to the Duchy, sending an army of 20000 men to the region after both Neuburg and Brandenburg defied his command, destroying both their armies and gaining control of over the Duchy. As Duke, the regency (under the control of Leopold) elected Leopold of Inner Austria as Duke, something which worried the Protestant Princes but was taken by Leopold as a measure to ensure the war came to a permanent end. Leopold's cousin, Leopold, ceded his Austrian holdings to the Emperor and ruled Julich-Cleves-Berg in his name, meaning the Austrian circle itself was completely unified as an administrative unit by the Emperor.
The short remaining years of Leopold's reign were spent increasing Imperial Authority under his neutral but firm rule. However, Leopold caught the influenza in 1620, which made him bedridden and would eventually kill him 1621. He had married Amalia of Saxony, which guaranteed her family's re-conversion to catholicism and increased catholic influence in central and northern Germany. She provided him with five children. He was suceeded by __________.
Archdukes of Austria & Kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia
1564-1576: Maximilian II (House of Habsburg) - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
1576-1609: Ernst I "The Terrific" (House of Habsburg) [1] - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
1606-1611: Ferdinand II (House of Habsburg) [2] - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
1611-1621: Leopold I (House of Habsburg) [3] - Elected Holy Roman Emperor.
[1] Although originally not the heir of his house, the death of his older brother Rudolf while he was being educated in the Spanish court propelled Ernest, the second son of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, into the spotlight of Central European politics. Raised in the bright, artistic court of his father Maximilian, Ernest was a bright, talented man forged by the political realities of his time - the constant wars with the Ottoman Empire, the rise of protestant influences within Bohemia, Austria and Hungary, the political deadlock in the Holy Roman Empire and the religious intrigues between reformers and traditionalists in Rome. Made regent of Bohemia as a young man, Ernest learned the arts of politics, intrigues and backstabbing from Prague, where he reigned ably in the name of his father. Continuing Maximilian's tradition of supporting various artists and their works, Prague became one of the cultural capitals of Europe at the time.
The death of Maximilian's father during a stay in Regensburg saw Ernest ascend as Archduke of Austria, although his elections as King of Bohemia, Hungary and that of Holy Roman Emperor was a sordid affair. Although Ernest was reputed to be as tolerant as their father and not nearly as fanatical as their mother, the protestant nobilities of some parts of Austria, but predominantly Bohemia and Hungary opposed Ernest' election, wishing to obtain more priviliges to secure their lands, autonomy and faith. Ernest, an intelligent but arrogant man was decided to submit these noblemen with the force of the sword, but on the advice of his wife, Anna de Medici, Ernest bribed his way into being elected. Having to spend such sums to guarantee his "divine right" created an hatred in Ernest that would never really go away, but Ernest was as cunning as the ones he had bribed. As soon as he had given the money away, he was already planning on how to get it back.
A father of three by the time he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, Ernest quickly broached the topic of Imperial Reform, a dream that he would never be able to achieve but he would, in the future, somewhat satisfy. Convening the Imperial Diet, Ernest and a cadre of supporters put forward proposals such as the ones expressed by Maximilian the I almost seventy years back - the reformation of the Holy Roman Empire into less of a mess, a general Imperial tax, the need of Imperial permission for foreign armies to cross into the Empire, a general peace and an end to the constant feuds. As arguments in his favour Ernest mentioned the danger of the Ottomans in the South, the division within the Empire and the destructive-ness caused by the Dutch revolt in the North. However, as his great-great-grandfather before him, Ernest was similarly rebuked, although this defeat only inflamed him more. If he was to save the Habsburg dynasty and get anything done in his Empire, Ernest needed power. More power.
