Ferdinand of Bavaria (soldier)

In 1565, the 15-year-old Ferdinand made a widely publicized journey to Florence, to attend the wedding of his maternal aunt, Johanna of Austria, to Francesco I de' Medici, and to visit with other maternal aunts in the city. Johanna's marriage to the Medici was a politically expedient one: she was expected to produce heirs.M. A. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 2006. p. 56. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9fV4gz5FmiAC&dq=Duke+Ferdinand+of+Bavaria&pg=PA59 google books here] Accessed 9 July 2009. The groom's mistress, whom he married after the death of his wife in 1579, was already well-established in 1565: this was a political marriage, and an extravagant one, and cost Duke Cosimo, father of the groom, over 60,000 ducats, a phenomenal sum.

Sending a teen-aged boy into the hot-house of Medici intrigue might have seemed questionable to the sober-minded Wittelsbachs. Albert had supported whole-heartedly the Catholic Counter-Reformation; Jesuits were entrenched at the Jesuit College of Ingolstadt, and had raised his children accordingly. Ferdinand's older brother earned for himself the sobriquet "the Pius" for his melancholy demeanor, his ardent attachment to prayer and meditation, and, more obviously, for his eschewal of hunting, dancing, and other frivolities that dominated social life in a 16th-century court.Wilhelm also waied impatiently until his own son was "of age," abdicated in his son's favor, and retreated to a monastery for 30 years of reflection. Katritsky, p. 57.

File:Ignoto, duchi ernst, wilhelm e ferdinand di wittelsbach, argento, 1577.JPG

The Emperor chided his father on sending his second son, not sending William, heir to the duchy, but Albert pointed out that he was not able, on such short notice, to put together an appropriate entourage for the heir; the second son would have to do. Ferdinand's entourage was no mean affair. His chief financial adviser, Hanns Jakob Fugger, served as chief steward on the journey, and Fugger's son as Ferdinand's cup-bearer. They traveled by horse, sledge (sled), boat, and carriage in the journey that took four months, from Munich to Florence and back to Munich, and throughout the entire journey, Ferdinand maintained a journal, unusually written in the third person, about his adventure. Through Ferdinand's eyes, via his journal, we have an unusual picture of mid-16th century masquerades, musical performances, and comedies, the experience of which Ferdinand brought with him when he returned to Munich in February of the following year.Katritsky, p. 57.

On another journey, as a guest of the emperor in Vienna, he recorded the near riot during the Corpus Christi procession of 1578. As he and the archdukes Ferdinand and Maximilian heard the mass, the population harassed the celebrant priests, and interfered with the conduct of the procession itself.Johannes Janssen, M. A. Mitchell, History of the German people at the close of the middle ages, 1905 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ES3TAAAAMAAJ&q=Duke+Ferdinand+of+Bavaria Google books]. Accessed 9 July 2009.

His younger brother, Ernst, was elected to the Archbishopric of Cologne, in 1583, as part of the conflict over the control of the electoral see. Ferdinand took command of his brother's army during the Cologne War; his able management of the army, plus the support of troops from the Duke of Alba in the Spanish Netherlands, secured the electoral dignity for his brother, and consolidated the family's place in imperial politics.

Ferdinand made a morganatic marriage with Maria Pettenbeck on 26 September 1588. The 16 children of this marriage were raised to the status of Counts and Countesses of Wartenberg. The line died out in 1736. Since then the title has also been used by various members of the Royal House of Bavaria.

• Maria Maximiliane, Countess, Nun in Munich's Riedler Regelhaus, 1589-1638
• Maria Magdalena, Countess, Nun in Munich's Riedler Regelhaus 1590–1620
• Maria Magdalena von Wartenberg, 1592–1598
• Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg, Bischop of Osnabruck 1593–1661
• Maria Anna of Wartenberg, Nun in Kuhbach Benedictine Cloister, 1594–1629
• Sebastian of Wartenberg 1595–1596
• Ernst of Wartenberg 1596–1597
• Maximillian, Count of Wartenberg 1602–1679
• Ernst Benno, Count of Wartinberg 1605–1606
• Maria Katharina of Wartenberg, 1605–1606
• Ferdinand Lorenz, Count of Wartenberg 1606–1666
• Maria Klara Theresia of Wartenberg 1608–1635

