In 1557, he was secretly married to
Philippine Welser, daughter of a patrician from
Augsburg, with whom he had several children. The marriage was only accepted by Emperor Ferdinand I in 1559 under the condition of secrecy. The children were to receive the name "of Austria" but would only be entitled to inherit if the
House of Habsburg became totally extinct in the male line, and thus the marriage had many qualities of a
morganatic marriage. The sons born of this marriage received the title Margrave of
Burgau, an ancient Habsburg possession in Further Austria. The younger of the sons, who survived their father, later received the princely title of Fürst zu Burgau.[2]
After his father's death in 1564, Ferdinand became the ruler of
Tyrol and other
Further Austrian possessions under his father's will. However, he remained governor of Bohemia in
Prague until 1567 according to the wishes of his brother Maximilian II.[citation needed]
In his own lands, Ferdinand made sure that the Catholic
counter-reformation would prevail. He also was instrumental in promoting the
Renaissance in central Europe and was an avid collector of art. He accommodated his world-famous collections in a museum built specifically for that purpose, making
Ambras Castle the oldest museum in the world, and as the only Renaissance
Kunstkammer of its kind to have been preserved at its original location, the Chamber of Art and Curiosities at Ambras Castle represents an unrivalled cultural monument.[citation needed] The collection was started during Ferdinand's time in Bohemia, and he subsequently moved it to Tyrol. In particular, the Chamber of Art and Curiosities, the gallery of portraits, and the collection of armor were very expensive, leading Ferdinand to incur a high level of debt. Part of the collections remained in Innsbruck, and part ultimately was moved to the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in
Vienna.[citation needed]
Archduke Ferdinand died on 24 January 1595. Since his sons from the first marriage were not entitled to the inheritance, and the second produced only surviving daughters, Tyrol was reunified with the other Habsburg lands. His daughter from the Mantuan marriage to Anna Caterina (later Anna Juliana) became Empress
Anna, consort of
Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor, who received his Further Austrian inheritance.[citation needed]
Children
He and his first wife
Philippine Welser were parents of four children:
^
abcBoureau, Alain (1995). The Lord's First Night: The Myth of the Droit de Cuissage. Translated by Cochrane, Lydia G. The University of Chicago Press. p. 96.
^
abcNoubel, P., ed. (1877). Revue de l'Agenais [Review of the Agenais]. Vol. 4. Société académique d'Agen. p. 497.
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.