Thus started the "Great Consolidation", a term coined by a poet in Ernest' Viennese court. The Great Consolidation is a process of political centralization, aristocratic reductions, counter-reformation, economic re-estructuring and investment and military innovation that lasted for the first part of Ernest' reign, all the way from 1577 to 1590. Starting from 1577, Ernest started invoking the many important courts of his various realms, often autocratically reforming them and establishing a reformist catholic process that shook much of his nobility to the core. The first grumblings of rebellion started in Lower Austria and Moravia, and it soon became more widespread than that, but this was exactly what Ernest was waiting for and soon Imperial armies fell on the many dissidents, changing forever the political landscape of the region in the favour of the Habsburg. Before Ernest, the House of Habsburg had often depended on the will of their subjects to secure their rule in their various realms, but the situation had turned around overwhelmingly in favour of the monarchy itself during Ernest's reign - the Electoral Monarchy in Bohemia was abolished and it's mostly protestant nobility uprooted, and places such as Bohemia proper, Moravia, Silesia and even Lusatia were firmly gripped by the talons of the Imperial Eagle, with a bureaucratic apparatus loyal to the Emperor and the Emperor only, in cooperation with local authorities, ruling the various regions of Austria and Bohemia with a strong grip. Bohemia and Austria exploded economically during this time, as many of the barriers stopping economic expansion were brought down by Ernest during this time. Hungary followed in a later phase, as Ernest waited before the new economy stabilized and his coffers filled before he reducted Hungary as he had Bohemia - and due to the political nuance surrounding the region.
The various magnates of Hungary resisted heavily against Ernst, but even still the Emperor persevered and won finally. With this, Ernest had succeded where his father had failed before him. He had rationalized the structure of government in his various realms, and had united Austria, Bohemia and Hungary under a single government. However, this internal victory proved a bridge for the war that would dominate the second phase of Ernst's reign - the Long War. The death of Stephan Bathory in Krakow had left a hole to be filled in both Transylvania and in Poland-Lithuania, a hole that Ernest would attempt to fill up. The fleeing of many magnates into Ottoman Hungary and into Transylvania gave the Ottomans the casus belli they wanted to continue their conquests into Habsburg territory. This, combined with the involvement of Transylvania directly alongside the growing conflict between Ernest' brother, Maximilian, who sought to obtain the Crown of Poland-Lithuania for himself proved difficult for Ernest to handle. However, with the death of Maximilian in battle, the Habsburg cause in Poland-Lithuania died, allowing Ernest to focus solely on the Ottomans and their allies.
The Long War (1593-1601) can be divided into three phases - the Ottoman Offensive, the Reichkrieg and the Danubian offensive. The armies of Sinan Pasha started the war by invading Croatia and Hungary at the same time, attempting to disloge the Habsburg permanent garrisons in the area from a series of keys forts and cities, and although they were for their most part succesful for the first part, the Habsburg's rallied the KuK (The newly organized professional army of the Habsburg, built on French, Italian, Swedish and Spanish models), rapidly conscripting almost fourty-thousand men from their various holdings, something which shocked the Ottomans as Ernest sent his cousin, Ferdinand, alongside various of the most talented commanders of the Empire to challenge Sinan Pasha directly on land. The Habsburg started winning, expelling the Ottomans from Royal Hungary in 1595, taking the war to Ottoman Hungary and into Bosnia. The arrival of more Ottoman armies stalled the Austrian advance, but the arrival of the reinforcements and mercenaries sent after the Emperor's decree , mainly Germans and Italians in origin, with a few Spaniards and Dutch, increasing the Habsburg armies in the field to something akin to 90 thousand men. Thus, the battle of Buda resulted in a complete outclassing of the Ottomans and the Transylvanians, and when Ernest allied himself with the Prince of Wallachia (and later Moldavia), Michael the Brave, the war soon quickly started to turn around. The Ottomans started losing more and more soldiers, followed by sternly defended land and important resources. The raiding parties of Transylvania at this time came under six kilometers of Constantinople itself, such was the dissaray in the Ottoman camp. The fall of Belgrade to the Christian army was the start of the end of the war, as peace negotiations quickly followed.
