Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor in Spanish court dress.

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (1578−1637).

16th century. At the Spanish court and the Habsburg Empire was the Spanish court dress ceremonial. Baroque period costume.

Ferdinand II was Holy Roman Emperor from September 1619 until his death. Archduke of Inner Austria since 1590, he gradually united the territories of the Habsburg Monarchy under his rule. In 1617 he became King of Bohemia, but was temporarily deposed in 1619/20 by the Estates Revolt in Bohemia (1618). In 1618 he became King of Hungary and Croatia and in 1619 Archduke of (Lower) Austria.

Already as sovereign of Inner Austria from 1596, he advocated a course of absolutism and Re-Catholicisation. He also followed this course as King of Hungary and Bohemia. The Bohemian estates rose up against him, which triggered the Thirty Years’ War.

After defeating the insurgents, he used draconian measures, especially in Bohemia, to enforce the primacy of royal power and Catholicism as the only permitted denomination in the Habsburgs’ immediate sphere of power. In the following phase of the war, the emperor’s general, Wallenstein, was victorious. Ferdinand subsequently tried to ruthlessly impose Re-Catholicisation and imperial power in the empire as well.

The culmination of this is considered to be the Restitution Edict of 1629, which was supposed to restore numerous prince-bishoprics, prince-bishoprics and secularised monasteries to the Catholic Church. He failed with it due to the resistance of the electors. In the Peace of Prague of 1635, he sought a settlement with the imperial estates, but was unable to end the war because he was unable to prevent the foreign powers from pursuing their own interests in the German theatre of war.

Source: Sheets for costume design. Published by Franz Lipperheide, Germany.