Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria
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Ferdinand Charles (17 May 1628 – 30 December 1662) was the Archduke of Further Austria, including Tyrol, from 1646 to 1662.
Rule
As the son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia de' Medici,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> he succeeded his father upon the latter's death in 1632, under his mother's regency. He took over his mother's gubernatorial duties when he came of age in 1646.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> To finance his extravagant living style, he sold goods and entitlements.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For example, he wasted the exorbitant sum which France had to pay to the Tyrolean Habsburgs for the cession of their fiefs west of the Rhine (Alsace, Sundgau and Breisach).Template:Citation needed He also fixed the border to Graubünden in 1652.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ferdinand Charles was an absolutist ruler, did not call any diet after 1648<ref name=":2" /> and had his chancellor Wilhelm Biener executed illegally in 1651 after a secret trial.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> On the other hand, he was a lover of music and patron of arts: Italian opera was performed in his court.<ref name=":0" />
He died in Kaltern of smallpox,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at the age of thirty-four,<ref name=":1" /> and was succeeded by his younger brother, Sigismund Francis.<ref name=":0"/>
Marriage and children
Ferdinand Charles married Anna de' Medici.<ref name=":0" /> She was a daughter of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Maria Magdalena of Austria.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They had three children:
- Claudia Felicitas of Austria<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (30 May 1653 – 8 April 1676). Married Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
- Daughter (born and died 19 July 1654), died at birth.<ref name=":3" />
- Maria Magdalena of Austria<ref name=":3" /> (17 August 1656 – 21 January 1669).
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Bust portrait of Ferdinand Charles, after a painting by Anselm van Hulle. Collection Peace Palace Library. -
Anna de' Medici, his wife, by a follower of Justus Sustermans.
Ancestors
Male-line family tree
References
External links
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