2021-05-17 Mon

Ferdinand Charles was the Archduke of Further Austria, including Tyrol, from 1646 to 1662.

As the son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia de' Medici, he succeeded his father upon the latter's death in 1632, under his mother's regency. He took over his mother's governatorial duties when he came of age in 1646. To finance his extravagant living style, he sold goods and entitlements. For example, he wasted the exorbitant sum which France had to pay to the Tyrolean Habsburgs for the cession of their fiefs west of the Rhine (Alsace, Sundgau, and Breisach). He also fixed the border to Graubunden in 1652.

Ferdinand Charles was an absolutist ruler, did not call any diet after 1648, and had his chancellor Wilhelm Biener executed illegally in 1651 after a secret trial. On the other hand, he was a lover of music: Italian opera was performed in his court.

The above-shown coin of Ferdinand Charles struck in 1649. The obverse of a coin depicts the bust of a king facing left. The legend read as "Ferdinand Charles, By the Grace of God, Archduke of Austria." The reverse of a coin inscribed "Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Tyrol."

Image Source: Wikipedia.org