Sigismund Francis, Archduke of Further Austria (27 November 1630 – 25 June 1665) was the ruler of

Further Austria Further Austria, Outer Austria or Anterior Austria (german: Vorderösterreich, formerly ''die Vorlande'' (pl.)) was the collective name for the early (and later) possessions of the House of Habsburg in the former Swabian stem duchy of south-wes ...

including

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

from 1662 to 1665.

Biography

He was born at Innsbruck, the second son of Leopold V, Archduke of Austria and

Claudia de' Medici Claudia de' Medici (4 June 1604 – 25 December 1648) was Regent of the Austrian County of Tyrol during the minority of her son from 1632 until 1646. She was a daughter of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Christina of Lorraine. ...

. He was appointed as bishop of Augsburg in 1646. In 1653, he became

bishop of Gurk The Bishop of Gurk is the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk, which was established in 1072 as the first suffragan bishop by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in the Duchy of Carinthia. Initially performing the functions of a mere archiep ...

and in 1659 bishop of Trent. He was never ordained as a priest or consecrated as a bishop. In 1662 he was put forth by his cousin Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor as a candidate for Archbishop of Strasbourg. This included large cash incentives to the cathedral chapter and a promise that Sigismund would be a very hands off ruler. After the 1662 death of his brother Archduke Ferdinand Charles, he became

Archduke of Further Austria The Archduchy of Austria (german: Erzherzogtum Österreich) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empire's southeastern periphery. ...

, and therefore withdrew from the candidacy for the bishopric. He was more able than his brother and could have made him a good ruler, but with his early death in 1665 the younger Tyrolean line of the Habsburg house ended. Leopold I, who as the heir male succeeded Sigismund Francis, took direct control over the government of

and

. He married Hedwig of the Palatinate-Sulzbach on 3 June 1665 and died in Innsbruck twenty-two days later of an illness.

Ancestors

References

Works cited

* 1630 births 1665 deaths 17th-century archdukes of Austria Counts of Tyrol Sigismund Francis of Austria, Archduke People from Innsbruck Bishops of Gurk {{Austria-royal-stub