At a young age, Ferdinand IV took his father's role as
Archduke of Austria.[2] In 1646, Ferdinand IV became King of Bohemia, sharing the role and that of
Duke of Cieszyn with his father Emperor Ferdinand III. He was crowned on 5 August 1646.[3][4] Ferdinand IV also shared the role of King of Hungary and Croatia with his father; his coronation took place on 16 June 1647 in
Pressburg, present-day Slovakia.[1][3]
After the French attempted to modify the system of the election of
King of the Romans, Emperor Ferdinand III took advantage of a recent decline in the prestige of
France, and was able to install Ferdinand IV as King of the Romans, and de facto heir to the Holy Roman Empire in the
1653 imperial election. He was crowned in Ratisbon (
Regensburg, present-day south-east Germany) on 18 June 1653 after gaining the position on 31 May 1653.[5] However, Ferdinand IV unexpectedly died of
smallpox in Vienna on 9 July 1654.[1] Prior to his death, it was planned that he would marry
Philip IV of Spain's daughter
Maria Theresa of Spain, his cousin.[2] Upon the death of Ferdinand III, Leopold I was elected as
Holy Roman Emperor.[5]
^The Annals of Europe, Or Regal Register; Shewing the Succession of the Sovereigns, ... Together with the Bishops and Popes of Rome, Etc. F. Newbery. 1779. p. 165.
^
abJ. P. Cooper (20 December 1979). The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 4, The Decline of Spain and the Thirty Years War, 1609-48/49. CUP Archive. p. 419.
ISBN978-0-521-29713-4.
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.