4. Adel, Region, Integration 350 M
349 4. ADEL, REGION, INTEGRATION 350 M. A. Chisholm A QUESTION OF POWER: COUNT, ARISTOCRACY AND BISHOP OF TRENT THE PROGRESS OF ARCHDUKE FERDINAND II INTO THE TYROL IN 15671 Following the death of Emperor Ferdinand I on 25 July, 1564, his son, Archduke Ferdinand II, succeeded him as Count of the Tyrol. The new prince wrote the Upper Austrian Privy Council (Regierung) in Innsbruck three days later from Prague, where he was still Gov- ernor of Bohemia.2 He noted that his arrival would be delayed and or- 1 I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Manfred Rupert of the Ti- roler Landesarchiv (TLA) for the many hours he has helped me to read and deci- pher Old German. 2 The Privy Council was the head of the Upper Austrian government. Its au- thority extended over the territorial complex of the Tyrol and Further Austria. The Privy Council was centred in the Tyrolean capital, Innsbruck; the Further Austrian government, centred in the Alsatian town, Ensisheim, was administra- tively subordinate to the Privy Council. Hence, the archduke, as his father, cor- responded with the Privy Council in regard to both Tyrolean and Further Austri- an affairs. However, contemporaries also referred to the Council loosely as the “Tyrolean Privy Council”, as for example, when the archduke addressed a letter to unsern Tyrolischen Regierung; TLA, Ferdinandea, Position 23, Carton 28, 19 November, 1566. The association of the Privy Council with the Tyrol was no doubt a habit of mind, as it was centred in the Tyrol, dominated by Tyroleans and almost two-thirds of its business was taken up by the Tyrol: TLA, An die Fürstli- che Durchlaucht (AFD), 19 October, 1565, fol.
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