Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand Ernest was born 13 July 1608 and stepped into crowns young: Hungary and Croatia in 1625, Bohemia in 1627. By the time he became Holy Roman Emperor in 1637, the Thirty Years' War had ground into its final brutal decade. His father had ruled by divine right and intransigence; Ferdinand chose pragmatism, softening policies and abandoning Habsburg orthodoxy to chase peace. Military defeats narrowed his options. The road to the Peace of Westphalia was long and humbling, and when it arrived his imperial authority was diminished. But inside his hereditary lands - Bohemia, Hungary, Austria - he emerged stronger than any Habsburg before 1618. He also composed music, the first of his line to do so with enough skill that history noticed. He died 2 April 1657.