n.
born July 31, 1527, Vienna, Austria
died Oct. 12, 1576, Regensburg
Holy Roman emperor (156476).
Son of the future emperor Ferdinand I , he was a humanist Christian who favoured compromise between Catholics and Protestants. He became king of Bohemia in 1562 and succeeded to the imperial throne in 1564. He extended religious tolerance and worked for reform of the Roman Catholic church. He failed to achieve his political goals; an unsuccessful campaign against the Turks ended in a truce in 1568 that compelled him to continue to pay tribute to the sultan.