George of Austria (Ghent, 1505 – Liège, 4 May 1557), was Prince-bishop of Liège from 1544 to 1557.[1]
He was an illegitimate son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Margaretha of Edelsheim.[2] He became Bishop of Brixen (Tyrol) between 1525 and 1537 and Archbishop of Valencia between 1538 and 1544.
In 1544 he became Prince-bishop of Liège by the influence of his nephew Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, a post he held until his death. George strongly opposed any French influence in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, thus maintaining the strong grip of the Habsburgs, who controlled all surrounding lands.
In 1554, he was faced with a French invasion under King Henry II of France.
- ^ J. A. Parente (1981). "Counter-Reformation Polemic and Senecan Tragedy". Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin Studies. 30: 161–165. ISBN 978-90-6186-119-5.
- ^ Bietenholz, Peter G.; Deutscher, Thomas Brian (2003). Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation. University of Toronto Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-8020-8577-1.