[December 30] Ferdinand Charles, archduke of Further Austria

Parents: Leopold V, archduke of Further Austria, and Claudia de' Medici
Date of Birth: 17 May 1628
House: Habsburg
Spouse(s): Anna de' Medici, daughter of Cosimo II, grand duke of Tuscany, and Maria Magdalena of Austria
Predecessor: Leopold V
Reign: 1630 – 1662
Brief: During the 16th and 17th centuries, the archduchy of Austria was divided up among rival cadet branches of the family. Ferdinand Charles was delegated ruler of Further Austria based out of Tyrol near the Italian border. For the first sixteen years of his rule, he was a minor and his mother, Claudia de' Medici, ruled in his name until 1646. Once he became archduke, Ferdinand Charles ruled with an iron fist. He dissolved the Tyrolian Diet in 1648 and executed his chancellor in 1651, ruling alone afterwards. He enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle and paid for it by selling titles of nobility and family heirlooms under his care. He was paid a portion of gold from France for lands ceded to France in a previous war—he wasted all of this on luxuries. For all his greed, Ferdinand Charles was a lover of Italian opera and had an opera house at his court for performances. When he died in 1662, few mourned his passing and his brother, Sigismund Francis, bishop of Augsburg, Gurk, and Trent, inherited Further Austria.

Date of Death: 30 December 1662

Successor: Sigismund Francis

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Felix I, pope of Rome (274)
• Richard II, pretender to England (1460)
• Innocent IV, pope of Rome (1591)