Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian II (31 July 1527 – 12 October 1576) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death in 1576. A member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, he was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on 14 May 1562 and elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) on 24 November 1562. On 8 September 1563 he was crowned King of Hungary and Croatia in the Hungarian capital Pressburg (Pozsony in Hungarian; now Bratislava, Slovakia). On 25 July 1564 he succeeded his father Ferdinand I as Holy Roman Emperor.
| Maximilian II | |
|---|---|
Portrait by Nicolas Neufchâtel, c. 1566 | |
| Holy Roman Emperor | |
| Reign | 25 July 1564 – 12 October 1576 |
| Predecessor | Ferdinand I |
| Successor | Rudolf II |
| Born | 31 July 1527 Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 12 October 1576 (aged 49) Imperial City of Regensburg, Holy Roman Empire |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Habsburg |
| Father | Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor |
| Mother | Anna of Bohemia and Hungary |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature | |
Maximilian's rule was shaped by the confessionalization process after the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. Though a Habsburg and a Catholic, he approached the Lutheran Imperial estates with a view to overcome the denominational schism, which ultimately failed. He also was faced with the ongoing Ottoman–Habsburg wars and rising conflicts with his Spanish Habsburg cousins.
According to Fichtner, Maximilian failed to achieve his three major aims: rationalizing the government structure, unifying Christianity, and evicting the Turks from Hungary. Peter Marshall opines that it is wrong to dismiss Maximilian as a failure. According to Marshall, through his religious tolerance as well as encouragement of arts and sciences, he succeeded in maintaining a precarious peace.