Matthias

Among the sons of Maximilian II, it was Matthias who eventually displaced the head of the dynasty itself. Born in Vienna on 24 February 1557 to Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, he spent much of his career maneuvering for a position commensurate with his ambitions, and finally obtained the imperial crown by dismantling the authority of his own elder brother, Rudolf II.

His first independent venture ended poorly. In 1578 he accepted an invitation from rebellious provinces of the Netherlands to serve as governor-general, an appointment made without Habsburg approval that left him politically isolated; he withdrew in 1581. Rehabilitated within the family, he served as governor of Austria from 1593 and held command during the Long Turkish War in Hungary. In 1606 he negotiated the Peace of Vienna with the Hungarian rebel Stephen Bocskai and the Treaty of Zsitvatorok with the Ottomans, settlements that Rudolf II resented as concessions made over his head.

The dispute between the brothers, known as the Bruderzwist, dominated the following decade. Rudolf's increasing withdrawal from government persuaded the archdukes to recognize Matthias as head of the family in 1606. Allying himself with the estates of Hungary, Austria, and Moravia, Matthias marched against Prague in 1608 and compelled Rudolf to cede those territories. Bohemia followed in 1611 after Rudolf's failed attempt to reverse his losses with mercenary troops. When Rudolf died in January 1612, Matthias was elected emperor.

His reign proved shorter and less commanding than his pursuit of it. Aging and without children from his marriage to his cousin Anna of Tyrol, he relied heavily on his chief minister, Cardinal Melchior Khlesl, who favored compromise with the Protestant estates. The succession passed by family arrangement to his cousin Ferdinand of Styria, an uncompromising Catholic, who was crowned King of Bohemia in 1617 and of Hungary in 1618. The concessions Matthias had granted the estates during his rise now constrained him, and tensions in Bohemia escalated beyond his control. The Defenestration of Prague in May 1618 opened the revolt that grew into the Thirty Years' War.

Matthias died in Vienna on 20 March 1619, leaving Ferdinand II an inheritance already at war. His career illustrates the internal rivalries that weakened the Austrian Habsburgs in the generation before the great European conflict.