Ferdinand II summary
Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Ferdinand II.
house of Habsburg Summary
House of Habsburg, royal German family, one of the principal sovereign dynasties of Europe from the 15th to the 20th century. The name Habsburg is derived from the castle of Habsburg, or Habichtsburg (“Hawk’s Castle”), built in 1020 by Werner, bishop of Strasbourg, and his brother-in-law, Count
emperor Summary
Emperor, title designating the sovereign of an empire, conferred originally on rulers of the ancient Roman Empire and on various later European rulers, though the term is also applied descriptively to some non-European monarchs. In republican Rome (c. 509–27 bce), imperator denoted a victorious
Bohemia Summary
Bohemia, historical country of central Europe that was a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire and subsequently a province in the Habsburgs’ Austrian Empire. Bohemia was bounded on the south by Austria, on the west by Bavaria, on the north by Saxony and Lusatia, on the northeast by Silesia, and on the
Counter-Reformation Summary
Counter-Reformation, in the history of Christianity, the Roman Catholic efforts directed in the 16th and early 17th centuries both against the Protestant Reformation and toward internal renewal. The Roman Catholic Church responded to the Protestant challenge by purging itself of the abuses and