RODOLFO II of Habsburg, EMPEROR. — Son of Massimiliano II and the infanta Maria, sister of the king of Spain Filippo II, b. in Vienna on 18 July 1552, d. in Prague Castle on 20 January 1612.
Having succeeded his father to the throne in 1576, he adopted the policy of Catholic restoration to which all the Habsburg relatives were devoted. He entrusted the government of Austria to his brother Ernesto; in the Tyrol, his uncle Ferdinando governed; and in Styria and Carinthia, his cousin Ferdinando, the son of his uncle Carlo. He was unable to impose on them either his authority or his moral prestige. A scholarly, dreamy, melancholic temperament, he established his residence in Prague Castle, where he occupied himself with astronomy and alchemy, seeking the philosopher’s stone. Although reluctantly, he was obliged to devote considerable attention to the war with the Turks, who controlled part of Hungary: only the Treaty of Silva-Torok in 1606 restored a certain tranquillity to the southern borders. With regard to the Protestants, he adopted the utmost prudence both in the Empire and in his Bohemian and Hungarian States. In 1609 he granted the Protestants of Bohemia a certain religious liberty through the famous Letters of Majesty. The lack of a firm policy gave his brothers and cousins a pretext to declare, at a gathering they held in Vienna in 1607, that R. was incapable of reigning: his younger brother Mattia was recognized, and was elected king of Bohemia and subsequently King of the Romans.