Maximilian II (Holy Roman Empire) (1527–1576; Ruled 1564–1576)

MAXIMILIAN II (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE) (1527–1576; ruled 1564–1576)

MAXIMILIAN II (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE) (1527–1576; ruled 1564–1576), Holy Roman emperor. Maximilian II, who was born on 31 July 1527 in Vienna and died on 12 October 1576 in Regensburg, was king of Bohemia (ruled 1562–1576), king of the Romans (1562), and king of Hungary (ruled 1563–1576). He became Holy Roman emperor in 1564. In 1548 he married María of Habsburg (1528–1603), coregent of Spain (1548–1550). Maximilian is buried in Saint Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

Son of the new king and queen of Bohemia and Hungary, Ferdinand I (ruled 1558–1564) of Habsburg and Anna of Jagiellon (died 1547), Maximilian grew up as a rival to his cousin Philip of Spain, the future King Philip II (ruled 1556–1598). Ultimately Maximilian gained the imperial title and fathered two Holy Roman emperors, Rudolf II (ruled 1576–1612) and Matthias (ruled 1612–1619). Philip gained the Iberian lands, the Low Countries, parts of Italy, and the Habsburg overseas empire in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Maximilian is often portrayed as having had—much to the dismay of his more orthodox father—a lively curiosity when it came to religious matters. This curiosity led many of his time (and later) to speculate that he may have believed some of the theological points presented by the followers of Martin Luther (1483–1546). Some scholars believe that, to restrain the young archduke, some of his inheritance was given away to his brothers Ferdinand and Charles, and Maximilian was sent to Spain to act as coregent with his bride María, the sister of the later Spanish king Philip II.

Nonetheless Maximilian's father eventually entrusted the newly acquired kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, together with some of the Habsburg hereditary lands, to Maximilian and María. At the death of Ferdinand in 1564, Maximilian assumed the title of elected emperor and proceeded to organize the defense of Christendom against new Hungarian campaigns undertaken by the Ottomans in the 1560s. The defense, however, was less than spectacular. Maximilian, apparently shaken by the experience, retreated to a more intellectual and legally circumscribed sphere of cultural pursuits and limited political engagement.

Keeping an eye on the possibilities in Iberia (his cousin Philip was having difficulties producing a viable heir), Maximilian and María produced numerous children, including Anna, the future wife of Philip. A second daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen of France as the wife of King Charles IX (ruled 1560–1574).

Intelligent and open-minded, Maximilian supported research on historical and botanical subjects, and he continued to import styles and ideas from Italy, a process his father had actively supported. Outside of his residence city of Vienna, Maximilian oversaw the building of an impressive garden residence known simply as the "New Construction" (Neugebäude). Situated on a rise overlooking the Danube River, this construction provided an orderly alternative to an oft-chaotic political landscape over which the emperor had little clear control.

Maximilian lost influence in imperial Italy over such matters as what title was to be granted to the Medici in Florence. Nevertheless he transferred the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary as well as the imperial title to his son Rudolf, partly by allowing an ill-defined amount of religious toleration to the important nobles in various of his lands.

In lands distant from the Ottoman front in Hungary, Maximilian's policies were marked by a clear respect for the provisions of the religious peace set at Augsburg in 1555 by his father. Maximilian staked much on the support of the Saxon electors newly tied to the imperial constitution. He also reached out to the usually inimical Valois in France, as representatives of that dynasty struggled with religious and civil chaos in their kingdom. Maximilian even entertained cordial relations with the Tudor queen of England, Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603). His wife María and Elizabeth of England shared godparental responsibilities for Maximilian and María's granddaughter Marie-Isabelle, the daughter of Charles IX and Elizabeth.

Maximilian II was plagued with health problems. His heart and constitution failed him, and he died at the age of forty-nine. Various stories of his deathbed behavior circulated around Europe, and all tried to divine what his demeanor meant for the cloudy future of the (Christian) religious settlement of 1555. His sons Rudolf and Matthias took the imperial office, but their successive reigns did not continue their father's conciliatory project.

See also Austria ; Bohemia ; Elizabeth I (England) ; Ferdinand I (Holy Roman Empire) ; Florence ; Habsburg Dynasty: Austria ; Holy Roman Empire ; Hungary ; Matthias (Holy Roman Empire) ; Ottoman Empire ; Philip II (Spain) ; Rudolf II (Holy Roman Empire) ; Vienna .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Source

Maximilian II. Die Korrespondenz Maximilians II. Edited by Viktor Bibl. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Neuere Geschichte Ö sterreichs, vols. 14, 16. Vienna, 1916–1921.

Secondary Sources

Edelmayer, Friedrich, and Alfred Kohler, eds. Kaiser Maximilian II: Kultur und Politik im 16. Jahrhundert. Vienna, 1992.

Fichtner, Paula Sutter. Emperor Maximilian II. New Haven, 2001.

Louthan, Howard. The Quest for Compromise: Peace-Makers in Counter-Reformation Vienna. Cambridge, U.K., 1997.

Joseph F. Patrouch