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Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria

Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria (Linz, June 14, 1529 – January 24, 1595) was ruler of Further Austria including Tirol.

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was the second son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. He was a younger brother of Emperor Maximilian II. At the behest of his father, he was put into charge of the administration of Bohemia in 1547. Also, he led the campaign against the Turks in Hungary in 1556.

In 1557, he was secretly married to Philippine Welser, daughter of a patrician from Augsburg, with whom he had several children. The marriage was only permitted by Emperor Ferdinand I in 1559 under the condition of secrecy. The children were to receive the name "of Austria" but would only be entitled to inherit if the House of Habsburg would become totally extinct in the male line (Also see: morganatic marriage). The sons born of this marriage received the title Margrave of Burgau, an old Habsburg possession in Further Austria. The younger of the sons, who survived his father, later received princely rank, becoming Fürst zu Burgau.

After his father's death in 1564, Ferdinand received the rulership over Tyrol and other Further Austrian possessions under his father's will. However, he remained as governor of Bohemia in Prague until 1567 following the wishes of his brother Maximilian II.

In his own lands, Ferdinand made sure that the Catholic counterreformation would prevail. Since he was an avid collector of art, the collection of the famous Castle Ambras was started in his time. He had begun to work on it even during his time in Bohemia and subsequently moved it to Tyrol. In particular, the gallery of portraits and the collection of armor were highly expensive, which is why the archduke had incurred a high level of debt. Today, those collections are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

After the death of Philippine in 1580, he married Anne Catherine, a daughter of William I, Duke of Mantua, in 1582.

Archduke Ferdinand died on January 24, 1595. Since his sons from the first marriage were not entitled to the inheritance, and the second produced only surviving daughters, Tirol was reunified with the other Habsburg lines. His daughter from the Mantuan marriage became the Empress Anna, consort of Emperor Mathias, who received his Further Austrian inheritance.

Karl II of Austria, Margrave of Burgau, morganatic son of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria married Sibylle [1] (1557-1627), daughter of William, Duke of Jülich-Berg-Ravensberg-Kleve-Mark (28 July 1516 - 5 January 1592), and Maria, Archduchess of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.

He and his first wife Philippine Welser were parents of four children:

• Andreas of Austria (June 15, 1558 - November 12, 1600). Became a Cardinal in 1576, Margrave of Burgau in 1578, Bishop of Constance in 1589 and Bishop of Brixen in 1591. He had two illegitimate children.
• Karl of Austria (November 22, 1560 - November 12, 1627). Became Fürst of Burgau. Married his first cousin Sibylle of Cleves, youngest daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and Maria of Habsburg, Archduchess of Austria. They had no legitimate children. He and his mistress Chiara Elisa di Ferrero had three illegitimate children.
• Philipp of Austria (August 7, 1562 - January 9, 1563).
• Maria of Austria (August 7, 1562 - January 25, 1563), twin of Philipp.

On May 14, 1582, Ferdinand married his niece Anne Juliana Gonzaga. She was a daughter of William I, Duke of Mantua and Eleonora of Austria, younger sister of Ferdinand. They were parents to three daughters:

• Anna Eleonore of Austria (June 26, 1583 - January 15, 1584).
• Maria of Austria (June 16, 1584 - March 2, 1649), a nun.
• Anna of Austria (October 4, 1585 - December 14/December 15, 1618). Married her first cousin Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor.

He had at least two illegitimate children but their great difference in age suggests different mothers:

• Veronika von Villanders (1551–1589). Married Giovanni Francesco di Gonzaga.
• Hans Christoph von Hertenberg (c. 1592 - September 2, 1613). His mother was Johanna Lydl von Mayenburg. He married Ursula Gienger.