Matthias was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612, King of Hungary and Croatia from
1608 and King of Bohemia from 1611. He was a member of the House of Habsburg.
Biography Matthias was born in the Austrian
capital of Vienna to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain.
Matthias married Archduchess Anna of Austria, daughter of his uncle Archduke
Ferdinand II of Austria, whose successor in Further Austria Matthias became in
1595. Their marriage did not produce surviving children.
In 1578, Matthias was invited to the Netherlands by the States-General of the
rebellious provinces, who offered him the position of Governor-General.
Matthias accepted the appointment, although the position was not recognized
by his uncle, Philip II of Spain, the hereditary ruler of the provinces. He
set down the rules for religious peace within most of the United Provinces. His
work is noted in Article 13 of the 1579 Union of Utrecht, which established
freedom of religion as a locally determined issue. Matthias continued as
titular governor for the rebels until they deposed Philip II and declared full
independence in 1581, at which point he returned home to Austria.
In 1593 he was appointed governor of Austria by his brother, Emperor Rudolf
II. He formed a close association there with the Bishop of Vienna, Melchior
Klesl, who later became his chief adviser. In 1605 Matthias forced the
ailing emperor to allow him to deal with the Hungarian Protestant rebels. The
result was the Peace of Vienna of 1606, which guaranteed religious freedom in
Hungary and guaranteed the right of Transylvanians to elect their own
independent princes in the future. In the same year Matthias was recognized as
head of the House of Habsburg and as the future Holy Roman Emperor, as a result
of Rudolf's illness. Allying himself with the estates of Hungary, Austria,
and Moravia, Matthias forced his brother to yield rule of these lands to him in
1608; Rudolf later ceded Bohemia in 1611. Matthias's army then held Rudolf
prisoner in his castle in Prague, until 1611, when Rudolf was forced to cede the
crown of Bohemia to his brother. After Matthias's accession as Holy Roman
Emperor, his policy was dominated by Klesl, who hoped to bring about a
compromise between Catholic and Protestant states within the Holy Roman
Empire in order to strengthen it. Matthias had already been forced to
grant religious concessions to Protestants in Austria and Moravia, as
well as in Hungary, when he had allied with them against Rudolf. Matthias
imprisoned Georg Keglević who was the Commander-in-chief, General, Vice-Ban of
Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia and since 1602 Baron in Transylvania, but soon
left him free again. At that time the Principality of Transylvania was a fully
autonomous, but only semi-independent state under the nominal suzerainty of
the Ottoman Empire, where it was the time of the Sultanate of Women.
Matthias's conciliatory policies were opposed by the more intransigent
Catholic Habsburgs, particularly Matthias's brother Archduke Maximilian,
who hoped to secure the succession for the inflexible Catholic Archduke
Ferdinand. The start of the Bohemian Protestant revolt in 1618 provoked
Maximilian to imprison Klesl and revise his policies. Matthias, old and ailing,
was unable to prevent a takeover by Maximilian's faction. Ferdinand, who had
already been crowned King of Bohemia and of Hungary, succeeded Matthias as Holy
Roman Emperor. Matthias died in Vienna in 1619.
Names Names in other languages:
German: Matthias Czech: Matyáš
Croatian: Matija II. Hungarian: II. Mátyás
Polish: Maciej Romanian: Matei
Russian: Матвей Slovak: Matej
Ukrainian: Матвій Ancestry
Titles Matthias, by the grace of God elected
Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King in Germany, of Hungary, Bohemia,
Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and
Bulgaria, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Styria, Carinthia,
Carniola, Luxemburg, Württemberg, the Upper and Lower Silesia, Prince of
Swabia, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Moravia, the Upper and
Lower Lusatia, Princely Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Ferrette, Kyburg,
Gorizia, Landgrave of Alsace, Lord of the Wendish March, Pordenone and Salins,
etc. etc. See also
Kings of Germany family tree. He was related to every other king of Germany.
References External links
Media related to Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor at Wikimedia Commons