Ferdinand II (1578-1637) ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1619 until his death on Feb. 15, 1637. A devout Roman Catholic, Ferdinand dedicated his reign to restoring Catholicism to its former dominant position in the Protestant German states of the empire.
Ferdinand was born on July 9, 1578. He was the son of Archduke Charles of Styria, a province in what is now Austria. Ferdinand belonged to the Habsburg (or Hapsburg) family, which had long controlled the empire. He became emperor during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). The war had begun as a conflict between Protestants and Catholics, and Ferdinand defeated many rebel Protestant nobles.
To limit Ferdinand’s power, leaders from several European countries began to help the rebels. Catholic nobles in the empire also grew to fear Ferdinand’s power. In 1635, Ferdinand forced both Catholic and Protestant nobles to sign the Peace of Prague, increasing his authority over them. But expansion of the war quickly ended his dominance.
