an in 1519 the Habsburg
dominions in eastern Germany included the duchies of Upper and Lower
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and the county of Tirol. Maximilian
was succeeded as archduke of Austria as well as emperor by his grandson
Charles of Spain, known in history as the emperor Charles V. To his brother
Ferdinand Charles resigned all his Austrian lands, including his claims on
Bohemia [v.03 p.0008] and Hungary. [Sidenote: Mohacs and its results.]
Austria and Spain were thus divided, and, in spite of the efforts of the
archduke Charles in the Spanish Succession War, were never again united,
for at the battle of Mohacs, on the 28th of August 1526, Suleiman the
Magnificent defeated and killed Louis, king of Bohemia and of Hungary,
whose sister Anne had married Ferdinand. By this victory the Turks
conquered and retained, till the peace of Karlowitz in 1699, the greater
part of Hungary. During most of his life Ferdinand was engaged in combating
the Turks and in attempting to secure Hungary. In John Zapolya, who was
supported by Suleiman, Ferdinand found an active rival. The Turks besieged
Vienna in 1530 and made several invasions of Hungary and Austria. At length
Ferdinand agreed to pay Suleiman an annual tribute for the small
portion--about 12,228 sq. m.--of Hungary which he held. [Sidenote: Charles
V. and Austria.] During Charles V.'s struggles with the German Protestants,
Ferdinand preserved a neutral attitude, which contributed to gain Germany a
short period of internal peace. Though Ferdinand himself did not take a
leading part in German religious or foreign politics, the period was one of
intense interest to Austria. Throughout the years from 1519 to 1648 there
are, said Stubbs, two distinct ideas in progress which "may be regarded as
giving a unity to the whole period.... The Reformation is one, the claims
of the House of Austria is the other." Austria did not benefit from the
reign of Charles V. The emperor was too much absorbed in the affairs of the
rest of his vast dominions, notably those of the Empire, rent in two by
religious differences and the secular ambitions for which those were the
excuse, to give any effective attention to its needs. The peace of
Augsburg, 1555, which recognized a dualism within the Empire in religion as
in politics, marked the failure of his plan of union (see CHARLES V.;
GERMANY; MAURICE OF SAXONY); and meanwhile he had been able to accomplish
nothing to rescue Hungary from the Tu