While attending the Reichstag in Regensburg an ailing Maximilian died in the early hours of 12 October 1576. The religious strains in central Europe were reflected by a series of conflicting reports of the emperor's death. Rival Protestant and Catholic accounts of Maximilian's final hours quickly circulated throughout the continent. According to Stephen Gerlach two official funeral addresses were written in the emperor's honor. One was composed by Johannes Crato, while the other was drafted by Lambert Gruter, the bishop of Wiener Neustadt. The introductory citations from the two respective orations aptly capture the contrast between the irenic and Counter-Reform factions at the imperial court. The death of Maximilian II offered both parties an opportunity to express their vision of the dynasty. By examining these two dissonant voices, we can more clearly see the antithesis between irenicism and its Counter-Reform rival. Though the funeral ritual employed a broad arsenal of imperial symbols and images and was contingent on a number of factors, the orations were emblematic of two increasingly divergent world views. The events of 1576–1577 illustrate both the weakness of a Habsburg via media and the appeal of a renewed and revitalized Catholic church.

After the emperor's death Crato returned home to Breslau, and there three months later he published his eulogy in Maximilian's honor.