COINS OF LEOPOLD V AND HIS FAMILY
The Younger Tirolean Line

LEOPOLD V, 1619-1632

Leopold V, Archduke of Further Austria (Graz, October 9, 1586 – September 13, 1632 in Schwaz, Tirol) was the son of Archduke Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria, and the younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand II, father of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria. He was Bishop of Passau and Strasbourg (until 1625) and Archduke of Further Austria including Tirol. He was invested as bishop in 1598, as a child, even though he had not been ordained as a priest. From 1609 onwards he fought with his mercenaries in the Julian Dispute of Inheritance against Maximilian III, Archduke of Further Austria in Tirol, and 1611 for Rudolf II in Bohemia. In 1619 upon the death of his kinsman and former rival, he became governor of Maximilian's inheritance: Further Austria and Tirol, where he attained the position of a sovereign, i.e Archduke of Further Austria from 1623 to 1630. He had the Dogana and the Jesuit Church be built in Innsbruck. He fought for the Veltlin and defended Tirol against the Swedes in 1632. With his wife Claudia de' Medici, he became the founder of a sideline of the Habsburg family, which under his two sons persisted until 1665 - the final line of Archdukes of Further Austria.

Double Thaler
This huge, beautiful coin was struck posthumously in huge numbers and is readily available for much less than comparable double thalers from earlier or later reigns.

Thaler

10 Kreuzers

1 Kreuzer

FERDINAND CHARLES, 1632-1662

Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Further Austria (de: Erzherzog Ferdinand Karl von Österreich), (born May 17, 1628; died December 30, 1662 in Kaltern) was the ruler of Further Austria including Tirol from 1646 to 1662. As the son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia of Medici, he took over his mother's governatorial duties when he came of age in 1646. To finance his extravagant living style, he sold goods and entitlements. For example, he wasted the exorbitant sum which France had to pay to the Tyrolean Habsburgs for the cession of their fiefs west of the Rhine (Alsace, Sundgau and Breisach). He also fixed the border to Graubünden in 1652.

Ferdinand Charles was an absolutist ruler, did not call any diet after 1648 and had his chancellor Wilhelm Biener executed illegally in 1651 after a secret trial. On the other hand, he was a lover of music: Italian opera was performed in his court. In 1655, the Swedish Queen Christine converted to the Catholic Faith in Innsbruck's Court Church.

Thaler

3 Kreuzers

SIGISMUND FRANCIS, 1662-1665

Sigismund Francis, Archduke of Further Austria (born November 27, 1630 in Innsbruck, died June 25, 1665 in Innsbruck) was the ruler of Further Austria including Tyrol from 1662 to 1665. The second son of Archduke Leopold V and Claudia of Medici was ordained as bishop of Augsburg in 1646 without being a priest. In 1653, he became bishop of Gurk and in 1659 of Trent.

After the death of his brother Archduke Ferdinand Charles, he became Archduke of Further Austria. He was more able than his brother and might have been a good ruler, but with his early death in 1665 the younger Tyrolean line of the Habsburg house ended. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, who as the heir male succeeded Sigismund Francis, took direct control over the government of Further Austria and Tyrol.

3 Kreuzers