Matthias played a significant role in the familial opposition of the Habsburgs against his brother EmperorRudolf II. After gaining power, he showed little political initiative of his own. The course of his politics was determined by CardinalMelchior Klesl until his fall in 1618. As a consequence of his failed religious and administrative policies, theBohemian Revolt, the initial theatre of theThirty Years' War, began during the final year of Matthias' reign.[4]
19th century portrait of MatthiasCoronation medal of Matthias asKing of Hungary
In 1578, Matthias was invited to theSeventeen Provinces by theStates-General of the rebellious provinces, which offered him the position of Governor-General. Matthias had come into contact with Gautier van der Gracht, the envoy of the Dutch provinces, at theRegensburg Reichstag in 1576.Philippe III de Croÿ, Duke of Aarschot, and other representatives of a rather moderate party agreed with Matthias to make him the governor of the Netherlands against the will of his uncle,Philip II of Spain, the hereditary ruler of the provinces and without the knowledge of Emperor Rudolf II. Matthias accepted the appointment, but the position was not recognised by Philip II. He set down the rules for religious peace within most of theUnited Provinces. His work is noted in Article 13 of the 1579Union of Utrecht, which establishedfreedom of religion as a locally determined issue.[8] Matthias continued as titular governor for the rebels until their deposing of Philip II anddeclaration of full independence in 1581, when he returned home to Austria.[citation needed]
He returned to Austria in 1583, where he settled inLinz with a small household. He made several unsuccessful attempts to get elected as bishop of (Münster,Liège,Speyer). In 1586, negotiations for the succession ofPolish KingStephen Báthory were equally unsuccessful. He also applied for the regency inTyrol andFurther Austria. It was only after his brother Ernest was appointed General Governor in theNetherlands in 1593, where he ruled from 1594, that Matthias secured governance over Austria.[9][10]
He was immediately confronted with the vigorous advocacy of their religious rights among theProtestant estates. The problems were exacerbated by the high taxes and the troops who were raised as a result of theLong Turkish War.[11] In 1595 and 1597 the farmers inLower andUpper Austria revolted in the hope of negotiating with the emperor. Matthias forced the insurgents into submission with mercenary troops.[12]
After the uprising had been quelled, Matthias's policies on religion changed. If there had been Protestants at his court, he now went on a strictCounter-Reformation course. His chancellor had beenMelchior Khlesl, bishop and administrator ofWiener Neustadt from 1599 and a supporter of the Counter-Reformation. Matthias appointed him in 1594 to 1595 and again in 1598 to 1600 as nominal commander in chief in the Turkish War and as his representative to the Hungarian Diet.[13][14]
Matthias portrait as Archduke in armour and general's staff, byLucas van Valckenborch, 1579
With great concern, the Habsburgs observed the increasingpsychological decline of the ageing emperor. After Ernest's death in 1595, Matthias became the oldestarchduke. From 1599 onward, Matthias in vain urged the childless emperor to arrange his succession, as Matthias was rejected. The crisis carried on in 1604 during theuprising ofStephen Bocskai in Hungary. Matthias initially avoided an argument with the emperor, but Bishop Klesl urged him to take command in theBrothers' Quarrel with Rudolf. In November 1600 atSchottwien, Archdukes Matthias, Maximilian andFerdinand signed an agreement of concerted opposition against the emperor. In 1606, they declared Rudolf insane (document dated 25 April), appointed Matthias as the head of the family and began to oust Rudolf. It was Matthias, not the emperor, who had brokered thePeace of Zsitvatorok with theOttomans and in 1606 hadended the conflict in Hungary by granting freedom of religion in Hungary and guaranteed the right ofTransylvania to elect its own independent princes in the future.[10][15]
As unrest resurfaced in Hungary and spread into parts ofMoravia and Austria, Matthias attempted to use the opposition in the power struggle against the emperor. He joined the rebelliousDiet of Hungary and the Lower and Upper Austrian estates inPressburg in 1608 and in Moravia shortly later. In April 1608, Matthias marched onPrague and besieged the city. Although he could not fully win over the Bohemian estates, he forced Rudolf to negotiate and to sign a peace treaty in June 1608, which unsurprisingly resulted in the redistribution of power. Rudolf kept Bohemia, Silesia andLusatia, and Matthias received Hungary, Austria and Moravia.[16]
