The Habsburg family had originated with the Habsburg Castle in modern Switzerland and after 1278 came to rule in Austria (the Habsburg Hereditary Lands).

The Habsburg family grew to European prominence with the marriage and adoption treaty by Emperor Maximilian I at the First Congress of Vienna in 1515 and the subsequent death of adopted Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in 1526.

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the younger brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, is elected the next King of Bohemia and Hungary following the death of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, in the Battle of Mohács against the Turks.The Imperial capital is Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611,when it is moved to Prague.