Habsburgs

All the members of the Habsburg dynasty. Read biographical notes and explore the historical context.
Highly educated and musical, Isabella of Parma grew up in Spain and Parma. She entered a politically arranged marriage...
Isabella of Parma

* 1741, † 1763
Maria Theresa was the most important ruler of the age of Enlightened Absolutism and one of the most famous Habsburgs...
Maria Theresa
Queen of Bohemia and Hungary
1740–1780
Franz Stephan married Maria Theresa in 1736, thus founding the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. In 1740, following the...
Franz I Stephan of Lorraine
Roman-German Emperor
1745–1765
Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria was the daughter of Emperor Joseph I. In 1719 she married the son of Augustus the...
Maria Josepha
Archduchess of Austria
Charles was installed as heir to the Spanish Habsburgs in 1703 but lost the crown in the war of succession. As...
Charles VI
Roman-German Emperor
1711–1740
The ‘young court’ around the ambitious Joseph pressed for political reforms even while Emperor Leopold I was still on...
Joseph I
Roman-German Emperor
1705–1711
He succeeded his father Philip IV at the age of four. The genetic outcome of the constant consanguineous marriages...
Charles II
King of Spain
Margarita Teresa, from the Spanish Habsburg line, was the first wife of her uncle, Leopold I. Their union had been...
Margarita Teresa of Spain

* 1651, † 1673
Leopold I became emperor after the sudden death of his brother Ferdinand IV. Originally destined for a career in the...
Leopold I
Roman-German Emperor
1658–1705
Archduke Ferdinand was groomed from an early age by his father Emperor Ferdinand III as his successor on the throne...
Ferdinand IV
Roman-German King
As the younger brother of Ferdinand Karl of Tyrol, Sigismund Franz was originally intended for the Church. However, he...
Sigismund Franz
Archduke of Austria-Tyrol
A member of the ducal family of Mantua, Eleonore Gonzaga became the third wife of Emperor Ferdinand III in 1651. She...
Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua

* 1630, † 1686
The regency of Ferdinand Karl as sovereign prince of Tyrol is generally seen in a very critical light: he is described...
Ferdinand Karl
Archduke of Austria-Tyrol
The second son of Emperor Ferdinand II, he successfully commanded imperial armies against the Swedes in the Thirty...
Leopold Wilhelm
Archduke of Austria
Ferdinand was introduced to political duties at an early age. During the Thirty Years’ War, after the murder of the...
Ferdinand III
Roman-German Emperor
1637–1657
His reign represented an epoch of cultural brilliance for Spain in the latter years of the ‘Golden Age’, but also...
Philip IV
King of Spain
Eleonora Gonzaga, also called Eleonora of Mantua, was from the ducal family of Mantua. On her marriage to Emperor...
Eleonora of Mantua

* 1598, † 1655
The second son of Charles II of Inner Austria, he was originally destined for a career in the Church and became Bishop...
Leopold V
Archduke of Austria-Tyrol
Ferdinand was a belligerent and ruthless monarch: as ruler over Inner Austria he relentlessly implemented the re-...
Ferdinand II
Roman-German Emperor
1619–1637
During his reign Spain was still one of the dominant powers in Europe, a position maintained only through enormous...
Philip III
King of Spain
Matthias had high political ambitions which brought him into conflict with his brother, Emperor Rudolf II. Following...
Matthias
Roman-German Emperor
1612–1619
Rudolf II had grown up in Spain. After his accession to the throne he moved his residence from Vienna to Prague, which...
Rudolf II
Roman-German Emperor
1576–1612
At the partition of the Habsburg domains under the sons of Emperor Ferdinand I the youngest son Charles was assigned...
Charles II
Archduke of Inner Austria
Appointed regent of Bohemia by his father, Ferdinand I, after the latter’s death in 1564 he ruled over Tyrol and the...
Ferdinand II of Tyrol
Archduke of Austria

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