However, the takeover of power did not proceed according to customary protocol. Matthias, as the new sovereign, had not guaranteed the privileges of the estates before they officially paid homage to him. He tried to reverse the order, which led to the so-calledHomage Dispute. As most of the estates were Protestant in Austria and Moravia, their nobles then formed the powerfulHorner Confederation (Horner Bund) and paid homage only after a guarantee of their religious rights. The Horner Confederation continued to exist until the beginning of theThirty Years' War.[17][18]
Imperial coronation of Matthias in Frankfurt, 1612Emperor Matthias at theBeautiful Spring (Schöner Brunnen)
Matthias was crowned King of Bohemia on 23 May 1611 and was, after Rudolf's death on 20 January 1612,electedHoly Roman Emperor. On 4 December 1611, he married his cousin ArchduchessAnna of Austria, but the union failed to produce children. Matthias allegedly fathered an illegitimate son, Matthias of Austria, by an unknown mother.[9][19]
The court and the administration were gradually moved from Prague to Vienna after 1612. The new emperor was less interested in art than Rudolf II had been, and most court artists soon turned their backs on his court. Matthias maintained, however, a close relationship with the painterLucas van Valckenborch. For the private crown of his brother Rudolf II, he had a sceptre and an orb made. The emperor's wife founded theCapuchin Church and theImperial Crypt in Vienna as the future burial site of the Habsburg family. Matthias had allegedly found a spring in the area of today'sSchönbrunn Palace. It is said that it became the eponymous name of the area and the palace from his remark: "Look, what a beautiful spring" (beautiful:schön, spring:Brunn[en]).
After Matthias's imperial accession, his kingship was dominated by Klesl, who hoped to bring about a compromise betweenCatholic and Protestant states within theHoly Roman Empire to strengthen the empire. Matthias had already been forced to grant religious concessions to Protestants in Austria and Moravia, as well as in Hungary, when he had allied with them against Rudolf. Matthias imprisoned GeorgKeglević, theCommander-in-chief,General, Vice-Ban of Croatia,Slavonia and Dalmatia and since 1602baron in Transylvania, but soon freed again. ThePrincipality of Transylvania was a fully-autonomous area of Hungary but under the nominalsuzerainty of theOttoman Empire, where it was the time of theSultanate of Women.[12]
Matthias's conciliatory policies were opposed by the more intransigent Catholic Habsburgs, particularly Matthias's brother ArchdukeMaximilian, who hoped to secure the succession for the inflexible Catholic Archduke Ferdinand,who later became EmperorFerdinand II. The Protestant Bohemians were concernedabout their religious freedom and so fiercely opposed all Catholic officials who were appointed by Matthias, particularly Archduke Ferdinand, who was elected King of Bohemia in June 1617. The dispute came to a head in theBohemian Protestant revolt, which provoked Matthias to imprison Klesl and to revise his policies. However, he was old and ailing and was unable to prevent Maximilian's faction from taking over. He died of natural causes at 62 on 20 March 1619. Ferdinand, who had already been crowned King of Bohemia (1617) and of Hungary (1618), succeeded Matthias as Holy Roman Emperor.[20][21][22]
As theImperial Crypt at Vienna had not yet been completed, Anna († in 1618) and Matthias († in 1619) were temporarily buried in St. Maria's Queen's Monastery. Not until 1633 would they be transferred to the Imperial Crypt at theCapuchin Church. Emperor Matthias is one of the 41 people who received a "separate burial", as their bodies are distributed among all three traditional Viennese burial sites of the Habsburgs (Imperial Crypt,Herzgruft,Ducal Crypt).[23]
Matthias, by the grace of God electedHoly Roman Emperor, forever August, King inGermany, ofHungary,Bohemia, Dalmatia,Croatia, Slavonia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria, Archduke ofAustria, Duke ofBurgundy, Brabant, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Luxemburg, Württemberg, the Upper and Lower Silesia, Prince of Swabia, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Moravia, the Upper and Lower Lusatia,Princely Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Ferrette, Kyburg, Gorizia, Landgrave of Alsace, Lord of the Wendish March, Pordenone and Salins, etc. etc.[3][failed verification]
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.
