faction, but the diet which met at Regensburg was loath to assist; and on the 12th of October 1576 the emperor died, refusing on his deathbed to receive the last sacraments of the Church. By his wife Maria he had a family of nine sons and six daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Rudolph, who had been chosen king of the Romans in October 1575. Another of his sons, Matthias, also became emperor; three others, Ernest, Albert and Maximilian, took some part in the government of the Habsburg territories or of the Netherlands, and a daughter, Elizabeth, married Charles IX. king of France. The religious attitude of Maximilian has given rise to much discussion, and on this subject the writings of W. Maurenbrecher, W. Goetz and E. Reimann in the _Historische Zeitschrift_, Bände VII., XV., XXXII. and LXXVII. (Munich, 1870 fol.) should be consulted, and also O. H. Hopfen, _Maximilian II. und der Kompromisskatholizismus_ (Munich, 1895); C. Haupt, _Melanchthons und seiner Lehrer Einfluss auf Maximilian II._ (Wittenberg, 1897); F. Walter, _Die Wahl Maximilians II._ (Heidelberg, 1892); W. Goetz, _Maximilians II. Wahl zum römischen Könige_ (Würzburg, 1891), and T. J. Scherg, _Über die religiöse Entwickelung Kaiser Maximilians II. bis zu seiner Wahl zum römischen Könige_ (Würzburg, 1903). For a more general account of his life and work see _Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte Maximilians II._, edited by W. E. Schwarz (Paderborn, 1889-1891); M. Koch, _Quellen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Maximilian II. in Archiven gesammelt_ (Leipzig, 1857-1861); R. Holtzmann, _Kaiser Maximilian II. bis zu seiner Thronbesteigung_ (Berlin, 1903); E. Wertheimer, _Zur Geschichte der Türkenkriege Maximilians II._ (Vienna, 1875); L. von Ranke, _Über die Zeiten Ferdinands I. und Maximilians II._ in Band VII. of his _Sämmtliche Werke_ (Leipzig, 1874), and J. Janssen, _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters,_ Bände IV. to VIII. (Freiburg, 1885-1894), English translation by M. A. Mitchell and A. M. Christie (London, 1896 fol.).