He is buried in the cathedral in Munich, Bavaria.[http://gw1.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=hwember1&lang=de;pz=ferdinand;nz=von+bayern;ocz=3;p=ferdinand;n=von+bayern;oc=3 Ferdinand's genealogy here]

His surviving siblings were

• William V, Duke of Bavaria 1548–1626
• Maria Anna of Bavaria, 1551–1608, married her uncle, Charles II, archduke of Austria, and was the mother of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
• Maximiliana Maria of Bavaria, 1553–1614

• Ernst of Bavaria, Elector of Cologne, 1554–1612

{{ahnentafel

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| 1 = Ferdinand of Bavaria

| 2 = Albert V, Duke of Bavaria

| 3 = Archduchess Anna of Austria

| 4 =4. William IV, Duke of Bavaria{{NDB|1|158|160|Albrecht V.|Goetz, Walter|118647571}}

| 5 =5. Marie of Baden-Sponheim

| 6 =6. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor{{BLKO|wstitle=Habsburg, Anna von Oesterreich (1528–1587) |volume=6 |page=151}}

| 7 =7. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary

| 8 =8. Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria{{cite ADB|42|705|717|Wilhelm IV.|Riezler, Sigmund Ritter von|ADB:Wilhelm IV. (Herzog von Bayern)}}

| 9 =9. Kunigunde of Austria

| 10=10. Philip I, Margrave of Baden-Sponheim{{NDB|20|372||Philipp I.|Brüning, Rainer|119548763}}

| 11=11. Elisabeth of the Palatinate

| 12=12. Philip I of Castile{{Britannica|204416|Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor}}{{Britannica|107009|Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor}}

| 13=13. Joanna of Castile

| 14=14. Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary{{NDB|1|299||Anna Jagjello|Obermayer-Marnach, Eva|133664473}}

| 15=15. Anna of Foix-Candale

| 16=16. Albert III, Duke of Bavaria{{NDB|1|157||Albrecht IV.|Rall, Hans|118644327}}

| 17=17. Anna of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Einbeck{{NDB|1|156||Albrect III.|Rall, Hans|119111349}}

| 18=18. Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor{{BLKO|wstitle=Habsburg, Friedrich V. der Friedfertige |volume=6|page=265}}

| 19=19. Eleanor of Portugal

| 20=20. Christopher I, Margrave of Baden-Baden{{NDB|20|372||Philipp I.|Brüning, Rainer|119548763}}

| 21=21. Ottilie von Katzenelnbogen

| 22=22. Philip, Elector Palatine{{cite book |last=Dotterweich |first=Helmut |title=Der junge Maximilian: Jugend und Erziehung des bayerischen Herzogs und späteren Kurfürsten Maximilian I. von 1573 bis 1593 |trans-title=The Young Maximilian: Youth and Education of the Bavarian Duke and Later Elector Maximilian I from 1573 to 1593 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdKgAAAAMAAJ&q=Elisabeth+von+der+Pfalz+1483+philipp+margarete|year=1962 |publisher=R. Pflaum |page=188}}

| 23=23. Margaret of Bavaria

| 24=24. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor{{Britannica|455996|Philip I, King of Castile}}

| 25=25. Mary of Burgundy

| 26=26. Ferdinand II of Aragon{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Joanna |volume=15}}

| 27=27. Isabella I of Castile

| 28=28. Casimir IV Jagiellon{{Britannica|97968|Casimir IV, King of Poland}}

| 29=29. Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria

| 30=30. Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale{{cite book |title=Revue de l'Agenais |trans-title=Review of the Agenais |volume=4 |publisher=Société des sciences, lettres et arts d'Agen |year=1877 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k33857g/f499.image |editor-first=P. |editor-last=Noubel |page=497 |language=fr}}

| 31=31. Infanta Catherine of Navarre

}}

{{Commons category|Ferdinand of Bavaria}}

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Category:Bavarian nobility

Category:Dukes in Germany

Category:House of Wittelsbach

Category:1550 births

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