![Ferdinand I, engraving by Barthel Beham, 1531 [Credit: Archiv fur Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin]](http://images.bookrags.com/images/eb/11908.gif)
Ferdinand I, engraving by Barthel Beham, 1531 [Credit: Archiv fur Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin](born March 10, 1503, Alcalá de Henares, Spain—died July 25, 1564, Vienna, Hapsburg domain) Holy Roman emperor (1558–64). The brother of Emperor
Charles V, he was Charles's deputy in the Habsburg German lands (1522–58).
In 1526 he took possession of Bohemia without difficulty, but he faced rival claimants in Hungary and fought periodically against the Ottoman Empire, finally agreeing in 1562 to pay tribute to the Ottoman sultan for Austria's share of Hungary. Ferdinand helped Charles defeat the Protestant Schmalkaldic League, and he later compromised on the Protestant issue and signed the Peace of Augsburg (1555), ending the era of religious strife in Germany. Elected emperor after Charles's abdication, which separated the Habsburg domains into Spanish and Austrian parts, Ferdinand centralized the imperial administration.
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