On July 1, 1618, Ferdinand II, from a so-called intra-Austrian-Styrian branch of the Habsburgs, was crowned the King of Hungary in St Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava. He succeeded to the throne less than a year after his cousin's death – childless Matthias II in March 1619.  At that time, Ferdinand was already 41 years old, married to his cousin, Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, and a father of seven children. His second marriage to Eleonora Gonzaga, Princess of Mantua (crowned in 1622), bore no children.
Ferdinand's upbringing was managed by a strict Catholic mother and Jesuits. Under their influence, the young man became a deeply religious, morally firm and convinced Catholic, and his reign was fully characterised by these beliefs.  Even though he hated war and battlefields, the entire period of his rule was marked by a war conflict which affected the whole continent and became known in the world's history books as the Thirty-Year War. 
As an uncompromising opponent of Protestantism, he significantly contributed to the escalation of religious and political conflicts in Bohemia. When crowned King of Bohemia in June 1617, he promised to keep the privileges of Czech estates, but he did not keep his promise. Disagreements between the estates and the King resulted in the defenestration of the imperial governors out of the windows of the Hradčany palace in Prague in May 1618. This act became a symbolic beginning of the war.  The Czech estates removed Ferdinand from his throne and replaced him with Frederick V of the Palatinate, who was also supported by Hungarian estates led by Gabriel Bethlen. The conflict was gradually joined by other rulers of European countries as well.  Eventually, Ferdinand II handed the country over to his son and successor in a severe crisis as it had been drained financially due to the wars which continued for another decade.

Tünde Lengyelová