Matthias (1557–1619)

Austrian ruler. He was king of Bohemia from 1609, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1612. A weak and childless Emperor, Matthias was unable to prevent his cousin and designated heir, Ferdinand, provoking a revolt of the Bohemian Protestants (1618). The outcome was the Thirty Years' War.

He was born in Vienna, the third son of Maximilian II. He succeeded his brother, Rudolf II. He was given only administrative posts in the Habsburg lands and a limited command against the Turks in the 1590s, but was ambitious for a more important role. After opposition against his brother's policies, Matthias allied with the estates in Hungary, Austria, and Moravia, and took over control of these territories in 1608. After becoming Emperor he owed much to the advice of Cardinal Melchior Khlesl (1553–1630), son of a Viennese tradesman and the leading figure of the early Counter-Reformation in Austria.