Kaiser Ferdinand I

Ferdinand I, Kaiser (Alcalá de Henares, 1503-64, Vienna), a nephew of Maximilian I brought up in Spain, received, after Maximilian's death, the Austrian Habsburg territories (1521, see Wormser Vertrag). In 1526 he was elected king of Bohemia and Hungary. The early part of his reign was chiefly occupied in resisting Turkish pressure upon his lands, and he made efforts to reach a compromise with the Protestants (Treaty of Passau, 1552). Though he adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, he was ready to support ecclesiastical reform. He became emperor on the abdication of Karl V (1556), but eight years of his reign saw no significant change of policy.