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RUDOLPH II

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 817 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RUDOLPH II . (1552-1612), See also:Roman See also:emperor, son of the emperor See also:Maximilian II. by his wife Maria,, daughter of the emperor See also:Charles V., was See also:born in See also:Vienna on the 18th of See also:July 1552. In 1563 he was sent to See also:Spain, where his natural abilities were improved by a See also:good See also:education, but he lacked the See also:frank and tolerant spirit of his See also:father, resembling rather his See also:uncle See also:Philip II. of Spain. In 1572 he was crowned See also:king of See also:Hungary, three years later king of Bohemia; and in See also:October 1575 he was chosen king of the See also:Romans, or See also:German king, at See also:Regensburg, becoming emperor on his father's See also:death in October 1576. The importance of Rudolph's reign is negative rather than See also:positive, consisting more in what he did not do than in what he did; although it is questionable whether any ruler could have pre-vented the religious struggles of See also:Germany and the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War. The more active See also:part of the emperor's See also:life was the See also:period from his See also:accession to about 1597. During that See also:time he attended the infrequent imperial diets, and took an See also:interest in the struggle in the See also:Netherlands and the See also:defence of the See also:empire against the See also:Turks. He was at times suspicious of the papal policy, while his relations with Spain were somewhat inharmonious. As a convinced Roman See also:Catholic he forwarded the progress of the See also:counter-See also:reformation, and in See also:general the tolerant policy of Maximilian II. was reversed. See also:Political as well as religious privileges were attacked; the See also:administration was conducted by Germans; and the result was a considerable amount of discontent which became very pronounced about the opening of the 17th See also:century. Concurrently with the growth of this unrest Rudolph had become increasingly subject to attacks of depression and eccentricity, which were so serious as to amount almost to See also:insanity. In 1604, after a war with See also:Turkey had been in progress since 1593, many of the Hungarians rebelled against Rudolph and See also:chose See also:Stephen See also:Bocskay as their See also:prince.

By this time the members of the See also:

Habsburg See also:family were thoroughly alarmed at the indifference or incompetence of the emperor; and their anxieties were not diminished by the knowledge that he was in feeble See also:health, was unmarried, and had refused to take any steps towards securing the See also:election of a successor. In See also:April 16o6 they declared Rudolph incapable of ruling, and recognized one of his younger See also:brothers, the See also:archduke See also:Matthias, afterwards emperor, as their See also:head; and in the following See also:June Matthias, having already with the emperor's reluctant consent taken the conduct of affairs into his own hands, made See also:peace by granting extensive concessions to the rebellious Hungarians, and concluded a treaty with the See also:sultan in See also:November of the same See also:year. Then shaking off his lethargy Rudolph prepared to renew the war with the Turks; a move which Matthias met by throwing himself upon the support of the See also:national party in Hungary. Matthias also found adherents in other parts of his See also:brother's dominions, with the result that in June 16o8 the emperor was compelled to cede to him the See also:kingdom of Hungary together with the See also:government of See also:Austria and See also:Moravia. Rudolph now sought the aid of the princes of the empire, and even of the Protestants; but he had met with no success in this direction when trouble arose in Bohemia. Having at first rejected the demand of the Bohemians for greater religious See also:liberty, the emperor was soon obliged to yield to See also:superior force, and in 1609 he acceded to the popular wishes by issuing the See also:Letter of See also:Majesty (Majestatsbrief), and then made similar concessions to his subjects in See also:Silesia and elsewhere. A See also:short reconciliation with Matthias was followed by further disorder in Bohemia, which was invaded by Rudolph's See also:cousin, the archduke See also:Leopold (1586-1632). The Bohemians invoked the aid of Matthias, who gathered an See also:army; and in 1611 the emperor, practically a prisoner at See also:Prague, was again forced to cede a kingdom to his brother. Rudolph died at Prague, his usual See also:place of See also:residence, on the loth of See also:January 1612, and was succeeded as emperor by Matthias. Rudolph was a See also:clever and cultured See also:man, greatly interested in See also:chemistry, See also:alchemy, See also:astronomy and See also:astrology; he was a See also:patron of Tycho See also:Brahe and See also:Kepler, and was himself somethingof a See also:scholar and an artist. He was the greatest See also:collector of his See also:age, his agents ransacking See also:Europe to fill his museums with rare See also:works of See also:art. His education at the See also:Spanish See also:court and an hereditary tendency to insanity, however, made him haughty, suspicious and consequently very unpopular, while even in his best days the See also:temper of his mind was that of a recluse rather than of a ruler.

The See also:

sources for the life and times of Rudolph II. are somewhat scanty, as many of the See also:official documents of the reign, which were kept at Prague and not at Vienna, were destroyed, probably during the Thirty Years' War. The best authorities, however, are: Rudolphi II. epistolae ineditae, edited by B, See also:Comte de See also:Pace (Vienna, 1771) ; M. See also:Ritter, Quellenbeitrage zur Geschichte See also:des Kaisers See also:Rudolf II (See also:Munich, 1872); and Deutsche Geschichte See also:im Zeitalter der Gegenreformation and des dreissigjahrigen Krieges (See also:Stuttgart, 1887 fol.) ; L. von See also:Ranke, Zur deutschen Geschichte: Vom Religionsfrieden bis zum 3o jahrigen Kriege (See also:Leipzig, 1868) ; A. See also:Gindely, Rudolf II. and See also:seine Zeit (Prague, 1862—68) ; F. Stieve, See also:Die Verhandlungen fiber die Nachfolge Kaiser Rudolfs II. (Munich, 188o) ; in the Allgemeane Deutsche Biographie, See also:Band See also:xxix. (Leipzig, 1889) ; and Der U_rsprung des dreissigjahrigen Krieges (Munich, 1875); F. von Bezold, Kaiser Rudolf II. and die heilige Liga (Munich, 1886); J. See also:Janssen, Geschichte des Deutschen Volks seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters (See also:Freiburg, 1878 fol.), of which there is an See also:English See also:translation by M. A. See also:Mitchell and A. M. See also:Christie (See also:London, 1896 fol.) ; and H.

See also:

Moritz, Die Wahl Rudolfs II. (See also:Marburg, 1895).

End of Article: RUDOLPH II

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