Rudolf II (1552–1612)

Holy Roman Emperor of the Habsburg dynasty from 1576 until his death in 1612, and who also reigned as the king of Bohemia and of Hungary. The son of Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, Rudolf was educated at the court of King Philip II of Spain, Maximilian's cousin. Philip inspired him with devotion to Catholicism and a determination to stamp out Protestantism in Habsburg lands—a policy that ran counter to the religious tolerance of Maximilian.

On the death of Maximilian in 1576, Rudolf as the eldest son inherited the Habsburg throne. He brought members of the Jesuit sect to Germany, seeking to convert his Protestant subjects. Rather than returning Habsburg territories to Catholicism, however, this policy inspired widespread opposition and outright revolt.

In 1604, a rebellion against Rudolf's policies broke out in Hungary, where the opponents of the Habsburgs, under the leadership of Istvan Bocskay, allied themselves with the Ottoman Turks. After this event Rudolf's brother Matthias seized control of Hungary, Austria, and Moravia, at the invitation of nobles in those lands who sought a more tolerant sovereign. In response, Rudolf offered the Letter of Majesty to the Estates of Bohemia, a promise of religious freedom, in 1609, but two years later he was also forced to surrender this kingdom to Matthias. The conflict between the Catholic Habsburgs and the Protestants in Bohemia was the spark that eventually set off the Thirty Years' War.

Rudolf suffered from fits of depression and insanity, and several times during his reign he was unable to fulfill the duties of his office. After one such bout in 1600 he became a recluse in the city of Prague, the capital of Bohemia, which he had made the Habsburg seat of power. He was an avid student of alchemy and the magical arts, but also a generous patron to the leading scientists of his time, including Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe. After moving the Habsburg capital to Prague, in order to evade the assaults of the Turks, Rudolf invited architects and artists to his court and made the Bohemian capital an important cultural center.

See Also: Bohemia; Brahe, Tycho; Thirty Years' War