Ferdinand I Elected King of Bohemia

JAN 01 1526 · 12:00

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and the first Habsburg elected King of Bohemia. Portrait by Hans Bocksberger the Elder, mid 16th century (cropped). Place: Old Town Hall, Prague Figures: Ferdinand I of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria · Anna Jagiellon, his wife and the dynastic claim · Louis II, drowned at Mohács two months earlier On 29 August 1526, the twenty-year-old Louis II Jagiellon, king of Bohemia and Hungary, drowns in a marsh fleeing the Ottoman field at Mohács. He leaves no son. The Bohemian crown becomes a vacancy in a season when half of Christendom needs a king. Ferdinand of Habsburg, younger brother of Charles V, has the strongest claim: his wife Anna is Louis's sister, and there are old Habsburg-Jagiellon treaties of mutual succession to wave around. He also has Austrian troops, a Spanish brother, and the willingness to spend. The Bohemian Diet assembles in October at the Old Town Hall to choose.