RODOLPHUS II of Habsburg, EMPEROR. — Son of Maximilian II and the Infanta Maria, sister of King Philip II of Spain, he was born in Vienna on 18 July 1552 and died in Prague Castle on 20 January 1612.
He succeeded his father on the throne in 1576 and pursued that policy of Catholic restoration to which all the Habsburg kinsmen were devoted. He entrusted the government of Austria to his brother Ernest, his uncle Ferdinand governed the Tyrol, and his cousin Ferdinand, son of his uncle Charles, ruled in Styria and Carinthia; yet he failed to impose either his authority or his moral prestige upon them. Of studious, dreamy, melancholic temperament, he established his residence in Prague Castle, where he occupied himself with astronomy and alchemy, seeking the philosopher’s stone. Though reluctantly, he had to concern himself with the war against the Turks, who held part of Hungary; only the Treaty of Vienna (Silva-Torok) of 1606 restored a measure of tranquillity to the southern borders. With regard to the Protestants he acted with great caution both in the Empire and in his own lands of Bohemia and Hungary. In 1609 he granted the Protestants of Bohemia a measure of religious liberty through the famous Letter of Majesty. His lack of firm policy gave his brothers and cousins occasion in 1607 at a meeting in Vienna to declare him incapable of ruling; his younger brother Matthias was recognized instead, and was elected King of Bohemia and later King of the Romans.