The Ottomans, in truth, did not lose that much. Transylvania as an institution separate from Hungary was completely destroyed, as Ernest had done before in Silesia and Moravia, and the same reductions which had happened to Royal Hungary expanded to include the annexed Ottoman and Transylvanian parts of Hungary. Croatia expanded greatly, annexing much of Bosnia as far as south as Sarajevo, as a means to secure the Danube and the access to the Adriatic. Michael the Brave married one of Ernest' inner Austrian cousins, and was recognized as Prince of both Wallachia and Moldavia, as vassal to Vienna. The once coasts of Wallachia and Moldavia were re-annexed by Michael. Ottoman lands in the north of the Black Sea and many lands belonging to the Crimean Khanate were annexed by Poland, as recompense for their loss of Moldavia. Such a great victory cemented Ernest' place, and with the Ottoman war taxes already in place, Ernest managed to pass some kind of Imperial reform, with the most important ones being the transfer on the authority on declaring Imperial Reductions and apropriation of lands solely to the person of the Emperor and the necessity of Imperial permission for the invitation of any foreign army into the Holy Roman Empire. Ernest' wants for a permanent Imperial tax were denied, however, and the promises of perpetual peace between the princes were mostly a sham.
The last years of Ernest's reign were mostly focused on solidifying Habsburg hold onto their new lands in the South, as well as repopulating Southern Hungary and Bosnia. Many came to latch onto new opportunities in these territories, but of the few groups that are probably unique in this setting are the Danube Swabians, who mostly settled in the Province of Banat, or the Vovojdina Romani, a populace originating from the various Romani regiments who served under the KuK and were given land in Vovojdina by Ernest as payment. Ernest would finally die in 1609, after tripping on a rock and falling down a cliff. Truly, a terrific death for a terrific man. Ernest left behind seven children and a wife, and was succeded by his son Ferdinand.
[2] Ferdinand (named after his great grandfather) was born in 1572 as the eldest son of Ernst I and Anne de Medici. A sickly child all his life, many thought that Ferdinand wouldn't live long enough to succeed his father as Holy Roman Emperor, but they were proven wrong when it happened in 1609. Ferdinand died two years later at the age of 41 after an uneventful reign, and was succeeded by his son Leopold.
[3] The second son of Ferdinand II, Leopold Maximilian was raised as heir to the House of Habsburg from a young age. Educated by his Spanish mother, Leopold grew to become a shy and silent boy whom displayed several talents in the arts and in politics from a young age. Treated carefully due to the famed sickness of his father, Leopold grew under a cadre of courty officials that hailed from places such as Spain, Hungary, Bohemia, Austria and the Lower Netherlands, which produced several talented ministers, generals and artists which came to be known in the future as "Leopold's Battalion".
Leopold inherited a gradually destabilizing Holy Roman Empire although his personal gravitas allowed him to keep the situation under control. When the extinction of the line of the Dukes of Julich-Cleves-Berg started a war between the catholic Neuburg Wittelbachs and the Calvinist Hohenzollern's, and the war proceeded in a way that atracted the intervention of such foreign powers such as King Henry IV of France or the rebelling Dutch Republic, Leopold issued an Imperial Decree which established a regency over the Duchy and the election of one of the claimant Princes to the Duchy, sending an army of 20000 men to the region after both Neuburg and Brandenburg defied his command, destroying both their armies and gaining control of over the Duchy. As Duke, the regency (under the control of Leopold) elected Leopold of Inner Austria as Duke, something which worried the Protestant Princes but was taken by Leopold as a measure to ensure the war came to a permanent end. Leopold's cousin, Leopold, ceded his Austrian holdings to the Emperor and ruled Julich-Cleves-Berg in his name, meaning the Austrian circle itself was completely unified as an administrative unit by the Emperor.
The short remaining years of Leopold's reign were spent increasing Imperial Authority under his neutral but firm rule. However, Leopold caught the influenza in 1620, which made him bedridden and would eventually kill him 1621. He had married Amalia of Saxony, which guaranteed her family's re-conversion to catholicism and increased catholic influence in central and northern Germany. She provided him with five children. He was suceeded by __________.
