Charles II
Archduke of Austria, from 1564 to his death in 1590 ruler of Inner Austria
Born in Vienna on 3 June 1540
Died in Graz on 10 July 1590
At the partition of the Habsburg domains under the sons of Emperor Ferdinand I the youngest son Charles was assigned the group of lands making up Inner Austria. Charles made Graz his residence, from where he organized the Austrian defences against the Turks. His regency was dominated by the trial of strength between the mainly Protestant Estates and his absolutist ambitions to uphold the primacy of the Catholic Church.
