Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria

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Silver coin, three Kruezers of Ferdinand Charles, dated 1649. The obverse Latin inscription reads, obverse: FERDIN[ANDUS] CAROL[US] D[EI] G[RATIA] ARCHID[UX] AV[STRIAE], reverse: DVX BVRGVND[IAE] COM[ES] TYROLIS. In English: Ferdinand Charles, by the Grace of God Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Tyrol.

Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria (de: Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl von Österreich), (born May 17, 1628; died December 30, 1662 in Kaltern) was the ruler of Further Austria including Tirol from 1646 to 1662.

As the son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia of Medici, he took over his mother's governatorial duties when he came of age in 1646. To finance his extravagant living style, he sold goods and entitlements. For example, he wasted the exorbitant sum which France had to pay to the Tyrolean Habsburgs for the cession of their fiefs west of the Rhine (Alsace, Sundgau and Breisach). He also fixed the border to Graubünden in 1652.

Ferdinand Charles was an absolutist ruler, did not call any diet after 1648 and had his chancellor Wilhelm Biener executed illegally in 1651 after a secret trial. On the other hand, he was a lover of music: Italian opera was performed in his court. In 1655, the Swedish Queen Christine converted to the Catholic Faith in Innsbruck's Court Church.

[edit] Ancestors

**Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria's ancestors in three generations**
Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria	Father: Leopold V, Archduke of Austria	Paternal Grandfather: Charles II of Austria	Paternal Great-grandfather: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Anna of Bohemia and Hungary
		Paternal Grandmother: Maria Anna of Bavaria	Paternal Great-grandfather: Albert V, Duke of Bavaria
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Anna of Austria
	Mother: Claudia de' Medici	Maternal Grandfather: Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany	Maternal Great-grandfather: Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Eleonora di Toledo
		Maternal Grandmother: Christina, Grand Duchess of Tuscany	Maternal Great-grandfather: Charles III, Duke of Lorraine
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Claude of Valois