Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria

Coin of Ferdinand Charles, Struck 1649
Obverse: (Latin) FERDIN[AND] CAROL D[EUS] G[RATIA] ARCHIDA AV, in English: "Ferdinand Charles, By the Grace of God, Archduke of Austria."	Reverse: (Latin) COM[ES] TYROLIS DVX BURGVND, in English: "Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Tyrol."

Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria

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.

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.

Marriage, children and death

Ferdinand Charles married Anna de' Medici. She was a daughter of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Maria Magdalena of Austria († 1631). They had three children:

• Claudia Felicitas of Austria (30 May 1653 – 8 April 1676). Married Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• Daughter (born and died 19 July 1654), died at birth.
• Maria Magdalena of Austria (17 August 1656 – 21 January 1669).

He died in Kaltern.

• 
  Bust portrait of Ferdinand Charles, after a painting by Anselm van Hulle. Collection Peace Palace Library.
• 
  Anna Medici, his wife by Justus Sustermans.

Ancestors

Family of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria

16. Philip I of Castile 8. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (= #22) 17. Joanna of Castile 4. Charles II, Archduke of Austria 18. Vladislas II of Bohemia and Hungary 9. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (= #23) 19. Anna of Foix-Candale 2. Leopold V, Archduke of Austria 20. William IV, Duke of Bavaria 10. Albert V, Duke of Bavaria 21. Marie of Baden-Sponheim 5. Maria Anna of Bavaria 22. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (= #8) 11. Anna of Austria 23. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (= #9) 1. Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria 24. Giovanni dalle Bande Nere 12. Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany 25. Maria Salviati 6. Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany 26. Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca 13. Eleanor de Toledo 27. Maria Osorio, 2nd Marquise of Villafranca 3. Claudia de' Medici 28. Francis I, Duke of Lorraine 14. Charles III, Duke of Lorraine 29. Christina of Denmark 7. Christina of Lorraine 30. Henry II of France 15. Claude of Valois 31. Catherine de' Medici

External links

• A listing of descendants of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor