Ferdinand IV

▪ king of Bohemia

born Sept. 8, 1633

died July 9, 1654

      king of Bohemia (from 1646) and of Hungary (from 1647) and king of the Romans (from 1653).

      The eldest son of the emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna, daughter of Philip III of Spain, Ferdinand was destined for the imperial crown. He was brought up to rule and, at his father's insistence, was elected king of the Romans at Augsburg on May 31, 1653, and crowned at Ratisbon on June 18. However, Ferdinand died prematurely the next year, at age 21; and, when his father died in 1657, the imperial crown went to Ferdinand III's younger son, Leopold I, a milder individual who had been destined for the church.

▪ king of Castile and Leon

born December 6, 1285, Sevilla

died September 7, 1312, Jaén, Andalusia

      king of Castile and Leon, succeeding his father, Sancho IV, in 1295.

      Ferdinand survived his minority through the tact and bravery of his mother, María de Molina, who acted as regent. He was further aided by the loyalty of the citizens of Ávila, where he took refuge during an anarchic period marked by conspiracies and rebellions of the Castilian nobility against the crown. Upon coming of age, Ferdinand rejected his mother's guidance but proved to be a weak king. His forces recaptured Gibraltar from the Moorish kingdom of Granada in 1309.

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