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The Central European Habsburg Monarchy in the Middle of the Sixteenth Century – Elements of Cohesion and Division

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The Central European Habsburg Monarchy in the Middle of the Sixteenth Century – Elements of Cohesion and Division The Central European Habsburg Monarchy in the Middle of the Sixteenth Century – Elements of Cohesion and Division István Fazekas Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest [email protected] The explication of the complex and strange formation which took shape in Central Europe in the fijirst half of the 16th century represents a major challenge for contemporary historians. Diffferent names were used to defijine this state, which largely determined the development of Central and Southeastern Europe: Habsburg Empire (Habsburger Reich), Habsburg Monarchy (Habs- burger monarchie), Danube Monarchy (Donaumonarchie), and then, in the last half century of its existence, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The greatest problem may be the fact that present-day historians were socialized within the confijines of national historiography and they do not really know how to approach this peculiar state formation, the composite state. This study has been compiled by a historian socialized within the confijines of Hungarian national historiography. Evidently, an Austrian, German, Czech or Croatian historian (mentioning just a few possibilities) would have approached the issue in a diffferent way.1 The Habsburg Monarchy: Component Elements The Habsburg Monarchy arose in 1526 when, following the death of Louis II, Archduke Ferdinand, who was the younger brother of Charles V and had ruled 1 A few of the numerous comprehensive works: Robert A. Kann, A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526–1918. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1974; Robert J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy 1550–1700: An Interpretation. Oxford, New York, 1979; Jean Bérenger, Die Geschichte des Habsburgerreiches 1273–1918. Wien, Köln, Weimar, 1995 (French orig. 1990); Paula Sutter Fichtner, The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490–1848. Haundmills, New York, 2003; Thomas Winkelbauer, Ständefreiheit und Fürstenmacht. Länder und Unterta- nen des Hauses Habsburg im konfessionellen Zeitalter, 1622–1699. Vols. 1–2. (Österreichische Geschichte 1522–1699) Wien, 2003. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi 10.1163/9789004396234_009 180 istván fazekas the Austrian principalities since 1521–1522, was elected king of Bohemia and then king of Hungary. As a result, he became the ruler of three diffferent countries, each of which was composed of several units. Their area and population around 1550 are as follows.2 table 1 Area Population Austrian Hereditary 110,000 km2 2,100,000 Provinces Bohemian Crown 125,000 km2 2,500,000 Kingdom of Hungary (1/3 of its territory) 120,000 km2 1,8–2,000,000 under the Habsburgs Ferdinand at fijirst ruled on behalf of his brother Charles V as “Viceroy”(kaiserlicher Statthalter), then from 1531 as “King of the Romans” in the Holy Roman Empire and from 1558 until his death as “Holy Roman Emperor”. The imperial title was later inherited by his son, Maximilian II. The lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Austrian Hereditary Provinces were parts of the Holy Roman Empire, which had an area of 500,000 km2 and a population of 14 million.3 The title of Holy Roman Emperor greatly enhanced the prestige of the Central European Habsburgs, although the mobilization of the empire’s resources was not easy: Usually the promised imperial fijinancial aid was received only partially and the mobilization and efffective control of the army proved to be a recurring problem (as in 1542 and 1566). Nevertheless, it was an important change that for Ferdinand I and Maximilian II the Ottoman threat appeared in the Danube basin instead of the Mediterranean region. In the second half of the 16th and in the 17th century signifijicant fijinancial support was provided by the Holy Roman Empire to sustain the defence line in Hungary against the Ottomans and during the open wars imperial troops assisted (1593–1606, 1663–1664, 1683–1699).4 At the 2 Winkelbauer, Ständefreiheit und Fürstenmacht, I. 14. 3 Heinrich Lutz, Das Ringen um deutsche Einheit und kirchliche Erneuerung 1490–1648. (Pro- pyläen Geschichte Deutschlands, 4.) Berlin, 1983, 38. 4 Peter Rauscher, ʻKaiser und Reich. Die Reichstürkenhilfen von Ferdinand I. bis zum Beginn des “Langen Türkenkrieges” (1548–1593)ʼ, in Friedrich Edelmayer, Maximilian Lanzinner and Peter Rauscher (eds.), Finanzen und Herrschaft. Materielle Grundlagen fürstlicher Politik in den habsburgischen Ländern und im Heiligen Römischen Reich im 16. Jahrhundert. .
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