Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria

Ferdinand Charles
Ferdinand Charles
	Portrait by Frans Luycx, c. 1648
Archduke of Further Austria
Reign	13 September 1632 – 30 December 1662
Predecessor	Leopold V
Successor	Sigismund Francis
Regent	Claudia de' Medici (1632-1646)
Born	May 17, 1628; Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died	December 30, 1662 (aged 34); Kaltern, County of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empire
Spouse	Anna de' Medici (m. 1646)
Issue	Claudia Felicitas, Holy Roman Empress
House	Habsburg
Father	Leopold V, Archduke of Austria
Mother	Claudia de' Medici
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Ferdinand Charles (17 May 1628 – 30 December 1662) was the Archduke of Further Austria, including Tyrol, from 1646 to 1662.

As the son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia de' Medici, he succeeded his father upon the latter's death in 1632, under his mother's regency. He took over his mother's governatorial duties when he came of age in 1646. To finance his extravagant living style, he sold goods and entitlements. 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). He also fixed the border to Graubünden in 1652.^[1]

Ferdinand Charles was an absolutist ruler, did not call any diet after 1648 and had his chancellor Wilhelm Biener executed illegally in 1651 after a secret trial. On the other hand, he was a lover of music: Italian opera was performed in his court.

^ Tyler, James (2011). A guide to playing the baroque guitar. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00501-4. OCLC 710841731.

[1] Tyler, James (2011). A guide to playing the baroque guitar. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00501-4. OCLC 710841731.

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