Election of Ferdinand IV as King of the Romans
- When
- 1653
- Where
- Imperial election venue; Ratisbon (Regensburg)
- Episodes
- 2
In May 1653, Emperor Ferdinand III secured the election of his son Ferdinand IV as King of the Romans, establishing him as the de facto heir to the Holy Roman Empire.
Episodes
- Election of Ferdinand IV
Ferdinand IV was elected King of the Romans on 31 May 1653, becoming the de facto heir to the Holy Roman Empire.
- Coronation in Ratisbon
Ferdinand IV was crowned King of the Romans in Ratisbon on 18 June 1653, following his election in May.
Background and detail
Political Context. Following French attempts to alter the electoral system, Emperor Ferdinand III leveraged a decline in French prestige to influence the 1653 imperial election. This maneuver allowed him to install his son as King of the Romans and de facto heir.
Electoral Outcome. Ferdinand IV was formally elected King of the Romans on 31 May 1653. This title complemented his earlier coronations as King of Bohemia in 1646 and King of Hungary and Croatia in 1647.
Subsequent Coronation. Following his election, Ferdinand IV was crowned in Ratisbon on 18 June 1653. He had previously been born in Vienna in 1633 as the eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand III.
People involved
- Ferdinand IV · Elected King of the Romans
- Ferdinand III · Holy Roman Emperor and father
Sources
- Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-09
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.