Los 7001

Thurn & Taxis Period 1526-1624 - King's letter; 1545 (Feb 20): Entire Courrier letter 'Kaiserbrief' from Prague Castle to the 'Statthalter, Kanzler, Regenten und Kammerräte der Niederösterreichische Lande' in Vienna, written in German and signed by autograph 'Ferdinand' of King Ferdinand I of Bohemia, the later Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, two pages of text, closed by large paper-backed seal. In very good shape, a desirable item. Note 1: Ferdinand (1503-1564) became King of Bohemia in 1526, the first belonging to the house of Habsburg. After the death of his brother-in-law Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, at the Battle of Mohács on 29 August 1526, Ferdinand immediately applied to the parliaments of Hungary and Bohemia to participate as a candidate in the royal elections. On 24 October 1526 the Bohemian Diet elected Ferdinand king of Bohemia under conditions of confirming traditional privileges of the estates and also moving the Habsburg court to Prague. Ferdiand tried to reduce the influence of the privileged estates and the recatolization of the lands of the Bohemian Crown resulting in the Estates Revolt of 1547. Following the abdictation of his brother Charles V in 1556 he became Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria. After becoming King of Bohemia in 1526, the first postal route between Prague and Vienna was organized by the Thurn & Taxis family. Note 2: This and the consecutive lots contain a complete series of letters signed primarily in the Hradschin in Prague in manuscript by the ruling Kings of Bohemia between 1526 and 1637, from Ferdinand I to Ferdinand II. Thus they are perfectly suited to document this moved period in the conflict between Czech reformation and Habsburg recatholization leading finally to the Second Defenestration of Prague and the Thirty Year's War